Episode description
This episode carries content warnings for cults, depiction of a missing child, gun violence, hallucination, imagery made from blood, and non-gory but uncanny body horror.
The announcement was bright, loud, and unilateral: the Twilight Mirage would not allow the Divine Principality—in any of its forms—to move one step further. Now, though, in the afterglow of such a vibrant declaration, reality has begun to sink in. General Mourning attempts to sift through fact, opinion, and advice. Pushy, Mustard, and 3T head to Devotion’s retreat—each bringing their unique vulnerability with them. The assassin who goes by “Deutsch Synchro” pursues a risky side objective. And as many Troublemakers heed the belligerent call of their idol, Paris France and his rival False Fruit rush to stop the innocent from being caught up in the wake.
This week on the Road to Palisade: Orbital Pt. 4Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage
Factions
The Curtain of Divinity: Largely aligned to Stels Kesh and Nideo, the Curtain of Divinity is made uup of those loyal to Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh, the Peaceful Princept, and who desire the Divine Principality to continue on as it has for millenia. Defined by their traditionalism, they wield their control on culture, religion, and history as a weapon—and the extensive spy network for which they are named when those come up short. The Pact of Necessary Venture: Led in name by Dahlia, the Glorious Princept, and in day-to-day operation by senior members of Stels Apostolos and Columnar, the Pact paint themselves as liberal reformists who hope to increase the degree of autonomy in each of the Stels. Some even claim that they would see the Principality utterly destroyed and replaced by a loose affiliation of free states. 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. 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. 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 (they/she): 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.” General Mourning (she/her): Military commander from the Qui Err Coalition. False Fruit (he/they): An Orchard Guildsman, Paris' rival fruit trader, and father of a missing child. C.T.H. Pasodoble (he/him): Member of the Friends of Devotion Joe de Vivre (he/him): The charming rogue that Mustard can’t stop loving. Locations
The Brink: A space station and central transport hub that orbits through the Shore, the very edge of the Twilight Mirage. Founded during the crisis on Quire. 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.
Contents
Plot
After a recap, General Mourning begins looking through Brink Proxy's files, realizing that there are signs of Principality spies aboard the station. She also speaks with Mustard about 3T's beef with Coracin Seventine and the unsecured concert. During the conversation, Mustard receives an offer from the Divine, Arbitrage app for crime-detecting software. She begins showing it to Mourning, who immediately confiscates her laptop after hearing the Divine, Arbitrage's name.
3T's been attending the assemblages convened by the Qui Err Coalition, and talks to C.T.H. Pasadoble during a break, who invites him to the Devotion retreat.
A flashback to the conversation between Mourning and Mustard reveals Lament trying and failing to set off a detonator in Mustard's office. Mustard walks in on her, and Lament poses as 'Latent Peach' by making a complaint about the noisy station birds. The detonator begins to count down just as Joe de Vivre walks in and recognizes Deutsche. Lament makes her excuses and hurries out with the explosives.
Cheal has been following the cult members, and puts himself up for the retreat under a false name.
The retreat begins. C.T.H. leads the group down a hallway not on the station map, which turns into a forest with a view of the sky where they begin setting up tents. Pushy is baffled by 3T and Mustard treating this as a real retreat, as this is obviously a cult. 3T calls C.T.H over to help Pushy check his pulse, and Mustard asks C.T.H about the origins of the group. C.T.H tells them about how he joined up and says it's "a power stronger than any Divine that binds us, and a love even greater than that". Weird pulse stuff continues: Mustard's pulse syncs with C.T.H.'s when they shake hands, and everyone's heart rate has increased slightly since coming to the forest.
Meanwhile, Paris and False Fruit head for the Blue Monday radio station at the top of the Brink. They ask the radio host, Strikeout, to send a signal to the Joy in the Water, the ship False Fruit's kid is on. While the ship refuses to turn around, they do agree to send Qualitative out in an escape pod. Some far-off Principality warship picks up music from the radio station.
Instead of Mourning, Sylvi decides to have Lament target Mourning's assistant, who has Mustard's laptop, in the Devotee community center. It's the perfect opportunity to take control of Divine activity on the station. Lament fakes a message from Mourning to the assistant sending her ahead to the community center, and then kills her.
At night at the Devotion retreat, 3T takes over a call-and-response, 'using scapegoats and corrosive arguments to get a crowd on side'. Cheal sneaks into the leader's tent and goes through the documents, but is spotted by a guard. As he's copying the files he receives a vision from Devotion, a Divine with the ability to make mirage bombs to expand the mirage. He's standing on a burning planet, with the other planets of Quire burning above him. A voice tells him: "If you reveal this, you will lose. Because you don't love me enough." After a few minutes completely stunned, he rushes from the tent with his copies.
Mustard talks with the cult members to learn about their beliefs over the next couple days, but finds herself being slowly drawn in.