Children of the Nameless - Magic Story Novella
Project Overview
As Wizards of the Coast continues to release their weekly Magic Story updates, it is our goal on the Voice of All podcast to bring these stories to life through audio.
Today we're working on a bigger task than normal - WotC has released a whole novella for free! This will be our first foray into content of this length and I for one am excited. Since the day she was born, Tacenda has been both blessed and cursed. When her protective spell fails in the night and her Kessig village is attacked, she seeks revenge against whom she believes responsible: the demon-consorting Lord of the Manor. You can download the e-book directly here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/story
If you're interested in hearing our past works, you can listen to all of them here:
https://www.voiceofallmtg.com/
We can also be found on Soundcloud, Stitcher, YouTube, iTunes, and Google Podcasts! We are looking to keep up with the release of Wizards' stories as best as possible and will release our version the second following Friday, so expect to be cast this week and have your lines to me within a few days.
As a general casting note, I do not typically have any voice requirements in mind for characters. I would much rather hear your interpretations and choose from among them.
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Fifteen year old Tacenda is one of the twin guardians of Verlasen. She and her sister Willia were blessed and cursed by the Bog, the eldritch god of the forest. She is blind when the sun is up, but in exchange she can sing beautiful, powerful songs. In particular, her Song of Warding inflicts pain on and drives off evil creatures - be they demon, vampire, werewolf or others. Her village has been attacked and she's the only one left who can save them. Tacenda is clever, inquisitive, and compassionate. She'll do anything to bring her village back. Throughout the story she ponders destiny and whether or not it's real.
“It’s a powerful relic. Given to us by the Nameless Angel herself!” [feeling defensive and protective]
“So what did Verlasen Village do to offend you? Were your socks made too tight? Did one of the apples have a worm? What insignificant offense caused you to finally notice us?” [incensed]
“Seems to me that it’s basically impossible to choose for yourself. I mean...if I do what Davriel says, how is that any different from doing what my village tells me? That’s not independence. It’s just choosing a different influence.”
Davriel Cane, the Man of the Manor, Lord Greywater (he goes by many names) is the lord who rules over Verlasen and a few nearby villages. He is a diabolist, a man who studies and summons demons. He makes contracts with them, offering his soul should they complete the contract. He's very good at making sure they never will. He is also a planeswalker, able to jump from world to world. He only recently arrived on Innistrad because he is on the run. His magic allows him to steal magic skills from others temporarily, though he has also stolen a creature he calls the Entity that lives in his mind. It makes him virtually immortal.
Though he once ruled a world he has decided that it was not worth the price in blood and death. Instead he plays at being a lazy fop of a man, concerned primarily in having easy access to his tea and taking ample naps. Despite his easygoing and lazy attitude, he's extremely clever, quickly deducing the cause of deaths as well as applying magic skills in surprising ways.
Being a planeswalker, Davriel is the most likely character here to return in future stories. Should he do so, you will be asked to reprise the role.
“Miss Highwater! There is a peasant girl in my washroom! She has stabbed me with what appears to be an ice pick!” [More annoyed than anything]
“Come. Do you think we can expect the peasants to get back to the harvest today? They’ve spent an entire day dead, so they should be well rested, and I appear to be down to a single tin of tea...”
“Tell me, child. Do you really think that I would run from you?” [threatening]
Miss Highwater is a succubus who serves Davriel Cane as his secretary and accountant. Her contract with Davriel states that she will claim his soul if she's able to seduce him, but she seems quite happy (at least for now) to simply run the manor for him. She takes constant notes, briefs him on important goings on, and seems to actually care for him. She's sarcastic, witty, and proud of who she is.
[Davriel: "Someone's been imitating me."] “A difficult task. Think of the sheer number of naps they’d have to take.”
“She’s sweet. It will be fun watching her get disillusioned.”
He didn’t care what I looked like. He summoned me specifically because he thought I’d be good at doing his ledgers. And he was right. I am good at contracts; I’ve always prided myself on that. It has made me an excellent steward.
“I’m not ashamed of what I am or how I look. But...it’s nice to be recognized for something else. A thing I’ve always prided myself on, but virtually every other person—mortal and demon alike—has ignored.
The "Entity" is a being that inhabits Davriel's mind. Currently it only keeps him from dying, as he is its host, but it repeatedly makes offers world-shaping levels of power that Davriel repeatedly refuses. It is the compressed essence of a destroyed plane - all of its magic and life all compressed into a single being.
If you plan to add effects to your audition, please also include a take of just you.
Time grows short. They will find you. And they will destroy you. We must gather our power and prepare.
Why? Why do you resist? This is your moment! Seize it!
You...you really are just a coward. I thought when you fled before, it was wisdom. You saw that the ones hunting you were too powerful. But now...now you could have enough strength to defeat them, if you wanted. And still, you think of fleeing?
Rom is an old hunter and priest of the Church. He's hunted demons, werewolves, and when they went mad, angels. He moved out to the Approaches to get away from all that, but he remains troubled. He's a cheerful and friendly fellow, only saddening when certain troubling topics are brought up. Through it all, he remains hopeful.
“Here now! Away from there, child! What is wrong? Why aren’t you at Verlasen, singing?”
“You mistake me. I was pleased to find it. After Avacyn’s betrayal, finding news of another angel who still loved her people...well, it gave me hope. Hope that even a crusty, bloodstained hunter like me might be able to find peace.” [the last sentence should turn sad and troubled, like that hope was not in fact correct]
“Well, that was right bravely done, Miss Tacenda! I could have told you it would be useless, but my, stabbing the Man himself? The Bog must be right proud of you!”
Merlinde is the prioress of the Church of Sigarda out here in the Approaches. She is faithful, but she is also practical - having made a deal with Davriel that he should be left alone. Despite his penchant for summoning demons, he at least doesn't kill people. She is proper and matter of fact. She believes there is some good in Davriel, despite his insistence otherwise, and she urges him frequently to care for the people on his land.
“You expect me to honor a promise in the face of what has been happening? An entire village was murdered today.”
“Their suffering is such a bother, isn’t it?”
“I realize that now. If you’d been the man I feared, you would have destroyed the priory instead of walking in to demand answers. But...what is going on?”
Fifteen year old Willia is one of the twin guardians of Verlasen. She and her sister Tacenda were blessed and cursed by the Bog, the eldritch god of the forest. She is blind when the sun is down, but in exchange she is a swordswoman without equal, even at her young age. Despite being righteous and caring in the past, she has fallen to the promises of the Bog. She's used its power to steal the souls of others and plans to use them to become powerful beyond measure. Though strong of voice and a force to be reckoned with, she is clearly quite mad.
“It spoke to me. Told me of power that I held, that we held. Power to stop the darkness. I just had to make it whole."
“I don’t have to hide from the darkness any more, Tacenda. I don’t have to cower behind your song.”
[In response to "You're not like this!"] “What am I like, Tacenda? Am I the confident girl that everyone saw? Or am I the terrified one you saw? The one who knew that every night, the darkness would come for her again...”
Crunchgnar is a demon with a contract on Davriel's soul in exchange for keeping him from dying until the age of 65. He is strong and powerful, straightforward, but not that bright.
“You fear such a tiny thing?”
“I will destroy you once I have claimed his soul. You grow weak and lazy, like him. Ledgers and figures? Bah! When was the last time you claimed the soul of a man?”
“He likes to pretend that anyone can choose their own way, but eventually even he will have to pay the debts he owes. And his ‘freedom’ will last as long as an ember separated from its fire.”
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