The following is a summary of every episode of PARTIZAN pulled from their main episode pages. You can read through in order or click on the episode heading to be taken to the episode page.
PARTIZAN 00: The Divine Principality
We are introduced to the Divine Principality, an empire made up of five great Stels that has conquered much of the known galaxy. While they have access to Divines, much of their technology is limited by the Perennial Wave, which crashes any advanced tech when it is at high tide. The Stels Kesh and Apostolos have been at war for five years — each led by their own Princept who claims the right to rule the Principality — while Stels Columnar, Orion, and Nideo have stayed largely neutral in the conflict.
The game is set on Partizan, a moon at the border of all the Stels, where no Stel is allowed to expand past until they win the war against the Branched. This is where we meet our player characters, divided into two units: the Rapid Evening, a group of press-ganged prisoners working for Kesh nobility, and the Society of Banners and Bright Returns, a mercenary group who works with the Scrivener's Guild.
The Rapid Evening consists of:
- Clementine Kesh, a spoiled noblewoman who runs the Rapid Evening. She is cagey with Gucci Garantine, a friend and rival noblewoman, and tantalized by the Blossom, a beer-brewing monk from Lambic House.
- Clementine’s drive is to become the ruler of House Kesh.
- Exeter Leap, an Equiaxed pirate captured by Stel Kesh. Leap has a strained relationship with Callister Drive Callister, a former pirate who sold out to Stel Orion, and he is the subject of the next book by pulp writer Alise Breka, who is interviewing him in prison.
- Leaps’s drive is to break out of prison.
- Ver'million Blue, a deserter from GLORY, an Apostolosian program that creates supersoldiers cloned from their Eidolons. She is trusting of fellow inmate A.O. Rooke and is sympathetic to Si'dra Balos, a former Apostolosian communications officer from her past.
- Milli’s drive is to claw her way out of the war.
- Sovereign Immunity, a member of the monastic order of the Shepherd's Crook who once participated in a rebellion against the Principality, and before that worked for Crysanth Kesh. He is obsessed with Apparatus Aperitif, the Night Mayor of Logos City, who was his previous bid to get out of prison, and protective of A.O. Rooke.
- Sovereign Immunity’s drive is to be appointed as Clementine’s Sovereign Immunity.
The Society of Banners and Bright Returns consists of:
- Kal'mera Broun, an Apostolosian arms manufacturer and mercenary. They are fleecing Gucci Garantine, who is secretly leading HORIZON, and cooperating with Agon Ortlights, a ranking member of the Company of the Spade.
- Broun’s drive is to buy a spaceship.
- Valence, a Nobel from the Scutum-Centaurus Arm sent to investigate a recent imposition into their region of space. They are intrigued by Rosé Rita, a spy and information broker, and exhausted by Midnite Matinee, the opportunistic head of Carrion Collections.
- Valence’s drive is to secure an ally who will defend the Scutum-Centaurus Arm.
- Thisbe, an agricultural robot modeled after the Hypha who was acquired by SBBR. She is avoidant of Sombre Sky, who she worries will see her as just a piece of new gear, and has an 'uncanny' relationship with Hyphan former-Elect Mourningbride.
- Thisbe’s drive is to return to the farmers who uncovered her on another planet many years ago.
PARTIZAN 01: The Seaside Town of Obelle
The Divine Past and its elect Cymbidium have abruptly diverted their landing course toward Obelle. The town is right on the border of Apostolos, and they'll need to be defended during their pickup by the Oxblood Clan. Originally House Bittenbach were contracted out by the Scrivener's Guild, but their fuel lines were sabotaged, so the job lands to SBBR to run support. Valence, Thisbe and Broun are being shipped out over the sea.
After arriving, Valence chats with Anchor Afton, who warns them that there's a sniper and a Troop stationed at Point Barnacle, and a long-range cannon at Point Carp. Jesset City tells SBBR about a mech he saw hidden in town. In preparation, Broun checks out Points Barnacle and Carp from afar with binoculars while Valence uses their farsight to survey mechs hidden at Point Dory.
As SBBR fords the river to Point Dory on Mow, Broun launches flashbangs. While potential observers are still blinded, Valence heads to the hangar, and Broun and Thisbe attach remote controls to some mechs outside, sending them off to Point Barnacle.
PARTIZAN 02: Obelle, On Fire
In the hangar, Valence encounters the smuggler Tes'ili, but refuses to negotiate; instead, SBBR steal supplies from them and load them into Mo, crossing the river back to their mechs. The long-range cannon at Point Carp begins to shoot at them. Broun reacts with an incendiary grenade while Thisbe destroys the sensor station itself. In response, a Palace Recorder launches, taping the ongoing fight. At Point Barnacle, Thisbe starts to wreck the fields, but before she can, Broun detonates their stolen, remote-controlled Troop to utterly destroy an enemy ace. SBBR's mission objectives are now complete.
Throughout all this, a battle has been going on at Point Albacore between the Oxblood group and the Swordbreakers, with the clock ticking up high. To support Oxblood, Valence plays the anthem of House Whitestar, the house of the Peaceful Princept, as a false flag and distraction. Cas'alear launches their hallow Ataraxia toward Valence. At the same time, Past begins an uncontrolled fall toward Point Albacore. Valence tries to stop it with a psychic shout, which bounces off the Perennial Wave in a visible flash.
The Oxblood and Swordbreakers, including Cas'alear, see the flash and take it as their cue to bug out safely. Valence goes into empathic shock as Past hits the desert sands. Cymbidium is killed by the crash, but manages to send out a last psychic message to Thisbe, who he thinks was sent by Mourningbride: someone has rethreaded the Strand to go "where they must not", and they have to be stopped.
In the aftermath of the crash (recorded by the Palace), rumours spread that House Whitestar is working with the Isles of Logos, an independent region not controlled by any Stel.
PARTIZAN 03: SHORESIDE RECOVERY - DINNERDATE
Crysanth Kesh, leader of the Curtain—the secretive organisation that pulls the strings behind Kesh’s democracy—sends her daughter Clementine to reclaim the body of Cymbidium and the remains of the Divine Past, so it can be rebuilt. Clementine’s black-ops prisoner gang the Rapid Evening accompany her alongside Silversky Salvage and Repair. They travel from the Winter Palace to Obelle on a ship captained by Calendar Longyear.
Whilst treaties between the Stels ensure that bodies of fallen Elects must be recoverable to be honoured appropriately, and that parts of Divines must be returned so they can be rebuilt to maintain the integrity of the empire, Cas’alear Rizah of the Swordbreakers initially frustrates Clementine’s efforts. They spend the night negotiating in Obelle. When it becomes clear Clementine is willing to wield her military power, cas backs down and agrees to grant them access to the wreckage of Past—so long as Clem brings no more violence to Obelle.
PARTIZAN 04: SHORESIDE RECOVERY - BLACKGLOVES
The next day, Cas'alear leaves the Rapid Evening and Silversky with the Zenith Fund scientist Dr. Cardiff Reach at the crash fields. The Rapid Evening intimidates Reach into allowing them to look around without calling for the GLORY supersoldier Kleos. Leap and Millie eventually sneak off and discover the body of an ancient robot called Figure A in the wreckage.
The Rapid Evening finishes its salvage. Gucci Garantine in her persona as "Saint Dawn" of Horizon (and five more Horizon Troops) begin to attack the GLORY facility and Kleos' mech the Epoché. Reach attempts to flee in a rover, but is carjacked by Leap and Millie, who want to escape from their servitude to the Kesh throne. Clem sends Sovereign Immunity after them, who knocks out Reach and then begins the chase.
Gucci demands Clementine turn Reach over to her. In response, Clementine executes him rather than face repercussions for failing to complete her mission. Saint Dawn unleashes the power of her Independence Mk II mech, dazing Clem. On the Rapid Evening's ship, SI confronts Leap and Millie. He points out that they'll need resources and allies to successfully escape, and offers his assistance. Clem delays Gucci so the parts of Past can be loaded onto the ship, but Gucci impales the Panther with her beam partizan. Leap and Millie defend the Panther in their own mechs; Leap drags the Panther back onto the ship and they successfully extract as night falls.
PARTIZAN 05: Profit and Loss
Back at Oxbridge, Midnite Matinee comes to collect the Troop units the Society of Banners and Bright Returns stole in Obelle, citing Scrivener's Guild rules. Broun doesn't want to pay up, but eventually agrees to turn over one of the mechs. They spend some of their time working at a Scrivener's Guild facility to build SBBR's reputation with the Guild and some of it building a small support drone called Bing 32.
Valence travels to the Church of the Resin Heart on the Isles of Logos and meets the enigmatic Gur Sevraq, who tells them about his religion. Gur is concerned about how close the military action in Obelle is to the location of the upcoming Prophet's Walk, which he's led for the past five years.
Thisbe organizes SBBR's new supplies and looks into finding the planet she comes from. Later, she climbs to the top of the Pique Ridge and, taking cues from Cymbidium, uses Mow’s amplifier and her antlers to send a message to Mourningbride. When she returns, SBBR agree to visit Mourningbride at Lake Timea and confirm the message is received. They decide to sell their remaining Troop units to the Church of the Resin Heart as protection.
PARTIZAN 06: A Palace During a Wake
In the weeks after the crash of Past, a state funeral is organised for the fallen Cymbidium. Crysanth Kesh attempts to have Sovereign Immunity interrogated over the events in Obelle, but he deflects the questioning. The Rapid Evening recovers from their battle, with Exeter Leap rebooting Figure A and Ver’million repairing her mech.
SI helps Leap case the prison, and provides support to Clementine as she recovers from being exposed to Independence. He discovers she has always been shut down by her mother and never given the opportunity to learn from her mistakes, and tries to kindle her desire to acquire power.
At Cymbidium’s wake, Clementine draws Gucci’s suspicions by bringing along the Rapid Evening. Meanwhile, when SI (alongside Millie) attempts to ingratiate himself with Crysanth in person, she has him locked in a cell. When he's let out, it's because he's been given a mission from the Curtain.
PARTIZAN 07: Ambush in the Sand
SBBR travels to Lake Timea, in the Columnar-controlled Memoria Teardrop, to meet with Mourningbride. She cautiously tells them that Columnar are looking for the Sable Court, a coven of Ashen witches, and if they are found the Columnar will easily overpower them. She asks SBBR to drive the 301st Appraisal Unit away from Lake Timea (without triggering the Sable Wards).
SBBR preps for the upcoming engagement. Valence uses their far sight to spy on the 301st's camp; their haunted status and the low Perennial Wave creates a ghostly effect as they do. Thisbe scouts by sensing the electronic emissions of the 301st and their mechs. Broun sets mines to block off the enemy's escape. Then, in their mechs, SBBR approaches stealthily through the water.
Thisbe opens the fight by attacking Kenzi in her Obscura, then running distraction when Broun goes after Dina Dash. Cobra Junction begins to lay down covering fire. Valence, in the Hippocampus, closes in with the Obscura and scans it, learning about Kenzi's history and deleting her data on the Sable Court. Mow throws up clouds of dirt as they herd Kenzi away from a ward and into the line of mines, shutting down the Obscura.
PARTIZAN 08: Under the Boughs of the Court
Broun and Thisbe successfully take out Dina's Wedge, but Cobra continues fighting despite being outnumbered. He flees when Kenzi tells him to stand down. Thisbe chases after, taking him down with a tree while Mow is lacerated by his chainsaw.
The 301st leave their mechs. Valence lets Kenzi get a first aid kit for Cobra, but instead she rearms herself. After Valence negotiates and Broun treats Cobra, Kenzi agrees to report only that they encountered another Columnar squad. Broun takes some parts from their wrecked mechs but gives Cobra additional Columnar-appropriate medical supplies to help them leave the area.
SBBR returns victorious to Mourningbride, who takes them through the woods to the Sable Court, a group of Ashen veterans who have defected from Apostolos. The Loess, the leader of the Court, reveals to Thisbe that there are worlds unmarked on any map, which are unserviced by the Portcullis System and left isolated by the empire.
Valence tells Mourningbride a little about the Nobel. Considering Cymbidium's message, she informs them that someone from the Principality must have used the ancient Hyphan Strand technology to travel into the Scutum-Centaurus Arm undetected, without needing to use the Portcullis System. Each of SBBR receives a piece of clarified memoria; Valence's will let them contact the Court again. Broun convinces Eiden Teak to trade them gear.
When they return to Oxbridge, they learn Kesh is launching a new offensive into Apostolos territory to seize Fort Icebreaker.
PARTIZAN 09: DESERT SQUIRE - VANTAGE
This month marks the thousandth anniversary since the prophet Logos Kantel performed his miracle creating the Prophet’s Sea and terraforming Partizan, and the Disciples of Logos are setting out on their annual pilgrimage to walk the Prophet’s Path. Immediately after Cymbidium's wake, Clem accepts a job from Crysanth: defend the Prophet's Path pilgrimage without being identified. At the same time, Sovereign Immunity's orders are to secure Gur Sevraq by any means necessary.
During the wake, Clementine helped Exeter Leap steal a box of rings. In conversation with the novelist Alise Breka, she tells Leap about the powerful rings of the Divine Vernacular, which allow Nideo diplomats to communicate over long distances. He plots to steal one of the these rings from the Song, Aleel Verdicate, a high ranking member of the church of Received Asterism who will also be on the pilgrimage.
Clem and SI join the walk on foot, in disguise, while Millie, Leap and the toughs are on overlook. Gur leads a speech where he declares their divine duty is to move beyond the Principality and toward true freedom. After a few days, everyone has settled in, but the Perennial Wave is high. Millie notices blips on her sensors: a strange sandstorm up ahead that seems to be adjusting its course to the walkers.
PARTIZAN 10: DESERT SQUIRE - RIPOSTE
Clementine and Sovereign Immunity head up to the front of the convoy, noticing as they do that some of the Columnar people are sick. Attempting to stay disguised whilst alerting the pilgrimage to the threat, Clem tries to convince Avar, Gur’s head of security, she is a meteorologist, but only draws suspicion upon herself. As Millie goes to check out the storm and the pilgrimage reaches the edge of the sandstorm, three Columnar mechs start firing at her and the Church's Troop units.
The Pilgrimage starts to scatter in chaos as the sandstorm hits, and the Song and her guard attempt to escort Gur away. SI loudly announces that the Song intends to kidnap Gur Sevraq, and becomes identified as the Farmer. Gur indicates that they'd prefer to go with him.
Clem is in the frightened crowd approached by the Conjurer mech. She announces the presence of the Rapid Evening and calls for the toughs to defend her; they take the Conjurer down, but Clem is lacerated by shrapnel.
Leap, with Millie's help, herds the invisible Thaumaturge away from the convoy. Callister contacts him, and explains he's working for Bittenbach to retrieve Gur in the hopes of acquiring parts of the Exemplar. Leap agrees to back off in exchange for the location of the Thaumaturge and a future favor, though Leap's mech still gets hit by the Thaumaturge.
PARTIZAN 11: DESERT SQUIRE - SLEIGHT
Sovereign Immunity brings Gur's group into a hidden tunnel and collapses the mouth of the cave behind them. At the same time, Clem distracts the Song's guards with flares and reflective chaff before passing out (and taking the scar Obsessed).
Leap leaves his mech and pickpockets Vernacular's ring from the Song without her notice. Millie engages the Thaumaturge and Tempestarii, without enough backup since Leap has dropped out of the fight. She shoots A-tek through the cockpit, prompting Callister to retreat to save her.
Clem regains consciousness as AO retrieves her, and the Rapid Evening, Gur and Avar convene at the Rapid Evening's secondary camp. Gur agrees to go with them if he is allowed to continue his work, saying he's learned what he can for his search from the Isles. The walk can return home without him. Gur prompts Clementine to reveal her vision for the future of Stel Kesh—one where she sits on the throne of a "democracy" that collaborates with the other Stels to wage war, secure its borders and protect their religious freedoms.
Clementine and the Rapid Evening conspire to conceal Gur Sevraq in the hidden tunnels under the Winter Palace, while lying to Crysanth that he was kidnapped by Apostolos. Crysanth, and her spies and agents, stir up support for the war against Apostolos amongst the other Stels.
PARTIZAN 12: A Call From an Island
As the Society of Banners and Bright Returns recuperates from their last mission, a Scrivener's Guild courier gives Valence a message from Avar asking for them to come to the Isles in the wake of Gur’s disappearance. Avar meets them and takes them to eat dinner in their home in the residence hall off the church. Valence tries to make Thisbe comfortable during the meal and does the opposite; later they help her recharge.
Early the next morning, Broun goes for a walk with Thisbe and they end up at an open air market, where they meet Apparatus Aperitif. Meanwhile, Avar tells Valence what happened during the pilgrimage. Valence uses their powers to reach out to Gur, who assures them that he's fine for now in Cruciat, under the protection of the Rapid Evening. That night, Thisbe and Valence work on finding her planet at the observatory. At some point, Valence sends a message to Kenzi via a Strand Semaphore cafe; she doesn't really have any information for them but they chat.
A day after their visit, Gucci invites SBBR to a Horizon base on the island. At the warehouse, Broun salvages the broken mech parts they got from the Sable Court. Gucci upgrades and repairs SBBR's equipment and asks them to escort her on an upcoming mission.
PARTIZAN 13: A Captive Audience
While a Whitestar officer is over to help resupply the Rapid Evening, AO chooses an unfortunate time to boast. The Rapid Evening lose some supplies and are earmarked for the next assault on Fort Icebreaker.
The Winter Doctor is hired to the Rapid Evening. His ministrations aren't enough for Clem to recover, as she's more severely injured than anyone thought. She's desperate to get out of bed, and when Leap offers to try to help she makes an arrangement for him to do impromptu surgery on her. This goes badly, and she is much sicker than before. Word also gets out about Clem being injured in battle; Gucci sends her a get well card.
While Clem is sick, the Rapid Evening is emboldened. SI has Gur give a sermon to the prisoners in the tunnels under the Palace, which goes extremely well. Millie contacts Crysanth Kesh, hoping to become her agent, but gets no direct reply. Leap works on getting access to the prison's security systems, with SI's aid; he also shows the Vernacular ring to Millie and they discover they require a secret cipher.
Despite the potential risk, Gur joins Clem in her sickroom, attempting to advise and sway her.
Because of Milli's letter to Crysanth, the Rapid Evening is brought to attend a revue. Clem gets shown off as a hero of Kesh. Leap and Milli throw food at the stage and cause a ruckus until they're kicked out. SI does a comedy roast of Crysanth, but she's unphased.
Clem and SI ask Gur about what he knows. He tells them about the Resin Heart at his church, which has a strange effect on those who stand before it. It’s one piece of a divine body spread across Partizan. SI sees his own vision from Future, in which he is able to make Clementine into an effective monarch. Gur speaks cryptically about the future ahead and warns them they may encounter Motion in their next mission.
PARTIZAN 14: Deception in the Canyon City
Gucci Garantine leads SBBR into her briefing room. She wants to infiltrate the Palace facility in Orzen to obtain information on the night of Past's crash. She'll use Perspective Bleeding on a recording of Jesset City's mind to share his expertise on Nidean ciphers and get past security. Valence will be with her. Oxblood, contracted to protect the Palace facility, will stage a fight during the infiltration alongside Thisbe and Broun. Jesset admits to Gucci that he was there during the crash of Past after a telepathic conversation with Valence. Valence soon admits the same, and their part in the Whitestar false flag, to Gucci, who reprimands them.
In the early morning the infiltration team descend, but are overheard by guards below, who have to be knocked out. Thisbe wrecks a statue of Aram Nideo outside and Jesset engages with her, starting the staged battle. Broun sets off flashbangs and the Orzen civilian militia begins to form up.
An Oxblood guard lets the infiltration party into the facility. Valence blocks the cameras and downs a final guard with a door while ahead of them, Gucci’s Perspective Bleeding machine starts to malfunction. Broun uses glue weapons to avoid direct damage to the militia fighters; Thisbe destroys an old Oxblood mech.
Down below, alarms are going off, Gucci (highly blended with the Jesset recording) realizes the security code to the editing suite has changed, and Valence adds their mind to the gestalt to help them solve the code.
PARTIZAN 15: Divine Attention
The arrival of Imperium’s Plume puts SBBR, Horizon and Oxblood in a tight situation as Gucci’s team breaks into a tape studio filled with viewing screens. Valence is shot in the chest before they can overpower security, and starts giving off a strange blue mist. At this moment, the Portcullis gate opens and Valence has a vision of what lies beyond the Partizan Portcullis. Massive fleets of war-ready Principality ships are obliterated by divine light. Valence’s god speaks to them and to Gur, telling Gur to assemble the Exemplar, and Valence to mark the just.
Broun uses a chemical gas to induce a feeling of suffocation in the enemy pilots, and catches large parts of the town in their attack.
Gucci finds footage that shows none of the air units fighting with Past damaged it at all. The ghosts of Past tell Valence that someone powerful convinced Past to destroy itself. Gucci also pieces together information about the Rapid Evening. Valence uses their telepathic powers to connect with Broun and Thisbe and broadcasts a psychic message across all channels on Partizan, replicating their god’s message that the Principality had “rejected an honourable oath for an avaricious pact”.
Jesset actively helps to finish off the Plume, making it clear to onlookers which side Oxblood is on, and in the aftermath Horizon and Oxblood open negotiations for future collaboration.“
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PARTIZAN 16: BITTER AIR - BEHEST
Gur Sevraq offers to give the Rapid Evening their support. The first phase of that support is that church members start applying for clearance and join on as repair staff and members of the Rapid Evening's infantry unit.
A war meeting at the Winter Palace is led by Lucia Whitestar. Lucia was insulted by AO Rooke’s claim that the Rapid Evening could take Icebreaker alone, and has thus given them an important but highly dangerous role. The plan is to push from multiple directions in turn, forcing Icebreaker Prime to travel from point to point, wasting resources on multiple fronts. A decoy Whitestar force threatens to the south, whilst Chasmata attacks from the southwest and Whitestar from the southeast. The Rapid Evening will strike the central, less defended base and hold it to prevent Icebreaker intercepting Whitestar whilst they try to sweep in and hold ground.
Leap is flown out and does a preliminary survey of the base, finding a smuggler’s tunnel into the fort. Clem talks to Crysanth, who is uninterested in supporting her emotionally but grants her a documentary crew to film her heroism. Gur's support continues as he shows the Rapid Evening the divine Future and blesses their mechs, granting them the ability to change fate. Sovereign Immunity suggests smuggling their equipment into Icebreaker hidden inside storage crates, which is successful.
PARTIZAN 17: BITTER AIR - THREECARD
Millie sneaks through the central base and bombs a bridge as a distraction, while Clem orders AO and the infantry to take the comms tower. Leap leads the rest of the Rapid Evening to their hidden mechs; they're able to successfully support the infantry action, taking the base.
Moving toward the comms tower, they encounter the smuggler Tes’ili Serikos, who offers to help them with the Stand Semaphore tower if they’ll help tes get out of Apostolos after they’ve been deployed to the front lines as punishment. They have been running their operation from Icebreaker.
With this opportunity, Clementine decides she doesn't want to merely hold the line: she wants to capture Icebreaker Prime itself, not just the emplacements. The Rapid Evening argue over this. Leap and Millie do not want Clementine to be in charge, but they need Sovereign Immunity’s sway over the prison unit to succeed in their goals. SI proposes that, from their position on the map and with access to the comms, they could throw all the other sides of the conflict into disarray—Whitestar, Chasmata and Apostolos alike.
The Panther radiates the light of the Divine Future and Clementine sees another vision of herself on the throne. The Rapid Evening will take Icebreaker Prime. She sends back a false message of all-clear to Whitestar, betraying their troops.
A thick fog rolls into the base along with a dense Perennial Wave: the Divine Motion and her Black Century are arriving.
PARTIZAN 18: BITTER AIR - COMBUSTION
The Rapid Evening needs to survive Motion’s approach. The battle rages, with the Rapid Evening just managing to hold their own, until Millie activates the Lacrimosa Drive inside the Stray Dog. She charges forward to tear Hyacinth’s mech, the Pneuma, apart. The directed electrical cables inside of the mech attack the Stray Dog, and Motion tries to convince Millie to become her Elect. Future shows Millie a competing vision; Millie rejects Motion’s offer. Meanwhile, Motion’s cables repair the Pneuma and the rest of the Black Century’s mechs.
Clem gets out of her mech to parlay with Motion. SBBR’s broadcast of the voice of God echoes through the battlefield: “Your profane state has transgressed yet again. You traded an honourable oath for an avaricious pact.” The power of the True Divine stuns Motion and forces her to retreat. Hyacinth falls from the cockpit of their mech, Motion discarding them as their service is at an end.
Icebreaker Prime arrives underground at the captured base, needing repairs and support from the battle with Chasmata. Docked with the station, it cannot utilise its equipment and the Rapid Evening’s troops are able to overwhelm the exhausted Apostolisians and take over the battleship. A flashback shows Leap sneaking Gur Sevraq onto the base alongside the rest of the Rapid Evening. Gur emerges and lectures Clementine about her desire to control and contain her subjects, ultimately forcing her to back down and give the prisoners more liberty. They will not work for her if she does not give them something in exchange.
Nideo announces they are joining the war to liberate Gur Sevraq from Apostolos. Gur Sevraq performs a miracle to turn Icebreaker invisible and silently he, it, and the Rapid Evening disappear into the sea.
PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture
Broun has a debriefing with Broker Treequote from the Scrivener’s Guild, investigating whether SBBR is running unregulated ops (they are). Moving backward slightly in time, Broun helps fix up Thisbe and Valence. In the process, Valence reveals their gaseous form, which is normally disguised by a robotic chassis that can project an illusion of skin. Broun is shocked, despite trying to play it cool.
At the Deep Dish, Thisbe learns about the Divine Arbitrage and sets up an appointment in a few weeks to find out more about her home.
Valence reflects on their vision, realizing they saw the fleet push past the Partizan gate into “Caelestia Nullius”. This must be the second incursion, after the one on the Nobel homeworld that sent Valence to Partizan. They connect telepathically with Gur Sevraq on Icebreaker Prime, who explains more about the Pact and the history of the Principality's interactions with God. He suggests possibilities for the Exemplar and asks Valence to draw together as many allies as they can.
Broun, fearing the effects of the intensifying war on them as an Apostolosian, works on collecting resources from rich people outside their usual work area. They earn enough to fix the Sable Court’s stealth audio device, allowing them to stay hidden indefinitely. In return they’re shipped a transport vehicle, which they start to fix up to sell. Broun also acquires documents allowing them to pilot a spaceship—what they're saving up to buy. Thisbe contacts the Sable Court as well, hooking them into SBBR's recent revolutionary organizing. Valence works on connecting with Horizon and Kesh using their far sight and finding a location to meet as a group.
Clem takes a “break” on the Isles of Logos, and Gur asks her to meet up with Valence. She agrees to allow Valence to hold a conference on Icebreaker Prime in the middle of the Prophet’s Sea. Broun and Valence visit the baths, and Valence is surprised to find that Broun is able to initiate telepathic contact with them.
K.O. Rooke visits, reprimanding Broun for their use of gas weapons on the last mission, and telling them their work visa from Apostolos is now under review. She asks about SBBR’s goals, but they don’t quite explain it to her. A mission has been sent to the Scrivener’s Guild for them to work as security on the Icebreaker meeting.
Valence and Broun have an argument about Valence's radical plans; it culminates in Valence agreeing to help them leave Partizan.
PARTIZAN 20: On the Eve of Revolution
Icebreaker Prime has been parked in a bay near the fishing village of Rezevi, and everyone is recovering and fixing their mechs. Many of the Rapid Evening’s infantry and support staff are unaware they have defied the orders of Kesh, or believe this has been fully according to plan. The Rapid Evening has covertly sent for necessities and equipment from Cruciat, but Clementine uses most of the shipping space for her personal belongings.
Leap fully decodes the Vernacular Rings. SI holds a feast with the stores on Icebreaker to celebrate with the prisoners and make it clear they can come to him for support. Cas'alear contacts Clem via Strand Semaphore to ask to discuss something they discovered about the death of Past.
The Winter Doctor is brought on board; he recommends Clem recuperate in the Isles. Clem heads out on her vacation (leading to the previous scene in "On the Edge of Fracture" where she meets with Valence). That night at dinner Gur announces the coming conference and offers to help everyone contact potential allies. Milli invites Si'dra Balos; SI invites the Blossom via letter as a kind of weird snub.
Clem meets up with Cas'alear, who tells her what cas knows. Past initially aimed to land at the Memoria Teardrop, then Lion's Rest; in the last few hours Past overrode its elect and deliberately crashed, after receiving a message from Crysanth. Cas'alear warns Clem about both the Pact and her mother's extremely high ranking in the Curtain.
Wary there might be stowaways or other troops still on board, Leap and SI go exploring in the lower decks and see a billowing, inky ghost. Clementine arrives back at Icebreaker to find new groups of people everywhere, and is faced with the scale of the revolution. She discusses the Curtain with SI. Gucci surprises Clementine in her Saint Dawn persona and recognises Clementine is completely out of her depth despite her involvement.
PARTIZAN 21: Millennium Break: We Will Take Hold of the Loom of History!
With all the Stels now actively at war on Partizan, the affiliation of revolutionary groups united under the banner of Millennium Break confer and debate about how to advance their causes, united and individual. Instrumental in the coming together of these groups, Valence and Broun hold a lot of sway on opinions. Clementine Kesh still sees herself as leader over this collective organisation whilst her squad members see this as an opportunity to pursue their own agendas.
Millennium Break organisations are going out on missions and assisting in the war. They are soon confronted with the need to respond to war refugees arriving on board. Clementine pushes to require the refugees to work, where they can: to maintain Icebreaker’s facilities, to guard and watch sensors, and to grow food. Gucci challenges Clementine’s values and motivation, recognising that Sovereign Immunity is acting as Clementine’s proxy in training and organising the refugees into workers. Gucci does not want support to the refugees to be conditional. Clementine delegates to Gucci responsibility for making sure that refugees who want to work can (whilst, through SI, maintaining the pressure for them to work).
Led by Broun, Millennium Break builds hydroponic farming infrastructure in some of the spare decks of Icebreaker. Broun is increasingly stressed and resorts to stealing vapes from teens as a show of authority.
Ultimately Millennium Break decides to leave the refugees with allies in the Lambic House, but due to a shortage of workers and guards, someone is able to smuggle something aboard undetected.PARTIZAN 22: Millennium Break: Forward, to Piracy (Sharp Tensions Across Tremulous Seas)
Competition between Orion and Columnar has escalated to military action, attacking each other's supply lines and distribution as they joust to accelerate their profiteering. Millennium Break considers whether to perform raids on the both of them, taking military equipment and the basic goods and supplies they make use of. Leap is excited at the idea and soon Clementine, SI and Gucci are in favour with various caveats, as is Broun and large portions of the crew.
Agon Ortlights, amongst others from Orion, express consternation at attacking their home Stel. After a chapel service, she asks for advice from Gur about the situation, naming Clementine as the source of the situation. Valence is shocked when they find out about some of the abuses Clementine has perpetrated as a noble of Stel Kesh. Gur tries to justify collaborating with her because he thinks he can make use of her.
Leap, Tes'ili and Broun begin to organise raids without explicit permission; they manage to loot a shipment of luxury goods. As Leap celebrates the spoils in the cafeteria with Millie and AO, the group wonder why exactly is Clementine allowed to remain in charge. SI tries to caution Clementine that if the raids go on, people will end up getting killed. Valence overhears some of their conversation, but judges the mood as such that if Clementine did enforce a no piracy rule there would certainly be a mutiny.
When the piracy is sanctioned and a raid goes go wrong, Broun is forced to save AO Rooke over Gucci’s lieutenant, Tone, due to the business relationship they have with his mother, revealing an ingroup within the pirates and Millennium Break—founding members will look after their own even at the expense of others. The mask-off moment is the beginning of a wedge cracking through two factions within Millennium Break. Oxblood Clan members begin to push for an election.
PARTIZAN 23: Millennium Break: Who Will Lead Millennium Break?
In opposition to Clementine, and the question of uncertain leadership driven by Oxblood members, there is a call for elections to be held in Millennium Break. Sovereign wants to stand, but despite his heroic revolutionary past, is marred by his association with Clementine Kesh. Broun is ambivalent about Valence running until they realise it might help their personal goal of getting off Partizan if Valence gets into a position of power.
There is a debate between Valence, Gucci and Jesset City, with Thisbe acting as an impartial moderator. SI and Clementine don't even turn up. Jesset is trying to position himself as more radical than SI, so this makes it hard on Jesset. Jesset argue that someone from the ruling class like Gucci cannot be their leader; Valence pushes for expansion off Partizan; Gucci positions herself as a moderate voice.
Broun collaborates with Millie and Si'dra Balos to build a covert messaging system that secretly hooks into the Strand Semaphore technology.
Apparatus laments to Gur that nobody even really knows what they’re voting for, with everyone getting far too wrapped up in the aesthetic of electioneering at the expense of good policy and decision-making. The mood on Icebreaker is tense and many fear riots will break out no matter what the outcome is. With Gucci and Jesset busy sniping at each other, and with Clementine or the dubious motives of SI unpalatable choices for many, Valence is the only decisive winner on the back of Broun and Millie’s communications network.
Rioting breaks out, but Valence projects psychic visions of their encounter with God in Orzen ("Divine Attention"), shocking everyone into silence. In the days afterwards, and also thanks to the communications network, Valence is met with huge lists of demands and expectations from different Millennium Break factions. SI moves into an advisor position to Valence. Meanwhile, Clementine remains assured of her status despite her election loss.
Gur is making videos with Zo’la and distributing Millennium Break pamphlets amongst major cities.
PARTIZAN 24: Millennium Break: The First and Second Arrests of Clementine Kesh
Leap and Millie convince Valence and SI that Clementine must be held accountable for her crimes. A group arrives to arrest Clementine. Valence wants her confined to her room, but those she has directly hurt are intent on taking her to the brig. Clementine tries to sow discord and make a public scene. Leap is also sentenced to the brig for half a day for trying to take the arrest into his own hands. Zo’la records the whole disorganised thing.
With both Clementine and Leap in the brig, Gucci asks why SI should not join them for his part in facilitating Clementine, until he points out he is still a Sovereign Immunity, who regular citizens aboard Icebreaker will still consider untouchable. When Broun is arrested for their part in the seditious pirateering group, Valence decides the whole thing has gone too far and frees everyone.
Gur, Millie and AO visit the Orion town of Marengo to investigate a claim about an independent Millennium Break cell and it becomes clear that they might start to emerge across the moon.
Freed from the brig, Clementine invites Valence to a proposal to launch an attack on the Stels. She doesn’t care about Valence's philanthropic ideals, but sees something to gain if they can help her sweep into power and offers them a favourable treaty in exchange. Valence sees for themself exactly the type of person Clementine Kesh is. Apparatus has been busy preaching history and revolution and helps to form a leadership council that better represents the members of Millennium Break. They want Valence as a figurehead, but Valence is all too happy to step aside to let experienced leaders take the reins. The new council puts an end to the mob trials—with the single exception of Clementine Kesh, who is returned to the brig.
Elsewhere on the moon, in the wake of rumours about an Orion food blockade, a disease has begun to afflict crops as the old uninhabitable pre-Miracle landscape begins to eat away at the edge of the habitable land. Aboard Icebreaker Prime, a rumour arises that Valence was always put into power to make way for a council leadership, but those who were there at the time know it’s false.
The Divine Present arrives with a message from Gallica.PARTIZAN 25: Millennium Break: Courage in the Shadow of Opportunity
The Divine Present arrives suddenly at Icebreaker to project a message from its Elect, Gallica. She brings an offer from the Pact of Necessary Venture, and although she does not say their name, the leaders of Millennium Break know who she means. The Pact are willing to be patrons to Millennium Break and offer an island in Kesh territory as a show of their support and as aid for the coming food shortages. She also reveals there is already a Divine on board.
Valence and Gucci both think it might be wise to take her offer and keep an eye on the Pact, whilst Gur counters that it may be a trap. Apparatus has the raiding groups hit military bases for rations and supplies against the food shortages. Gucci visits Clementine in the brig to ask her about the Pact’s offer. Clem is furious that they're considering working with the Pact, and warns Gucci that she is being manipulated by the supposed council. Gucci tries to sway Clementine by telling her about the old Rapid Evening, which became Horizon.
Valence asks SI about his experience having to put his convictions aside to work with people he doesn’t like, and tells him the Pact wants to colonise their people.
Broun takes their plans to further develop farming on Icebreaker to Gucci, who brings them in front of the council. Thisbe and the Sable Court soon get involved in the effort. Meanwhile, word spreads across Partizan of the crop failures thanks to the Semaphore hack. Millennium Break barters the hydroponics tech for equipment and supplies.
When Gallica returns for Millennium Break’s answer to her offer, the base is nowhere to be found.
Millie asks Gur for help working out what the Divine Gallica mentioned might be, as it might pose a threat to the organisation. An unusual corridor filled with flags and banners actually contains the Divine Courage—smuggled onboard during "Millennium Break: We Will Take Hold of the Loom of History!". Its Elect is Mourningbride, who has been an undercover Nideo agent since the beginning. She tries to capture and kill Gur, but Apparatus is able to weave Perennial’s magic to save their life. Courage smashes through Icebreaker, wreaking havoc as a desperate battle breaks out. Valence completely melts their body as they channel lightning at the Divine. It is a monumental team effort to finally overpower Courage as Thisbe is able to restrain the Divine in spools of industrial cables.
PARTIZAN 26: Millennium Break: Breaking Vigil
Millennium Break agree to put Courage in an electromagnetic cage and throw it into the depths of the Prophet’s Sea, while Mourningbride is imprisoned in the brig.
A message comes through that an Equiaxed commune is under threat from a Columnar Divine, Asepsis, which uses chemical agents to purify and remove unpleasant elements. The Equiaxed have been scapegoated as the source of the crop disease and were tricked into sending away a crucial defence mechanism. The commune is in a cavern filled with Memoria deep beneath Vigil City. Millennium Break has to call in favours to join the fight as quickly as possible. Clementine is sent out to fight in a Troop unit after offering to go to the front line in a bid to get out of prison. She is furious to see AO Rooke piloting the Panther with a skill and grace she could only dream of. Gucci stuns Asepsis with Transgress Oblige, forcing Asepsis to confront its own damage and driving it to purify and finally destroy itself.
As the Divine is defeated, the Columnar military starts to arrive, leading to a protracted battle that causes Millennium Break further losses as they try to find an opening to escape whilst keeping the Equiaxed protected. Broun steals parts of the Divine Asepsis to research and experiment with. With Millennium Break’s elite squads and main military force away, Icebreaker is infiltrated and bugged by the Curtain.
In the aftermath, Millennium Break tends to its wounds, with SI, Gucci, Jesset, Thisbe, Eiden and many others injured and slowly recovering. Broun, increasingly unhappy, throws themself into their various projects. They've assembled Valence a new body after their original one had been fully destroyed; it's much more alien looking, leaving Valence increasingly isolated and unable to continue being a face of Millennium Break. Si'dra and Milli have been travelling through Partizan; Milli brings back a lot of dogs.
Mourningbride asks Clementine to work with her in breaking out. Thisbe recruits Clem into working on the onboard farms. Gur realises the Memoria are the Eyes of the Exemplar, now lost to the Principality for them to use as they please. The Mysteries Metronomica begins to spread across Partizan.
Crysanth (and Cas'alear) send Clementine a message inviting her to the Summer Passage of Arms.
PARTIZAN 27: Millennium Break: She said, "To Win We Must Play!"
Clementine has received two messages inviting her to the Summer Passage of Arms. Whilst Millennium Break’s leaders discuss whether to enter, and on what terms, excitement for the games spreads through Icebreaker. Gucci auditions people for entry into the five events, one associated with each Stel. Meanwhile, Broun and Apparatus plot to blockade supplies for the event.
Apparatus, Gur and Gucci plan to attack the Peaceful Princept, who will be in attendance; SI suggests kidnapping him. Gur points out that there will be long reaching repercussions for a plan like this. The fear of whatever Crysanth might have plotted leads Gucci to ask Clementine for help, who is able to negotiate her way out of prison and into an advisory role for Gucci for the duration of the event.
Millennium Break decides to compete in the games. Once again concerned that Millennium Break is not remaining focused on the material issues and literally playing the enemy’s games, Apparatus resigns their formal leadership position within the council. Thisbe and Mow easily dominate the mech wrestling, and Millie comfortably wins the sharpshooting challenge against a Kesh marksman. In disguise, Gur performs revolutionary poetry right under the nose of Stel Kesh. Broun aces the swimming and bartering duathlon. And when AO Rooke wins the Divine Providence obstacle gauntlet, Millennium Break reveal themselves as part of their stunning victory.
In their wake, Cynosure goes missing, as a covert team escorts him away from possible kidnappers and right into the arms of Millennium Break. However, when word gets out that Millennium Break has “rescued” the Princept from “political enemies” it leads to confusion about their motives and agenda. People begin to think they are Kesh loyalists, and it is seized on by the Pact to try to weaken Millennium Break’s influence.
On Icebreaker there is conflict about what to do with the Princept. Many people still respect the notion of the Principality’s figurehead even as they seek to improve their lives in the war, and will not see him thrown in the brig. Cynosure reveals that the Pact manufactured the famine to destabilise Partizan and further their own agenda.
PARTIZAN 28: Millennium Break: The Storm Over Cruciat
Cas’alear sends a message as a representative of Dahlia. Dahlia will recognise Millennium Break’s autonomy in exchange for them leading an assault against Cruciat before Motion has a chance to. The Swordbreakers will join under Millennium Break’s banner. Clem holds an Asterist service in the hopes of building support for the invasion among the moderates of Millennium Break, until SI warns her the outcome of the invasion may not be to her liking. Gucci begins expanding Millennium Break's fleet for the invasion. Valence asks Millie to teach them how to use a gun.
Clementine argues with Cynosure, who doesn't understand the situation as well as he thinks he does. She tries to convince him to help her save Cruciat, where her throne is, but he laughs her out of the room. She plays chess with Gur; they offer her protection if she supports the invasion but she refuses. In return, she tries to convince him not to attack Cruciat, but he makes it clear the people will do it, whether or not they say so. Clementine will not accept she might not get "her" city, that she has no supporters, and that she is likely to lose her citizenship and her name.
Gur and Valence (as they discuss with Apparatus) consider that they have gotten caught up in the Stel’s wars and politicking instead of building the Exemplar. They are afraid of what God’s attention might mean for them, but are resolute that the Stels and the Pact shouldn't get hold of more of the pieces.
Fort Icebreaker attacks Cruciat from multiple sides while Kesh's forces are mobilized against Apostolos. The oppressed of Cruciat are inspired by the heroic legends of Exeter Leap and Sovereign Immunity and take up arms alongside them. In the immediate aftermath, Clementine's assets are expropriated and Icebreaker Prime becomes a coastal military base for Millennium Break. The Stels begin to target Millennium Break members in earnest, stripping them of citizenship. The Swordbreakers defect from Apostolos and bring a message from Dahlia in their position as the Apokine that they acknowledge Millennium Break as a sovereign nation.
Leap takes his pirate crew and those who will join him and leaves Millennium Break behind, even as he continues to fly their flag. With the decoded Vernacular Rings, he knows exactly when and where to best attack the Stels. Valence pools their resources and influence to get Broun the spaceship they promised.
Clementine is brought up to the top deck to meet with Gur Sevraq. A storm is approaching on the horizon as Gur explains that they have been negotiating a prisoner exchange for Clementine, along with Mourningbride. But nobody wants Clementine, not even Crysanth, so instead, Clementine is being exiled. Furious, Clementine starts to belittle and mock Gur and his faith. In a moment of provocation as she rants, Gur tries to push her over the edge of the deck. The two fight viciously in the pouring rain, eventually falling from the ship and disappearing into the sea.
In the weeks after the fall of Cruciat, the Verglaz Taiga begins to turn green. Within a month, hostilities between Kesh and Nideo completely cease. Across the galaxy, from the Pact to the Curtain, from the Nobel to the Twilight Mirage to the Golden Branch, and even from Autonomy Itself to Perennial, everyone turns their attention to Partizan.
PARTIZAN 29: Buried Beneath Golden Leaves
Following the takeover of Cruciat, it is several days before anyone discovers what befell Gur Sevraq and Clementine. A month later, Millennium Break has become occupied with the developing Kesh-Nideo offensive and is engaged in hot warzones across the moon. The Perennial Wave is waxing high. Valence, griefstricken, petitions Millennium Break leadership for support in recovering parts of the Exemplar of the True Divine, but even Jesset can’t afford them any resources. With most of SBBR deploying to Auspice to protect negotiations with the Isles of Logos, amongst others, Valence takes SI and Thisbe with them to disrupt a covert transfer of Memoria from Columnar to Kesh.
At Nooncrown, in the Kesh Estatelands, in what is now the Verglaz Jungle, there is a cemetery for war heroes, nobles and dignitaries where Clementine's funeral is being held. Intel suggests this is where the transaction will covertly occur. The dormant Divine Order towers over the proceedings, like a skyscraper made of stone and marble.
During the preparations, Valence uses their Farsight and SI investigates the funeral announcement at the Deep Dish Steak House. Their plan is to scale the walls with Mow, and draw out a Troop unit toward their mechs back in the jungle.
SI hides their mechs with a hologram. They observe Crysanth's introduction. Then a recording of a strange version of Gur Sevraq gives an anti-Millennium Break speech, which upsets Valence so much they inadvertently try to connect psychically with him. They are somewhere dark and cramped, unthinking and unable to respond; Valence also has a vision of a strange castle covered in Russian sage.PARTIZAN 30: A Cemetery for Heroes
After the formalities, a ship transport and three Filigrees pass overhead; Valence successfully possesses one of their scanners with the help of their holy book, sending two of the Filigrees far west after a false alert. The ship and remaining mech land without seeing the team.
Thisbe spots a huge visually cloaked pickup truck coming in for the transfer, and Valence hacks its cloak. As it starts to covertly enter the funeral grounds, SI hits it with a paint mortar so they can keep track of it, then Thisbe rushes with extreme speed alongside and drags the driver out of the cab. SI and Valence get into the cab of the truck, and carefully drive it along the route’s secure checkpoints. Valence is forced to turn their body off temporarily to get through scanners but is still giving SI advice telepathically.
The subterfuge goes well, until SI comes face to face with Crysanth Kesh, who quickly recognises him despite his attempts at disguise. She forces him out of the cab and holds him at gunpoint whilst she alerts her forces. Addressing him as Laurence, the name he used years ago when he worked for her, she forces him to kneel.
They're interrupted by Valence, Thisbe in Mow, and Brother Cadmus. Valence, who has finally rebooted their body, tries to shoot Crysanth, but they're still not a confident enough shot to hit her. She unloads her pistol against Valence, seriously damaging them. Cadmus sends SI flying, knocking him out; Thisbe begins loading the Eyes of the Exemplar into Mow. She retaliates against Crysanth by glancing her in the side with Cadmus's harpoon.
As the Knights of Order begin to arrive in response to the commotion and Order rumbles in response, Valence orders Thisbe to extract with as much of the Memoria as they’ve got, leaving them behind. The True Divine’s energy begins to channel through their body, leaking out in arcs that form a circuit with the Eyes of the Exemplar until a massive explosion of light and energy erupts to the heavens, completely consuming and destroying them, Crysanth, and much of the cemetery.
The Divine Order wakes in the distance as Thisbe and SI escape on a boat. The Reflecting Pool moves in towards the destruction.
PARTIZAN 31: The Grand Premiere
Millennium Break, though under heavy attack, still controls some significant areas on Partizan. SBBR has technically been relocated back to headquarter in Oxbridge, but the second half of SBBR, including some new recruits, was immediately sent to Auspice before Valence, SI and Thisbe's group were deployed. Talks with the Isle of Logos, led by Gucci and Apparatus, are reaching the final step, with a screening of Zo’la’s documentary “We Will Leap”. It will be screened in a bunker below the historical temple called the High Altar. Meanwhile, to the north of Obelle, Motion’s Black Century and the Company of the Spade are fighting.
Everyone scopes out the surroundings, finding the weak points, and sets up in different areas. The radio at Point Bracket turns on and off. Milli heads to check it out. Someone named Hyacintha shows her an unfinished transmission from Obelle, asking for backup. She relays it to SBBR, and with the Perennial Wave coming in, checks back over the messages. Milli notices the message is a repeat of an earlier message from Obelle, but sent from a different location this time. Cas’alear is insistent about going to Obelle to help their people, but the others tell them to stay put.
Kalar asks Milli for advice about fighting Motion in case it comes to that, and notices incoming fog just at the edge of the horizon. Broun has the security direct people indoors, out of the courtyards. As Millie returns to the Stray Dog, someone steps out from its cockpit and tries to shoot her in the chest: Laurel, the new elect of Motion.
PARTIZAN 32: GLORY Arrives
Milli avoids Laurel's shot and radios in. Milli forces her way into the Stray Dog's cockpit, but Laurel turns her own mech’s booby trap against her, giving her an electric shock before they zipline away. Hyacintha reveals themself as Sabeeha, another member of GLORY. Broun ziplines to the Three Cheers! just as the top of the Strand Semaphore building explodes, losing them Point Bracket. Broun sets off a flare, spotting GLORY's hallows. Some of the mechs are affected by earlier placed traps.
Cas, in the Ataraxia, engages the Epoché and is slowly drawn away from the fight.
Phrygian as Diminished attacks the Katalepsis. Kalar goes after the Aporia alone, cutting into its head before being grabbed off. Broun joins Millie in fighting the Aponia; the Stray Dog is pierced by the Demiurgos’s spear and activates its Lacrimosa Drive. At the same time Katalepsis also transforms using Examplar blood; Diminished sees a vision of how the Pact stole the blood from the Curtain and they transform into a blood-lava-cable monster, taking down the Katalepsis.
The Demiurgos and Aporia continue further into the city. Kalar uses his gyroscopic destabilizer on the Aporia and it falls, but uses the synthetic Perennial Wave to stabilize. Broun and Milli work together to figure out how to shoot down the Aponia, which crashes. The Stray Dog chases after it and Milli enters a gunfight with Sabeeha.
Cas has gotten tilted by Kleos' insults and a desire to join the Swordbreakers; they turn their back to Kleos. Phrygian fires themself at the Epoché, defending Cas. Vervain, who ejected from their mech, sets off a EMP-type device that interferes with Phrygian’s transformation. Cas returns toward the High Altar. Kalar protects Millie from Sabeeha’s grenade, but the Aponia is about to self-destruct.
PARTIZAN 33: A Single Shot
As the Aponia explodes, Kalar loses his sword and Milli is thrown against a wall and concussed.
Cas'alear’s Ataraxia engages the Aporia outside the gate of the High Altar, where it’s trapped in Broun’s slow goo. Broun decides to fire dirt bombs and then mind-controlled Asepsis drones at the Aporia and the Demiurgos, destroying the Aporia but not doing much to the Demiurgos, who reduces the drones to Perennial Wave. The Demiurgos approaches Cas’alear, also immobilized by the goo, and stabs them through the cockpit—Broun uses a remote eject to get cas out just in time to keep them from being killed, although they are grievously wounded. AO Rooke, who has been holding Point Comma, takes them out of combat.
The Demiurgos breaks through the wall into the High Altar, terrifying those inside. Phrygian begins to fight it, but Motion starts to break their body down into the Wave. Phrygian reverts back into their envoy form, briefly showing their true form.
Kalar and Milli think they’ve caught up with Sabeeha, but it’s a hologram that zaps Kalar, and the real Sabeeha hamstrings Milli before fleeing. Milli tries to shoot them, misses, with shrapnel catching Kalar in the shoulder, and collapses.
Broun guides AO and his squad back in, who damage the Demiurge. It responds by destroying the other Troop units, leaving only AO alive. Broun exits their mech and shoots Motion with an EMP, stopping it for just a moment. Milli fires as a distraction, Kalar guiding her on the shoulder of the Stray Dog. Phrygian, in envoy form, prepares to shoot, and thanks to an incredible group effort, hits her hard. She is injured enough that she vanishes in the Perennial Wave, but gives a bleak vision of herself and the Pact bringing the galaxy to a halt, to “peace,” through the conquest of God’s energy.
The screening is successful and SBBR rushes Cas’alear back to Oxbridge for medical treatment. They miss the arrival of the Witch in Glass to the battlefield.
PARTIZAN 34: Guests, Invited and Otherwise
Oxbridge is at the edge of civil war between two Orion factions, divided about whether to secede from the Principality. SI and Thisbe have been stewing back in Oxbridge for a little over a week. The other half of SBBR return with Cas'alear, who is in desperate need of medical attention. Broun learns about Valence's death from Thisbe, who doesn't cushion the blow.
A few days pass, and Cas remains unconscious, on life support. Gucci chews out Broun and the team for countermanding her orders by having AO save Cas. Gucci is also irritated with SBBR's impolitic tactics, like "flagrant association with the Branched, using stolen Divine parts as weapons, and destroying a state cemetery during a funeral." She informs Broun she's taking SBBR off active duty for the foreseeable future. Millennium Break has begun polarizing into the Party of the Masque and Party of the Wolf. The more conservative Company of the Spade is also angry at SBBR for not responding to their messages for help at Obelle, and ends up brawling with the SBBR toughs (including AO and Kalar).
Everyone works on recovering from their last missions. Milli and Kalar are treated by Skylar Stevens (the Winter Doctor). Phrygian works on regaining their war form. SI, although he's becoming increasingly paranoid, starts going to the bar where the Company of the Spade hangs out. Thisbe visits the Divine, Arbitrage. It gives her the location of the planet Collier, where she was found and where SI kidnapped Dahlia for the Farmer's Rebellion.
Broun is managing preparations for Valence's funeral. Millie offers to help them with Apostolosian mourning, and supports them through the process while she recovers from her injuries; still, it's stressful for both of them. Gucci doesn't attend the funeral, just sends flowers, as do many members of the Company of the Wolf, to the frustration of SBBR. Kalar talks with SI and with Millie at the wake/afterparty at the Deep Dish Steakhouse.
Fighting breaks out in the city, and the bells of the Witch in Glass ring out, somewhat breaking up the party. The Figure in Bismuth enters the diner and offers to help Cas'alear. Clementine, wearing a mask of Russian sage, sits on a throne in the floating city of the divine Past.
PARTIZAN 35: The Witch in the Glass Pt. 1
Chorus Island
When Perennial breathes life into her, Clementine washes up on the beach of the Community on Chorus Island with a broken arm. She spends five days trying to set it, cuts up her clothes, and moves into one of the houses. After a few weeks, Clem throws a tantrum, destroying a roof repairing bot and trashing her house, and has to move into a different one. The next house over seems to have been partially replaced by Russian sage; in its basement she finds the exosuit arms of Vessel’s Gold. Perennial greets her, and she moves into Sage House.
Law 1: There is a reason why I am alive.
Clementine brings Perennial dead birds and a dead jellyfish; Perennial begins reminding Clem that with her citizenship revoked, she is no longer a Kesh.
The Pilgrimage of Perseverance
Clem finds a map in one of the houses, a trail leading to Lookout Point. The gate out of the Community is locked; she ends up digging a low ditch underneath to get through. The path goes over a bridge, which is out. She crosses over a thin spar of metal to the other side.
Clementine comes across beasts from the old days of Partizan which normally live in places with low atmosphere unmodified by Autonomy Itself. They have been cybernetically augmented by the Pact of Necessary Venture. She flees and does her best to walk the border between the areas of thin and fuller atmosphere so that they cannot attack her.
At Lookout Point Clementine sees that she is somewhere in the Estatelands, nearly surrounded by ocean, and the path inland towards Nidean territory is blocked by a huge concrete wall. She sits down in defeat and is quickly set upon by the hyena dogs. She (barely) fights back against them as they fall from the promontory, and they leave her to lick their wounds.
Clem finds a mapmaker's kit, and brings it with her back to Sage House. She slowly begins to map out the Community, her path traced on the paper by Perennial's Russian sage.
Law 2: If it is not effort, it is absence.
Clem performs triage on her broken arm, cleans the bottom floor of Sage House, and begins trapping and sacrificing feral cats to Perennial.
1 month since the Red Light fell on Oxbridge
Sovereign Immunity has been doing research in the archives on planets hidden by the Principality, in the hopes of building for the future of Millennium Break. Thisbe asks him what he knows of Collier, and he shares his history as the Farmer.
The Pilgrimage of Contentment
Clem is heading east. As she leaves the gate to the Community, she receives a communication from Gallica, the elect of Present. Gallica offers her a code phrase and a way off the island anytime—Clementine recognizes this would come at the cost of her growing allegiance to Perennial.
Along the path, Clem finds tricycle cars parked at charging stations. She manages to fix up a station and pull a cable to charge a car. She ends up having to drive off-road as she continues on her journey, brute forcing her path until her map flowers and she discards it in anger. Eventually she comes to the wall blocking the way inland; the interior is a labyrinth.
Clem asks Perennial to guide her through the maze. She hears a voice in an area blocked off by rubble, and jerryrigs some machines to get through it. She finds Gur Sevraq there, who is not exactly happy to see her, and brings him back to the Sage House, where he takes residence in an upper floor.
Law 3: I am bound to Gur Sevraq with Russian sage.
2 months since the Red Light fell on Oxbridge
Broun goes with Jesset to one of Leap's coastal bases to ask him for access codes to help them leave Partizan, and for support for their effort to bring Millennium Break off Partizan. He agrees.
Chorus Island
Gur and Clem continue to get into arguments; they try and fail to capture one of the dogs; they finally halfheartedly apologize to each other. The Sage House blooms one night, and Clem begins to take her first steps in asking about faith.
PARTIZAN 36: The Witch in the Glass Pt. 2
The Pilgrimage of the Single Star
Clem’s arm is slowly healing, though it has less mobility than it did, and still pains her. One night she sees a glowing pink-purple star in the starless sky, and decides to head west with Gur. She smashes in the Pact’s message panel in the gate as she leaves.
They come up against the place where the hyena-dogs start to appear again, and traverse a line of pink-purple poppies. They enter a meadow filled with all colors of the poppies. Gur notices a “No Trespassing” sign that warns of danger: the field is mined with explosives. Clem refuses to cross and they follow a path closer to the dogs instead. They fight the dogs until the dogs accidentally cross a poppy mine.
They enter a scrubland area with a large planetarium. Inside, an ancient version of a reanimated Apostolosian soldier, much like Motion’s Black Century, attacks them. They’re able to speed past their slow shots. They find the base of a telescope with dials and a word processor reading “Find me. See what I have seen.” Over at least a day and night Gur and Clem slowly put things together and figure out how to use it. They are then granted a vision from Perennial’s perspective.
Perennial gives Clem the Day’s Eye, once the mech of the witch Teasel Mode, and they fly it back to the Community.
Law 4: Everything that has happened before will happen again.
Clem shoots down a ship using the Day’s Eye. She and Gur find poppy seeds and begin potting them. She learns about Gur's history with Perennial.
3 months since the Red Light fell on Oxbridge
Agon Ortlights calls Phrygian, the Figure in Bismuth and Sovereign Immunity to Icebreaker Prime in Cruciat as part of a commission studying strange phenomenon occurring since Motion’s attack on Auspice. They each show her a new, almost magical development. SI reveals he’s found records of something suspicious in the North Pole of Partizan.
The Pilgrimage of Attention
Clem must walk down from the cliff face to the crashed ship, the Snow in Summer. She and Gur clear a path down. Strange red liquid is coming from the ship: Lambic House beer made with the blood of the Exemplar. There is a ship AI aboard powered by the blood. Clem threatens to destroy it if it doesn’t turn off the security system.
Three people remain at the comms station: Curtain operatives who have stolen the blood from Nideo to take it back to Crysanth. Clem shoots two of them and orders the third woman to turn off the comms. Outside, Perennial strikes the ground with lightning, and another ship appears.
Clem carefully, carefully brings the Hellebore (one of the earliest Horizon ships), a huge vessel, back to a landing pad near the Community. One day she finds Emaline, the woman she spared, working there with a robot dog she seems to have tamed.
Law 5: Emaline Eccles is a gift.
Clem does her best to “make friends” with Emaline. Some of the poppy plants in the Community explode and cause a fire. Some of the Motion troops take the Snow in Summer and Gur and Clem go flush them out. Clem and Gur work to track the motion of the Perennial constellation across the sky over time. One morning, the Hellebore disappears again. Clementine’s arm continues to slowly improve, and she is able to do some strength training.
4 months since the Red Light fell on Oxbridge
Thisbe and Milli happen to have been assigned duties around Lake Timea, and Broun seeks them out. They chat; everyone has a new look. Broun asks the others to come with them when they leave Partizan.
The Pilgrimage of the Present Day
Clem, Gur and Emaline head north in the little tricycle car.
They encounter three Con-Con units; they barely manage to dispatch the pilots. The Snow in Summer, transformed into a walking mech, attacks. The group manages to evade it for some time. Still being chased, they eventually lead the mech into a valley it can’t get out of.
They emerge and find a frozen land bridge connecting the island to the continent, but Gallica and Present intercept them; Gallica teleports Clem into the depths of space. Clem prays to Perennial, and then gives her version of an accounting of her life; Perennial returns her to the icy sea. Gur and Emaline pull her out.
There is a little boat docked along the coast. Clementine, making a kind of joke, names it the Hellebore. As the boat pulls out, the water is filled with Russian sage, and so is the Community on Chorus Island. As they travel, Russian sage forms a mask over Clem’s eyes. They come to the body of Past, hidden in Kesh territory, being tended by Curtain agents. The Curtain agents lead Clem in, to the chained heart of Past. Clem takes control of the place, and with her presence, Perennial is let into the glass city. Refugees begin to arrive and Gur pushes Clem to allow them to take refuge there; she does. Cats begin to appear in the city as well, at the whim of Perennial. Clem begins to be called the Witch in the Glass.
1 day before the Red Light falls on Oxbridge
Sovereign Immunity is led through the Reflecting Pool by the Figure in Bismuth. Along the way, he glimpses the people Clem has gathered as her coterie. She warns SI of the coming Red Light and offers him and his closest associates three things: a way out; the healing of Cas’alear; and the aid of the Figure. In exchange she wants the Resin Heart and the Eyes of the Exemplar. At Gur's prodding she concedes she will bring the Church of the Resin Heart aboard as well.
It is revealed that Sovereign Immunity cannot see Gur Sevraq. The one whispering to Clementine is his ghost, tied to her by Russian sage.
PARTIZAN 37: The Gravity of Absence
SI reports the news about Clementine and her offer to the rest of SBBR. Broun is especially doubtful and uninterested, and argues with both SI and Jesset, though Jesset actually agrees with them. By the next morning, a huge structure covered in a red curtain is visible approaching from the ocean. Some people are fleeing the city while others entrench themselves.
Phrygian and Kalar work together to try to find out people’s opinions on the Red Light and the Witch in Glass: they speak to Broun and Thisbe for updates. Thisbe brings Broun a Bing 32 with a plant in it. Broun goes out on a drive looking for scrap metal with Phrygian. They end up heading to the shore to look at the approaching Red Light; there's a huge figure under the curtain.
Kalar, still concerned, talks with SI, and then Milli and AO, who are planning to leave the city—he wants to take Clem’s offer. Milli and AO agree to help get people with no other recourse to Clem for evacuation, as long as they don’t have to talk to her. SI suggests they tell Clem these people are part of the Church of the Resin Heart.
Jesset and Broun get into a huge argument with SI, which ends extremely badly. Agon speaks to Si and offers to help those people who aren’t willing to go to the Witch in Glass.
PARTIZAN 38: The Red Light
Sovereign Immunity plans to steal information from Past, and begins casing it as he escorts people into the city alongside the Figure. Broun is in their ship, the Blue Channel, prepping to leave: they find a recording from Valence giving them the coordinates to their homeland. Kalar prepares to send a message back to his family. Thisbe continues researching Collier and reads about it in Past’s library.
As people begin to board Past, the Red Light reveals itself as a combination of Order and Courage: the Divine Law, piloted by Mourningbride. It begins to attack the city. Broun makes small evacuation runs with the Blue Channel. Thisbe sends a final psychic slap back to Mourningbride after the Reflecting Pool lifts off.
In the final accounting, Millie, AO, Kalar, SI, and Thisbe are on the Reflecting Pool; KO, Jesset and some other Oxblood people join Broun.
Law topples the huge bridge of Oxbridge and destroys much of the city’s infrastructure. After it stops, it projects a speech from the puppet Gur. They scold the insurrectionists of OFOR and Millennium Break. The existence of the Pact is revealed and the Curtain formulates itself as representing the traditional regime. The lines are being drawn: Kesh and Nideo on the side of the Curtain, and Apostolos and Columnar turning towards the Pact. But still, off Partizan, new fights begin as OFOR spreads and the possibility of resistance seems imaginable.
5 months since the Red Light fell on Oxbridge, SI and Broun meet at a train station. SI has been sifting obsessively through tens of thousands of years of information from Past. He gives them notes and recordings from Valence and Gur, along with coordinates for the nearest off-map worlds. With this, Broun is ready to leave Partizan.
PARTIZAN 39: Escape Velocity
A small group of Millennium Break members are planning to leave Partizan in the Blue Channel and start a new base off-planet—either to keep Millennium Break going or because they're tired of Partizan. (Or guilt, in Jesset's case.) At the hangar, Jesset goes over the four phases of this mission: getting enough liftoff to launch (through the Barranca Loop or other means); spending a week moving toward the Portcullis; getting through the Portcullis; finally dropping people off and finding a planet to establish bases using the modular base kits.
Broun has difficulty finding information about launch opportunities, but learns OFOR is launching in a week. Broun attempts to counterfeit the Blue Channel by painting over its serial number, and does not do a great job. They launch on the Loop at the same time as OFOR launches from Orion facilities, using it as a distraction. Millie and Broun pose as normal Apostolosian civilians with security. Millie is disturbed by the sound of Motion's voice in the wind of the Barranca canyons.
An inspector, one Fen'olo Nikol, gets sent to check their ship, per procedure—they recognize Thisbe's model but she successfully lies to them. The inspector ties up the limbs on Broun's mech.
As they finally launch, the crew can see Partizan laid out below them.
PARTIZAN 40: Engine Burn
As they launch, the crew can see an artificial Sphinx constellation displayed just for those taking off, and catch a glimpse of inter-Orion conflict below. Their launch is rocky and difficult.
They now face a week in space. Thisbe, aware of her size, mostly stays in the mechbay, though M'reb gets brought down to see Thisbe at least once. Broun is doing a lot of check-ins, serving as captain—and they've set up an office in engineering. They're working on outlining Gur and Valence's notes. Millie works on zero-G movement and physical training. Eiden works with Jesset to make sure his prosthetics don't break in space; Eiden is generally doing a lot of working out and making sure people are getting their vitamins.
Three or four days in, an object begins to approach them from Partizan: five ships attached to a high speed carrier. Thisbe tries to use her psionic amplifiers but only catches the voice of Motion taunting them. An object strikes the ship—a long pole with an engine (a mechanical "feather"). Millie tethers the damaged Stray Dog to the cargo bay and jumps out so she can make long range shots. She knocks two of the enemies off the carrier. Broun manages to maneuver to avoid shots coming in toward the ship.
By now the carrier is close enough for them to see the Sabeeha in the Aponia and two AdArm Murders. Millie shoots back again, destroying the Murders and the carrier. Sabeeha cuts in close to attack her and the cargo and continues making strafing runs. Broun and Si'dra coordinate to bombard with the ship's machine gun, but Sabeeha evades and strikes back. Thisbe releases delayed explosives from the ship which damage the Aponia.
It flies in close and lands on the Blue Channel in its humanoid form, cutting into it.
PARTIZAN 41: Orbital Decay
Thisbe leaves the mech bay, crawling across the surface of the Blue Channel and up the leg of the Aponia. Milli opens comms with Sabeeha—before they can reply, Thisbe pulls them out of the cockpit and, ignoring their pleas, sends them hurtling into space. Motion assures Milli she will bring Sabeeha back. Broun shoots at the empty Aponia and then rushes to check on Milli and Thisbe.
The rest of the trip is uneventful. At the Portcullis, only one ship is waiting for the opening: a mega-freighter practically the size of the gate itself. The SOV Feldspar Blue (KRK-56) contacts the Blue Channel — he has been waiting without response, and asks them to check what's going on. Broun, Milli and Thisbe head across to an external hatch. The Portcullis has signs of recent activity, but is currently empty. The automated Gate systems inform them the Portcullis is on standby, and when they continue further in, engages them violently. In the control room, Broun realizes that the Portcullis is going to detonate in less than two hours.
Thisbe interfaces with the Portcullis. She can feel the entire gate system as she connects to the Divine Space. She manages to pull this Portcullis from Space, but now realizes Space was her first operant, during its original colonization effort down the Orion arm (taking the scar Relentless). She sees a ship launch, bringing something from Partizan's North Pole into a second Portcullis hidden in the gas giant Girandole. Part of a fleet of the Pact is guarding the Portcullis, with another fleet hidden around the opposite side of Girandole. And the gate is leading to the Nobel homeworld—this is where they launched their previous attempted incursions.
In two or three weeks, the Pact will be moving. A holo simulation plays: Autonomy Itself will be goaded into coming through the gate, and then the Pact will use a network of machines to siphon energy from it, in the process destroying Girandole and Partizan. The sheer amount of energy will be a weapon allowing them to fully control the Principality.
Broun immediately sends this info to AO, and waits to hear back. Eiden, Si'dra, Avar, Ryrira and M'reb go with KRK and a base kit back through the reactivated Portcullis. Broun also gives Avar a full copy of their notes from Gur and Valence. Eiden reminds Broun to take care of themself and Si'dra promises to work on making comms that work between the gates.
PARTIZAN 42: The Unbreakable Quarry
The number of Oxbridge refugees living on the Reflecting Pool has decreased by tens of thousands as some people find refuge with their elsewhere, but that still leaves the Reflecting Pool a large city. Everyone has their own strategies for living here. Kalar has been repairing buildings for people living here, but also scoping up the city and its weak points. Phrygian is being a tourist and learning about ordinary people's lives. SI gives the illusion of being around, but prioritizes research with Past—he's still freewheeling after the death of Crysanth. The Figure is attending to the needs of the residents. AO is training and leading the Swordbreakers as Cas'alear recovers.
The Reflecting Pool docks in the ocean and a number of Millennium Break members meets in a briefing room in the Winter Palace in Cruciat. Gucci goes over a map of the Chasmata Quarry: a facility dug into a mountain, boxed in by a 100-foot U-shaped wall. To the south, the jungle gives way to the ice. They're about to carry out Operation Lodestone.
Sloe Uplight, who has become a Millennium Break intelligence officer, adds details: the quarry lies in the north pole, and has been held by House Chasmata for a long time. But Chasmata stopped digging hundreds of years ago. They know whatever's held here must be important; something in the facility is linked to the Green Miracle, and presumably to Autonomy Itself and the Exemplar. All attempts to infiltrate have failed, but a frontal assault has never been attempted; they'll make an assault, allowing a small team to gain entrance. They should attempt to extract or destroy whatever is held within. SBBR, as the group with the most experience with the Exemplar and Autonomy, has been chosen in the hopes that they can keep their cool.
SI, the Figure in Bismuth, Kalar and Phrygian decide to pose as Curtain agents using Crysanth's ideograms while the long-range feint attack goes off, in the hopes they'll be brought in protectively. In return for sharing the relevant ideograms, Clem wants her share of whatever they find, or at least the clout. They broadcast the signal for a day and arrive at night in a treaded sedan at the scanning facility outside the complex. They are led inside to meet with a Columnar colonel: Lincoln Shine. It's at this point artillery fire begins and Shine brings them into a panic room.PARTIZAN 43: The Tunnels Beneath
SBBR is taken through an administration building and into the panic room. Kalar gets a loop going on the cameras; they set off an explosive and call for help from the guards outside. They easily knock the guards out, taking their uniforms and key cards so that SI and Phrygian can pose as guards escorting prisoners.
Kalar sneaks ahead to find the path forward. Below them lay miles of quarry, and above is Valour along with an army's worth of artillery, sniper and shield-carrying mechs. They manage to sneak through part of the quarry. Kalar notices that the quarry has not been excavated in hundreds of years; all the active machines are for construction. There are tunnels leading under the new base. Kalar climbs up and breaks one of the lights to give them cover. The tunnels break off in many places, some old and some new. Kalar and the Figure head toward the new base (Point Citrine) and Phrygian and SI toward the old mountain base (Point Diamond).
As Team Citrine heads off, Kalar notices a feeling that someone else, maybe Zig'ell, infiltrated this area before him. The Figure asks Kalar about people's feelings toward Clem and they get into an unpleasant conversation that echoes down the corridor.
Phrygian feels like the halls were made by water erosion, and they recognize the sense of a Branched. Phrygian and SI head down increasingly unused tunnels, noticing signs that an infiltrator recently tunneled their way towards Point Diamond, perhaps "let in" by someone else. Phrygian concludes this was the Pact's doing. They find a security booth for the facility, and Phrygian picks the lock, seeing a wide stone tunnel ahead.
Team Citrine notice a number of Pact scientists heading toward lockdown. They find two huge holes dug deep into the earth, one filled with labs and one with a spaceship inside, and both patrolled by Pact security personnel. Both sides of the team check in. Kalar gets in close to the ship and relays a description to Figure, who concludes this is a troop transport like those used against the Branched, and capable of breaking orbit by itself. There was another here that has already launched.
Team Diamond finds the tunnel ends in odd dead ends where there should be more, and they are funneled deeper and deeper.
PARTIZAN 44: The Prison at the Top of the World
SI realizes this area is a Curtain fake, a front; they find a path leading to a black site for political prisoners. This is not a quarry, it's a prison. SI gives one of the prisoners a pistol and they continue further in, past dead Curtain officers. Meanwhile Team Citrine sneaks past the exterior guards, spot an open door and make their way in. But, as they report back to the other group, the ship is about to be locked down due to the combat outside.
Team Diamond find a huge cell, marked off by glass, which has been broken into. Phrygian realizes that this is partly the work of another Branched who must be working for the Pact and leading the attack on this base: Corrasion, one of their teammates who came here with them. They warn the rest of SBBR. Corrasion manifests and begins to speak with Phrygian. Corrasion turned voluntarily, due to the opportunity to take exciting new forms and do willful violence.
Team Citrine explores the ship. The Figure goes through the ship manifest and confirms it'll be leaving in a few weeks, heading off-world but in-system. They also procure a map of the ship, and consider how to trigger a launch.
Correction and Phrygian continue their conversation, seemingly at an impasse. Corrasion brings Phrygian through nearby rooms: incredibly elaborate, advanced soundstages made to look like Partizan. All of it was part of the Curtain's plan to convince the ancient prisoner Logos Kantel they were somewhere or somewhen else; this was how the Green Miracle was achieved. The Pact has already taken over part of the facility, "freed" Kantel and spirited them away.
Corrasion offers to free the prisoners and escort Phrygian and SI out non-violently. After Phrygian talks things over with the rest of SBBR, Corrasion does as they said, freeing 50-odd prisoners, and Pact guards begin to enact their orders. Kalar and the Figure remain on the ship and SI successfully lies that he ordered them to leave. SI and Phrygian briefly meet Zig'ell, who seems to be just as charismatic and noble as advertised.
Some time later, a call from AO comes in for everyone, reporting the message from Broun. It becomes clear the Pact is going to use Kantel to call God in and monopolize their power. If the Exemplar is a mech, its sixth part, the pilot, is of course the weakest.
PARTIZAN 45: Operation Shackled Sun: Act 1: The Fray
As the Pact of Necessary Venture begins Operation Shackled Sun to capture the True Divine, battle breaks out in the space around Partizan. Brought into orbit by the Reflecting Pool, and their mechs retrofitted for space by the Company of the Spade, Millennium Break seeks to disrupt the Pact’s plans, whilst Curtain fleets previously stuck behind the disabled Portcullis rush to join the battle. With the fate of Partizan at stake, Broun and SBBR have formed a tenuous alliance with the Witch in Glass, although Clementine has only agreed to help in exchange for the technology she can acquire from the Pact.
The Pact has docked the Bitten Bullet with its energy fleet, the Lattice, a series of ships connected together by a huge plasma field that’s set to siphon the energy of the True Divine. Phrygian and Thisbe must break through the fighting, rescue Kalar and the Figure, and escape the fray so that they can transmit their data to the rest of Millennium Break. They’re on a high speed carrier along with their mechs, slingshotting from Partizan.
Kalar and Figure have had trouble sneaking around as their uncommon body shapes make disguising themselves in Pact uniforms a challenge. As they’re dashing to a shuttle bay, they’re spotted by a Pact officer, who pulls a gun on Kalar. Figure knocks out the officer and they steal her keycard, but they miss the shuttles launching. They wind up in a trash room and try to bluff their way past a Pact agent, but it doesn't work; the agent plays along after hitting a silent alarm. Despite this, they’re able to leave the trash chute open long enough for Thisbe and Figure to notice it and have Mow tear the chute doors apart so they can land. Soldiers pour into the room in response to the alarm, but they’re unequipped to deal with the sudden appearance of Mow.
As the group attempts to return to the Reflecting Pool, they hear Imperium’s screech as it launches from the Curtain fleet and orbits the Pact ships, and then the sound of Valour charging it. They're now caught in the middle of the fray. The battle rages across multiple scales, from smaller mechs all the way to huge Divines and capital ships. Damaged vehicles are sinking, falling into Girandole’s orbit.
Kalar opens the data briefcase stolen from the Pact and begins to transmit its secrets to Broun in the Blue Channel. It’s a string of words that makes up a code phrase; he'll send the other half to the Witch in Glass to technically fulfil their prior agreement, whilst preventing her from having full control over the code. The Figure’s perspective is readjusting after considering what others have said about the Witch in Glass’s past and he realises maybe he needs to find out some of the answers.
When stories of this battle are told, Millennium Break come out looking like heroes. First they snuck into the most secure base on Partizan, one nobody had ever returned from and most didn’t even know was there, and succeeded with such expertise that they were not only undetected, but walked out with a full escort and every other prisoner there—and other agents snuck on board a Pact vessel and remained hidden for weeks, stole critical intel to stopping their plans, and extracted in the middle of a raging battle between Divines.
PARTIZAN 46: Operation Shackled Sun: Act 2: The Gate
A group of Millennium Break's best—including Broun, Millie, SI and Jesset in the Blue Channel, as well as Oxblood Clan and Company of the Spade members, with Agon commanding—has been selected for this operation. They're trying to break the stormy atmosphere of the gas giant, infiltrate the Portcullis Gate hidden within, and stop Operation Shackled Sun directly. They begin the harrowing descent into the gas giant; it's a difficult task, even thought heir ships have been specifically upgraded. Vervain begins sniping at them, ready to destroy their ships. Millie exits in her Stray Dog and snipes back. The Stray Dog is hit and its Lacrimosa Drive armor destroyed, leaving it bubbling and roiling as it destroys Millie's clone Vervain and clears a path for the Blue Channel to land in one of the Portcullis's hangars.
The Portcullis begins to open, changing the cast of Girandole from blue-pinks to threatening reds and oranges. Two other ships land and SI stealthily leads the ground team through the Portcullis. In the process, SI kills someone with his scythe—Logos Kantel and some Pact leaders are watching, and Kantel is told that Millennium Break is coming to kill them. Broun plays some of Gur and Valence's recordings over the intercom in the hope of reaching Kantel. SI tries to be reassuring and supportive about Valence—he doesn’t do well, but it’s remembered as a significant moment. Millie gives up the opportunity to fight her old commander Apothesa to focus on the mission.
In the central control room there is a pool of the same churning red liquid as the Gate itself, which Logos Kantel is looking down into. The gate is beginning to glow with the energy of the True Divine. SI defends Broun from the Pact, but is severely burned in the process. Emaline Eccles sends through Clem's half of the code, which combines with the half from Kalar to form the same kill code Crysanth used on Past in "Obelle, On Fire". It shuts down Space in this Portcullis, which starts to fall into Girandole. Broun turns on standby mode to keep a way to the Nobel homeworld open.
Kantel is overtaken by the light of the True Divine, and after it fades they're gone. But it's not enough: Motion and Laurel in the Demiurgos, caught in the beam between the Lattice and Girandole, are charged with the energy of Autonomy Itself. The Demiurgos is infused with all parts of the Exemplar, and she is pulling at Autonomy's energy. The Pact ships, with Rye and Gallica alarmed by Motion's behavior, begin to flee, but Millennium Break is left facing Motion.
PARTIZAN 47: Operation Shackled Sun: Act 3: The Stories Told About the Things We Do
Operation Shackled Sun
An attempt to use the Curtain kill code on Motion fails. Overwhelmed with energy, she begins attacking the Curtain and Millennium Break ships indiscriminately.
Clem is determined to try and capture the Lattice to potentially use it as a power source to reach Perennial, and the Figure speaks to her, concerned about potential losses. When her response is not satisfactory, he decides to send his mech at the lattice and detonate it. Broun, in the Blue Channel, agrees to take the Figure out to keep his remote control in range. The Lattice is broken into pieces by its explosion, which means that the energy is building up in Motion, who grows more destructive, even to the remaining Pact ships.
Millie tries to “unplug” Motion from the gate with her mech, while Sovereign Immunity helps in the control room. Millie and the Stray Dog are pulled through the gate to the True Divine. She has a transcendent experience where she sees through multiple perspectives and feels Autonomy’s unconditional love—she is even able to see through Motion’s eyes. She successfully shuts off the beam between Motion and the gate, preventing Motion from siphoning more energy.
Thisbe climbs onto the Blue Channel and uses its gun to shoot at Motion. Motion seems to be teleporting now, but Thisbe can see she's actually creating clones of herself and then dematerializing. As Thisbe continues to lay down fire, Kalar leaves the ship in an EVA suit and tethers himself to Motion. He attacks with his sword, but she dematerializes her leg, vanishes (creating a Perennial Wave EMP shockwave that powers down the surrounding fleets) and reforms into seven copies of herself.
Phrygian, in their new war form, attacks the frozen Curtain ships, exploding them with the coils of their body. One hits Motion, causing Autonomy's power to begin leaking out, meaning she will eventually stop being able to use it.
The fleets begin to overcome the EMP effect. Broun hotwires their ship to save Kalar, and when Motion intercedes, fires their Asepsis drones after her. This is a high crime, the use of misappropriated Divine parts. Asepsis breaks down Motion’s bodies and the energy of Autonomy. This creates something new: the Kalmeria particle, and as if in response, Girandole again changes color, becoming gold and white. Broun, recognizing the particle as a potential power source, tries to collect some of it.
Millie feels Motion fade and Laurel die. She is spat back out of the pool, alone, without a mech, unconscious. Sovereign Immunity, still badly injured, carries her in a farmer’s carry, through the corridors of the Portcullis, finally collapsing just before Agon’s rescue ship arrives.
Coda
Broun is now a fugitive on the run who can't stay places longer than a week. They even have to change their name.
Kalar writes to his husband via a secure channel, assuring him of his safety, but that he has to leave Partizan. He spends a lot of time traveling, called around various cells to do jobs within his unique skillset.
Phrygian becomes a mission coordinator and strategist who picks out targets of Millennium Break attacks.
In the eyes of the Principality, SI becomes a rhetorical stand-in for Millennium Break's loss of standing. Internally, though he was not always well liked, there is the sense that at least he achieved what he wanted.
Millie is initially receiving medical care from Millennium Break, but one night she vanishes. A month or two later, "stray dog" recruits start being sent back to Millennium Break cells. She's still on the run, but she wants people as angry as her to have someone at their backs.
The Figure also vanishes. We see them in a secluded cave, much less visibly human and overtaken by crystal. Rocks and boulders on the ground around them are tinted with bismuth, which shakes and lifts as it raises off the ground.
Thisbe can't blend in or be in public. She has to disappear inside of Millennium Break. For that reason, Broun takes her with them. Thisbe retakes the plant Bing she gave Broun in "The Gravity of Absence" and the Blue Channel is overtaken with plants.
In the wake of the battle, Millennium Break are pushed out of Cruciat, and soon off Partizan altogether. The Curtain retakes the planet, parading Cynosure at their head. Dahlia, with Commitment and Integrity in hand, remains more interested in the new offensive of the Branched than in Millennium Break. The Pact disavows Motion's actions and continues to shore up power. Millennium Break remains in the margins, viewed as terrorists and holding onto what territory they can in shadow worlds like Collier, while their Strand Semaphore expands across the galaxy. They know that in the end, they will be seen as revolutionaries.
PARTIZAN 48: Post Mortem
The cast answers questions from listeners about the following topics:
- which characters from previous seasons their PARTIZAN PCs would get along with
- how the prisoner and captor dynamic of the Rapid Evening worked in play
- everyone's favorite 'sick as shit' moment
- Jack's process for finding sounds and balancing tone in the soundtrack
- what prompted players' willingness to endanger PCs
- the players' approach to roleplaying in general
- how and when Keith and Dre decided to let go of Leap and Valence
- the experience of changing characters mid season for Dre, Keith and Jack
- how Art decided to end SI's arc in the finale
- how Beam Saber lends dramatic tension to fight scenes
- if Valence has a tail
- who everyone would cast for their PCs (or NPCs for Austin) in a live action adaptation
- how the season's interest in and attention to disability and bodily breakdown emerged
- when Jack and Austin decided Clementine would come back
- Ali and Dre's portrayal of Broun and Valence's relationship
- the morality of the PCs and Millennium Break and their relationship to imperial violence
- what AMVs everyone would make for the theoretical PARTIZAN anime
- Austin's metanarrative goals for using callbacks
- the PC's selfish motivations for fighting empire
- how the Road to PARTIZAN affected the cast's experience of PARTIZAN
- what consequence-free show-off moment everyone would want for their characters.