Episode Description
This episode carries content warnings for assassination, colonial violence, death from visual stimulus, kidnapping, and missing people.
The Brink continues to spin towards crisis. Even as individuals continue to vanish mysteriously, the increase in visitors to the station have led the halls to be more cramped and supplies to run ever thinner. Pushy holds an assembly to address the apparent cult. Paris hunts for a rare and dangerous magazine, while Mustard flirts with accepting an offer from a riskier supplier. Deutsch Syncrho--aka the assassin Lament--tracks down a target. And 3T prepares for the largest concert of his career.
This week on the Road to Palisade: Orbital Pt. 2
Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage
The Divine, Arbitrage
At last, I take the stage.
Factions
| The Curtain of Divinity: For generations, the Curtain of Divinity operated in the shadows of the Principality, partly as intelligence agency, partly as shadow government. Now they have been dragged into the daylight, and serve as one of the two ruling factions of the whole Principality. Though there are some divisions along questions of secularity, humanism, and cultural taste, in general, leaders of the Curtain are conservative, traditionalist, and nationalistic. They seek the reunification of all five Stels and the permanence of the Divine Principality.
Led, in public at least, by Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh, the Peaceful Princept. In fact, the Curtain has five divisions, each led by a ruthless individual known only by a codename: Silk (diplomacy), Damask (research & inquisition), Lace (military), Linen (economics), and Gabardine (espionage and collaboration). |
| The Pact of Necessary Venture: As their (current) name suggests, the Pact began as a cooperative exploratory committee founded in the late 14th Century of the Perfect Millennium. They sought new territory to conquer, breaking an old taboo in the process, and inviting destruction and fracture. Which is appropriate, as their vision for the future is one where each Stel is granted more autonomy and independence—some even claim that they would see the Principality utterly destroyed and replaced by a loose affiliation of free states.
Despite this, the Pact are no radicals: While they want more independence from the Principality, they have little interest in shaking up the internal power structures of the Stels themselves. After all, their founders were all Elects, and though only two remain (Gallica, elect of the Divine Present, and Rye, elect of the divine Space), they are led by Dahlia, who serves as both Apokine and Glorious Princept. |
| Qui Err Coalition: Comprised of the descendents (literal, metaphorical, and mystical) of the planet Quire’s original people, the Qui Err Coalition is the de facto government of the Twilight Mirage. |
| Brink Proxy: The volunteers who function as mechanics, operators, janitors, and engineers for the Brink. Bureaucratic, but some tasks require such things. |
| Orchard Syndicate: A group of gardeners, farmers, and their delivery unit. Specialize in oranges and hidden motivations. |
| The Devotees (aka the Friends of Devotion): A cultish organization that some suspect is responsible for those who have gone missing recently. Seems to worship something called either Devotion or Fervor. |
Persons
| Cheal Pushy (he/him): While his single biggest influence on the Brink was the founding of the ever spreading Community Gardens, he’s mostly known as the heart of the station, operating everyone’s favorite dive bar and venue, Pushy’s. |
| Mustard Red (she/her): A cyborg member of the Brink Proxy. A little paranoid, but perfectly tuned for a role in surveillance. Oh, and quite eager. A useful trait. |
| Paris France (he/him): The Brink is a hub, with countless things moving through its halls and ports. Paris France is the person you go to when you want access to those things, even when you shouldn’t have it. |
| Deutsch Synchro a.k.a. Lament (she/her): A simple bartender at Pushy’s. That’s all. Certainly not an asset in play. |
| Teleos Triton Tanager a.k.a. 3T (he/him): A idealist, a fool, and a musician with a following of “Troublemakers.” |
| Toaster Wroaster (any): Member of the Devotees who went missing.. |
| Knighton Reach (they/them): Knighton Reach, Pact defector from the Columnar 42nd Stellar Unit. Presumed spy. |
| Coracin Seventine (he/him): Head of security in Brink Proxy. Suspicious of 3T. |
| C.T.H. Pasodoble (he/him): Member of the Friends of Devotion |
| Morning’s Observation (he/him): A soldier turned cook turned “hero.” |
| Gimme Gimme (they/them): Yet another Pact spy. |
| Joe de Vivre (he/him): The charming rogue that Mustard can’t stop loving. |
Locations
| The Brink: A space station and transport hub that orbits the outer edge of the Twilight Mirage. |
Articles
| The “Divine” Arbit: A machine that twists and spins and twirls in impossible to predict ways—making it a poison to prediction engines. To call it a Divine though. What a joke. |
Miscellany
| The Perennial Wave: Perennial is something like a god, or at least I think she imagines she is. Her wave is her arrogant whim, made manifest. Functionally infinite nano-particles, spread throughout the galaxy, hampering all technology except (curiously) Divines. |
Plot
Paris tells Lament about the Pact defector, who he assumes is a spy, and gets her to agree to bring him when she goes to speak with them. 3T consults Mustard about Coracin Seventine investigating him and his concerts, which he considers harassment, and gets his followers to push the Brink for loosened security at his next show. An assemblage (not a meeting!) is held at Pushy's to discuss various issues, Mustard serving as the Brink Proxy representative. Eventually the topic narrows to the strange disappearances and reappearances, strange devices on the arm of someone's cousin named Toaster Wroaster, and the possibility of a cult. The power goes out, and when the emergency lights go on, they trace the symbol of Devotion.
The Pact defector Knighton Reach meets with Paris and Lament at the public baths. After they talk and Lament leaves, Paris mentions she's with the Curtain, and Knighton flees in a terrified rush. Mustard works on her Brink Proxy obligations while watching a live feed of Toaster Wroaster, who keeps checking their pulse.
Paris encounters Mustard while he's refilling a Brink Proxy vending machine and informs her that the magazine she's looking for has a centerfold that kills people if they look at it. Mustard doesn't want the magazine for the centerfold, but for an interview between Grand Magnificent and Morning's Observation that was reprinted in it. Afterward, the Divine, Arbitrage offers its own copy of the magazine if she makes an account on its app.
Coracin Seventine is still trying to track 3T, and spots him helping load 'something' onto the blue orange trucks. Pushy and Craig prepare for 3T's show later that week, and Craig complains about Mustard being a creep, making Pushy think he needs to go elsewhere for help. Meanwhile, though Knighton Reach is not one of Lament's three assigned targets, she's being directed to kill him anyway. 3T has reached out to his fans to improve his show, which leads to him meeting with Devotion cult leader C.T.H. Pasadoble. They both get a sense of each other, though 3T clearly doesn't understand he's being manipulated, and 3T agrees to attend a Devotion meeting this week.
A temperature check on station opinions about conflict with the Principality reveals that while some are hesitant, many are itching for war.
Lament tracks Knighton down in a Brink hostel and cuts their head off, only to be pulled into a firefight by Pact spy Gimme Gimme. Midway through, the gravity goes out due to a concurrent, unrelated heist of the station's gravity lynchpin, and they're forced to disengage. Keith decides that the Orchard Syndicate is a front for the Devotees, and describes them turning off the blue orange trucks and surrounding them with magnets, including the lynchpin, for an unknown purpose. Brink Proxy are forced to manually reset the gravity throughout the station, and Paris assists Mustard and Joe. Arbitrage offers to reset the gravity by providing access to a middleman service, alarming Paris with its obviously capitalist promises; Mustard agrees to refrain for taking Arbitrage's offers for now if Paris can get people to sign up for Brink Proxy.
Cast
- Austin Walker (Teleos Triton Tanager)
- Keith Carberry (Cheal Pushy)
- Sylvi Bullet (Lament/Deutsch Synchro)
- Jack de Quidt (Paris France)
- Ali Acampora (Mustard Red)