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This episode carries content warnings for hallucinations, death, and brief mention of mind control.

Across Palisade, the gears of Kesh\\u2019s occupation grind to halt, for however brief a time. Attaches clear the schedules of their client-commanders. Chefs discard the still-fresh ingredients for the coming week\\u2019s feasts. Countless BIS operatives\\u2014many of whom hid in plain sight as attaches or chefs\\u2014simply vanish one midday, lost to long hallways and shaded corners.\\xa0

And in their stead, the Divine Crusade moves.

This week on PALISADE:\\xa0 Resentment and Frustration Pt. 2

I bought a \'Rari just so I can go faster (skrrr)

Dossier

People

Occam Olio (they/them):\\xa0Columnar member of the Frontier Syndicate and low level officer of Lock & Cross Security Services. Sharp the way a knife is. Made themself a hero among Palisade Bilats during Frontier Syndicate operation against Rose River.\\xa0

Silverbrick (they/them):\\xa0A \\u201cvisionary\\u201d architect, technologist, and urban planner of the Frontier Syndicate.

Blank Shore (he/him):\\xa0Ex-Concretist Hacker, happy that \\u201cthe future is finally here.\\u201d Claims to be \\u201cperfectly apolitical.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0

Jesset City (he/him):\\xa0After helping to kick off Millennium Break on Partizan, Jesset served as one of its major leaders during its expansion across the Principality. Now, he uses his talents in Hollow and Altar engineering, piloting, and cipher breaking on behalf of the Grey Pond unit of the cause. Still considers himself to be a member of the Party of the Wolf, though those designations have largely fallen from use.

Gentian (she/her):\\xa0Elect of the Divine Crusade. Impossibly old, yet a source of power and vibrance. Attended to by her two sword bearers (Ramondre (she/her) and Ignadiah (he/him), Knight of Books (Clawed (he/him)), and Knight of Cups (Perevel (they/them)).\\xa0

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. Pilot of the Cataphract.

Factions

Bilateral Intercession:\\xa0One 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\\u2019s ancient spy operations. The \\u201cBilats\\u201d 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.\\xa0

The Frontier Syndicate: A powerful conglomerate with a broad purview, including technology, heavy industry, entertainment, telecommunications, and transportation. Led by Exenceaster March (he/him), former chair of the Columnar R&D giant the Zenith Fund, 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:\\xa0One of the two factions vying for leadership of the Principality, a joint operation by Stels Columnar and Apostolos.

Jade Kill:\\xa0Based in Joyous Guard, this military arm of the Cause is operated by the Delegate liberation faction known as Reunion and supported by\\xa0Kalar Anakalar\'s\\xa0(he/him) Giantkiller unit and a wing of Swordbreakers. Led by\\xa0August Righteousness (he/him).\\xa0

Lock and Cross Security Services:\\xa0The largest mercenary unit on Palisade, invited to the world by Exenceaster March. Founded by\\xa0Maidstone Cross (she/her)\\xa0and\\xa0Margate Lock (she/her),\\xa0a pair of divorcees too committed to their work together to fully separate. Margate was lost to the depths of the Diadem.

The Branched:\\xa0A post-human society of beings who have transformed their bodies into forms terrifying and spectacular and free\\u2014only to have the threat of war force them to rebuild themselves as soldiers first and foremost. After centuries of fighting a purely defensive war, the Branched have now begun to strike into the Principality\\u2019s territory.\\xa0

Places

Diadem Gravtrain:\\xa0While the vast trench-city on Palisade\'s equator lays abandoned, Kesh has reactivated its railway via an operations center in Carmathen.

Bontive Valley:\\xa0Blessed by the departed divine Bounty, the Valley provides the Bilats with fruit that never rots and hyper-nutritional grain.

Carhaix: The northernmost city in the Bontive Valley, Carhaix is one of the first major settlements founded by the nascent Divine Principality 5,000 years ago. It was created on the site of a battlefield where they obliterated the straggling remnants of the Advent Group, an organization that had invaded and pillaged the Twilight Mirage. After the Principality left Palisade behind, it became one of the Fabreal Duchy\\u2019s many centers of power in the northwestern continent. Currently, it is controlled by Jade Kill.

Objects

The Stellar Combustor:\\xa0A weapon of immense destruction, capable of destroying countless star systems if deployed without a firebreak. Has been used in some form or another since the time of the earliest Divines. In current form they take the form of a twirling, 3-ringed space station that rotates around a system\\u2019s sun.\\xa0

Divines

Discernment (it/its):\\xa0Able to see the whole of the galaxy for one moment a year, this massive Divine was stolen by Millennium Break in the years after Operation Shackled Sun.\\xa0

The Divine Crusade (they/them):\\xa0Leads Stel Nideo\\u2019s occupation on Palisade along with their Elect, Gentian. Crusade is an enormous, bipedal machine covered (or perhaps made with) beautiful stained glass.

Additional Notes

Delegates:\\xa0In plain terms, Delegates are synthetic individuals created through a process of forcible extraction from a living Divine. Originated by the Fabreal Duchy, who were left behind to "attend to" Palisade by the Divine Principality around 5000 years ago, these Delgates were designed and used as slaves. Currently, a Delegate resistance group called Reunion operates out of the fortress Joyous Guard in the Caldera Stretch.

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Sylvi Bullet (@sylvibullet), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora\\xa0

Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp)

Text by Austin Walker

Cover Art by by aurahack (aurahack.jp)

With thanks to Arthur B., chocoube, DB, deepFlaw, Edwin Adelsberger, Emrys, Greg Cobb, huw, Ian O\'Dea, Ian Urbina, Irina A., Jack Shirai, K. Morris, Katie Diekhaus, Konisforce, Kristina Harris Esq, L Tantivy, Lawson Coleman, Mike & Ruby, Nich Maragos, Olive Perry, Patrick Murray, Robert Lasica, Shawn Hall, TeganEden, Thomas Whitney, viviridian, and Voi for their support

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