Gauntlet Reading Club: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse / The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power

For the months of May and June, the Gauntlet Reading Club will be reading Black Sun, Book 1 of Rebecca Roanhorse's Between Earth and Sky trilogy, using it as inspiration for a run of The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power, a game of dark fantasy Powered by the Apocalypse.

Content Warnings for Black Sun: References to historical act of genocide. Blood magic. Reference to hand trauma suffered by one character in their past. Depictions of violence. Depiction of the ritual blinding of a POV character as a child in the first chapter.

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

Session 1 will be a book discussion group for volume 1 of Black Sun. During the run, we'll be drawing on it for thematic inspiration rather than specific plot points, and will have a discussion on tone and content before play, as well as establishing Lines & Veils to provide a comfortable play experience.

We'll be using Zoom to discuss and play, but the sessions will only be recorded and posted publicly with everyone's enthusiastic consent.

This game will take place under the Gauntlet Community Code of Conduct and the safety tools Script Change  and X-Card will be in use. I will aim to get in touch with participants through either the Gauntlet Slack or email a week in advance of the game to confirm attendance and provide play materials. A seat has been reserved for a player from off-gauntlet.