Hello, listeners. Be advised that this show is an immersive audio experience. It may seem like sounds are coming from the sides or behind you. Listener discretion is advised, as this content is intended for adult audiences only.

Cucode presents Birds of Empire, created by Jason Liu.

Above it all, sat a young man with arms of iron and wood, born into the Ram tribe.

The machines this people conjured danced in his vision,

just out of reach.

The ancients called death the great cure.

For some, this is more true than it is not.

For in our death, we sometimes find our life,

buried deep, deep within.

Boy, careful when you are deep, deep within.

Boy, careful with that load.

Keep steady, steady like the Great Ram.

Forgive me, sir.

Sir?

I've become a sir now,

from forgotten low land waste rule toiling in the silver mines, crooked, bent like a mean woman's curse. Now I'm transformed overnight to sir.

Elders are all sir to me, Hephaestin.

Thanks be to you, Barlin, son of Aaron.

You give a glorious promotion to an old fool.

You give grace to forgive my clumsiness. My arms make me not much more useful than the beasts who carry out the rocks on their backs.

Not sense, young Barlin. Can the beasts speak and learn and listen with wit and sharpness?

I suppose not. Do the beast step delicately as not to cause deadly tremors through the veins in our sacred mountains?

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