The Anthem of Gemclod



music by Sirocco
text by Kenning

A version sung by Krysmphoenix:


A version sung by Bene Elim and played on a killed elf's guitar:


Just music (brass):


An 8-bit version:





We came from burnt and wasted homes
We came from crumbled walls.
We left behind our hoary dead
Entombed in shattered halls.

Our wagon's name was Heavy Heart
Our horse was Sturdy Back.
We left behind the Mountainhomes;
The night was cold and black

We rode until the wretched swamp,
We rode to stinking soil—
To Gemclod where the earth is foul,
To Gemclod where we toil.

We struck the muddy oozing earth,
We delved a mighty pit.
It smelled of stone beneath the bog,
Of metal ore and grit.

Our swamp was filled with evil beasts;
Our brothers slew the lot.
The harpies fell in floods of gore,
Their corpses left to rot.

We hollowed out our hallowed halls
We drank 'neath fens that boil.
In Gemclod where the earth is foul,
In Gemclod where we toil.

We work our crafts in wood and stone
We store our gems in hoards.
The bats and jaguars flee our spears—
The marshland's mighty lords.

Our forges burn in magma caves
Our dining hall is grand.
We'll beat back any fetid foe
And pacify our land.

We ne'er shall see our fortress die
Our land and works despoiled.
In Gemclod where the earth is foul,
In Gemclod where we've toiled.

We watched the elves surprise our kin
We watched them charge our fort.
They slew our loyal guarding dog
In nauseating sport.

Our brothers faced the forest foe,
Our brothers bathed in blood.
The elven cowards fled the field;
Their corpses stained the mud.

We hacked apart their savage beast
We set its flesh to boil.
In Gemclod where the earth is foul,
In Gemclod where we toil.



Sirocco wrote :-

The Gemclod Anthem

Key: G Minor
Metre: 4/4

Ah, it was so long ago when I did this! I don't really remember writing it very well now, but I do know that Kenning's untitled poem was what inspired it. As well as having some wonderful turns of phrase, the scansion is extremely regular. All in all, perfectly ripe for setting to music.

Now, this was before I knew I'd be writing more music so that rather affected how it came out. My thought process was along the lines of 'what would dwarven music be like?' The obvious answer is a male choir! I suppose dwarves would have high-pitched voices, but I always imagined them as being low and gruff so basses and tenors were the voices I chose.

The harmony and tempo and time signature were all designed for how I imagined dwarves would approach music - simply, somewhat clumsily, and with heels dragged. Kenning's poem made me envisage a bunch of dwarves gloomily going about their jobs with some breed of stubborness replacing optimism.




Kenning wrote :-

The Anthem of Gemclod

When I wrote this I didn't realize that it was going to become A Thing. There were lots of cool pictures and whatnot being posted, and I wanted to get in on the action. I'm terrible at the visual arts, but I've written nonsense doggerel for the internet before, so I decided to give it a shot.

The Anthem is in ballad meter, since I wanted to make this as dwarfy as possible and ballads seem like the kind of things dwarfs would sing. I also used a very simple rhyme scheme (rhyming only the second and fourth lines of a stanza) and a whole lot of repetition (We...we, Our...our, To Gemclod...To Gemclod) in order to give it a feel like a work or traveling song.

Thematically I was drawing mostly on a) Markus's descriptions and hints of having fled a destroyed fortress elsewhere, and b) the sort of tragicomic lives of resolute dwarfs living in a hellhole of a swamp. This piece of mine most reflects the tone in Markus and Leperfish's years – a bit dark, but wry and hopeful.





Sirocco wrote :-