Worlds Beyond Number - Talkback for Solari Arc 1

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

Aabria, Brennan, Erika, and Lou gather to answer your questions about Arc 1 of Solari. For more chats like this, join us on our Patreon! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Salari, Arc One, Talk Bad. Yeah, thank you. I feel like I did that, like the idea that music is plastic behind me, that it's like, I just, yes. Which one's that? That's a speeder. Oh, love it. Yes, yes, I'm walking out. Speaters are flying behind me.

Yeah. Oh, that's the stores. Oh, give me a big pot of soup. Hey. Space soup. Requesting a big pot of space soup, the one, the only, Brett and Lee Mulligan. See you in the outer space times. Soup's hot.

Love it. I think I've forgotten the tone of this show. Yes. Staring to my right, longingly, slightly perhaps overwhelmed is the one, the only, Erica Ishii. Science fiction. It's a beautiful thing. and you've heard her voice for the first time in not that long a time, but, you know, a long time by podcast standards,

returning back to the table, the one, the only, Abria, I Angar. I've made it. I'm back from Panama. You're back from Panama. It was beautiful. I loved it. I also love that everyone going to Panama these days doesn't need to be rescued, you know? That was like a, that was like a, it seems really dropped the ball just with me.

Hey, you know. Yeah, they let me go. I said, can I leave? Wait, they had you. Oh, yeah. Look, you're going to get got when you go. Of course, it's the nature of Panama to go and get got. Yeah.

God. That's delightful. Delightful. And then there's an understanding and you got on out of there. That's great. And also completely unrelated to your trip, you had. I created and birthed a child. A child.

I shot a child out of my body. I don't think I've ever met someone who more regularly described. the act of childbirth as shooting something out of themselves, you know? Pow. Yes. I'm a former athlete. I had a lot of velocity behind that. Respect, dude, respect.

Hey, the muscles never forget. Discus throw. You shot a child out of your body. You built a child inside of your body. Yeah. And that child was here actively disrupting us recording this show. Yes. Is there competitive childbirth?

There could be. Is there competitive childbirthing? I should have won a medal. Yeah. I think there's some Christian sects that I would describe as. You've got to imagine. I mean, I'm sure. No, it's got to be more like, you know, I feel like figure skating where there's like technical, you know,

you're scoring for technical points and also for, you know, subjective emotion and everything. It can't just be quantity. It can't. Okay. But what if it's more like gymnastics where you have to, you have to balance it. the like technical ability, but it has to remain beautiful. Like you can't do a thing that's too hard. And it also feels like it would be done like individually, right?

It's not we're not all getting everybody in a room and we're all kind of going for it at the same time. You know, it's like you post a score and then it's about. Well, it's one at a time. Just like with the girl skating or gymnastics. There could maybe there's maybe. I would actually. How would you devise a winning strategy for this, Brennan? Tell us.

I'm thinking about that I'm like I'm like What would a What would a large scale Maternity competition Look like and I thought for like three seconds and I went Life on planet Earth Yeah that's fair

We're pretty close Here's the thing they do like they post You your like BP Your vitals are up on a monitor With other people in the ward There's a leaderboard There's a fucking leaderboard There's a worldwide leaderboard

I want to be so clear I was looking at other people's contractions and getting competitive about it. Wow, look at that. So that is a thing that happened where I was like, okay, I could get my time down. I need this to speed up. I'm not trying to be here for days and days. Respect. So, yeah, it is a little bit sports.

Yeah, I'm definitely kind of wet, goopy, dystopian future. I feel like it's the maternity games. Yeah. The maternity games. Exactly. Caesar Flickerman. Welcome. If I could have had Stanley Tucci.

Stanley Tudgeon. It would have made it all. Huge fake tooth. Welcome to the maternity war. Chicklets flying out. Chicklets flying. I want it. But we are here, of course, to talk about these first 11 main campaign.

We have our preludes and then also our mainstream episodes of the Solari narrative that we're here to chat, answer audience questions. and, you know, just in general, fucking ride the rhythms together, you know? To kick us off, I feel like we should start with the most heated, the most asked question from those joining us by the fireside. In this case today, asked by Morgana Even Star. Yes, let me explain my understanding of science fiction and the greater narrative. Is that the question? No, no. It is, the world is so deliciously vast, so richly built.

so decadently juicy. But what I want to know is, who has the most deliciously vast, richly built decadently juicy booty? This is a good and important question. Okay, so I've thought about this more than I should. I've had a lot of time. I spend my day staring at a little human

and then just thinking thoughts about butts. And my worry is, even with artificial gravity, like you're not getting a lot of posterior chain work in like low graph or like low, Grave world. So I think like across the wide birth of the 40 Suns, we're not getting like a lot of really strong dumpers. I think I think like a good dumper is a rarity. Oh my God. Are you sitting? You created a little horror. A dumper scarcity in the universe that you

created? Yes, yes. Everyone expects me to be a very ass forward science fiction composer. No. You have to earn your booties. Wow. It's not dystopia unless there are dystopian elements. I understand that. Right and gets it. The answer is the Kenner. The Kenner.

The Kenner. I was just waiting to be like, it's the Kenner. It's the ship. Dumps like a truck. Truck and truck. Yeah. That's literally, I refuse to play a character that's not into butts primarily. And Excelsiel's no exception.

Okay? Excelzeal saw the Kenner and went, what those thrusters do? In a world where we're now... Dad aft. Dad aft. Dad aft. Please, Melanie, where are you? Make a shirt.

Dad aft. It's the counter. Yeah. I said a genuine love interest for my character. I think she's absolutely. Okay. I did hear you ruminating aloud before this. And there is a second candidate.

There is a second candidate, but it feels a little obvious. But I do feel like it's Ayasa, because... Because I envisioned her to be she's best friend. And I would never not give you someone with a juicy dumper. You're welcome. Thank you. But like she's someone that runs around naked on her multiple birthdays every year. And that's because she's like, I'm the one with a butt.

Yeah. That's her thing. That's her brand. Look on my brand. And despair. Ah. Yeah. All I'll say is that Farrell once famously said her.

is a spaceship that I want to ride. And in this moment, it feels sad. I also can, it's absolutely welcome to second place, but I just think on it, I ask it absolutely welcome to second place. Really quiet during these moments, because I think he's not appreciating any sort of suggestive that the Kenner is not number one. Look, man. I know that there's something wrong with me.

But like, sometimes we get into bit mode and I'm like, ha, ha, ha, ha, bits are good. Jokes are fun. It's how we play. But then, but then someone would be like, I don't know, man. Maybe she's got a bigger ass than the spaceship you're in love with. And I'm like, no. Spaceships are bigger than people. And that's just a fact.

It's not just about like... But it's proportions. It's not about size. It's proportions. Erica, get out of my head. Man, it's good to be back. I'm sweating. I miss you so much.

I miss you so much. I feel crazy right now. I guess I haven't. I guess we haven't... We don't have a visual asset for the kenner. I imagine the Kenner as having the classic rocket ship double-thruster. boom on the back. 100%.

Everyone is talking so, like, well, of course. Like, there's just a kind of like... We don't have the schematics yet, though, so we can't quite... The arabesque? No ass at all. Yeah. Well, that's what I was like... It's because...

I feel like we've seen bigger spaceships. Like in ballet. Exactly. Longback. Yeah. Built like Taylor Swift. Yeah. It's not an asset.

It's not an asset. Well, I'm going to pivot to a different question. just so we can kind of move on from this. Thank you, Morgana, even star. Thank you, yes. Thank you, Morgana. We're going to move off of this just so we stop, you know, for a moment of harmony between our characters. Brennan's nodding.

And I want to go to a question from TZL-0-1. Thank you, Tziel-0-1. Thank you all for the awesome first arc of Solari. For everyone in the cast, what was a moment where you felt the heart of your character really, got to shine through. This is a cool question. I just want to really shout out that like, I like questions that aren't just like simple

answers, but they ask you about the transitional period to how you get to somewhere and whatever. This is a very well-curated question. Beautifully curated question. I can jump in. I think for me it's like episode 11 was the moment that I think like

it's like the moment I wanted for Zadavin, which was this moment where it's like, who is this person? Like, this person is like trying to medicate and dampen this sense of self because of, I think, like internal sensations or feelings or anxieties about what is waiting for him, right? And I feel like for me, this first arc was about getting to that moment where you push those things off and you decide to be wholly yourself.

And I think I felt very, like, buoyed by my fellow players in those interactions with Excelsiel around the vape and, uh, with the, like, the dinner with Chi of just this, like, and now this character comes into themselves. And, you know, now I get excited for where Z can go now that he's like kind of shaken this off. But it took 11 episodes and some preludes to get there. There. So big swings only. Big moves only, dude.

BMO, dude. BMO, dude. BMO. Bank of Montreal, dog. Call me fucking Lamar and Morris because I'm fucking about you representing BMO, dude. Does Lamar and Morris do spots

for the Bank of Montreal? Yes. Well, it's called BMO, but it's him at that desk. Those are all for BMO, for BMO, the Bank of Montreal. Montreal. I had a savings account with them. Will you guys talk about the hearts of your characters and when they shone through? When they've shone through.

I'm so happy, you guys. Yeah, welcome back. Welcome back. So good. Yeah. I love it. I think that the, I think going full laser eyes felt like a, felt like a moment. Yeah.

Well, it felt like the, the heart of the character coming through. Maybe it's better to say that like, in the prior ever. episodes, Excelsial was playing through his default front-facing facet. I think every character has their default presentational side. Like if you rotate a Christmas tree, you have a gem that has a facet that it's like, what's the, what's the side we show the front door, right? Excelsial had his side he showed the front door. And I think that laser eyes was the first time we really saw a different side than his main one of going full laser eyes. be unafraid.

We also just did our playlist, so that was on my mind because I was looking for different songs for Excelsiol, and I found In Your Eyes. Oh, I didn't give them all my liner notes. Oh, dang. Okay, I'll do that. But yeah, in your eyes, the light, the heat, your eyes, I am complete. That's great. Oh, that's really good.

It felt very, very fun. I assumed it was a song about having laser eyes based on how well it fit. Yeah, of course. I see the doorway of a thousand churches. Well, it's because you're dying. You're going to heaven. I'm hitting you in my laser eyes. So this is a song from someone being hit with laser eyes.

Yeah. In your eyes, I'm about to die. Your eyes, here they come. We should drop an album. I'm just saying. Erica. When did the, hey Erica? Yeah.

When did the heart? But wait, what if we did? We have enough. 10. Nine. We have enough. We have enough. enough material of bit songs

that we could do a whole little bit album. I mean, theoretically we could have released an album with the audience created songs from the Brennan vocal You know, remember when we did a 400 track? Remember we did a song contest?

What a time to be alive. It was great. It was great. Yeah. There were, and then shout out to our finalists as well. Respect, dude. Respect. Yeah. And to everyone who submitted, Thank you.

Yay. So the heart of my character, I would say, like Brendan, I was actually going to say it was kind of getting more of the complete picture. But in Cheez case, I think specifically the true image of it. I'm trying to think of like there are some things like, I don't know, like Coraline or Hans Labyrinth or different things where it's like you can see. the echoes of the reality in a fantasy. And so sort of mirroring that first, like that first scene that we did, that was the role play. I think, you know, it's the first time you see the character. And the first impression is, especially when it's something so drastic, is such a huge impression.

And then we spent the rest of the time being like, well, wait, where is that? Like, why is that fantasy that she was acting out for money not in her personality? Yeah. It's like, and then seeing, getting the mirror of it in the flashbacks. Yeah. Like, I remember listening to it and listening to us talking through it. And I was like, everything feels like, okay. Like that, it just like backfills the rest of everything else.

Yeah. I just got to shout out the, like, we called it sort of the mixtape, the production phrase for. Doing the mixtape with y'all was maybe my favorite thing thus far in a long and illustrious career. Like of what I've GMed that I was most like just lit up my brain in the coolest possible way. Like we got context for chi and the dissonance between like the narrative that she moves through the world. Like writing versus the reality of it, which is always so fun to look at like that difference in the story that is told about. you, getting to see Zadavins greater context so you have a sense of like this scale at which his life operates that you're like, oh my God, if I had to be that broad, if I was part of

something that expansive, I would also want to damp in it. Like it just provided a perfect, like, well, yeah, I would try to narrow up my focus to exactly what's in front of me and exactly the like safe feelings that you can like rely on because you can see. spin out seeing just how much you can touch and how much you have access to. And then the conceptual moment with Excelsial of just that made me cry a lot just so you know. Why is your stuff going on in your life right now? It's tough about how we all relate to the concepts of mother and father and childhood and how consciousness is actually layered on top of those primal relationships and does not precede them. What are you talking about? I thought it was going to go different and then it ended up

being a beautiful treatise on what it means to be alive and bring life into the world. And it's just I've never been more, like, from, like, as a GM, I guess this question is a little different, but everyone became characters that, like, felt like they were real and rooted in my brain after the mixtape sessions, because it was like, oh, you actually get to, like, see foundationally the interiority of these characters and, like, what, what they're sort of circling around as you proceed in the next, like in the future arcs to like take them through plot events. Now I understand sort of who they are in their brain and their heart. And it's really cool and you guys are the best to do it. And it was so fucking

fun. I appreciate it, dude. I think that, you know, I think one of the joys of Worlds Beyond Number in con with all of the other exciting tabletop opportunities that we pursue is that like the scale of this and the intimacy of it allows us to, you know, to discover and try and push in ways that we haven't. And, I mean, you know, I've done plenty of, like, flashback scenes or moments that give context, like, to those, to the moment. Like, I've done flashback scenes in a session that give context to, like, the immediacy of what we're dealing with.

But I think to fully do, I mean, those were sessions that we recorded coming into the studio separately. with you. And it's just the two of us sitting, playing out context for a character we've already been playing with, like, whose future we know. That, I think, was very new for me. And I think it was, like, a really cool place to take this story. And I think it was fun to work with all of you to discover how do those things work? How do those things then feed?

Because that was, like, a whole conversation we had behind the scenes of, like, how do these preludes? work. Do the preludes come out as like Z's prelude, then cheese prelude, then XL's prelude, or what we decided on going on or doing, which was this cool interweaving of those stories. And so I think to move and be in that place of discovery is just everything, represents the heart of what excites me about being at a table with all of you guys. I've been thinking a lot about commercial art lately, you know, with everything going on with evil venture capitalist buying up entertainment, like the entire industries and, you know, the consolidation and the homogenization of everything. And I'm just so grateful to have

this outlet where we can control completely what we create and to do things that are, I guess, like in retrospect, risky, I think, because I feel like in. most commercial art, you're like, well, no, how do we tailor this to what we think the audience wants, you know, as opposed to what we want to do? Yeah. And like, I don't think most places would give like 10 episodes to, or I guess seven episodes to sort of not lay out the premise to like let it, to let it be that complex, you know, and to do it in the, structure that we did it. And I'm really grateful for that. And it's so cool seeing it all come together after hearing all 11 episodes together. Because it's just, it's so radically different than

most commercial art, which is, let's be honest, most mainstream art is done with, you know, consumption in mind. Yeah. So I, yeah, that's, that's my, I just been thinking a lot about that. They already made three dunes, so we have to do something risky, because they already made the blockbuster version of this story. Yeah, yeah. There it is. He beat us to it.

Denny got there. Deney, beautifully and well-stated, and I think a large part of the reason we're able to make those, you know, radically different choices than other medias because of all of you by the fireside. Yeah. What the fuck? What's up, brother? That's up, brother?

Am I asleep out here? What's going on? Sounds like you're over there just fucking dream it about the Kenner's ass. So somebody's got to- I was also thinking about the Kenner's ass. So somebody's got to step up and thank these pictures. You can see your reflection in that backside, baby. Yeah, what's up?

This guy is just fucking wax-awed, wax off on the back to Kenner right now. I'll tell you, man. I'm not the only one. Hey, oh, who's waxing off out here? Inspiration, inspiration, inspiration. Remember that, remember that inspiration for when we come back and start playing again. Great. I'll bring up where I got it from.

Yes. But thank you to everyone by the fires. Yeah. There it is. He's got, Brennan's got to do it. I got to do it. It's just not the same.

What the fuck? Everyone who supports all of us. And we also, by the way, this was also the book in which we, we've talked about it already, but once again, just having the Kickstarter closed. It's just a mind-blowing. Oh, my goodness. Abria, just, you know, I know it's not Solari-related, but it happened. We kick-started our graphic novel. Yeah.

Did you hear? When I was in Panama? Yes, why you were in Panama. $2 million. It's so crazy to be the most sleep-deprived I've ever been in my life. So it was just a fever dream of like looking at the internet going, that can't be real. I'm seeing floaters in front of my eyes, and that must be another one of them. You're dreaming this.

And then going back to a hazy two hours before a baby screams. And then I screamed because it was real. You guys, it's so cool. And then ice cream because it was real. Yeah. That's so cool. Thank you so much. I hope everyone picked the wizard.

Again, I am competitive. Yeah. They need to never tell me what the proportions. Yeah, everyone picked the wizard, dude. Yeah, I'm sure everyone picked the wizard. Yeah, it was totally, it was kind of wizard forward. Yeah, that's what I'd like to think. Yeah.

If I go on the slack later and see that that's not true, I'm burning Solari in orbit. I'll blow it up. The Wizard's Grank asks, Uh, uh, y'all are always so intentional in naming things. And it's always fun to either catch the meaning from context clues or explanations by the fireside, like the angelic convention used for Excelsio.

It makes your world so much richer and I appreciate it a great deal. What I can't figure out is, where do the names minus M and L drive come from? Ooh. Minus M. all of these are dumb, and they're all jokes. They're not dumb. Everything's always a joke. Well, it's jokes is where I feel comfortable.

But minus M refers to the fact that a minus is a single straight line and that in typical fonts, whether a letter has small dashes at the edges or ends of letters are called serfs. So seraph M is the joke there that it's a, it's minus M becomes. I watched Erica. The joke is that thoughtful. Can it truly be called a joke? Exactly. Like, I mean, you can call it a joke, but to my, like, on your scale

of your scale, it's a joke. On my scale, it's poetry. Oh, that's very kind. In my book, jokes should be funny. I don't need jokes to be funny. I'm different than Erica. I have been, I have just been excoriated live on this podcast. I mean, Dan, you are right. It's not funny.

Clever. Go with you here. So you know Sarah, right? It's going to be poetry because it sure as shit didn't make me out. Is that what poets are? Are poets people that get up at an open mic and go, not a lot of laughs? That was all poems and then walk off.

You guys have been to those open mics where a person does a full 10 minutes set to silence and goes, oh, y'all didn't realize that was poems? That's dumbass, dumbass, dumbass, that was poem. That is both called deaf jams. And then it's either a poetry jam or a comedy. damn based on audience response. Yes, exactly. One of the most embarrassed moments I've ever had in my, I don't even know, I don't know

if it was, I was embarrassed firsthand or second hand, but I was at, I was at a student lounge club, like, like, talent night at my, at SUNY Ulster when I was a student there. And a dude got up who was like a full-ass poet. He like had a little brown tweet that he was a poetry man. And he started his poetry performance by placing a little green acorn on the stage in front of him. And in a way that he was so performative of like, this is a moment.

I placed the acorn. And then he walked off and I was helping to orchestrate the like open mic. Oh, no. And I also remember I was going to, I went to college a little earlier. I was 14. And he like got out. He was like spitting.

He was performing with poetry so hard. And he ended and he's like, death, death, death. And darkness. And he walked off. And I went, hey, mister, you forgot your acorn. And I ran up and grabbed his acorn and ran after him and caught him by the vending machine. He was a Pepsi vending machine.

And I went, your magic acorn. You forgot it. Do you, how do you feel knowing you've done the funniest thing that you'll ever do, but you did it at 14? But I did it in 14. Squeaky voice teeming that dude's whole vibe. Mr. Your magic poetry acorn. You left it on the stage.

Is it crazy? I feel like we're never going to get moments like that again. Like, I think that the fact that everything is filmed now means, like, the poetry, literally describing somebody as a poetry man is so fucking perfect. Like, I, like, it's like... I can see him.

It's so, he's so real to me. Right. I know that he would probably prefer I refer to him as a poet, but really he was a poetry man. He's a poetry man. All right? This is like where I talk about escape room men. Yes.

You know what I'm talking about. 100%. And it's just like, does that guy still exist? Or does the guy who could become, the poetry man go it's not worth the risk somebody will film me and then I will be

torn apart by the internet and labeled the poetry man and then become a meme that is that outlined and that is afraid to like they don't dance at race I have a friend who's a theater teacher and he talks about that that it like it takes for his acting classes

it takes almost two months before anyone actually feels like they're doing anything because there is they live in fear that they will be secretly recorded and then put on blast. What a prison, Jesus Christ. You can't be a poetry man or a hoetry lady. Or a hoetry lady.

When we were in the club, Pee-D Pablo told you take your shirt off, twist it around your head like a helicopter. We were sweating out weaves and wig. And you would leave the club looking absolutely wrecked. But no one could see it on the one photo you took on your Motorola razor with three pixels. It was fine.

Yeah. There's no more poetry man. If there's anyone out there who knows where the poetry men have gone, please, please drop coordinates. Wait, no, no, no. I urge you, please, be the poetry man you want to see in the world. Be the poetry man you want to see the world. You could have a little Ziplocs that they have at weddings now where you put your phone in it. Yeah. Yes, exactly. I ran up to him and I said, you're acorn.

And he said, he said, it's, and I was like, is this like a good luck charm for your performances? And he was like, no, it creates, he says, no, it creates a line of demarcation, a proscenium between the audience and I. No. And I went, nice. It's like, take me back. Take me back. This feels, I feel like Ebenezer's fruit right now, and you are a ghost that is taking me back to a different time where poetry men roamed free. Right.

Exactly. Then he went. Then he went to Tummel. that night and went, I crushed. I did incredible. A young child ran up to me as I drank my carbonated beverage and said onto me,

why, the acorn, and I delivered onto him a truth of which he was not aware, and thus I changed a life. You planted in him a seed like an acorn. Like an acorn. God, I'm doing it right now. I'm doing it again.

It's poetry. It's back. It's you. You're the chosen one. You're the chosen one. God, really enjoy that. Damn, bro. That's great.

An L drive. L as a suffix connotes the name of God, especially in angels. Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, all of those L names. So like friend of God, chosen of God, worthy of God. Who is like God? And the L drive is also because I think they are like sort of pan-antheistic, that it is like all of creation is the body of God. That like we are in, that the L drive,

and also the Iran had believed that reality is a simulation, but that God or creation is the recording of that information. Like, in other words, if you were to say, like, so what you think all of the universe is artificial, they would be like artificial in that it is the creation of God. And so they're, you know, like, you know, the watchmaker analogy extended means this being fake, doesn't mean it's not important.

It's the most important because it is the artifice that the Lord has crafted. And so... Is that a joke too? Jesus. I can't tell. I do think you teeing that up with...

Like, if you just said it, I mean, I'm glad we got here. I'm glad you said it because then we got to... I'm going to go fuck home and think about the poetry, man. But I do think it's like... If you hadn't said that,

I think we would have just been like, oh, look at that. Yeah. It is beautiful and profound and very clever. Wordplay. Yeah. I actually do think wordplay is not the same as jokes.

I do think that wordplay is its own form of just like, literally like that crow on that damn yogurt lid that I think about once a day. Do you not know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're back, baby. We're talking about crows. It's your first day back. Welcome back.

This motherfucker won't shut up about this crow and this yogurt lid. I tried so hard to school my face. I was like, no, no, no, you'll remember. Clearly, this is being referenced, like, a thing you should remember. And then everyone got to me. And I went, oh, I haven't fixed it yet because they can tell. It was just the late great David Graber, who was an incredible anarchist anthropologist and sociologist, who wrote a lot of amazing books and was sort of the intellectual patron of the Occupy movement back in the day.

When Richard Dawkins was popping off on one of his selfish gene fucking things about, like, We are, all organisms are actually here to just deliver genes to the next iteration. You know, in this way that all muscular podcast hosts, all these very vascular podcast men have taken on where all of biology gets reduced to reproductive or survival drives, like animals are machines created by forces of the universe to simply do these really reductive things. And it leads to social Darwinism and these other fucked up ideologies. Basically being like everything the animals do is either. fucking or eating. And David Graber just posted, wrote this amazing essay I think about all the time

in the baffler called The Importance of Play. And he just had a video of a crow on a snowy rooftop that was very slanted that had found a yogurt lid and was figuring out how to snowboard on a yogurt lid. And he said, what's the crow doing that for? What's the crow do that for? And it just was like, like, sometimes we do things just because we can.

And it had my favorite definition of play in it, which was play is reveling in the mastery of one's own abilities. Then you fly, you go, oh, how high can I fly? How fly as high as I can? And just, you know, that's very beautiful. Oh, I like that. I don't know. We're related back to something we were talking about.

Oh, who cares, man. You know. That's so funny because I wanted to praise you for your Olympic level lock-in when you came back and you were like Aunt L Drive after the craziest tangent. Well, I like, I don't really remember. I don't know. This is the rhythm of these podcasts, right? Yeah.

A bird comes up, focus on Brennan. The beginning of something comes up, me thinking something's funny, focus on, you know, it's just like horny stuff happens. Oh, I remember that you got me back there. Wordplay is just play. There's just some fun in making the language connection, even though it doesn't make you wrong. Revelling in the mastery of the language. Yeah. There you go.

There's a bit. And speaking of play and fucking, I'd like to go to a question from Ewan. I've never jumped onto the, like, question. list so fast to be like, what a segue. There are no questions about fucking, but I think that just... Do better. Okay, audience, you heard any of your first. I love how intricately woven cheese backstory is in the preludes. Oh, thank you. It has added

so much depth and complexity to the character. Erica and Brea, how did you navigate the push and pull of crafting both cheese character and the world she lives in? I'm fascinated by how collaborative the process has been, what did each of you bring to the table? Nothing. This is all Erica. You go. No, no, no. It's, it's so wild because in our, from our initial talks about it, she was integral, like, she's personality and backstory was integrated with, like, was enmeshed with the world. Yeah. You know, because we were talking about, like, I think early, there was an early iteration where it was, you know, it was always that it was like a

conglomerate of, you know, sort of pirates and, and, and there do wells and sex workers. And, like, I think that originally we were talking about, you know, like a, like a cobbled together flotilla, you know. Yeah, it was like Ho Tortuga. Yes, exactly. I feel like I remember the word ho Tortuga. And then, you know, Sexy Space Macau. Yeah. It involved in. It was a And so it really was. That's still in my notes in a way that I'm like, I got to, I got to find all and replace. No, I have it in mine too because it was just, and we were like, yeah, Macau, but from. Yeah, but from Skyfall.

The way it looks when you're on the Dragon Ball and the Totsie. Yeah, yeah. Not like how it actually is. It's funny because in a fireside where you weren't here, we went deep on Macau from Skyfall. Wait, what? So it's very funny that like now we're having. Now we're revisiting this like point of inspiration, but now connecting the two dots where I feel like before it was just me and Brendan learning about the inspiration. But now it's like, oh, the two people is very like a fun.

Yeah. I'm having fun. It was, yay. Good. It's a life phone. You're back up, Brianna. We've been missing something. And now it's, you know, the, it's.

My other half of my brain cell. Yes. We did it. We're one whole one now. And yeah, it was always integrated, the creation of the planet and the world and the backstory and the corporation. And we were building the, like, false narrative of it as we were building the actual character as well. Yeah. Which was so much fun because it is like starting out, again, like starting out with the lie.

Yes. The unreliable narrator of it all. This is my favorite. Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean. Yeah. No, no, no, no. With that. And then, but in the purely audio format is even more of an interesting challenge.

Well, there's something really fun in the, like, I don't have to ask you what the lie your character believes is. Like, you're a consummate writer and actor. Like, you'll show it through all of, like, these moments and, like, how you move through space and respond to stimuli. But there's something fun about, like, the conversations that we had before we started recording that was, what's the, like, what's the biggest, like, dissonant moment between what we've, like, built? Like, what's the, if, if Chi as a concept is this sort of, like, X Mach and a backstory Han Solo. Mm-hmm. How, like, what's the sticky point that doesn't quite fit with that slick, like, simple concept of a character? and let's go play in that world.

And using that to develop the like dissonance between what actually happened in that like origin event and who you are and what your character actually cares about. And now like spending how I wish I remember how many like hours we actually spent like playing that backstory but it was several and it was a delight the whole time and you could just feel the tension of as we approached the moment.

Like having it feel like like, oh, this is, to get this to back to fucking. Yeah. This is for play building towards a different kind of orgasm than I expected from the origin event that we met Chi in at the very beginning of the show or the campaign. And that was like such a fun thing to build toward because you could feel it as we were sitting at the table like, this is not going. Like the sexy time said it was going to go.

Yeah. Fuck. Okay, you're making a different choice. This is, this is going to go bad. It's not sexy and fun. We're not doing the sexy fun one. It's messy. It's messy.

And that became so fun and tense. Yeah, I did think about this character a lot. For those of you who don't know, I'm pretty sure everybody listening to the fireside chat here knows about Abria's tenet of what is the lie your character believes about the world. That is something that she said in an interview years ago and it has stuck with me forever. And so this one was less about the lie that my character believes and more about the lie that my character has to make everybody else believe, including the other PCs. And it was so fun to craft. And filling in the blanks of like, we know what happened here.

There was a death and, you know, some sort of sexy, you know, sexy death. And then, you know, but we know that that was a lie. In what way was it a lie? And it was, oh my God, Abria, it's the most fun I've ever had. And then also, because we ended up cutting it down to make the mixtape. And so we still have this incredibly rich and detailed and character-filled, you know, story that just isn't necessary, that it was just informing the things that actually get shared. We could come back. Oh my God. The tape still exists. We can come back. The tape still exists. Yeah.

Perhaps an invitation for more preludes in the future. It's so good. I love you. I love where you're doing there so much. I love you. It's so fun. Like, fuck, fuck. So cool.

You're mine. As we round our way towards home plate, I'd like to put to everyone a question from Caitlin. Thank you, Caitlin. For the PCs, what's one thing that was mentioned briefly in passing that you want to chase down or learn more, about in the next arc. Oh, fucking

apostate. Yeah, apostate. Apostate. Apostate. I do think it's interesting. I feel like, or at least for me, mine is also, I think, something from the preludes, right? I think there was something, it's something from... Perinac. Yes, these glimpses we got into each other's backstories.

Also, like, you know, when a party just adopts an NPC, like in a home game and you're like, you're coming with. us. We're just going to have you here all the time. I don't know. Like, is Ayasa my fox? My the fox? Like, can I also be my the fox? I am fascinated by Ayasa because like she also has crafted a lie. Like, she also has crafted a lie. But like she's kind of, she is kind of in on it. But then there's stuff that I, Erica, don't know. Yeah. That she might know. And I'm just, So excited. Oh, there was some inconsistency in one of the episodes that we got like responses on the

Patreon that people were like, maybe it was a Brea's baby brain. But I also asked a question directly after Brennan answered it and was like, no, I have baby brain problems. This was not one of that. No, no, no. That one is definitely like, because, yeah, again, branding. It's all about building a brand. So what is hers? I feel like Ayatosa is the opposite of the Fox because the,

Fox is this cute helper that we all wanted around all the time. I also has this fun thing where you can't quite get rid of her. And I like that no one feels great about her. Like she's interesting, but she, like, it's very funny when I like push her into a scene and I watch, like, it's mostly the boys, kind of bristle like, I don't, yeah, they're right. Not to trust her, but like, oh, I love her. Good. This is good energy.

It is, it is like a foil of the fox. Yeah, bad fox. Yeah, where it's like the fox just says what he means. He's not like, he's very clever and he's, you know, tricksy. But like he's not going to like lie to people or like construct an elaborate brand. Yeah. I think that the difference is actually like the inscrutability of motive. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Like of the idea of being like there isn't simple. simplicity behind this facade. And so, like, for everything the Fox does, there's always, like, the, whatever his tricks are. He's hungry. He's hungry. He just wants food or to snuggle. Yeah. And then people get so much more complicated. Like, the legacy aspect of Zadavin and what being a Trent means and the secret history of Jenipar versus what we say happened versus what actually happened and what who thinks what happened and what happens. happened. And then even Excelsial, who is sort of like, I realize, like, compared to Z and Chi, almost unburdened by personal past, right? Like that, like, he's, we got to see your birth. And it wasn't that long, like, you know, within a couple decades, you were born and began to build your consciousness. One of the, the characters I play that truly has the least complicated

relationship to his own backstory. I'm here fulfilling my own. function, right? Yeah, Excelsiola has programming. Really programming. And also a very uncomplicated relationship. Think about everyone I've played in Abria's games of like across Evan and Tula and KP Hobb and sort of across all of it. It's always like, oh, complicated relationships to family, complicated relationships to backstory, complicated relationships to how we feel about where we come from. Excelsial is zero complicated relationship to where he comes from and what he's doing. And I think it's very fun to like dive in. So when I also comes with inscrutable with being like, oh, there's a projected

familiarity and a comfort in the discomfort of people around you that leads me to believe that I don't have the full story here. And I think that there's a, there's an interesting moment there of trying to, how do you put it? when your whole survival strategy is to constantly project your inner life so that people don't doubt you, when you watch people that are protected, it's very much like, you're welcome to continue to hold onto your cards as mine are all face up. But we cannot pretend that we are now calibrated. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah, 100%. It's very fun. Yeah, the constant arena thing of just being like, I think about those memes of people living in a house with their. wife where their wife gets shocked and surprised when they walk into a room and being like, I'm coming upstairs now. I'm getting a snack. Don't scream if you walk in the kitchen and I'm getting a snack. You could just say my name.

Erica, I did. It startled me when I walked through the door today. Yes, I did. Well, I am not a very calming presence in general. That's not true. You're soothing and I love you. And everything startles me. My husband cannot walk through the house without me being like, Jesus, you've been

here the whole time and I knew that, but like put a bell on, Christ. I sometimes wonder, because I constantly sing little songs in the house, mostly because the more tired I get, the more I just start singing random songs. That's real. Yeah. I'm pointing at Brennan emphatically. It's very real. I sing insane things now.

I sing insane things. But also, I do wonder if it is a bell around the neck strategy of not alarming people. I'm coming. I'm over here. It's like, where is Brennan in the house? And it's just like, you get a line and I get a bo, honey. Just little songs going on around. Yeah, 100%.

And the thing that I think excites me most, I think is, I think there's something to learning more about Chi. And this, I mean, this is like top brain more Lou, but it's like learning what's moving Chi and the ways in which she can move. I think that I was, I think Z is more familiar with cheese. archetype of the Han Solo, sexy space Han Solo. Han Solo is

in space, but sexy Han Solo. And so I think there's something to like the prelude opening up, lose understanding of Chi, which then I think is exciting to see how Zadavin will move as we return to Arc 2. Yeah, it's just the big move and

God, yep, seeing Zadavin come into his name, literally, become Tom Zadavon is so thrilling, and I am so excited for that. The pool scene exists in perfect fidelity in my mind's eye. It makes me so happy. Then I'm like, oh, frame perfect. I can, it's so good.

It's just like where all three of you are in space, in this place. Like, oh, you guys are so cool, and I'm so excited to tell more story. Hell yeah. And so as we bring it to a close, I would turn it to you, Abria. Me. I think you have laid out in these first. Lepiton episodes, an incredible poo-poo platter of tastes, glances, glimpses of this wondrous world of the 40 suns. I think what is most exciting to you as we end this recording and begin to meet probably the next time.

One of the next times we meet will be to run the first episode of Arc 2 of Solari. What is it that you are most excited for people to experience to share with us? us to share with the audience. Gosh, I, there's so much, but like having been sort of pushing you through the filter of here's a bunch of stuff about the world, really, really light touches, what do you care about, what do you want to see? There's something really fun about, like, the massive scale of the world and the like small focus thing that you three care about thus far. And I think for me, it's just right now the little flower that is, isult. I'm so excited for that to bloom.

Look at that. Something to look forward to. I want to thank Brennan Lee Mulligan so much for being here today. Hey, the soup's getting cold. Oh, that's right. We got space soup to eat. I want to thank Erika Ichee. Dystopian future.

And I want to thank and welcome back, the one, the only, a brie, I incur. All the spaceships have tremendous asses. Keep that in your mind's eye, audience. and to everyone by the fireside, we'll see you soon.