Play By Podcast Michael Collins, Leon Barnes, Liam Higgins, Laura Coe

“I was fifteen years old, the last time the Union tried to take back the Freeholds. A ‘fact of life’ my mother told me. Happens periodically. Been happening forever, shit. And we’ve pushed them back every time, them and Kennet’s damned Commonwealth. Every time, for centuries. Like clockwork.
Let’s look at the state of things, folks. Our forebearers watched the Solar Union collapse. Saw it reborn as the ghoulish bastard-thing it is now. Saw the Jovian’s close ranks. And even apart, they still come after us. They go out of their way to cast hell on our lives. For a mining operation that dried up centuries ago. For sunk costs.
It’s 279-goddamned-3. If they really wanted their colonies back they’d know by now it takes more than a measly little fleet of cruisers to break the Charon Freeholds. So what gives? There’s no profit in it for them, it doesn’t track.
I see it three ways. One, the Gentry are a bigger bunch of incompentent pissants than even we thought. That’s rich. Two, they’ve got a real long con going and one day they’ll send a real armada while our pants are down around our ankles, which ain’t ever likely. Or three, they don’t really want the Charon Freeholds folding back to them.
Those monied bastards still have their hands around our throats, they just want to keep reminding us that they could crush us if they wanted. Anytime.”
* Linwood Berrett, Dockmaster of Charon Alpha, overheard in the Dockside Bar.
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In today’s episode, we give a rundown of the familiar yet strange expanse known as the Territory: a hellish, hyper-capitalist vision of the Sol system. We talk about the setting’s powerful factions, our odd lot of characters, and the driving ideals behind both. Greedy Galactic Aristocrats? Giant mechs on Mars? A sentient crash test dummy? Still gay? But of course. All that and more to come in this season of Play By Podcast!
This week on Play By Podcast: Territory Nouveau 01: The State of Things
Play By Podcast is Michael Collins (@arealwriter), Leon Barnes (@SlapKatZ), Liam Higgins(@liamhiggins97), and Max Coe (@_NotMyDivision_)
Cover Art by Ariel Corrales (@arielcorrales_)
Music by Cody Ojea (@SixChordCircus)

“The Wingard’s Anchor assembly plant in the Cydonian sector went dark a few days ago. House Wingard is furious, obviously.
Last transmission from security was a run-of-the-mill all hands call for the night shift.
After that, nothing.
No one in, no one out, not even the factory techs. Anything that gets close to the place in plain view either gets shot down or blown up by something on-site. Something that hits very, very hard.
Most likely a number of Anchors rolled the factory overnight, though no demands have been made and no allegiances declared. We don’t know who’s sponsoring the other side but they paid for some premium muscle.
Letter of the contract from Queen MAB says get planetside, assess the situation, and pacify the targets so the Gentry can get back to making their money. I’ll leave the definition of “pacify” to your discretion.
That’ll be all, people.”
-Ambrose Belgarde, Captain of the Vehement, Briefing Minutes Section C
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In today’s episode, we get into our first session of actual play after a quick refresher on the system. Our luck is all over the place this week as a mission to a Martian gulch brings back old anxieties in Scarlett, Bete’s Anchor takes a beating, and Otto’s first engagement leaves him wondering if he’s really cut out for life among the freelancers. Will the team pull itself together or be blown apart? Find out this week!
This week on Play By Podcast: Territory Nouveau 02: Human Squabbles
Play By Podcast is Michael Collins (@arealwriter), Leon Barnes (@SlapKatZ), Liam Higgins(@liamhiggins97), and Max Coe (@_NotMyDivision_)
Cover Art by Ariel Corrales (@arielcorrales_)
Music by Cody Ojea (@SixChordCircus)

The bridge of the Vehement was preternaturally calm, given the circumstances. Ambrose Belgard, on the other hand, was not. He sat alone on the quiet, dark bridge, slumped in his chair staring out onto the bright red sphere of Mars below him. The mesas, the mountain faces, the green expanses of ocean. And the Amano capital ships hovering just in low orbit above it all, their dropships still descending. The other houses hadn’t mobilized their forces yet. That was worrisome. At this rate the Amanos would be ready for them when they did manage to muster a response. All across Mars the Amano fleets loomed in a way that made Ambrose’s stomach tie in knots. It reminded him of something he’d only read about, or heard stories third hand from dockworkers in the Freeholds. Allies taking up arms against allies. Mercenary contractors picking at the bones of the still bleeding. Betrayal from the highest laying the lowest even lower. It reminded him of the Kennet Rebellion. It reminded him of the First Jovian War. And his team were in the thick of it.
*In today’s episode, something is up in the Cydonian sector as the Martian skies fill with the ships of House Amano. How will our freelancing heroes respond to this new looming threat? This week enemies become allies, we make some tense preparations, and try to negotiate a shaky truce with a haughty heir. How will it shake out? Find out here!This week on Play By Podcast: Territory Nouveau 03: Quite the Fortuitous MeetingPlay By Podcast is Michael Collins (@arealwriter), Leon Barnes (@SlapKatZ), Liam Higgins(@liamhiggins97), and Max Coe (@_NotMyDivision_)Cover Art by Ariel Corrales (@arielcorrales_)Music by Cody Ojea (@SixChordCircus)

In the face of Cydonia’s looming destruction the old worries of Weldon Woldt seemed far away and altogether insignificant. Money, work, comfort, all that mattered now was that next, forward step. Never quite escaping the shadow of the Amano capital ship that loomed large overhead, never quite out of earshot of the thumping boom of artillery, or the mechanical whirring of distant anchors.He’d run, and run, and run until he’d entered the Halation square, the shelter a generous sprint across the concourse. The Security Forces had already mustered, gunmetal grey anchors shining, fresh off the assembly line. A pilot descending to meet him as he approached. Officer Piedmont Kels. “We were waiting for you, Overseer Woldt, already a few inside.” He’d barely managed a mumbled response before Kels had rushed him into the shelter proper and shown him to his console. Weldon watched, dumbstruck, as the reinforced metal doors closed, expecting to never open them again. The last he saw of the outside world was a city on fire, and the strong, confident smile of Piedmont Kels.
*In today’s episode, the Freelancers move forward with their plan to evacuate Mars, and try to help where they can. With a ticking clock and a gang of ruthless mercenaries at their backs the pressure is on! We learn important lessons about close quarters living, do a little experimentation with some alien elements, and try to hold everything together when things look their most grim. This week on Play By Podcast: Territory Nouveau 04: What I Think is BestPlay By Podcast is Michael Collins (@arealwriter), Leon Barnes (@SlapKatZ), Liam Higgins(@liamhiggins97), and Max Coe (@_NotMyDivision_)Cover Art by Ariel Corrales (@arielcorrales_)Music by Cody Ojea (@SixChordCircus)

Just outside of Jupiter’s gravitational pull, beyond the boundaries of Europa, Ganymede, Callista, and Io sits a massive ship graveyard. A vast field of decommissioned and destroyed debris placed there specifically as to not be an eyesore upon House Kennet’s glorious Commonwealth. The ships moored there passed on their names and salvagable parts to more worthy vessels long ago, and the graveyard is unknown to most folk in the Commonwealth, but some life does still lurk within the oft overlooked quadrant.Scoundrels, killers, and cutthroats of all stripes prowl the area, hiding among the skeletons of Jovian starships, masking their signatures to avoid detection, scrounging for overlooked salvage, or lying in wait to strike at unexpecting passers-by on the galactic slipstream. One such outfit, numbering seven strong ships and a detachment of fighter craft, are a scrappy crew of Jovian deserters turned pirates known to those of the Jovian moons as Vance’s Raiders.
*In today’s episode we begin our trek across the Territory to the relative safety of the Charon Freeholds. The Vehement is stuffed to the gills with passengers and precious cargo, but will these temporary arrangements lead to lifting spirits or broken hearts? And what else is out there waiting for them? The forging of bonds new and old, an unscheduled stop in hyperspace, and some more crafty hacking await your ears. This week on Play By Podcast: Territory Nouveau 05: Cramped QuartersPlay By Podcast is Michael Collins (@arealwriter), Leon Barnes (@SlapKatZ), Liam Higgins(@liamhiggins97), and Max Coe (@_NotMyDivision_)Cover Art by Ariel Corrales (@arielcorrales_)Music by Cody Ojea (@SixChordCircus)

Miranda, the fog-shrouded moon of Uranus, in the heart of the Jovian Lunar Commonwealth. A strange and enigmatic planetoid where, it is said, the machinations of the Commonwealth’s war machine are brought to life.Since the outset of the First Jovian War, it has been rumored and propagandized within the Rectified Solar Union that Miranda was home to the Jovian miltary’s intelligence and scientific initiatives. The stories of cloak-and-dagger operations and horrific experiments taking place on the the Mirandan surface prevailed well beyond the war, even among the Gentry. Regrettably, this has made the true intentions of the Commonwealth on Miranda almost as unknowable as the surface of the moon itself. Though House Kennet and their Gentry bannermen would have it no other way. *
In today’s episode, the crew of the Vehement have jumped their way to one of the most clandestine outposts in the Jovian Lunar Commonwealth: the mysterious moon Miranda. Survival hangs in the balance as our Freelancers are surrounded by the Jovian military, but is there more than military might waiting on Miranda? We trade metaphors, swap harsh language, and make one last push for the Freeholds. This week on Play By Podcast: Territory Nouveau 06: Thorn in an Elephant's SidePlay By Podcast is Michael Collins (@arealwriter), Leon Barnes (@SlapKatZ), Liam Higgins(@liamhiggins97), and Max Coe (@_NotMyDivision_)Cover Art by Ariel Corrales (@arielcorrales_)Music by Cody Ojea (@SixChordCircus)