PALISADE 29: Honesty and Integrity Pt. 2

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Episode description[edit | edit source]

“What sort of shape is it though?”

“It is empire.”

“Yes, no, I get that, but... Is empire a square? Is it circle? It helps to know the shape of a thing if you’re hoping to break it.”

“Yes. I understand. You tell me, then. What shape do you think empire takes? Perhaps you can see it in a way I cannot, because you first apprehended it from outside.”

“Well, I can’t tell you about all empires, but this one? It wants to be fractal. Each stel tries to make everything inside of it a repetition of itself.”

“Yes. Yes, I see. Stel Apostolos shapes itself as a spear, and so it extends downward in echoing cacophony. Its military bases, its schools, its students, its children—all spears.“

“Yeah, something like that. The trouble is, a fractal is really strong. All those shapes, repeated inwards forever. They flex, like a tree’s branches bending in the wind.”

“Yes, but that is it. The Principality is not an abstract fractal, repeating forever. It is a tree. And a tree repeats only for so long.”

“And when a strong enough wind blows...”

“It can be uprooted.”

This week on PALISADE: Honesty and Integrity Pt. 2

I grieve in stereo, the stereo sounds strange / You know that if it hides, it doesn't go away[Note 1]

Dossier[edit | edit source]

People[edit | edit source]

Routine Rennari (he/him): Half-Apostolsian, scion of a minor Kesh noble house, and the Blue Channel's heavy.
Partial Palisade (he/him): A man who was once a Divine, now living in the shell of a being quite unlike what he once was.
Eclectic Opposition (he/him): A delegate and member of the Cause who left Palisade to spend time working under Exeter Leap before returning to his home planet to investigate the strange factories being built by the Frontier Syndicate.
Gallica (she/her): Elect of the Divine Present. Gallica spent years as Chief Emissary of Stel Nideo, Verse (missionary) in the Holy Church of Received Asterism, but in fact was a signatory to the Pact of Necessary Venture, and when the war spilled beyond Kesh and Apostolos, Gallica betrayed her home Stel to join Apostolos and Nideo. Currently, she leads high level intelligence and espionage operations for the Pact of Free States.
The Glorious Princept, Dahlia (they/them): The second pretender to the title of Princept. Born to house Kesh, Dahlia was once kidnapped by a rebelious Sovereign Immunity known as the Farmer. After being rescued and raised by the then Apokine of Stel Apostolos, they integrated into Apostolosian culture. Though they were not part of the Pact of Necessary Venture at its founding, they welcomed the group’s support, though focused their efforts on the war with the Branched instead of the ongoing civil conflict.
Cas’alear Rizah (cas/cas’, they/them): Leader of the Swordbreakers, an elite unit of Apostolosian-trained pilots who have since sworn service to Millenium Break. Cas holds a reputation for beauty and bravery among allies, but is seen as unflinching and unpredictable by cas’ foes..

Factions[edit | edit source]

The Frontier Syndicate: A powerful conglomerate with a broad purview, including technology, heavy industry, entertainment, telecommunications, and transportation. Led by Exenceaster March (he/him), the Syndicate betrayed the Pact of Free States and joined the Bilats in order to be part of their colonization efforts on Palisade.
The Pact of Free States: One of the two factions vying for leadership of the Principality, a joint operation by Stels Columnar and Apostolos. Led in name by the Glorious Princept, Dahlia (they/them), but operated in day-to-day matters by members of the original Pact of Necessary Venture, including Rye (he/him) and Gallica (she/her). Though they are reformist in some ways, their primary goal is greater autonomy for each Stel, freedom from the legal restraints, taxes, and oversights demanded by the Principality, with additional deregulation to follow downstream.
STEREOMA: Pact truebeliver Cor'rina Corrine (cor/cors, they/them) and cor rival Misericorde (he/they) have begun building a surgical, anti-Bilat hit squad on Paliade.

Places[edit | edit source]

Diadem Gravtrain: While the vast trench-city on Palisade's equator lays abandoned, Kesh has reactivated its railway via an operations center in Carmathen.

Divines[edit | edit source]

The Divine Motion (she/her): One of the founding members of the Pact, the necromantic Apostolosian divine once led its infamous retinue, the Black Century, on Partizan. They were defeated and dispersed, turned into part of Kalmeria, during Operation Shackled Sun.
Present (it/its): On first blush, Present might be confused for a small, if luxurious frigate. And sometimes, it is just that: Its oval structure houses living quarters, a humble armory, enough cargo space to hold a single hollow, and even a fully stocked bar. But at a snap of its elect’s fingers, it transforms into a humanoid war machine that serves its elect loyally, outclasses any Altar currently in operation, and is capable of holding its own against many other Divines in combat.
The Divine Commitment (it/its): A malleable divine made of inky black metal. Has historically required two pilots (both in a condition of ego death) in order to be operated, its current Elect is the Dahlia, the Glorious Princept, who operates it with the aid of the Divine Integrity.
The Divine Integrity (it/its): Sometimes appearing as an articulated staff or a metallic spine, Integrity integrates itself into its chosen user. Once the two are connected, Integrity becomes a powerful exoskeleton, and supports its user in matters of military and morale. Currently, Dahlia, the Glorious Princept, is the elect of Integrity.

Objects[edit | edit source]

Ekpyrosis: Flagship of the Pact’s fleet, a transforming, beautiful monstrosity able to casually destroy worlds while simultaneously supporting life in a vacuum.

Contents[edit | edit source]

Plot[edit | edit source]

Ekpyrosis[edit | edit source]

Present and Gallica have transported Brnine to the frontlines of the war against the Branched, where they dock with and board the Pact flagship Ekpyrosis. Brnine is led into a structure created by the Divine Commitment, where they meet Dahlia, who is also wielding the Divine Integrity. Dahlia tells Brnine that they admire Brnine's work creating the Kalmeria Particle, and asks what drives them in the work they do. Brnine replies that they were just trying to survive. Dahlia says that conflict breeds innovation, revealing that their own goal is to keep the war against the Branched going for as long as it takes for both the Branched and the peoples of the Principality to evolve beyond their current forms.

Dahlia invites Brnine to join them. Brnine attacks them with a makeshift laser knife put together from random parts and objects they've secretly stolen while they've been a prisoner. Dahlia briefly gets the upper hand in the ensuing fight, but Brnine manages to push them back and then kill them. Brnine drops the knife in shock, and when they bend to pick it up, they see Integrity peeling itself away from Dahlia's spine. They pick Integrity up in one hand and the knife in the other.

Blue Channel[edit | edit source]

Back on the Blue Channel, Figure is listening to tapes of Gur and Valence and thinking about how desperately he wants to be able to tell Brnine that Millennium Break has changed his life. Perennial's magic seizes on that desire and physically transports Brnine (who is still holding Integrity) from the Ekpyrosis to the rec room of the Blue Channel. Brnine immediately passes out. They're taken to the infirmary, where Figure stands guard over their door.

Later, when they're awake, various crew members stop by to see Brnine. Cori brings a portable DVD player and a bunch of DVDs, then peppers Brnine with questions about killing the Princept. Thisbe tries to tell Brnine that she is impressed by what they've done, but Brnine misinterprets. Eclectic brings Brnine up to speed on the issue of the Motion factories. Figure tells Brnine about being haunted by the ghost of Gur Sevraq.

From his own hospital bed elsewhere, Jesset texts Brnine an ambiguously flirty message of support.[Note 2] Not long thereafter, Gucci comes aboard the Blue Channel to talk to Brnine. She confesses that she has feelings for them and tells them that, by killing the Princept, they've shown her possibilities for Millennium Break that she previously hadn't imagined. When Brnine says they're with Millennium Break until the end, Gucci agrees that she is too.

Cast[edit | edit source]

Other Characters[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Lyrics from the song Little Dark Age by MGMT
  2. ↑ "I always believed in you 🫡🤕💕"
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