Space Battleship Potemkin S1 E0 - Eisenstein

 The Orbital Worker

“Taking our Revolution to the Stars"

News Prog. 15 - 271.M41

 

Ekaterina seals the bulkheads

Ekaterina shows up early for the second shift each evening. The Kronstadt shipyards bustle as workers leave the morning shift. Ekaterina is at the front of the line as the next shift enters the framing of the Republic, a new Gothic Battleship. Today, she has been assigned to frame 34, deck 6.

Ekaterina knows the protocols to install a standard naval bulkhead like her family’s protein perogy recipe, but she still diligently follows the installation rituals of the STCs inherited from the Imperium. No improvisation or cutting corners here.

Ekaterina has a sister, Anya, who serves aboard the famous Firestorm cruiser, Aurora. She keeps Anya and her shipmates in mind as she tightens each bolt with her power spanner. When there is a hull breach, the women and men of our Soviet Navy rely on the bulkhead holding fast against the void of space.

Remember, Comrades, your work matters!

After running the diagnostic ritual to verify the responsiveness of the emergency hydraulics, her labor cohort is allowed to rest. They are well-provided for in the new communal cafeterium – an improvement over the old individual sustenance chambers of the Imperium. Workers are allowed to mingle and many trade and haggle the various protein paste portions based on their preferences. Near the end of the 2^nd shift lunch, around midnight, we were treated to a dazzling sunrise as the lunar shipyard hurtled around our homey Stalinvast to reveal our star beyond. The rays lit up the whole cafeteria through the tall arched void panes before the dimmers kicked in. Ekaterina doesn’t even look up from her heated discussion about whether or not the STC rituals are a form of violence against the spirit of the working class – conversations like these are now common amongst workers across Stalinvast.

When the foreman's voice is heard on the Vox channel, Ekaterina and her team return to their work on the Republic. After a productive shift, Ekaterina makes her social rounds among her colleagues and returns to her room on the hab level. Habs at the shipyard are modest. They certainly are not the decadent domiciles of the Imperium authorities of the past, but they are an improvement over the sewer warrens and crumbling tenements of the underhive. 

The Potemkin Soars into Legend!

Scrivener: With permission of the Commissariat of visual Arts subcommittee on Proletkult I have the esteemed Sergei Eisenstein with me in Vasilariov for an interview. Thank you for being here with us, Comrade Eisenstein.

Eisenstein: Of course. I am pleased to speak as a representative of the Proletkult theatre collective.

Scrivener: You are here to talk about your latest work, the Space Battleship Potemkin. I’d like to start by asking, why this film? Why the Potemkin?

Eisentstein: With the establishment of the Worker’s Republic, life in Stalinvast has been transformed. The Imperium has been smashed in this sector and each day we have strived to redefine our humanity. Initially our work was to steer our fellow comrades as our world was rebuilt. The people struggled with their new-found freedom after millennia under the Imperium. Our first film embraced Proletkult with a furor to feature our agriwork comrades who were seizing control over their agrifactoria. We wanted to tell the story of these heroic communities so that they might act as examples for others. After three films highlighting various communities and the growing worker culture, our film collective, with the authorization of the Commissariat of Visual Arts, decided it was time to memorialize the events of the Revolution. To understand the Potemkin and its crew is to understand the Revolution.

Scrivener: Most of us still actively recall the events of the Revolution. We read the papers, saw the Imperial massacres over the holocasts, or knew others who were involved. What was it like to work with living history like that?

Eisenstein: Our collective was really quite fortunate. The Commissariat pulled a lot of strings to make this film happen. Many of the sailors are still alive and they were volunteered for our project. Those sailors were used to agitprop and speaking their minds. They would often have their political officers intercede to correct our script, or they would talk with our team about how a particular event happened. We also had access to many of the ships of the People’s Navy including the Potemkin herself. This gave our sets a truly authentic feel. The revolution has also made filming much easier. Before the Imperial authorities would enforce the rights of noble houses to bar our access to different sectors of the hive cities. Now, the nobles are gone, and the cities belong to the people. No private property-owner can protest against the use of his land or demand payment for its use. Naturally, these things considerably reduce production costs.

Scrivener: What are you most excited to share about the Potemkin film?

Eisenstein: Hololithic media had largely stagnated under the Imperium. Events were typically recorded following the strictures of mechanicus protocols. The old regime emphasized the role of recording for evidentiary reasons – this resulted in long recordings that featured the event in its entirely. The Revolution has allowed us to experiment and improve on the old practices. With Potemkin we get to use our new technique of assembling hololith segments. This process allows us to not just show the single action but to communicate the interrelation of details, expression, and motion. Let us take, for example the scene in Potemkin, in which the Wolf Pack slowly, deliberately, descend the Capitol river steps, firing into the masses. Through a deliberate composition of the elements of limbs, steps, blood, people, we create an impression, but of what kind? The spectator is not immediately transported to the Capitol of 269; but as the Marines’ boots march relentlessly down the steps the spectator recoils involuntarily, so as to escape from the field of bolter fire. And when the pram of the panic-stricken mother goes tumbling down the steps, the spectator grips his cinema seat convulsively, so as to avoid falling into the River.

Scrivener: Has the film received any negative reception?

Eisenstein: It depends what you have to say about it. [both laugh]  But, speaking more practically, No, the imperial censors have been abolished. It makes my job a lot easier, as you can imagine. [Both chuckle].

 

The Plight of our Servitor Comrades

Dearest Comrades we must not avert our eyes any longer to the truth of our servitor comrades. Our whole lives the old regime told us that the servitors were biomechanical tools, that they were grown in vats to serve tasks to make our lives better. But there were always rumors that some were every day people who were punished for crimes by the secret police, or stolen in the night by Mechanicus press gangs. These rumors were never quashed either because they were true and the workers’ knowledge and tales have always proven out in the long run, or because the old regime wanted us to be afraid.

But, they are rumors no longer! I, Vasili R., union steward to the K street munitions factoria on the 5^th level of Hive Dendrov, have proof! Growing up on the 3^rd level, I had a good childhood friend by the name of Mishka. He lived on the floor below me in the hab-block. Between edu-progs at the Schola Laboris, he and I shared a shift at a fuse milling station until he was 14. The Mechanicus ordered him transferred to another hive’s manufactoria detail. He refused and was arrested the next day by the judges and we never saw him again.

Three weeks ago, I found my dear friend Mishka. I found his body, but not his mind. Our comrades in Hive Mysov were hosting a munitoria safety standards symposium on-site at their plasteel lathing shop. When I was inspecting milling stations and the reviewing the new safety protocols I found what was left of Mishka. They turned my friend into a servirtor!  I couldn’t forget him. I spoke to the foreman, filed for an inventory transfer order, and got leave to bring Mishka back to Dendrov to confirm my suspicions. He was identified by comparisons with his medical slate and confirmed by his mother who wept upon seeing what was left of Mishka.

Since then, I have led the Commission of Servitor Repatriation to identify our missing comrades among the servitor population. So far, thousands of victims of the old regime have been verified and documented. This is only the beginning of this commission’s work uncovering the crimes of the Imperium.

My friend Mishka is long dead. His spark of humanity is cold inside that servitor. His body continues to work and be exploited. The Imperium does not care if we live or died, only so long as our bodies continued to labor for their unending wars. The fate of our servitor comrades embody the ultimate logic of the Imperium.

If Mishka persisted, deep behind those vacuous eyes of the servitor, then he was trapped. Our worker’s revolution has liberated us from the tyranny of the imperium. It has given us back our autonomy, our innate human desires and will and community. We now breathe more freely as we decide our shared fate. That freedom was not given to Mishka. Our servitor comrades are still trapped and cannot be freed by any revolution. Their fate is damned by the Imperium and their Mechanicus collaborators.

In consultation with the Commissariat of Public Safety, and Mishka’s next of kin, I terminated the servitor’s life-sustaining functions. That cage husk is dead. 

The Commission of Servitor Repatriation now urges each foreman across the people’s republic to begin shutting down these abominations. This goal will not be easy; it will come with great effort. Replacing the servitors will mean missing quotas, extra shifts by our living comrades, and putting our bodies in their dangerous roles. But, we must liberate our Comrades from these millions of cadaverous tombs.

Byron's Hobbying

For this first episode of SBP I have painted up a model of Sergei Eisenstein and his camera crew. 

Eisenstein and his crew

Eisenstein and his crew are a camera crew from Eureka miniatures, except that the director has had his hat clipped off, filed smooth and then I sculpted on Eisenstein's signature wild hair and re-did the ears. The rest of the crew is unmodified. 

A picture of Eisenstein to show his characteristic hair.

I found this historical picture of Eisenstein and his camera crew.

Eureka Miniature's catalog image of the camera crew

I suspect that the Eureka miniatures' camera crew may be based on this historic photograph. 

Eisenstein and his crew learn to work
with the veteran Potemkin Crew while the
ruined street set is still under construction.

But, why a camera crew? Eisenstein and his crew serve two purposes for SBP. First, Eisenstein will serve as a recurring character or narrator for the campaign. Knowing that the battle reports and other images come from his directorial perspective informs the story that is being told and challenges the traditional objectivity of a battle report or narrative campaign. Eisenstein and his "filmography" will appear intermittently throughout the campaign alongside other "primary sources". 

The second, and the thing that clinched the decision to include him, was White Dwarf 306. I play 4th edition Warhammer 40k with my kids. I plan to use the 3.5 ed codex to represent the Sailors of the Kronstadt Orbital Shipyard. This issue included rules for an Imperial Guard High Commander.

This HQ choice checks many of the boxes for this campaign. Eventually, when the titular ship returns to service, it will need a heroic captain. 

And, just like in the SBY influence, the captain should have a team of trusty officers at his command. This HQ choice is brimming with options. Unlike the standard HQ command squad, the high commander can have a large group of 11 aides and troopers (but no heavy weapons.) Some of the options are quite characterful.

Most relevant to our Mr. Eisenstein is the "Scribe Historicus". This "scribe" records the deeds of the soldiers in the unit. The in-game effect is that the soldiers gain the "counter charge" ability. Having a team of extra "scribes" allows for that rule to be granted to all units within 12". I think Eisenstein, a propaganda film director, fits this role perfectly. I can imagine the soldiers seeing his camera rolling and knowing their bravery will appear in movie theaters or media to keep morale up and that they would be inspired to great acts. This role allows for Eisenstein and his crew to exist in the game in a ludonarratively consistent way. He will exist in the campaign as both a participant and narrator. 

Tune in next episode to discover the mysterious origins of the Space Battleship Potemkin!