Who is Oda Thahn?

A warrior, veteran of a thousand skirmishes. They call her bastard, not for the blood in her veins.

Once after a battle, she stood in the field, sharpening her blade on a crushed skull, chuckling to herself about all the people she‘d brought together. When her commander asked what she meant, Oda Thahn pointed to a grisly stain on her uniform. “Here”, she said, “was a monarchist.” Lowering her finger just a few inches, she continued: ”Here, a separatist. Who can tell them apart any longer?” Then leaned her head back and laughed, full throated. She was discharged before she could compose herself.

Now she walks the land alone. Seasoned warriors hide like thieves when she approaches. Seasoned lovers hobble away from her tent, late in the night. She only cares for what wealth she can carry, what pleasures she can experience without attachment. She has her armor and her sword, against all the obstacles life has to offer.

But the Trials of Oda Thahn are just beginning.

_________

Dathonah, in his clay house with the thatched straw roof. Dathonah, in his sullied robes, the remnants of both medicine and illness... in full view on the cloth. Dathonah, the outcast, the healer, the madman. But if you had an illness, you would be mad to not visit him. The burial ground is filled with the bodies of optimates who wouldn’t deign to be seen beyond the edges of town, where his house stood.

Of course, consider young Tal, whom Dathonah pulled back from the brink of consumption as a youngling. Tal, emerging from an embattled slumber at dawn, and screaming through hoarseness until the sun was full in the sky. Tal, who now speaks only slightly above a whisper, and always seems to look through you when she meets your eyes.

Or Anto, don’t forget Anto. He visited Dathonah in his twentieth summer for help mending a broken leg. Drank several potions, slept through many hours with foul-smelling poultices wrapped around his leg. All with Dathonah singing those damnable Fae-songs. Now he walks farther, works longer than ever before, complains less. But in the days surrounding the New Moon, he is never anywhere to be found. As soon as the first sliver of gold reappears in the night sky, he returns. Anto has never been quite able to say where he goes during this time. You can’t be sure if he even knows that he’s been gone.

Now, Dathonah must go, as he does every year, to gather rare herbs from underground. The sickly, pale leaves he collects are the groundwork of his apothecary. The journey is not without risk, so he’ll need to bring some of his prescriptions for himself.more

released February 13, 2020

Cassettes available from Heimat Der Katastrophe:heimatderkatastrophe.bandcamp.com/album/hdk-48-the-trial-of-oda-thahn-dathonahs-prescription

Two sides of music drawn from the same source - Melancholic and airy sounds to represent the healer Dathonah, and stark, brass and percussion-driven anthems to represent the warrior Oda-Thahn.

Cassette release by the inimitable Heimat Der Katastrophe microlabel, featuring special double-sided J-Card corresponding to each side of music and each doomed, unraveling protagonist. J-Card contains story which corresponds to each character.

cover artwork by Silvana Massa.

Mastering by Stiopa Kalashnikov

Cassette Layout and formatting by Sarta Kalashnikov

All music, story, and concept by Nahadoth (Adam Matlock)