Among my hobbies is the refereeing of a fantasy roleplaying game set in the shadowy world of Fumanor, a land where civilization all but collapsed a century ago and is only now beginning to reemerge from the Darkness. As accompaniment to the background story of the world, I composed a series of pieces of music to tell the tale of what had taken place - a soundtrack to the adventure world, so to speak. This page is devoted to that soundtrack.... # Name (Length) Size Download Links Comments     Fumanor 1 Title Theme (2:17) 46K When I started working on the soundtrack, I layed down a couple of ground rules to follow. In the process of completing the project, I threw away most of them, but one remained ironclad: the elements should be less than 50K in size, so that they could be quicky downloaded. The world of Fumanor is a world of savage contrasts, where Chaos Powers of unimaginable power strive to destroy all existance, opposed by the Gods and their mortal followers. Through most of time, the Chaos Powers have held the initiative, with the Gods pulling off a never-ending series of narrow escapes. A world of untold savagry and violence in which a progressive and generally-freindly society has emerged, against all expectation. It's a land of high drama, Noble ideals, and magic. The title theme is intended to capture the overall background of the world, the context of Fantasy and Adventure in which the rest of the pieces are to be interpreted. Unfortunately, the instruments just don't work properly on the SB-Live. Fumanor 2 Godwar Original Mix (2:58) 45K I had a lot of trouble working on this piece. It was the opening bars that were most at fault, and the fault was that while there was nothing actually wrong with them, they sounded too much like part of "Seasons Of The 70s" (2000 page 1). I tolerated this long enough to finish the rest of the pieces before succumbing. To counter one of the Chaos Powers more insidious Gambits, the Gods had been forced to place their darker brethren in positions of command and respect. Once the crisis had been averted, they were ptoperly thankful; but in time old habits returned, and the Shadow Gods found themselves virtually outcast again. They found the ingratitude intolerable, and began to plot against their kin. The ensuing conflict , 102 years ago, became known as the Godwar.... The second part of the soundtrack is even more martial in tone than the first. An uplifting fanfare contrasts with the warlike structure. This version almost works on the SB-Live. Remix (2:58) 45K When I could stand the similarity no longer, I remixed the piece around different instrumentation choices. That made it sound different. It also made the piece weaker. The Godwar devestated the Heavens. Many deities, popular amongst the populace, were lost forever. And ambitious and powerful mortals decided that they had power enough to elevate themselves to Godhood, to replace the fallen. But that demanded even more power than they already had, and the easiest place to gain it was from their rivals. Collatoral damage to the populace was not a consideration. Religious leaders roused the populace against them, and did their best to exterminate the Mages, who fought back (understandably). This conflict, 101 years ago, became known as the Magewar. This mix works the best of all three on the SB-Live, but still isn't right. Final Version (2:58) 49K That nagged at me, and a year after I had finished work on the soundtrack, I remixed the second piece - again. Once the Mages were dealt with, the rulers of the Old Kingdom were left far from home, with an army on the march and nowhere to take it. Several decided to take advantage of the situation to enlarge their Kingdoms into an Empire. 100 Years ago, the Kingswar began. It would last for two years. Again, this mix almost works on the SB-Live. But almost isn't quite good enough. While this version is better than the second, it's still not as good as the original. Fumanor 3 The Fall (1:38) 25K In contrast to part 2, this chapter of the story came together with no trouble at all. The resulting damage was more than society could withstand. This was three calamities in succession, each the equal of the Black Death. Society fell. Musically, this mixes the danger that was faced from all sorts of wild creatures mutated by arrogant Mages and unleashed by Ignorant conquerors, with the sadness and bitterness and hardships that had to be endured. So far as mankind knew, they were now alone and unprotected from the Chaos Powers... This doesn't work on the SB-Live. Fumanor 4 New Hope (2:51) 20K The melody of this piece gave me more trouble than I like to remember. The start of it worked fine, but the section from about 1'02" just didn't want to fit the timing. From the ashes of what remained, new hope emerged. One man, Baron Fumanor, rallied the remnants of the old noblity, and began restoring civilization. What was lost could never be replaced, but a substitution was possible. From his mountainous Barony, he began to unite the populace into what would eventually become a New Kingdom. Many were strangers, far from home; often their homes no longer existed. The emerging society was surprisingly multicultural, astonishingly diverse, and socially progressive. Slowly, the people began to shift their perceptions of their situations, from a perspective of gloom and tragedy to one of opportunity. And then it was discovered that not all the Gods had been lost in the cataclysm.... I deliberately wanted to use the same basic instrumentation as had been used Part 3 to show the other side of the coin, as people began to rebuild their shattered lives. This piece works almost as well on the SB-Live as it did on the Awe-32. It should be possible to remix it to achieve the sort of quality that would suggest that the tune was composed on the newer soundcard with very little trouble. Fumanor 5 Coronation Dance (2:28) 23K An unusual piece with unusual timing and a deliberatelly restricted choice of instrumentation. This sounds very "middle ages" in many ways, and is musically the most complex of the pieces. As civilzation re-emerged, the Baron found himself in charge of a New Kingdom rivalling that of the old Kingdom in many ways. His advisors pressed him to assume the title that would properly reflect his status, but he refused; he found more merit in being a Baron who Rose to the occasion than in being a King who seized an oportunity for self-promotion. Nevertheless, his rule was as absolute as any King's could have been, and to all intents and purposes, he was now ruler of a Kingdom of considerable note. One of the things that marks the successful resurgance of society after a calamity is the return of leasure time (to those that had it before) and with it, culture. I wanted a piece in 8/4 time with a very old feel to it, suggestive of a formal ball. to characterise the return of society. This piece doesn't quite work as well on the SB-Live, but I'm not sure that a remix would help the situation. Fumanor 6 Joy (2:22) 22K While the lot of serfs and peasants is a harsh one, there are compensations when the rulers are fair and just. The common man did not fair all that badly in the reconstructed society, with greater opportunities for education, social elevation, financial independance, and personal growth. This piece is designed to show the public reaction to the Baron's rule after several years had established the patterns of the new "Kingdom". It was a deliberate homage to some of the more upbeat hymns and was directly inspired by "Sister Act 2". It works fairly well on the SB-Live; with a little work, a remixed version might even be better than the original. Listen closely for the subtle bass synths! Fumanor 7 Victory (1:26) 17K The final break with the past, the final affirmation of a new political reality independant of the old, is when you have a military confrontation with another element of the old and emerge victorious. There were a number of such confrontations over the past century,a nd with each one, the Barony Of Fumanor has distanced itself further from the past. The Awe-32 tubular bells sounded like church bells. This piece deliberatly exploited that fact in a uptempo, positive tune. The Tubular bells on the SB-Live do not sound like Church bells. This piece sufffers. Nor is there much that can be done without additional soundfonts to rectrify the situation. Fumanor 8 Darkness Never Dies (1:51) 16K The people have been uinmolested by them for so long, that they have begun to forget the Chaos Powers, still lurking in the shadows, plotting the destriuction of all that exists.... Does the fanfare sound familiar? I wanted to take the fanfare used for the title theme and use different instrumentation to give it a darker, more sinister, feeling. This is a tune of trepidaton, of hidden dangers growing in power and evil, of the calm before the storm. It doesn't work quite as well on the SB-Live. Fumanor 9 Theme Reprise (2:11) 48K With all these diverse elements in place, Fumanor emerges as a place for swords-and-sorcery adventures of danger and action. All soundtracks reprise the title theme! In fact, this was a quite intentional attempt to "modernise" the theme into a pop tune, and it worked well enough to pick up an award. It doesn't work as well on the SB-Live, unfortunately.