Embrace 02: Atrium Part 2

These Flimsy Rituals

“I’m getting ahead of myself though. I’m talking about Atrium and you’ve got no idea what or where that is.

Back then it was a forgotten sort of place, a few faded streets, not even a ward in its own right. All of Embrace had its weirdness from our departed remnants to deal with, but Atrium - jammed between the docks and the Tear, the Jackals and the Castings - had more than most.”

~~~

As the bioluminescent blooms of the Castings open, the people of Atrium welcome summer. It is a time to share good food, fished from the Trill and bought from the docks; to brighten the streets with cuttings from the strange trees that grow along Rodela’s body; to sit with friends on unsteady chairs outside fading awnings and argue about meaningless things.

This summer though will be different. It is wicked and fierce and hot, and the people of Atrium will face a choice - wilt in the fickle shade or stand bright against the tyrant sun.

We continue our game of The Ground Itself by Everest Pipkin, exploring the neighbourhood of Atrium. This season we’re taking a leaf out of Friends at the Table’s book, and including short descriptions with each episode of important people, places and factions.

~~ PLACES ~~

Atrium: An old neighbourhood near the docks, once home to wholesale markets and cafes. It is bordered by the Castings, the Tear and the headquarters of the Tenders of the Dawn’s Embers.

Embrace: An island city, built on the corpses of the remnant’s Caerdroia and Rodella. It serves as one of the only crossing points of the river Trill.

~~ FACTIONS ~~

Bismuth Bands: A rough group of semi-official treasure hunters, who have built their base by a tear into the cut. They are experts at navigating Caerdroia’s maze.

Dodgers: A group, mostly teenagers, who make their money in the Castings. They find and sell trinkets uncovered by the worms.

Parsant: Embrace’s main religion. Built on a denial of the remnant’s divinity, it centres humanity in its teachings.

Umbral Provenders: A legitimised organisation of smugglers, who use the cut to smuggle contraband into and out of the city. Based in Atrium, they use criminality to enforce their hold there.

~~ PEOPLE ~~

Caerdroia: A vacant, said to be of labyrinths, whirlpools and destiny. Upon its death, the river Trill’s water became roil; a strange maze, known as the cut, unspooled beneath Embrace.

Rodela: An echo, said to be of dawn, renewal and growth. Upon its death, the dawn and the stars broke; its body would not lie still, strange flora erupts across the island.

~~~

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Hosted by Adam Dixon. Starring Beck Michalak, Elizabeth Simoens, Ryan Evans, Steve Martin and Thryn Henderson.

Produced by Thryn Henderson.

Series art by Ben Swinden.

Music taken from Kai Engel’s Satin.