Friends At The Table

This episode carries content warnings for slavery and indentured servitude, kidnapping, discussion of taxidermy, animals bred to be hunted, blood, injury, physical harm, death, and the discussion of sports-related injuries. It is often noted that the Bilateral Commission (formerly the Curtain) is mostly comprised of people from Stels Kesh and Nideo, and likewise that the Pact is largely made up of Apostolosians and Columnar. Room is made for exceptions because, in many cases, such cases are all the more important. Thus could be the case of Exanceaster March, Columnar data magnate and long time friend of the (ever diminishing) Solstice family of Kesh. Today, the troubled aristocrats bring their powerful ally to their estate for a visit, during which they hope to persuade March to leave the Pact behind.  For the Solstice family, this could be everything they need to be catapulted back into the upper crust. For their servants, it will be just one more hellish event left for them to clean up after. This week on t

This episode carries content warnings for physical harm, death, and the discussion of sports-related injuries. Even as Stels Kesh and Apostolos began to fall into war, the in the year 1423 of the Perfect Millennium, the Divine Principality held the the Summer Passage of Arms on the world of Partizan, moon of Girandole. There, poets competed in verse, the Providence was run, biathletes strutted their stuff by land and by sea, and pilots wrestled their hollows against each other along the coastlines. In one such hollow was a grappler whose vision saw beyond the shore of that ill-fated moon. A man who dreamed of being something more than a athlete. A man who dreamed of being a superstar. This week on the Road to PALISADE: My Way Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions Principality Wrestling Association (PWA): The largest professional hollow wrestling organization in the Principality. Tours each Stel. The PWA’s current active roster includes Caden "The Sensation" Davis (they/them), Vlad “Bone Daddy”

This episode carries content warnings for the use of real life news audio recordings of protests and riots, cruelty, discussion of medical and student debt, discussion of combat injuries, layered conversations and heavy crosstalk. In all societies, but especially in one as vast as the Divine Principality, people are separated from history as it is made. No one can be everywhere all at once, and even if you are at the heart of a protest, in the backroom of a political dealing, or on the carrier ship as the bombers launch, presence often clouds as much as it reveals. But our only alternative is to have the world we are in coalesced and presented towards us, mediated and curated by one industrial force or another. Text books, documentaries, the nightly news, and of course… the dreaded political panel podcast. This week on the Road to PALISADE: Serious Reading Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions The Bilateral Intercession: This faction, made up primarily from Stel Nideo and Kesh assets, was form

This episode carries content warnings for cults, depiction of a missing child, gun violence, hallucination, imagery made from blood, and non-gory but uncanny body horror. Floating at the very edge of the sunset-hued safety of the Twilight Mirage, the Brink hums and pulses, a beacon of community and solidarity in an age when both are under threat. All aboard the station, staff, civilians, and visitors work side by side to maintain a sanctuary that faces ever sharper threat. Practiced pilots ferry shipments. The starships-turned-station districts groan and clank at regular interveals. Giant mechanical bodies—of shapes recognizable and imagined—are repurposed, exchanging civil processes for military procedures,  And when those here in the Brink—bartenders and gardeners, fixers and musicians, assassins and preists—see these machines from the corner of their eyes, they find themselves wondering: Can this nebula of peace and egality they've built remain safe in its orbit, far above the dirt and muck of the world th

This episode carries content warnings for cults, depiction of a missing child, gun violence, hallucination, imagery made from blood, and non-gory but uncanny body horror. The announcement was bright, loud, and unilateral: the Twilight Mirage would not allow the Divine Principality—in any of its forms—to move one step further. Now, though, in the afterglow of such a vibrant declaration, reality has begun to sink in. General Mourning attempts to sift through fact, opinion, and advice. Pushy, Mustard, and 3T head to Devotion’s retreat—each bringing their unique vulnerability with them. The assassin who goes by “Deutsch Synchro” pursues a risky side objective. And as many Troublemakers heed the belligerent call of their idol, Paris France and his rival False Fruit rush to stop the innocent from being caught up in the wake.   This week on the Road to Palisade: Orbital Pt. 4 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions The Curtain of Divinity: Largely aligned to Stels Kesh and Nideo, the Curtain of Divinit

This episode carries content warnings for cults, depiction of a missing child, assassination, description of a wounded corpse, and non-gory but uncanny body horror. Despite the best (and worst) efforts of those aboard, matters on the Brink have remained frayed and taut—but no pulled rope stays unbroken forever. Some, like Paris France, busy recruiting more members to Brink Proxy, prepare for what is to come. Others, like Mustard Red and Pushy Cheal—diving deeper into their cult investigations—hope to cut off the worst of it before it arrives. And for a rare few—like 3T and the undercover assassin named Lament—the chaos to come is not an obstacle at all. It’s the first step. This week on the Road to Palisade: Orbital Pt. 3 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions The Curtain of Divinity: Largely aligned to Stels Kesh and Nideo, the Curtain of Divinity is made uup of those loyal to Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh, the Peaceful Princept, and who desire the Divine Principality to continue on as it has for mi

This episode carries content warnings for assassination, colonial violence, death from visual stimulus, kidnapping, and missing people. The Brink continues to spin towards crisis. Even as individuals continue to vanish mysteriously, the increase in visitors to the station have led the halls to be more cramped and supplies to run ever thinner. Pushy holds an assembly to address the apparent cult. Paris hunts for a rare and dangerous magazine, while Mustard flirts with accepting an offer from a riskier supplier. Deutsch Syncrho--aka the assassin Lament--tracks down a target. And 3T prepares for the largest concert of his career. This week on the Road to Palisade: Orbital Pt. 2 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage The Divine, Arbitrage At last, I take the stage. Factions The Curtain of Divinity: Largely aligned to Stels Kesh and Nideo, the Curtain of Divinity is made uup of those loyal to Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh, the Peaceful Princept, and who desire the Divine Principality to continue on as it has for m

This episode carries content warnings for the discussion of colonial violence, discussion of death from visual stimulus, and the discussion of industrial and workplace industries. For the last five millennia, the Divine Principality has expanded its reach across the stars. But in the Twilight Mirage, those 5,000 years were only felt as 500. For those in the Mirage, led by the Qui Err Coalition, life has been stable and if not utopian, then at least a type of living that is aspirational in only the best ways. But today, as the space station known as the Brink orbits towards the edge of the false nebula, those 5000 years come rushing in.  This week on the Road to Palisade: Orbital Pt. 1 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions 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 Pr

This episode carries content warnings for discussion of displaced and unhoused communities. The news is sour. The revolutonaries known as Millennium Break will be no one's savior today. The Ashen of Saboria, of Harborview, have only each other as their protectors. And as they huddle below, sheltered in the shuddering mountain, the enemy arrives from above. The mission is clear in both objective and absurdity: Zark Vapor, Teasel Fauna, Martia Häske, and Narmine Te'Ketch must simply hold the Pact at bay long enough for a miracle.  This week on the Road to PALISADE: Lancer Pt. 3 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions 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 Prin

This episode carries content warnings for discussion of kidnapping. In the city of Harborview, on the world of Saboria, a group of Ashen refugees tried to make new lives for themselves. In the process, they connected to the history of their people—the ancient Hypha—and rediscovered an ancient art: the creation of strati. This was all it took for the Pact of Necessary Venture to close the snare around them. Now it falls to a group of incongruous and infighting pilots to stand against the Pact, get the strati to safety, and forge a future for the Ashen. This week on the Road to PALISADE: Lancer Pt. 2 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions 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 “court

This episode carries content warnings for kiddnapping. 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 Factions 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

This episode carries content warnings for mentions of death, poison, discussion of bodily fluids, and slavery. With the Bontive Valley and the Shale Belt behind them, Millennium Break’s first arrivals on Palisade find themselves facing their most delicate situation yet. In the arid stretches beyond the Curtain’s reach, there rests a fortress named Joyous Guard. Inside lives the previous imperial ruler of this world: Perpetual Lustre, the Duke of Glass. Unwilling to cede the power he claimed to “protect” on behalf of the long-absent Princept, the Duke now lives in exile, attended to by an unctuous court and served by the supposedly leashed “descendents” of Divines known as Delegates. But with Millennium Break newly arrived, for how much longer will this petty tyrant yet cast his shadow over the desert? This week on the Road to PALISADE: Wagon Wheel Pt. 3 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions The Curtain of Divinity: For generations, the Curtain of Divinity operated in the shadows of the Princip

The members of Millenium Break continue to investigate the world of Palisade, trying to build relationships across the communities of Eversin and Braunton. In the former, they learn that offers of direct help may not always be easily accepted by those in the sights of an occupation. In the latter, they learn that direct occupation is not always necessary for an empire’s reach to be felt. And in both, they come to understand the importance of local culture (basketball) and social ritual (potluck dinner) when it comes to building a movement.  This week on the Road to PALISADE: Wagon Wheel Pt. 2 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions 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. After the events on Partizan, they were dragged into the daylight, and served as one of the two ruling factions of the whole Principality. But as the years progressed, and Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh, th

This episode carries content warnings for mentions of violence, death, and colonization.  With the road paved by Misericorde and the NIdean forces which capitalized on his duel with the Apostolosian hero Cor’rina Corrine, the Curtain began to move their forces down onto Palisade proper. Within weeks, Kesh and Nidean forces had spread across most of the major, obvious settlements on the small planet. Within months, the people of Palisade were rallying, preparing to fight back, and making connections beyond their world. ⸢Wine⸣, the Excerpt of the Divine Bounty, whose presence on Palisade had been lost to history, took a small ship and sought aid from the only group proven to reliably bloody the Principality’s nose: Millennium Break. This week on the Road to PALISADE: Wagon Wheel Pt. 1 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions 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. After

This episode carries content warnings for violence, death, and colonization.  For the first few years of the war, those in the central depths of Nideo space felt safe. In order to reach them, the Pact would first have to push through an unthinkable amount of territory—much of it well defended. What they did not expect was an Apostolosian sneak attack arriving through the deep space that separates two galactic arms. And when they arrived, it was not simply an invasion. It was an invitation to a morbid race: Who would conquer Palisade—and the Twilight Mirage Beyond—first.  At the forefront of this conflict, two pilots arose. This is their story. This week on the Road to Palisade: Last Shooting Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions Stel Nideo: WIth origins in the long lost Twilight Mirage, Stel Nideo are architects of our current era, dread controllers of the Present. Along with shaping mass media, popular culture, and educational standards, they now operate both Received and Progressive Asterism

Once a year, the Divine Discernment takes a trip dangerously close to the Adversary—Perennial—orbiting the very core of the galaxy. From there, it can see everything, all at once, breaking the rules of time and space in exactly the ways Divines seem sometimes able to do. It saves this view, rendering it out as an image impossibly high in resolution, giving those with access to it incredible strategic and tactical advantages—so long as they generally know where to look and what to look for. As such, though Devotion itself is not a dedicated war vessel, it is as responsible for the deaths that follow it as the accurate sight of the rifle or the targeting computer of the missle are.  “Perhaps,” the leaders of Millennium Break think, “we could put it to better use.” This week on the Road to PALISADE: Stealing the Throne Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions The Divine Principality: Stitched together thousands of years ago from the remains of the Divine Free States and the Principality of Kesh, it

This episode carries content warnings for violence, displacement, insects, and a  brief description of a corpse.  The Divine Fealty knew what they had seen instantly, identifying it in something before or beyond language. Appropriate, since the Twilight Mirage, once its home, had always been more than just a simple place or a proper noun. It did not matter if their elect, Veronique, could understand what they’d seen in this way, only that she would support Fealty in what must be done. And so, an escape. And so, a kingdom among debris. And so, a kidnapping. And so, a confrontation between Divines. Now wounded, the two Anchors float back in the direction they came from, drawing ever closer to the purple dot in the distance.    This week on Friends at the Table: The Road to PALISADE: HOUNDs Pt. 2 Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage Factions The Divine Principality: Stitched together thousands of years ago from the remains of the Divine Free States and the Principality of Kesh, it is largest empire in th

This episode carries content warnings for violence, abduction, and risk of suffocation.  Welcome to the Road to PALISADE, an interlude connecting PARTIZAN to PALISADE, our upcoming season (which will be played in Armour Astir: Advent by Briar Sovereign)!  Unlike 2019’s Road to PARTIZAN, please know that this season will likely contain broad spoilers for COUNTER/Weight, Twilight Mirage, and PARTIZAN. In many ways, we see both the Road to PALISADE and PALISADE itself as opportunities to weave many important threads from the Divine Cycle together. Another way in which this interlude season is different from the Road to PARTIZAN is that we aren’t necessarily telling a linear history from point A to point B. While many key points on the five years separating the two seasons will be hit, the Road to PALISADE is intended to be less of a direct history and more of a series of snapshots, capturing events happening as the Principality’s civil war continues.  As a fun note, all of the stories we play this interlude sea

Hello everyone! Here's another actual play from our National Network of Abortion Funds fundraiser, this time with Austin, Sylvi, Janine, Art, Dre and Keith playing Standoff! Standoff is available at https://worldchampgameco.itch.io/standoff on its own or as part of a collection in Wish You Were Here, available at https://worldchampgameco.itch.io/wish-you-were-here

Well, I suppose I’ve got a story or two left in these old bones. And hell, since it is another one about Marielda, why not make one about stories and the people who tell ‘em. Now I know what you might be thinking: Physicality alive, in the era that The Six operated in Marielda, it was knowledge which was forbidden, turned into contraband and currency both, not stories. But as anyone ever wounded by art can tell you, fiction is a sharper knife than information could be. And living fiction, played out in front of your eyes and ears? Very few things are as well honed as that. And so it was that Samothes, ever jealous and increasingly suspicious that his erstwhile beau might conquer his capital with culture instead cudgel, all but forbade the theater.  Of course, any scoundrel worth their shadow would narrow in on those two words preceding “forbade”: “All but. “ There were two exceptions to the rule banning theater.  The first was liturgical drama, approved by the Blessed Council and performed in the True Church