Welcome back to the Road to PARTIZAN. Today, we’re moving into a new trio of episodes that explore an era of history that would come to be called The Divine Clash. For over a century, the ever-growing Divine Principality would throw its might against the allied forces of the Orion Combine and the Divine Collaborate, the distant successor states of two major nations featured in our COUNTER/Weight season.

Next week and the week following, we’ll see the climax of the Divine Clash via Austin Ramsay’s Beam Saber. But first, we offer a pair of vignette one-shots via two games that were made for the Emotional Mecha Game Jam (which was organized by John R. Harness and Takuma Okada).

First, in Role Over Play Dead’s Ech0, we travel through the wreckage the war left behind, as children born over a generation after the war’s end try to reunite the memory core of a long dead pilot with her machine. Then, in Riley Rethal’s Dusk to Midnight, we define the early days of the Clash, and follow the careers (and the wavering resolve) of four of the pilots who would help to decide its outcome.

A couple of extra notes: First of, because one of the player’s files was totally corrupted, much of this episode had to be rebuilt via a backup recording. That means that there are a few times where you can hear breathing sounds heavier than normal. There are also moments where background noise is a bit more prevalent, and it was pretty impossible to untangle some crosstalk (especially since we were playing as children especially prone to crosstalk in Ech0).

You’ll might also notice that I say a few times up top that we want to play three of these vignettes. Due to time concerns, we couldn’t make that happen, but for the record, the final vignette I’d planned was EPITAPH by Dante Douglas, which is metal as hell and rules. You should check it out.

Finally, because Ech0 is such a visual experience, I’ve included a screenshot of the map we drew below. You can find close ups of all of our sketches at the Mapmaker tier over on our Patreon (with a quick caveat that we’re currently catching up on much of our Patreon stuff, and we’ve been prioritizing new shows up rather than supporting material, but it’s coming soon, I promise!)

This week on the Road to PARTIZAN: Ech0 & Dusk to Midnight

////PARTIZAN PALACE DATE ENTRY | 1418 P.M. 05 22\\\\

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///OPERATION: CHOOSE SECTION: CRIME AND DEVIANCE && OPERATION: DISPLAY TOP ARTICLE\\\

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//VERGLAZ UNIVERSITY ARCHAEOLOGY ANNALS RAIDED, HOUSE LESON INVESTIGATORS POINT TO HERETICAL GROUP\\

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/OPERATION: IDENTIFY KEY SUBJECTS: SUBJECT (ROLE | EVALUATION)\

ELET VALERA (VICTIM, SCHOLAR | TRUSTED)

CARBIDE LESON (CHIEF INVESTIGATOR | TRUSTED)

SLOE UPLIGHT (WITNESS, EXPERT IN FIELD | SUSPECT)

“THE FRIENDS OF GUR SEVRAQ” (████████ , ██████████ | ANATHEMA, SEEK ACCESS APPROVAL FOR FURTHER INFORMATION)

Hosted by Austin Walker ( @austin_walker

Featuring Janine Hawkins ( @bleatingheart ) Sylvi Clare ( @captaintrash ), Art Martinez-Tebbel ( @atebbel ), and Andrew Lee Swan ( @swandre3000

Edited by Austin Walker and Produced by Ali Acampora ( @ali_west

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon ( @shoddyrobot