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This episode carries content warnings for death, the description of corpses, false memories, illusions, vomiting, and medical experimentation.

Where has the crew of the Blue Channel gone? For Eclectic Opposition, the answer is easy, if dire: In the passenger seat of a Baseline-C security vehicle, under the watchful eyes of the Divine Resonance, scrambling for a way out. For the support staff, like Hunting Tomorrow and Partial Palisade, the answer is scanning for the others. And those others? They are so close\\u2014under five miles away from the ship\\u2019s landing zone\\u2014yet so, so far. Deep in the Catacombs of Dust. Deeper, still, living new lives, considering what might be, what might have been, and what yet might still come.

This week on PALISADE: Seize the Chance Pt. 5

Let loose the wide world that holds you /\\xa0Scratch through /\\xa0Your waves linger

Dossier

People

Partial Palisade (he/him):\\xa0A man who was once a Divine, now living in the shell of a being quite unlike what he once was.

Midnite Matinee (she/her):\\xa0Leporine 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):\\xa0Elle 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 \\u201cMurch\\u201d Saltburn (she/her):\\xa0A gig-cop working for Lock & Cross Security Services in Baseline-C.\\xa0

Alise Breka (she/her): Once, Alise was most popular for her Renegade Hearts books of daring pulp adventure. Now she is one of the chief propagandists of Millennium Break, turning their struggles (and victories) into novels, screenplays, and other media.

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,\\xa0Cynosure 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.

The Bilateral Intelligence Service:\\xa0Formerly 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:\\xa0The oldest established power in the galaxy, built around a stuffy (and secretive) aristocracy. They are tied to the Past. History, knowledge, stubbornness.

Stel Nideo:\\xa0Created 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:\\xa0A powerful conglomerate with a broad purview, including technology, heavy industry, entertainment, telecommunications, and transportation. Led by\\xa0Exenceaster 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:\\xa0One 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:\\xa0When 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\\u2019s 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:\\xa0While the vast trench-city on Palisade\'s equator lays abandoned, Kesh has reactivated its railway via an operations center in the city of\\xa0Carmathen.

Collier:\\xa0The 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 Filigree:\\xa0The instrumentalized operating core of Palisade\'s extensive GravTrain system. Currently being taken into Dust\'s catacombs by the affliction\'s minions.\\xa0

The Divine Motion (she/her):\\xa0One 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.\\xa0

The Divine, Arbitrage (it/its):\\xa0The amoral machine turned de facto treasurer keeps the Frontier Syndicate a step ahead in all matters of commerce. Sole minter of \\u201cglint,\\u201d a newly popular currency on Palisade.

The Divine Integrity (it/its):\\xa0Sometimes 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):\\xa0The watchful guardian, doting caregiver, and ardent supporter of Nideo\'s colonial efforts on Palisade.

Asepsis (it/its):\\xa0The 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.\\xa0

Objects

The Broken Spoke:\\xa0The Figure\\u2019s 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:\\xa0Appearing 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,\\xa0buried 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:\\xa0Calamedes, Caspin, and Caydor.

Saint:\\xa0A 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.\\xa0\\xa0

Mysteries

Perennial (she/her):\\xa0\\xa0The 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:\\xa0A group of \\u201cmonstrous\\u201d beings that haunt the dark corners of Palisade. They have been named as follows:

• Dust a.k.a Pride\\u2019s Mirror a.k.a. The Looking Glass
• Refrain a.k.a. Yesterday\\u2019s Reprise\\xa0 a.k.a. The Ghastly Chorus
• Ravel a.k.a. Labyrinth\\u2019s Thread a.k.a. The Hedge Maze\\xa0
• Cleave a.k.a. Whetstone\\u2019s Opposite a.k.a. The Sanguine Hatchet\\xa0
• Oversight a.k.a. Hell\\u2019s Facade a.k.a. The Empty Garden

Flash Nautilus:\\xa0An alien creature who uses plasma-energy for propulsion. Compelled into service by Stel Nideo.

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.

\\xa0

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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