SATAH: Welcome to Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. I am your host, Satah. My goal is to showcase multiple possible experiences of self paced games by inviting guests to play them alongside me so I can compile our stories together. You can support the show financially at patreon.com/foliopod or join as a free member to get access to the bonus podcast feed.
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This is episode two of our games of Immanence, a game on a colony ship a thousand years in the future about "exploring our individual and collective relationships with Earth, each other, ourselves, and the greater universe" by Marcus Hoes. With me again are Jam Edwards, who would like to remind you to touch a physical object during trying times, and garbageface aka gnostic front aka Karol Orzechowski, who would like to remind you to support DIY music, support DIY spaces, and do what you can to look out for each other.
Last week we established that all three of our passengers, incredibly, have woken out of stasis on a journey to an intergalactic cultural exchange, and we saw their first day on the ship. After a brief… not quite as brief as it probably could have been… game philosophy rant from me– I'm so sorry– we will see the next couple days of their trips.
GAME: DAY TWO
SATAH: This could totally be me. Just my… predilections, as it were, and also the fact that I'm probably hungry, honestly. But it's interesting that… this game, I think, in part, is meant to evoke some amount of a- a utopic vision? It says at the end that the world of Immanence is meant to be “an optimistic prediction of what our own might look like a thousand years from now,” and that it's very much meant to be playing in the space of the destruction of- of capitalism and the better world that can come from that.
And I don't know if it's me– because I am kind of a morose person– or if it's the setup that I've stumbled into, or if it's something inherent to the setup of, like, leaving Earth? Which I- I– think that I struggle to– even though I got one that was positive, I really struggle to see leaving Earth as a… a good sign? And I think as I say that, that's definitely tinged by the fact that some of them are like, "You leave Earth by necessity," and others of them are closer to choice. It’s- it’s– that's really difficult to balance, for sure. But it's evoking all of those things, but I find it… so melancholy. [Laughs]
And there's- there's an interesting tension there that… I think what the game is doing is really cool. I like the prompts so far, and I think the structure of it is very cool. And I- I- I- just– there's a little bit of tension there for me between… some of the stated goals and what I am experiencing emotionally as I play it, in a way that I don't think… has to- has to strictly be a problem. I'm just very curious what crack it is that I'm falling into, sort of? Like, where it is in that vision of the world that I am just not quite landing on as I play through the game itself. I'm very curious about the… the different- the difference intents there in design, which I think is just my little editor brain popping up in like– I just love having those conversations with people when I'm working with them of like, what is it you mean by the things that you're doing? Are these tensions on purpose? Or are they not on purpose, but you enjoy them? Or what can you add to the player experience that makes it more likely that their vision of the world will– not of the world, but of the game– will align with yours?
And all of that said, I like what the game is? So I don't– I really don't think it's an issue, but it is a curiosity for me, I guess- I guess is the best way for me to say that.
And all that said, again, I could just need to eat some lunch. I'll probably do that after rolling these– these four die.
MORNING
SATAH: Let's see what happens to me this morning. [Die clattering] On day two.
GF: It's the morning.
JAM: For day two! Let's see what Hill is up to– what I am up to, as I get back into that headspace of being Hill.
GF: Gonna roll a morning prompt. "The pedestrian track around the gymnasium block is set to morning mode. Birds are chirping, a simulated sun is shining, the sounds of a babbling brook project from afar. Do you partake?"
You don't have to twist Terrence Halbersham's arm to take a walk around the- the pedestrian track. Take in some simulated sun, and… I'm going to assume that these birds are simulated. If not, I hope they're doing all right up there in space.
One of the things that the United Space Agencies of Earth realised in sending people up so many times was that they miss the things that they have back home. They miss things like the sun shining and the birds chirping and even just being able to take a walk. One of the things that they decided to do was to provide- begin to provide these things in a simulated way, and the concern and the reason that they didn't do this in the beginning, apart from just, you know, straight up, you know, efficiency's sake was that they were under the impression that if they did something like this, it would result in a sort of piercing the veil and actually be much more difficult for people to handle. They thought that the fakeness of those things would actually depress people further. But what they found was the opposite. It was that people actually really want these things so badly that they will take a fake version, a simulated version, when the real one isn't available.
As I'm walking around the track, the birds are chirping. I hear a peacock, which is very funny. The peacocks have a really funny [Shockingly good peacock impression] kind of sound to them. And I also hear some crows. And although the sound of crows isn't usually, you know, very- very nice for most people, I find it– I find it soothing. The sound of a crow is the sound of the circle of life.
SATAH & JAM: "Another passenger steps out of a VR suite, leaving it vacant
JAM: "and in a single-seat concert hall configuration." A single-seat concert hall configuration.
SATAH: "Do you use it or what do you listen to if you do?"
My first thought there is that this is fascinating to me because I have never been to an event like that. I think– I've been to, you know, bars when bands were playing, but I've never been to a big concert hall. And I think I'll go all in and have it be like there's a- there's an orchestra. There's a full orchestra, and that is certainly something that I've never experienced. I've probably barely even heard orchestral music.
So kind of hesitantly, I step in just to see what that's like? And it's beautiful. I'm– I think that I stay in there until the time runs out. I imagine that these are like programs that run for a certain specific amount of time. And I kind of stumble out in that, like, wonderful haze of just having seen a live performance that is so much bigger than me, that is this big group of people doing something together.
Yeah.
JAM: Hill is curious and peeks in. I think they have not interacted with the VR stuff much since getting on the ship. You know, it was part of orientation and whatever. But obviously they just woke up yesterday, and, uh, I think Hill is more curious about what this says about the last person who is using it and curious about what they were listening to. And maybe will even– they see– yeah. They saw this person stepping out of the VR suite. Might follow that person instead and chat with them about what they were listening to.
Do I want to play that out at all? I don't think so. I think they probably catch up with the person who was just using it, and, um… Hill is unfamiliar with the musical act that they were listening to and so doesn't gather that much information, um but. Just starting- starting off this morning in a- in a curious mood.
AFTERNOON
GF: It's the afternoon of day two. [Die clattering]
SATAH: [Die clattering] Afternoon. I got a one.
GF: "The library is hosting a reading…
SATAH: "The library is hosting a reading of your favorite short written piece
GF: "of my favorite short written piece
SATAH & GF: "featuring a realistic hologram of the author.
SATAH: "Do you attend?
SATAH & GF: "Who is the author
GF: "and what do they read?"
SATAH: I'm fascinated by how much of this is recreating Earth when it seems like we have a- a pretty functioning Earth that we chose to leave. I guess if we're doing a cultural exchange, it makes some amount of sense that we are bringing this kind of thing to this alien gathering. Like, being like, "Here's some of the stuff we make. What kind of stuff do you make?"
I think I go for the reading. But at some point it turns into a Q & A session with this hologram. and that makes me deeply uncomfortable and I leave.
"Who is the author? What do they read?"
GF: One of my favorite stories that I've that I've ever read is written by someone named Lady… Lady Macy Moon. And she wrote just a very affecting story about a day in the life of a rock.
SATAH: So if this is somebody who avoided… or, not strictly avoided, but who didn't happen to be very in touch with cultural events, to the extent that they've never been in a concert hall, I'm very curious what would appeal to them. It- it- it– there's nothing really to stop it from being poetry or fiction. You can- you can be really into that kind of thing and not into live music, but it does feel a little less likely, which makes me wonder if… it is… a- a- a- an essay? An essay or some sort of academic work?
GF: I am a rock. I am a rock.
SATAH: Yeah, I like– I like the idea that it's an author reading one of their papers. And what- what's– what's the topic? This maybe could be part of what my deal is.
Some of the easiest… like, the first thoughts are… biology and plants, anything to do with the sustaining of a human body, but also a– like, climate or growth. Those are- those are really possible and could be interesting.
I'm drawn towards agriculture. And this- this is an author whose work I respect quite a bit. I think we were probably, uh, pen pals while I was in school. They weren't, like, directly one of my teachers, but I read quite a lot of their work and was influenced by them.
And it's… it's plant communication, I think, is what I want it to be. It's- it's– this particular piece, and I think a lot of the ways that– a lot of the things that this particular academic was very focused on are the ways that plants quote unquote "talk to each other," uh… and even the ways that they communicate to animals. The ways that that sort of collaboration can happen of, like, you know, "Eat this and then you're going to spread the seeds when it passes through you." Interpreting that as a form of communication and collaboration and looking at it very much through that lens is something that I find very fascinating and that this person writes about a lot.
GF: I am a rock. It's strange, you know, this business of being a rock. You'd think that by being something so unmoving, life would be dull, but it's not. There's a subtlety to existence that only the stillness of rocks can appreciate.
SATAH: But I do leave when the Q&A starts because… it makes me uncomfortable that they, uh, essentially… this is a person that I've had conversations with and so I can feel in it like, "oh, this isn't quite right. This isn't, like, really how they talk and you are– all of this– there are limits to what a– the algorithm inside even a realistic hologram can do. And so you're basing this off of this person's existing knowledge, but what you can't do is mimic the way– program the way that they would seek new knowledge through conversation. And so the back and forth just kind of bums me out. Uh.
I grab one of the books, I think, you know? Take out one of the books to read a little and spend some time and head out.
GF: To be a rock is to witness the passing of time. And perhaps that is enough.
JAM: Let's roll for the afternoon. Eighteen. "The entire history of one Earth subculture is on exhibit in the museum block. What subculture is it? Do you attend? How did that subculture change between the years 2020 and 3020?"
Um, boy, wow. I'm going to scroll down to the appendix because I- I know museum block was in that appendix of other locations. So "the museum block: a wing dedicated to the entirety of Earth's history from broad sciences to niche cultures. All inanimate artifacts are via replicas and can be interacted with and all animals are artificially intelligent holograms. Specialty exhibits cycle quarterly."
Um, hm… I feel like I'm in the position of either picking a subculture that I'm, like, a part of or have interacted with, which feels very like boring to me– or, you know, feels– feels very like self-centered to be like, yes, they're displaying my thing that I like. Um, or speculating about how a subculture that I have interacted with has changed over a thousand years, which I don't feel qualified to do. I mean– I don't, you know, feel qualified to speculate on how a subculture that I'm in has changed in that amount of time.
But I suppose that's not the point, um.
Hm. Is this a subculture that still exists? Is the question coming to me.
Oh, I think it's soccer. I think that's one that, um– I was trying to think like, if- if we're going to meet aliens, it feels like something super niche would not be what's on display right now. It feels like something that feels much more broadly understandable, even if people are not, you know, part of it. And something that represents something broadly true about humanity and Earth would be what would be on the sort of display cycle right now, what would be being highlighted as we're entering the last week of this journey.
So I picked soccer. Um, or football, depending on where you are in the world. Um– maybe it is not even just soccer, but sort of sport in general, and soccer is like the lens they are using to talk about like, "This is a thing that humans do where we make up rules for fun."
I– I had thought it would be very silly to do, like, tabletop gaming as the subculture, um, and so I didn't do that, but I did do, "Here's how humans made up rules for themselves to follow for fun."
"How did this subculture change in the thousand years?" Oh my gosh. In a utopian society? Um, I mean, capitalism failed at some point in the last thousand years, and so, uh… sports certainly got- got disentangled from a lot of the things that make it exploitative and- and bad.
And I think it went like– there's certainly exhibits about like these big international games, and then there's maybe a fallow period for- for sports and some documentation about, like, very small leagues that got started up and failed in, like, troubled years after capitalism failed but before, um, we sort of rebuilt a better society. People made very, very localized teams, um, and as things got more stable, that very localized sports culture became the sort of default. Like, um, we don't need to expand this into an international spectacle necessarily. It's not so much rooting for your national team, it's rooting for your neighbourhood team, and still feeling that sense of bonding with other people close to you and far from you. Meeting a new person from a different part of the world and talking about your local teams and what you like about them and the players and the… the culture shifted to sort of a hyperlocal culture, but one that, because it had been so international before, exists everywhere, and is still this thing that you can hop into a game in a new place that you're visiting and still feel very at home and excited for it.
And, like, soccer is the one that really survives, I think, is what I'm assuming here. Like, other sports are still getting played. I think… I think American football, um, never fully recovers. [Laughing] Um, because of a lot of reasons. How dangerous it is and how exploitative it was for so long… uh, not that soccer isn't, but– okay, no, this is enough sports. This is not a sports podcast.
That is what's on the Museum Block exhibit. And I think Hill is curious about it and spends a little bit of time looking, but I'm going to go ahead and roll for evening now.
EVENING
GF: It's now the evening.
SATAH: [Die clattering] Three. "The evening traffic simulator is running at the racetrack. Traffic is bumper to bumper, but you can leave whenever you like. Do you partake? What car do you replicate?"
Why… why do we want to replicate that part of human existence? Oh no!
I absolutely don't partake. I walk by it and I'm baffled, exactly as I am now. I head– I go home to read my book for the remainder of this time block.
GF: [Die clattering] "A group of strangers is going for a night swim at the dive-in the theater in the gymnasium block and they invite you to join them. Do you tag along? What movie is on?"
Terrence Halbersham, you may be surprised to know, is not much of a swimmer. Yes, Terrence likes to take a dip in Earth water from time to time. Who doesn't? But Terrence's commitment to the art of quartz painting and their commitment to their craft never left much time for the kind of dalliances that a night swim might entail.
That being said, the idea of the dive-in theater has always moved Terrence. And tonight– tonight the movie's called– [Laughing] I  just used a movie title generator. Tonight the movie's called The Last Lap, colon, Waves of Destiny. Um. [Laughing]
I joined them in the dive-in theater. I actually don't have to swim very much. Um, swimming is rather embarrassing for me, what with my extremely lanky limbs, being– what with being such a tall person. But because I'm so tall, I actually don't really have to swim around. I can just sort of lounge in the pool comfortably.
And… what's it called? Lap of– no. The Last Lap: Waves of Destiny.
The Last Lap: Waves of Destiny is about an Olympian. Hold on, let's see if I can get some– like a water arpeggio going here.
Oh gosh, how do I describe this film? Well, it definitely wasn't a blockbuster when it came out, but one of the things that it was was a cult classic. It follows the swimming career of Oais Lam as Oais tries to become an Olympic swimmer.
What makes this story remarkable from any other human person trying to become an Olympic swimmer? Well, uh, the difference between Oais and all the other Olympic swimmers is that Oais was born with a very rare condition of not having a head.
Not having a head, um, usually would disqualify one from most… pursuits. But, um, in the year 3000, scientists were able to, uh, make the first– make the first person who had no head? No, that's easy. We've been making people who have no heads for a long time. What scientists were able to do was to help a person survive with no head for longer than– longer than ten minutes. And that led to some significant advances in headless science, which then of course led to people like Oais, um, being able to, y'know, reach for their dreams of being Olympic swimmers. In this case.
I'm not gonna– I don't want to give the plot away because I hope that when you get to 3020, you'll watch, uh, what's it called… Last Lap: Waves of Destiny. And when you do that, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I watched it just now.
JAM: Eighteen for evening as well. "Fireworks are being simulated in the…" Oh, I was dreading having to say this word because I don't know how it's pronounced. "Simulated in the… cup-oh-la? Cue-pa-la? Part of me– the very New England part of me wants to say like, cop-oh-la!! Um– "rendered visually over various skylines on the massive windows and accompanied by sound effects. Does anyone stay to watch them? How long do they stay?"
This is also in the appendix. "The crow's nest cupola: a large observation deck at the top of the ship." Um… that's so interesting. It's been a thousand years. I wonder… I assume at this point all fireworks on Earth for the most part are simulated also, so I think it's… oh, it's being rendered visually over various skylines. I think the skylines are a bigger draw than the fireworks themselves, because I imagine they're pretty similar to fireworks that you would see on Earth.
I'm curious if the sound effects are like what fireworks sound like now or if they… I have to imagine they would modify them slightly so that they're not so loud. I understand that's part of the appeal for some people, but it also causes some problems. Um.
I do think the skylines are the bigger draw. That, uh, there's probably a group of folks up there, um, trying to guess which- which city it is. And I think there's probably both, like, contemporary and historical skylines being projected. And so I think this probably maybe happens fairly regularly, um, and so there are- are groups of folks who have gathered and are treating it sort of like a trivia night at this point. Uh, yeah.
The question is phrased in the plural. "Does anyone stay to watch them? How long do they stay?" And I wonder if that's phrased with having a party with multiple people in mind? Am I in the wrong part of the document… um, for a multiplayer game or a solo game? Yep, totally. Nope. I was in the wrong part of the doc. Cool. Yeah. The question is, "Do you watch them? How long do you stay?"
I think Hill notices, definitely, the people who are treating them as trivia and is interested in that, and yeah, I think is like, "This is pretty," you know, "This is nice. I haven't seen fireworks in a while." But is– ends up being more tuned in to the folks who are, like, pointing at, like, the not-firework part of the projection, at the skyline part and- and getting very animated when it- when changes.
Do they go over and talk to them? I don't think so. I think… yeah, the interaction with the person who came out of VR this morning didn't really go anywhere, and so I don't think I'm feeling particularly confident about jumping into another- another social situation. But I do think I would just, like, people-watch for long enough to figure out that that's what they're doing, that they're like identifying what city it is, and- and appreciating that. That's fun.
DEAD OF NIGHT
GF: It's now the dead of night. I'm going to change dies here.
SATAH: Dead of night, rolled a five. And again, that's that same prompt. That's the major metropolitan center in the pan-civic simulator.
I like the idea that I go here partially to read. Reading in my bunk is just kind of like not working because it's weird and unfamiliar and I keep getting distracted by, like, new noises and people and all that kind of thing, and I go out to look for a place and see that the city that I lived in is back- back in the pan-civic simulator.
And it occurs to me that I could take this opportunity to visit a couple places in the city that I never had the opportunity to go, which I think even as I think it, I'm like "I didn't have the opportunity? I lived there for this long. I just didn't go. I could have gone any time." But sometimes when you live somewhere, you just don't go places. That is just kind of sometimes how it works.
I don't go somewhere wildly divergent, but I just go somewhere that I never particularly had a reason to go before, and I sit outside and I read my book of essays until I think that I'm ready to go to bed.
GF: [Die clattering] I once again got, "All of the isolation suites are empty. Feel free to use one." And once again, I'm going to skip it.
JAM: That's a ten for dead of night. Oh, interesting. "The fusion reactor shut down temporarily for routine maintenance. The ship's black hole drive supplies emergency power." This is the same prompt that we got on night one.
And yeah, I mean, I guess it makes sense to me that they would shut it down for two nights in a row. They didn't finish the maintenance last night and they're working on it again tonight.
And so… do I see anything else? I think it's been more of a mundane day.
Yeah, again, I mean, I think it shows up right when the thing I was doing in the evening is wrapping up. So at the fireworks, those- those same sort of projections of empty silhouettes start happening, um, but in the sk– on the sort of observation screen, um, is where Hill and the rest of the people who are still hanging out there notice them. Um, which is a lot scarier, I think, than the first night's situation, because the first thing is just a big empty– and it's, you know, a projection of somebody's bed or something, but from where they are, it just looks like a hole in the ship opening up. And so I think there is a little gasp when that happens from everyone who's still hanging out in that space.
And that's maybe the thing that breaks the ice with Hill and this group of folks who are doing firework pub trivia night. The other folks are maybe chatting about– in the way that, you know, happens when– when you are somewhere and an alarm or siren goes off and people who don't know each other start looking around and talking to each other and being like, "I think," you know, either, "I think we need to go," or "I think it's OK because of these reasons." Everyone is very startled and then it goes away and Hill remembers that that was also happening last night and makes the connection and starts chatting about, "Oh, yeah, right. They mentioned this in orientation. This is the black hole drive. Were you guys… talking about– were you guys doing trivia about which skyline it was?" And they were. And they go through which cities they got to see tonight. Yeah, so that's nice.
And then I think they are- are maybe feeling a little shaken up from that and, um– all of the folks, a little shaken up from that, and the fireworks were winding down anyway, and so they will, uh– they wil part ways. Maybe exchange bunk numbers so they can chat again if they want to meet up and do something else. But that's it for day two.
GAME: DAY THREE
MORNING
SATAH: Let's do day three.
GF: OK. It's day three.
JAM: I'm in the right place in the document. I'm at the tables for one player game. I'm going to roll for the morning of day three.
SATAH & GF: [Dice clattering]
SATAH: In the morning, I rolled a thirteen.
GF: "The pedestrian track around the gymnasium block is once again set to morning mode. Birds are chirping.
SATAH: "Birds are chirping.
SATAH & GF: "A simulated sun is shining. The sounds of a babbling brook project from afar.
SATAH: "Do you partake?"
I don't partake, per se. I think that I… am still– like, I wake up and I'm drawn towards the sun. Like, the- the- the simulated sun that is shining out of here. And I'm not going to do any particular physical exercise, but I sit and kind of half observe the people around me, half just keep reading my- my book of essays.
Probably not for the first time. I suspect this is one I've read a lot, but maybe haven't read since I was in school and am curious, like, is this going to be like the horror of returning to something you loved that was very influential to you that you now have grown beyond, or is it just going to be refreshing? And I think so far it's refreshing, which is a relief.
GF: For the second morning in a row, Terrence takes a lovely stroll. And today, the peacocks and the crows are replaced by wrens, blue jays, and many others that I can't identify.
The simulated sun today feels especially good. They must have recalibrated the vitamin D outputs.
JAM: Oof. Fifteen. "Another passenger, one you haven't met, bears a striking resemblance to someone you've been missing. Who do they look like? Are they on this ship or another? Did they make it off Earth at all?" Oh, I see– is the person I've been missing on this ship or another ship? Did they make it off Earth at all?
Huh! That's an interesting prompt for this scenario where it is a voluntary mission, or at least like a non-emergency mission where we're going to meet new neighbors. This- this could be a much heavier- heavier set of questions if this was an evacuation of Earth.
Yeah, I think the next… so this day three at breakfast– Hill met folks during orientation and training in the weeks leading up to the launch, but really only knows well enough to sit and have a meal with, um, the other member of their puppeteering troop that they came with. Who I think has been… oh. Are they awake or are they still in stasis? Oh, I think they're still in stasis. I think they selected, like– they were very excited for the destination and not the journey. Um, that that person wanted very much to wake up as late as possible. So I think is not scheduled to wake up until one or two days before arrival at Saturn.
Yeah, so I mean… maybe that's who it is that this person looks like. I was going to say, yeah, I think at breakfast Hill catches the eye of the skyline trivia people from the previous night and- and goes over to maybe, uh, maybe sit with them. I think they've been mostly taking meals alone. And one of the folks that they're with, Hill for a moment thinks– oh, I should name this person.
Um, River is the name of the other puppeteer, the performer who is still in stasis.
And yeah, this person who is sitting with the skyline folks at first, Hill's like, "Oh, River's up! River's awake." But like, no, it is just like a person with a very similar hairstyle and maybe, like, very similar glasses frames, and, uh, yeah, they get that like momentary shock of like, "My friend!" and then realise that it is just a different person.
So that's interesting. Yeah, not as heavy as it could have been, as I said, but definitely told us a little bit more about Hill and the circumstances that they are in.
AFTERNOON
GF: It's the afternoon.
SATAH: [Die clattering] My afternoon roll is a seven.
GF: [Die rolling] "A stranger is alone in the engine room, crying in the ambient light of the fusion reactor.
SATAH: "If you ask them what's wrong, they will say nothing."
GF: "If you ask them what's wrong, they will say nothing.
SATAH: "Do you say anything?"
GF: "Do you say anything?
SATAH & GF: "Do you acknowledge them at all?
SATAH: "Why do you think they're upset?"
GF: "Why do you think they're upset?"
SATAH: I like the idea that this is another person who was woken up at the same time as me. I think that that's kind of a thing that, like– people are starting to get it. This is day three. We've all been sort of wandering around and again, everybody has different levels of effects, but I think that all of us are feeling a slight amount of isolation. Because– sort of out of a coincidence of numbers and layout, everybody who woke up– who was woken up in this process, doesn't know anybody else who was woken up. Probably a few of them know people who were already up and they've been able to, like, kind of integrate themselves a little bit, but it still feels weird and unexpected.
And this this is- this is one of those people. And so they're just– they say that nothing's wrong! And I'm like, okay.
And I think out of a, like– almost a sense of desperation, but also genuine curiosity and, like, maybe this person doesn't want this, but like maybe they're– maybe they just– they don't want to talk about what's wrong, but they want to talk. And I ask like, "What are you doing down here? Like, is this– do you know how this thing works?" And, like, gesture. And they sort of, like, nod tearfully and snottily.
And I think I end up getting the sense of what's wrong, which is something to do with… being scared that they're under qualified? Like… they came into the engine room in part to sort of up their confidence. Like, "I'm going to walk in there. I'm going to know everything that's going on. This is part of my job." And then everything in there was just unfamiliar enough that they had a crisis of confidence. And they don't explicitly say that, but it's just obvious from the way that they're talking.
And then I think, without really meaning to, I make them feel better because… I don't know anything about what they're talking about. And I just ask questions and they are able to answer all of them. And slowly but surely over the course of our conversation– I have this very strong intellectual curiosity, right? I like to learn stuff. But I– I just have no– I have almost no context for almost, like– for any of their work. And so I'm asking a bunch of, like, very simple questions and then getting a little bit more complicated because I'm able to make connections and that kind of thing. And they're able to explain a bunch of stuff.
And through that conversation, they're like, "Oh, I was holding myself to a kind of impossible standard or an unrealistic standard." Like, "I might not be the foremost expert in my field, but I am actually very good at this," which can be hard to remember when you are largely surrounded by other experts. But then when you contrast yourself against a lay person, you're like, "Oh! I have forgotten more than you'll ever know. Right!" And I don't think they're shitty about it in the way that that phrase sounds– they're genuinely excited and they're excited to try and explain a bunch of this stuff to me.
And I think, one small detail, I love the idea that, like, they are a terrible science communicator. They are genuinely very good at this, but the conversation, like– I am struggling to grasp these concepts because they are pretty terrible at actually breaking this stuff down for a lay person. And luckily I'm patient and I'm kind of used to that from my own academic career, having to push past that. But… it's definitely– there's- there's a certain amount of me accepting, "Okay, I'm not- I'm probably not going to walk out of this with a full understanding of what's going on, because that's not what this person is good at. This person is good at doing this thing, but not explaining this thing."
GF: I notice this person crying in the- in the light of the fusion reactor and- and I ask them what's wrong and they say, "Nothing." I ask them if they would like for me to sit with them for a while and they say, "Yes." So we sit in silence. And after a while, I reach my hand over and offer it to them and I hold their hand for the rest of the afternoon.
JAM: So let's roll for afternoon on day three. A twenty. Oh, "your favorite major city is being simulated in the pan-civic simulator. What city is it? What time period?" Oh my gosh. Oh boy. Mmhmm. Yeah. [Giggles] I need to speculate about what cities still exist and what they're like.
Um, I do think that Hill is like invited to this by the skyline people who, like, of course– I think some of them are architects and some of them are, um– there might be a few, like, tech people. There might be a few engineers who are like crew members of the ship, um, who during their- their downtime, uh, hang out with these folks. This is a- a not quite an official, like, "architecture appreciation club," but you know, folks who have bonded over, um, liking buildings. [Laughs]
Um, and that is maybe the, um– the person who looks like River is an engineer on the ship, which is why Hill didn't encounter them during the training, because they have done these kinds of missions before and- and were, you know, on a different orientation track.
So Hill's favorite major city is being simulated. I- I mean, I think about cities that I've been to… I don't know if it's Providence. Um, you know? Maybe it is… yeah, I think it is. I, you know, I was- I was tempted to say that it was, um, somewhere more historically significant. Um, you know, I was going to say maybe it is Berlin; maybe they are like simulating the– the fall of the Berlin wall.
Um, and, uh– I think this is all conversation, maybe, that's being had over, over breakfast beforehand. They're talking about other simulated cities that have been featured throughout the trip 'cause a lot of these folks have been awake the whole time and definitely the- the one person who looks like River, who is, um, part of the crew of the ship. And yeah, they're talking about, "Oh yeah, we did, you know, we did Berlin, we did, uh, London, we did Hong Kong, we did Mumbai, we did a bunch of different cities," and talking about highlights of different cities and- and, um, different time periods that- that they went through. I imagine that they, like, would project not just one time period per day, um, but like, you know, for, for this part of the day, it's Edo period Japan, and then it's Tokyo circa 1995. And then it's… yeah.
I think– I think it's gotta be… favourite city. Yeah. If it's your favourite city, I think it's Providence. Um, and it's very possible that in like the last thousand years, Providence has grown and changed a lot. It is, like, pretty close to both Boston and New York, two pretty major East coast cities, and… gosh, I can't, I can't stop myself from thinking, like… the ocean level did rise, um, and so like the people who were living on the coast in- in New England and on the East coast moved- moved inland, and so, like, the population of Providence got a lot bigger very rapidly.
Um, and I think also the- the time period, it moves through, like, pre-colonial era and the Indigenous people- the Narragansett people living there. And then I think there's one segment of the day that's very focused on, like, university life and, like, Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. And um, there's gotta be like a post collapse period, um, which also like– there is a– the- the Providence river that runs through, like, downtown Providence, like– that rising, and probably some of the city getting destroyed, and the parts that are uphill from the river growing and changing.
Um, the skyline folks are– you know, let Hill know that this is happening today. I think it comes up in conversation when they're like, oh, where are you from on Earth? Um, and they're talking about Providence and they're like, "Oh, that's scheduled for the- the pan-civic simulator today!" Um, and they head over and um…
You know, I think as I'm talking about it, I think I probably have mixed feelings about visiting a fake version. I think I'm initially, like, very excited and- and, like– particularly to, like, show these new people around 'cause I think probably, um, at least some of them have never been. Um, it is maybe a larger city than it was in- in the 20th and 21st century, but it's still not, like, an international hub the way that New York is.
And yeah, I think that initial excitement then is like tampered a little bit by, like, moving through the different periods, and so none of it is the city that Hill actually knows. And I think they maybe realise that this is, you know– this is not designed to be a little slice of home. This is designed to be a historical artifact that we're sharing with each other and with these new folks that we're meeting, um, which they can appreciate, but, um, it was sort of the feeling of like, "Oh, I'm going to show them my favourite park," um, and they got there and they're like, "No, that park's not part of this time period."
So, um, uh, yeah, that's the afternoon. Um, a little- a little mix of emotions there.
EVENING
SATAH: Let's see what's going on in the evening.
GF: It's the evening. [Die rolling] "The choral karaoke club is setting up in the theater block and they seem to be devoting the night to one of my favourite musical acts. Who is the artist or band? Do you attend? Do you sing along?"
One of my favourite artists is– I have no musical ability. But one of my favourite artists of the three thousandth century– [Lauhing] no. Wait. Third- three- 24– no wait– uh, 30– 31st century is– tune in for another episode of "Karol garbageface tries to figure out what century it is." The 31st century.
Uh, [Laughing] one of my favourite artists is, is a, is a pretty cool rapper named Ration-Al. And Ration– like, "rationale," you know, like, uh, "What was their rationale for doing this?" Uh, but Ration-AL is spelled like "Ration" and then dash Al. Like A L. Which, you know, whatever, I think is pretty good. Ration-Al.
Um, the- the thing about– the thing about Ration-Al is that they're- they're one of the fastest rappers that's ever existed. And uh, one: I'm not able to- to rap along with their raps at all. Um, but two: one of the things that, uh– they have a lot of fans. And one of the things that they're known for is, um, how much their fans love singing along to what they do. And now as much as I am a huge fan and as much as I- I love Ration-Al to death, um, hearing other people, uh, rap his lyrics just makes my skin crawl, so I'm not going to attend, uh, the- the karaoke club. Uh, not tonight anyway.
SATAH: [Die clattering] Eleven is… oh, "There's a number of former professional kitchen staff among the passengers and they're taking orders for dinner. Order anything, including nothing."
I think at this point… I love the idea that I'm taking this as an opportunity to– like, my stomach has settled. I've been good for a couple of days. And now I'm like, "Okay. Well, I gotta see what's up with the vegetables that they've been growing on this ship."
I like the idea that this ship has been on a very, very long journey? Like, this is a generation ship that… picked us up? Basically. That's one of the reasons we were in stasis is that all of us were put into stasis and tossed out into space to be almost, like, a dead drop for this ship that would be happening to pass by. I think it probably takes a wide orbit of some kind, never really goes close to Earth, but it orbits doing something or other, and its orbit is wide enough that it goes by Mars, which is where we're going. And so they pulled in this, uh– shipping crate– not literally, but kind of like that, of all of us in stasis and we are just going to be put on Mars. And I know that part of this is about what happens with the ship. I don't remember what the options are, so I'll figure that out at the end, but it's possible that, like, we were in a ship that they just brought in and then I'll figure that out, you know? Get there at the end.
So anyway. I order just, like, big ol' salad. Just whatever- whatever they've got going on. As- as somebody who's worked in food service a lot, the idea that you can just order whatever sounds… [Laughing] kind of– sounds like a nightmare. So I am imagining that what that actually means is that they essentially have a set menu that they are happy to do some amount of variation on, uh, for, like– especially for, like, dietary restrictions. And if somebody really wants something, they'll make an exception. But there is a set menu, and I just order the thing that has the most ship-grown produce on it.
And I think I'm going to build a little bit more community here. I think that… the person from the engine room comes and sits with me briefly and, like, points at my book that I'm still working through and says something essentially incomprehensible– is like, "Oh, that publishing company, they do a lot of really cool work. They published this one great collection by," uh, and they cite, like, you know, an academic on nuclear fission or whatever it is that they are not– that they're into that I didn't totally understand. Uh, and they badly try to explain some of the concepts in the book.
And I'm like, "Oh… cool… yeah, I'll…"
And they're like, "You should read that!"
And I'm like, "It sounds a little bit over my head, but. sure. I'll- I'll– I can… give it a try at some point."
And they're like, "Oh, if you have any questions, you could just ask me!"
And I'm like, "Okay, that's really– that's really kind. Thanks."
And then I think that… word gets around. Like, I was talking with… one of the cooks, or… probably there's people who are, like, serving food, right? Um, which to be very clear– like, I'm not going to go into my whole rant about this, but if we weren't in the strictures of the capitalist structure that we all struggle in currently and also in a completely unmanaged ongoing global pandemic, I would love to still be a server. There are complications when it comes to… my body and disability and pain and that kind of thing, but I loved being a server. I love that social role. And so I happen to find it completely reasonable that there would be people on this fully automated luxury space communism vessel, as it were, as I believe it is explicitly described at one point in the book, who would choose to serve dinner to people. 'Cause yeah, so would I.
Um. And I know that that… like, it's easier to understand they're being cooks, right? Somebody has to make the food. But I think that it's really easy and understandable in a lot of ways to assume that there wouldn't be servers? And maybe they get a better title. [Laughs] But… I think there are freaks like me out there who really enjoy being able to do that. And so. I like the idea that some of them exist on this vessel.
And I was talking with one of them, like, about my request for the most ship-grown produce, right? Like, nothing that was brought on frozen or that they've picked up elsewhere or whatever, but just stuff that was grown specifically on the ship, seed to plant, all of it. Uh, and we worked together to find something. And the server told somebody that I was doing this– like went over to– there's- there's- there's farmers, basically. Farmers who come over to talk with me because the server went over and was like, "Hey. That person over there with the book, uh, with the plants on the cover? Has been asking after your plants."
And they come and they join me and we start talking. I think that they do it in a way that is like jokingly threatening at first, like, "I hear you've been asking questions about my produce." And I'm a little alarmed and they, like, laugh and soften and they're like, "Yeah, we grow it! How is it? Do you like it?"
And I'm like, "It's amazing. It does taste different. Why does it taste different?"
And we start talking about the differences in flavour that come from the different cultivation methods, but that also come from genetic splicing that they've done to better conserve resources on the ship. Like… a lot of plants grow in conditions with gravity, right? With Earth-like gravity. And a certain, uh, sect of plant weirdos became very much like, "Ooh. Well, maybe we could save energy on artificial gravity in some sections of farm land if we could create plants– if we could figure out a way to help them grow in less gravity." and- and do a little bit of tinkering and see what happens. And so there are some minor changes in flavour that come from that, because, like, these are plants that were designed to be more efficiently farmed in these conditions.
And yeah. We just have this big dorky conversation. I think the engineer– the person I found crying in the engineering room takes their leave at a certain point. Not in a negative way. They're just like– they were only in here for a few minutes and they're like, "Okay, great! I'll leave you to it. Remember to read that book!"
And I'm like, "O… okay, I– I promise I will try."
And yeah, just spend, spend my evening talking with these- these farmers about the food. At one point they sort of raucously, like, pull one of the cooks out of the kitchen to talk about how they deal with the textural variety of certain, like, radishes and that kind of thing.
And the cook has to be like, "Oh yeah, no, I had to learn– um, I mean, obviously there's- there's– I'm not going to bore you with–"
And we're all like, "Come on! Bore us!"
Um, and just, yeah! We just talk about plants! It's just a group of us talkin' about plants. From different angles. And that's nice and fun. I liked– that was a fun prompt.
The note I took to remind myself of that was "spontaneous plant nerd convention, which feels like a note where I'm like, "Yeah, I'll know what that means." And I will not know what that means. Luckily I recorded it.
JAM: Okay. Let's roll for the evening. Oh! We're back.
So I think after that– uh, I think Hill is– I'm feeling a little off. I keep switching between third and first person, but just know that I'm always talking about Hill, the character. Just trying- trying to use I.
Yeah. I'm feeling- I'm feeling a little off, um, after that, that experience this afternoon, I think, especially after having that moment of thinking that River was here, too, and- and having the sort of unexpected discordance with seeing Providence through the- the weird lens of- of an outsider. I think Hill is- is glad to be talking to a few people now, but, um, it just ended up really reminding them that they're the only person they know really well here is not, uh, is not awake yet and, um, and they're so far, you know, physically and emotionally from home.
Uh, and so of course, I rolled a five, and for the evening we're back in the garden with the bioluminescent plants and fungi! Uh, yeah. Hill, I think, having such a positive experience here on- on the first night when they were feeling out of sorts, gravitates back towards- towards here and is trying not to get their hopes up about it, like, being as amazing as the first time that they went, um, but- but just needs a little bit of- of quiet time. Um.
And I think this time they are thinking more about River and- and wanting, you know– noting all of the plants and fungus that, uh– plants and fungi that they saw the first time they were here and- and made them want to like make weird new puppets. Um, and this time looking at it with the thought in mind of like, you know, "I wish I could show River this, but I don't know if we're going to have time after they wake up." Um… yeah. Maybe will take out a little notebook and start sketching some- some of the ones they want to remember, um, and that they want to share with their colleague.
Yeah, definitely having some restorative alone time, but it's still feeling a little- feeling a little- a little more bummed out.
DEAD OF NIGHT
GF: It's the dead of night. [Die rolling] "The insomniacs among the volunteer kitchen staff are performing uncanny acts of culinary artistry. I can order anything I'd like, including nothing."
You know, there's– there is something very magical about cooking late at night. Um, but one of– one of the ways that I've gotten used to, uh, galactic travel, um, is by not– is by really maintaining a really regimented eating schedule. I find that I can eat almost anything that I like, but if I eat before certain times or after certain times… um, look, let me just put it this way. Having bowel movements in space is… we all do it. We all do it. We all know what it's like. We all know the challenges. And the easier you can make it on yourself, the better. So I don't order anything, but I do go and hang out in the kitchen. And I just– I- I have a really lovely time just watching, uh- watching the insomniacs in the kitchen staff just chopping it up.
But I do turn in at a relatively reasonable hour.
JAM: Let's roll for the night. That is a seventeen. "It's sleepaway night at the museum block. Visitors may sleep among the many exhibits in replicated tents and sleeping bags. The exhibits don't come to life, but the other parts of the museum, like stanchions and kiosks do." Huh. "They move around harmlessly." I'm just thinking about a kiosk moving around harmlessly.
I don't think I'm there. I don't think Hill is- is part of this. Um, I think maybe they spend some quiet time in the- in the garden and then are walking back to their sleeping quarters and, uh, maybe see like… [Laughing] I'm imagining there's just bulletin boards all over the ship with activities that are coming up, um, 'cause there seemed to be a lot of activities. Uh, or maybe there's just, like, a- a fairly complex, uh, schedule, um, that everybody has a copy of. And- and either way Hill is looking at this option tonight, the sleepaway night and- and going, "No… not for me tonight. I do not want to go hang out with people and, um, moving kiosks. I want to go to bed." And they do.
SATAH: [Die clattering] In the dead of night… "the cryptozoologist's club is hosting encounters with everything from cryptids to yokai in the arboretum. Will you attend? What mythological creature do you meet?" Huh!
I think usually this is not an event that I would be interested in, but one of my new friendly acquaintances that I met at dinner– like a group of them came over and the group kind of, like, grew a little bit as like more people came in and they saw their friends and they joined and learned kind of more about what they are. Like, one of them was not a farmer, but is- is focused on… I don't know if they're focused on animal agriculture or just they haven't- they know a lot about animals? And they say that everybody should come because they have been in talks with the cryptozoologists club to make their cryptids more biologically feasible. Like essentially being like, "Oh yeah, of course a unicorn could just magically have a horn, yes– but. What… if we could work backwards to find out an evolutionary reason why they would have them?" That kind of thing.
And– I don't stay for long. Kind of 'cause I'm just tired! Long day, meeting a lot of people. I need to get to bed. But I do come and, like, laugh a lot at this person's alternate outrage and joy as the cryptozoologists introduce these mythological creatures.
And I think that there's probably, like, a- a very friendly, familiar antagonism between them? Like, the cryptozoologists showing, uh, you know, Nessie. And this animal expert shouting like, "Oh, she doesn't have gills? Interesting. How does she breathe underwater?"
And the cryptozoologists, like, exaggeratedly roll their eyes or smile. And one of them is like, "Magic."
And then another one parrots an explanation, like– is like– "Well, actually! It's very similar to whales and how they have to raise up to bring in oxygen and then go below."
And this– I think that the person that I came with is, like, delighted to be countered in a sort of scientific debate. And is like, "Great point! That's why we have so many– that makes a lot of sense. That's why we have so many sightings of her. That's– I didn't mean anything by it. I was just asking questions." Um, and– that's a terrible phrase, obviously, but they mean it in that– in a great, like, self-effacing, like, "You know that I was fighting you, but you're fighting back, and that's great. That's what I was looking for."
And I leave them– I leave them to their reindeer games and, uh, and– head off to bed.
JAM: Okay!
GF: [Singing] Scrubbin' around in the timeline, messin' things up!
Alright.
OUTRO
SATAH: This has been Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. To find where you can find the show, check out foliopod.carrd.co. Sign up as a paid member at patreon.com/foliopod to vote on games and participate in live streams or join for free to get access to the bonus feed with edited audio-only versions of the streams a couple of weeks after they happen and occasional other bonus stuff.
You can find the games, sci-fi stories, and podcasts of Jam Edwards at rjmakes.com. That's RJ like raspberry jam makes dot com.
You can find the music and musings of garbageface aka gnostic front aka Karol Orzechowki at everyoneisdoomed.org. The music in this series was improvised live by him while he played the game.
You can find the games and music of Satah– c'est moi– at gaygothvibes.online and follow me on Bluesky at posatahchips.gaygothvibes.online.
Next week, Jam and garbageface and I will continue our games of Immanence by Marcus Hose. Everything I mentioned here is linked in the show notes. Thanks so much for listening, and take care out there.