Episode Details

As in certain fantasy series of some repute, Winter has been coming for a very long time in the mythos of Changeling: the Dreaming, but never quite fully arriving. With the release of Harbingers of Winter, we get one take on what it might look like in the 20th Anniversary Edition, in the shape of the various antagonists who populate the world of the game: Autumn People, Thallain, Dauntain, and more. In this episode, we have a conversation with C20 writer, STV contributor, and longtime community fixture Charlie Cantrell about his stewardship of the project under the banner of his group Radio Free Arcadia. Join us as we talk about his history with the game, the genesis of the book, and a chapter-by-chapter exploration of how to deploy these foes—some updated, some brand new—for your chronicle.

notable artworks!

There's much scuttlebutt in the episode about the Brood Mother Fomorian, who churns out chimerical monstrosities from the grist of changelings sacrificed to her maw. (Gross.) Charlie mentions a piece of artwork originally from Denizens of the Dreaming that seems to portend all her squoodly glory twenty years later:

It seems her image was lingering in the pages of canon, just waiting to get a write-up somewhere down the line...

Also, we talk about the excellent art of Alaina Milare, who did the maeghar splat artwork near the end of the book, which is this mopey fae vampire guy here:

Please check out her work at https://www.alainamilareart.com/ ! Much of it is Changeling-focused character work that evokes the spirit of the game and has a very classic splat-portrait feel.

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poll: who's your favorite fomorian?

Just as a shameless attempt to get some awareness out there about our Discord (the link, as always, is https://discord.gg/SAryjXGm5j), we'll have a poll there for your favorite Fomorian character (or general Court, if you can't decide). Because there are over twenty options from the named Fomorians given some details and backstory in the Harbingers book, here are the six heavyweights that you can pick from:

• Balor: the original Big Bad of the Fomorians, with the evil eye to end all evil eyes (as well as anyone who it gazed upon)
• Z'laad, Storm of Color: a pure tempest of primordial and colorful Dark Glamour, rampaging like a cluster headache oil slick through the Dreaming
• Enphida, Goblin Queen of Machines: inventor of despicable war machines, whose inspiration took everywhere from the Unseelie nocker freehold of Goblin Town to (apparently) a tryst with an Etherite mage
• Brood Mother: see above for all you need to know, really
• Bres: the surprisingly beautiful grandson of Balor who was briefly tapped as ruler of the fae by the Tuatha (until it didn't go so well for all involved)
• Marena: Queen of Frost and embodiment of all the cruelty of winter

And if you can't decide, you can always just vaguely vote for The Green Court (inscrutable, nigh-Lovecraftian beings), The Red Court (unthinkably powerful and bloodthirsty war-titans), or The White Court (cold and calculating grand-scale manipulators). Whoever wins, we'll do... something. A write-up? A series of story hook ideas? A ritual sacrifice? Only time will tell!

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optional shapes of things

It's important to remember that the shape of Winter in this book is just one possibility—as we mention a couple times in this episode's discussion, the Golden Rule of White Wolf games, and Changeling in particular, is tha