Twilight Mirage 62: The Feast of Patina

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Background

Episode description

In the year after the Miracle, wonder and surprise appeared all throughout the daily life of the residents of the Quire System. Unfortunately, the composition of the system's political structures moved at a much more sluggish pace. Diplomatic gridlock and (well-grounded) fear of conflict leashed even the most aggressive states. The result was the vexing sense that the system had calcified in an imperfect shape. "To live in the Mirage," it was said, "is to see something unimaginable before lunch, but to be frustrated by the predictable before dinner."

But the assassination attempt on the system's leaders, the attack of the Axiom Schism, the end of the Rogue Wave's civil war, and the heroism of the Qui Err Coalition seems to have shaken the system out of its stasis.

Yesterday, even the Notion's patrons—the Cadent Under Mirage and Declan's Corrective—had little faith that their project of a unified system would come to fruition. But today, Seneschal's Brace has not only found recognition as a distinct sovereign nation in the system, but also has positioned itself to build an even broader bloc of ad hoc allies and smaller powers.

But everything hangs on what comes next. A dinner. Some conversation. And a question: If you could remake the world, in whose image would you make it?

This week on Twilight Mirage: The Feast of Patina

We don't talk much or nothin'

But when we talkin' about something
We have good discussion

Cold open

“

[Keen Forester Gloaming] An excerpt from the journal of Keen Forester Gloaming, Chief Intercessor of the Rapid Evening in the Quire System.

Is it fair to call myself a failure? I think so. Beaten to the punch again and again by everyday fixers. The system fractured but not yet shattered. One Annihilation Class Object replaced with a fountain of them. My own family turned against me. Well over a year into the Mirage and the greatest success I’ve achieved is to restablish a connection to Crystal Palace, after an asset we thought was in control turned out to have Adversary-Class technology. Chief intercessor? Me? More like Chief fuckup.

But Crystal Palace never calls me a failure. It only tells me that my failures are Guaranteed Events. There is a, security in that as much as there is an insult. No way out but, no way to blame yourself when things went wrong. You didn’t miss anything. History was just misaligned. New agents don’t get that. The see Crystal Palace made a couple of mistakes, and doubt sets in. But a few years later, you understand. Any single hiccup at the boundaries of the perfect, is just the result of a trillion accurate predictions. Even when it’s wrong, it’s right.

Which is why, even if I am a failure, I’m not worried. Yeah, the Qui Err Coalition are heroes in the eyes of the people and yes, this alliance between Seneschal’s Brace and the Brighton’s suggests a move towards stability. But Schism was Schism. A wakeup call, and not just for this system but for us, too. Yeah, the assassination attempt on the Mirage’s leaders has pushed these folks a little closer to outright war. But when something like Volition can make something like Schism right under our noses? There is only one solution for a thing like that. And that is why I’m making the call. Crystal Palace can not simply wait back on Kesh and leave it to us to zero out the inevitable gremlins of it’s forecasts. It needs to make the periphery the center. A new home, right here, in the Mirage.”

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Cast

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