Episode description[edit | edit source]
One might think that, with elections behind them, Millennium Break would turn its full attention outwards, towards the world it was trying to change. Instead, like an athlete determined to operate at peak performance, it turned further inward.
Bringing democracy onboard Icebreaker was all well and good. A solid first step. But what was to be done about Clementine Kesh? What was to be done about those who would send fellow revolutionaries to die instead of stand with their comrades? What would be done about those who abetted the reactionaries?
They set the world on fire in the name of justice only to ask: What might justice look like?
This week on PARTIZAN: Millennium Break: The First and Second Arrests of Clementine Kesh
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Crossroads[edit | edit source]
Crossroad #1: Will The Kingdom allow civilian refugees to live on Icebreaker Prime?
Crossroad #2: Will the Kingdom rob the surreptitious Columnar and Orion arms shipments in order to address our resource problem?
Crossroad #3: Will the Kingdom hold elections?
Crossroad #4: Will the Kingdom put counterrevolutionaries on trial?
The Millenium Break Manifesto[edit | edit source]
- We will help those displaced by the war on Partizan.
- We will claim supplies only when it adds losses to the ledgers of the unjust.
- Free and Fair elections will be held every two years.
Character Bonds[edit | edit source]
Valence: I feel the uncomfortable draw of the unknown from Apparatus, but must keep focus on the revolution and the way of God. An overindulgence of curiosity would sidetrack me.
Apparatus: Gur Sevraq has always been a bit of a Day Mayor. I hope he has not gotten too used to the light.
Gur Sevraq: Milli is right to distrust all who seek to direct her power, but she ought fight for those who share her dreams yet lack her strength.
Milli: Sovereign Immunity's connections could get us out of prison. I need to make sure this summit doesn't make him forget that.
SI: This is the moment Clementine must show her mettle as a leader. If she is truly a frivolous child I will find someone better.
Clem: United, Gucci and I could be a powerful force for Kesh, with me at its head. Her misplaced egalitarianism, however, is a problem.
Gucci: Broun knows how to get things done and I know what they want in return. But there’s a difference between service and loyalty, and I don’t know when or where they’ll draw that line.
Broun: I need Valence to keep their promise to me but I don’t believe they can.
Contents[edit | edit source]
Opening[edit | edit source]
“
It was remarkable. All across Partizan, as if overnight, Millennium Break seemed to flash into existence. In the foggy mountains of the Nidean ridge, communes emerged, supported surreptitiously by a nearby temple. A skirmish in the streets of Oxbridge left four dead and four thousand radicalized. In Vigil City, a judge ruled that protesters were allowed to march but not to use the Millennium Break symbol. They did it anyway—violence.
And in the sordid Orion city of Marengo, where the Kesh-trained historian turned information broker Sloe Uplight made his home, the symbol of Millennium Break had caught fire in the streets themselves. A massive M lit down city boulevards, fire slashing across rooftops, a spark so bright that it could be seen from space. Uplight knew that revolution, what was happening across Partizan, wasn't novel, but that didn't make it any less remarkable.
Despite the Palace's attempt to downplay and obscure such events, this was hardly the first uprising of its kind. Year 380 of The Miraculous Millennium: a newly formed Horizon takes Leraphon IV, but is betrayed by the people they're saving. 620 years later: the Song of a Nidean resort attempts a coup. The world was wiped from the maps, its name, its location, its people turned Adrift, which is of course what happened to the world where the Farmer had led his uprising, too. But that Sovereign Immunity had done what few others had managed: Made his revolution visible, memorable, unerasable. And here he was again, a background player this time, but still.
They say that lightning doesn't strike twice, but Sloe Uplight, who had lit a symbol so bright that it could be seen from space, knew better. If you want to bring the thunder down, become a lightning rod.”
Plot[edit | edit source]
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.
Cast[edit | edit source]
- Andrew Lee Swan (Valence, Zo'la)
- Keith J Carberry (Apparatus Aperitif, Exeter Leap)
- Austin Walker (Gur Sevraq, Mourningbride)
- Sylvia Clare (Ver'million Blue, Agon Ortlights)
- Art Martinez-Tebbel (Sovereign Immunity, AO Rooke)
- Jack de Quidt (Clementine Kesh, Tes’ili Serikos)
- Janine Hawkins (Gucci Garantine, Thisbe)
- Ali Acampora (Kal'mera Broun, Eiden Teak)