Knights in Space

1. []{#brainstorm}Brainstorm {#brainstorm-1}

• Maybe the king is an out of touch dude and Gallant has to explain to him how the real world works

• Gallant is constantly urged to bend the knee to Commodus and the pursuit will be over

• “I’m sorry Gallant, you’re on your own” - From former secret helper of Gallant

• Sympathetic knights help Gallant escape/do something

• Magnus runs into Gallant on the run (both of em), hard switch to other POV at the same time

• Somebody offers Gallant a bribe of some kind and Gallant is seriously considering it. Then, hard cut to next chapter without showing what happened

  • Turns out he took it and feels terrible

• The conspiracy

  • The Son of the Sovereign has orchestrated an attack on a civilian ship to manufacture a crisis. They kill the noble for investigating further than is standard proceedure AND/OR they assassinate the noble because they want to blame the Neo-Saracens who they claim didn’t want the noble investigating futher. The noble investigated further because there was something suspicious about the attack. The peaceful Sovereign isn’t going to wage war against the Neo-Saracens so they try to manipulate the Neo-Saracens into assassinating the Sovereign to create a casus belli. Gallant stops this happening so they change tactics, bringing him into Magnus’ world. Gallant starts trying to get to the Son via the cop knights from the lockdown.
  • The Neo-Saracens have eyes and ears all over The Glorious Empire, and The Son not only know this but they’ve been trying to hide it from the brass so they can expose it in their time?

• What is each character starting out trying to do?

  • Madeleine is discovering the world outside the one her handlers are allowing her and increasingly she wants to escape

• How does Gallant catch Madeleine?

  • Bathroom was the initial pitch
  • Could also follow her discretely

• Gallant thinks that maybe a rival noble of some kind is up to no good

• Remember to allow more breathing room in the story, see where characters seem to teleport to plot important locations and add what happened between em

• During an attack on the Hero’s Reach outpost the shit noble runs scared and Gallant has to take over

• Magnus on the shit noble

  • “That your boss?” “Yes.” Looks at Gallant “Bit of a mess, isn’t he?” “Indeed.”

• The Son wants to kidnap Magnus and make it look like the Neo-Saracens are rescuing their king killer

• “We need to talk about …” “You WANT to talk about …”

• Ends with Gallant challenging Commodus to a duel

• Hero’s Reach immediately contrasts HARD with Velvet Chiffon as it’s more of a dowdy mining outpost

• Gallant threatens to send Magnus to Devils’ Rest

• Magnus makes it to Bawat with Gallant, but by now he’s fully helping Gallant do his thing. Sister comes to help

• Need to have that sudden, quiet, realisation/horror that Lord Commodus is the Son of the Sovereign

  • Says something/knows something that Lord Commodus absolutely shouldn’t know about

  • Gallant doesn’t immediately turn him in, instead pushing the limits as far as possible to amass proof

  • Eventually Lord Commodus is going to find out that Gallant knows, and engineer a situation to get Gallant out of the picture

    • Assassination
    • Indirect assassination (Send into a skirmish with faulty equipment and overwhelming odds)

  • Maybe need to amass proof that one of Commodus’ knights was involved in the civilian ship attack (Thanks to Magnus’ testimony) and forward that info to Lord Commodus, not realising that Lord Commodus was behind it until much later

• Madeleine is not safe on Hero’s Reach and Gallant journies to Lord Commodus’ territory

  • Gets to know her over the course of the trip
  • Magnus sneaks on board for some reason?

• Magnus thought his part in the conspiracy was over when he went to prison, but he was just at the start

• Gallant’s derelict ship floating in space, all is lost

  • Heroic BSOD, Gallant is completely emotionally finished, all of his character development going from lost boy to hero has seemingly gone down the tubes
  • POV of Magnus, quiet, curses himself and turns around to help Gallant

• Subplot about land

• Moment where not sure if Gallant is going to join the bad guy, until it turns out he was acting

• Gallant unlocks Madeleine/Magnus’ cell and confidently takes them for a walk

• After so much buildup, Commodus finally loses his shit and rants and raves once Gallant ruins enough of his plans

• Faulkes’ heel/face turn

  • Needs to be gradual and well established
  • Turns turncoat after Commodus is established as antagonist
  • Maybe Faulkes has rich, successful parents who demand she do her duty, and she slowly realises how fucked up it all is
  • Magnus comes to her and gets her help saving Gallant, completing the face/heel turn

• Need a pitched land battle against Lord Commodus

• Lord Commodus explains the history of the wars to Gallant to justify himself

• How does the deaths of the GC members affect City 2?

  • Becomes a sort of organised anarchy?
  • People agitating for more people-centric representation?
  • Maybe guilds take more of a controlling role

• How did Commodus find out about Magnus’ location

  • One of the smuggler’s contacts is a bit loose with their tongue

• I like the idea that the smuggler dies early but their plan is brought up throughout the story, as if they’re still an active character

• Gallant goes to eccentric village full of weirdos and someone who specialises in “organic matter” (organs and body parts)

  • Flourishing post-GC outside City 2
  • Like the biology teacher from Bully

• Some part to explain why the sovereign exists in the first place

  • Page asking himself why we even need a sovereign

• TOURNAMENTS, they are a knight thing that happens

• The lady with the moon in chapter 1 comes back later as a staging ground for the rebellion against Lord Commodus

• The two men having a spat about copper come back later, maybe as a couple

  • Mediated their dispute with Gallant and then help Magnus out with something
  • Gallant unwittingly pushes them towards reconciliation

• The Glorious Empire splits in two?

• Magnus was a mercenary/fixer who would never kill, why make an exception for The Sovereign?

  • Maybe she didn’t and she was framed

  • Maybe something was being given by Lord Commodus that was too alluring

    • Money?

      • To pay for an escape from the life?

• Gallant did something bad five years before the start of the story

• Gallant’s ship’s torches begin dim and become brighter as the story goes on and he finds a new lease on life

• Magnus is investigating who betrayed her, Gallant is investigating who assassinated Lady Hope

  • Her main conflict is between getting involved and investigating who and why she was betrayed, and just leaving without getting into trouble

• Magnus had a conversation with Sovereign before she kills him

• The passage that Gallant reads from Commodus’ book is from the same book as the epigraph

  • Redo that chapter to be more detailed btw
  • Change the name from a core history to a sovereign’s account or something

• Gallant’s tenure at Lord Commodus’ domain

  • Part of Gallant’s arc to become more independent
  • Lord Commodus rescued him from going through Degredation
  • Gallant tried to do something heroic/helpful and it backfired
  • Lord Commodus says he rescued Gallant because he saw something in him, but actually it was because …?

• Callbacks

  • Gallant references Lord Commodus saying “…you are bound to see this task to completion” earlier in reference to helping Lady Hope
  • Gallant’s head is in his hands in the library again after being dissed by lady hope

• Lady Hope engages Sir Gallant because she was strongarmed into getting help from Lord Commodus and she wanted someone who is completely worthless

• Burning Sapphire looks like Earth but warmer, more savannah

• “a voice with a rasp like a sword being drawn from its scabbard”

• Person who thinks Gallant and Magnus are the smuggler and Magnus

  • “Magnus?” The contact says. “Uh, yeah” “For fuck’s sake,” Looks at Gallant, “I thought you were punctual. What happened?”

• Gallant brings up/meets his brother whoms’t is quite upset at Gallant for being a disgraced knight

• Any kind of escalation in the story that can’t be shown can be told to the POV characters, like a sudden attack elsewhere or something

  • A la Babylon 5 not being the centre of all conflict, but being a microcosm of it

• LADY HOPE DOESN’T DIE WOOOOOO

  • She fights off her attacker but is seriously wounded

• “The Glooorious Empire,” they said, emphasising and extending the ‘Glorious,’ “Likes to think its a strong arm that keeps all of us in its tight, but soft, grasp. But the truth is there aren’t enough knights in the universe to keep everyone in line. So we’re more than happy to slide in here and create our own niche.”

• Gallant gets killed?

  • Show of medicine here
  • Heart is destroyed but (because stem cell research) a new one is grown from his tissue
  • Run all of the explanation through the medieval filter

• Come back to the inn in the prologue?

• The “I can’t stay here with everyone” in an epilogue is the perfect way to emotionally gut punch the audience

  • Lord of the Rings, Mr Robot, etc

  • Maybe Magnus achieves inner peace but for whatever reason can’t see the main characters ever again

    • Dies
    • Struck with an illness
    • Leaves once again to avoid prosecution, doubles back on her character arc

1. []{#mega-outline}Mega outline {#mega-outline-1}

• “I know you know”

• Gallant has to go back and pick up Magnus after she escapes

• Magnus hitches ride with the copper couple, immediately pings security when she arrives

  • EXIT: WARNING WARNING, swords crossed at Magnus’ throat, she’s been pinged

• The world is even more paranoid, between the attack on the GC flagship, the death of the entire GC, and the assasination of Lady Hope

• Battlemaster Elise comforts Sir Gallant while Page is …?

• Dealing with the knight cops, clearly not taking it seriously

  • “Until a new noble can be elected by the people of this polity, the knights are effectively independent. So, yes, I can go wherever I want.”

  • As soon as they come aboard Gallant is the most forward with pestering them with questions

    • “Who are you, who sent you, what’s your ID…” etc

• Magnus picked up by friendly who takes him to Hero’s Reach, setting off every single alarm bell. Bad luck, buddy

• Arrival of the intirm shit noble

• Searching the assassination site for the desk and her notes, no luck

• Finding Lady Hope’s spouse, seeing that she sent encrypted letters about the investigation

  • The encryption wouldn’t have beaten a computer if fed through one, but to the casual observer it would have deterred them
  • OR Lady Hope’s spouse arrives and takes special interest in Gallant because Hope talked about him
  • Lady Hope’s wife is, as opposed to Hope herself, bubbly and bright
  • Learns …?

• Gallant arrives at flagship battle location with shit noble, now just debris and two missing ships

  • Tense and don’t know if “Neo-Saracens” are still there

• Catching Madeleine, reveals info about the Son of the Sovereign

  • Gallant should be deferring constantly to station knights and spymaster until it makes literally no sense to continue doing so
  • Page arrives, revealing to audience that Gallant has set up his own little secret investigation

• Magnus’ escape

  • (After escaping and being caught) “You are a most vexing prisoner, Magnus” “You can be more honest, you don’t have to self-censor” “I think you’re a slippery bastard”

• Find out who ordered the attack and show up at their outpost

• Attack on Hero’s Reach

• Gallant journies to Lord Commodus who can help

• Lord Commodus says that there has been a skirmish on

• Lord Commodus recieves Gallant and makes a speech to gain popular support

• Finding Magnus

• Discovering who killed the noble

  • Lady Hope’s spymaster

• Finding out Lord Commodus is the Son of the Sovereign

  • Faulkes walks out, having been absent the entire time Gallant was here, with a distinct scar across his face
  • Can’t have Gallant go back before getting the skinny from Magnus

• Flashback to Magnus assassinating the Sovereign

• Magnus and Gallant confronting the person (GC member) who helped orchestrate flagship attack

• Recieving Lord Commodus’ messenger

  • Gallant notes that the messenger using comms is highly unusual/inappropriate

• Desperate chase to rescue Madeleine

• Proving Lord Commodus is the Son of the Sovereign

• Forming a coalition of knights

  • Call it a parliament?

• Lord Commodus executes order 66

• Going to the Neo-Saracen Empire

• Gallant has to track down his ship?

• Getting to the royal family

• Evacuating the ruler

• Have to teach the ruler how normal people things work, and

• Need to find something/someone for the assault on the Sons of the Ruler

  • Magnus? Tracking Magnus based on his movements over the course of his story?
  • Could be too late to be Magnus
  • Could be someone who’s imprisoned in Devils’ Island. For obvious reasons Magnus doesn’t want to go but Gallant insists he comes because of experience.

• The gang does something that fails but buys them some more time

• To prove himself to Lord Commodus, the Sovereign orders Gallant to kill them

  • “We’re on the run and your solution is to tack regicide onto an already lengthy list of crimes?”
  • Big ritual, Sovereign annointed, done behind closed doors

• Gallant gets the assistance of Shit noble

• The gang meets a sniper who can shoot precisely the little exposed parts of a knight

• First assault on Lord Commodus

• Gallant heroic BSOD, all is lost

• Magnus turns his ass around

• Second assault on Lord Commodus

• Magnus and Gallant fight with Lord Commodus

  • (From Lord Commodus to Magnus) “Why can I not be rid of you!?” “Maybe you should have hired someone more incompetent”

• Rebuilding

  • Gallant becomes the next Sovereign?

• Gallant and Magnus have one final meeting

  • (About remembering Lady Hope) “Despite the reason for her choosing me, she still chose me. And I’ll be forever grateful”

• Flashback 1: Formulating plan at Devil’s Rest to escape

• Flashback 2: How Magnus assassinated The Sovereign and how she was arrested

• Flashback 3: Enacting the plan with the prison peeps and screwing them over

1. 1. []{#old}Old {#old-3}

• Gallant finding out his power

  • Gallant invisible

  • Gallant swatted down by Lady Hope and treated with animosity by the Hero’s Reach knights

  • Captures spy?

  • Assassination of Lady Hope

  • Incompetent investigation

  • Discovering Lord Commodus as SoTS

  • First noble they acquire help from betrays them

    • Sir Gallant’s first noble

  • The Society of Knights is useless

  • Gallant leads the Knights’ Society into battle

  • Final showdown with Commodus

• Magnus’ selfishness/bastardness

  • Bonking Guy for info, remorseless threatening

  • To save her ass, manipulates GC into going to The Sovereign with …? (infuriates Lady Hope)

  • Not leaving message for flagship, gets blown up

  • Something that shows Magnus how not everyone is someone worth treating poorly for one’s own ends?

  • A second thing that shows Magnus how not everyone is someone worth treating poorly for one’s own ends?

    • Make it to Bawat for the first time, as per her agreement with Gallant, meets sister, and leaves to fulfill the rest of her agreement with Gallant

      • They stay the night, Magnus tries to sneak out, Gallant is already way ahead of her

  • At Bawat with sister, realises she needs to help Gallant

• Dame Faulkes’ Jamie Lannister arc

  • Indignation at Gallant losing her the job
  • Comply with Lord Commodus, partly out of pettiness
  • Starts to get disillusioned with dismissal by Lord Commodus
  • Realising the horrors of Lord Commodus’ actions
  • Save Gallant and Magnus from getting captured with The Sovereign, joining them
  • Final assault: Kills spymaster
  • Final showdown between Commodus, Gallant, and Faulkes

1. []{#chapter-outline}Chapter Outline {#chapter-outline-1}

   1. []{#magnus-bonks-guy}Magnus Bonks Guy {#magnus-bonks-guy-3}

• Pre-Prologue text excerpt

  • End with how great knights are to transition into…

• Guy criticising knights

  • “Those knight pricks”
  • Guy has green tribal face tattoo
  • They haven’t even taken their seats yet, and the breeze from the door opening was still wafting through
  • “Oh, you’re not Rhonda. What happened to Rhonda?” “She just left, I’m here to close up” “Great Sovereign, have I been here that long?”

• Pays for drink by cutting coin on block, bartender and brushes away metal flakes

  • Bartender says “One eigth-crown pls” and Guy says “I know how much a fuckin’ beer costs”

• Guy talks about knights

  • “What’s wrong with those knights?” “Not just those knights…”

  • “My brother’s a knight” “Then sorry for your loss” “They’re not all bad, though”

  • Knight authoritarianism during the war

    • “You weren’t alive during the war”

  • Guy’s village getting fucked up

  • Looks at the knights while talking

  • “We’re called The Scourged of Vinland” “Did you make that up?” ”…”

  • Rhonda was one of The Scourged, much to the amazement of Danyll

• Knight interrupts talk for drink, doesn’t say anything

  • Guy concludes with how knights can’t be trusted with that power

• Guy asks for another drink as knight puts group’s drinks on table

• Knight coming back, Guy quickly bets a crown he’s going to get his jaw cracked, kid takes that bet

• Knight tries to explain that the association has punished those involved in the atrocities and that they’re different now

• See shadowy figure duck below window

• Guy slowly downs his drink and says they should leave

• Moment of tense silence, Guy reaches for the crowns thinking he’s about to get the bet

• The knights oblige, Guy blows air out of his mouth in mild shock and turns around

• Bartender not there, money on counter gone, proceeds to start paying for his drink, but doesn’t

  • Snorts, “Thieving bastard”

• Guy stumbles out, surprise fucko you’re in sci-fi world

  • Knights’ turret flies overhead
  • Four turrets, like they had been ripped straight out of the corners of a giant castle, roared overhead. Their mass drives were powered up and propelling them with increasing urgency. They stretched high and large over vast swathes of houses, their spotlights bearing down over the dim nighttime lanterns.

• A rustle, a bonk, and Guy is out

1. 1. []{#gallant-is-now-lady-hopes-chosen-knight}Gallant is now Lady Hope’s chosen knight {#gallant-is-now-lady-hopes-chosen-knight-3}

• Gallant massaging eyes, merchant and toolsmith looking on expectantly

• Gallant is bad at mediating disputes

  • “This is about copper?” “SUB-STANDARD copper.”

  • “Why not just refund him?” “It’s not about the refund, it’s about the principle.” “Oh, so you have principles now, do you?”

  • “I was under the impression that this would be mediated by Lord Commodus himself.”

    • Gallant finds out, in a mini-flashback, that the “Important job” that Lord Commodus hand-picked for Gallant was this bullshit

• Page informs Gallant about meeting, Gallant relieved, tells the guard to go in and make sure they don’t kill each other

• Page offhandedly mentions that they should just have a partial refund and some discount system for the next few metal shipments, they suddenly stop arguing and entertain the idea

  • Ensure future patronage and ensure metal is quality checked
  • Door closed, Gallant looking incredulously at Page, “What?”

• Battlemaster gets Gallant’s attention about people around the ship who haven’t been putting in their required hours

  • “Who are these people?” “Well, the worst offender is one Sir Gallant who hasn’t been in for a training session in weeks”

• Page fills Gallant in on ship status, list of average happenings around the ship

  • Before starting gets interrupted by an old friend who happens to be on Velvet Chiffon

  • Maybe something about the barren planet being awarded to Dame Petra?

    • It’s not the same if it’s not Page asking Gallant and him responding with a flat “mhm”

  • Also continuing skirmishes over near the border territory, Gallant has asked specifically to be kept updated about that

• Trip to Lord Commodus’ glittery white tower

  • Explain Velvet Chiffon/Lord Commodus

    • Why is it on a toxic planet? Why not just a beachside resort or something? While on break just go to the beach or something?
    • Something about power, or the will of mankind, or something I don’t care

  • Some people walk past, talking about the outrageous election of the noble of the central territories

    • “Did you hear it was the former noble’s SON? Nepotism, I call it”
    • “And THIS is the guy we’re stuck with for life?”

  • Grand processions of knights that people are revering, Gallant walks by unnoticed

    • Page, exasperated, says they should be revering Gallant all the same, Gallant doesn’t care

  • Maglev train on suspended platform above cavernous, rolling, emerald hills

    • Hills dotted with the occasional grand estate, with snaking pits cut through and trains zooming past

• Faulkes talk

  • Arrive at the station, Page in awe of tower, Gallant thinks it’s too bright

  • While Gallant is shielding his eyes, sees Dame Faulkes arrive

    • Even the other knights are in awe at Commodus’ Knight-At-Arms

  • Page gets excited that one of Faulkes’ apprentice-knights/his mate is there

  • This gets Faulkes’ attention, barely knows Gallant despite Gallant working here for about 5 years

  • Dame Faulkes isn’t catty (she speaks to Gallant with baseline politeness) but is clearly suffering a bit from pride syndrome

• Doors open, knights only

• Lord Commodus talks to knights

  • Talks about the peace of The Glorious Empire after the Neo-Saracen War lasting 40 years, but that these skirmishes are fucking things up
  • Emphasises not to immediately blame the Neo-Saracens
  • Has received letter from Lady Hope of the border territories requesting a knight to assist, and he sent a letter back sending the esteemed Dame Faulkes to sort it out
  • Cheers and glory

• Ruckus from outside and banging

  • “UNHAND ME, I HAVE AN URGENT MESSAGE FOR LORD COMMODUS”

• Commodus nods at Faulkes, who walks over and lets messenger in, messenger sees all the knights looking at him and goes red in the face

  • Asks to talk in private. Bit late for that, lad

• Shock of shocks, Gallant is called by the messenger specifically for Lady Hope

  • “Lady Hope would like it clarified that she does not with Sir Faulkes to be sent…in Sir Gallant’s stead.”
  • Everyone genuinely surprised that Gallant of all people is chosen
  • ”…And that she wants you in future to more carefully read her requests and respect her wishes.”

• Gallant publicly accepts the call, Commodus publicly accepts the acceptance

• Reverly begins, occasional mumbled/condescending congratulations, Faulkes making an effort not to look at Gallant, Lord Commodus studying Gallant

• Lord Commodus tells Gallant through a messenger to meet him after the feast is over

1. 1. []{#magnus-gets-info-from-guy}Magnus gets info from Guy {#magnus-gets-info-from-guy-3}

• Magnus swearing to herself as she stumbles around the village, holding up a sketch of Guy’s face on it

  • Has that stupid tattoo

• Passes by a stocky woman that reeks of alcohol

• Outside the inn

  • The only lit up building
  • Plastered with frosted windows
  • Full of revelry

• Knights come in, ah fuck hide

• As the door opens a gruff “Bloody knights” escapes

• Swallow your fear, climb over shit in alley to walk to the nearest window

• Scan room, see knights, see Guy, Guy sees me SHIT

• The way shit is piled up she’s hidden from the outside world

• Sighs, grabs and reads crumpled letter, lines of the paper peeling from frequent folding and unfolding, in what light she can get from the window

• Danyll comes out and they scare the shit out of each other

• She wants to leave, Danyll insists she can stay as long as she wants

• Danyll asks if she’s okay/cold

• Danyll leaves wordlessly, Magnus looks at her escape, he comes back with ale to sit down and drink

• Danyll explains to an uncaring Magnus that he goes to this spot when things get too much

• Magnus alludes to the fact that EVERYTHING is too much right now

• Danyll asks if it’s about her sister (He saw the letter)

• Awkward silence

• Knights leave, shouts escape the door

• After a while longer spot Guy stumbling out, Danyll suggests to go after him

  • “Oh lord. You mind making sure he doesn’t crack his skull on the pavement” “…sure”

• Begins making moves but hesitates as the turrets roar away

• Magnus bonks Guy

  • Checks pulse and breathing, sigh with relief

• Magnus making sure Guy is still out cold

  • Laboriously drags him behind the inn instead of where she was before

  • Waiting, occasionally peeking at bartender who’s doing bartender cleanup things

    • Places two crowns in the till

• Bartender is leaving

  • After he locks the door Magnus hastily pickpockets the key

• Wakey wakey Guy, here is Magnus

• Guy promised to smuggle Magnus, it’s been two months of radio silence

  • “You do realise the people who use your services can’t exactly stick around for too long, right?”

• Guy tries to blame the smuggler

  • Reveals that he’s just a middleman
  • Magnus has been asking around and knows he’s just a lazy drunk
  • She knows everything, how many other people he’s swindled, where he lives, who his husband is, where he works
  • “I imagine the only reason you haven’t been caught yet is because the smuggler is still getting clients from less parasitical middlemen”

• Magnus wants name and location of smuggler, Guy refuses

  • Would jeopardize working relationship

  • Magnus scoffs

    • “And the swindling customers thing didn’t jeopordize it already? Good grief,” She said as she nonchalantly unsheathed her sword.

• Magnus takes sword out and places it on lap

• Reminds Guy she knows where his husband is, and where he’s working right now

• Guy gives it up

  • Guy really doesn’t know who they are
  • “Then how are you even working for them?”
  • He did a job for smuggler, but it wasn’t face to face, and she was so satisfied with my services she’s been contracting me as a middleman
  • She’s probably in City 2
  • They exchange letters, it’s got smuggler’s name (Mary) but it’s probably an alias

• He has letter in pocket, Magnus takes it

  • “Have you got one of the letters with you now?” “…no, I destroy them after I get them”
  • “Alright, thanks for your co-operation” “Great. So you’ll let me go, right?” No response

• Magnus takes most of her money back but leaves three eighth crowns: One for a “referral fee,” and two for his “Broken window”

• Guy desperately asking what that means as she leaves

1. 1. []{#gallant-has-gotten-himself-into-some-shit}>Gallant has gotten himself into some shit {#gallant-has-gotten-himself-into-some-shit-3}

• Gallant still seated, working up the nerve to go in

  • He’d told Commodus he needed a moment, that moment turned into quite a few moments
  • Staring at a random bowl of soup slowly eating a wooden spoon

• Finally goes in, Lord Commodus surprisingly casually dressed

  • Very human and stripped back room
  • A few simple holographic projections on the wall so that every person in every image was boxed into an endless void of mirrors
  • Lord Commodus greeted him at the door, so soberly dressed that Gallant was taken aback.

• Reading a book by his buddy, the previous sovereign, about peace process

  • Puts the tablet down

  • They met as nobles, then they underwent proceedure to become Sovereign after previous one disappeared in The Battle of Blood Nebula

  • While explaining, Gallant peeks at the passage

    • It’s about the immense difficulty of sustained peace
    • (The Most Holy Sovereign LXII) “At the risk of starting unnecessary fights with many I call a friend, the nobility were either unable or unwilling to consider the human cost of the war. Distance has a habit of blinding even the best intentioned individual to suffering and pain. The Nobles held vast swathes of land, and made decisions from on high. Knights ruled their own small parcels of land and fought their own battles of the war. The nobility knew no such direct information that could only be gained from the ground floor. The war that I had inherited from my predecessor was entering its fourth year. Once the reality of it had been made clear to me, I made the realisation that alarmingly few had up to that point: There was no end in sight. There’s a strange hopelessness that comes along with that, but also a strange hope. If there was no end, then the only outcome would be peace. We had started this war, and I was going to finish it.”

  • Puts tablet back

• An understanding Commodus sees if Gallant wants to rethink things

  • “At ease, and feel free to get comfortable. For now, this is our space.”
  • “That was really shocking back there. Certainly not how either of us was expecting that dinner to go, huh?” Nervous laughter from Gallant.
  • Commodus reassures him he doesn’t hold anything against him
  • “Do you disagree with me being sent to assist Lady Hope?”
  • He’ll take the heat if Gallant declines

• Some history talkin’

  • “Gallant, I wouldn’t have saved you from degredation if I didn’t see something in you.”

• Gallant suddenly accepts

  • Commodus asks why
  • He forgot the reason he became a knight, he wants to find it again

• Lord Commodus surprised but gives his blessing, explaining the job

  • “You’ll be attending some meeting to parlay about sharing military resources and tactics with the Grand Council of City 2.” Gulp

• Faulkes comes in and is politely pissed

  • Commodus looks at her like “Oh god, what’s he about to say?”
  • She just wants to talk

• Faulkes tells him “good luck”

1. 1. []{#magnus-gets-someone-to-smuggle-her}Magnus Gets someone to smuggle her {#magnus-gets-someone-to-smuggle-her-3}

• Abridged recap, letters burnt

  • Had to leave once husband arrived
  • Guy wasn’t lying about burning the letters, however

• The letter said …?

  • Addressed to Guy

  • Probably in reference to a job

  • Something that gives directions on where the smuggler(s) is/are

  • “I am greatly disappointed in your inability to find new clients. I hired you because I thought you were a professional, and for the longest time you have met my expectations.”

  • Threatening to send someone to keep watch on Guy?

    • If so, Magnus could wait and then force this spy to take her to the smuggler
    • Could that make the chapter run long?

  • The strength of cutting straight from the explanation to the cart is much better for flow I think

• Magnus getting some shut-eye at …?

  • Segue from the letter to the letter being tucked away in her coat pocket wherever she is

  • Got outta town once Guy had been let out and guards were beginning to swarm Tory Village

  • Cart

    • Cart stops, Magnus gets out, thanks the cart driver but cart driver immediately takes out Crown woodblock for the other half

• Guards! Guards!?

  • Then, something someone said made her blood freeze: “She was last seen on a transport out of Tory Village, almost certainly headed here”
  • Maybe have someone who is heading the investigation of Magnus’ whereabouts?
  • Turns corner, archway of wall/guard entrance there
  • Need to track down smuggler without putting guards on high alert, but does anyway

• Where is the smuggler?

  • City 2

    • Old Citadel?

• How does the smuggler(s) get impressed with Magnus’ case?

  • The fact it’s so diffcult

• Magnus chasing smuggler, runs around corner, met with a sword and lightning draws her own, her hand acting faster than her brain

• Smuggler berates Magnus for wanting to leave despite the entire planet essentially being on lockdown because of the skirmishes

• “Look I think,” Sees guards, ducks out of sight and whispers, “I think it would benefit us both if—” “Oh for fuck’s sake,” The smuggler says. They walk over to the guards, is Magnus rumbled? Points towards the alley, the guards march towards Magnus, then past her and off on a wild goose chase. Magnus pops out. “I think it would benefit us both if we worked together.” “How so?” “The usual way. You want money, and I don’t want to be the first person executed in the empire in a century.”

• Smuggler begins walking away, “Oh no you fucking don’t”

• Track down and find smuggler though winding city

• Almost caught by town baliff and goons, smuggler is tipped off who Magnus is

  • “High treason”

• Magnus wants to meet her sister at a pre-arranged location if either of them got in trouble

  • Show the letter here

• Very few ships besides government ones go in and out of the city because of the skirmishes

• “That fucking drunk,” she says as she massages the bridge of her nose

1. 1. []{#section}??? {#section-3}

• Chapter title is ???
• Waking up, bleary eyed, concussed a bit
• Blood on table, own blood

1. []{#old-shite}Old shite {#old-shite-1}

   1. []{#gallant-…}Gallant …? {#gallant-…-3}

• Gallant training with Elise?

• Gallant is here to coordinate defense with Lady Hope and the other knights

• Gallant hasn’t been able to sleep?

• Gallant’s arrival marked with reserved hostility

  • Elevator ride, rickety and awful, contrast to the last Gallant chapter

    • Plays an awful chime like a strangled toad and shudders to a halt

• Arrive at Lady Hope’s office, Knight-At-Arms lets him in and Hope is flanked by KAA and spymaster

  • The Knight-At-Arms is an old friendly fella in direct contrast with the other knights here

• The attacks were the Neo-Saracens, she didn’t want to start a diplomatic incident unless absolutely necessary

  • Attack signatures were last seen during the war that were still on file
  • FORESHADOWING: Later, Gallant learns that the Neo-Saracen military ship signatures have changed

• Spymaster points out talks of Neo-Saracen spies have been made, so can’t trust anyone within

• They going out together to meet a delegation from Burning Sapphire

• Gallant asks why him specifically, she brings up how Gallant has a spotless record of working for his nobles and having not a single incident of insubordination which is unusual, she wants someone who’ll just say “yes”

1. 1. []{#magnus-…}Magnus …? {#magnus-…-3}

• Magnus sitting in the underground area

  • “Wakey wakey,” The smuggler says, lifting the trapdoor off.

• “SHE’S NOTHING BUT A CHARLATAN, THAT HOPE”?

• The GC have just finished sending their knights out into the field?

  • Talking to the same, blonde, long-haired knight from the prologue?
  • About what, though?

• GC building is like 3 buildings bolted together haphazardly, smuggler goes over plan to make Magnus basically a steward

• Smuggler asks for her regular, but she is obliquely told by the head scribe that the regular has been arrested and they’ll see the council proper

  • Scribe visibly uncomfortable about explaining the details
  • Magnus looks to the door, contemplating escape

• GC overheard saying …?

  • They won’t go out, to keep the “thing” (Spy) for themselves, big debate about loyalty and honour vs personal gain, deciding to skip the meeting

  • Something to do with the ship in the prologue?

    • What were the GC doing?

      • Collecting their own spy?

• Magnus bursts in, talking about …?

  • How people are pissed about skirmishes, and if they hear about this there’d be outrage?

  • Manipulates the GC into going to The Sovereign instead with …?

  • Something to do with the flight in the prologue

  • It doesn’t matter if Magnus knows what the GC has, Magnus just knows about leverage

    • “You’re asking the wrong questions. The question isn’t whether or not Lady Hope is the person to hear about this, the question is who else will benefit you more?”

• Magnus and smuggler look to the door, contemplating escape

• GC member calls in head scribe, asks who this is and what their business is

• GC promotes Magnus from worker to delegate

• Magnus and smuggler leave, now Magnus has to escape as a main member of the delegation

• Flagship departs as soon as Magnus agrees?

  • “When does the mission begin?” “Right now,” The Head Scribe said, as rumbles began eminating from the floor.

• Something about the knights from the prologue

1. 1. []{#spy-caughtgallant-fired}Spy caught/Gallant fired {#spy-caughtgallant-fired-3}

• Gallant sleeping, peaceful dreams of brother and him as teens talking about …?

  • On a ranch of some kind

• Abrupt SLAM, Gallant wake up, it’s the spymaster, is it time for the meeting?

  • “Why did you become a knight?” “What? No I didn’t. Wh—” “Why are you a knight?” Everything melts then SLAM

• All hands on deck, there’s a spy loose

  • They intercepted …?
  • At …?

• Gallant …?

  • Spots something that makes him go to the bathroom?
  • Reads the letter and knows it’s in the bathroom?

• Complains to Sir Esteem about …?, is told to pipe down

• Races off

• Catches spy in bathroom, tells them to come with him, she refuses

• Gallant whips out sword (not that one) and holds her back

• Others arrive and tell him to knock it off

  • Hands beginning to rest on sword hilts
  • “Gallant, lad, for The Sovereign’s sake put down yer fucking sword.”

• Spy/Gallant …?

  • How is the spy ousted?

• Lady Hope dispatches messenger to tell GC the meeting is postponed

• Lady Hope says he’s done

• Outcomes:

  • Catch a spy, alienate everyone

1. 1. []{#magnus-…-1}Magnus …? {#magnus-…-7}

• Outcomes:

  • Finding out about Smuggler and how they work
  • Finding out what the GC have

• SOME kind of complication has to be here, something has to happen to progress the story

• Messenger hasn’t arrived yet from previous chapter, getting airborne, meeting knight at arms Magnus will argue with in her next chapter

• Something about what the flagship and the council were up to

• Get some time with the smuggler and Magnus

  • Feels unfocused so far, find ways to combine these elements

• Magnus gets arrested?

  • Too soon?

1. 1. []{#gallant-…-1}Gallant …? {#gallant-…-7}

• Outcomes:

• Gallant sitting in peasant village

  • Hand throbbing sore, gauntlets draped across lap and hand being massaged

• Peasant talks to Gallant

  • “Not to be too forward, Sir Gallant, but we aren’t zoo animals. I’d rather ofyou didn’t observe us so closely. Ya seem out of sorts.”

• Battlemaster Elise talks to Gallant, tweaks feeling he should talk to the spy

  • “Look, I’m not willing to do any sparring right now.” “I’m here because I’m worried about you.”
  • Keep dialogue light, information can be gleamed from inference
  • Before Elise leaves: “Don’t shoot the messenger, but…”

• Walks past fist-sized dent

• Goes to docking bay, guards guarding the ship, but from the outside there’s no damage

• Spy says something that confirms for Gallant that it’s someone in the empire/it’s not the neo-saracens

  • Gallant marches back and, instead of assuming the spy and the Neo-Saracens are automatically guilty, he asks about why messenger shuttles are being spared

    • Appeal to war-weariness, spy reveals later that’s why she opened up
    • Causes The Son of The Sovereign to be brought up

• Spy exchanges info (GC attack and/or other info) for freedom, Gallant promises

• Race off to tell Lady Hope

• Encounter tatty messenger, passed out

1. 1. []{#magnus-…-2}Magnus …? {#magnus-…-11}

• Some kind of ramping up of tension?

  • Slowly going from everything’s good to something’s a bit off to oh shit something’s very wrong

• Magnus is charting on a map, interupted and told to follow head scribe

• Head scribe tells her to do something only a trained steward could do

• Take her to room with massive pic of her face, they know who she is

• Throw her in the brig

1. 1. []{#gallant-…-2}Gallant …? {#gallant-…-11}

• Something to build up Gallant and Lady Hope’s relationship

  • They discover they have something in common?

• Gallant tells Lady Hope about his scepticism

  • “You’re not getting reinstated” “This isn’t about being reinstated.”

• Lady Hope hears about promise, pause, tells Sir Esteem to let spy go

• Messenger waking up, reveals the attack

1. 1. []{#flagship-attacked-and-magnus-…}Flagship attacked and Magnus …? {#flagship-attacked-and-magnus-…-3}

• Start in medias res, Magnus injured, Magnus piecing everything together

  • Short, sharp descriptions, the audience is subjectively disoriented along with Magnus
  • I guess breaking the pattern of Gallant -> Magnus -> Gallant is also fairly disorienting, too
  • “Head wet, feel head, head juice red? Bleeding. Head is bleeding.”

• Magnus hazily sees fighter ships, recognises a raid when she sees one

• Races for mess hall to go to smuggler

  • An “oh shit” once Magnus gets some sense of lucidity again and racing off to mess hall past people panicking and running

• Finds smuggler hurt but fine, smuggler immediately gets her to go to council members which is also on the way to the bunker

• Get there, door leads to harpoon that’s causing decompression and John and Isabelle GC member dead

• Arrive at bunker, arguing about who’s in charge, discuss sending message to Lady Hope for help

  • Is Magnus in charge because she’s the last remaining delegate? Or is the Knight-At-Arms because she wasn’t literally hired yesterday
  • They’re too far, a message will never reach them. And the messenger shuttles are right in the path of the attackers

• Magnus leaves the bunker with the obstinate Knight-At-Arms

  • Argues with Knight-At-Arms about knowing a boarding party when she sees one, that this isn’t just a skirmish, and that they’re all sitting ducks in the bunker and need to evacuate NOW

    • “What, take them to the escape pods on the other side of this fucking segment based on your hunch? I’m not letting anyone die based on that. You can go out there and get yourself killed if it pleases you. I’m going to stay here and get these engines and weapons repaired.”

  • Looks at the shivering civilians, feels fucking awful but leaves the bunker to its fate

• Get to messenger shuttles, all destroyed, shit

• Commodus’ Knights looking for magnus

  • Using a voice changer that makes them sound several octaves lower, turning each statement

• Scuffle with kinda chubby knight, both Magnus and smuggler overpower and kill him, smuggler dying

• Magnus trying to get smuggler up and moving, smuggler tells her over and over “Hero’s Reach, Hero’s Reach, Hero’s Reach.”

• Magnus loses all hope momentarily

• Magnus sees docking bay sign, gets an idea, picks up sword, and desperately drags knight body that way

  • Need to make it clear that she’s heading towards the docking bay where the attackers are coming from

1. 1. []{#assassination-of-lady-hope}Assassination of Lady Hope {#assassination-of-lady-hope-3}

• Gallant is woken up (ho ho, connects with previous chapter)

• Knight-at-Arms takes Gallant to somewhere unknown to audience

  • “It’s time” is the first dialogue stated

• Gallant argues with Knight-At-Arms about telling Lady Hope he thinks it might be someone within the Empire

  • “Here’s an eighth crown’s worth of advice: The time to tell her was before that messenger showed up looking like that. I’m really sorry, Gallant, but the flagship she was just on was attacked. Everyone’s out for blood.”

• They arrive outside the steps of the noble house, Gallant looks at the people, changes his mind and goes forward to the protestations of the Knight-At-Arms

  • Peasant and knight alike shoulder to shoulder waiting for the news
  • The house is the one bit of decadence in the entire outpost

• Wading through crowd at the steps of the noble house to get to Hope

• Knights stop him, he gets through by telling them to tell her it’s Gallant

• She seems rather eager to bring him in, and before he can even say something, she says she believes him

• Lady Hope is talking about what Gallant said during the interrogation about it not being the Neo-Saracen government, and that it would make even less sense to attack such a prized vessel

• Gallant hesitates as Lady hope considers what group, pirate or otherwise, could be launching the attacks

• Gallant explains that he thinks it’s someone inside the Empire, shocked Lady Hope

• Gallant explains further his reasoning

  • “Who else has the resources to wage this large a scale of battle? It could be a noble or a mercenary band or, god forbid, a group of knights.”

• Moment of pause, still shocked Lady Hope, she glances around, unusually antsy, and says she has to do a speech and that they’ll discuss later

• Gallant heads out, Knight-At-Arms asks how it went, Gallant says he’s either on to something or he’s getting arrested tomorrow, any future conversation drowned out by crown roaring

• Hope gives speech about how this attack will not go unpunished and the true perpetrators will be brought to justice.

  • Talks about the values of The Glorious Empire and how important they are (Worldbuilding)
  • “These vile creatures…” Pause ”…No matter how high up in power they may be” (Gallant perks up, believes she believes him) (Tips off the spymaster that she doubts it’s the Neo-Saracens)

• Speech done, guards walk her back inside and Gallant goes back to her in the chaos

• Goes past guards, eerily quiet house, hear crash and clanging of ironsteel, opens door to Hope’s dagger being batted away and her neck being slashed

• Clashes swords as he hops over the desk, assassin flees

• Gallant screams for guards and presses on neck to keep blood in, assassin takes one look and bolts

• Guards arrive, Gallant chases assassin through station, gets to rickety walkway

• Cuts a rope which drops a makeshift lift onto the walkway, destroying it partially

• Assassin barely gets away, distant sound of alarms, day late and a crown short

1. 1. []{#gallant-the-muscle}Gallant the muscle {#gallant-the-muscle-3}

• Gallant and Page talking about the rough reason he was invited while Gallant trains with Battlemaster Elise

  • “You say ‘yes’? Holy Sovereign, that’s rough.”
  • “Yeah it’s— OW” “Gotta keep your guard up” “You mind waiting for me to finish talking?” “I’m sure the Neo-Saracens would wait too, right?”
  • Gallant uncomfortable, doubts its the Neo-Saracens doing the skirmishes

• Lady Hope in doorway, Gallant arrives on the bridge, awkwardly stands next to Lady Hope as they dock

  • The delegation ship towers over Lady Hope’s repurposed mining vessel and Gallant’s even smaller turret

    • It looks like a dog’s breakfast of six different styles. It’s the flagship.

• Meeting at the Atrium, Roman style atrium with nature everywhere

  • Lady Hope has chat with old acquaintance Jeromie?

• GC tight lipped but smug about what they have and trying to bleed what information they can from Hope

• Hope trying to keep their working relationship going and work together against the skirmishes, Gallant not joining in, Magnus looks like she’d rather be anywhere else

• They intercepted “chatter” about SotS

  • “Is this some kind of sick joke? The Sovereign can’t have an heir. Sovereigns can’t have KIDS” “Watch your tongue when you speak of them.”
  • GC think Just the name SotS is supposed to be enough for Hope, she needs more

• Gallant squints at (Magnus), there’s something about her— “I WANT TO MEET THE CONTACT YOU HAVE.” Stunned silence

• Lady Hope explains how she knows about a contact

  • “You intercepted ‘chatter?’ You clearly don’t understand how exhaustive my own network is. I’ve been listening to ‘chatter’ since the skirmishes begun, and you know what I have to show for it? Nothing. How, I wonder, did you get info about some nefarious higher up from idle ‘chatter.’”
  • “You’ve all had ‘we have a secret’ plasted across your smug faces since this meeting began. So how about we cut it out, and you introduce me to them.”
  • “Unless you want the people of City 2 finding out who caused this meeting to go sour and for their chance at help to evaporate”

1. 1. []{#magnus-the-delegate}Magnus the delegate {#magnus-the-delegate-3}

• Rewinding, delegation goes to their respective quarters to make last minute prep, smuggler berates Magnus

  • “You really had to tell them I was your servant?” “I needed an excuse to keep you around. And I’m paid up for this whole trip, in case you forgot.”

• Smuggler refuses to tell Magnus the rest of the trip’s sequence

• Magnus thinking about how tf to escape

• At atrium, GC discussing how they could get best of both worlds: Send “them” to Sovereign for brownie points, and give info to Lady Hope to help.

• Meeting begins, Magnus tunes out the meeting until noticing Gallant, uh oh— I WANNA MEET YOUR CONTACT

  • Stunned silence, weak little “What contact?”

• Start of Lady Hope’s rant, mid-chapter break

• Walking there, Gallant pulls up beside Magnus

• Lady Hope wants to go in, Gallant comes with, wants a delegate for insurance, they offer up Magnus

• Shock, it’s a spy in prison

• Interrogating the spy, learn about SotS’ role within this spy ring

  • “Are you here to yell in my face for another 12 hours?” Hope glares at a shocked Magnus, thinking she’s guilty by association.

  • Spy argues that he has no idea about skirmishes and that the Neo-Saracens are just as eager to know why all the attacks are happening near their border

    • The ships are using old mid-war Neo-Saracen designations

  • Magnus and then Gallant pull Lady Hope aside and agree with the spy

    • He really seems like he doesn’t know

      • “I’ve dealt with a lot of spies in my line of work…a-as a diplomat. And I can tell you now that this is no act. He’s just as confused.”

    • Gallant once worked for the noble at Lyon’s Den who had a diplomatic incident where a Neo-Saracen ship crossed the border by mistake, and the designation was far different than any wartime ships. The whole incident was swept under the rug and nobody but the noble and those knights know about it

      • Not that he still couldn’t be lying, but
      • “Did you just admit to betraying the trust of your former noble?” “If it helps prevent war? Yes.”

  • Changes tack, appeals to war-weariness and desire to see family, promises to set him free because “We’re all sick of POWs”

    • “What if I know you’re lying” “Call me a liar all you want, that’s what I’m going to do”

  • Threatens to go to Sovereign with evidence, what would they say? “Give me something.” Hope has an idea. “What do you know about the Son Of The Sovereign?”

    • Spy uncomfortable, but explains presence
    • Also, SotS’ presence in the Neo-Saracen spy circles is controversial
    • Spy themselves wants this foreign blight gone, but the higher ups say SotS is too useful an asset
    • Thinks that it’s the other way around, that the spies are the SotS’ assets

• GC commends Hope’s interrogation, she demands they set him free without any further delay, she’s a woman of her word

1. 1. []{#gallants-peasant-chat}Gallant’s peasant chat {#gallants-peasant-chat-3}

• What happens here?

  • They learn about SotS
  • Introduce doubt that it was the Neo-Saracens
  • Is there any better way to introduce these ideas?

• Gallant super relaxed in his quarters, in essentially a nightgown

  • Hard contrast with last chapter

• Someone knocks at door, oh shit it’s Lady Hope, wtf is she doing here?

• She talks about what Gallant said in the interrogation, and that he’s clearly troubled

  • “If it isn’t the Neo-Saracens, then who would be doing this? Highly organised pirates?” “I don’t know” “I’m going to need more than that, Gallant. I don’t know who’s responsible myself, but I know who the Sovereign’s going to blame. I can’t keep dealing with these skirmishes in my territory…I’m sorry” Weird, she never apologises

• Gallant leaves to walk around the village, nice description of the area to really immerse the audience

  • Despite the mining outfit, there are still vibrant, if rocky, fields with grass inexplicably growing through the rock

• Glovemaker notes Gallant’s pained expression and interrupts his introspection

  • “You right there, lad?”

• Gallant awkwardly explains his situation in metaphor form

  • Gallant, talks about his…grain, and that everyone thinks its the chooks but he…uh…spoke to one of the chooks and they were very clear it wasn’t them, and he recalls another time where another chook came over and…uh…they didn’t eat his grain even when it was right in front of them

• The glovemaker tells a very homely story about something similar that happened to them

  • Somebody had been stealing his leather, and he was almost certain it was the neighbour he’s had bad run ins before with, but it turns out it was his pet cow eating it, so he switched to ironsteel gloves instead

• Gallant puts two and two together and realises it’s someone in the Empire itself

  • Gallant just says to himself “It was someone on the same side…”

    • “Oh trust me, me and that cow have never been on the same side.”

  • After Gallant leaves, wife pops out and says “Why are you telling that old rubbish story again, we’ve never even had a cow.” “I dunno, it’s good for a laugh. He seemed to like it.”

• Gallant finds Page and explains his revelation, that it was someone HIGH UP in The Empire, and they explore the rammifications, but Page says do it

  • Page asks why, Gallant explains the lack of credible evidence it’s the Neo-Saracens, and that these attacks are happening on a wide scale with massive resources

  • Page explains how this could all blow up in his face, but he should tell her regardless

    • Page explains how it could all blow up, and convinces Gallant not to do it
    • Then Page explains why he should do it, that the people both here and at every town would be at risk, and Gallant then agrees (Ties in with last chapter where looking at the people give him the strength he needs to tell Lady Hope)

• Gallant goes up to Lady Hope’s office, the guards stop him and the Knight-At-Arms tells him it’s not a good time

• Lady Hope comes out with a tatty, burnt, messenger. Lady Hope looks shook, Gallant looks on in horror

• Hope orders Gallant and Knight-at-Arms to bring messenger to infirmary, she needs time to draft a speech

• Gallant wants to say something, but doesn’t, helping carry the messenger off

• The messenger says something about the council flagship, and Gallant tries to probe further

1. []{#plot-synopsis}Plot synopsis {#plot-synopsis-1}

After the assassination of a noble, Sir Gallant, the only witness to the act, sets out to investigate who did it and for what reason. What he finds out will have him crossing paths with a king slayer and discovering that there is so much more to the murder than the death itself.
OR
A completely unremarkable knight and a kingslayer, two who’s fates are inextricably linked to each other, are forced into an uneasy alliance as they unravel a conspiracy that has the potential to rock the entire galaxy to its core. What started as the assassination of a noble spirals out into a potential battle for supremacy between two great powers, and whether a cataclysmic war can be avoided.
OR
And so goes the two great empires, ready to battle once again.
Two war-wearied empires stand on the brink of a third great war. Fourty years of peacetime are hurtling towards an end as skirmishes within The Glorious Empire by persons unknown have the potential to destroy this uneasy truce completely.
Two misfits whose fates are inextricably linked to each other, a middle-aged knight with nothing to show for his life and a mercanary accused of regicide, will prove to be the only things capable of keeping peace within the galaxy. And expose these attacks for what they truly are.
OR
In the looming shadows, a new threat emerges. Two mighty empires brace themselves for an impending clash as the echoes of past conflicts are soon to come to a head. After four decades of a fragile peace, the empires find themselves teetering on the edge of a third devastating war. The tenuous peace that has endured is now threatened by mysterious skirmishes from within The Glorious Empire, hinting at a sinister force that seeks to shatter the delicate balance.

Amidst this impending chaos, two misfits, each with fates inextricably linked with the other, emerge. A weathered, middle-aged knight with little to show for his life, and a mercenary accused of regicide, find themselves thrust into this galactic conflict. They may be the only thing standing in the way of catastrophe, whether they want to be or not.
OR
(Synopsis from the point of view of someone in the universe)
Rejoice! The Glorious Empire has entered a second decade of peace with the Neo-Saracen Empire.

Knights in Space/Outline/Outline