Index: cortav.lua
==================================================================
--- cortav.lua
+++ cortav.lua
@@ -637,11 +637,11 @@
 -- sections. to handle this, we provide a "namespace" mechanism,
 -- where some lua table (really its address in memory) is used
 -- as a handle for the object and a unique ID is attached to it.
 -- if the object has an ID of its own, it is guaranteed to be
 -- unique and returned; otherwise, a generic id of the form
--- `x-%u` is generated, where %u is an integer that incrementsfile:///home/lexi/dev/cortav/build/cortav.html
+-- `x-%u` is generated, where %u is an integer that increments
 -- for every new object
 	local ids = {}
 	local canonicalID = {}
 	return function(obj,pfx)
 		pfx = pfx or ''
@@ -972,11 +972,19 @@
 		kind = "paragraph";
 		spans = ct.parse_span(l, c);
 	}
 end)
 
-local function insert_section(skind) return function(l,c,j)
+local insert_subtitle = blockwrap(function(l,c)
+	return {
+		kind = "subtitle";
+		spans = ct.parse_span(l:sub(3), c);
+	}
+end)
+
+local function
+insert_section(skind) return function(l,c,j)
 	local depth, id, t = l:match '^([#§^]+)([^%s]*)%s*(.-)$'
 	if id and id ~= "" then
 		if c.doc.sections[id] then
 			c:fail('duplicate section name “%s”', id)
 		end
@@ -1175,10 +1183,11 @@
 	{seq = '¶', fn = insert_paragraph};
 	{seq = '❡', fn = insert_paragraph};
 	{seq = '#', fn = insert_section()};
 	{seq = '§', fn = insert_section()};
 	{seq = '^', fn = insert_section 'namespace'};
+	{seq = '--',fn = insert_subtitle};
 	{seq = '+', fn = insert_table_row};
 	{seq = '|', fn = insert_table_row};
 	{seq = '│', fn = insert_table_row};
 	{seq = '!', fn = function(l,c,j,d)
 		local last = d[#d]

Index: render/html.lua
==================================================================
--- render/html.lua
+++ render/html.lua
@@ -253,10 +253,23 @@
 			}
 			section {
 				margin: 1.2em 0;
 			}
 			section:first-child { margin-top: 0; }
+		]];
+		subtitle = [[
+			.subtitle {
+				color: @tone(0.3 20); 
+				font-size: 1.2em;
+				font-style: italic;
+				margin-left: 1em;
+			}
+			blockquote + .subtitle {
+				&::before {
+					content: "— ";
+				}
+			}
 		]];
 		accent = [[
 			@media screen {
 				body { background: @bg; color: @fg }
 				a[href] {
@@ -870,10 +883,14 @@
 			end;
 			paragraph = function(b,s)
 				addStyle 'paragraph'
 				return tag('p', nil, sr.htmlSpan(b.spans, b, s), b)
 			end;
+			subtitle = function(b,s)
+				addStyle 'subtitle'
+				return tag('div', {class='subtitle'}, sr.htmlSpan(b.spans, b, s), b)
+			end;
 			directive = function(b,s)
 				-- deal with renderer directives
 				local _, cmd, args = b.words(2)
 				if cmd == 'page-title' then
 					if not opts.title then doctitle = args end