Interlude 3: Purple Prose

From the desk of VC&S Deputy Engineer, Fulmar Ward, Hilna Hass Build note: Do not transmit until you get confirmation of the race results. Until then, the following is pre-approved on infrastructural clearance, which means if you move so much as a semi-colon I will expect your proposed revision to be accompanied by a full structural analysis. Flagged in triplicate, by hand. Begin transmission: A heritage of excellence. A focus on family. And the drive to push their sand-crawling arthropod faster than anyone on the track. These are the defining traits of Solomon Purple, the new champion of the Subita Speed Way, who claimed the title in a dramatic upset over local favorite Zinc Garland. You wouldn't know it from the results, but the qualifying heat last week was Purple's first time participating in the arthropod circuit. Purple attributed their speedy ascent to the top of the podium to the support of their family. "Yeah, it's not just me out there racing, right?" Purple says. "It's me, right, and it's my lobster - her name's Sand Basket - like, obviously it's her too. But it's also my sister Inishmaan, who pushed me to get out here in the first place and helped cover for me while I took some time away from the family business. It's my Ell Tee - that's how I say lieutenant now, right, it's faster and I'm always trying to be faster - Partial picking up the slack with my crew. I couldn't have done it without any of them." Purple hopes their unprecedented victory helps the people of The Vast see their family in a new light and consider reaching out to ask how the Purples can work with their local community; while the clan traces its lineage all the way back to the first sky ship engineers and explorers, it's an open secret that Protectorate Affairs is investigating the group on suspicions of inter-landberg smuggling and racketeering. "They just need somebody to point the finger at for all their own corruption and oversights," Purple explains. "It's unfortunate, but like, I can't even be that mad at them, you know? The PAs don't have what we've got - family - and they never will, and they're jealous about it. I get it. Still, I gotta draw a line when they're out there giving my fiances a hard time. Sand Basket and me are ready to talk like adults when they are." When reached for comment, a Protectorate Affairs representative declined to comment on any details of the rumored investigation into the Purples Family or Solomon Purple's fiances. Seemingly unfounded rumors aside, Purple has another race to win next week. They have no plans of stepping aside now that they've reached the top. End transmission