Bottoms Up! - GM Log
Nathan Altman, Portrait of Anna Akhmatova
I remember doing the recording of this episode. I never had so much fun drinking pretend alcohol. There was some kind of giddiness at the table that night. As if players and characters were in synch in letting loose after a harrowing day. It was truly a fantastic session and doing the editing, there was so much that I had to cut out otherwise it would have been too long, but parts like the “Speak with Oyster” made me laugh all over again. I hope you all enjoyed it as well and that it wasn’t too self-referential. I want to point out that after six episodes we are still in the first day and the players haven’t completed a long rest. Resources are going to be stretched thin.
Setting
Where is the narrator?
Have you noticed our regular narrator was not at their usual post? We know next to nothing about the Unnamed, but they are familiar to us. It is the first time they do not comment at the beginning of an episode. This time there was another voice. Do you have any guesses as to whose it might be? It expresses itself very differently too.
The text is almost the same as the poem “Я пришла сюда, бездельница (A loafer, wandering around)” by Anna Akhmatova:
Original
A loafer, wandering around, —
No matter where, I’m pining bored.
The mill is drowsing on the mound.
Here, years can pass without a word.
Above the dodder, all dried up,
A bee glides gently in the breeze,
I call the mermaid by the pond,
But the mermaid’s long deceased.
The pond is shallow now, enclosed
And covered up with rusty slime,
Over the shaking aspen boughs
The crescent moon begins to shine.
Damp scent of poplar trees is spreading.
I notice everything anew.
I’m silent. Silently, I’m ready
To be transformed, earth, into you.
The episode’s version
A loafer, wandering around…
No matter where, I am bored.
Under the ice, the sea slumbers
Here, years can pass without a word
Over the withered juniper
A gull glides gently in the breeze
I call the mermaid by the bay,
But the mermaid’s long deceased
The creek is shallow now,
And covered with rusty slime
Over the shaking aspen
The crescent moon shine
Damp scent of poplar trees
I notice everything
I’m silent. Silent and ready.
To be transformed, Earth, into you.
I have read quite a bit of poetry as inspiration to create Lamordia. I feel poets are especially talented at building ambiance with only a few words. Akhmatova is one of Russia’s most renowned poets and you can really see why in “A loafer, wandering around”. Boredom is shared with the loafer (sometimes translated as “bum”) from the beginning as if a spell was cast on us, and the sense of decay and heaviness conveyed by powerful imagery like “the mermaid’s long deceased,” “rusty slime,” etc. Above all, my favorite part of this poem is its final line: “To be transformed, Earth, into you.” So hauntingly beautiful, and so perfectly fitting to my designs!
The Unnamed is not gone forever. They will return as they are our main voice for the introductions of the episodes, but for a little while, this new one will stick around. At least until its identity is revealed. I’m eager to hear if you have theories on the narrators and their unique perspectives. Let me know what you think!
Lemons in Lamordia
As we’ve commented in game, lemons are not only a good pairing with oysters, but also great to fight scurvy. What exactly is scurvy you might be wondering? It is a condition that develops due to ascorbic acid (vitamin C) deficiency. Vitamin C is needed to help our bodies absorb iron and make collagen. Without collagen, our connective tissues start going to shit. You don’t want that to happen to you. It does take a while before it shows up so that’s why it’s often related to long sea voyages or famine. Vitamin C is not synthesized by humans, so they must get it from external sources but thankfully it’s rather easy to find.
While it is true that citruses (oranges and lemons especially) are high in vitamin C, many other things can be ingested to fight off the disease. Fresh meat also contains a lot of vitamin C! Salmon, which there is a lot of in Lamordia, is a highly antiscorbutic food. “The ascorbic acid content given is 89.9–215.6 MGM. Per 100 GM. Of flesh. These vitamin C figures are higher than any reported for oranges and lemons and equal those given for varieties of blackcurrant, noted for their antiscorbutic properties.” (Vitamin Content of Salmon) This is why indigenous people of the north never had any problem with the disease without having access to tropical fruits.
Unfortunately, vitamin C is easily destroyed either by heat or light and is water-soluble. That is why even if the British were aware of the scurvy-fighting properties of lime juice (although lime isn’t the best citrus if you must pick one), the juice they used on their ships in the late 18th century was completely useless. (If you want to learn more about the fascinating story of the cure to scurvy, how it was found and lost and found again, I suggest this article. Fascinating!)
All of this to say the team aboard the Asperity is not showing signs of scurvy indeed because they have lemons that were gifted to them, as Captain Alyosha says. Much as I was saying in my previous log concerning medicine; they do not necessarily know why lemons, bought at high cost from the Vistani caravans, cure and prevent the disease. But they know it works. If only they knew that the beautiful, fresh fish in their sea was good enough! But where would be the fun in that?
Mechanics
Room battle map
I did not map out the entire Asperity to the players. I simply found a map of a modern icebreaker that I modified for my own use, but it was never shared with the players. I only described the environment as they moved into it. Their room was different. I wanted them to be able to picture it and make it their own. Finding said room took me FOREVER. I knew I wanted them to stay together, so four beds were needed. And ideally, I wanted a nice living space as well. Having something so specific in mind, of course, nothing matched, but I ended up with something very close.
I settled with a nice map by Matt from Fantasy Atlas. It’s originally two rooms from a map called “The Tavern.” I needed only the top right of the map, so the image is cropped, and I have modified the image slightly by moving one door and closing a wall. By the way, if you are a DM and you are looking for maps, I recommend Fantasy Atlas. He offers a lot of variations for his maps, which I really like and at higher levels, he even gives you PSD (Photoshop) assets so you can create your own maps which is really cool!
Here is the map I have used for the combat if you would like a visual aid to follow along during combat.
