![[Pilot] Argentum Aria: Original Audio Drama](https://d1m9vqlvl3fy94.cloudfront.net/project/attachment/161670/275092Logo2.png)
"For over a millenium, the Argentian Empire’s system of the transfer of power was held via a competition between the crown princesses of the current empress in terms of a combination their martial, intellectual, and social/political skills. The one that had the best mix of said traits would gain the title of Empress. Such a system always assured since the days of Catalina di Argentius that the most fit leader was always on the throne. However, recently groups have been rumored at attempting to exploit the system. This tale follows Lionel and Ronan Barclavas, caught in the middle of the ambitions of one of these rumored groups, as they journey to exile themselves for the moment as far away from the Empire as possible to escape the growing corruption in the system. Little did they know that they were cogs in a rather massive and complex web that would put in motion a flurry of events in their quest to flee…"
Thank you for your interest in auditioning for Argentum Aria! This project is going to be a 3 episode pilot for the audio drama series of made by yours truly, with each episode being around the ballpark of 20 minutes each; As such, I am looking for voice actors to help out with minor and extra roles. I would like to stress importantly that this is an indie level project, and that all the funding of the project will be done by me. Regardless, I will do my utmost to provide a fair and just compensation to the auditioning talent.
Audition Instructions
1. For each role, max 2 takes per line
2. Be sure to have a few seconds of silence per take, no need to slate
3. Clean the audio as best you can; I want to be sure that the audition audio you provide is the best quality that is provided from your recording setup + post recording edits, as audio quality is important for the audio drama; ideally looking for XLR microphone setups just to let you know.
If you have any questions about the project, please let me know via the contact info provided in the links below:
Brian Franco Contact Info
Profile: Current king of the elven kingdom of Myrvindel. Descending from the elven hero Orphio, who founded the nation, Sylphen honors his ancestor’s wishes of keeping the elves to themselves, avoiding needless conflict by keeping the kingdom’s borders to how they were at the birth of Myrvindel.
Personality: Sylphen is a gentle soul who is as calm as a forest breeze through the trees. He is a great storyteller, though sometimes he isn’t conscious of when is a good time to tell them, leading to accounts of some of his subjects being told a long story at what would normally be a quick meeting with their liege. He is a man who honors the values of truthfulness and integrity, and get greatly offended if someone is trying to lie to his face to take advantage of his kindness.
Voice Tip: I am looking for a soft but masculine voice for Sylphen to match with his personality, but with the aura of a king behind said voice.
[Two humans have been taken in to the Myrvindel kingdom for medical attention after being found almost dead on the outskirts of the elven woods. They are now meeting before King Sylphen to be inquired on their intentions of being here in Myrvindel. Upon first being granted an audience, the younger of the two humans thanks him for his hospitality, then quickly tries to plead his case to being granted residence in the country before being abruptly stopped by his companion. King Sylphen takes this well, then proceeds to explain why he can’t be granted residence in Myrvindel]
Line: (chuckles) You flatter me and Myrvindel, Younger Barclavas*. To be honest, many souls have come before me for my blessing for them to acquire residence. Unfortunately, to avoid giving any one country privilege, I unfortunately can only keep you as guests. Please understand, this is not to offend you. I am only doing what’s best to keep an amicable relation with all of our neighbors.
*Director's Tip: This is how you pronounce this last name:
Bar like in barstool
Clavas: pronounce lava as the base, then say lavas as if you are wrongfully saying the plural form of lava. Then, the L sound at the beginning is switched for a CL sound.
[Two humans have been taken in to the Myrvindel kingdom for medical attention after being found almost dead on the outskirts of the elven woods. They are now meeting before King Sylphen to be inquired on their intentions of being here in Myrvindel. After a little deliberation, it has become apparent that the humans are lying about their intentions, and thus he demands them to tell the truth, or else the help they might be looking for will be cast aside in favor of them being imprisoned.]
Line: How can you tell me you come in good faith, yet take advantage of my kindness by not confiding in Myrvindel* of your story?! I will ask you again, tell me the whole truth of your situation, lest you prefer to be locked away as I inform the Argentian Empire that I have some of their most wanted criminals, ready to be handed over on a silver platter.
*Director's Tip: This is how you pronounce this word
Myr: Mir as in "mirror"
Vin: Vin as in "VIN number"
Del: Dell like the computer brand
Profile: Commander of the 69th Argentian Cavalier unit, which is stationed in the region by the border of the Argentian Empire and the elven kingdom of Myrvindel. Also in technicality an advisor to the region’s civil leaders, as his chain of command links him directly to the main headquarters of the Argentian army, in the imperial capital of Courtblanc.
Personality: Commander Taneff is a bossy commander, not one to beat around the bush in regards to issues. Despite being a capable commander in his own right, he has a huge bias towards those of the Argentian Empire; he sees the imperial people as more in the right compared to people from other nations or races, and will indirectly drive that point home trying to argue his point “in the name of the empire”. This normally only really becomes apparent when he gets agitated.
[While pursuing two fugitives of the empire, the fugitives chose to jump off a dropoff next to the road. The other cavaliers under his command begin to celebrate, thinking they have fallen to their deaths. However, Commander Janeff sees through this and corrects their thinking immediately.]
Line: You fools! Don’t be fooled into celebrating just yet. In case you haven’t remembered, “Lionel Barclavas” is adept in magic. If anything, he is trying to feign his death to escape.
[At last, the cavaliers have finally caught up to the fugitives that they have been pursuing for quite some time, unconscious on the ground. However, around the same time, the fugitives have been discovered by the elves of Myrvindel. After introducing himself and why he is there, the elves question what kind of crime would harbor him to demand the custody of the fugitives. The commander attempts to quickly brush off their question, trying to convey that he doesn't want this to become an international incident.]
Line: That is for us to know alone. We do not wish to have the Myrvindelese* trouble themselves being involved in imperial affairs.
*Director's Tip: This is how you pronounce this word
Myr: Mir as in "mirror"
Vin: Vin as in "VIN number"
Del: Dell like the computer brand
Ese: Similar to the -ese in ChinESE or JapanESE
Profile: Representative of the region of Grali in the Argentian Empire, and member of the Argentian Imperial Parliament.
Personality: Representative Gormes is an individual who has a habit of being greedy, and tries to do favors for those that support him, while leaving people in more dire situations out to dry. Despite his actions being held within a tight lease by the Empress and other figures in the Argentian Parliament, he tries to con his way to a favorable position, before attempting to repeat the cycle to gain an even more favorable position. However, he dares not step over his boundaries too far, as he fears the might of Empress Caterina.
[During an imperial summons, Representative Gormes is making his case to Empress Caterina that the taxes should be raised in the region of Grali to support the booming industries there. However, the Empress stated that the booming industries were the ones that had to bear the brunt of the tax burden. Rep. Gormes, flustered at this response, tries to reason with the Empress to reconsider.]
Line: Your Argent Madame, do you think that is wise? Surely they would try and loudly voice their complaints in regards to being the ones paying the majority of the taxes. Wouldn’t you like to reconsider your terms?
Profile: Leader of an elven night watch squad as well as as an aid to King Sylphen of the elven kingdom of Myrvindel. He is a elf that juggles many duties, including being a mentor to the newer recruits in his watch squad.
Personality: Though not the most imposing leader, he carries himself in a way where people respect his authority, but not through fear. Rather, he treats people under his command equally to himself, kind of like comrades in arms, only putting himself in a position of greater authority when issuing orders. He admires the king greatly, and is very reverent to him, though at times he does take the opportunity to ask the king why he feels a certain way towards certain issues.
Voice Reference: Early 30s in human terms, I don’t have an exact voice reference to follow for him. What I will say is that he isn’t one to have a gruff voice, but rather clear in how he speaks.
[While on patrol, Scipio and his night watch hear and are led to a pair of humans just on the outskirts of the elven woods. As they were preparing to take them to the capital to receive medical attention, a squad of cavaliers appeared to dispute the claim as to who would receive custody of the two humans. With the cavalier commander refusing to acknowledge that this is elven business too, Scipio thinks quick on his feet and him the facts.]
Line: Well, forgive my rudeness, but due to where we found them, it is now officially the business of Myrvindel. And please think: the elder of the two is in critical condition right now. Any more arguing would waste precious time he may not have.
[As Ronan, Lionel, and Talito, the main characters, begin their perilous journey to the town of Greta in the neighboring nation of Saphirwald, Scipio asks his liege about whether or not they are fit to complete the journey in a rather concerned tone.]
Line: Your grace, I know this may be a rather silly question to ask, but considering the dangers on their path, do you really believe that they have a chance of making it through alive?
Profile: Friend of Talito’s, and part of the night watch squads in charge of the security of the elven kingdom of Myrvindel. Unlike Talito, he is not part of an esteemed lineage, but he wishes to do his part regardless to help out in Myrvindel. He is a generalist in many different disciplines, such as archery, foraging, reconnaissance, and crafting, though he doesn’t necessarily excel extraordinarily in any of said fields.
Personality: Lewyn is a pretty mellow fellow, humble about his accomplishments even if they were astonishing to the people around him. If people remind him about something impressive he did, he’d shake it off with a laugh, and say it was just a matter of hard work and effort.
Voice Sample:
Shannon McKain’s Ashe from FE Three Houses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQeG9YVJe0&ab_channel=justonegamr
The voice pitch is for Ashe is more or less the foundation of what I want Lewyn to sound like. Also, to be able to channel an aura of humility in his voice to help show his humbleness. The voice pitch can be fiddled around a bit, as I am not opposed to hearing several different approaches to this voice.
[Tired after a night of patrolling the Myrvindelese border, Lewyn opens up a conversation with his friend Talito questioning the frequency of the nightly patrols, considering the friendly relations Myrvindel had with its neighbors]
Line: You and me both (yawning). I really want to know why we have to do border patrols so often. The last time we had a remotely dangerous threat was those disorganized bands of brigands a few months back, and even they chose to respect our borders after some encouragement…
[During the same conversation, Talito complimented Lewyn for his display of marksmanship earlier that month by shooting the hat off of a brigand leader without killing him. Lewyn merely laughed it off, and instead laughed worriedly about what would’ve happened if the arrow accidentally killed him.]
Line: I kind of surprised myself too. I just started practicing piercing apples straight through with an arrow. Kind of wondering now what could’ve happened instead… ehehehe.
Profile: 22 years old, second in command to Marshal Helena di Argentius, who is also the eldest princess of the Argentian Empire. He is a close comrade in her battalion of the Azure Astrales, being by her side since their days when they were just foot soldiers, and is very supportive of providing the best help to his commanding officer and comrade within his power
[With his commanding officer struggling to make her point of trying to chase after the conspirators of Lucia di Argentius’s murder, Eustice offers a valid suggestion]
Line: If I may, could I go in place of Marshal di Argentius? I know I may not be her, but I believe her second-in command would be just as viable an option for them to speak to. I would argue even better, since they could possibly spur my superior into doing something rash that they could pin the empire on.
Profile: A low ranking soldier in the Argentian Army within its palace guard who has been given the role to personally deliver messages to the Empress and other high ranking figures within the palace.
[In the midst of an important imperial parliament summons, a messenger bursts into the parliament hall declaring that he has a letter of high importance addressed to the Empress]
Your Argent Madame! Forgive my intrusion, but I have a sealed letter penned by Commander Taneff. It is a message deemed of high importance.
These are unnamed members of the Argentian cavalier corps, a very formidable horseback unit of the Argentian military.
[After pursuing the fugitives for a good span of the whole day, the fugitives do an unthinkable act and jump off of a drop-off by the road they are on. After seeing them descend out of sight, one of the cavaliers speaks up in shock with a question.]
Line: Did they… seriously commit suicide…?
[Following the fugitives jumping off from the road’s dropoff hundreds of meters to the forest below, the cavaliers were shocked as to what they did. One of them however, excitedly gives his conclusion as to the aftermath of said action]
Line: Does it matter though? The conspirators to the murder of Princess Lucia have fallen to their death! Our Majesty, the Argent Bard, has been avenged!
Various elves from the elven Kingdom of Myrvindel. Each one of the audition lines is for an individual elf, so this audition will have 3 voice actors cast from it.
[After following the sound of a pained cry and an elven hunting horn, an elven night watch squad found two unconscious humans badly injured. While looking at the scene, one of the elves spotted something interesting and made it know to the patrol leader]
Line: Hm? Sir, take a look at this…
[While examining the two unconscious humans, one of the elves points out with concern and haste that one of the humans is severely injured and that he must be moved immediately]
Line: Sir, the elder of the two is badly injured! We have to take him back now if he is to live…
[After gaining asylum in Myrvindel for medical attention, the two humans are finally able to meet again. This elf is the one that announces that Mr. Lionel Barclavas has a visitor that wants to see them, who is Mr. Ronan Barclavas]
Line: Mr. Barclavas*, we have a special guest who wants to see you.
*Director's Tip: This is how you pronounce this last name:
Bar like in barstool
Clavas: pronounce lava as the base, then say lavas as if you are wrongfully saying the plural form of lava. Then, the L sound at the beginning is switched for a CL sound.
