VESSELBORN
Original Music
Original music written for VESSELBORN by Juan Agustin Magariños, Guilherme Alexander Gagliardo de Freitas, and Samuel Shandley. Every piece belongs to the world of Geba.
Creative direction by Christopher Jaepheth Cuby
Arriving soon on Spotify, Apple Music and every major streaming service, with a physical edition to follow.
Tracks
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2:11
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1:49
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2:18
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1:38
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2:25
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2:18
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1:19
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1:46
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1:20
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1:29
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2:36
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1:28
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1:20
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1:10
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4:16
VESSELBORN Original Music
Geba
Music by Juan Agustin Magariños
2:11
The piece
The theme for Geba, the imperial heartland, where Vaer'karesh forged the first empire and where civilization has been centered for six thousand years.
The lore
Geba is the origin continent and the smallest inhabited landmass on the planet. Vaer'karesh united the five nations that once divided it, Thaloryn, Garnath, Beithon, Varena and Therik, into the first empire, and for six thousand years everything has turned around it. The capital, Karesh, was founded by Empress Vaer'yinda on wilderness she purged as a gift to her father, and the imperial day still begins and ends when Izhara passes over the continent.
It is the most lawful place on Geba, at least on the surface. Thaloryn stands half in ruins, never rebuilt so the wars that forged the Empire are not forgotten, and it remains the center of art and ethics. Beneath relay coverage the Jerhit Syndicate has embedded itself in the legitimate economy, and imperial officials take syndicate varens to look away.
Read more in the Codex: Geba
VESSELBORN Original Music
Jeyrha
Music by Juan Agustin Magariños
1:49
The piece
The theme for Jeyrha, the Green Jewel of the south and the one continent that joined the Empire without ever being conquered.
The lore
Jeyrha is the Green Jewel of the south. It joined the Empire during the Imperial Conquest without a battle, through the Haavu Cannon Systems designed by Xerik Haavu, so it was never conquered, its names were never replaced and its people were never culled. The Haavu rose with it to become the most prominent non-imperial family on the planet.
It leads the world in biological science and ecological engineering, and the academies of Reykhaal train elite bioengineers and artists side by side. The south catches the fixed light of Saethern, and fungal forests grow there that exist nowhere else outside Saethera. The entire relay network traces back to a Jeyrhan descendant, Architect Varenth Solarn.
Read more in the Codex: Jeyrha
VESSELBORN Original Music
Ngorrhal
Music by Guilherme Alexander Gagliardo de Freitas
2:18
The piece
The theme for Ngorrhal, the western continent of stratospheric peaks and mountain passes, home to the oldest relay infrastructure still working on the planet.
The lore
Ngorrhal is the western continent of stratospheric peaks and mountain passes. In the Early Dominion, War Chief Tharyn'Bregun allied with Prince Vaer'gidon to end the civil war between the passes, and when the two died together fighting Ukhaal Walkers, the bond between the Ngorrhali and the Empire became unbreakable. Northern Pass children were raised in the capital as the Emperor's bodyguards, and their greatest warriors became the Frost Sentinels.
Only about 150 million people remain on the continent, yet its mountains hold the largest and oldest working relay infrastructure on the planet, built higher and larger than anywhere else. The Ngorrhali still return for their rite of passage: cross the ocean, kill a Greater Smilohound with bare hands, and haul the four tonne carcass home.
Read more in the Codex: Ngorrhal
VESSELBORN Original Music
Kharan's Gulf
Music by Juan Agustin Magariños
1:38
The piece
The first of three themes for the Thazvaar continent, set at the far edge of the coast in the inlet named for the pirate warlord Kharan Khatan. It carries the Gulf as it is now and the history underneath it.
The lore
Kharan Khatan was the most feared pirate warlord of pre-relay Geba, some eight thousand years ago in the Middle Dominion Age. When the Thazvaari Dominion drove the last pirate fleets toward extinction, his was the only plan that could delay the end, and they followed him into the inlet that now carries his name. He fortified it and held it long enough that the place became synonymous with him. There is no account of his death.
Thousands of years later the Gulf was the Dominion's last position in the Geban-Thazvaari War. King Hies held it through a siege that lasted decades until Emperor Venar'Tal Kareth ended it. Today it sits at the far edge of Coastal Thazvaar, and the Children of Kharan, the largest pirate confederation on Geba, still carry his name.
Read more in the Codex: Kharan Khatan
VESSELBORN Original Music
Coastal Thazvaar
Music by Juan Agustin Magariños
2:25
The piece
The second Thazvaar theme, for the southern coast that was once the naval heart of the Thazvaari Dominion and is now fully part of the Empire.
The lore
Coastal Thazvaar was the naval and technological heart of the Thazvaari Dominion. After decades of war it was conquered and assimilated so completely that no ethnic or linguistic divide remains, and hardline imperials call it New Geba. The Dominion's rail and water systems, the most advanced on the planet at the time, were adopted across the whole Empire.
It holds some of the most luxurious cities on Geba beside some of its poorest slums, and that pressure has produced generations of artists and athletes trying to rise without joining the inland syndicates. The Scarlet Verse festivals and the vertical combat sport of the Thazvaari Ascension fill its streets, and it remains the only safe route into Inland Thazvaar.
Read more in the Codex: Coastal Thazvaar
VESSELBORN Original Music
Inland Thazvaar
Music by Juan Agustin Magariños
2:18
The piece
The third Thazvaar theme, for the immense interior that no power has ever governed and the main theater of the Energy Wars.
The lore
Inland Thazvaar is the immense, ungovernable heart of the planet, a country of deserts, jungles and mountain ranges that swallow armies, relays and intention alike. Its problems predate the Thazvaari Dominion and outlasted its fall, and even the Empire at its height could not pacify it. For much of imperial history the capital believed the inland was settled, until Prince Ashan'Raeth Vareth crossed it and proved that belief false.
It is the main theater of the Energy Wars. The Teytan hold their fortified strongholds, the Jerhit Syndicate controls the southwest, and the Children of Kharan move most of the inland's illicit goods. Beyond all of it lies the deep interior, which no power in recorded history has ever entered and held.
Read more in the Codex: Inland Thazvaar
VESSELBORN Original Music
Vaer'maor
Music by Samuel Shandley
1:19
The piece
For Vaer'maor, the Gentle Prince. Soft and gentle throughout, with a sense of completion at the end for the whole of his journey.
The lore
Vaer'maor was the youngest of Emperor Vaer'karesh's twenty-nine children and the son his father loved without reservation. Where the emperor had taken power through ruthlessness, Maor had the luxury of kindness. He spent his life in diplomacy and trade, and it was his question, why the Empire chased foreign nations while its own continent stood untamed, that his sister Vaer'yinda answered by purging the eastern wilds.
He was never considered for succession. He never ruled, never commanded an army and never ordered anyone's death. He established the first formal trade protocols that later opened limited contact with the outer islands of Thazvaar, and he died of natural causes in the capital his sister had burned into existence.
Read more in the Codex: Vaer'maor
VESSELBORN Original Music
Venar'Tal Kareth
Music by Samuel Shandley
1:46
The piece
For Venar'Tal Kareth, the greatest conqueror in Geban history, whose life starts with pain and ends with pain.
The lore
Venar'Tal Kareth took the throne as a small child after his father died in northern Thazvaar, inheriting a war declared four generations earlier. The generals placed him in the Sentinel district to train beside poor but talented boys, the smallest in a cohort of Ngorrhali boys who were larger at every stage. He built density instead of height and learned to fight at contact range, where size stopped deciding the outcome.
He finished his father's war and brought every habitable region under imperial control, and he is the only emperor recorded fighting on the front line. He ended the siege of Kharan's Gulf, executed King Hies and took Queen Nethelys as his wife. His reign made total war and forced assimilation the standing method of the Empire, and the executions it instituted began the male population deficit that shaped every era after.
Read more in the Codex: Venar'Tal Kareth
VESSELBORN Original Music
Zairen Vaul
Music by Guilherme Alexander Gagliardo de Freitas
1:20
The piece
For Zairen Vaul, founder of the Church of the Infinite Maw, following him from a childhood in a contested warlord city to the war his church began.
The lore
Zairen Siran was born in a contested city near the end of the Warlord Eras. His mother, Naira, raised him alone and died of starvation and infection while he was still young. He survived by working for warlords and syndicates, and he took the name Vaul so that what he did would never be attached to his mother's name.
After the wars he stayed in the ruins of his birthplace, and there he and Vohk'tirrel became the only two people ever confirmed to have witnessed the Entity. He came away believing that collapse is calibration rather than chaos, founded the Church of the Infinite Maw and rebuilt his birthplace as the Maw's Crown. The Church destroyed the State of Midreach Lira at the onset of the Infinite Maw Conflict, and the territory it seized remains under Maw control.
Read more in the Codex: Zairen Vaul
VESSELBORN Original Music
Lux Notera
Music by Guilherme Alexander Gagliardo de Freitas
1:29
The piece
For Lux Notera, the face of Solwave, who started out performing Conwave in the fight clubs of Coastal Thazvaar. Written as Solwave: polished, melodic and built for spectacle.
The lore
Lux Notera began in the fight clubs of Coastal Thazvaar, performing Conwave for crowds that cared more for rhythm than melody. A fighter he befriended brought him to a relay-broadcast tournament in Jeyrha, and his sound reached millions. Years later that fighter was murdered. Lux has never said his name, but he pauses in silence before every performance.
Yelidra Veykar told him he had the glow of a Solwave star, paid for years of coaching and launched him under Veykar Propulsion as the face of Solwave, the sound of legitimacy and continuity, performed on stages that span enormous distances with pyrotechnics timed to the beat. He is now among the wealthiest public figures on Geba, and he spends almost nothing.
Read more in the Codex: Lux Notera
VESSELBORN Original Music
Veykar to Jerhit
Music by Guilherme Alexander Gagliardo de Freitas
2:36
The piece
A transition in two halves: the airships, spectacle and money of Veykar Propulsion, giving way to the private inland empire of the Jerhit Syndicate. A legitimate powerhouse turning into an illicit one.
The lore
Veykar Propulsion turned the failed planetary escape projects of the Era of Fracture into a rocket industry, then into the force that controls the music and entertainment economy of Geba. It funds the acts, runs the stages and supplies the controlled explosions at every festival. Its last attempt to leave the planet, the Auren V3, reached 196,001 kmph before it failed, broadcast across every major relay.
The Jerhit Syndicate grew where even the Dominion never reached, deep in inland Thazvaar, by kidnapping engineers and copying stolen designs until it became the original source of private relays outside Solarn. Under Brena Jerhit it supplies jetpacks, micro-cannons and illicit relay tech to pirates and warlords, and backs Rebelcore and Conwave acts of its own.
Read more in the Codex: The Jerhit Syndicate
VESSELBORN Original Music
Conwave
Music by Guilherme Alexander Gagliardo de Freitas
1:28
The piece
Conwave, the loud and heavy sound of everyone trying to rise, and the genre heard almost everywhere on Geba.
The lore
Conwave is aspiration made audible: loud, heavy and built to project success, power and upward motion. It is the music of everyone trying to rise out of their circumstances, which makes it the most omnipresent genre on Geba and the only one that rivals Solwave in revenue, though much of its money cannot be traced to a legitimate source. Many artists start in Conwave to be seen, then move to Solwave to be accepted.
Its shows never stop moving. Performers sprint, leap from platforms and press into the crowd while the bass is tuned to be felt in the body. They wear little beyond heavy chains at the wrists, neck and ankles, and fans arrive the same way with whatever jewelry they can afford. With Feral Remnant, it is one of only two genres commonly played on active battlefields.
Read more in the Codex: Musical genres of Geba
VESSELBORN Original Music
Abyssal Harmony I
Music by Guilherme Alexander Gagliardo de Freitas
1:20
The piece
Abyssal Harmony is slow, restrained and heavy, made to draw the listener inward. It holds a pull on Vessels that no authority has been able to explain.
The lore
Abyssal Harmony works as gravity rather than spectacle. Slow, restrained and heavy, it draws the listener inward and was made for introspection. It earns almost nothing, yet it is the most influential genre on the planet, shaping the people who go on to change systems rather than uphold them.
It also holds a pull on Vessels that no authority has been able to explain. Performances take place in darkness cut by beams through fog, and the performers never show their faces. They wear full costumes of what they imagine the Velcrith or Seraveth would look like in physical form, and the crowd comes hooded and masked, a congregation turned toward something none of them can name.
Read more in the Codex: Musical genres of Geba
VESSELBORN Original Music
Abyssal Harmony III
Music by Samuel Shandley
1:10
The piece
A second piece in Abyssal Harmony, the slow and restrained genre made to draw the listener inward.
The lore
Abyssal Harmony draws contemplative civilians and existential seekers, and its compositions are built to bypass conscious interpretation. Of every genre on Geba it is the one most closely followed by the people who act on what they believe rather than consume or perform it.
Its performances are theatrical rituals meant to dissolve the line between performer and void. Every movement on stage is deliberate and ceremonial, and the lighting and effects turn the space itself into an instrument. Fans make their own masks for the shows, from simple fabric coverings to ambitious sculptural work.
Read more in the Codex: Musical genres of Geba
VESSELBORN Original Music
Feral Remnant
Music by Juan Agustin Magariños
4:16
The piece
Feral Remnant, the fast and violent genre of soldiers, mercenaries and hunters, and one of only two commonly played on active battlefields.
The lore
Feral Remnant is permitted savagery: fast, violent and deliberately dehumanizing, made to strip identity down to instinct. It belongs to soldiers, mercenaries, hunters and anyone close to combat, and with Conwave it is one of only two genres commonly played on active battlefields. It lowers the barriers to violence, and it is accepted because it amplifies a mindset that is already there.
It barely exists as live performance. Most of it moves as recordings through military and mercenary networks, often made by active combatants who never rely on it for income. When shows do happen they are held in venues built to take damage, with no choreography and no lighting design, and many of the performers play armed.
Read more in the Codex: Musical genres of Geba