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Kal’mera Broun
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Kal'mera Broun / Kalvin Brnine |
| Occupation: | engineer, mercenary, revolutionary, ship captain |
| Relationships: | Valence (best friend) Gucci Garantine (commander, potential love interest) |
| Fandom: | Friends at the Table: PARTIZAN and PALISADE |
| Other: | they/them pronouns; played by Ali Acampora |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Kal'mera Broun, later known as Kalvin Brnine, is a popular player character from Friends at the Table's PARTIZAN and PALISADE seasons. An engineer and arms manufacturer who was laid off shortly before the beginning of canon, Broun progresses from a mercenary to a reluctant revolutionary over the course of PARTIZAN and then, having changed their name, appears in PALISADE as a ship captain and wholly committed member of the revolution.
Popularity
In the 2023 round of Secret Samol, Friends at the Table fandom's annual gift exchange, they were the most-requested character with a record-breaking 66 requests. The most-requested ship of the year was also a tie between two pairings featuring them: Balence and Brnine/Gucci.[1] In 2024, they again topped the Secret Samol charts for most-requested character, and the top three most-requested ships were Balence, Brnine/Gucci, and Brnine/Jesset.[2]
Common Ships
- Balence - By far the most popular Broun ship in the fandom; also popular with the show's cast.[3] Broun and Valence begin as coworkers and over time become very close and "intimate" friends who have a profound impact on one another's lives. Much is also made in fandom of their two-way telepathic link.
- Gurbalence - An OT3 of Broun, Valence, and Gur Sevraq, a self-styled religious figure and reported miracle worker with whom Valence has a close relationship.
- Brnine/Gucci - While this ship had little to no presence while PARTIZAN was airing, developments in the characters' dynamic in PALISADE led to an explosion of Brnine/Gucci fanworks.
- Brnine/Jesset - Gained popularity through the airing of PALISADE, particularly after Jesset, a long-time friend of Brnine's and fellow revolutionary, began flirting with Brnine.
Fanon
Owing to Brnine's complete lack of social skills, a popular piece of fanon in PALISADE fandom is that they are the hottest character in the podcast...until they open their mouth.[4] After Friends at the Table's GM referred to them as "swagless" during PALISADE and another player joked that they are a "swagless fish", "swagless fish" also became a popular way for fans to describe Brnine.
In 2023, a meme about them having a toxic polycule developed in the fandom.
Common Tropes in Fanworks
- Xeno - Because Broun is an Apostolosian—i.e., a humanoid alien with some fish-like features—more explicit works will often feature xeno kink. Some works, such as imperialhare's popular Balence PWP see you in the morning,[5] depict them as having claspers like a shark.
Example Fanworks
Fanfic
- see you in the morning by imperialhare.[5] A Balence PWP featuring xeno kink, robotic body repair, and telepath sex. As of November 2023, this is by far the most-kudosed PARTIZAN fic on AO3.
- an ocean of noise by volefriend.[6] A popular deathfic about Broun, Valence, and Gur Sevraq.
Fanart
Fanart of Broun by goblinsnacks
Brnine/Gucci fanart: "What do you need?" by courbet-nft
Archives and Communities
Links and Resources
- Kal'mera Broun page at FatTWiki (canon resource)
References
- ^ Post by secret-samol (Nov 13, 2023). Tumblr. Retrieved November 27, 2023. (archive link)
- ^ Post by secret-samol (Nov 22, 2024). Tumblr. Retrieved Dec 1, 2024. Archived from the original on Dec 1, 2024.
- ^ Ali Acampora, in PARTIZAN's post-mortem episode: "Um, the biggest Valence/Broun shipper on the podcast was Austin Walker? [...] Whenever they were together on screen, [Austin] would be like, 'Yeah, I’m into this, because I ship them.' And me and Dre would be like, 'Yeah. We get it. It’s sexy and it’s good.'"
- ^ e.g., Brnine propaganda submitted to Tumblr's sexiest podcast character poll bracket: "As long as they're not talking, they're the hottest character in the game" (Sep 12, 2023) (archive link)
- ^ a b see you in the morning by imperialhare (May 11, 2020). Fanfiction posted to Archive of Our Own. Retrieved November 27, 2023. (archive link)
- ^ an ocean of noise by volefriend (Jul 31, 2020). Fanfiction posted to Archive of Our Own. Retrieved November 27, 2023. (archive link)