Morrigan (Vigil Backstage)

Maiden, mother, crone. Past, present, future. We establish some lore about Gwynned’s mistress, the triple goddess Morrigan.

Programme notes

This production contains drug use, gross tentacles, and fantasy violence with some injury detail.

Our promo this episode is for The Prestige, a film podcast hosted by a filmmaker and a film academic, diving deep into a single film each episode.

Dramatis personae and other definitions

Persephone ‘Percy’ Byron: A Victorian monster hunter and half-sister of Ada Lovelace. Percy tried to time travel from 1852 to 1666 to stop the summoning of an apocalyptic demon, but something went wrong, and she landed in present-day Sherrydown instead.

Graham: The demon equivalent of an accountant, summoned to Earth in error and now trying to make the best of it. He is destined to bring about the Apocalypse.

Gwynned: a former shieldmaiden of the triple goddess Morrigan. For the crime of saving a mortal man from the Morrigan’s cruel whim, the goddess exiled Gwyn to live as a duck, overlooked by mortals. Recently freed from the curse, Gwyn is negotiating a new relationship with her mistress.

Jinny Greenteeth: proprietor of the Grove of Oddities, a tacky Sherrydown tourist attraction. In a past life, Jinny was branded a witch after a series of drownings in her Lancashire village.

Department of Omissions (DO, DoOm): The UK government department tasked with preventing harm to citizens from supernatural phenomena. Severely defunded under Tory austerity policies and currently prioritising major urban population centres.

Sherrydown, Brackshire: A historic English market town. One of the first towns to lose its DoOm office.

Omission effect: The rejection of certain beings and phenomena by long-term memory. Can be suppressed by concentration, mnemonic techniques, hypnosis, trauma, or the light of the full moon.

Credits

COMPERE: Matt Boothman

STARRING:

  • Ellie Pitkin as Persephone Byron, the Exile

  • Alexander Pankhurst as Graham, the Summoned

  • Natalie Winter as Gwynned, the Divine

  • Josh Yard as Jinny Greenteeth, the Spellslinger

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Monster of the Week, designed by Michael Sands

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

SOUND DESIGN BY: Natalie Winter

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

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