The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #553: Thirteenth Hour Sequel Update 4 - Worldbuilding the Food

This week, on the show, I thought I'd explore a little more about how the Thirteenth Hour sequel is going, especially in one small area.  Logan and Aurora, the main characters from the original Thirteenth Hour are last seen on a small island off the coast of the mainland.  (I talked a little about the island in episode 522.)  They learn to be pretty self sufficient there, but I also imagined that they exchanged ideas, customs, clothes, food, and other parts of life with some other groups of people nearby - the half elf community located on the other side of the island and the town of Ravenvale, which has a number of shops, a market where they occasional sell food they have harvested and things they've made as well as pick up supplies, and an inn where they sometimes splurge for a weekend getaway.

I have often thought that in their youth, growing up in the Aquarian orphanage, they would have eaten a lot of soup, since that is cheap and can be easily made.  But I also imagined that in the forested region they lived in, which was intended to be temperate in nature, would have been too cold for crops like rice but okay for grains grown on some of the farms nearby.  The main export of Aquaria would have been lumber, paper, fur pelts, and crops like wheat and other grains which were often sold raw or manufactured into dry goods like noodles. 

I imagined locals would have found all sorts of ways to consume said noodles, so recently, when I was cooking dinner, I wondered if stir fried noodles (lao mien / chow mien - a staple at most American Chinese restaurants) could have also been something they ate.  I don't see why not.  Stir frying over an open fire or a large fire in the hearth would totally be possible, and it's basically what every Chinese restaurant does.  Frankly, it'd be a lot safer and less messy outside or in a space with good ventilation, like in a fireplace, as it tends to produce a fair amount of smoke sometimes and oil get over everything.   That said, once you have your ingredients cut up, it takes mere minutes to sear everything before you have a meal.  Things do need to be cut up in little pieces so it's possible to cook them quickly but again, totally doable.  The only part that would be challenging would be obtaining the noodles as well as some oil so doesn't all stick to the pan.   These things I figured Logan and Aurora could trade for in Ravenvale.  I also imagined them strolling through the market, sampling some of the street foods there, watching them be prepared right there in the open, and then taking those techniques with them back home to their island to test out.

Pictures: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-553-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-4-worldbuilding-the-food/

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Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!  

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music.  (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk