[ WP ] Magic is discovered and it 's channeled with music . Modern nations dissolve and new countries rise in their place divided by the preferred music . In the frozen north lie the Metal kingdoms . Far to the south are the countries of Soul etc .

Jarl Harald Ironthroat paced through the captain's quarters of his prized frigate. Despite being surrounded by thick layers of composite armor and armed with a multitude of cannons, he could not help being nervous. The Council had said he would be sailing to a fool's death and refused all official assistance. Unofficially, they sent a runner to Harald personally, bearing a small flat round pack labeled `` Fender'' and a letter. `` Let nothing but frost remain,'' the letter read. 
 
 He had not noticed a subordinate coming in. 
 
 `` My liege,'' he began, `` the preparations are complete. We have erected a stage as you specified, and all the amplifiers have been connected to the main generator.'' 
 
 `` Very well,'' Harald said with a sigh, `` tell the men to put on the earmuffs and hold on to something.'' 
 
 The younger man's eyes widened, half in fear, half in reverence. 
 
 Harald nodded grimly. 
 
 `` It's time for a sound check.'' 
 
 - 
 
 Years later, the scribes would write that the dreaded sea-fort of Ironholde was brought down after months of grueling naval siege by the joint forces of the Council's constituent kingdoms. Most would reduce Harald Ironthroat's lone offensive to a footnote, if they bothered to name it at all. None at all would mention the eerie silence heard by the first squads landing on Ironholde, or the strange, half-molten patterns carved by some unseen force into its mighty armored bulwarks. Nor would a single historian give an account of the frost-covered corpses piled in every courtyard, blood having clearly poured from their ears before the end.
