Art Across the Mother's Roots | Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The New Wave of Art in New Ashen | Part One

From the writing desk of Roberte Lacroix.

"Good afternoon dear readers, and those of you who have still managed to find their way through this commissioned dribble by a subpar publisher.

If it were up to me, my publicist would be a Yui, but the Gods have decided a Human publishing company based in New Ashen, so with that being said I have elected to pay a visit while passing through Arcvelt on my merry way out to the lands of Sanctuary.

Today we will not explore New Ashen food, as many of my Human readers are aware, you go to New Ashen for the experience, Not the Food. (So bland…)

Please join me while I explore New Ashenite night-life, and the alleged “Booming Sensation,” that New Ashen aristocrats rave about as of late, their music, and the fashion industry, with the “common business-man” style, showing a rise among commercial exporters across the lands.

Loud Banging:

As many in the modern age have come to notice, since the era of collapse before the redrawing of maps, New Ashen has become a major hub for trade of luxury goods, even down to furniture craftsmanship which Almost holds a candle to the Frean’s and Yui’s craftsmanship with wood. Frean furnishings are all custom and hand-carved, and the Yui having plenty of wood and plant shapers, creating intricate and natural pieces that were carefully cured over time. The common staple of New Ashen’s furnishings from commoner, to elegance, is functionality, where the New Ashen elite pay higher costs for finer craftsmanship.

All this to say that New Ashen displays a pattern of excess, and that the waterheaded wealthy elites will buy anything, so long as it is a status symbol.

When it comes to the new age of “music” that is rising from New Ashen, celebrates their heavy indulgences into industry.

(It should be noted that there has never been a Frean in attendance to these shows, even with earplugs provided. More on this later.)

Now a key note I have before entering this discussion (Fuck Off Allen) is to inform you the reader, that I have a strong aversion to the New Ashen noble nightlife, even though a man of my standing must stoop so low as to join their revelling, and I have the hangover to show for it.

On the previous evening I spent my time among a New Ashenite Duke of sorts, kept going on about how his family oversees a major textile company. All I heard was, I do no work for marginal profit… In my travels, I had been invited to an evening performance by a local theater. The first thing I noticed while instruments were tuned was a vast amount of metal instruments, and a selection of industrial equipment, including but not limited to an Anvil and Heavy Hammer.

These items, much to my dismay, would be used to assault my ears for the next two ungodly hours.

The performance was relatively sound, showcasing common compositions for the New Ashen masses in attendance. Fluttering notes, and an excess of percussion for punctuation. After acquiring a set of plugs for my ears, I was able to find appreciation in the sound. It was powerful, or at least intended to be. When the head of the hammer met the surface of the anvil, it punctuated the melodies intense chorus, creating a resonating boom in the theatre that kept listeners on the edge of their seats.

Mixing this with copious amounts of alcohol, I have come to understand how the New Ashen nobility have taken to this trend.

With enough liquor, and time to oneself, the higher echelons have taken to being children again, enjoying the clanging of metal.

Let it be noted I have respect for art in all its many forms, but I cannot support the industry pushed in New Ashen, where music is only seen as a delight for the rich.

Fortunately for other less well-off citizens, they merely have to park themselves in a park no more than three blocks away. Speaking of this, I have done further interviews with a few Frean New Ashenites, and have come to learn that their people’s word of mouth warn fellow Freans to avoid living close to music halls, lest they wish to become hard at hearing early in life. "