DUSTWALKER

Arius' Lullaby: A Knight's Vigil

Fret not to weep, child of mine

Dread not the deep of dark'ning night

There roams a star, a lonely light

Traveling far, an errant knight

Hope lies in one, prayer kept true

Task not yet done, but nor are you

Sword gleaming gold, silver eyes

Lost in the cold of a strange sunrise

Dust on the wind, once etched in stone

Where it ends it begins, this much is known

What we sow we reap, you tread not alone

This made me realize I never put the lyrics anywhere! So here are the lyrics and chords (in case anyone would like to recreate it on their instrument of choice), fully written and composed by Nyx Calder:

The first two-part episode (and prologue) of Our Wars Have Ended, our new weird-fantasy epic, is now live everywhere you can find podcasts!

A huge thank-you to our amazing cast, our listeners and supporters. It's been a journey just to get to this point and we're really excited to be sharing the show with you.

If you enjoy the listen, we'd be really grateful if you'd consider sharing, liking, leaving a review on your platform of choice, or supporting us on Patreon.

Show synopsis:

Twenty years ago, the Kindly Ancestors rose from their graves to reconquer the lands of Old Cyshane. Today, an endless multitude of ancient kings and queens squabble and bicker for cultural supremacy. Labouring corpse-technology has swallowed up agriculture and industry. Dead-divers descend into the netherworld, searching for answers. Even as progress rolls relentlessly onwards, all of us remain helplessly bound to the past. What will it take to stop looking back?

An epic, rotten-hearted weird-fantasy series from the creators of The Silt Verses and I Am In Eskew.

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/our-wars-have-ended/id1894177222

Direct RSS feed link: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/our-wars-have-ended

Only 10 days left to support us!

Follow Log on their journey from a library railcar in the sky into a vibrant world on rails! Here, they will uncover the mysteries of the steampunk railway systems, armed with highly specific knowledge of 19th century literature like the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, as well as their community of fellow outcasts.

What a week of listening it’s been!

🦋 I have listened to so much @remnantspod this week. Not only did I catch the fantastic new episode. I relistened to eps 1-13. It’s honestly kind of mind boggling to go back to the beginning with all the new information from the rest of the show. It’s like time doesn’t work, or being able to exist in multiple places at once, watching it all play out at the same time. I had forgotten so much detail that made me want to yell! For example: why Celine never told Benoit anything about his father!!! The end of ep 45 asked two very interesting questions, the first was ‘Do you really think you mattered so much to them, in the end?’. And the second, of course, was ‘Shelve or discard?’.

🌲 @hellofromthehallowoods (202) That CLIFFHANGER! I listened to the ep in two halves so I really wasn’t ready for it to end when it did! I was so suspicious of Mulder last season, I really hope that Shelby is right but every scene with him makes me so on edge! I can’t believe Olivier killed off Granny Briar. It’s not funny but Friday’s reaction was! I am looooving being back in this world, I’ve missed it so much!

🧳 Travelling Light by @monstrousproductions (74) A very fun ep! I can’t pretend that I was able to keep up with the rules and regs of shako, but the enthusiasm was palpable! Trav and Scarry are pretty fucking cute … I fear the inevitable 🥲

👣 @dustwalkerpod (3) this show continues to be so inventive and such a treat to listen to! I do love getting into a new magic system and the way that gender politics are woven into the story feels fresh and also despairingly familiar at the same time!

📖 @storiesfromylelmore (7+8) These episodes made my heart hurt a little. Aw, Keryth! My granny passed away last year and I also hold on to lots of memories of her teaching me things as a child. I want to give Keryth a big hug!!

🐢 @redvalleypod (S4E6) GOOD FINALE. God, I feel like I should have seen Malcolm’s completion coming but it still caught me off guard. Red Valley has always mastered the balance of tension and humour and this ep was no different - Gord vs Bryony made me laugh so much. More, please! 🙏

🔔 @goodpointepodcasts' Someone Just Like You never misses, and this week's episode was especially chilling. "Don't Look For Lady Bluebell" is about safety gone wrong, about a monster that's much worse than you can imagine, and how danger can twist you into something monstrous. The imagery of the bells on ribbons is going to stick with me for sure, and Atticus Jackson just kills it on this one. If you're ever in the market for a new anthology horror show, you can't do much better than Someone Just Like You.

🙃 Small Victories is back baybeeee, and oh man what a banger. It is so difficult and so important in the depths of recovery to be able to picture a good future for yourself. So it's gotta be a REAL ISSUE when that future version of you is like, HEY, DON'T BLOW THIS FOR US. What a genius setup for this season. Rest in pieces Marisol, I guess good luck with your recovery. Don't lose that future! No pressure!

💎 @dustwalkerpod's new episode does a bunch of my favorite kind of worldbuilding: put that guy (or magic teenage girl) in a dang situation and now they have to deal with it. Watching Kove try to pretend to be an aide (and honestly not even try very hard) did a bunch of work for the lore of this story and the characterization of both Kove and Arius. I'm fascinated by the way this culture is building strata on strata of oppression, and I really want to watch it all burn to the ground. You can imagine how much I enjoy Kove's perspective in this show based on that, and I'm thrilled to find out what will happen now that she knows exactly how far out of her depth she is.

🩸 @starstrider-productions' Dracula: 2004 is back also!!!!! Just in time for me to remember how harrowing this second act is, as we watch Lucy's "mysterious" ""illness"" progress. This Van Helsing is LEGENDARY, she keeps all of the alternating weird humor and seriousness of the original and loses none of the mysteriousness, despite being (still! just like the OG!) a scientist first and foremost. What a relief to Lucy as well, having a doctor take you seriously, for once. I am waiting for the next episode with my hands over my eyes, peeking through my fingers.

❓How fun was @killjamxxx's in-character Q&A? Not much to say here analysis-wise, but I did absolutely lose count of how many times I cackled. I missed them so much.

I feel like I listened to so much this week and it was all so good! 💙

🌲 @hellofromthehallowoods (200-201) AAAAH SO GOOD to have my favourite hallowoods back in my ears. I listened to the last season finale as preparation and had forgotten just how awful the Mr Spiderfingers scene was and just how WONDERFUL Polly’s lawyerly pursuits made me feel as a listener. Then we were hit with 201 and it was so good I listened twice! I was so relieved to be dropped back close to where we left off. Shelby not taking that crossbow is going to have disastrous consequences, I can already feel it. Riot’s reflections on her scars made my heart hurt. Everything is so complicated and they only have 50 years of humanity left to sort it out! Honestly, all respect to Riot because if all my friends pissed off doing xyz on Serial Killer Murder Day 2.0 I would be losing my actual mind. WELCOME BACK, HFTH! I LOVE YOU!

🦭 @twelvelms (7) I say it most weeks but, god, I love this show. There’s always so much detail in each episode, they beg to be relistened to. The comments about Riley’s motivations for choosing the path of tradition she did have struck such a complicated chord for me that I’m struggling to put into words. Some kind of sunken cost fallacy about trusting the systems you’ve dedicated to you even if you suspect they’re harmful? I’m sure I could articulate this better on more sleep! Abagnale’s past was also so visceral! Don’t be making me feel sympathetic towards him now . . . 👀

🧳 Travelling Light by @monstrousproductions (73) LOVED this episode. I don’t know what kind of alien Óli is, but I’m completely enamoured with the idea that they are all haughty idiots (fond) who cannot manage heightened emotions without falling into absolute dramatics. It’s very, very entertaining. I also loved the forehead kiss so SUE ME, I’m just a lovergirl!! 

👣 @dustwalkerpod (2) Such an interesting episode with beautifully unfolding world-building. I love Kove and Arius as a partnership and I continue to be so excited to see where the show is going! I listened to this episode with headphones instead of through the car speakers and the sound design is (surprise!) even more incredible. I highly recommend checking out Dustwalker! 

📖 @storiesfromylelmore (6) These three really make me smile! Elas getting all twitchy about the possibility of a curse made my heart hurt. I have high hopes for that A+. 

🇦🇶 The Harbingers by @gabrielurbinatm (10) Another insanely good episode! The test run in the lab was so tense! The VAs for Amy and Adam have such insane chemistry, I feel the way they argue in my bone marrow!! I actually saw Amy being labelled as a hypocrite in a few comments but I’m not sure I agree, we’ve seen exactly how she’s been trapped and I feel her outrage is more at herself for allowing this to happen than at Adam for joining with Eckerberg. Ah! It’s too good!!!! 

🌨️ @thewhitevault  (29) Are we really coming up to the season finale?!! I’m so not ready to find out how it all ends! 

🦋 @remnantspod (44) Oh there were SO many strings in this episode that I have in my hands and need to work out how they tie together. Benoit is clearly in the proximity of so many happenings! I need to do some relistening! 

Dustwalker is a full-cast audio drama following a shaky alliance between a transfem teen and a powerful politician—a trans man who was meant to be her adoptive father. Taking place on a post-cataclysm earth, the two navigate a dangerous magic system in hopes to tear down their city-state’s regime… and maybe grow to care for each other along the way.

Get ready to be completely immersed into an imaginary science-fantasy world with this one. Listen to just ten minutes of this show and you will understand what I'm talking about. They seriously know what they are doing with the soundscaping.

The exploration of queerness in a fantastical setting is so refreshing to see, especially since it comes from queer voices. The main characters contrast each other in a really interesting way, and I can't wait to see them topple the status quo together (it's going to be messy, and I'm soo here for it).

So... what is Dustwalker, anyway?

With the first 3 episodes out and the 4th baking in the oven (my DAW), I thought it might be time for a formal introduction to my queer audio drama promoting transgenderism and messy found family! It's Dustwalker, babey!

Night shifts worked and new shows acquired!!

🦭NEW @twelvelms making the 21st the best day of the month every month!!! I'm immediately planning my relisten to this episode but, on the first listen, I was so struck by how much these boys have relaxed around each other. The fact that Felix was able to playfight with Cyan without either of them panicking about hurting each other! Growth! Love! I don’t know if it’s more concerning that Abagnale’s assailant isn’t dead or if they are and the ‘facts’ about familiars aren’t true. Either way, I don’t like that such huge secrets are being stored beneath Twelvelms and I think Cyan was right to keep his coat with him. The hints at the end about the current state of his relationship with Felix are breaking my heart already!!!! I love this audio drama!!!!!! 

🧋 @hinaypod (77) Ough this episode was so creepy! I’m not sure if the spirit in this ep was Lori? She seems like the kind of creature that would want to keep a prima ballerina safe because she enjoyed the dancing! 

💎  I listened to the @kingmakerpod halloween special and it was exactly as fun as I knew it would be! So many funny moments and I love it when Telesphore gets the last word! Please can people with money fund season 4 please and thank you! https://ko-fi.com/megsothoth

👣 I started listening to @dustwalkerpod and it’s fantastic! Beautifully sound designed and I really admire a densely-built world that doesn’t feel the need to offer up all its secrets at once. This is exactly the kind of show I was hoping to come across and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds! 

📖 @storiesfromylelmore (1-5) was exactly what I needed to keep awake and alert through my late night data collection. Those kids are so cute, man!! I feel like I can’t always keep up with Keryth’s level of peppiness, but it’s so lovely to know that I can tune back in when I need to be invigorated! 

 🐢 @redvalleypod (S4E5) Warren and Bryony’s conversation was soooo good. I LOVE hearing what characters with this much chemistry (aka hate!!!) can do for a story. Amazing stuff. And, of course, as much as I have grown to appreciate Clive, he’s fucking everything up - again! I’m scared to listen to the end of the season!!