Built to Last

Dustin and I were talking the other day about the cool music we’ve had made for the world of Galhadria so far. I thought it might be interesting to give a bit of a behind the scenes for the songs we’ve had commissioned so far. So today I want to give some background on “Built to Last” which is a song of Aruthien.

Aruthien is probably Dustin’s favorite out of all the major powers (countries) on Nova Eian. He’s told me so on numerous occasions, so I feel fairly confident putting that in writing. It is also the home land of his taciturn swordsman Cas Bel-Taren. When he told me he was asking Rowan to do the Aruthien song for him I was pumped.

Here is what Dustin had to say about “Built to Last”:

I really wanted proper music for the stories we are working on. Given enough time I'd like to develop one or more songs for every major power, plus perhaps some 'story songs' about great events in the world (the fall of Skos and things like that).

I hoped to capture some sense of who Aruthien people believe that they are. Nations and people groups in real life have 'favorite songs' that define them, from national anthems to folk songs. Only the United States of America would ever have a Battle Hymn, because that's who we were around the time of the American Civil War. I can write paragraphs about who Aruthiens or Gazeans think they are, but a song can show character in a way that prose can't.

Their particular song is a parting song; it's sung at the end of a gathering or on the eve of battle. Part of the sense of the song is that these particular people might not ever gather together again, so this is the 'last song' but of course, it's not the last song, it's a song that's made to last. Because they're a tough and enduring people.

The best thing about the song was working with Rowan the Bard, and giving him a massive information dump of what I'd written and what I thought I wanted, and then him coming back with something *amazing* that just blew me away and totally exceeded my expectations. I'm not a poet or a songwriter, so for me what he does is indistinguishable from magic. And it was magical.

Check the song out for yourself and let us know what you think!

Till next time dear reader, listen to some other songs of Galhadria or go support Rowan on his Patreon or Youtube. <3 Tiff