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radicalreliablerandomness · 8 months

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Podcast Rec Masterpost

I've been asked a couple times for podcast recommendations so I thought I'd post a compilation of some shows and a bit of info about them. Most shows I talk about are tagged below (I ran out of tags) so you can look through fan content as well if you're not one to care about spoilers. My asks are still open for personalized recs if you send me some others that you've listened to just because I love you, yes that's right! You. The person reading this right now!

Here goes!

Dungeons And Daddies *not a BDSM podcast

This show is a dnd actual play podcast. The first season is about four dads from our world lost in the Forgotten Realms in search of their lost sons. It’s a comedy but as with all comedies, you will cry by the end of it. It's super easy to get into with great chemistry between all the cast players and the dm, no prior knowledge of dnd is necessary. They do invoke slight horror sometimes so do keep an eye out for content warnings. Season 1 has 68.5 episodes along with bonus content and a mini campaign in between seasons 1 and 2. Season 2 is currently ongoing. Transcripts available.

The Bright Sessions

This is a science fiction podcast. The premise is a collection of clinical recordings of superpowered people's therapy sessions. The plot gets more interesting and convoluted as you get further in. Incredible voice acting filled with emotion. Does have some heavier discussions so be on the lookout for content warnings. It has 7 seasons (the last two are technically not part of the first five seasons' plot) and is completed. Transcripts available.

Hello From the Hallowoods

A post-apocalyptic fiction podcast. A beautifully written and preformed podcast that explores identity, religion, and other themes in vignettes throughout this haunted world narrated by an omniscient being. Some heavier topics are included so check the content warning before each episode. Seasons 1 and 2 are completed and season 3 will be done soon. Transcripts available.

The Magnus Archives

A horror fiction podcast. A well written chronological story told through anthology which seem to be tape recordings from a paranormal investigation institute. Incredible writing and actors that really bring it to life. This is horror so make sure to check the content warnings. The show is completed at 5 seasons. Transcripts available.

Neighbourly

Another horror fiction podcast! An interesting look into all the houses on Little Street and their peculiarities. Some more peculiar than others. The podcast is absolutely delightful with a horribly fun narrator. I would suggest checking the content warnings as some episodes are more intense than others. The show has 2 completed seasons. Transcripts available.

The Fall of the House of Sunshine

A musical mystery fiction podcast. The first season is about an investigation on the murder of a beloved host of a children's tooth-themed show. That's all I can say without spoilers. There are 3 incredible seasons along with short stories in between each season. Transcripts available until halfway through season 2.

Welcome to Nightvale

Possibly the most well known science fiction podcast, it really speaks for itself but I'll do my spiel anyways. Recorded as snippets of a daily radio broadcast, the show details the weird goings on in this strange desert town of Nightvale. Narrated almost completely by the radio host's smooth voice. It's ongoing and is currently sitting at 233 episodes. Transcripts available.

The Two Princes

A fictional queer romance podcast. It takes place in that special part of fiction that always starts with "once upon a time," it feels like a story book almost. The show is based around two boys meeting in the woods. Spoiler alert: they fall in love. It's just a cute feel good show. The podcast is complete at 3 seasons. Spotify auto-generated transcripts available.

What's the Frequency?

A self described psychedelic noir podcast. It's an absolute blast even if it is a bit hard to follow. Takes place in the 1940s in LA when all radio broadcasts were turned to static. You kind of just have to go with it until you get to the end. Completed at 12 episodes. Transcripts available.

Story Break

A writer's room podcast. The basic concept behind Story Break is 3 Hollywood writers in a room together take a prompt and try to make a story for it in an hour. There are many laughs in this podcast and just all around good humor and vibes. The show is complete at 169 episodes plus two full movie scripts. No transcript.

Who Killed Avril Lavigne

A science fiction podcast. It's about a time traveling pop punk loser and that's all you need to know. It's a podmusical so you'll be getting great nostalgic pop punk type songs along with crying from laughing so hard. Completed at 8 episodes. No transcript.

The Behemoth

A fiction podcast. Based around an unexplainable creature emerging from the ocean and how the world, and one girl in particular, deal with this phenomenon. It is pretty short with the longest episode being about 12 minutes. Completed at 20 episodes. No transcript.

Rude Tales of Magic

A dnd actual play podcast. It is mainly focused on the actual roleplay and story telling as opposed to the actual play. A handful of college students from Polaris University fuck the world up by completing a hazing ritual which in this case is a supposedly demon summoning. Obviously now they need to fix the world. Currently 64 episodes and ongoing. No transcript.

Midnight Burger

A very well written fiction podcast. It’s about a time/space traveling diner where the employees try to help solve a problem every place they land. Think Doctor Who adjacent vibes but with more drama. There is an overarching plot that comes together so look out for that. It has incredible characters that are really nicely fleshed out. You’ll somehow like and hate all of them as much as possible in the best way. Currently has 29 episodes of the main feed and a 9 episode mini-series. Transcript available.

Monstrous Agonies

A fiction podcast. It’s an radio advice segment on a station for “liminal Britain” aka the monstrous world to put it plainly. It’s really chill and comforting. There’s very good advice there and the intermittent ad reads will have you giggling to yourself. Episodes are on the shorter side, averaging about 15 minutes each. It does have some heavier discussions so make sure to check the content warnings. The show is completed at 111 episodes through 3 seasons. Transcripts available.

Desert Skies

A fiction podcast. The voice acting in this one is incredible, it’s the same person the whole time. The show as a whole is also just super well done. The premise is that when you die you show up on a highway and get to this astral pit stop. I’m not going to spoil it anymore you just have to experience it. There is an additional show, Desert Skies FM that's a buddy to this one. I recommend listening to both. Season 1 was completed at 12 episodes. Transcripts available.

Wooden Overcoats

A sitcom dramedy podcast. The show is about two siblings that run a funeral home on an island. It used to be the only one, it isn’t anymore. It has a wacky cast of characters and even wackier plot points. The dialogue can be a little hard to get used to at the beginning but once you get into it it flows easily. The show is completed at 4 seasons. Transcripts available.

Greater Boston

An audio drama podcast. It's set in Boston if you couldn't tell from the title and starts with the death of a man on a rollercoaster. It blends real life with some subtle (and at times not-so-subtle) fantasy elements. It's currently at 4 completed seasons. Transcript available.

Gay Future

A science fiction podcast. In a world where everyone is gay in the future we focus on this one straight kid. Following his journey to destroy the government who are making everyone gay. This is a satire by the way. 1 season completed at 6 episodes. No transcripts.

Death by Dying

A dark comedy podcast. The show follows an obituary writer while he does things that are totally under the jurisdiction of his job. A well written and preformed show. There are a lot of laughs and obviously some heartbreaks as well. Currently 1 completed season with season 2 sitting at 2 episodes for a bit now. Transcript available.

Not Another D&D Podcast

An actual play dnd podcast. This one's more mainstream than my other podcasts so I don't talk about it as much but that doesn't mean it's not incredible. The first campaign is about 3 adventurers off to save the world. Obviously. It can be a bit slow in the beginning but anything past the second half of the first season is incredible. There's humor, drama, love, and much more. The DM is also just incredible. 1 completed season, a couple mini campaigns, and the second season is currently at 43 episodes. No transcripts.

Forgive Me!

A fiction podcast. It starts based around vignettes of confessionals in this small town taken by a new father in the local church. An overarching plot is present but it's generally a feel good, sweet and simple show. They have 2 complete seasons with season 3 currently at 9 episodes. Transcripts available.

Real Housewives of D&D

An actual play dnd podcast. This show is based around the concept of a "Real Housewives..." type show but you don't need to know anything about those to listen to this. It's about 4 reality TV stars thrown into a magical fantasy world with no knowledge of how to get home. There's drama, excitement, danger, and lots more. The first season was just completed at 16 episodes. Transcripts available.

The Silt Verses

A horror fiction podcast. Two people who worship a banned god travel together up a river in a pilgrimage. There is incredible worldbuilding in this show along with acting and sound design. This is horror and a very good one at that so make sure you check content warnings. Season 1 and 2 are completed and season 3 is at 2 episodes so far. Transcripts available.

The Land Whale Murders

A comedy fiction podcast. It takes place in the year 1899 and is about a pair of friends? maybe not, that metaphorically explore the world they're living in. It is a commentary on the world we live in and the problems in it through a hilarious and wacky cast. There are currently 17 episodes between both seasons 1 and 2. Transcripts available.

Elaine's Cooking for the Soul

A post-apocalyptic cooking podcast. The show is about a dentist who makes her way through the fallout of an apocalypse while also making a cooking podcast. It does have depictions of violence, war, and dentistry so check out the content warnings. There are 2 completed seasons. No transcripts.

Fawx and Stallion

A mystery podcast. If you hate Sherlock Holmes you'll love this podcast. Also if you love Sherlock Holmes you'll love this podcast. It's based around the detectives who live across the street from Holmes at 224B Baker street. It's pretty goofy. Season 1 is completed. Transcripts available.

The Amelia Project

A fiction podcast. Follow the shenanigans of this death-faking organization as they take in new clients and hear their stories. It does develop an actual overarching plot later on but every second is fun. Seasons 1-4 have been completed and season 5 is in progress. Transcripts available.

A Voice From Darkness

A horror podcast. It's centered around a radio show hosted by Dr. Malcolm Ryder, Parapsychologist. He helps people who call into his show with supernatural problems, gives PSAs and warnings about strange happenings, and more. Season 1 is completed and season 2 is at 9 episodes. Transcripts available.

Station Arcadia

A dystopian fiction podcast. Formatted through a radio show, it tells the story of a world that's slowly dying. There are vignettes of different characters through different areas of the world. Season 1 is completed at 25 episodes. Transcripts available.

Margaret's Garden

A science fiction podcast. It has two plots running at the same time which keeps you on your toes but makes for an intriguing story line. In one plot line, two agents are sent to investigate the strange happenings of a weird little long abandoned town. Simultaneously, we hear from the past of that town as it catches up to the agents. Completed at 10 episodes. Transcripts available.

Camp Here & There

A horror comedy podcast. It's recorded as a set of daily announcements over a loudspeaker at a totally normal summer camp. The announcements are made by the camp nurse and he's also totally normal. I promise. Make sure to check in with the content warnings as some topics are a little mature or graphic. There are currently 34 episodes. Transcripts available.

Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye

A companion horror podcast. This is actually a bit meta because it is the result of a youtube series. This show is the one the podcast hosts in the series release, it's definitely worth both the watch and the listen though. It's got werewolves and drama. Completed at 10 episodes of video and 10 of the podcast. No transcripts.

I am in Eskew

A horror podcast. It's about a man who's trapped in a city where the buildings always change and the rain never stops. There's a weird monotonous creeping horror in this show that just draws you in. Check for content warnings definitely. Completed at 30 episodes. Transcripts available.

Traveling Light

A comfy cozy fiction podcast. It follows The Traveller on their exploration through space, visiting alien planets and collecting stories to send back to their community. For supporters of the show, it almost functions as a choose-your-own-adventure with choices to vote on and listener submissions. It's made by the same people as Monstrous Agonies so if you enjoyed that, you'd enjoy this and vice versa. There are currently 16 episodes. Transcripts available.

Not yet described but still recommended:

Eeler’s Choice

The Secret of St Kilda

The Endless Ocean

The Department of Variance of Somewhere, Ohio

The Sword & The Stoner

World Gone Wrong: a fictional chat show about friendship at the end of the world

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bestworstcase · 22 days

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…so THAT's why there was so much lingering whale left after the magenuke. Grimmcromancy. Though if Monstra was that hefty (and toothy) before Salem started renovating, I figure those kaiju grimm often wind up on the food chain's other end. And no goddamn wonder the kingdoms stick with airfleets.

i am a normal fan with normal headcanons come closer

aside from the relative lack of biomechanical constraints on body mass underwater compared to terrestrial organisms one of variables correlated with massive size in marine animals is temperature, suggesting that there may be thermoregulatory advantages to getting REALLY LARGE in the ocean or else (with filter-feeding cetaceans specifically) it may be that colder oceans yield indirect benefits e.g. a greater abundance of plankton. with TOOTHED WHALES like our dear friend the cachalot the hard upper limit on size is a function of availability of food; deep-diving whales like the cachalot must exist in a sweet spot between “huge enough to efficiently dive down to where the squid are” and “small enough to not starve to death.” your average adult cachalot needs to eat about 1.3 tons every day. for example.

FUN FACT #1: vale has snowy winters. vale sits ever so slightly north of the equator. it SNOWS in the TROPICS–

FUN FACT #2: argus—the northern province of mistral whose cold climate stymied the empire’s advance into the region until mantle extended a helping hand—is, eyeballing it, somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-40N. cold san francisco. (literally. sanfran is 37N.)

bangs gavel. the first rule of headcanon is no doylist answers to watsonian questions! how come people living in the city-state north of the polar circle dress like this:

not huntsmen/huntresses whose auras protect them from the cold, but ordinary people. no aura training. no hat no gloves that reporter is wearing a PEA COAT.

remnant is cold! a lot colder than our own world. i imagine dust deposits interact with local climates in myriad ways that are well out of scope for This Post Which Is About Monster Whales but on average global temperatures on remnant are Cold. and people run around the polar north with their Bare Hands out because if you plonked them down in a balmy mediterranean summer they would overheat and die

(i am heroically restraining myself here but if you want the really HINGES OFF climate headcanon ask me about tdt!remnant <3)

anyway whales.

abyssal gigantism—invertebrate organisms such as crustaceans and cephalopods that live in very deep water tending to be VERY LARGE in comparison to shallower-water relatives—is thought to be influenced by a combination of factors of which the one that interests us for the purpose of MONSTER WHALES is, of course, colder temperature. remnant is very cold—much colder than earth—and while this would have only a small impact in the very deepest parts of the ocean (the abyssal zone is 2-3 °C), the upper layers will be significantly colder. so we can imagine that marine lifeforms in the bathyal and middle pelagic zones in remnant’s oceans are subject to much harsher conditions than their equivalents in the real world, and extrapolate from this a phenomenon of pelagic gigantism.

with that in mind. the average adult male cachalot is about 16 meters long. they are known to eat colossal squid, which are estimated to grow between 10-14 meters in length, but the bulk of their diet is squid of more reasonable size, such as the clubhook squid (2m). and while this has never been observed, cachalots often have extensive scarring on their heads thought to be inflicted by colossal squids fighting to not be eaten.

consider a very cold ocean with a fairly low vertical temperature gradient—thus weak thermohaline circulation—and thus nutrient-poor and deoxygenated waters in the middle and upper layers—and thus marine lifeforms are sparser than in our world but tend to be VERY LARGE. in such an ocean, we can imagine that the colossal squid would not be an elusive deep-sea giant but rather a squid of normal size; the evolutionary pressures that exist in our abyssal zone to produce gigantism in this ocean extend into the pelagic zone.

in the real world, the colossal squid is difficult prey: living in deep waters, nearly as long as its hunter, armed with hooks all over its arms and tentacles. its great size makes it an important pillar of the cachalot’s diet, but data suggest these whales prefer to gorge themselves on much smaller animals.

what does a cachalot look like in a world without an abundance of 1-2 meter long squid to feast on? plausibly… bigger. a lot bigger

perhaps even SO BIG that the colossal squid is as defenseless against the whale as the clubhook squid is to the cachalot. in fact for the sake of simplicity let’s say there’s a linear relationship between the size of the whale and the size of the squid such that the whale is always about eight times longer than its staple prey. and for maximum MONSTER WHALE let’s take the upper bound estimate for the colossal squid, 14m, and say that’s the average size of a squid in remnant’s oceans. the result is a whale 112 meters long.

which is a little bit less than FOUR TIMES the size of a blue whale

in war we can see that monstra’s teeth are about as long as salem. for simplicity let’s say that salem is exactly 180cm tall (5'11"). the teeth of a real cachalot is about 20cm long, and an adult male of average size is 16m; a single tooth is 1.25% the length of the body. 1.25% of 112m is 140cm, and 180cm is 1.25% of 144m. the largest adult males can grow as long as 19m, with the longest (verifiably) recorded specimen ever found measuring 20.7m. for our MONSTER WHALE, with an average length of 112m, that is equivalent to large male specimens in the neighborhood of 133m being fairly common and the largest known specimen in history being… 144.9 meters long :)

(rest in FUCKING pieces captain ahab)

now if monstra is 144 meters long that does

imply that atlas is pretty gods damned small, way smaller than makes sense in relation to the size of these buildings. but the scale of atlas is just sort of weird in general—like the urbanized area bisecting the farmland, those buildings are shown to be skyscrapers in closer shots and that should make the shield-generator pylons like kilometers tall but they

clearly aren’t because centinels are not That Big. meanwhile the size difference between monstra and a megoliath looks about right for “four times the size of a blue whale” so i’m inclined to just think atlas is supposed to be itty bitty and the proportional size of the buildings is off in the artwork in the long shots as a stylistic choice. because based on her proportions and interior scale i simply refuse to believe monstra is several kilometers long

about the grimm—their WOR episode implies that grimm Are In Fact obligate predators who will die if deprived of their prey: grimm are known to eat their kills and, contra popular belief that they “are not obligated to feed” but “choose to,” they cannot be kept in captivity for study because if they do not break free and slaughter their captors, they… die…

(this is my favorite fact about grimm and my favorite thing about that WOR; here’s the grimm lady outlining the modern-day scientific consensus about grimm with irony so thick you could cut it with a knife. here is a grimm eating! it lunges at a scavenger to drive the animal away from its kill! salem, deeply sarcastic: the common belief is that grimm don’t need to eat, they’re just evil and violent, also they die when you keep them in cages and don’t feed them, if you even CARE)

and in ‘before the dawn’ the characters make observations that lead them to theorize that grimm are actually after aura, not “negative emotions;” given a huge mass of people of whom a minority have supernaturally elevated aura, grimm swarm the ones with juiced aura and completely ignore everyone else.

so they need to consume aura to sustain themselves, and their (supposedly) exclusive preference for human prey is probably driven by humans having a lot more aura proportionate to their size than plants or animals. but aura isn’t restricted to humans and faunus; it’s a life force that flows through all living things on remnant, including animals. aura is a kind of spiritual energy rising from the soul and seems to be (based on what pyrrha tells jaune in v1) correlated to knowledge, both of the self and of the world.

so it makes a certain amount of sense to conclude that intelligence and social complexity are positively correlated with aura levels; cetaceans are both of those things. i also imagine that a creature nearly four times the size of a blue whale would need aura to maintain the structural integrity of its body, even suspended in water. also whales can get the bends! so i imagine deep-diving animals on remnant like our MONSTER WHALES tend to have proportionally much higher levels of aura compared to most marine lifeforms, because the long-term damage done by repeated dives (<- osteonecrosis) would be offset by aura’s healing factor and thus there is selective pressure favoring whales with whatever combination of physical and cognitive traits strengthen aura.

which means i think really large marine grimm like the leviathan would hunt the MONSTER WHALES :)—maybe with hunting strategies akin to orcas preying on cachalots, i.e. in pods targeting calves and injured adults, but also i think grimm are immune to pressure on the grounds that the liquid core of the planet is grimm and i like to imagine grimm crawling out of mid-ocean ridges. so even a lone grimm could probably kill a MONSTER WHALE by forcing it to surface from a dive fast enough. OR HAGFISH-STYLE–

anyway. on the one hand, who is going to get onto a boat to hunt something That Big. but on the other, think of the spermaceti! the blubber! the ambergris! the bones! and the MEAT! you kill one whale and you can feed an entire city for months. and really all you need is a big natural deposit of gravity dust—something like the floating islands of lake matsu would do—that you can carve up to make drogues. few dozen boats, each armed with a couple harpoons roped to huge chunks of gravity dust. you harpoon the whale, fire the dust, the drogues lift it partially out of the water and prevent it from diving, you let it exhaust itself struggling and move in to kill it once it stops moving. salem’s flying battleship whale is just a modification of the technique traditionally used to hunt these things. or if you live on the coast but don’t have grav dust, you harvest drift whales and eat like kings.

in conclusion argus is a whaling town thanks for coming to my tedtalk

#normal headcanons.#please know that every time i make silly jokes like ‘wouldn’t it be funny if salem had just found a whale’#it’s something i am Like This about. brgfgdfk #i also just think its funny for the popular conception to be that grimm only attack humans but people are #blissfully unaware that the ocean is just swarming with whole like PODS of leviathans. because Those grimm eat whales

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