PALISADE 33: Seize the Chance Pt. 4

Episode description

Standing astride the Diadem, the massive Affliction called Dust first sapped sound from the world and then turned its attention to the train car at the center of a multi-factional chase. Now, in the depths of the ruined megacity, those that fell into the pit awaken. And they awaken in places impossible to predict.
This week on PALISADE: Seize the Chance Pt. 4
[(dream)]^{[Note 1]}

Dossier

People

Partial Palisade (he/him): A man who was once a Divine, now living in the shell of a being quite unlike what he once was.

Midnite Matinee (she/her): Leporine scout and member of the Blue Channel. She and her trusty Pack-model light AutoHollow Popcorn used to run a repo company, but now are tentatively committed to the Cause and Millennium Break.

Elle Evensong (she/they): Elle arrived to Palisade along with the first wave of Devotees, making a name for herself as a cunning combatant and clever commander. She became a poster child for Twilight Mirage's support of Palisade (and, for members of the Dim Liturgy, a prophesied bridge between the past and the future). But as the war began to heat up, she seemed to vanish into the background. In fact, they were working for the Divine, Arbitrage as a double agent. Cori blames them for the death of her father. Pilot of the Cataphract.

Murchy “Murch” Saltburn (she/her): A gig-cop working for Lock & Cross Security Services in Baseline-C.

Factions

Bilateral Intercession: One of two factions vying for leadership of the Principality, comprised by Stels Kesh and Nideo, and lead by the so-called Peaceful Princept, Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh (he/him), who took control of the faction from the Curtain, a secretive intelligence organization with roots in Kesh’s ancient spy operations. The “Bilats” are a conservative and reactionary force, aiming to return the Principality to its roots both literally and figuratively. After a long campaign against the Pact of Free States, they managed to take control of Palisade.

The Bilateral Intelligence Service: Formerly called the Curtain, the BIS is a Kesh-operated organization which specializes in espionage, subterfuge, and surveillance. Recently removed from power on Palisade

Stel Kesh: The oldest established power in the galaxy, built around a stuffy (and secretive) aristocracy. They are tied to the Past. History, knowledge, stubbornness.

Stel Nideo: Created the largest faith in the empire, and used that influence to shape (and surveil) mass culture. They are tied to the Present. Faith, coercion, stability.

The Frontier Syndicate: A powerful conglomerate with a broad purview, including technology, heavy industry, entertainment, telecommunications, and transportation. Led by Exenceaster March (he/him), the Syndicate betrayed the Pact of Free States and joined the Bilats in order to be part of their colonization efforts on Palisade.

The Pact of Free States: One of the two factions vying for leadership of the Principality, a joint operation by Stels Columnar and Apostolos. Led in name by the Glorious Princept, Dahlia (they/them), but operated in day-to-day matters by members of the original Pact of Necessary Venture, including Rye (he/him) and Gallica (she/her). Though they are reformist in some ways, their primary goal is greater autonomy for each Stel, freedom from the legal restraints, taxes, and oversights demanded by the Principality, with additional deregulation to follow downstream.

Fabreal Duchy: When the Divine Principality left Palisade nearly 5,000 years ago, they left behind a Duke and his barons as caretakers. In the generations that followed, they ruled as petty tyrants, creating Delegates as their slaves, remaking their bodies into glass and oil, and extending their reach across Palisade’s continents. Though they officially report to their handlers in Stel Kesh, recently they have begun to wonder if things were better before the Principality's return to Palisade.

Places

Diadem Gravtrain: While the vast trench-city on Palisade's equator lays abandoned, Kesh has reactivated its railway via an operations center in the city of Carmathen.

Collier: The agricultural world where Thisbe was dug up and eventually sold to mercenaries. A planet that, due to the Farmer's Rebellion, was removed from all Principality maps and effectively abandoned. Became the "breadbasket" of Millennium Break, a farming world to support the revolutionary movement.

Divines

The Divine Motion (she/her): One of the founding members of the Pact, the necromantic Apostolosian divine once led its infamous retinue, the Black Century, on Partizan. They were defeated and dispersed, turned into part of Kalmeria, during Operation Shackled Sun.

The Divine, Arbitrage (it/its): The amoral machine turned de facto treasurer keeps the Frontier Syndicate a step ahead in all matters of commerce. Sole minter of “glint,” a newly popular currency on Palisade.

The Divine Integrity (it/its): Sometimes appearing as an articulated staff or a metallic spine, Integrity integrates itself into its chosen user. Once the two are connected, Integrity becomes a powerful exoskeleton, and supports its user in matters of military and morale. Until being assassinated by Brnine, Dahlia, the Glorious Princept, was the elect of Integrity.

The Divine Resonance (it/its): The watchful guardian, doting caregiver, and ardent supporter of Nideo's colonial efforts on Palisade.

Asepsis (it/its): The final living remnants of a Divine who pursues its particular vision of purity at the cost of everything else. Kept, studied, and utilized by Captain Kalvin Brnine.

Objects

The Broken Spoke: The Figure’s bipedal and asymmetrical mech, The Broken Spoke is made of a matte crystaline material that has Russian Sage seemingly sprouting out between its joints. It has stout legs. Its right arm carries a glaive; its left "arm", or what would pass as such, is an oversized cannon with an attached shield. This oversized half of the mech is covered by a flowing cloak.

BAC Hatchets: Appearing like fantastical knights made of tooth enamel, the Divine Consecration's latest machine of war, derived from parts recovered from the Divines Felicity and Souciance, buried inside of Chimera's Lantern. The Hatchets wield axes that sport long, weaponized chains running from the bottom of their hafts, and the materials used in their construciton make them sturdier than most front line units. The trio of Hatchets deployed by Stel Nideo to capture the "train brain" are piloted by three brothers: Calamedes, Caspin, and Caydor.

Saint: A series of mechs piloted by knights that served the original Crown of Glass, a major power on the pre-Divine Principality-era Twilight Mirage world of Quire.

Mysteries

Perennial (she/her): The Principality's so-called 'adversary,' who lives at the center of the galaxy and whose chaotic whims spread through her "Perennial Wave," an ever-present nanoparticle that has recently bonded with Kalmeria.

The Five Afflictions: A group of “monstrous” beings that haunt the dark corners of Palisade. They have been named as follows:
Dust a.k.a Pride’s Mirror a.k.a. The Looking Glass

Refrain a.k.a. Yesterday’s Reprise a.k.a. The Ghastly Chorus

Ravel a.k.a. Labyrinth’s Thread a.k.a. The Hedge Maze

Cleave a.k.a. Whetstone’s Opposite a.k.a. The Sanguine Hatchet

Oversight a.k.a. Hell’s Facade a.k.a. The Empty Garden

Flash Nautilus: An alien creature who uses plasma-energy for propulsion. Compelled into service by Stel Nideo.

Since the train brain is at the front of the train, Figure tries to decouple it, hoping to keep Dust away from their objective. They fail, the spectre of Gur returns, and Dust knocks the entire train into the Diadem, where it is surrounded by dust. Figure, Cori, and Thisbe all wake to find themselves in dreams of a possible future, and all of their Hooks/Tenets are loosened.

Brnine, who was further away and did not get knocked into the Diadem, zeroes in on Cori's location at the bottom of the Diadem. They get closer and discover Dust's minions taking the train brain away from the wreckage of the train. They head out into the Diadem on foot, but not before they notice that a hand made of unknown material is forming around the sceptre of Integrity. Following a procession of people walking with their eyes closed, Brnine finds Dust's catacombs, crawls through them, and catches Dust's attention. They fall into Thisbe's dream.

Figure's Dream

It is 1435 PM and Figure is a Millennium Break commander in charge of a ship much bigger than the Blue Channel. His crew respects but fears him. The war against Stel Kesh is going well, but Cori, Brnine, Thisbe, and everyone else Figure has ever loved is dead.

Gur confirms that the dream world is false and tells him that it's a future that Perennial has already experienced. Figure successfully weaves magic to pull Cori into his dream. Gur vanishes, and Cori comes crashing into Figure's landing bay.

Thisbe's Dream

Thisbe lives in a "farm utopia" on Collier. She leads a network of units of the same model as her. Noticing discrepancies in her memories, she determines that her systems need to be checked. Just as she wonders where Brnine is, they land at the farm colony's landing pad.

Cori's Dream

It is 1430 PM and Cori is in the midst of a battle in space above Palisade, which is now part of the Twilight Mirage. She is a Millennium Break soldier and fighting side by side with Elle. When she's pulled into Figure's dream, she feels like she's woken from a dream of her own and abruptly "remembers" all the history of Figure's dream world.

B-Plot: Baseline-C

Eclectic jumps from rooftop to rooftop, attempting to leave the city. Buildings begin to sink into the ground beneath him as Resonance has the city flatten itself around him. After several near misses, he flags down a passing Lock and Cross security officer. The first edition Alise Breka novella that Eclectic always keeps on him falls out of his pocket, and the security officer, herself a huge Breka fan, instantly trusts him and tells him to get in her car.

Cast

Other Characters

Notes

↑ Title from the song dream (remaster) by salvia path

[1] Title from the song dream (remaster) by salvia path

[Note 1]

PALISADE 33: Seize the Chance Pt. 4

Contents

Episode description

Dossier

People

Factions

Places

Divines

Objects

Mysteries