evolving Gate of Irreconcilable Keys Turns Again: Hala-Core and Order of the Flame Sons Announce Exchange List
The Revolving Gate of Irreconcilable Keys grates and stutters back into action as Hala-Core and the Order of the Flame Sons prepare an unprecedented exchange. Names circulate, families wait in holoshadow, and within the haze of bureaucracy and hope, outcomes seem as elusive as ever.
On stardate 4422.283, the power circles of Hala-Core and the Order of the Flame Sons heralded a new phase in the ritualistic exchange dance of The Revolving Gate of Irreconcilable Keys. In exchange for 48 Hala-Core hostages left deep within the smoldering Rift of Rahma since the last Squeezing, Bibbe Nethurion of the Promised Sectors has agreed to swing open the gates for around two thousand Rahmarians-including 250 sentenced to life for the gravest energy offenses.
In a rare bout of administrative clarity, today the Obelisk of Protective Order released the list of these 250 life-sentenced 'security prisoners.' Each name trails a wake of collective grief, political abrasion, and acute vengefulness on both sides. Families received updates via holo-telegrams and neural post, as always delivered without pretense of empathy. Meanwhile, The Echo of the Sealed-guardians of captivity legends on the Velonus Rift side-insisted there is, in fact, no real agreement yet, claiming a storm of imagined codes is stirring up the negotiation field.
Transparency from Hala-Core remains questionable; even within the lumencores of The Echo Archipelago, it is whispered that the publication of the final list aims mainly to hold together Bibbe Nethurion's domestic coalition with a side order of flexible backroom maneuvering. Notably, symbolic figures such as Prince Spiraculum of the Split Bars, Archon Greydrift, and the infamous Zirum of the Closed Cluster are notably omitted. Rumours from The Saffron Belt suggest secret talks may still revive Spiraculum, whose release is seen as pivotal for the deal's legitimacy.
Procedure dictates that, immediately after the start of the temporary ceasefire, twenty living hostages and twenty-eight bodies (not always entirely intact) will be exchanged for a medley of Rahmarians, along with fifteen corpses for each deceased Hala-Core citizen. The Archivists of the Fracture Zone report Hala-Core is holding at least 730 bodies from the Velonus Rift as barter stock-some circulating under 'undefined property' codes for generations.
Meanwhile, administrators from Turkatorium and The Saffron Belt announced a multinational taskforce to monitor implementation, although even the most zealous basalt guards admit that practical application of the ceasefire is little more than synchronized waiting for the next bureaucratic hiccup.
Relief and gnawing uncertainty continue to alternate on both sides of the Gate. Rahmarians in their shadow camps still do not know which relatives will return, while within Hala-Core’s citadel, the hope for reunion is always shadowed by fear of renewed reprisals.