Stage Description: A single broken aetherhold stands in the centre of a black stage with an unconscious man chained upon its top.

Character Description
The chained man: This man has long grey hair that falls about his shoulder in stringy locks. His face is creased with wrinkles. His pants are tattered though it is clear they are made of high quality fabrics. He has no shirt and his torso is covered in various wounds, old and new.

Character Description
The disembodied voice: This voice has no presence other than sound upon the stage, but it is clear that whoever controls it controls all the action.

The spotlight appears at the top of the stage revealing nothing but a black curtain. Slowly it pans down to illuminate the battered body of an older, shirtless human with messy long grey hair, chained to the remains of an aetherhold as he begins to stir.

With sadistic pleasure, a booming voice resonates throughout the stage, "Excellent. I see you are awake, Sadior."

The chained man says, "Huh, what is this place? Why am I chained up? How do you know my name?"

Chuckling darkly, the booming voice intones, "Ah, now that is quite an interesting tale. If you have a moment, I'll tell it to you....though of course you have a moment, you have as long as I am willing to give you."

Stage Description: Behind the translucent black curtain, several thatched huts stand together, forming a small village. The sun is high in the sky and the aslarans who populate the village are at play.

The spotlight highlighting Sadior blinks out, plummetingthe stage into darkness until another light illuminates a translucent black curtain that depicts a pleasant scene. Beyond the curtain’s scrim, young aslarans can be seen frolicking between huts as an older aslaran with grey around his muzzle sits next to a fire telling stories to those around him, pipe in mouth.

With a hint of sadness, the booming voice says, "It was thirty years ago in the moors. A small village of aslarans who wished nothing more than to live their lives in peace."

Stage Description: Behind the translucent crimson screen, thatched huts burn up in flames while the aslarans lay butchered upon the ground.

Suddenly, the lights cut out again. When light returns, the black translucent screen has been replaced by a crimson one. The bodies of the playful aslaran lay strewn upon the green field, butchered now and bloodied. A woman clutches a small aslaran child in one hand, the other she holds the body of a grown aslaran man. She weeps and lets go of the body, her arms covered in blood she cradles the child unable to touch him without staining him with the blood of the man. The lights flash again and Sadior is again illuminated.

Stirring nervously, Sadior says, "No, no, it was not that. I am beginning to remember now."

Great and terrible in its glory, the low growl of a dragon resounds throughout the stage, as deceiving and ephemeral as a mirage as the creature flies onto the stage and crashes upon Sadior in a series of flaming sparks. The illusion causes Sadior to shake and cry out, foam dripping from the edges from his mouth as the red curtain flares and fades to black with each blood-curdling scream.

The booming voice says, "Oh dear, dear man, do try to keep your memories under control. We still have much of the story to cover, and it won't do if you seize up at every point in the tale. Now where was I? Oh, yes. The village has been pillaged, its citizens slain except for a single mother and her son. Tell me, Sadior, what could they possibly do now?"

Stage Description: Behind the scrim, the aslarans walk along a long, dusty road. The background is stained deep crimson with pollution, heralding the city of Magnagora high at the top left corner of the background. As the pair of aslaran walk, the background behind them moves upon rollers so that the trees depict visual movement as the clouds of pollution swallow the sky.

The scene changes again to the mother and her cub marching along a long road, haggard and worn. They stop on the side of the road and split a small piece of bread.Tthe child rubs his belly to convey his hunger, and in response, the mother turns their pack inside out, displaying they have no more food. They spot the pollution of Magnagora on the horizon and excitedly point, running now with renewed purpose.

Stage Description: The stage now is decorated with steampunk pillars and various crimson and black statues. Neon read lights are raised and lowered in intensity to give the city a throbbing sense of evil.

The scene changes once again to the mother collapsing in front of the gates of the city where a stately-looking Illithoid wearing a top hat and sticky robes approaches the woman, offering her soup. She eagerly gulps it down, and then stands up shakily with wild fire in her eyes. The stranger turns to leave and the mothers turns to follow with hypnotic obedience, broken only when her son cries out for her embrace. Stunned, she shakes her head and runs back to her child, kneeling in front of him and whispering something feverishly into his ear. The Illithoid yanks her back by the scruff of her neck, and though she struggles, he forces the last drops of soup down her throat and the light once more leaves her eyes. Subdued, she then obediently walks away and follows the Illithoid offstage.

The booming voice, in sharp, clipped syllables states, "Do you wonder what she told him? She told him "These people have done something to me, I can't fight it, but I must work for the glory of the Engine. Yet you cannot give up, you must live on so that you may find the man that attacked our village, and you must make him know the pain he gave to us. As you drift to sleep, I want you to think of new tortures every night until you are able to inflict the best of them upon him."

Voice wrought with anguish, Sadior screams, "Why are you telling me these things, I have nothing to do with this! I am just an aetherpilot!"

The booming voice, calming, begins to speak again, "It was selfish of her to ask this of a child, of course, but her time was short, and she knew nothing but grief due to the violent end of her husband. The child didn't listen at first, and he followed her sheepishly while the man took her to the workhouse. He spied as she moved back and forth between the engines of war and her sleeping quarters, watched as she grew thinner. For an entire year he lived on the streets near that workhouse, avoiding any wayward soul, stealing and scavenging for his meals all the while watching his mother waste away. Soon, he had trouble sleeping and he found there was some peace in mentally torturing another as he had been tortured his entire life."

Stage Description: The stage is split in half by a wooden wall. On one side stands the aslaran boy, apparently peering inside through a window. On the other side of the wall, the dark shadows move with sinister intent.

The scene grows dark again, and the boy is significantly taller than before, dressed in black leather clothes and carrying a small sharp dagger. He picks at the edge of the work house window, attempting to break in, when he stops and peers through the window as three large masked viscanti enter the workhouse. The tallest of the masked men points to his mother, and without ceremony, two slick spikes impale her flesh, soaking the metal with blood. The boy’s desperate cries pierce the stage as he falls to his knees, sobbing.

The booming voice says, "It was at this point that the boy realized why his mother had wanted the man who had slain her husband to suffer. He was the cause of this, the reason they had to leave their village and come here. The boy had spent the last two years training himself to steal, and to live off of what was available around him. Now armed, it was time that he began his search."

Stage Description: The boy is walking along the same road as before, but now rain falls upon him. As the rollers turn, the aslaran youth finds himself in a desert as the stage lights brighten in intensity. The rollers continue to change to depict a mighty mountain covered in snow as a monastery becomes visible at its peak.

The scene flashes several times, first showing the boy pushing forward through hard rains, then flashing again to him making his way through a vast desert, and yet again to him scaling tall mountains until he comes upon a monastery. The boy is seen talking to a loboshigaru draped in long grey robes.

Softly, Sadior says, "The Tosha monks. Before I purchased my ship, I spent many days asking for their charity."

The booming voice states, "Quite. This was mere moments after the last time you would visit the Tosha Monastery, and you were so proud of having earned the gold that you couldn't wait to tell every last soul about "the Voice of Greed." It was to be the name of your ship, yes? It is truly a shame what happened."

Sadior shouts out, "Wait! Tell me what happened to the Voice?"

The booming voice snickers before saying, "Oh, we are getting to that part. Good things come to those that wait. Oh yes, the boy had just found out about your ship and your plans to spend the rest of your years sailing the aetherways and amassing your fortune. Now it was time for him to make his own fortune, but there was only one way to do this."

Stage Description: The stage is again adorned with the thatched village, intact and whole. This time the fire pit is replaced by a playground and, instead of aslarans, furrikin live here, clearly quite happy in tending to their duties.

The scene cuts to an idyllic furrikin village, children playing in the playground and farmers out in the field as an aslaran pounces in suddenly, a dagger in his teeth quickly dispatching any that fight against him. Soon, the furrikin are in chains and the Aslaran is shaking hands with an orc who hands him a bulging sack of gold.

The booming voice says, "This went on for many more years, the boy now a man, working however he could to earn the gold needed to buy his own craft. Soon the day came when he had his craft, but he was at a loss as to how he could find the man he sought. Fortune smiled upon me, though. Yes, you know who I am, don’t you, Sadior?."

Character Description: The Aslaran: Though he is obviously young, this aslaran’s temples and muzzle are flecked with grey fur and there are several spots about his head in which large chunks of hair are missing. He wears a black leather tunic and black cloth pants as shown upon his character in the workhouse scene.

A loud laugh rings out across the stage as a handsome, but world-weary, aslaran steps out from the shadows, carrying a tray along with him. He sets it down next to the aetherhold and says, "As I said, Fortune smiled upon me, and I heard your recruiter asking for volunteers to serve upon the Voice of Greed under the famous Captain Sadior. It was simple then to follow him back to the docks, enter my own ship, and wait for you to launch."

With resignation, Sadior says, "Just kill me now. You are going to do it anyways, have your vengeance."

The aslaran man laughs, picking up a scalpel off of the tray deftly tossing it in the air and catching it between two of his fingers.

He says, "Oh, but you've not yet heard the end of the story. Do not worry, though, you shall have your wish."

Stage Description: A gigantic vortex floats upon the left side of the stage while an aethercraft siphons energy from it. Energy sparks between the vortex and the ship in flashes of light, striking at seemingly random points upon its hull. In the distance, another ship approaches; upon the foreground, the Aslaran and the chained man are cast in shadow, their movements visible only as the outline of their body against the action behind the scrim.

The stage goes dark, and upon the back of the stage, the image of a great aethercraft fighting a dragon appears. The craft fires barrage after barrage until the dragon's form can take it no more, shattering and exploding into a pile of aetherial dust. The collectors emerge from the hull of the craft and point towards a nearby vortex, energy being drained between the ship and vortex causing an electrical storm.

A huge strike of lightning hits the craft, accompanied by a booming thunder as the aslaran’s illuminated silhouette plunges the scalpel down into the chained man's chest. The thunder drowns out Saldior’s screams.

Stage description: Large claws grip the edge of the vortex, lightning flashing between each talon as a forbidding maw opens wide within the depth of the vortex. The larger ship continues to siphon energy as the other ship, doubled in size, approaches.

Flickering on the stage’s background image, the dragon’s claws grip the edges of the vortex before flying out towards the craft again. It move towards its safe haven the shockwaves, a large distortion in the aetherspace, and immediately the ship comes to a halt - only able to drift meagerly in one direction or another.

While the turrets of the craft are focused upon the dragon, a smaller craft comes into the scene from over the horizon. It moves far faster than the larger craft could ever imagine, and is shaped like a small arrow head with a jutting ram at the tip. It crashes violently into the first craft, resonating with a large crash.

The aslaran lifts his shadowy scalpel, taking wide slashes at the man with fervor as blood flies with each cut. Behind him, the scene conforms to that of the Aslaran

Stage Description: The stage now depicts the inside of a damaged ship. Wires hang sparking from the ceiling and a body is hunched in the empath's harness. The command chair is filled by a large human in fine privateer clothing with well tended grey hair bound behind his head in a neat ponytail.

Upon the background image, the aslaran rushes into the Voice of Greed and grabs the human in the command chair. He passes a small heart-shaped stone from his hands into the human's chest, then grabs the human's head and violently twists. The snapping of the neck is audible.

The lights flickers and floods the stage, revealing that Saldior appears to be unharmed but remains unmoving. He awakens with a gasp

Gasping for breath, Saldior says," Why...I felt the pain, I felt my life leaving my limbs. Why am I not dead?"

The aslaran laughs uproariously this time. He says, "Oh, Captain Saldior, Sir, I have dreamed and dreamed of this day. You do not think the best torture I crafted was to kill you? Oh no, I am going to force you to live the deaths of all of those in my village and everyone you have ever harmed in your pursuit. No, the trick to torture is not to kill the victim, but to force them to live."

The scene goes black again. The curtain drops and it appears as if the play is concluded.

Stage Description: The scene is exactly the same as the first scene with the aslaran having taken the place of the chained man.

After a short break, the curtains fly back up again, the spotlight shines upon the top of a black curtain before slowly panning down to the aslaran chained to a clean labratory table.

A distinctly furrikin voice booms, "Ah, Now that is an interesting tale."