Episode description[edit | edit source]
A month ago, Millennium Break seized control of Cruciat, ushering in a new age on the holy moon of Partizan. But like a counterpunch already chambered, the great Stels of the Divine Principality hit back with force and speed, driving minor Millennium Break bases into the dirt. Today, along with Cruciat, the only two strongholds left to the revolutionary group are the Lambic House and a trio of cities along the eastern edge of The Prophet's Path. Millennium Break must hold this ground, at all costs.
And that is why, though they were one of the founders of the group, and its first executive elected, Valence’s request for support in finding the parts of the Exemplar was denied. Even now, with actionable intel from their contact in Columnar, SBBR was being told that they’d need to go it alone.
And with the memory of Gur Sevraq fresh in their minds, they saw no other option...
This week on PARTIZAN: Buried Beneath Golden Leaves
///Operation Dossier\\\[edit | edit source]
//Organizations\\[edit | edit source]
The Knights of Order: Order towers over the world in both physicality and presence. Though it rests, without Elect, its blessed Hallows enact its will and search for one worthy to pilot it. //People\\[edit | edit source]
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. Gucci Garantine, AKA Saint Dawn (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. Crysanth Kesh (she/her): Third in line to the throne of Kesh. As Gabardine of the Curtain of Divinity, Crysanth is the highest ranking member of the Curtain on Partizan. Brother Alard Cadmus: Knights of Order leader. Gruff, old, and determined, but understands Order better than any. Believes Order must be tamed. //Places\\[edit | edit source]
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.
Deep Dish Steak House: A loyal bar. The Verglaz Taiga: Wrapped around the northern latitudes of Partizan, the Verglaz is a beauty to take in, at least from the comfort of the palatial Kesh estates which dot its wooded expanses. Soon after Millennium Break’s capture of Cruciat, Kesh deployed what it and its allies in Nideo are calling a miracle that echoes those done by Logos Kantel one thousand years ago: the melting of the snows, and the emergence of a new, jungle biome, emerging from the rocky plains, snowy hills, and dense forests that were already in kesh territory. Nooncrown: A holy cemetery located in the Estatelands of Kesh, where many elects, Princepts, Eidolons, and other heroes from across the principality are buried and watched over by the Divine Order and its cult. Goldtown: An ad hoc village made that surrounds the southern half of Nooncrown, made up of Cruciat’s exiled bourgeois class. //Divines\\[edit | edit source]
Order: A massive and slumbering Divine, part monument, part knight. Abhors chaos. Seeks an elect. //Things\\[edit | edit source]
Memoria: A rare precious material with a high, natural storage capacity. Clarified Memoria: The Sable Court has developed a process by which they “reveal” the truth of Memoria gems, which allows the already potent material to conjure and confer the miraculous. The Eyes of the Exemplar: Special memoria that seem to be naturally clarified. Recovered from the now-abandoned Equiaxed Commune underneath Vigil City. Zenith-K Project Pinnacle: Humanoid knight-mechs, similar in many ways to the Zenith-A Project Kosmos units that were designed for Apostolos, though without the distinctive curves, rear-jointed legs, and Apostolosian style. Have spears bolted to their right underarms and close range blades under their left. The spears are able to be as a projectile with a coiled cable, allowing for the spatial manipulation of enemy hollows. //Additional Notes\\[edit | edit source]
Primary Objective: Prevent Kesh from retrieving the shipment of clarified memoria also known as “The Eyes of theExemplar.”
Secondary Objective: Successfully retrieve the Eyes of the Exemplar for Millennium Break.
Rules of Engagement: Hurt none of the funeral’s attendees. Do not wake Order, whatever you do.
Contents[edit | edit source]
Opening[edit | edit source]
“
It had been years since an actual stranger had knelt before Crysanth Kesh. Partly, that was because she knew everyone within a few rungs of her place on the societal ladder, and knew their servants, too. And thus, such prostration was usually reserved for unctuous ministers of state, or disposable assets who’d realized their utility had reached its limits. So this was new: someone she did not know. A jeweler, she thought, based on the little kiosk he’d set up on the main strip of this ad hoc town of exiles. An older man wearing a well-kempt beard and the golden ribbon of the Loyalists.
Above and around them, yellow leaves caught the light of Girandole and its sun, giving the air more shine than any of the paste this man was selling as if it were precious treasure. But he had a shine all his own, Crysanth must admit. A reverence for her, a belief in the Stel and its eternal commitment to being the best of humanity, and a few short words about the loss of her daughter: Clementine, whose effigy would be put in the ground in just a few short hours.
As she bought a cheap brooch, she revisited a question she thought she’d settled: Given all that had happened with Clem, was this ceremony fair? Despite having the finest education, the resources of the first Stel, and the most powerful name in the galaxy, her daughter had turned out to not only be incompetent, but incompetent at betrayal—so why should she get a state funeral? Well, Crysanth thought, not all grapes are fit to become wine. And what do you do with sour grapes? You roast them, until they are a tart and memorable dessert. That is why Clementine deserved a state funeral—because in death, she could be something she never was in life: useful.”
Plot[edit | edit source]
Following the takeover of Cruciat, it is several days before anyone discovers what befell Gur Sevraq and Clementine. A month later, Millennium Break has become occupied with the developing Kesh-Nideo offensive and is engaged in hot warzones across the moon. The Perennial Wave is waxing high. Valence, griefstricken, petitions Millennium Break leadership for support in recovering parts of the Exemplar of the True Divine, but even Jesset can’t afford them any resources. With most of SBBR deploying to Auspice to protect negotiations with the Isles of Logos, amongst others, Valence takes SI and Thisbe with them to disrupt a covert transfer of Memoria from Columnar to Kesh.
At Nooncrown, in the Kesh Estatelands, in what is now the Verglaz Jungle, there is a cemetery for war heroes, nobles and dignitaries where Clementine's funeral is being held. Intel suggests this is where the transaction will covertly occur. The dormant Divine Order towers over the proceedings, like a skyscraper made of stone and marble.
During the preparations, Valence uses their Farsight and SI investigates the funeral announcement at the Deep Dish Steak House. Their plan is to scale the walls with Mow, and draw out a Troop unit toward their mechs back in the jungle.
SI hides their mechs with a hologram. They observe Crysanth's introduction. Then a recording of a strange version of Gur Sevraq gives an anti-Millennium Break speech, which upsets Valence so much they inadvertently try to connect psychically with him. They are somewhere dark and cramped, unthinking and unable to respond; Valence also has a vision of a strange castle covered in Russian sage.
Cast[edit | edit source]
- Austin Walker (GM)
- Andrew Lee Swan (Valence)
- Art Martinez-Tebbel (Sovereign Immunity)
- Janine Hawkins (Thisbe)
Other Characters[edit | edit source]
- Jesset City
- Gucci Garantine
- Kenzington Be
- Crysanth Kesh
- Brother Alard Cadmus
- Gur Sevraq