Song of the Eastern Sands: Page 11
As our fraternity of fleeing felons flies from the fat… hm no, alliterated myself into a corner there. Lemme try that again:
As our terrible trio turns tail and makes tracks from the tubby trader, we take a turn to a tavern run by a temperamental tabby!
Phew!
This page introduces us to two new characters — Theo (who readers will remember from the main title pages is an aging Vulpin who works with Beck, Rook, and Asha), and this wonderful old Felis barkeep. You might be asking yourself how she ties into things, since none of the potentially late protagonists she mentions are Felis!
Well, this is true — but you’d be forgetting that adoption is a perfectly viable means of upbringing in the world of the Western Deep.
Fun trivia! The name of this establishment is the Abadis Tavern, named for the Abadis Forest in Dust: An Elysian Tail, on which I served as co-writer and story editor. I just love the word “Abadis” — and no, I didn’t come up with that one. That credit goes to Dean Dodrill, who came up with most of the locations up to and including the Sorrowing Meadow (though I made sure Fidget got a joke in about the name: “Is that somewhere between Blood-Death Gulch and Endless Pain Hill?”)
I forgot to mention last week that as of January 1st, the stories of Beyond the Western Deep have been up and running for FOUR YEARS! I know, it’s crazy. I can hardly believe it myself.
This week, a follow-up from last week’s incredible guest music from Nolan Markey!
First up, a BRAND NEW PIECE Nolan wrote shortly after completing a read through of the first few pages of Song of the Eastern Sands! It has a faster pace to match the hectic and bustling atmosphere of Nessa, and the more upbeat heist-like nature of the story. I love the Middle Eastern vibe to the instrumentation that segues into a powerful orchestral swell in the finale. G’wan, give it a listen! You know you want to:
And, after readers requested it last week, I pinged Nolan to see if he had any issues with me sharing download links to his pieces. He gave me the all-clear (thanks, man!) and so here are two download links to both The Deep and Eastern Sands by Nolan Markey. Throw them onto your iPhone and blast them from your car stereo! LET THE WORLD HEAR THEM! :)
Just right-click on the links below and hit the relevant right-click-menu option (either SAVE AS or DOWNLOAD LINKED FILE depending on your browser).
Enjoy!
awesome page! awesome music, especially Eastern Sands! it has a kind of Prince of Persia or Assassin’s Creed-ish vibe with it. it would go so well with a parkour montage or something… who knows? it might happen in later pages :D
now I wonder what Theo’s role is in all this? is he a father figure for Rook, Asha, and Beck?
oh, and (belated) congrats on BWD ont its 4th year, and still going strong!
Jerome has a really nice way of conveying atmosphere. I dont know why but the dimmed, prolly not yet opened bar here makes me feel so chill (it also helps that Nessa is filled with my favorite color scheme ever)
Btw I also caught wind at tumblr that it was your B-Day, so I wish you a Happy Birthday and congratulations on both you, Rachel and now Jerome working on this series for this long! (wow seriously 4 years have gone by working on this?…time sure does fly by)
My first thought upon reading the commentary was “she?”. Much as I appreciate Jerome” s art style, if lacks the “tuft of fur under the chin gender ID tag” that Rachel draws. Since this universe does away with most of the other male/female visually identifying traits found in similar works . . . yeah. (Anyone remember the initial confusion about Lady Canid?)
But enough about that. Alex, you’re right. Adoption is a perfectly valid at way of bringing up children in Dunia. Fair enough. With that said, my mind is now wondering who temperamental tabby (as good a nickname for her as any until we learn her name) has adopted from the SOTES quartet. Just Theo? All four of them? Some combination of more than one but less than all four? Or, as Jerijune pointed out, maybe Theo and Tabby are a couple who decided to adopt a member of each of the three musteline species of Dunia instead of one of their own for . . . some reason.
(But if Theo is their father figure, why is he considered part of the main SOTES cast and Tabby is not? Questions, questions.)
I also can’t quite figure out what tone of voice their little exchange is said in. If it’s a little deadpan, perhaps they can hear the voice of the angry merchant, tand Theo is getting playfully ribbed. If serious, it could indicate that they do not in fact know what their adopted progeny is up to.
Lastly, great vaguely-Arabian melodious mischief makers’ musical medly (how’s that for alliteration?) from Nolan, though I do think I prefer his first piece. No matter, I’ll still download both of them.
I will close this overly-long comment by saying that I am much more excited about seeing the next page than I honestly have been for the last few. Thanks for reading this far, and good luck to you all.
Upon a reread of the commentary, I noticed that Theo is in fact called an “aging” Vulpin (missed that the first time), with lends support to the “father figure” theory. However, my question about him being a main cast member while Tabby is not still stands.
I think what identifies the females from the males here is the rounder softer features like the head and upper body. Also the eyelashes.
Seeing a new page of this comic in rss feed is a good sign that today’s saturday, haha
Love the splashes of light in the tavern.
Aww. Theo and the tabby are cute. We’re still unclear on their relationship to each other or the main cast, but I’ll love it if they’re a big jumble of an adopted family. For what it’s worth, I could immediately tell the tabby was a lady, though the frilly apron and big eyes definitely helped. As usual, great work on both art and writing. x)
Theo.
Never not drinking tea.
Haha, you can probably hear the merchant all the way across Nessa. Those Tamian voice are probably rather high-pitched. And here we have an unnamed Felis, who seems to be on good terms with Theo. That would be an interesting friendship, but of course those lines could also imply displeasure. It’s going to be great to see where this goes. Yay for the first speaking Felis character!
Temperamental, hm? There’s something to take note of. (Love the name of the tavern, by the way- do they have a problem with winged things swooping from the rafters?)
Interracial adoption is more widely accepted in Nessa, going by what we know of it, and I’m sure that’s going to add some more interesting twists to the story.
Four years seems like forever, and I’ve only been around a bit over half that time. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.