Episode description[edit | edit source]
The Road to PARTIZAN continues, and it does so with Alex Roberts’ and Evil Hat Productions’ For the Queen, a card based storytelling game about the retinue of a leader on a critical journey through difficult territory.
Today’s game takes place about 500 years before the events of Partizan, at a moment where the Principality marches against two of the only remaining galactic powers not yet under the heel of the Divine Principality, each an echo of a past culture that fans of our second season, COUNTER/Weight, will know well.
Now those two cultures join on this crucial mission to the heart of Divinity. From the Empire of Apostolos, the Apokine (our stand in for the game’s titular Queen) has gathered around them a cadre of trusted companions: Eudora (Andrew Lee Swan), their adopted sibling, Antigone Gennadiy (Janine Hawkins), their former caretaker and a current soldier in their military, and Orbit Shard (Sylvia Clare), their bodyguard and most trusted fighter. They are joined by Modus Maria (Austin Walker) a member of the mysterious “Branched,” a people who have transformed their bodies into something spectacular and free—only to have the threat of war force them to rebuild themselves as soldiers first and foremost.
In this moment, the future is unwritten. Can the Apokine finish their journey and secure freedom for their people? Or will Apostolos be conquered by the Principality, as so many other people and places have been?
This week on the Road to PARTIZAN: For the Queen
////PARTIZAN PALACE DATE ENTRY | 1418 P.M. 09 01 \\\\ . . . ///OPERATION: CHOOSE SECTION: MILITARY ACTION && GALACTIC POLITICS: DISPLAY TOP ARTICLE\\\ . . . //APOSTOLOS STRIKES KESH, ESTABLISHES ‘FORT ICEBREAKER’ \\ . . . /OPERATION: GENERATE BULLETED PRECIS\
- Hostilities begin on Partizan during fight between Kesh and Apostolos in the Verglaz Taiga
- Apostolosian forces led by elect of Motion, Hyacinth, who utilized wind and snow drift to disorient Kesh opposition and to misdirect their opposition long enough for Fort Icebreaker to come online.
- Brief description of Fort Icebreaker: “a mobile fortress,” “network of tunnels,” “treads and cannons”
- Neutral analysts from Orion and Columnar are quoted, citing the divine Motion’s ability to extend operation time of Apostolosian hollows as a key aspect of this victory, though secondary to Hyacinth’s strategy
- Melody Sefton East of the Church of Received Asterism calls for an end to hostilities.
- Additional context given re: current Kesh-Apostolosian hostilities across Divinity (see also: Princept (Dahlia), Princept (Cynosure Kesh)
Contents[edit | edit source]
Opening[edit | edit source]
“
A message to Hyacinth, Grand Marshal of the Interior, the very point of our Apostolosian Spear, Prōtostratōr of Divinity, and my elect, in this, the 1423rd year of the so-called Perfect Millennium.
You have served me well yet again, Grand Marshal. Yet I sense in you something shameful: pride, unearned. Even Stel Nideo’s ‘unbiased’ reports paint you as a hero in battle: “Hyacinth, elect of the divine Motion, routed the superior numbers of Kesh with a stunning ploy, securing the western reaches of the Verglaz Taiga.”
Is that what makes your heart swell such? To take credit for what was achieved by your comrades, whom I empower? When their exhausted foes retreated, I gave them the fuel to pursue. When their peers relented, I give them the certitude to continue. To fight for the value of violence itself.
Do not doubt that I prize your service. Together, we have shown the loathsome frauds of Kesh that they are not the wise lions they dream themselves as, but indolent house cats, who confuse millenia of comfort for command.
You are my vessel, and my voice. Our deal will remain intact so long as you help me drive a blade into the heart of the pretender. But do not ever forget my nature.”
Plot[edit | edit source]
Apostolos has been at war against the Divine Principality for at least a generation. The Apokine brought together a retinue to travel to Principality territory to meet with the Princept and their advisor.
The retinue is comprised of Modus Maria, Orbit Shard, Antigone Gennadiy, and Eudora. Modus was a Branched solider offered to Apostolos to form an alliance against the Principality. She spent her life training for this mission alongside others, and was launched through deep space for 30 to 40 years to join. Orbit was a surviving soldier from a unit that had been given a bad tactical order from the Apokine themself, and was elevated to be part of the retinue. Antigone was previously the Apokine's wet-nurse, becoming a solider again once they were no longer needed. Despite others advising them to leave the Apokine, they stayed because of their close bond.
Eudora has a special relationship with the Apokine being their adopted sibling. They were brought into the family as a political maneuver. An opposing Apostolsian family tried to overthrow the Apokine and both families made a deal to swap two of their children. Eudora is believed to be the child given to the ruling family, but only the Apokine knows that the actual child died shortly after the trade. They are not related to the rival family at all, and wears a mask to hide this fact.
On the journey, the Divine Rogalian opens a gate, allowing a major warship to move into enemy space. Modus defends the Apokine, "dying" in the process. She is able to reform her body, and the Apokine keeps a tally of how many times she's died for them. After proving themselves to the Apokine, Orbit is given a cage with inscriptions alluding to the Demarch Sokrates. The Apokine doesn't say what's inside, but asks them to protect it with their life. They agree, but find that the cage starts to call out to them. Antigone questions the relationship between Eudora and the Apokine during the journey. They respect both parties and their choices, however, they also see Eudora grow up with their mask and wishes that they were allowed to remove it more often.
Later in the mission, the cage calls out to Modus from Orbit's room. It's revealed to be the Divine Integrity, and Modus believes that the Apokine is giving it up as a gift to ingratiate themselves with the Principality. Orbit catches Modus in their room and Modus shares her fears. She ultimately leaves Integrity in Orbit's hands, but Modus' words eat at Orbit, shaking their resolve. They start to talk with Integrity by the end of the journey. After years of travel, they reach the nebula, which has been designed to look like the Twilight Mirage. The game ends with the retinue settling into the asteroid palace, with the Apokine ready to make their next move.
Cast[edit | edit source]
- Eudora (Andrew Lee Swan)
- Antigone Gennadiy (Janine Hawkins)
- Orbit Shard (Sylvia Clare)
- Modus Maria (Austin Walker)