Post "Fireside Chat for WWW ep40 “Aid and Comfort”" by "worldsbeyondnumber"

Lex Morris

“the soldier guy who says that will never hear the peepers” BRENNAN 😭 you really fucking get it, man

Drew Faber

Doing a relisten from the beginning… I don’t have anything clever to say, but thank you all for the story you’ve been telling. It’s a welcome escape from the increasingly horrifying reality of today’s world, and at the same time a much-needed reminder of what matters.

Alyssa

Listening to this fireside and then immediately finding out that Mumford and Sons is releasing a new song with Hozier. 🪕☘️

theoddhobbyist

Hearing them talk about sadness, I now want the character description for The Wizard Sadness

Roberto Planos

If you aren't choosing joy, you have to tell me!

Andrew Rothardt

Just wanted to say that I think the final scene of this episode may be my favorite so far. Beautful!

Megan Gass

Brennan is correct. The dark forest is a glorious place.

Ezra-Ifeanyi + Arun

Brennan, I need you to know that right before I started listening to this ep, I got a notification saying that Mumford and Sons are coming to a town near me. HOW ~Arun

Lupins Mom

I’ve never heard indefatigable spoken out loud…. I was pronouncing that all wrong

Jordan T. Maxwell

The emotional whiplash of feeling seen for my undying love of Mumford and Sons to INSTANTLY betrayed with "we can just let them die" is a deep wound I shan't forgive nor forget! That blood vendetta aside, great episode! Ahoo-hoo! 😎

Amelia Granato

Brennan discussing philosophy and ethics and the phenomenon of trying to study logic/strip emotional impulse away and how, at times, emotional impulse is actually right/leading us in the correct direction actually reminds me a lot of the concept of the wise mind in DBT practice in regard to decision making and emotional regulation. It asserts that we have an emotional mind (impulse), a logical/rational mind (analyze), and that leaning too much on one is often a detriment to us. We should strive to achieve a synthesis of holding both emotion response and logical reasoning to reach the wise mind, which allows for intuitive thinking and present, mindful decision making!!

Shey

It took me until halfway through the episode to realize that “Steve Jabs” is a play on “Steve Jobs”

John Bigelow

Silver is so going to become the bad guy as he sides with the Citadel over Suki. 😢

Rob S.

Anyone else having an issue with Overcast saying “not authorized” for just this episode?

Sil

That's a big ass NOPE from me! I once walked into our front yard as a kid and Joanna (a goanna) was sat there on the warm stones and just stared at me. No way to walk around it, it was taking up the whole path. I went back inside and had to wait for it to rack off. They probably couldn't kill you, like it sounds like a mountain lion could, but I was an Ame sized child

Zach K

As a 12 year old kid in USA from a small town in Iowa. my immediate response to seeing a mountain lion come out of the woods and make eye contact with me. Was to throw a baseball at it and run home. I love the woods but there are things in there and they will let you know if you dont belong.

The Wizard Sparrow

Red string and all..lol

The Wizard Sparrow

I too need to go back and listen to 12 brooks…we are heading there soon

A Halsell

I’m going to need the name of that book Brennan read about indigenous forestry.

Ammar Khalid

The irony of getting to the “let Mumford and Sons die” part as I see an email that their next album is out on Friday

Sean Case

What a “joy and a privilege it is to share this world” with y’all - on both sides of the fireside. Ahoo, hoo, crackle, crackle

M Dorsey

Okay but as an unofficial educator to neurodivergent, barefoot, free-ranged children, beginning a D&D club at our literal cabin-in-the-woods tiny school: Aabria and Brennan talking about cunning, saving face, protecting kids, ethics, and whole-picture-strategizing when working with potential danger and stepping outside the bounds of what we were raised to do in society… hit a rallying bell in me. It’s so tiring. And we persist. Thank you all for the most BEAUTIFUL stories and wisdom. Blatant fucking truth. Let’s GO. 😮‍💨🫡🙂‍↕️

steve

My minor was in political science so this is the best intro I've ever heard!

M Dorsey

Potential not potential addition just bc it’s good and in line with the other recs (for anyone else interested): The Secret Life of Trees is lovely as well 🤎 Braiding Sweetgrass is just.. whew 😭

M Dorsey

I almost thought we should get a “Jesus is my Thesaurus” shirt… But I think the art would have to be VERY SPECIFIC otherwise it would be misconstrued 😂

Ryan L.

So thankful for this and the worlds and stories you share and to the crew that helps get them processed and up 🦋❤️‍🔥🦊🖖🍁🍄🐻🍝🧭

akodorokku

So glad Aabria said "got her back blown out," in this cause during the episode proper when she said, "back," my brain IMMEDIATELY filled it in with, "got blown out".

larkermouse

The woods at night is one of my favourite places. I remember being at a summer camp, and there were some city kids who were completely blind without a flashlight while me and the other smalltown/country kids could see fine. I think that makes a difference in the emotional response to those places.

leotoffee

This latest episode truly helps me appreciate the type of story this group is telling. Very rarely would you see a large size TTRPG actual play tackle the type of nuance reflected in our worlds past history. Often the concepts of slavery, children kidnapping and more are placed in the cultures of the antagonist of the story. We all know about the earlier times depiction of drow and orcs. And that's largely due to western societies' refusal to accept the often-horrific past behaviors and actions committed. The empire has regularly given me western colonization like vibes, and Brennan deciding to lean in and fully showcase that is truly refreshing.

Kat Martinez

Same 🤣

Roberto Planos

Keep jabbin folks

Hoppy Raven

Amazing to see the whole gang at MSG tonight. Lost it when Aabria and Erika did their "post credit" reveal. Thank you for the magic your collective storytelling brings to us all!!!

Kolbjorn

Damn I really would have thought the three of you would have been able to find some sort of rhyme for comfort. Sometimes you just come short. Erika is so right about the deep woods and they should say it. I too take glee in my feral humanity and the circumstances that call to it.

Jaxson Denton

I was finishing my catch up and then going to listen to Twelve brook and I’m very scared now… what will this do in hindsight for me…

Jaxson Denton

I have always heard the Foxes’ Boss as the Scouser boss which just means like awesome or great. So I have always heard the Fox being “yo cool dude what’s up”

Carson

I love how, even unintentionally, the Whorner Corner made an appearance

Ivey Wexler

"All Witches Are Beautiful" would be a great sticker, but as a Suvi stan, I'd love it even more if it was generalized to All Casters Are Beautiful

Lee

Yo drop the book titleeeeee pleaseeeeeee

Sil

Wizard Sunny on vocals, putting metal screamo to shame? 😂

Sil

Old mate 😂

Sil

Hearing about y'alls woods at night is infinitely scarier than the Australian bush. Only thing in there that'll bite if you piss it off is a murder spagherder or a danger bow-tie. Maybe Joanna. Meanwhile, you've got fkn BEARS!?! and JAGUARS!?!? Up in your continent, but still be scared of Aus!? It's usually the water trying to kill you, not the bush.

Mike

I am going to look into these. Thank you for the recommendations.

Jordanne Stahl

Hmm, I don't think I've found it, but here are three it *could* be: 1. Tending the Wild (M. Kat Anderson) 2. A Time for Burning (Henry T Lewis - available online as a pdf) 3. Ground-truthing (Derrick Stacey Denholm - almost certainly not this one) I'll pose the question to the library student discord, we'll get it ;)

tre blessing

Mirepoix - https://open.spotify.com/track/2aF9UlKWRhlux3802n8PHc

Rebecca Barker

I am from a place with real, very accessible wilderness and Aabriya has the most sane and safe reaction to the woods being dark and deep <3 If you have good knowledge and experience of that land, that’s different, but if you aren’t informed or are a colonizer, procede only with lots of caution.

Micah Ballard

Ironic fact: Mumford and Sons just announce they’re releasing a new album yesterday.

mleanl

The irony that my playlist was on shuffle and I was listening to Mumford and Sons right before starting this fireside 😂

Kevin Goodwin

Fire Beyond Measure

Megs

Brennan Lee Mulligan: the original Loose Duke

Phoenix Vizva’i

‘Bum-hurt’ rhymes with comfort 😛

thedragonllama

I am very glad for the fireside cuz I was so confused about what side was behind kidnapping lol I hope someday we can get a pin board conspiracy map of how all the different entities intertwine lol

milo

i really needed to hear “keep jabbin” this week. so thanks for that

lunarsummer

Every fireside just gives me such a comforting little escape and a belly full of giggles. I appreciate you all so much 🫶

lunarsummer

I complain endlessly about the Catskills, but also, the Catskills, my beloved

Dukinator

indefatigable as always

Mike

He was talking about old growth forests and forests that share space with people and forests that are dense and hard to navigate. He referenced this book about North American forests with long, long histories of Indigenous caretaking.

Mike

Braiding Sweetgrass was really quite good.

Issy Prz

🎉🎉🎉🎉 can't wait!!

Milly Farouki

I went to a small high school (60 people in a graduating class) with Jeeyon Shim. It was so weird and cool to hear her name after many years and to look her up and discover what she's up to! I grew up in California but moved to the UK more than a decade ago and sometimes the world is a very small place.

Jordanne Stahl

I am briefly not subscribed to the Fireside while I prioritize paying for my MLIS so idk which Indigenous Forestry book Brennan was reading but I can recommend starting with Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass, Gathering Moss, The Serviceberry)... If I see other hints about the content I can probably reverse engineer what he was reading

Yarl

Where’s the map?

Jason

As soon as episode was done I fired up some Mumford and Sons

OminousOwl

Hope to see some of yall at the madison square show !

samp

when will my husband (lou) return from the war (wandering, or something??)

Jared Mordigal

The description of the forest in the beginning was so beautiful it made me cry on my way to work last week.

Sarah Allen-Cristantello

Mirepoix!

Thomas Raemy

Mirepoix

Brandon Carbaugh

What was that word Aabria used? About the vegetables? I couldn't quite make it out and wanna look it up

Leah S.

Local forests that can provide food, that's my dream.

Cosmic Bingo

The descriptions of the dark forest conjured up so many memories of my childhood in rural Maine.

Nash Quella

If Lou’s persona/replacement isn’t Lucas Wiley (American Vandal) for one of these I’ll riot.

Joe McMahon

Anybody know where Brennan heard abt the rotting log in the Black Forest? Lol I need to know

Susan Buckley

What was the name of the book, Brennan?!? You can't just talk about a book that cool and not drop the title!

Susan Buckley

I want to know too!

Jesse Massaro

Thank goodness for this today, love you all!

Mike

I came in here looking for this specifically. I haven’t heard yet.

Stevi Deter

This was exactly what I needed today! So glad to be able to spend time by the fireside!

Elizabeth Boskey

"Jesus is my Thesaurus"made me cackle, and then all the political science nerdery and then the end.... :::Faints:::

Lace Cameron

I appreciate having the map of the region for this season, are there maps available for Akham (sp?) and the rest of Umora? If there is, I'd love that!

WJ

That segment about becoming feral in the nighttime woods...I felt that.

Fan Trades

I feel like I should bring up the fact that at least the patrons already knew the fact that the empire takes children. I very distinctly remember Brennan describing in an earlier fireside chat that the way that the citadel chooses who gets trained to become a wizard is by sending people to villages and giving the local five year olds puzzles to solve and taking the ones who do too well away from their families. I'm sure that the implication is that the arrangement is supposed to be consensual, but can it really be considered that when the alternative is being shamed by your community for not making that sacrifice?

Elijah Peters

I think it was they were just distracted

Phil

Same

Robert Camunas

Big thanks to Steve Jabs for getting the show out of the dark woods and back on track

Moosemade

Wait, is my memory of the end of 12 Brooks wrong? Because I remember it being *heavily* implied (if not outright stated) that the Empire was carting people off and essentially disappearing entire villages.

Strange Universe

As someone from Western Washington, I do appreciate a good biome. We got the world's Northern most rainforest. Some of the descriptions Lewis and Clark gave of their equipment rotting off their backs in the Olympic forest... Dang

jayne

3:36 "indefatigable", for those following along muttering "can he say that?"

Larger Clam

Agiddysea, if you're going to process in public, you should expect for others to react to and critique your work in the same way you're reacting to and critiquing the work of others. If you wanna feel that the show led you astray, by all means go and feel that. But if you wanna articulate and then publish those thoughts in an open forum with comments, you should be prepared for people to say "No. You are wrong, and wrong in a weirdly confused way." If you don't want that, and god knows I wouldn't, you are free to journal privately or capture your beautiful journey on a private blog with the comments turned off.

Kevin Goodwin

A for effort

Annika Kandoll

Yeah I think it was intentionally muddled, but able to put together if you have a great memory (which I don't). I know I came away from it thinking that it was the Empire less because I heard any one definitive thing but because of Suvi's reaction. Like, why would she go to such lengths to lie to her soldiers unless she felt the Grennoe family needed protection from them? Also, we've heard before that the Citadel removes children from their families, the children who are tested for magical aptitude and sent to the citadel, so to me it wasn't a huge step that they would just take children if they wanted to - especially shapeshifters

Jo Carter

These voices are such a source of comfort for me on tough days. Thank you for that.

The Wizard Smudge

To Brennan: yeah, Mumford and Sons is still around! They just released a single, and apparently have an album coming out later this year

Kevin Goodwin

Keep Jabbin 2025!

Emily C

Every drop of Brennan lore on the Fireside is wild and I will never be sick of it. Love hearing the internal monologue of Eurselon being "nah fuck that guy I'll be over here" So Buckle is dead? Kidnapped? Whomst could say??????

Sharat Chandra

“Jesus is my thesaurus” is such a banger 😂 Also, someone’s phone was buzzing part way through the ep and I spent way too long looking for what phone was making that sound

Ayan Jama

Shame Brennan couldn’t be Triumphant in finding a word to rhyme with comfort

GC

Rhymes with "comfort"? "Tumblr" is as close as "Mumford" as far as I'm concerned, and Tumblr's banjo player didn't quit to start a right-wing podcast in the footsteps of their half-billionaire father (as far as I know) ETA: fabulous episode!!! May we all keep jabbin'!

Tijay Arnie

Ah, like the UK "bossman"

JaNay Larsen

I'm 14 minutes into the episode, but I just opened the patreon notification. This picture of Mumford & Sons is killing me. 🤣

nathan

the man in black is not aligned with justice right? I think his position is more like "the citadel is what people become so people are the problem and maybe we should just get rid of humans/bring them back to a point where they can't develop to citadel level "technology" ever again neither cause is really good, yet both have a worldview you can at least understand given their position in the world

StWindsor

Same!

Emilie Han

The machinery of the empire is complex which is the point of the story. It takes children away from families. The citadel also does that. Like the one wizard who doesn’t ever visit home. The wizards are both victims and perpetrators of violence. The empire takes kids and makes its citizens prosperous and have high standards of living. The USA has committed genocide and is a beacon of hope for many immigrants. Things can be many multitude of contradictory things at the same time which is the point of this story. Wizards also are very much cogs they don’t see the big picture mist probably don’t know about the kid stealing. Like Suvi didn’t.

Justin Smith (Barbarossa Builds, LLC)

"Jesus is my thesaurus" I'm crying! 😆 🤣 😂

Larger Clam

If it's such a straightforward narrative why did you need it explained to you before you understood it? You can't accuse the show of a simplistic moral worldview, when A) they spent a whole season inside the citadel, humanizing and beautifully exploring the motivations and lives of its participants from the highest authorities to the lowest servants and B) in the same breath you admit that recent events cast confusion on the fundamental conflict between the citadel and the man in black. Which is it, have they made the conflict more morally complicated or made it simpler? It can't be both.

Danielle St John

Thank y'all for the brief mention re: the incredibly unseasonable warmness affecting the area. Very glad to know that you are all safe and hale ❤️

Freja Anneliese

Being in a dark forest during a full moon is my favorite because everything looks like it’s being shot in black and white and it feels like the Earth-equivalent of the near-spirit

Danielle St John

Listen, if he wants to play silly games, then he gets to win silly prizes 😎

Danielle St John

I missed that, too. I fully thought it was Gaothmi. 😅

MoodieRuxton

Dusty or not, Johnny Flynn’s “Leftovers” and “The Box” suit the fox so well

Cressida Ford

Ahoohoo crackle crackle duck n weave! Happy new year and jab the plutocrats!

Dominic Corbin

Shades of grey. The Empire commits atrocities against perceived (potential) enemies. I'm absolutely certain that we would see similar things in Gathumai or Ruv if or when the story takes us there. Suvi does need to decide her response to acts by the side she is aligned with, and that's where the story tension comes from

Lilith Evenstar

Sworn stopping short of the next simple, logical step of "we are soldiers, we turn food into victory; they are FARMERS, they turn food into exponentially more food" was also such an elegantly uncomplicated maneuver. The rationalization machine, as steel pointed out last arc, actually gets stronger the more clevererer a person is.

Corey Lynn

Keep Jabbin, everybody 💜

Elizabeth Edwards

I was absolutely delighted by Brennan popping off at the bigoted soldier; I fully agree that creatives often pursue the idea of "every character being the hero of their own story" to absurd lengths, and that it's frequently healthier to just call a spade a spade (or in this case, a racist scumbag coward a racist scumbag coward)

Josh

wow I can't believe Brennan didn't know a word!

Agiddysea

William Hazelden

Can't wait to see those jabs Steve! Stay strong my American friends, tough times are coming for us all, but with shows like this that continue to exist, I still have hope in humanity. 💜🤍

Genna

I love Aabria's joy when Fireside Brennan shows up

Just a Fox

The name of my first adventuring party was Sunford and Mum's. Two bards - Pimon and Darfunkle - and their orc barbarian security guard (me)

Just a Fox

I did too? I've listened to it twice trying to understand *who* were the ones taking the children! Still haven't caught the point where they said it was the Empire?

Just a Fox

We been known, have you heard him as the Ink Demon Enzo? In awe of this man's improv rhyming skills

Kara Vaughn

Same, - 11 in Iowa and so happy to be by the Fireside!

Amrita Chakraborty

AWAB — All Witches Are Beautiful. Or, potentially, Assigned Witch At Birth

Donald Chambliss Jr.

Abria saying Jesus take the wheel to language town lol

Chris Neal

Wow, Mumford & Sons got rightly ROASTED

Larry Thomsen

It’s fitting that Mumford and sons announced a new album in the last week to be released this year

Zachary M Davidson

Does anyone know the name of the book on indigenous forestry that Brennan mentions? I haven't finished the ep yet, apologies if it's mentioned later!

Andreshmandre

Ahoo hoo Crackle Crackle y'all

Quest Couture

I am a grounds keeper and banjo player and will volunteer do be brennans dusty banjo back man

India Jane White

Brennan rhyming! Adding to my list of evidence that BLeeM is prepping to DM the long-yearned-for Oops All Bards season of D20 (hopefully feat. Ross, Zach, Jess, and Rashawn)