Chapter 1: Let Me Speak First Of Revelations

"On January 4 2021, the river rises."

## Episode Guide

At the town of Marcel's Crossing, Carpenter and Faulkner begin their search for other members of their forgotten river-god faith.

## Description

### Faulkner and Carpenter's Introductions

The episode begins with Faulkner and Carpenter in the marshes of the great river at dawn, a great distance apart and playing Marco Polo. Carpenter wades through the mud and recounts her Nana Glass.

Faulkner interrupts her thoughts at the sight of a dead man, knelt and bound to a post. He had votive hooks cut into the flesh of his throat and ears. Judging by his skin and his decomposed face, he had been here a while and had been picked at by birds. Because of this fact, despite the prayer marks, Carpenter confirms this was an unaccepted sacrifice to an unknown god.

We learn more about Nana Glass, who had lived in the great flat floodplains of the White Gull River's lower delta. She had grown up there, alongside ferrymen, and had watched them be swallowed by the river. Over the years, she pierced her cheeks and lips with 17 barbed hooks. Despite her explicit worship of an outlawed god, she feared nothing except The Trawler Man and knew her neighbors wouldn't rat on her.

On the first day of every new year, there would be someone bound and chained to a post on the tideline, sack cloth over their head and prayer marks etched into the post and their foreheads. Despite her cruelty, she had a sense of sympathy towards her victims, singing them songs of prayer as a way to reassure them of their current status.

She was ratted out by a neighbor, where she was chased out of her home and shot in the shoulder and head. It is said that she sang right to the end, and left her body in the marshlands as a final sacrifice to The Trawler Man.

### In The Car

The scene cuts to Faulkner and Carpenter in a car posing as birdwatchers to hide their faith. Regardless of all the false gear, underneath their passenger seat is a revolver, bullets, a prayer chalkboard, and a tattered copy of The Silt Verses.

Faulkner and Carpenter have been on the road for 16 days prior to the podcasts beginning in search of revelations.

They turn on the radio, which opens up to Mason speaking Trawler Man sermons on an illegal broadcast, and then to Sid Wright. Sid Wright praises the Saint Electric as he reads her adverts. He then speaks of the Grindinglord, the god of their coffee.

### The Riverside Cafe

Carpenter and Faulkner stop at The Riverside Cafe, and meet a lot of fishermen in the diner. They learn that the Trawler Man is not worshipped and is in fact completely outlawed here, the people of the town spitting when they speak his name. The Trawler Man was replaced with fishing gods and light gods and dark gods.

The duo discuss their plans over pancakes. This is Faulkners first mission, and Carpenter doesn't care too much about Faulkner. Carpenter has worshipped the Trawler Man all her life, and has been on the run from the cops. Faulkner attempts to question Carpenter on her past and the like, wanting to know how she got into the faith, but earns no more than dead ends.

In the past, Carpenter and Em lived with Nana Glass, sacrificing random things to the Trawler Man as children. Carpenter was said to be innocent, while Em was an accessory to Nana Glass. Carpenter was taken to a reform school, while Em was sentenced to prison. He was known as a model prisoner, taking up classes. In his writing class he stole chalk, and in his cooking class he stole a knife.

He murdered another inmate, Cook, with his knife, stabbing him in the throat and getting sent to solitary confinement in turn. There was a single security camera, where he wrote Trawler Man prayer marks. A week later, the cells flooded, killing 5 men including Em. It is unknown why the Trawler Man chose Em to save.

Carpenter thought it was her fault, and that Em had been struck down for her disloyalty and loss in faith due to the reform camps songs drowning out the Trawler Mans songs.

Carpenter heard this event on the news, surrounded by the others who were excited to see this death. Terrified, she ran out in the rain and to the pond. The goldfish that were previously alive in the pond were dead, and the water was dark and had a tide. This was her first miracle, and the first time she truly believed in the Trawler Man.

### Marcel's Crossing

The scene changes and they are now in Marcel's Crossing. Carpenter is speaking with Mason over the phone, using a subtle code to avoid detection on tapped wires. Mason comments he is worried about a bad motorist trailing them, and that there was a storm up the river previously. It had capsized many boats, and made one crew of 5 vanish completely. Most of the townsfolk had dismissed it, implying that this was normal happenstance, which lead to their general dislike of the river.

The five fishermen of the Intrepid; Dire, Slater, Smith, Butcher, and Fuller - who was not very well liked, and will not be missed - vanished completely and have not been found.

To rest and remain for a few days, Carpenter and Faulkner go to a motel. Stanton, the owner of the motel, offers to consecrate their mattress ("Praise the Jolly King Kipper!") but the two deny. The two of them settle in their room and discuss their plan to investigate the boat and the disappearance of the intrepid. The two of them decide to steal a rowboat, and set out onto the ocean.

On the water, while rowing, Faulkner sings a hymn to fill the time. Carpenter comments on how she's skeptical about this, though she doesn't know why. She chalks it up to not losing faith in the Trawler Man, but in Faulkner. She shortly finds out that she's wrong when The Saint comes by. Faulkner sees it first, seeing the Trawler Man with his boat and the large boat that was the intrepid floating by.

The Intrepid was turned into a Saint for the writhing creatures of the deep, men bent over or frozen in mid air as if time had stopped, flesh stretched out across the expanse of the boat. Faulkner rejoiced at the sight, but Carpenter did not.

## Trivia

* Carpenter enjoys thick pancakes and cappuccinos.
* Faulkner cannot swim.

## References

1. ↑ Silt Verses Tumblr
2. ↑ Official episode synopsis at https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/5fec690f8211cf453a1b89e2