The Show
Beyond the Verge (or BtV) is a fantasy narrative podcast. The show, which tells the story of five companions as they venture outside of the limits of their known world, resembles an audiobook, with each episode of the podcast representing a “chapter.” It is written and narrated by G. Galen Mayhew.
From Game to Podcast
Beyond the Verge came from the author’s desire to explore new ways to tell a story. Having enjoyed (and often been surprised by) the freeform style of tabletop roleplaying games, Galen wondered if he could adapt such an unpredictable, sometimes serious, sometimes hilarious experience into a more standard novel-format. After approaching a few friends with the idea, they decided to give it a shot.
Every episode of BtV begins as a gaming session. Each of the main characters is the creation of a player, and that player is responsible for determining their character’s actions, thoughts, and emotions. The outcome of a player’s decisions are decided by a combination of their character’s skills and the roll of a die. The remainder of the story’s setting—from its environments to the numerous NPCs (non-player characters)—are portrayed by Game Master Galen Mayhew.
The result is a story in which the characters direct where the narrative goes, with on-the-fly decisions and lucky (or unlucky) dice rolls having major consequences.
The Story
It is the dawn of an Age of Discovery, and numerous factions are vying for supremacy as new trade routes, resources, and ancient ruins are discovered. Amidst the rush of nations and courageous (or foolhardy) explorers, dark forces are at work, pulling strings and mobilizing servants to their own malevolent ends.
When a man is murdered over an ancient relic, five people from from very different backgrounds find themselves thrown together in an unlikely partnership. Caliban, a printer, who found himself adrift after his shop was burned by dangerous strangers. Decima, a scholar on the run from her own family as she seeks to understand her mysterious visions. Enoch, an old fisherman who has tired of retirement and seeks to replace his sunken boat. Eli, a cheerful halfling who has a knack for killing. And Oturan, proud son of a long line of warriors sworn to defend their kin.
The World
The world of Cosrai, for all its life and varied inhabitants, is little more than a speck in the great vastness that is the universe—a single planet drifting on its course amidst the other planets and fiery stars of the Material Plane. Yet this tiny blue dot is unique; disk-shaped in form and surrounded by a wall of clouds, the planet defies the natural laws which govern the rest of the universe.
Theologians claim that Cosrai’s shape was by the gods’ design—a stage upon which Creation might be tested and the conflicts of the pantheons fought out before a cosmic audience. Believers in such ideology nickname the world the “Dais of Names.”
Students of science and the arcane search for less divine explanations, pointing to the Thaevan Currents—the ever-changing and invisible bands of magic which manipulate all natural forces in random and logic-defying ways. Cosrai’s position at the conflux of the Currents, such scholars reason, would justify its unnatural shape and gravitational field, which pulls all things down towards a point somewhere far below the planet.
For the many peoples of Cosrai, the Thaevan Currents are simply a part of life. Odd climate patterns, floating landmasses, and oceans held Topside as if by surface tension are not that strange a sight. In the lands of Serides, ships’ pilots study kairometry in an attempt to anticipate a sudden shift in the arcane field, lest their vessels be caught in oceans suddenly beholden to gravity’s insistent pull and carried on a doomed plunge over the edge of the world.
As for what lies beyond that edge—the Verge, as it is called—a mystery. Oceans and rivers disappear far beyond a mortal’s vision, as do the mighty and sheer cliffs of Cosrai’s rim. Would one fall endlessly amidst those vapors? Might they eventually strike some sort of land below? Or might they be drawn mid-fall to another of the Planes—caught in elemental, divine, or fiendish realms? Some seek the answers to these questions, while others steer well clear of them, content to live their lives amidst wondrous and unexplained phenomena.
Such is Cosrai.