Episode description
Having returned from his audience on the Reflecting Pool, Sovereign Immunity briefs his SBBR and their allies on the impending arrival of what the Witch in Glass would only refer to as "the Red Light." With only one day to prepare, SBBR stalls out, torn on whether to accept their longtime foe's offer of sanctuary or to take their chances on their own. For newcomers Kalar Anakalar and Phrygian, this is both a worry and an opportunity. SBBR may not have the heroic verve that the stories said they did, but that only means that its in need of a push...
This week on PARTIZAN: The Gravity of Absence
///Operation Dossier\\\
//Organizations\\
| Organization for the Foundation of the Orion Republic (OFOR): A group of growing import in Orion territory, who advocate for Orion’s secession from the Divine Principality and re-establishment as a league of democratic, merchant republics. Both OFOR and their opposition, the yet-unnamed Principality loyalist faction, have support across class demographics. Many.corporations and independent guilds see OFOR as an opportunity for additional profit, while others believe that leaving the Principality is a risk too great to take. |
| The Party of the Wolf: One of two quickly growing parties inside of Millennium Break, named for their fallen hero, Valence. Though both parties support revolution, the Party of the Wolf advocates for radical, military action across Partizan and (eventually) the Principality in whole. Currently led by Jesset City. |
| The Party of the Masque: The other major party emerging inside of Millennium Break. Headed by Gucci Garantine, the Masques believe that a fast revolution will burn itself out (or be snuffed by the attention of the Principality writ large). They advocate for precision military action as part of a larger, ideological campaign that will bring the masses to their side of the conflict. |
//People\\
| Gucci Garantine (she/her): Defector from Stel Kesh, controller of House Brightline and HORIZON’s efforts on Partizan. Now a powerful member of Millennium Break’s political class, heading the Party of the Masque. |
| Jesset City (he/him): Previously worked for Adamant Arms and Manufacturing, Jesset became full time Oxblood Clan lieutenant and then a major figure in Millennium Break. Expert technician, veteran hollow pilot, and Cipher Certified by Stel Nideo. Utilizes prostheses on his right arm, switching between an affordable myoelectric model with grip hooks and a custom model specifically designed for interfacing with a hollow cockpit. SBBR’s CO for this mission. |
| Agon Ortlights (she/her): Aided by her servicebot companions, Agon worked hard to attain the rank of lieutenant in the Company of the Spade, where she’s become a veteren mercenary, a skilled miner, and a hell of a drinking buddy. In recent days, she and the Company have become major backers of the Party of the Masque inside of Millennium Break. But that doesn't mean that she isn't willing to bring her pragmatic talents to bear for the revolutionary project. |
| Cas’alear Rizah (cas/cas’, they/them): Leader of the Swordbreakers, sibling of the Glorious Princept. Cas has brown skin with dark green hair up in a bun, with a few strands hanging down in front of their face (which is framed with similarly colored scales covering cas’ jawline and neck. Broken sword tattoos under their eyes. Reputation as being beautiful and brave by allies, unflinching and unpredictable by foes. Pilots the notorious Ataraxia. Was badly wounded in the defense against Motion and GLORY in Auspice. |
| The Witch in Glass (she/her): A mysterious figure who has recently begun prowling the cursed battlefields of Partizan, supposedly kidnapping, leading away, or otherwise retrieving the wounded and desperate. No one knows where she takes them, but reports always indicate that she arrives after the sound of bells and the appearance of strange distant shape in the sky. |
| The Figure in Bismuth (he/them): The Right Hand of the Witch in Glass. Former school teacher, now a supernaturally gifted ace pilot. Comes bearing gifts. |
//Places\\
| Oxbridge: Most bridges connect land to land, but the enormous Bridge of the Ox connects ocean ports to the docks of largest freshwater lake on the moon. Under the bridge rests Oxbridge, a dense city of canals and crimson light, and the first large scale Principality settlement to come to the moon, nearly 1000 years ago.
Oxbridge is split into three regions: Brightsky West, Underbridge, and Brightsky East. To the East and West, merchants, nobles, and the ever-upwardly mobile live, work, shop and play. But below the bridge’s shadow is an undercity of laborers both local and transient, eking by from job to job, day to day, by the fuel of their effort and the light of the red, phosphorescent “lamps” that give Underbridge its distinct glow, even in daytime. Connecting it all together are a network of waterways, roads, and secret tunnels. And above it all is the Bridge of the Ox, the symbol of Orion’s commitment to (and mastery of) brute-force ideology. In recent days, Oxbridge has been home to rolling gunfights and bloody skirmishes between those loyal to the Principality and those advocating for the state’s secession and reformation as a league of merchant republics. |
| Deep Dish Steak House: A loyal bar. |
//Things\\
| The Red Light: A large figure, covered by red cloth, quickly approaching the Oxbridge shoreline. |
| The Reflecting Pool: The Witch in Glass’ residence, the recovered and partially repaired body of a broken divine. |
Opening
“
The red light, the anomaly, the form in the sea. Those who watched and waited for what was to come used many names for the object approaching Oxbridge from the north.
For those in the Organization for the Foundation of the Orion Republic, who had begun a guerrilla campaign in the city in the months prior, it was simply called a distraction. OFOR was nothing if not single-minded. They had no plans for structural or political reform, no interest in long-term alliance-building, no shift in hierarchies save one: to bring Orion out from under the feet of the Princepts, and to legally recognise the Nine Coronet – merchant princes, corporate chairs, guild leaders, and union bosses – as defacto heads of state.
Weeks of hit-and-run attacks throughout the city towards these ends had just boiled over into pitched battles – and they were winning. Why should they stop now, just because a red sheet was moving through the ocean? This was at best unrelated to their cause; perhaps it was even something that would benefit them. And at worst it would be just another loyalist ploy. Again, a distraction.
But the Organization for the Foundation of the Orion Republic carried a familiar tragic flaw: they believed they knew everything large that moved on Partizan. They were wrong. But Sovereign Immunity knew better. Which was why, just minutes after a gathering to celebrate a fallen comrade's bravery, he brought his grieving allies together to implore them to do one thing: flee.”
Contents
Plot
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.
Cast
- Austin Walker (GM)
- Janine Hawkins (Thisbe)
- Sylvia Clare (Ver'million Blue)
- Alicia Acampora (Kal'mera Broun)
- Art Martinez-Tebbel (Sovereign Immunity)
- Jack de Quidt (Kalar Anakalar)
- Keith J Carberry (Phrygian)
- Andrew Lee Swan (The Figure in Bismuth)