PALISADE 42: A Mechanical Whine Pt. 4
Friends at the Table22 Maalis 2024

PALISADE 42: A Mechanical Whine Pt. 4

This episode carries content warnings for discussion of death, imprisonment, slavery, medical experimentation, and mind control.

In the depths of the Temple of the Threshold, a moment passes, a hero dies, and the world begins to change. But Thisbe, Cori, and Brnine—standing in the heart of Exanceaster March's most advanced research facility—don't know that yet. But they do hear it coming.

A mechanical whine in the air is about to become something else. Unfinished plans will be pushed into action. Tomorrow will come, faster for some than others. And life on Palisade will change forever.

This week on PALISADE: A Mechanical Whine Pt. 4

Moon river / wider than a mile / I'm crossing you in style some day

Dossier People

Telford Stare (he/they): One of several foremen tied to the Lone Marble Group's contractor operations division.

Crysanth Kesh (she/her): Mother of Clementine (a.k.a. The Witch in Glass). Once, third in line to the throne of Kesh and de facto leader of the Curtain of Divinity, the predecessor to the Bilateral Intelligence Service. Now dead.

Organizations

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. Developed the Altar, the predominant war machine of the current era.

The Lone Marble Group: Built around a single artifact recovered from an Advent facility, this Frontier Syndicate subsidiary develops the future of Bilat war machinery.

The Church of Received Asterism: The most widely practiced faith in the galaxy, and one of the earliest major organizations in the Divine Principality, created at the beginning of the Miraculous Millenium, over 3000 years ago. Teaches that Divines, the immortal machines and mechs that helped establish the Principality's hold on the galaxy, reflect the best aspects of the state itself. The divine Strength, in other words, is like a living flag of the Principality's own strength. Organized as a central church, led by a religious leader named a "Cycle," whose will is enacted across the Principality by their many "Songs," who rule worlds, star systems, or sometimes entire constellations.

The Church of Progressive Asterism: Created as the teachings of the prophet Logos Kantel grew in popularity 1000 years ago, and made a secondary state religion in order to prevent a large schism. Teaches that Divines are true embodiments of their names, and that the citizens and states of the Principality should look to them as guiding stars. The Divine Strength, in other words, is a reflection of strength itself, or maybe "god's strength," and we should aspire to make our strength look like the divine's. Unlike Received Asterism, there is no single central church, but hundreds of smaller sects, schools, and cults, each devoted to individual Divines, grouped sub-pantheons, or otherwise adjusted beliefs.

The New Asterism: What was once a schism between Received and Progressive Asterism has now been healed by the false prophet Gur Sevraq (he/they), or at least someone in his name and face. The New Asterism claims that to be a citizen of the Principality is to have an obligation to "better the world," in the sense that one invests in property or in the way that a settler "rehabilitates" or "improves" the places they claim by violence. If Received Asterism places virtue in the state and Progressive Asterism places it in the Divines, the New Asterism places it in the Principality's mythologized point of origin: The Twilight Mirage.

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.

The Divine Collaborate: A successor state to the once vast Autonomous Diaspora, the Divine Collaborate wsa an eternally ad-hoc and temporary alliance of Divines, their pilots, and those under their protection. Defeated by the Divine Principality at the climax of the Divine Clash. In her original home timeline, Perennial belonged to some version of the Collaborate.

Places

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

Temple of the Threshold: Built at the center of a massive bridge that crosses the Diadem, this serves as the home of New Asterism and its false prophet,

The Twilight Mirage: Created over 5000 years ago by what was then the Divine Empyrean in an effort to protect the Divine Fleet, of which they were a member. The Mirage is a false nebula that obscures the position of its inhabitants both visually and by distorting time and space. Inside, there is now a vibrant and peaceful culture that spans eight planets, orbiting a dark and living Divine sun.

Objects

FS-N Dais: One of the Altars competing in the tournament, piltoed by Zjenta Zjarule (she/they). Utilizes a special glass originally from the Twilight Mirage.

AdArm Jury: The Jury is the future of AdArm machines. As the first design which fully moves beyond the platforms of the previous generation, it's a startling diversion from the bulky and boxy designs that the company is known for. In fact, the actual "unit" is only the cockpit, around which the rest of the Jury forms using concentrated Perennial Wave Material (PWM). Gone is the old LCD "eye," replaced by a full pixel "face" that can send complex, laser-based communications silently to any other AdArm unit that can see it, as well as display iconographic messages to anyone nearby. A close study of the machine's curved and ovaline elements suggests that it has much in common with the Motion's Demiurgos design that AdArm salvaged as it does with the company's previous designs…

AdArm Cast: This surveillance hollow, mostly used by Stel Nideo in the pre-Kalmeria Era, features angelic (and grotesque) features and focuses on observation, surveilliance, and communications.

EDICT System: The Electronic Divine Interface and Control Technology System was originally deployed during the Divine Clash, over 2400 years ago. Requires a great deal of power to activate, and needs to be transported by multiple large trucks, but when it is used, it can badly disrupt Divine activity--at least most of the time. There are many theories as to which Divines are affected and why, with many believing it is determined by provenance or era of Divine, some internal system of the EDICT itself, or even the current condition of the Perennial Wave.

Divines

The Divine Future (they/them, it/its): An ancient divine, dating back to the second major war in the Golden Branch star sector. Exists in the form of golden orb slightly larger than a softball or bocce ball, which can either be carried by or hover around its Elect. Historically, it has been bidden to share its unparalleled perspective on the hopes and dreams of its chosen (and the endless vigor with which to pursue those goals).

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

The Divine Integrity (it/its): Sometimes 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. Now, it has found a new home in Thisbe.

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 Opposition: One of many divines detained and experimented on by the nascent Divine Principality thousands of years ago, eventually becoming a source for the Fabreal Duchy's Delegates.

Mysteries

Axioms: Once, these beings were made by a so-called "Post-Divine" as embodiments of particular ideals, supposedly detached from mortal perspective or subjectivity. Today, the vast majority of them are the emanation of one woman's ideals, given perfect, violent form.

Ebullience (it/its): An axiom retrieved by the Lone Marble Group. It holds a rounded, liquid metal form and moves with impossible to exhaust energy.

Perennial (she/her): The 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 bonded with elements of Autonomy Itself and the Divine Motion to create Kalmeria.

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

Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp)

Text by Austin Walker

Cover Art by by aurahack (aurahack.jp)

With thanks to Amelia Renee, Arthur B., Bill Kaszubski, Cassie Jones, chocoube, Daniel Laloggia, DB, deepFlaw, Edwin Adelsberger, Emrys, fen, Greg Cobb, Ian O'Dea, Ian Urbina, Irina A., Jack Shirai, Jake Strang, Katie Diekhaus, Ken George, Konisforce, Kristina Harris Esq, L Tantivy, Mike & Ruby, Muna A, Nich Maragos, Olive Perry, Quinn Pollock, Robert Lasica, Shawn Drape, Shawn Hall, Summer Rose, TeganEden, Thomas Whitney, Voi, and weakmint for their support

We are playing Armour Astir: Advent with additional playbooks from Strangers in the Night and 106th Astir Squadron. If you enjoy the show, consider supporting the TTRPG.

This episode was made with support from listeners like you! To support us, you can go to friendsatthetable.cash.

Jaksot(523)

Marielda 04: The Crosstown Job Pt. 2

Marielda 04: The Crosstown Job Pt. 2

To look at a city from above changes it irrecoverably, and so it was for the passengers on Train Day. And say what you like, but the windows in the carriages seemed each to show a different city, a different nest of streets. Those in the engine room saw the smoke from the factories and furnaces, and Marielda hissed and smouldered. Those in the rear carriages looked down upon Canopy Row and wondered whether Chrysanthemum Parish had always been so close. Passengers in the dining carriage looked down onto the parks and boulevards and Marielda smiled back in cypress trees and laurel bushes. No windows lit the pala-din's carriage as they waited in the dark, and for them, in that moment, Marielda barely existed at all, as if a dream recounted long ago. There is a word for all of this, my friends, taking many meanings across our wide city, and the word is reconfiguration. This week on Marielda: The Crosstown Job, Pt. 2 Just for a moment, you felt safe... Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

6 Elo 20162h 5min

Marielda 03: The Crosstown Job Pt. 1

Marielda 03: The Crosstown Job Pt. 1

Marielda is a city filled with scoundrels. Bakers lean on the scales as they count loaves of bread. Men and women in pubs shoot loaded dice. Art dealers swear, solemnly swear, that this is a genuine Sabbatini, just look at the brushstrokes. No, scoundrels in Marielda are ten-a-penny. But sometimes, the sun smiles, and its light shines upon those who have something… particular about them. Look, there they are now. A strongman, binding up his fists in front of a mirror. A dancing master, marking time with a dagger. A little alchemist emerging from a cloud of something purplish. And an alabaster figure, face covered by the wide brim of a hat. Step forward into the light, my friends. This Week on Marielda: The Crosstown Job Pt. 1 When I see your face, it's like lookin' into a mirror. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

29 Heinä 20162h 37min

Marielda 02: The City of Light Pt. 2

Marielda 02: The City of Light Pt. 2

For a while, everything was going just fine in Marielda. Sure, there was some dissent among the citizens—but what city is free of that? In general, people were coming together, rebuilding, taking care of each other. Canopy Row wasn't thriving, but it was definitely surviving. Knowledge was spreading throughout the city. Even them Cobbins had begun to find their place. And then, sometime in the middle of the year, everything seemed to turn. First, the marble-faced pala-din came marching from the sea, half-alive extensions of Samothes' personal brand of justice. Then... well, as we'd soon learn, the pala-din weren't even the half of it. This week on Marielda: The City of Light Pt. 2 I wonder what ever happened to her... Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), and Art Tebbel (@atebbel) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

21 Heinä 20161h 55min

Marielda 01: The City of Light Pt. 1

Marielda 01: The City of Light Pt. 1

In the time of fraught paladins and wavering wizards, of contemptible fighters and indignant druids, of wide eyed rangers… and of bards, the people of the continent of Hieron recover and rebuild in the aftermath of a cataclysm. But, after all, for every inside there is an outside—no disaster was the first of its kind, except, of course, for… well... And so, in the years prior to the event that would come to be called the Erasure, in a time of civil conflict, the people of Hieron faced calamity, and they sought to recover and rebuild. For a long while, blessed Samothes led His Somber Campaign against the heretical armies of the Boy-Traitor Samot, clashing steel in valleys and volleying arrows across plainlands. In time, though, your wise lord, the god-alive, recognized that there had been a stalemate, and that you, His people, were suffering. And so, He returned to you, to His home, your city in the south, moving at fast pace, the dust of the Traitor Charioteers rolling like thunder behind him. And as they pursued, Samothes climbed the mountain of fire from which He forged our first tools, with which He built the first bridge, and He reached inside that mountain, and turned the ruddy summit just so. And because He is Great, it bent to His will: Viscous fire erupted, rushing down the peak and into the riverways that separated the city of light from the continent. He pulled up on the blaze like a reined mare, and yanked the city and its surroundings further away from Hieron. The ground itself shook without mercy, ocean water filled the new gap in the land, and then fire fled into that self-same sea, creating an inseparable blend of liquid heat. Now, Samothes has returned to the mountain to work on some new holy device, and we have been left to rebuild the city as His faithful disciples. In the wake of this destruction we're left with this. One quiet year in a city we now call Marielda. Come Winter, the Frost Shepherds will arrive and we might not survive the encounter. But we don't know about that yet. What we know is that right now, in this moment, there is an opportunity to build something. This week on Marielda: The City of Light Pt. 1 In some ways, I guess you could say that that this is where it all started. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), and Art Tebbel (@atebbel) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

14 Heinä 20162h 6min

COUNTER/Weight 44: Live Post-Mortem

COUNTER/Weight 44: Live Post-Mortem

With COUNTER/Weight firmly wrapped up, we take some time to answer fan questions, discuss the highs and lows of the season, and talk a little bit about what's coming next for Friends at the Table! For those following along at home, make sure to check out the following things during the relevant segment of the show: This map of Mode City, September; this tweet which explains the actual, true origins of Divines and Riggers; this picture of a robot friend from Titanfall 2. This week on COUNTER/Weight: Live Post-Mortem Take a bow. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare(@captaintrash), Andrew Lee Swan (@andrewleeswan) and Art Tebbel (@atebbel) Produced by Ali Acampora Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

26 Kesä 20162h 46min

A Quick Announcement and Some Thank Yous!

A Quick Announcement and Some Thank Yous!

Hey everyone, we are taking a week off here at Friends at the Table but we do have an announcement to make. We're going to be doing a post-mortem for COUNTER/Weight that will be streamed live at twitch.tv/friendsatthetable on Tuesday, June 21st at 7 PM EST! We're really looking forward to looking back on the show and answering some of your questions so please send those questions in to friendsatthetable[@]gmail.com or via DM to our Twitter, @Friends_Table. We will be recording the discussion and releasing it as a proper episode, so please send in questions even if you don't think you'll make the live stream! Thank you so much for listening and for supporting us. Making COUNTER/Weight has been something really special for us and a big part of that has been due to all the support we've gotten from you. Ali goes over all of the games that we played this season and you can find more about them here. See you next week~! A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

16 Kesä 20168min

COUNTER/Weight 43: A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 3

COUNTER/Weight 43: A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 3

15,000 years or so before the September Incident, it went something like this: Somehow, they'd survived. They'd peeled across the galaxy itself, launched by the combined force of a half dozen stellar combusters. Shielded by Rigor's endless mass, they'd subsisted on machine-assembled proteins and nutrients, suffering in the lonely dark at high speeds. They weren't quite candidates, but they were the closest thing Rigor had. So it stung, in so far as Rigor can be stung, when they slipped from its grip in the light of the Golden Branch. As the bulk of its body bore deep into the ice of Ionias (and deeper still into slumber), they wrenched free from it and found land elsewhere, taking bits of the machine god with them. There was a debate among the survivors, though. What to do with the remnants? With living technology that protected and provided for them in the dark just as it had once exploited and used them? Some survivors joined under the banner of a young, charismatic leader--Chess Kesh--whose optimistic belief that the human spirit (and a lot of careful oversight) could control the power of Rigor's technology without being subsumed into a mechanical rhythm of dehumanization. Others, the Apostles, preached that if people learned to shape a world such that Rigor felt itself unnecessary--a world where every individual strived to be their own best self without the gaze of a brutal supervisor--it would remain in slumber indefinitely. And so they built themselves a new leader, using what they knew from Rigor but never using its flesh--algorithmic and driven, they knew, towards singular end. And though there was conflict, there wasn't war--after all, they'd all survived Rigor's whip and the brightest violence that the Diaspora could light. So they disengaged from each other, and found new, internal troubles to focus on. Until one day, new ships with old marks appeared on the horizon. This week on COUNTER/Weight: A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 3 The sky was blue beyond compare... Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Andrew Lee Swan (@andrewleeswan) and Art Tebbel (@atebbel) Produced by Ali Acampora Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

10 Kesä 20162h 34min

COUNTER/Weight 42: A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 2

COUNTER/Weight 42: A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 2

Fifteen years ago, soon after the the Golden War ended, Grace issued her ex cathedra prognosis: With Apostolos defeated (and 'integration' well in process) and peace firmly in place with the Orion Conglomerate, the Diaspora had finally brought into being the end of history as such. Certainly, there was still difference in how OriCon and the Diaspora operated, but the writing was on the wall: The Diaspora's method of mechanized democracy was the final, universal form of governance that all true civilizations would eventually arrive at. OriCon would be the next to prove it: After all, each and every day those oligarchs put more and more faith in automation, deferred again and again to procedural logic. It was only a matter of time before they elected their own divines, even if they went by other names. Certainly, Grace explained, there'd be more disputes over territory and resources, and yes, of course there would be new inventions and technological progress. But in the long run, the state of things had settled. The Golden Branch had, against all odds, ushered in the final era: post-history. This week on COUNTER/Weight: A Splintered Branch, A Ringing Bell Pt. 2 What's worse, saying hello or saying goodbye? Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Andrew Lee Swan (@andrewleeswan) and Art Tebbel (@atebbel) Produced by Ali Acampora Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

2 Kesä 20162h 35min

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