Story: In a war torn alternate world, music is a weapon and producers are WMD's.

It has been
called "The 100 year Sound Wars" and no one is safe from attack. Bigger beats mean bigger
destructive power. It's an all out war. Will there be no end? Will music destroy us all? This is
part one.

Glossary of Terms and Definitions

Atelier: A workshop or studio, especially for an artist or designer. In this story, it is the name for the troupes’ HQ
(head quarters).

Cella Musicae: this is latin for music room. In this story, the music room is the war room. It is the room where all
strategies and plans are made and deliberated on. It is located within the Atelier.

Troupe: A company of, often touring, actors, singers or dancers; Any group of people working together on a shared
activity; To tour with a troupe. In this story “troupe” is the name for the individual armies.

Concerto: A composition for an orchestra and one or more solo instruments, typically in three movements. In this
story, concerto is a name for an attack.

Maestro: A master in an art, especially a composer, conductor, or music teacher. In this story, “maestro” is one of
the highest ranks.

M.C.: maestro conductor or master conductor. Highest rank.

V.A.: Vocal Assassin. Vocal assassins are people who use their voice as a weapon. They can use their voice to
manipulate matter. As a group, VAs are called a Choir. VAs dominant chakra is the throat and they can draw from
it as needed to call forth incredibly powerful and destructive attacks.

Silencers: The only people really qualified to take out V.A’s. To take out a VA, a sniper uses a device that shoots
onto the neck of the VA, restricting their voice so that they cannot sing. When they try to sing, it will pain them.
The device bonds with the body of the VA. No known way of removing it. These devices are known as collars.

Verismo (meaning "realism", from Italian vero, meaning "true") was an Italian literary and, by extension, operatic
movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s. Giovanni Verga and Luigi Capuana
were its main exponents and the authors of a verismo manifesto. Capuana published the novel Giacinta, generally
regarded as the "manifesto" of Italian verismo. Unlike French naturalism, which was based on posivistic ideals,
Verga and Capuana rejected claims of the scientific nature and social usefulness of the movement. Verismo is also
used to refer to a post-Romantic Italian operatic tradition associated with composers such as Pietro Mascagni,
Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano and Giacomo Puccini, who sought to bring the naturalism of writers such
as Emile Zola and Henrik Ibsen into opera. In this story, Verismo is the name of the Troupe that is commanded by
M.C. Giovanni Baroque.

Baroque music describes a style of European classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1750. This era
is said to begin in music after the Renaissance and was followed by the Classical era. The word “baroque” came
from the Portuguese word barroco, meaning "misshapen pearl", a strikingly fitting characterization of the
architecture of this period; later, the name came to be applied also to its music. Baroque is the last name of MC
Giovanni Baroque.

“Being silenced”: About the equivalent of dying. In a world where music is the life force within each and
everything and in a world where music is power, being silenced is the worst thing that could be done to you.
Requiem - a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. In this story,
when a person dies, their body sings a song; a requiem. This is the death song. Only a Healer can stop a Requiem,
and it must be done immediately.

Conductors are leaders of the troupes.

Composers and Arrangers are the war strategists and advisers to the Conductors.

Musicians and Artists are names for soldiers.

Sheets of Music/Sheet Music: war plans and strategies.

KALLIOPE (or Calliope) was the eldest of the Mousai (Muses), the goddesses of music, song and dance. She was
also the goddess of eloquence, who bestowed her gift on kings and princes. Kalliope is the first name of Maestro
Conductor Negus.

D-composers (decomposers) are weapons with the ability to tear apart sounds. D-Composers can only destroy
certain octaves. Anything outside of their range, the weapon has no effect. It could possibly even backfire on the
user if used against octaves outside its range. D-composers are useless against certain vocal attacks.

Stage: the area in a theatre which is often raised above ground level and on which actors or entertainers perform.
In this story, the stage is the battlefield.
Casualties of War: Volume I, The Sounds of Disaster

Chapter 1: The troupe moved in with incredible speed and stealth, positioning their musicians according
to the sheet music. The Troupe of Verismo was about to unleash their secret weapon, the D-Composers.
Armed with the D-Composers, the tides would quickly turn against the Troupe of Tessitura…

Music notes shot through the air. Beautiful, angry, horrible sounds filled the Stage. The Vocal Assassins
were at the front, giving the soldiers time to retreat.

Olivia shot her song into the music tank. The VA’s were in disbelief. They could not believe how quickly
they had gone from victory to defeat.

“Vibrato!” She sang out… Her voice rang like a clear and booming bell, and the ground beneath the tank
ripped up, crushing it. Behind her, Avid was fighting off Silencers. Avid was not a V.A. Avid was a
Producer. As quickly as he mixed his music, he shot it out of the speakers embedded into his sound
absorbing armor. The beats pierced into the bodies of the Silencers.

Olivia found herself smiling at Avid’s skill. Just then, she felt someone push her down, hard. She looked
up, angrily, into the cloudy gray eyes of the man who pushed her down. Shock and embarrassment
quickly replaced her angry expression.

“Pay attention, damn it!” Shouted the Choir Master. Olivia had narrowly escaped a collar. Collars were
weapons especially made for Vocal Assassins. Once collared, you could no longer sing. Any attempt
resulted in incredible pain. With a collar bonded to your voice box, you could only speak in a
monotonous tone.

“Y-yes, sir!” But before she finished the sentence, he was off again, battling. She was shaken up about
how close she came to being collared.

“How could I be so careless?” She thought to herself as she dodged concerto after concerto.

Suddenly, a horrific sound filled the air. Olivia caught sight of what was creating it. The Vocal Assassins
of Troupe Verismo had arrived, but they were not fighting with their voices.

Olivia shot her song at the weapon in the hands of one of the Verismo V.A’s. With a sadistic smile, the
V.A. aimed the object at Olivia’s sound waves, and shot. Her beautiful voice was turned into a horrible
screeching. Notes and tones bended and broke in the very air. The sound waves exploded and sent
music notes into the body of Olivia. Her eyes grew wide, and she pressed her hands into the holes in her
chest, as her body began to sing her requiem. Avid turned at the sound of her song. He ran to her,
dropping his mixer, only to shot by the Visermo’s V.A’s.

All over the battlefield you could see the Troupe of Tessitura falling, the VA’s sound waves being broken
by the D-composers. No music rang out. Only the horrifying sounds of music being ripped to shreds, and
one Requiem after another. The Troupe of Tessitura had no choice but to retreat.
Chapter 2: They thought they had won… They thought victory was finally within their grasp. Just as they
held out their expectant hands to grab hold of victory, it was snatched away from them. Just as they
thought they had overwhelmed the enemy, the tides suddenly changed. How could they have so greatly
underestimated the Troupe of Visermo? How many had they lost?

Word of the defeat reached the Maestro Conductor. All of the Arrangers & Composers were gathered in
the Cella Musicae, and the room was thick with tension and emotion… Everyone was solemn, trying not
to let their emotions show on their faces.

The Maestro Conductor burst into the room, furious. The circles around the MCs eyes showed she had
not slept, but the deep pools of brown showed no sign of being off-balance. The loud, enraged voice of
the M.C. shook the room, “Where was our intelligence? Why didn’t we know of that weapon prior to
their concertos?”

As MC Negus glared at everyone in the room, the 1 st symphony composer began to speak, “M.C. Negus,
with all due respect, ma’am, we had no way of knowing—“

“—I don’t want excuses when my musicians are out there being silenced!” The 1 st symphony composer’s
flinch was almost undetectable… Almost. The M.C. raged on, “We were supposed to be toasting our
victory by now! Now I hear that some of my top V.A.s have been silenced and our troupe is weakening!
The casualty report states that over 200 requiems have been sung in ONE DAY!” Her chest was rising
and falling rapidly. Her face had a look that could strike fear in the very heart of the Gods. She closed her
eyes and regained herself.

She quietly and slowly said the next few words, “ I have issued an full retreat—“

“—But, Conductor, we can’t just—“ The back side of the MC’s fist went hard into the face of the 3 rd
symphony composer.

She kneeled down and looked into his face . Her voice was low and terrifying, “How dare you tell me
what we can or cannot do.” She looked at the composer as if he were the most repulsive thing she had
ever seen, “I am GOD. As long as I am MC, I am GOD! Do you understand me? I will not allow anymore
of my musicians or my VA’s to be silenced!” She stood up slowly. Then she turned back to the council
table.

“We must counter-concerto immediately!” As M.C. Negus said this, without looking, she held out her
hand to the tall, broad shouldered man who had entered the room with her. This was the first time
anyone had even noticed that the slender man with the midnight hair was there. His face was a shadow,
because his gaze was on the ground. His long, graceful fingers loosely held several sheets of music, all of
which he passed to the M.C.

Slamming them upon the table, she began to compose and arrange their next move. As she composed
and spoke, the room’s mood changed. Several of the conductors and arrangers exchanged impressed
looks. There was no question as to why Calliope Negus was the M.C.
Chapter 3: Excitement was buzzing within the second division of the Troupe. They were called to fight,
and more excitingly, they would have the honor of fighting with the MC. The division was full of
whispers, but as voice began to speak, a grave hush fell upon the young musicians.

The MC was leaned against a wall. The mysterious man was not too far from her. She had a slight smirk
on her face.

“So you think you’re ready for battle?” She laughed. “Let me tell you something, musicians, this is no
game. This is not training. There will be no second chances, no retries, and no safety nets. If you’re hit,
you’re hit. We’ve managed to get footage of the D-Composers in action… Would you like to see?” As she
looked up, her eyes were cold and maniacal, and her smile was mocking and cruel. She pressed the
remote and the projectors lowered out of the ceiling.

“Watch.” She clicked play and the holograms replayed the destruction of the D-composers. Gasps filled
the room as they saw someone with long white hair be pierced with their own music. “Horrible, isn’t it?
That was one of my top VA’s, Olivia Pendura.” If the novice musicians knew the MC, they would have
seen her eyes grow a little watery as she mentioned Olivia’s name, “The D-Composers work by
deconstructing musical notes and tones. It actually rips apart music, bending pitches and breaking their
notes. It decays the very music you make. If it hits you directly, it will decay your very voicebox. This
weapon is highly effective against vocal attacks and the effects of it, irreversible.”

Fearful murmurs filled the room.

“Silence,” The voice echoed throughout the court, and everyone grew silent. Niccolò had finally spoke,
and his voice was one of the most lovely, yet horrible sounds any of them had heard. “You can win,
young musicians… And I am here to help you learn how.” He looked up at them, and the shadow fell
from his beautiful face.

“This,” Calliope smiled as she gestured to him with her hand,” Is Niccolò. Niccolò has a… Special ability
that he is going to share with those who have been touched by the Mousai. Since I too have been
touched, I kknow the technique, but alas, am not in control of it. He will take over from here. Treat him
as good as you would me,” she laughed. She turned and strolled out of the court.
Chapter 4: Three weeks had passed. In the entire second division, which had over 300 musicians, only
seven people had been touched by the Mousai. To be touched by the Mousai was to be endowed with
incredible, super abilities; powers of life and death, powers of rebirth and destruction, and powers of
healing and deterioration…

This elite team of seven, plus Niccolò were given the name AuM. AuM (AuM), meaning “Auric
Manipulators.” The AUM was to eradicate the Troupe of Visermo. Niccolò lead the AuM into the battle.
The minute they entered, the Troupe of Visermo attacked. Ocarina’s pure voice deflected the first wave.
She created a shield with her song. Octavia, her twin, quickly backed her up and kept the shield up.

“DOWN!” bellowed Niccolò, and the sisters opened up a small part of the shield. His voice rang out
above everyone’s. The very gods heard and looked down at this voice emanating such exquisite light.
Niccolò’s voice caused his aura to show. He conjured his aura and shot it at the Visermo VA’s. They had
no idea what was happening to them. Their auras were suddenly visible. Each aura was a different color,
but then they began to turn purplish black—the same color as Niccolò’s. His face was expressionless, his
eyes void. Their auras began to leave them, and as their auras left them, their eyes rolled into their
heads and they made sounds as if they could scarcely breathe. Niccolò absorbed their entire aura, and
their bodies began to sing Requiems. The tide of war had again changed in the favor of the Troupe of
Tessitura.