Composer
Samuel Shandley
Samuel Shandley is a composer for film, television and games based in Liverpool, England, with more than forty projects to his name. His work spans independent games, short film, podcasts and institutional clients including the University of Liverpool, all of it carried by a refined and distinctive sound.
For VESSELBORN he wrote two of the collection's portraits of its great figures, Venar'Tal Kareth, the greatest conqueror in Geban history, and Vaer'maor, the gentle prince, along with Abyssal Harmony III.
Website: samshandley.com
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
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