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This is the maiden voyage of the Icaron - Earth’s first S-Class Battle Station. This demonstration flight has been certified as routine by all relevant oversight bodies. Systems have been tested, personnel vetted, and contingencies reviewed. Passengers are reminded that the Icaron represents the highest standard of planetary defense engineering.

Please remain seated.

Catch the public feed to hear the episode with these links, or anywhere you get your podcasts:

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We recommend listening to Worlds Beyond Number (and the Fireside Feed) on a "podcatching" app like Overcast or Pocket Casts. For more help getting the right audio in the right place, check out our friendly instruction guide.

We are:

Brennan Lee Mulligan

Erika Ishii

Aabria Iyengar

Lou Wilson

Flight of the Icaron was produced by Fortunate Horse and Worlds Beyond Number

Edit and Sound Design by Brian Flaherty from Many Sided Media

https://www.manysidedmedia.com/

Score by Will Savino

https://wsavino.com/

Sound Effect library courtesy of artlist.io

Director of Operations: Melanie Bowman

Social Media Manager: Shannon H

Lorekeeper and Transcriptionist: Jack Morgan E.F. Lavandowska 

Special Thanks to: Amanda Freberg at Big Giant Head and the team at Laservision

Character Art Alecia Doyley

https://tallnquirky.carrd.co/

Ship Art by Britt Anderson

https://brittajj26.com/

Graphics by Lu Tomkiewicz

https://www.lumadethis.com/

You can find transcripts of all our episodes on our Patreon. Just navigate to the post for the episode and the transcript will be attached.

Files

Comments

Ryan Higgins

Lets gooo!! (furiously refreshing Pocket Casts)

Anderson Moss

Holdup, I might have to drop everything rq 🙏🏾

Trey Lord

Agggggghhhh can't wait!

Nepwrath

We've actually never been more back

Hannah Flynn

I've never been so early! Waiting for it to turn up on Pocket Casts and super hyped

Luke

Now if only there was an audio file attached to this post from which we could listen to it…. Jkjk I can wait till it drops on Spotify

Lucia V.

Really wish the audio was shared on here 😅 waiting for Spotify to drop but I prefer having one feed for all my content anyway

Luke

I just sat down to write the upcoming session for my own homegame, but I guess that will have to wait, project Daedalus comes first!

Tara

LET'S GOOOOOOO

whiskeyii

For folks struggling to find the audio, it showed up just fine for me on Overcast (which is also where I catch their Firesides)

Zoop

Oh man-I got this notification and went straight to Spotify wheteupon I discovered it had yet to appear. And now I’m sitting here bubbling with impatience, refreshing that page continuously, and feeling like the world’s nerdiest & most ridiculous addict—oop! Never mind!! There it is, hoorah! I am now off to get my fix now folks—happy listening to you all <3

Seth Floyd

IVE BEEN PRAYING FOR TIMES LIKE THIS

Stone Pengelly

Wooo 1 hr 45 min, oh how you spoil us at the start of 2026!!

Elenie

SO excited to have this to listen to on my commute today!!

Josh Novak

I got it on Overcast

Cameron Schweinlein

Im kinda surprised they didn't do a couple patreon exclusive episodes like with the child saga of the last campaign.

Cody Zimmer

Ah!!! How could you drop this when I can't listen to all of it immediately! :D

Burke

Who is DMing, is this aabrias campaign?

Joel Hicks

I'm so hyped for this!

Susurrus

Omg it’s happening!?

Langorian

Aabria will DM the next main campaign Solari, this is a limited campaign DM'd by Lou

Grace Bee

2 minutes in and I'm already crying about the fantasy of humans choosing space exploration over war

Chill Myah

THE MUSIC IS AMAZING

Lazarus0024

I know we got character descriptions but its funnier to imagine the entire world is just a bunch of (human) Eurselons, Suvi, the Fox, and Ame in outer space

Sean

Hot. Diggidy. Damn. First time hearing Lou as a DM and what a treat. I am 16 minutes in and it is so deliciously descriptive.

Matthew

First laugh out loud moment + a tiny "oof I felt that": Aabria's laugh and the line "Oh my god, I gotta get off of Earth! This place fucking sucks!" And then Lou's description of the takeoff immediately following! Bro is cooking!

Paul

I can't believe the new series is set in a utaupeia

shai

I would listen to Brennan and Lou banter in character all day any day, and it's just as good with Lou in the dm chair this time around

Seth Callis

Good stuff!!! I am so ready for scifi...

Chill Myah

25 mins in- DUDE THIS IS AMAZING!!! LOU IS COOKING I’m impatient for more lol

Val

totally not foreshadowing or looming calling a giant massive space defense wepon the icaron or naming the building project daedalus.....tooootaly normal stuff happening

Matthew

Aabria had to make a Wisdom save so it sounds like some variation on D&D.

Brandon Carbaugh

Classic tabletop lol. DM: Lovingly crafted afrofuture outer space hard sci-fi adventure. Players: that's cool that's cool, CHEESE HEIST

irisilmaril

It makes me sad to see that artlist.io, a website that is partially for sourcing AI generated “art” is still being used to make WBN content. I understand they have a library of stuff made by real people and hopefully thats what the folks at Many Sided Media are using. It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth

Keid

He can't keep getting away with this!!!

Sluagháin Lindsay-Bruns

I didn’t catch that but I caught “Sound Trick” which is a Star Wars 5e force cantrip, which is the system they used for Starstruck Odyssey

johanna

ITS HERE ITS HERE!!!!

kayce.

lou DMing is exactly what i needed! he's finally doing that writing his characters are always talking about 😉

Kelso31415926

I know you're supposed to leave us wanting more, but this is ridiculous! Amazing

Wondering wonder

"...hey, I cannot knock de hustle.... Dis is plan that will work!"

Miyaa

I could tell once Ishii’s character entered that they would have every one of their paranoias confirmed.

VibeWolf

Lou is doing an amazing job as GM. I usually dont care for sci-fi settings but im intrigued. Also more Tube please!

Mad Jax

Do we know what System is being used for this campaign? Regular dnd or SW 5E, or something else?

Bor

Spoilers of course, open at your own risk Spoiler space Open read more Spoiler space FUCK YES DIE HARD IN SPACE LETS GOOOO

Evil Anagram

1) Lou is wording my ass off with his good, good words 2) Every character so far is wonderful 3) I cannot stop thinking about the best way to build a mega-cube of cheese

Michelle Spurgeon

Very cool! Love hearing Lou DM! Another master storyteller! I'm so in on this new thing!

Fxd Gear Queer

It was worth the wait: Lou as DM is magical! Biweekly is going to be tough for me on this one, SciFi is my jam. Feels like Expanse meets Planetes (one of the most underrated SciFi animes btw)

GC

ooooooooooh yeah. Cannot WAIT to dive straight into this new world

Many Sided Media

I can confirm that we're not using any of the AI generate elements from artlist. We've been using them for years so a lot of our SFX library was built up before they were doing the annoying AI stuff they've been doing recently. Their library of SFX is great and we've been sticking to that.

irisilmaril

I see, thank you for the transparency!

bymylights

Loving this! Lou’s descriptions are fantastic. Excited for more :)

Elise Grabda

Lou Fucking Wilson, you mad genius! Hope to see more of Lou in the DM chair in all things

Joshua Vern

Been waiting all my life for taupe 2

Alyssa

They might with SOLARI, which is the next long campaign. This one is either 6 or 8 episodes, I believe

Cameron Schweinlein

Oh I thought this was a long campaign. Damn. Was looking forward to Brennan's accent lol

Sara Sorrell

I think Aabria was DMing this one? Maybe I'm crazy lol

TPK_light

Lou's DMing a short scifi campaign first, and then Aabria will be DMing a longer scifi campaign after that

xatlern

I'm obsessed with the sound design of the part where they can hear a conversation over the comms and then slowly they can hear it in person as they get closer that was so cool. Also, spoiler: Listening to the ending with a terrorist attack on the anniversary of January 6th made for such an unintentionally weird vibe. Just funny timing.

Michelle

Lou coming in HOT and absolutely knocking this first episode out of the park!!! The looming threats are palpable and I'm already dying for the next installment!!!! A perfect start to 2026

Jo Carter

My GOD, Lou. I didn't know how much I needed to hear you GM.

Many Sided Media

I'm so glad you liked that part! It was a fun idea that I wasn't sure was going to work in practice, but I was really happy with how it came together.

Hope

I'm so excited for this. I am working on a tapestry blanket for myself, and I always attach the memory of a story to the piece I was making at the time. (It kind of all gets bound up together somehow; I think that might just be how brains work). I'm thrilled that this is a story I'll be coming back to over and over.

William Wright

Lou says “you see” a lot. It’s not a big deal, but it was noticeable to me

Witch of the woefully forgetful

What a great episode! Lou had such a wonderful way of setting the scene, and the sound design was awesome! I loved meeting the new player characters and i can't wait to see all they will get up to together.💛

Sean Britcher

The "lore" skill checks makes me think SW 5e

Sean Britcher

Ah so a Telsa pre Musk's MAGA-fication situation

Obsequious Diphthong

Loved the little details about the launch from Earth and the fun with novel uses of artificial gravity. Doesn't seem like a combat crew, but I'm sure our Engineer, our Frontier Spacer and our Professional Survivor will have useful skill sets for what's to come.

Maddie Moreland

It’s such a treat to finally get a Lou DM story on the pod! Also, my mental image of Erika’s character is like 1000x more eye-wateringly pathetic than the ep art and I really feel the need to use my limited drawing skills to convey it. I know this is a relatively short series but already the worldbuilding is so fascinating. I’m desperate to know wtf is up with Fishcake.

Drew Faber

These PCs are so fun!! I’m excited for them to show off some more abilities, I love sw5e

A T

Lou Wilson absolutely killing it. So excited for these characters and this story! Thank you for all your hard work!

MyMyOnDaWay

What's 9-1? Ate!!! This was so much fun to listen to. Kiki's little southern accent!!

Emily C

I love it I love it I love it!!! It's so cool to figure out all the relationship dynamics between everyone in a short amount of time. I align with Fishcakes in that I like to know my exits. I'm so interested for what actually happened on Mars. If Fishcakes is a Martian orphan, does that mean Martians are not humans, or is she Martian in the sense of a demonym for where you're from?

Emily C

We can all go home this is the comment folks

The Wizard Solace

Interesting that Erika’s character is described as having “white fluffy hair” but has dark hair in the character art. Did I miss something?

Nym

As someone who grew up in Delaware County, learning that the group noun for hyraxes is “wawa” made my goddam DAY. 🤣 🤣

L J

Star Wars 5e, which is a re-skin of D&D 5e

L J

Lou, this is absolutely amazing. I'm running a game later this week (using Roll for Shoes, thanks entirely to the Kerrrn TM one shot!) and I hope I'm 1/10th as good as you are!

MagnaniMel

I am so glad we're back and so heart broken that I've finished the episode and have to wait 2 weeks.

Frankimer

My man is so panned, there are voices coming from all over the damn place. It's like I'm IN the action

robo

7 minutes in and I am HOOKED. I love the worldbuilding

Moosemade

I'm glad I'm not the only one getting Expanse. Maybe a bit more high tech?

Moosemade

1. Lou Wilson *and* sci fi? Pump that stuff right into my veins! 2. I heard Taupe 2 and immediately went to Vanta Beige from Commodore Hustle. 3. Is the Icaron's design a 3d version of the WBN star logo? Legally you have to tell me.

Jam Leomi

Let's go LOU!! YOU DID THAT SIR!!

Jam Leomi

The rolls for cheese had me cackling. 🤣🤣🤣

Lee Chirtel

This reminds me of the GDI Orbital Defense Ion Cannon and Nod managing to disable or commandeer it.

Jo Carter

On second listen. Does anyone know what "greyspace" is in this context?

Bog Station: Remembrance

I’m positively giddy with how much this is giving Expanse vibes… but with that special Lou ingenuity. The world feels so real. 💫🚀

Moustachecat13

Loving this episode so far and great to see Lou Wilson in the chair! Just wanted to check with other people however, the “bleep” sound effect for the holo-device (phone) that the vase lady uses is really high pitched/loud to the point it hurts my ears? Not sure if it’s just a me thing but thought I better mention it. The rest of the sound design is Stella however!

Bog Station: Remembrance

Top 10 Hot Hits: 1. Mandazi (prev. spelled like the apple transcript spelling and corrected 2. Talia’s taupe so well crafted it sticks for 10 hours 3. The gravity well launch tech: chef’s kiss 4. Lou bringing his best Crew of the Nostromo with Tubes 5. Foreshadowing neck tattoos 6. Brennan showing his Math and Science 7. Everyone is so real and I already love them 8. Expanse vibes for fresh times and I need it like an extra reserve of coolant 9. Hoo boy there are kids-in-danger-STAKES already 10. LOU WILSON ✨

Beignet Gesserit

Riveting kickoff! Cannot wait for the next episode. I truly need two weeks of space material to fill the gap.

Beignet Gesserit

To me it meant unclaimed outer space, e.g. not part of a territory

Becca Mwanja

I made it to 'Mandazi, Mandazi!' then started tearing up! It's such a joy hearing East Africa (as a Ugandan) represented in Scifi fantasy!! 😍 😍😍

Kerri

Hmmm my dad named our old dog Argent. What does Argent mean? Silver. Is this at all related? Or am I crazy.

Josh Grey

Well this absolutely fucks. Damn, what a great start to the story.

sleepysappie

as someone who loves wbn and went through a big trekkie phase/loves sci fi AND of course Lou Wilson... huge for me

Muadwho

Sooooo... Slideball?

Cleo Bear

Utensils in space are always called chefs tools, isn’t that just standard practice?

Natatta

Am I misremembering, but I swear before they were saying that Aabria would be DMing this season?

The jowler

This is lou’s mini campaign before Aabria’s main sci fi campaign, I want to say hers is more futuristic and space opera than lou’s

Tyler Platt

I swear, if anything happens to Tubes, i'm starting a riot. What a way to end the episode too.

Kamuraki

I wonder if Aabria talks with her therapist about how overly good she is at playing privileged rich women, lol

Emilia

Reminiscent of The Expanse.

PriscillaG

Lou and crew! Amazing start. That takeoff scene?! I felt like I was there. Im looking forward to the next one. Also, do we think it's Taupe Too or Taupe 2: electric boogaloo?

dianne mcneill

From Miles WM Fun fact: Spacecraft stink. Astronauts don't tend to notice it, because free fall results in inflamed sinuses, but all the sweat and other human particulate tend to build up around various air scrubbers, filters&such. Spacecraft are RANK.

Kurt Spears

Okay, did Lou make space Die Hard? Kind of getting those vibes.

Emily C

I also want to know the answer to #3

Britt Anderson

Lou Wilson really said “Happy New Year everybody let’s GO TO SPACE” and I cried happy tears 🥹 🙏 Thank you WBN for breathing so much life into all of this.

Alicia

What an episode!!! I’m so hooked!

Sammy Weinert

Andre has some Dr.Doofenshmirtz energy that I’m really enjoying

Arbor

LOU THIS FRICKIN ROCKS, EXCELLENT JOB

Arbor

💀💀💀

Xenkon

Did I miss something? I thought this was abria's space Opera. Don't get me wrong. I'm excited for lou, this is very much not what I was expecting.

Adrianna Veloz

You missed something. They announced Lou's mini adventure will come first and then Aabria's will start.

The Wizard Solemn

Lou absolutely killed it with the world building, what an incredible first episode!!

Vice Versailles

You gotta respect the good doctor for naming the ship the most doomed project title possible. Absolutely impossible to steal without crashing. Like trying to hijack the Titanic 2.

Jordan Arvie

okay world building! let's go Lou! beautiful descriptions! loving the characters already and stoked for more

Elijah Peters

Brennan's character is divorced and has kids. Erika's character was asking about the vents earlier And likes knowing the floor plan? You're on to something. All the dots are connecting

Urte

I’m not into sci-fi, but I’ve watched Starstruck Odyssey twice and I can’t wait for the second episode of this. This fucking SLAPS.

Tim Sprung

And then still trying to fly close to the sun which is the more insane part.

Jakamomo

My brain is truly launched into the cosmos. Setup and.... GO!

Chris Taylor

Oh dear god the names, the sun

Ewizabeth Herd

So good!! The number of times I got chills from Lou’s descriptions in just this first episode…! I’m hooked.

Phillipe Bojorquez

I wish the episodes were hosted on Patreon. I don't use the other platforms so listening is a challenge. Would be nice to be alerted here and listen to the episode here as well. Loving it so far!

renderly

agreed on all counts!

renderly

i thought this would simply fill the void starstruck odyssey left but this makes me feel something entirely new and wonderful! also loving Lou as a gm

Leah Pingel

LOU AS A GM!!!! My heart weeps tears of delight and excitement

Andrew Schmidt

The beautifully Expanse-pilled surface politics in outer space of it all. Lou must’ve been inspired by it at least a little bit, but I’d love it if they talked about it on the Fireside.

S'Morgan

Pocket Casts is a great app if you are looking to give one a try.

Kolbjorn

Oh my god surprise Lou campaign?!?!?! This is so much fun!!

Matthew Parody

Inquiring minds need to know: What mandazi recipe should I source if I want to taste the delicious sounding confections that you all talking about? Please & thank you.

Cristina

Obsessed with them

Phillipe Bojorquez

I'm loving the bond the characters have formed through the ceremonial pilfering of foods 🤣

The Wizard Subjudice

*scampers off to find myself a mandazi recipe, b/c nowhere nearby sells traditional East—African food* (wish me luck! 🥟)

The Wizard Subjudice

I am investigating, but apparently often flavoured with cardamom. If I find a good recipe, I'll 3—point land back in the comments to let you know

Kristen

For me it was the mic feedback, had to take out my headphones

Charlie

I need a full episode of Tubes & Andre just having a conversation

The Wizard Swift

I've never heard Lou GM before. He's genuinely fantastic!

Grace Bee

Oh nevermind it's still war 😭

expandingnebula

the imagery in this is absolutely stunning - Lou you are amazing!!! this is such a gift!

Charles

This tickled all the right parts of my brain. Spaceflight. Hard sci fi. Kenya and Mombasa. Lou talking. I said out loud "WHAT!?" when it ended and immediately purchased a WBN subscription.

Jake Levinson

Hard to believe this is his first time D I mean I think Lou does a great job,

Jake Levinson

The idea that I’m gonna have to wait two weeks or so to see the next one is kind of killing me

Mathias Kofoed-Ottesen

Absolute treat! I always find Lou to be fantastic but very minimalistic in his PC performances, so getting this much of him as DM is really a joy - great job everyone!

The Wizard Saison

If you find one and make it, share with your patron brethren???? :)

The Wizard Solace

Ugh you really think two weeks? Ima explode 😩

The Wizard Subjudice

I found an Eritrean restaurant in my capital city, and asked if they'd could share their recipe with me, and they were kind enough to say yes! I'll drop it in my lunch break 🩵

The Wizard Subjudice

375g cups all—purpose flour 100g sugar 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons ground cardamom ½ teaspoon kosher salt 1 egg, beaten 400ml coconut milk (usually a can) Oil, for frying Icing sugar for dusting Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom, and salt. Make a well in the centre, then use a spatula to mix in the egg and coconut milk until the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Divide the dough into 4 portions. Roll out 1 portion of dough into a circle about 6 ml thick. Cut into 8 triangles. Repeat with the remaining dough portions. Heat the oil in a large pot until it reaches 180°C Working in batches, fry the mandazi for 2—3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Dust with icing sugar.

RHelie93

My grandmother was a 1st gen immigrant scientist and Brennan absolutely nailed the whole vibe of a level of intelligence being used on seemingly frivolous problems like the cheese and teasing subordinates

Devon

The way Lou shines in a totally new way as a GM vs PC. This was so fun!! Love the characters and can’t wait for the full campaign.

RuviGaPo

I love this its so cozy

thequeercat

First time? Good god, Lou. Congratulations, seriously!! Feature length campaign next pretty pls 🥺

John Davis-Piotrowski

Lou- my man killed it! So excited for this mini one!!! And when are we getting Abria at the helm?!?!

Carrie Mook Bridgman

Space filler, like Brennan's "You see that they say..." Gotta give the neurons a couple seconds to fire while improvising.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

At the moment I'm assuming everyone is human and Mars was colonized by humans. Someone born on Mars would be a Martian. But we shall see.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

I think someone drew Fishcakes to resemble Erika and missed that detail of the description.

Sam Mansfield

"Big dreams need a strong foundation." A quick, throwaway line that deserves a gods damned t-shirt cause damn that got me thinking.

Nolan

absolutely fantastic new campaign. LOVE IT

Martian

Oh this is already my jam! So excited to hear Lou GMing!!!! Although, I think there's something up with the audio at about 1:11. Because I think I heard "horrors of Martian rule" but I'm sure it was supposed to be "the horrifyingly amazing Martian rule. That is soooo much better than our inferior Earthling Leadership."

The Wizard Subjudice

(I posted on another reply) 375g cups all—purpose flour 100g sugar 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons ground cardamom ½ teaspoon kosher salt 1 egg, beaten 400ml coconut milk (usually a can) Oil, for frying Icing sugar for dusting Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom, and salt. Make a well in the centre, then use a spatula to mix in the egg and coconut milk until the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Divide the dough into 4 portions. Roll out 1 portion of dough into a circle about 6 ml thick. Cut into 8 triangles. Repeat with the remaining dough portions. Heat the oil in a large pot until it reaches 180°C Working in batches, fry the mandazi for 2—3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Dust with icing sugar.

Samantha Lienhop

"Their stance is not marshall, but communal, a symbol of unity." Beautiful. Lou.

Emily C

Probably writing music or preparing for Aabria's campaign!

Wondering wonder

Can I tempt you to abandon Spotify? Lots of better alternatives available these days... ❤️

golove.

Only 5min in and I’m blushing. How did Lou know my fam was from Kenya and mandazi’s are 🔥🔥🔥!!? I’m locked innnn

Samantha

I wish there was a way to control the volume of the sound effects and background noise. I found myself constantly needing to go back because I couldn’t hear what was being said. At one point I had to pause and look for the transcript because there was so much noise over the dialogue to the point of being overstimulating/overwhelming.

Erin Choi

CHEF TOOLS SUPREMACY!!!!! And fantastic job yall (especially Lou 🤩)

Piper

As soon as I clocked Kiki having a liiiiittle bit of yeehaw in her voice I knew this was gonna be good

Alvin Mutongi

I saw Mombasa and Mandazis and I was hooked

Sawyer Reid

There was something absolutely magical about actually taking off on a flight while listening to Lou describe Kiki’s takeoff for the first time. Nothing will ever come close to that experience again

WhoZat-ItLeo

Oh no! Why do these episodes not work like the fireside chats and older episodes? The direct RSS link doesn't seem to be working and all the other links are either things i don't have or have way worse interfaces that make it less enjoyable. Damn.

Megglow

I love Talia. I had a rabbit named taupe.