Episode description[edit | edit source]
For the Hypha and Ashen refugees who make it their home, the city of Harborview on the world of Saboria represents possibility. As they fled from the Curtain, Stel Columnar reached out to offer them haven. A place on a world of their own to rebuild. A material gift, “proving” the Pact’s commitment to reform. And for some time, the community of Harborview was allowed to flourish. But today, that time has ended. Some of their most precious residents have been kidnapped. And as it often does, saving Harborview and its people now falls to a band with little more than this community holding them together.
This week on the Road to PALISADE: Lancer Pt. 1
Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage[edit | edit source]
Factions[edit | edit source]
Hypha & Ashen: The former were a culture of galactic nomads, guided by a paranatural force called the Strand which they could commune with using technological devices built into their antlers. The latter are their descendants, their routes broken by the Principality’s expansions and occupations, their culture ripped from them. Stel Columnar: Famously “courted” by the growing Principality many generations ago, this nation of humanoid synthetics traded freedom for the prestige and security of the Principality. They hid behind imperial walls and pursued the Future, pushing boundaries not only in technology, but in art, commerce, and war. I suppose I can call them cousins, but not with much fondness. Today, they share righteous screeds and fight for the return of something like democracy as part of the Pact of Necessary Venture. What a comedy. 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.
Persons[edit | edit source]
Zark “Banjax” Vapor (he/they): Mechanic, Harborview contractor, and pilot of the Ill Portent Teasel “Derby” Fauna (he/him): Entertainer, sharpshooter, and pilot of the Dressage. Narmine “Ketch” Te’ketch (he/him): Former two-bit criminal, current whaler, and pilot of The Captain. Martilla “Journeyman” Häske (she/her): Professional soldier, Pact true-believer, and pilot of the Under the Radar. Kaliope Flow (she/her): The de facto leader of Harborview. Zeke Minuet (he/him) & Deanthe (they/them): A pair of researchers into ancient Hypha culture. Exanceaster March (he/him): Head of the vast Columnar multi-system conglomerate called the Frontier Syndicate, which is older than the Stel itself. While the Syndicate has its hands in many enterprises, the heart of it all is corralling and instrumentalizing data. One such effort, Exanceaster’s pet project the March Anecdatist Foundation, set its sights on Palisade as a testing ground. Locations[edit | edit source]
Saboria: A world controlled by the Columnar which they “gifted” to a group of Ashen refugees fleeing the Curtain. A fiction, of course. The city of Harborview where the Ashen live is under constant surveillance. I do wonder, however, whether the Columnar know the irony of the trap they think they’ve laid. Articles[edit | edit source]
The Portcullis System & The Divine Space: Huge, distended hexagonal gates that float at the edge of key systems throughout the Principality. Once a week—or more often, if one has the keys to the kingdom—each one connects to one other, forming a faster-than-light highway that serves as the logistical backbone of the galaxy. Built by Orion, the technology is a perversion of that used by some of the earliest Divines, tens of thousands of years. Miscellany[edit | edit source]
Stratus: A poorly articulated, unanchored, catch-all term that’s far outlived its usefulness. In some eras, a “stratus” (plural: strati) is said to have special powers of empathy. In others, they have a sort of digital telepresence. There has always been debate as to the origin of these “abilities,” whether they are innate or trained or quite literally created. In one long scattered culture, the Hypha, the strati were social and logistical cornerstones, created through careful application of technological skill. Their beliefs were quaint, but one must respect the technique.
Contents[edit | edit source]
Opening[edit | edit source]
“
[Sounds of talking and clattering]
JACK as THE LINEN: I'll cut to the chase, Mr. March. Have you considered our offer?
AUSTIN as EXANCEASTER MARCH: Imagine you're at a restaurant, like this one. You're eating whatever it is you people eat, pancakes. You can have them piled high with butter and syrup. You place your coffee down and it is as you feel the warmth move down your esophagus that you notice a wasp, hovering above your food, glistening just like the syrup. What would you do?
LINEN: I would swat it. What are you getting at?
MARCH: Moments like this are opportunities to reveal who one really is. Swat the fly with your hand, risking the sting, knowing that pride is the best of bandages, or watch and wait, hoping that it will buzz away, and that even if it does not, even if it spoils your hotcakes, you will outlive it, and there will be other meals.
LINEN: What's your point?
MARCH: I'm growing tired of this Pact business. Not only the handout for the Ashen, but with the entire reformist endeavor. Yes, I have pride as a Columnar. My family, our enterprise, our data, we predate the Divine Principality, we were key to the founding of the Tabulary, we developed the Assimilative Perspective system that was the heart of our democracy. And we helped disassemble it after it served its purpose. All in search of two things: stability, waiting; and competition, swatting. These forces and their fundamental tension breed innovation. Charity kills all three.
LINEN: So you will join us, then.
MARCH: Oh, I won't be giving our answer to you.
LINEN: Why not?
MARCH: Patience, Linen, patience! A wasp must come to breakfast.”
“
That was a Pact recording of a Curtain meeting with the Columnar magnate Exanceaster March, who you might know as the founder of the March Anecdatist Foundation, an organization whose role on Palisade we will wrap back around to in the coming months. For now, though, what's important is that it was this conversation and others like it from wealthy executives and high-ranking commanders in the Pact which led to our story today. It's unclear whether the Pact was genuine when they allocated territory on Saboria to Hyphan refugees. What is clear is that it was the private response from elite military and corporate interests which led the Pact to try to instrumentalize that decision. They turned a gift into an investment. They turned an open hand into a leash. And as so many on the margins do, eventually the Hyphans learned that it's right to bite some hands that feed. Our story starts now.”
Plot[edit | edit source]
The episode centers on the planet of Saboria, where a group of Hypha have been given a refuge by Stel Columnar. A group of these Hypha including Zeke Minuet and Deanthe discover an underground necropolis containing records and bodies of ancient Hypha from before the time of the Divine Principality. Studying those ruins, they begin to translate old texts and instructions to uncover how the Hypha’s Chorus Bond worked and are able to replicate these methods on three volunteers to turn them into Strati. Upon realizing just how valuable this information is, and what the Pact might be willing to do to to take it for themselves, the mayor of Harborview, Kaliope Flow makes a call to Millennium Break asking for assistance extracting them from the planet.
However the Pact catches wind of this transmission and sends ships down to Saboria, preparing to take their discovery by force. They kidnap the three Hyphan Strati and steal some of the Hyphen remains. At this point Kaliope reaches out to some of the only trained pilots in Harborview; Narmine Te'ketch, an ex-criminal laying low, Teasel Fauna, a local entertainer, Zark Vapor, a questionable explosives enthusiast, and Martilla Häske, a Pact soldier currently refuelling on Saboria before returning to the war.
While the crew is not overly enthused to be pulled into the fight, they all end up agreeing for their own reasons. (Narmine is certain he can get Millennium Break to foot his bill, Teasel is offered the position of Mayor for their next settlement, and Zark is toldthey that they can blow up as much as they want during this mission). Martilla however is not convinced of the threat, and only agrees when Kalliope offers to turn herself over to the Pact for calling Millenium Break, so long as Martilla helps them first.
The crew arrives in a train yard, where they encounter hostile Pact forces, much to Martilla’s dismay. While they work to retrieve the three missing strati, Deanthe is on stand-by to assist with the extraction, and Kalliope is helping to move the civilians of Harborview to the Millennium Break extraction point.