PALISADE 31: Seize the Chance Pt. 2

In the city of Carmathen, the Fabreal Duchy has spread itself too thin. Look only at the entrance to the Diadem Grav Train’s control center: Once guarded by a full detachment of Stel Kesh’s most reliable soldiers. Now, guarded by little more than an honor guard. On a world like Palisade, in a war like this one, it may as well be an invitation. The question is only how many might decide to come calling.

This week on PALISADE: Seize the Chance Pt. 2

somewhere beneath the pale / moonlight, there is past / under the same sky

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.

Connadine (he/him): Commander of the Bilateral Intelligence Service on Palisade. An expert in psychological operations and folklore. As a composer, his opus is the Adagio, a plan to get everyone on Palisade operating in ways not only predictable, but scripted. As a conductor, his orchestra now turns towards the second movement.

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.

Gucci Garantine (she/her): A defector from Stel Kesh, who used the remaining wealth and power of House Brightline to help found Millennium Break. Currently a key member of the resistance efforts on Palisade, and a commander of Millenium Break forces there. Codename Watershed.

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.

The Paint Shop: Sitting atop the central peak of Steeple Catterick, this faux-commune was once the central HQ of the Bilateral HQ on Palisade. Now it has gone quiet.

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 (i...