Session 18: 11/19/13

[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel is sleeping on the Leviathan, advancing towards the presumed position of a hiding remnant of the Vaylen fleet. She has an intense nightmare: she is playing with Dove by herself, when Dove disintegrates into blood in Kestrel's arms. Maris is standing over her, holding a bundle of something that she is guarding protectively.

[CROW COLOR] We see the wreckage of the Painted Palace. Crow trudges aimlessly through it, covered in soot and lacerations. He stops and picks up a tiny, intact glass bird.

[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne leaves Isla Norte in a fury, and asks Thalia to make her personal craft ready. She raises Zabad on the comm. She tells him that they are repoing the facility from Maris - and to bring as many guys as he can raise on short notice.

[MARIS CONFLICT] Yvenne confronts Maris at Isla Norte. Maris tries to convince her that Chrysalis, the fetus she has growing inside the lab, is as much her child as Dove is Yvenne's. Yvenne: "Then it will hurt all the more when I take your child away from you." Yvenne cannot make peace with the fact that Chrysalis has Sparrow's DNA, and attacks Maris and her Sodalis. The superior tactics and firepower the Sodalis command drives them back, though, and Yvenne's morale breaks and she leaves. Afterwards, Maris puts forth waves of sadness as Delphia turns away from her in horror.

[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Kestrel raises Yvenne, and Yvenne explains the situation. "She killed our baby, and she made her own!" Kestrel: "Don't make Maris angry. Not now. Not when we have all of this. What would happen to Dove if something happened to you? We can't fight two battles." Kestrel convinces Yvenne not to do anything rash, and says she misses her and will be home soon.

[CROW INTERSTITIAL] Crow meets Kestrel late at night in the bunker under the Painted-Palace-that-was, and tells her that she needs to meet someone who matters with and to the slaves - Alix Weller. Torrent fidgets uncomfortably to be meeting with this hated enemy. Kestrel explains her amnesty offer. Torrent's fists clench and unclench. "What you're proposing is... not in any way appealing." The deal being offered by the Vaylen is, he argues, better. "We would know what freedom tasted like for a little while, anyway. What you're offering assumes that we live... and we won't, because we are not soldiers." "I very much believe that your interests will no longer be relevant, once Avarine is conquered." "This isn't about many years from now. This is about months from now. This is reality - if we fight for you, we die. And why would we fight for you when we were just, before they came, planning your murders?" "So, which is it? Either you're all a bunch of helpless farmhands, or you're dangerous murderous revolutionaries. You can't have it both ways." "Can we poison a master's tea, or stick a knife in their guts? Yes!" "Those skills might come in more handy than you think. They do hide among us... The opportunity to die a clean death, rather than the inevitability of being hulled, is a good one. That's all there is to it." Torrent walks out. "I'm not going to sacrifice the fate of our planet to some high-minded ideals about brotherhood and equality." Crow: "He was looking to be wooed, and you did not woo." "If he's looking to be wooed, then you need to arrange to have the meeting with my wife, not with me." Kestrel promises to try again. "Alix is not an easy man to talk to. I did mean it when I said it went well!" She arranges with Wren to send a Crow-crafted glass letter opener to Alix as a peace offering. The note says, "Perfect for stabbing masters with."

[TORRENT COLOR] Torrent and Frost have a laugh over the gift when it arrives, but Alix slips it into his robe when he's alone.

[MARIS INTERSTITIAL] Maris "confronts" Kestrel in her mind about her promise to "take care of her" when the crisis is over. Kestrel promises that she does not want to see Chrysalis dead. "Can you appreciate how complicated a situation this is? What should I do, Maris?" The connection goes silent, an admission that Maris has no idea.

[YVENNE BUILDER] Yvenne remembers Maris mentioning Sister Priya, back during the initial invasion. She contacts her anonymously, giving her the coordinates to the lab, and a brief description of its blasphemous contents. The good sister examines the message, and smiles as she connects the dots.

[YVENNE COLOR] The Brotherhood ships start taking flight to engage the Vaylen fleet.

[MARIS COLOR] Delphia slams down a tablet showing images of the fight against the bedraggled but still potent Vaylen fleet, pounding Church Sodalis from the sky. Maris remains fascinated by Chrysalis, bathed in eerie blue light.

[QUINN INTERSTITIAL] Quinn and Farouk are poring over a dynamic map of Isla Tienne, showing the devastated Painted Palace. "This is still a strategic position, and I think we would do well to attach hard, here." Quinn gives him a quizzical look. "We go deeper."

EPILOGUE: TAKE ACTION VS. FLAK: Torrent makes an autotuned music video of Kestrel repeating her promises of amnesty until they lose all meaning, set against images of the slaves suffering in work camps. Brotherhood ships, rag-tag as they are, target Vaylen supply ships, outmaneuvering them and slamming them dead in space with nail launchers. Meanwhile, Zabad rallies the slaves, asking them if they are there to sing and dance, or to kill worms. On the Vaylen ships, the screens flash. "YOU ARE FAR FROM HOME. YOU ARE ALONE."

Session 17: 11/5/13

[KESTREL BUILDER] Kestrel is in the archives of Isla Tienne, poring through dusty histories looking for precedent for Crow and Lycelle’s marriage. Six generations ago, early in House Tamar’s history, she finds a case where a Forged Lord was grievously injured, and her heir assumed power. After a decade, the original Lord regained consciousness and tried to reclaim power, but after a brief conflict the nobles declared that the title could not be reverted once it was given.

[CROW COLOR] Crow and Lycelle are married in a short, simple, sweet ceremony before their families and officiants of both the New Horizon and the Mundus. It’s beautiful - Crow has crafted glass ornaments that shine rainbows of light over the party, and Meyers has written some special music for it. Crow and Lycelle celebrate their long, many years of love.

[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne pulls Kestrel and Meyers aside to express her concerns that Crow will make a move to take over now that he and Lycelle are married. Meyers urges Kestrel to talk to Crow. “I mean, I know, you all are Tamars, you’re all good at the passive aggressive thing.” Yvenne backs him up. Kestrel sighs and agrees.

[MARIS COLOR] While Maris watches the wedding, the HUD in her Iron shows her horrific scenes of the battle against the Vaylen on Isla Norte, Sodalis being splayed redly across the snow.

[CROW INTERSTITIAL] Crow confronts Maris and apologizes for... everything. “Dad... I cared about being a sixteen year old girl in heavy armor being shot at.” Maris tells him that she has spent her life alternately looking for guidance and blaming those who haven’t provided it to her - but she cannot and won’t anymore, she needs to own her own choices without putting them either on Crow or on the Wheel. Crow asks her why she killed Phoenix and he explains - it was as much about feeling betrayed by Locke as any duty to destroy the Vaylen - then shares his pain in part through the Psychologist’s Touch. “I will never be a parent. I can’t understand. But I can share some of the pain you felt at Phoenix’ death, if you want me to.” They both collapse into each other, sobbing.

[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Kestrel deadpans, “Father, I need to let you know how truly happy I am for you and Lycelle.” They exchange brief pleasantries, then jump right to what this means for Avarine. “Couldn’t quite keep politics out, hunh?” Crow tells her that Lycelle and he feel that Kestrel is endangering Avarine, and that Lycelle’s rightful place as eldest Tamar is as Forged Lord. “What should I have done when the Vaylen invaded, father? Made a deal with them? ‘Oh, you can only hull half the planet, and the rest of us will sit tight?’” “It doesn’t have to get ugly, Kestrel.” “It will get ugly, father. I am telling you right now, if you are tired of war, you need to put away these foolish ambitions.”

[KESTREL CONFLICT] Kestrel tries to convince Crow that resisting her would be foolish. Crow wants her to stop using force to bring the nobles in line. Kestrel agrees to at least listen to Crow’s counsel.

[QUINN INTERSTITIAL] Quinn brings Maris the external womb device.

[MARIS BUILDER] Maris and Quinn meet in the hulk of a destroyed Church vessel to hand over the external womb. Alix accuses Maris of hypocrisy, for being willing to work with the Vaylen. Maris tries to shoot Quinn in response, but they beat a retreat into their shuttle. Maris takes the womb to Isla Norte, where she is confronted by Yvenne, who DOES NOT BUY FOR A SECOND Maris’ explanation that she wants to use the device to study Vaylen genetic constructs. Yvenne accuses Maris of coldly killing Sparrow; Maris accuses Yvenne and Kestrel of caring more about the war effort and politics than Sparrow’s death. Maris says she knows she can’t bring Sparrow back, but this is the only way she can be a mother. Yvenne storms out, calling her Brotherhood to destroy the lab. Maris calls up her Sodalis to protect her, and begins splicing her DNA with Sparrow’s, running her blood into the womb in its eerie light.

[TORRENT COLOR] Farouk and Torrent discuss tactics. Then we see a ship flying in fast, through the planetary defenses, and bombs the Glass Palace to glorious splinters.

[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel is on board the Leviathan playing with Dove when she gets the alert, and watches helplessly as the Glass Palace explodes on her screen. She lays in orders to pursue the bomber.

MANEUVER: HUMAN TA (ACTIVATE NOBLES) vs. VAYLEN TA. Both succeed. Nobles are activated, but Humans take -6 (-2 net).

EPILOGUE: Lady Aruna holds high a large shard of the palace as her pilotry pump their fists in the air, and commoners clasp smaller shards beneath giant posters of the Tamar royals. Torrent and his crew make sure the horrifying images of the attack play 24/7.

Session 16: 10/22/13

[MARIS CONFLICT] Maris has Quinn in custody and interrogates her, convincing her to bring her an external womb. Quinn starts out cagey, but is eventually overwhelmed with the pain of her treatment - Maris is using her knowledge of exorcism to cause the body to rebel against its wormy invader - and curiousity as to why a human would want such a thing. Eventually she relents and promises to bring Maris the technology; Maris secretly lets her go free.

[YVENNE BUILDER] Yvenne hands over a “Defend Your Planet - Demand Your Rights” poster to Zabad; he’s been doing the distribution, and organizing semi-secret slave rallies. He tries to gather a group of folks to start some “propaganda of the deed,” but few people show up. Just Frost. “It looks like you need help; I am your man.” Frost looks Zabad up and down, enjoying the view. Frost tries to comfort Zabad, explaining that it can be hard to raise people - and that Frost can help. Zabad enthusiastically agrees. “Well, uh, ‘bro,’ what are you thinking of going after?”

[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Kestrel has planned a home visit to spend time with Crow and her family. She meets Crow in the garden of the Glass Palace, now surrounded with ugly berms and earthworks against the invasion. Crow seems preoccupied with watching Raven, whose physical rehabilitation he has been helping with. Kestrel tells him that she owes him an apology for not spending enough time with Raven,and for losing her temper when they spoke last. “If he’s doing well, does that make him more worth your time now?” Kestrel says that it’s important that they support one another now. Crow: “By support, you mean you want my support, but you don’t want my opinions?” But he does seem a bit softened, a bit less on edge. Kestrel tells him that she has been taking his advice, spending more time with her daughter and spouses. Crow looks down, with just the hint of a smile. “Lycelle and I are going to be married, very soon. I would like you to be at the ceremony, but that’s your choice.” “I’ll be there, just say when.” They turn to chatting about Dove.

[MARIS INTERSTITIAL] Maris finds Meyers playing the piano late at night. She tells him the truth about how she was the one who endangered Sparrow in the first place. He hits her, repeatedly as it turns out, in between collapsing in sorrow. He asks what she wants - to assuage her guilt? She tells him, no - she wanted to talk to someone who would feel something about it, maybe even someone who would hit her over it. Then she tells him she wasn’t just saying that the music he wrote for Sparrow was beautiful. He plays her the whole piece.

[YVENNE INTERSTITAL] Earlier that day, Yvenne is working while watching Meyers with Dove. Eventually she gets up and goes over to Meyers. “Fuck, this isn’t easy for me to do.” Dove wanders away with her new angry-mommy word. Kestrel tells Meyers that she’s sorry that she hasn’t gotten to know him better, but now she realizes that they have something in common, their love and their grief. Meyers says that he doesn’t care that Yvenne doesn’t like him. “I’m here because you weren’t quite enough for this... union. But with her [Dove], I guess it doesn’t matter. But it’s been really hard.” Meyers is crying. Yvenne: “Maybe it’s too late, but I’d like to try to become a friend, if... if you still want to try to care.” She holds out her hand.

[KESTREL BUILDING] Kestrel rolls up with Maris and several assault sleds to seize Lady Venuca’s slaves. The Lady refuses. Kestrel: “It’s not your place to question my judgment.” Venuca will not relent, and Kestrel and Maris’ Sodalis storm the compound, freeing slaves.

MANEUVER: UNOPPOSED TAKE ACTION

The attack on Lady Venuca’s compound is the shot heard ‘round Avarine. Other nobles who had been waffling give in, freeing their slaves and depriving the Vaylen of divisions among the nobility. Nobles who had been turned to the Vaylen side burn across the planet. When they try to flee its surface, Yvenne’s ships cut them down. Their estates are razed and they are hauled before the Raven Brotherhood’s scanners, the Vaylen slaughtered where they stand. Meanwhile, the Vaylen fleet and the Church Hammer hang motionless and impassive in the sky, each paralyzed by indecision and confusion.

Session 15: 9/24/13

[MARIS INTERSTITIAL] Maris meets with Yvenne and Kestrel aboard the Leviathan and requests their aid to capture Quinn. The Raven Brotherhood will help set up an ambush, and Kestrel will get a drop ship.

[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Back in Kestrel's quarters on board the Leviathan. "I'm so sorry that you have to be dragged into all of these war meetings, and I'm taking you away from our daughter." Kestrel asks for Yvenne's help in getting the slaves on her side. She asks Yvenne to help her find someone among the slaves to lead the slave battalion, so they are not treated simply as cannon fodder - Zabad, perhaps. Amnesty? Yvenne has been thinking the same thing! Zabad! But there is one more thing... "This is much more difficult... but, I think, we need to find time to do things together as a family." Including Meyers.

[QUINN INTERSTITIAL] Quinn sells Farouk on recovering Locke's ship, at the Glass Palace.

[YVENNE BUILDER (1)] Yvenne heads back to her HQ on Isle Morena. On her way, she sends messages to leaders in the Brotherhood, putting out an APB on Quinn, and reminding them to use their Vaylen detectors. Word comes back of a contact who knows Quinn, who flags Yvenne at one of her work sites. "I hear you're looking for Lt. Laila Quinn. Well, she stands out, so when she moves, she's noticed." It seems Quinn is still interested in the ship at the hangar. They're likely to strike soon, before their intel is stale. Yvenne lets Maris know the score.

[MARIS CONFLICT] FIREFIGHT!!!! Maris and Kestrel and their forces lay in wait for Quinn as she drives up in Tamar-emblazoned anvil car. A brief, bloody fight ensues as the Vaylen are ambushed. A chaotic combat ensues, with Maris' Sodalis laying waste with their jack lasers, overwhelming the assailants and taking several hits in the process. Maris stands over a tackled Quinn, sword raised, as the Vaylen abandon their commander and flee in the Anvil car.

[CROW INTERSTITIAL] Kestrel is on her way out the door of the palace when Crow confronts her. "You're leaving again." "Did you forget that I captain a ship, and we're in a war?" "Did you forget that you're the Forged Lord? Did you forget that you have a family you barely talk to?" "My family needs me to fight the alien invaders who want to dominate us." "What if THIS IS ALL THE TIME YOU HAVE TO READ YOUR CHILD A STORY??" Kestrel tells him to keep to his man's place, in the home.

[YVENNE BUILDER (2)] Yvenne meets with Maris to develop propaganda posters to motivate slaves to join with the nobles, under the promise of amnesty. DEFEND YOUR PLANET. DEMAND YOUR RIGHTS. The idea is to make them think they demanded and won amnesty.

[CROW COLOR] Crow goes into Raven's room; only the young man's eyes can move to follow his father. Crow shakes his head. "I... didn't catch her. She left before I got to her." "You're lying."

[TORRENT INTERSTITIAL] Torrent goes to see Maris at the compound and asks if there's anything they can salvage. Maris tells him that he's another mistake, someone she loved who loved the cause more than her. She asks what the relationship meant to him, specifically, not in lofty generalities. He says, "hope." She says, "get out. GET OUT."

[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel is in Raven's recovery room, having gotten word that he'd woken up. She goes to visit, but he's not conscious. She leaves a card with a picture of them as children.

[MARIS COLOR] Maris tells Quinn that she knows torture would just be "interesting" for a Vaylen. So she has Nereia lock the sensory deprivation helmet onto her. "I'll be back in about a week."

[TORRENT COLOR] Torrent is sitting on a beach, by a fire. He has a sack with him, full of things from the last four years with Maris. One by one, he throws them into the fire. He looks last at books on parenting, and places them in the fire.

MANEUVER: PIN vs. ASSESS. The Vaylen are pinned (for 6 dice) - Torrent's organization is tied up with trying to counter Yvenne's propaganda campaign and bring slaves back into their fold. But he exploits his Psychological connections to learn all about what's going on, assessing the human disposition.

3 (in game) months until we find out what happens next...

Session 14: 9/10/13

[MARIS BUILDER (1)] Maris recruits Calliope and her artillery company to man the Tamar ships, instead of the big guns overlooking the Glass Palace.

[TORRENT COLOR] Frost finds Alix with his head in his hands. "You're still moping. Look at the bright side, you can add 'having Maris as your lover' to your list of crazy things you've done that you should not have survived." He drags Alix to the shower.

[YVENNE COLOR] It is late at night. Kestrel is exhausted and asleep when Yvenne enters her quarters. Yvenne places her Vaylen detector against Kestrel's head, and breathes a sigh of relief.

[TORRENT BUILDER] Torrent gives a speech to the slaves, saying that the Devil they don't know - the Vaylen - is better than the nobles, the Devil they do. They are inspired to greater violence against the nobles.

[MARIS BUILDER 2-3] Maris attempts to contact the Inquisition and learns that the Mundus cathedral ship is infested with Vaylen. She cannot get Rhinaldi, the Dregus in charge of the Inquistion, to agree to take the Dregutai out of counsel over the next Archcotare, so instead she insists on her privileges as Cotar Fomas. Chief among those privileges, apparently, is slaughtering Vaylen in close quarters with a fusor.

[CROW INTERSTITIAL] Crow and Lycelle come to the Leviathan to meet with Kestrel. It turns out that Raven may not be entirely a vegetable. Lycelle meets privately with Kestrel, and warmly. "What are you intending to do... I mean about everything?" Kestrel: "They declared war on us. This is my role." Lycelle implies that Kestrel is too young to take Kaduka's mantle of warlord. "This isn't fair to you." Lycelle reveals that she has asked Crow to marry her, which would make her the eldest Tamar. "What you two decide to call yourselves is your business. But if you think that a lifetime of bearing children and planning parties prepares you for fending off an invasion by a hostile alien race, then you're more clueless than I thought."

[MARIS INTERSTITIAL] Maris goes to Yvenne, distraught. They have a long conversation about free will that I didn't take adequate notes on. Yvenne is convinced that the problem is Maris rushing headlong into decisions, but Maris has metaphysical concerns - if there is no river flowing her along with it, that would be an elegant explanation of why so much of her life has been chaos. She also discusses vivisecting Sparrow in great detail, which doesn't get much of a rise out of Yvenne. What does is her suggestion that if the humans have a choice to fight or not fight, the Vaylen have a choice to conquer or not conquer. "If we don't have a nature, maybe they don't either."

[TORRENT INTERSTITIAL] Torrent goes to meet Yvenne. "I want to know where the Brotherhood stands in all of this." "Torrent, what do you say we cut through the bullshit. I haven't slept much in two weeks... I sympathize with the struggles of the slaves, but I have no desire to bow down before alien invaders." "I was connected to Phoenix when she died. She felt her sister tear her child out of her, the child that she so wanted." "The vaylen in her head felt those things." "You're deluding yourself, Yvenne." "All I have in my life has come from rejecting people who have tried to control my choices. I don't see how this is any different." "I've spent much of my life romanticizing what freedom is because I've never really had it." "I dont' know why you would choose certain death later... over..." "Certain death now." They shake hands, and part, enemies.

[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne summons Kestrel to her factory. Kestrel is intrigued, but concerned that the scanners have to make contact with the skin. But it's still wonderful! Yvenne is ridiculously happy. "I can't believe they spent so much time trying to stop us from getting married, but look at what you've done! This is amazing!"

[KESTREL BUILDING] Kestrel grabs a tech to look at Yvenne's design, and maybe improve it. But late one night while she's deep into it, drinking a carbonated beverage, she blabs to a colleague who is a mole for the Vaylen.

[TORRENT COLOR] Torrent meet with Quinn and says that the slaves were inspired by his speech, but the Mundus, the nobles... ::shrugh:: Quinn:"More for us."

[MARIS COLOR] Maris is looking at her own blood under a microscope.

Session 13: 8/27/13

[MARIS BUILDING 1-2] Lydia and Delphia are in the Sodality HQ, staring at a matte-grey, odd helmet on a table. Lydia says it was built to Maris' specifications, despite its unimpressive appearance. She asks what it's for, and Delphia says that that's a "need to know" kind of question.
[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne arrives on the Leviathan, in Kestrel's quarters, clearly a wreck. Kestrel wants to know if everyone is OK, especially Meyers. Kestrel is somewhat less impacted by the news that Yvenne expected her to be. "Phoenix was dead from the moment they hulled her, but I'm sorry the baby didn't make it." Yvenne lets her know that Maris wasn't entirely truthful, but she doesn't know exactly what happened.
[MARIS BUILDING 3] Maris sits dejected on the floor of the eugenics lab, covered in blood. Looking at Phoneix' ruined body, she gets a haunted look in her eye, and proceeds to remove Sparrow's foetus and slice it up to preserve genetic material. Some she puts on ice in the lab, some she takes with her.
[TORRENT COLOR] Flashback: After Maris left, Torrent is walking in the dark on the beach, as are Crow and Lycelle, elsewhere. Torrent experiences Phoneix' last moments through his psychic link. He blasts out his distress to Frost and Crow. We see Torrent kneeling in despair on the beach, and Crow sobbing, "she's dead" to Lycelle.
[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel lies awake in bed, reviewing information about the situation on her tablet. She flicks back to a family photo of her with Phoenix, and tries to will herself to feel, but feels nothing. She is envious of Yvenne's luxury to be emotional.
[MARIS INTERSTITIAL] Maris arrives on the Leviathan, and throws herself at Kestrel's feet. They have an emotional conversation that I can't adequately record here! Kestrel tells Maris that she's still her sister, and still loves her. "Aren't you even... angry?" Kestrel says she doesn't have the luxury of being angry, and secures Maris' promise of support. Maris leaves her the box with Sparrow's DNA. "We don't always have to accept that our fate is final."
[CROW COLOR] Crow is lying with his head in Lycelle's lap. "Marry me," she says. "Why are you asking me that now?" "You need me, and Avarine needs us. I will take the right of rule away from Kestrel, and you will help me rule."
[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne meets with Delphia and gets a fuller picture of what happened in the eugenics lab. She becomes convinced that Maris' actions were rash, but Sparrow's death was unintended.
[QUINN INTERSTITIAL] Quinn brings Torrent and Frost to meet with Farouk. Torrent seems distracted, Frost delighted. "So, she's dead." Torrent assures Farouk that that doesn't change anything between them. Torrent establishes a psychic connection with Quinn. He sends a short message to Maris: "I know what happened; please come home."
[YVENNE BUILDER] Yvenne meets Rabbit, who sells her some manufacturing parts that fell off a truck. She outfits her manufactory to produce Vaylen detectors.
[KESTREL BUILDER] Kestrel meets with her war council. "We are allies with the Mundus now." She tries to convince them to ambush the Vaylen likely to come for Locke's ship. Posters have gone up in the street, with the Mundus symbol: THE VAYLEN THREAT IS REAL. WE STAND TOGETHER. The Hammer Lords agree to help out.
[TORRENT INTERSTITIAL] Torrent meets with Maris. They have an epic argument that I was too close to to relate well! Torrent tells Maris about his very bad plan to ally with the Vaylen. She spits in his face when she finds out he was "riding along" while she slept with Locke. Torrent accuses her of book-learning, and she rebuts that she touched the frightened child locked in Locke's skull when she was in there. Choice quotes: TORRENT: "You sleep well, with your murder of infants on your conscience."/MARIS: "They will *farm* children on your island." MARIS: "I only regret that I will be dead or hulled before they strap you down, screaming, and put a worm in your head."
[YVENNE BUILDER] Yvenne starts manufacturing Vaylen detectors!
[MARIS COLOR] Maris is in her cell late at night, reading the final words of the Revelation of Aisha: "Remember that the Womb is the Earthly symbol of the Wheel. The great chain of being goes on, even though we do not. Though our fates are limited, the fate of humanity is not. Liberate yourselves, my sisters. Accept that your fate is final."

MANEUVER ROLL: HUMAN FLAK VS. VAYLEN ASSESS: HUMANS WIN. The slaves fall back under the coordinated assault of the nobles, awaiting leadership.



MARIS' SQUAD: Thelema, Oleanna, Nereia, Terpsichore

Session 12: 7/15/13

[PHOENIX COLOR] Flashback: many years ago, a younger Locke dressed in princely garb stands before an ornately-dressed dead woman. Lord Farouk - in the body of his father - squeezes his shoulder and tells Locke that none of this would have happened if he hadn't tried to hull her. In the present, Phoenix is grabbing Raven and sobbing.
[MARIS COLOR] Maris gets the word from Yvenne about Locke's ship and tells the Sodalis they need to get planetside. Their shuttle breaks away from the cathedral ship as it comes under fire from the insectile Vaylen ships.
[YVENNE COLOR] Yvenne stands and knocks her chair over as the cathedral ships crash around them, raising mushroom clouds from their fusion engines. She grabs Dove from Myers. She turns to Kestrel and says "we're going to get safety." Thalia gets up to escort them. "Anyone who wants to get to the bunker come with me." As a bunch of family and retainers crowd into the elevators, Yvenne lets the doors close on Myers.
[CROW INTERSTITIAL] Lord Farouk seizes the video screens in the Glass Palace to send a message to Kestrel. He urges Avarine to choose peace rather than being ground down.
[MARIS INTERSTITIAL] Maris lets Kestrel know that Locke's ship is at the Glass Palace, and that the Vaylen can turn children into them. Kestrel begins to round up the Palace guard.
[PHOENIX INTERSTITIAL] Phoenix and Quinn bring Raven to Torrent's hideout. Torrent explores Raven's damaged mind - "what do you want me to do about this?" Phoenix begs him, "I know I can't hide what I am, but if I go there now, I'll be torn apart!" Torrent says he'll see what he can do.
[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Maris lands and she and Kestrel go to find Locke's ship evacuated. They find the operating theater, and Maris fusors some Naiven.
[YVENNE BUILDER(1)] Yvenne is on the phone with the Raven brotherhood leadership. She cannot find Phoenix, and so contacts Maris to try to find her. Then she calls Kestrel, who is on her way to the Leviathan. Dove says hi to Mommy Kestrel.
[MARIS BUILDER (1)] Maris finds Phoenix with Locke. She reveals that she is Vaylen and asks for amnesty. "If you think that you will survive a second longer than it takes for that child to be born, you are very mistaken." They take Raven and Phoenix to the Eugenics lab.
[ALIX INTERSTITIAL] Crow brings Alix to speak with Kestrel, and reveals that Phoenix is Vaylen and Raven has been damaged and hulled. He asks Kestrel to get them back from Maris. Kestrel refuses. "Maris is still family when it counts." "I want Phoneix' body kept alive until my child can be cut out of her, and then she'll be put to rest... I am Forged Lord and she is an enemy combatant." Crow: "You have loved her these last few years! There is still something to love there!" Kestrel refuses to argue, and ends the conversation.
[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne is preparing to leave the bunker, and Myers tries to take Dove. Yvenne says that he will have to come with her if he wants to stay with Dove, so he comes.
[MARIS BUILDER (2-3)] Maris attempts to restrain Phoenix, but injures the fetus. She tries to deliver the baby, but fails, and it dies while Phoenix bleeds out. When the worm emerges, she stabs it into the floor.
[YVENNE BUILDER] Yvenne arrives at the laboratory to find the carnage - a Sodalis convinces her not to bring Dove in, between dry heaves. She sees the bloody tableau, and Maris tells her (clearly lying) that Phoenix was trying to hurt the child. She heads out to tell Myers the same thing, though she knows that Maris was lying. Myers is less perceptive.
[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel addresses the planet, to let them know she will be going into council with the Cotar Fomas and the royals. "But for now, hug your children close and hope for better days."
[TORRENT COLOR] Torrent meets with Lord Farouk and promises to help the Vaylen if they will help him destroy the nobility. Farouk gestures to some islands. "They're all yours."

MANEUVER ROLL: FLAK vs. FLAK. The humans and Vaylen bash against each other to no particular effect, as their forces continue to circle and look for an opening.
MANEUV

Session 11: 7/2/2013

BURNING AVARINE: INVASION

PRELUDE: Yvenne is the consummate businesswoman, having set herself up in posh offices in the Tamar compound. She bounces Dove on one hip as she arranges for massive arms shipments in the name of the Nevay Corporation.

Vaylen don't get a prelude because Avarine women are bad-ass motherfuckers who won the last Phase.

[PHOENIX INTERSTITIAL] Phoenix meets with Quinn in Locke's old stateroom. "Since when are you giving the orders?" "I'm not. He is." Lord Farouk arrives. Phoenix is undone. She makes excuses, and is thrown against the wall. "We're coming."
[MARIS COLOR] Maris and her Sodalis find a New Horizon laboratory under a destroyed temple. When her Sodalis says that she can bring down the ceiling with explosives, Maris fixes her with a gaze and her nose begins bleeding, then she silently walks away.
[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel quietly slips into Myers' room while Yvenne is sleeping and has rough, dominant sex with him. Then she slips into Yvenne's bed and cuddles her.
[MARIS BUILDING (1)] Maris meets Yvenne in the back room of a bar owned by the Raven Brotherhood. Yvenne shows her images of Dove, and the wearied Maris smiles. They talk about the future of Avarine - Maris tries to convince Yvenne to betray Kestrel for Kestrel's safety (and Phoenix' demise). That doesn't move her, but when Maris shows her the images from the Order of Inner Perfection eugenics lab, she is intrigued... "Even as Cotar Fomas, even posessing this information would land me in the hands of the Inquisition. I should have destroyed it, but I thought of your problem with Myers..."
[YVENNE COLOR] Yvenne is playing hide and seek with Dove, when Myers walks in. When Myers tries to engage them all in play, she has work to do, suddenly.
[CROW COLOR] Crow and Raven are looking at a beautiful stained glass image of an island bird. Raven is down on himself for not living up to Crow's standard, but Crow reassures him that it is beautiful, and important to show the people of Avarine what is good about it.
[ALIX INTERSTITIAL] Alix discusses the prospect of bringing a child - per genetically impossible - into Avarine's war. Maris reassures him that she is scared as well, but needs to believe that the river of fire is leading her to have a child with him, and that if she is killed first, that he will be able to raise it.
[ALIX BUILDING] Alix and Frost are scrutinizing Yvenne's public record of nobility. They find reason to be suspicious, but Yvenne is alerted that they were searching for her.
[YVENNE/KESTREL BUILDING] Yvenne is looking for very specific equipment for... a "drill" for her "operations." Kestrel helps her research a good replacement. Yvenne sends Kestrel and Dove away to find books while she makes preparations for the lab. When she finds them again, Dove and Kestrel are fast asleep, and she is saddened as she realizes her work has gotten in the way of being with her daughter.
[CROW INTERSTITIAL] Crow convinces Kestrel that she needs to force the Mundus off-world. Kestrel is not concerned about opposing Maris any more. Kestrel suggests that she will talk to Maris at least one more time.
[MARIS BUILDING (2)] Maris takes a squad of Sodalis to the Inquisition ship to arrest Sister Priya. The Sodalis try to arrest her for blasphemy, but she cows them and tells them they will go after Priya. "Be not afraid, Sister Barnes. I am the torch of Ahmilahk. All will be well." She kisses the Sodalis on the forehead, and they fall in behind her.
[KESTERL BUILDING] The Mundus are assaulting a House Tamar ally, when the Leviathan swoops in and begins sweeping the ground with artillery. But the Mundus troops manage to dig in and resist the assault long enough to survive, and then raze the compound, killing all military-age women.
[PHOENIX BUILDING] Phoenix leads a playful and blindfolded Raven to Locke's ship and has him lay down on the operating table, then restrains him. Phoenix is crying. "I love you the most! If I don't do this, they're going to kill you." Quinn is there. They fuck up the hull, Phoenix having lost some of her skill in the change of bodies. A part of the surgical equipment is jammed in Raven's skull. Hours later, they stabilize him, but he is in a coma. Phoenix is sobbing in the corner.

MANEUVER ROLL: Assess vs. Flak, both succeed. In her work to re-establish the Inner Perfection laboratories, Yvenne finds a number of irregularities in the Tamar finances, and realizes that funds are being diverted to store and re-hab a ship whose identification she does not recognize. She tells Maris, who sends back a message: LEAVE. TAKE DOVE. COME TO THE SODALITY FORTRESS. YOU ARE IN DANGER.

Unsettled but not quite ready to kidnap her own child, she goes out for family dinner with the Tamars. "Look mommy! Birds!" Dove says, as strange ships emerge into the sky and one of the great Mundus cathedral ships crashes to the planet's surface in flames.

 +Rachel E.S. Walton +Rachael Storey , +Sara Williamson.

Session 10: 3/26/13

[BURNING AVARINE]

[CROW COLOR] Crow is resting on Lycelle's lap, and she strokes his beard. He says he's growing it in now that he's not Forged Lord, but he admits that it's really that his manservant has gone missing again.
[YVENNE COLOR] Yvenne is unpacking into her new office in the Painted Palace. Thalia checks in on her, and Yvenne says she needs to take another trip back to her old office.
[PHOENIX COLOR] Phoenix is recuperating. She and Raven are walking arm-in-arm in the garden. She tells him that she's ready to have a child.
[MARIS BUILDING (1)] Maris and Delphia manage to find the Inquisitor, Sister Priya. Maris begins to lay out her case against Lt. Quinn, and when Priya is dismissive, Maris and Delphia simultaneously realize she is Vaylen. They kill the connection.
[KESTREL BUILDING (1)] Kestrel catches a ship smuggling weapons and attacks it. It manages to evade capture, damaging the Leviathan's distortion drives. Lady Aruna is not pleased.
[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne blows up at Kestrel about the failure (Kestrel is blaming her crew). Yvenne yells at her to be subtle next time. They decide to spin this as Kestrel valiantly trying to interrupt a weapons supply to the slaves. They decide that Kestrel will make a speech asking the nobility to unite against the uprising. Kestrel sighs at the prospect of planning another gala.
[TORRENT COLOR] Torrent is dreaming of floating in the open water. He sees Maris on a cliff, looking down at him. Chains rise out of the water and pull him down, drowning as Maris watches. He wakes up, gasping and sweating.
[MARIS COLOR] Maris tells her Iron elite that the leadership of the Mundus is compromised by the Worm. They say they will stand with her.
[KESTREL BUILDING (2)] Meyers jumps into the middle of the marital bed, prompting a discussion on the subject of sleeping arrangements. Kestrel explains that there are two rooms and she will "visit" Meyers. He leaves, grudgingly, and pecks Yvenne awkwardly on the cheek. Then Thalia comes in, and says that she's not going to sleep down the hall since then she can't bodyguard. Thalia announces that she'll sleep in Meyers' room if she can't stay in Wren's room. Thalia says that she can sleep on a mat on the floor if the princess sister is too good for her. Kestrel promises to have another room built. Kestrel has a divider put in Wren's room, and Thalia starts smoking.
[PHOENIX INTERSTITIAL] Phoenix invites Kestrel for brunch. Phoenix suggests that they get started on an heir to House Tamar. Kestrel tells her to see the doctors. Phoenix gives a run-down on the mechanics. Making babies is so romantic!
[MARIS BUILDING (2)] Maris assaults Locke's ship. Quinn's forces try to take off, but Delphia blows the door and Maris and loyal Sodalis storm on. A sympathetic Sodalis points them to Locke's stateroom, where they find his life support capsule, which they take. As other Sodalis rush to the Cotar Fomas' presumptive defense, Maris briefly and sadly cradles Locke's lifeless body in her arms. She then smashes his skull on the ground and holds up the remnants of the Vaylen webbing for all to see.
[KESTREL BUILDING (3)] Kestrel gives an impassioned speech, inspiring the nobles to stand together against the slave uprising.
[TORRENT INTERSTITIAL] Torrent and Phoenix meet at Moon Under the Sea. Torrent says that the slaves are losing a lot of people in the fight against the Mundus. He asks for her help in crafting anti-Mundus propaganda.
[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel is in the doctor's office, on the exam table, waiting for them to extract her eggs. Kestrel smiles affectionately at a text message from Meyers.
[MARIS BUILDING (3)] Maris stalks among the rioters, looking for Alix. She tears down an anti-Mundus poster as she searches. She finds Alix and tells him that she realizes that the Wheel demands reconciliation between the slaves and the nobles, and that House Tamar is standing in the way. She says she wants to bring them down, and make the Mundus a force to bring an end to the conflict on Avarine.
[YVENNE BUILDING] Yvenne addresses the Raven Brotherhood and tells them that she will always stand with them and protect them, but it's too risky for her to remain their leader; Thalia and Zabad will be taking over. They carry out a heist against gun smugglers, and equip Yvenne's Mercator with a nail launcher, prepared to run the Mundus blockade.

MANEUVER ROLL: Human FLAK vs. Vaylen INUNDATE: HUMANS END THE MOTHERFUCKING PHASE. The Raven Brotherhood finds routes through the Mundus arms embargo as slaves rise up again to throw their bodies against the gates!

PHASE EPILOGUE: Three and a half years pass. In that time, Avarine is plunged into civil war. The Sodality aligns itself with the the slaves as the Council of Dregutai remains indecisive and the seat of Archcotare goes unfilled. Kestrel rallies the nobles around her, galvanized now by the threat from the slave uprising. Phoenix bears her a child, a beautiful baby girl. The war grinds on. And meanwhile, crossing the vast interstellar gulfs, a Vaylen fleet inexorably advances, to shame Locke for his failures and ravish this weakened world...

Thanks +Rachel E.S. Walton , +Rachael Storey , and +Sara Williamson!

Session 9: 3/12/13

[BURNING AVARINE: IT DOES NOT END]

[PHOENIX INTERSTITIAL] Kestrel is called to Phoenix' bedside. She brings Yvenne. Raven is there. Raven tells them that the doctors had to take Phoenix' eye, and collapses into Kestrel's arms (Yvenne joins the hugs). Phoenix wants assurances that she will be the surrogate, but Kestrel walks away as she yells after her, plaintively.
[CROW COLOR] Crow is making an intricate glass sculpture of a butterfly from glass. He sees a slight imperfection, and smashes it, with the others.
[MARIS INTERSTITIAL] Kestrel and Yvenne confront Maris at the Sodalis base. She says she struck Kestrel because of the dispute over surrogacy, and that Kestrel should simply tell her father that his sin did not condemn her and that Phoenix should know her place on the wheel, and that Kestrel should act decisively, like Forged Lord. Kestrel does, banishing Maris from the family.
[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Kestrel meets with Crow, and they discuss Maris. Crow is somewhat sympathetic to Maris, actually.
[MARIS BUILDER (1-2)] Maris confronts Quinn on Isla Sedus and demands to know where Locke is. Quinn tells her to stand down, but Maris drags her with her into the car, and realizes she is Vaylen. She promises to make her hurt before she says where Locke is.
[TORRENT INTERSTITIAL] Frost invites Zabad to a feast on the beach with Torrent. They discuss how Zabad is increasingly at loose ends now that Yvenne is neglecting the Brotherhood for her relationship with Kestrel. Torrent invites Zabad to join the revolution. Zabad says he's in.
[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne and Zabad chat about Zabad's chat. Yvenne reassures him that, whatever happens, she will not forget her roots, and side with the nobles against the slaves.
[MARIS COLOR] Maris slams the door on Quinn in a cell, leaving her in darkness.
[TORRENT COLOR] Slaves learn a way into the Battalion's holding cells and release many of their fellows, including Quinn in the confusion. She flees into the crowds.
[PHOENIX COLOR] Phoneix removes her facial bandages and looks in the mirror, the worm bulging behind his ruined eyes.
[YVENNE COLOR] The wedding! Maris is not invited but watches in impotent rage from behind Kestrel's eyes. They walk through a magnificient glass walkway to a New Horizon church. Myers, Kestrel, and Yvenne are all beautiful, but Kestrel is the resplendent centerpiece, sparkling in glass. Yvenne is in a non-sparkly white sheath dress. They exchange vows, and Yvenne's perfect purple rings. Phoenix is there with her decorative glass eyepatch. They all leave for a fabulous off-world honeymoon.
[CROW INTERSTITIAL] Myers and Kestrel chat on board the Leviathan, heading off-world. He reveals that he has crushed on her since he was a boy. Kestrel disabuses him of the notion that they'll be sleeping together (let alone all three of them) any time soon, as Yvenne goes pale. But Kestrel says that they will certainly spend some time "getting to know each other." After a few more drinks, though, Yvenne suggests that, in fact they DO all have sex together, and drags them into a stateroom. It's awkward.
[TORRENT CONFLICT] Alix invites a bereaved and tired Maris for a picnic on the beach. They discuss the fate of the world, and how their respective faiths brought them out of their darkest moments. Maris is about to try to compromise with Alix when he breaks open her mind, assaulting her with images of his childhood. She leaves with new sympathy for the slaves, but horrified and disappointed that Alix would do such a thing to her. She also caught a glimpse of Locke's lifeless body in a tank in Alix' mind, and knows the Worm is no longer in him, but not where it has gone.
[KESTREL COLOR] The coronation. Kestrel accepts the Forged Lord's crown in the Glass Palace. Maris arrives at the head of Sodalis-Sisters in Iron, as does a separate delegation from the Church. They stare each other down. Yvenne introduces herself graciously to all. Kestrel makes a stirring speech to the nobles, that is met with acclaim.

MANEUVER ROLL: Human Take Action vs. Vaylen [hesitate]. The humans do not close the deal! The Vaylen hang on by a thread and gather their strength, as the people celebrate Kestrel's coronation in the streets.

Thanks, +Rachel E.S. Walton , +Sara Williamson , +Rachael Storey Burke!

Session 8: 2/26/13

BURNING AVARINE

[YVENNE COLOR] Yvenne goes shopping for purple rings for her and Kestrel.
[TORRENT COLOR] Alix pins a beautiful veil on Phoenix, to "keep her safe."
[MARIS COLOR] Maris tries to get in to see Locke, but is rebuffed.
[CROW INTERSTITIAL] Crow has dinner with everyone except Maris and lays out the complexity of noble approval of the marriage.
[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne meets with Maris about concealing the Brotherhood's activities under a Mundus contract. Maris offers to introduce her to the Quartermaster.
[KESTREL BUILDING (1)] Yvenne and Kestrel meet with Myers. Kestrel sends a very nice apologetic letter to Myers and they meet at a super-posh restaurant on Isla Tienne. They express their apologies for embarassing him at the party and propose that he join them in a triad marriage to provide an heir. They tell him it would be possible for him to have his own male lover on the side... only to discover that, contrary to the rumors, he is not actually gay. They assure him that they are not ruling out love between him and Kestrel (but, seriously, Yvenne is gay). Kestrel points out that there's at least as much chance they'll fall in love as that he'll fall in love with whichever other noble daughter he might be pressured into marrying. He ultimately agrees. They get drunk.
[PHOENIX BUILDING] Phoenix gets her BS tech.
[MARIS BUILDING] Maris confronts Phoneix about the surrogacy issue. In a fit of rage, she punches Phoenix with a mailed fist, crushing her skull and leaving her barely alive.  In horror, she desperately tries to dress her wounds.
[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel is horrified.
[PHOENIX BUILDING (2-3)] Phoneix is rushed to Locke's surgery.
[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Yvenne, Crow, Kestrel, and Myers decide what to do about Maris.
[YVENNE BUILDER] Yvenne forges some documents to bolster her claim to nobility.  With Maris' help (in a flashback), she publishes a treatment of her romance with Kestrel that speaks to the love at the heart of the Mystes sect, convincing the Inquisition to turn a blind eye to Kestrel's impending polyamorous relationship.
[TORRENT INTERSTITIAL] Torrent meets with Maris, neither of them having slept, to ask if she sees any future for them now that they have found each other again. She kisses him, and we end on that.

MANEUVER ROLL: Human Conserve v. Valyen INUNDATE.  Vaylen win, blunted by the Conserve. The slaves rise up in a final push against the nobles, who are distracted with wedding bullshit. The Sodalis are nearly overwhelmed and begin using lethal force against them, inflaming the uprising even more. But as the slaves throw their bodies onto the breach, the Glass Palace still stands...

NOTE: This is the moment Maris has been waiting for.  She is a monster with Anvil training and a Power 6. Her punch inflicted an H9 wound, permanently maiming Phoenix. As a player, I'm torn between being horrified by what is really an awful thing to do to someone (that Maris doesn't know is a Vaylen yet) and being elated by seeing a carefully crafted PC's power on display.

Session 7: 2/12/13

BURNING AVARINE

[MARIS BUILDER (1-2)] Maris meets with her long-suffering quartermaster and lets her know that they will be receiving guns. Lots of guns. Lydia sighs. Then Maris goes out and gets said guns from some sketchy Kerrn. She lifts a Shevan Guild heavy laser appreciatively from its inertial gel.
[KESTREL BUILDER] Kestrel talks to Crow about setting up a party where she can meet a suitable suitor. She has dinner with a likely (gay) son of House Aruna.
[YVENNE CONFLICT] Yvenne throws a big party. She manages to convince Crow that she should now count as a suitable suitor to Kestrel... Crow accepts as long as there will also be a man in multiple marriage.
[LOCKE BUILDER] Lt. Quinn is angry at Locke for his "save the world" thing. She straps him down and zaps him with a cattle prod until the Naiven leaves him, and burrows through a Foramen Magnum hull into Phoenix Tamar.
[MARIS BUILDER (3)] Flashback: Maris is in bed with Locke and realizes the depth to which she has unsettled his mind.
[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel sends a personalized invitation to Myers.
[MARIS INTERSTITIAL] Maris has a throughly miscommunicated heart-to-heart with Kestrel and Yvenne. She tries to convince Kestrel that the best way she can lead is by following her nature and heart and letting her place with Yvenne be her place. She tells Kestrel that she will pledge her sword and bear her child, but cannot go to a party where she will select a replacement for Yvenne. (She knows nothing of Yvenne's conversation with Crow.)
[CROW COLOR] Crow cuts the ribbon on a palace expansion and tells the media that he supports Kestrel's party.
[KESTREL BUILDER (3)] Kestrel has her party. It's a big thing! Kestrel wears a gown of exotic iridescent feathers. Maris is in her cell, trying to focus on her devotions but distracted by the sensory information coming to her from Kestrel and Delphia.  Kestrel tries to convince a confused - and somewhat scared - Myers that he is the one that she should take for the alliance. Then Yvenne arrives in a gown of white petals, totally tearing Kestrel away. Yvenne announces that Crow has finally approved her as a suitor (she doesn't mention the poly thing) and dips Kestrel for a deep kiss that stuns the crowd.

MANEUVER ROLL: HUMAN TAKE ACTION vs. VAYLEN CONSERVE. Humans win!  Kestrel is engaged, and +Rachel E.S. Walton complains about our thuggish strategy.

NEXT TIME: BEHEADINGS.

Session 6: 1/30/13

BURNING AVARINE - ON DRUGS! ]

[LOCKE INTERSTITIAL]: Locke calls his allies Torrent and Crow to a meeting and reveals that he is a Vaylen. He tries to convince them that Vaylen conquest is inevitable, but if they cooperate he can smooth it over and make it less painful. Crow is angry, but is mollified by the promise that his daughters will be safe (and a liberal application of Torrent's Psychology). Torrent's lieutenant sees an opportunity for everyone on Avarine to "evolve" to be equal to the Psychologists.
[MARIS MOTHERFUCKING PSYCHIC DUEL]: Maris meets with Locke on a high point on Isla Tienne where they used to walk. She struggles with his argument that unity under the Vaylen is the true River of Fire, and tries to convince him that the Wheel must turn in place, unchanging things' basic natures. They are at an impasse, so they have a MOTHERFUCKING PSYCHIC DUEL. Maris tears into Locke's unprepared mind, but is buffeted by the sheer force of his will and the happy memories of them together that he summons as weapons. Ultimately, she shreds the flesh of his anima and tears out the Worm within, rewriting his Belief to "I am the Voice of Amilahk. I will convince my Vaylen sisters that they must leave Avarine to continue turning as it is, on the axis of the Wheel." (or something to that effect, +Rachel E.S. Walton, we were a bit loosey-goosey on the exact wording, though I like mine).  He then collapses into Maris' embrace.
[YVENNE BUILDING]: Yvenne analyzes shipping patterns and identifies one of Locke's gun-runners. She bribes her way into access to a shipment and starts tearing out "parts that look important."
[KESTREL BUILDING]: Kestrel researches how things have gone for humans on other worlds facing the Vaylen. SPOILER: NOT WELL. She convinces Lady Aruna to upgrade the Leviathan, her ancient Hammer patrol craft, and make it ready for war.
[CROW BUILDING]: Crow meets with Lady Amara, one of the other pro-Kestrel nobles, and leaves her with Torrent to be mind-fucked. But Torrent fails, and she leaves in horror to be a pain in the ass later.
[MARIS COLOR]: Maris looks at baby anatomy books over tea. SPOILER: SHE IS A MULE.

MANEUVER ROLL: TAKE ACTION VS. TAKE MOTHERFUCKING ACTION.

Even though the Humans are down 2D from last round's Pin, they make 7 successes. The Vaylen make 6. Forces are massing. Invasion is nigh. Pro-Kestrel nobles begin recanting their views on the mediaverts. Sodalis are conveniently absent from the estates of anti-Ketrel nobles, exposing them to the full force of the riots Torrent stirred up.

NEXT: TENDER RECONCILIATION. MARIS TELLS EVERYONE HER INTERSPECIES RELATIONSHIP IS TOTES COOL NOW. LASERS.

Session 5: 1/16/13

BURNING AVARINE!  Shit got real.  I tried taking notes last night as we played until I got too sucked into being angry at Kestrel (+Sara Williamson ) and got distracted.

[LOCKE COLOR] In the aftermath of their confrontation, Locke tells his Vaylen lieutenant not to go after Maris, much to Lt. Quinn's anger and dismay.
[MARIS COLOR] Maris is back in her small cell at the batallion compound, sitting on the edge of her cot and removing her leg brace. She looks at a photograph of Locke on her bookshelf and sadly turns it on its face. She then pulls a leather-bound journal from beneath her bed and searches through it until she finds an old broadsheet for one of Alix' speeches when she was young. She kisses his image.
[KESTREL COLOR] Kestrel looks longingly at a picture of Yvenne, while Wren tells her that their relationship was doomed from the start.
[YVENNE COLOR] Yvenne, in her chambers, looks at a picture of happy times with Kestrel. Then she digs in a box for an image of the Burning Wheel. She stares at it for a while, and then angrily smashes it against a wall.
[CROW CONFLICT] Crow and Phoenix board Kestrel's ship. Crow confronts Kestrel about the relationship with Yvenne. He insists that she marry a man, and a noble - and that he feel that she has built enough of a relationship with the people to rule.  Maris, riding along in her brain, urges her to think of her relationship first, to no avail - Kestrel is more concerned about her position. They argue. Eventually, Kestrel agrees that she will begin to seek an "acceptable" suitor, and Crow that he will gradually support her more as she pursues a better relationship with the people.
[KESTREL INTERSTITIAL] Kestrel confronts Yvenne about going to Crow about their relationship. Kestrel tells Yvenne that, at best, she can be her mistress, and Yvenne caves to Kestrel's insistence that she loves her, but has to put House Tamar first.
[LOCKE INTERSTITIAL] Locke convinces Maris to meet him at Moon Under the Sea.  When she asks him when he killed her lover and took over his body, he reveals that he has inhabited this body since it was a child. This does not horrify her less. He tries to evade her questions, but ultimately will not assure her that he is not part of a plan to devour everyone on Avarine. The best he offers is that he plans to take the planet peacefully and if he doesn't, it will be taken by much more destructive force, but you know what, fuck that guy.
[YVENNE INTERSTITIAL] On the way out of Moon Under the Sea, Thalia convinces Maris to talk with a very drunk Yvenne. Yvenne wants to apologize for rejecting Maris' psychic evidence of Locke's nature before, and support her against him. Maris tries to explain that that's not important - the threat is to human love and connection, and Maris thinks Yvenne should focus on fixing her relationship with Kestrel. I had this whole great monlogue on this but somewhere between the G+ connection and Yvenne being drunk, it got misinterpreted. Boo! Maris sends Yvenne home in her armored vehicle with Delphia, and climbs the crag to the Glass Palace to confront Crow and Kestrel.
[TORRENT BUILDER] Torrent distributes propaganda showing Kestrel with her arm around Yvenne at the party, implying that if even nobles are fucking commoners, THERE ARE NO RULES.
[MARIS CONFLICT] Maris makes tea for Crow, since she's rousted him from bed. They discuss Kestrel - Maris tries to make Crow understand that her adherence to the Mundus is not some matter of partisanship, but that she thinks Crow's very New Horizon-y focus on making things as he wants them to be, rather than taking them as they are, is wrong to do to Kestrel - as it was wrong to do to her as a child. No one appreciates Maris' pain. They argue. Maris, reeling from her confrontation with Locke, ultimately agrees to at least help Crow keep Kestrel safe, by defecting from the Sodality (though not, in her mind, from the Mundus faith, given who the Cotar Fomas is), and putting as many of her battalion as will remain loyal at the disposal of House Tamar, so long as he agrees that he will also take what steps he can to preserve her safety.
[YVENNE BUILDER] Yvenne, in a stroke of money, forges herself some papers showing she's a member of an obscure noble bloodline, and buys her way into one of the Houses.

MANEUVER ROLL: HUMAN TAKE ACTION VS. VAYLEN PIN! METAL!

The humans lacerate the Vaylen, knocking them down 8 (Maris rolled, and has been banking Artha).  The Vaylen nail a shoulda-been-impossible Ob 7 roll to Pin, putting the humans at a -2D disadvantage for next time.

Sodalis loyal to Maris deploy themselves in defense of pro-Kestrel nobles. This confirms the propaganda that the nobles have cast aside the traditions of Avarine in many eyes, and so now House Tamar is pinned down dealing with street protests.

NEXT: Seriously, fuck that guy. Lasers.

Session 4: 12/19/12

BURNING AVARINE!

I was pretty tired when we ended, so please help me remember stuff, dudettes.

YVENNE COLOR: Yvenne meets with some of her crew upon her return planetside, who warn her that the Inquisition is in town.
[CROW INTERSTITIAL? I think maybe he talked with Locke about the Inquisition?]
MARIS BUILDING(1): Maris confronts Locke about his coverup of the Archcotare's infestation.  Locke tries to convince her it was probably a lone scout, and they have bigger things to worry about, which is clearly bullshit, so Maris uses her Psychology to discover that he has a worm in his own head.  In horror, she bolts, grabbing Laila as a temporary hostage to drag with her until she gets safely off his ship.
TORRENT INTERSTITIAL: Torrent, Locke, and Crow plot and scheme about how they will get the Inquisition off their backs.
MARIS COLOR: Maris is in the battalion latrines, vomiting repeatedly while Delphia holds her hair back.
YVENNE CONFLICT: Crow confronts Yvenne about her support for Kestrel at the party.  He is concerned about why she is backing Kestrel against him.  Yvenne explains: "I just... I love her.  It's not political."  Crow is not quite comfortable with his daughter's relationship, but it changes his view of Yvenne's choices, and he agrees to give her some cover against the nobles by giving her an official position within his court.
MARIS BUILDING(2): Maris goes to Yvenne's spaceport looking for Kestrel, having spent a long night awake in horror at her discovery.  She shares a torrent of images of her making love to Locke and then seeing the worm in his brain with Yvenne.  But Yvenne casts her out, decrying Psychologists as liars and magicians.  "This... stupidity... will doom us all!"
LOCKE BUILDING: Locke finds a Vaylen sleeper in the Inquisition and convinces it that it will need to be publicly exposed and destroyed for the good of the Clan. "The time has come for you to do your duty. It's not what you thought it was going to be."

MANEUVER ROLL: HUMAN GO TO GROUND VS. VAYLEN GAMBIT

O NOES!  Vaylen 8!  Humans don't get to test!

The Raven Brotherhood prepare to evade an Inquisition crackdown that never comes.  The Vaylen sleeper is publicly destroyed under the authority of the Cotar Fomas, while Torrent distributes propaganda posters and videos showing the worst offences of the Inquisition against New Horizon temples. The Inquisition are driven back to their ships among the Mundus fleet.

NEXT TIME: Maris is linked to both Yvenne and Kestrel right now.  +Rachel E.S. Walton has confirmed that it is possible for her to close her psychic "eyes" if they have sex.

Session 3: 12/5/12

Burning Avarine! (as best I can remember - fill me in +Rachel E.S. Walton  and +Sara Williamson, and weep at what you have missed, +Rachael Storey Burke)

CROW COLOR: Crow returns, wroth, to the bedchamber he shares with Lycelle.  He smashes his crown against the wall.  But Lycelle shows him an old video of Kestrel as a child, stomping about in his shoes, and reminds him that she still has big shoes to fill if she is to be Forged Lord.
MARIS INTERSTITIAL: Maris approaches Crow to apologize for her earlier rudeness, but when she (mistakenly) interprets his mood as anger that Kestrel will supplant him as ruler, is disgusted by what she sees as his selfishness.  She throws the copy of the Revelations of Aisha that she planned to give him to the floor and they both storm off.
KESTREL INTERSTITIAL: Kestrel meets with Maris at the bombed-out former summer palace of the Tamars.  They speak forthrightly about their differences on religion, and come to at least a mutual respect for each other - and an agreement to seek to put Kestrel on the throne, regardless.  Maris gets what she believes is an assurance from Kestrel that she, not Phoenix, will be Kestrel's surrogate - but confides her fear that she may be infertile.
TORRENT INTERSTITIAL: Alix confronts Maris at the party, who collapses in his arms.  He expresses his anger that, in all those years, she had not yet sought him out, and she tells of her near death on Isla Norte and later conversion.  He tells Maris that he is working to make things better for his people - the slaves, and Maris tells him that they need to learn their place on the Wheel.  He then sneers at her that she was not born to misery, which she takes umbrage at.  They then both need a drink.
KESTREL COLOR: Kestrel remembers when Kaduka found out that Maris (Swift) was not her child - she could not have been responsible for such a damaged, deformed child - and how Kestrel protected Swift from her mother's anger.
TORRENT COLOR: Torrent meets with his slave followers, and tells them that it is the time to strike, while the nobles are divided.
KESTREL BUILDING: Kestrel searches the House Tamar Archives for speeches given by nobles that can be twisted to make them look like dangerous rebels (so long as they are nobles who sided with Crow rather than Maris).  She goes to Maris' printing press, and they argue about how far to push the blasphemy angle, with Kestrel ultimately convincing Maris that they should focus on an approach that downplays the New Horizon and focuses on the potential for unrest.  Kestrel designs the propaganda with some advice from Maris and Wren, and it has some impact... but an archivist remembers Kestrel's inquiry as the posters go up, and alerts Lady Astrid and Lady Jenna, both of whom are slandered by it.  They trace it back to Kestrel, and mount counter-propaganda declaring her to be a danger to Avarine.
LOCKE COLOR: Locke convinces the Archcotare to help him fake medical records to throw Maris off the scent.
LOCKE INTERSTITIAL: Locke interrupts a supposedly romantic dinner with Maris to try to throw her off the scent with the doctored records.  She realizes that he is trying to cover things up.  She does agree to arrange a meeting with Kestrel.
MARIS BUILDING: Maris meets with the Inquisition (hey, Rachel, since we made this a builder, do I get to retroactively drop the +1Ob and name my Inquisitor friend?).  After much shouting and brow-beating, Rachel accepts a dangerous social-bloody-versus gamble, and Maris is able to convince the Inquisition that she is not crazy, that the Archcotare really has been infiltrated by the Worm.  The Archcotare is imprisoned by the Inquisition, tortured, and revealed.

MANEUVER ROLL: Vaylen Assess vs. Human Take Action (6)!  Both succeed!

VAYLEN SEQUEL: Torrent meets with Crow and shows him psychohistorical analysis revealing that the split among the nobles favors an uprising.  Good for Avarine he says, though Crow is fucked.
HUMAN SEQUEL: The Inquisition opens aggressive investigations against New Horizon nobles who favored Crow at the party, disrupting their power.  Inquisitors storm Lady Astrid's New Horizon temple while she is at prayer, accompanied by Maris in Iron, bearing aloft the split head of the (former) Archcotare, with the remnants of the worm hanging obscenely out.  They leave Lady Astrid alone for now, but haul off the other worshippers and officiants for questioning.

Session 2: 11/21/12

[BURNING AVARINE]: Crow's Awesome 60th Birthday Party!

CROW COLOR: Crow sends out invites to his birthday bash, including a special one to Maris saying that he hopes she'll come despite the bad blood between them.
MARIS BUILDING (1): Maris tries to convince Locke that the Archcotare has been hulled (hey, Locke did it!).  He knows she's lying about having seen the scar and brushes her off.  Maris misinterprets this as being Indifferent (to the Vaylen threat) and walks out of his comfy captain's quarters.
YVENNE COLOR: Last time, Crow invited slaves.  So Yvenne talks to Thalia to make sure that her Bois (male prostitutes) come, all wearing loincloths.  Only loincloths.  Glass bead loincloths.
MARIS COLOR: A scantily-clad Maris raises Delphia's blood pressure and then gives her a handgun and a dress for the party.
MARIS BUILDING (2+3): Maris tries and fails to intimidate Yvenne into helping her outfit the batallion with heavy weapons so that she won't reveal her relationship with Kestrel (wait... how does Maris know?).  Yvenne agrees to help for her own reasons, revealing that she wants the relationship to be public, and would like Maris' help in buying a peerage.  Maris' awesome chain-sword becomes lethally real.
CROW INTERSTITIAL: At the first evening reception, Crow approaches Maris.  She first sneers at him as a blasphemer, then apologizes, but neither really knows what to say to the other.
KESTREL COLOR: On the main day of the party, Kestrel announces her arrival with a blast of downdraft from her Hammer cruiser.
YVENNE BUILDING: When Yvenne arrives, she does so in a stunning glass dress.  Kestrel pointedly introduces her as her "friend."  But there is much buzz about this stunning merchant and her connection to Kestrel.
KESTREL CONFLICT: Kestrel makes a toast to Crow, and oh by the way announces that she will be taking her rightful place as Forged Lord.  Crow tries to impress on the crowd that more is needed in a Forged Lord than military acumen, but Kestrel seems to be winning the nobles over with her confidence and poise.  But then, in a stunning upset, Crow pointedly reminds everyone that it was Kaduka's warlike ways that brought Avarine to its current state, and the nobles are split.  Several Hammer Lords rap their service rings in support of Kestrel, including the elderly Lord whose ship she captains.  Other nobles quietly shun her, turning to back up Crow.

MANEUVER ROLL: Flak (50/50) vs. Take Action.  Take Action gets 6 successes to 1 defense on Flak!  Niiiiiiiice.  The Flak offense gets nothing!

NEXT TIME: We won't be so lucky.

Session 1: 11/7/12

BURNING AVARINE!

[Here's what I remember; please help me fill in, guys, and I'll update!]

PREQUEL (CROW): Crow worked to rebuild the Glass Palace into a symbol of how humanity can change, ascend, and evolve.
PREQUEL (KESTREL): Kestrel's rebuilt Hammer forces embarrass the Church Hammer by rescuing a Mercator in distress.  The planetary media eats it up!
INTERSTITIAL (KESTREL): Kestrel leaves Wren behind for a steamy rendez-vous with Yvenne.  Yvenne undresses her from her Anvil in a private spaceport.
BUILDER(1) (MARIS): Maris and Delphia scope out Crow meeting with some Sodalis down near the Glass Palace.  Suspicious!
COLOR (Locke): Locke hulls the Archcotare.
INTERSTITIAL (MARIS): Maris summons Kestrel to the Spires and tells her about her suspicions of Crow.  They meet in front of THE BURNING WHEEL, which replaced the rising sun symbol of the New Horizon, which lays broken before its majesty.  A slave is impaled on the Wheel as they talk.
COLOR (YVENNE): Yvenne meets with a Mystes Cotar to inform her that sales of the art they've been getting from Crow's workshop and the New Horizon aren't going that well.  The Cotar futilely threatens to break the deal the Mundus has with Yvenne if sales don't pick up.
INTERSTITIAL (CROW): Crow meets with Yvenne to get her to bankroll his lavish 60th.  There will be slaves!  As... guests?
BUILDER(2) (MARIS):  Maris warns Lydia, the quartermaster, that conflict with Crow may be looming, and asks her to try to get heavier weapons, for real war, not crowd suppression.  She then manages to get a tech to come look at the bombed-out and elements-damaged psychohistory computers in the Spires, but he doesn't think he can fix them easily. Also, he works for Torrent.
BUILDER (YVENNE): Yvenne deals with some very annoyed counterfeiters, and gets her workshop back online.
BUILDER (KESTREL): Laying in bed, Kestrel begins reading a book about ancient heresies, and is worried to read about some that were actually Vaylen plots.  Some suspiciously close to ideas Crow has been spouting recently...
INTERSTITIAL (TORRENT): Torrent reveals to Crow that the plan to sway the slaves and other rabble is beginning to work.

MANEUVER: ASSESS VS. ASSESS!  KNOWLEDGE FIGHT!  The humans win!  Kestrel continues her research, and is dismayed by the parallels she finds.  Primed with this, Maris scans the Archcotare the next time she comes to review the battalion, and is horrified to see the Vaylen curled within... she rushes to warn Kestrel!

NEXT TIME: LASERS!