Let’s go down the list, shall we? Ever since Will Ryan started his IRIS music project, we’ve had 2 albums, each with 12 to 14 songs, a confirmed third album, three newly released singles and apparently a novel because now there’s a whole universe to the music. Well, on October 31 this year, to celebrate the first anniversary of the “Goliath’s Throne” album, Will decided that wasn’t enough and streamed a Dungeons and Dragons style campaign, titled “Jaws of Dawn”, that revealed not only an insane amount of backstory to the IRIS lore, but a new single titled “Mothohive” and an insane soundtrack that, honestly, blew me away.
So today we’ll be taking a look at this campaign, what we now know about the world of IRIS, and what will likely happen in the future.
The story begins, as we are told this all takes place on a planet known as the Depths. This is a meteor that struck the Earth, and is now in perfect orbit alongside it. It was inhabited by two beings- Father Tyrant and Lady Fate, who had come from Earth. An alliance came after them to protect what they had founded on the Depths, a castle known as (I’m about to spell this wrong) the Purgaprime.
A moat of omen water surrounded the castle, and many came to purify their souls. Those who came bringing peace would pass on and join the Colony, while those who brought darkness and destruction would dissolve in the water, and simply cease to exist. So this is basically Purgatory for the Depths. Those who came with troubled souls would work in Lady Fate’s garden to keep the water pure, and channel her power to the sky, to protect the powerful emblem residing there- the Iris.
The Iris is like God in this world- It’s all-seeing, and knows of all pasts, presents, and futures.
So the plot of this campaign is set in place when a rift in space opens a wormhole, and a swarm of sentient particles make their way out and into the Depths. They work kind of like a coral reef, in that they come together to form a superorganism of dark energy called the Mothohive, which has to be the single coolest looking thing to ever be part of IRIS- Sorry Goliath, you’ve been dethroned (ba dum-sss). This thing is now making a beeline for the Purgaprime to seek it’s prey, and this is where the twenty players in the campaign came in.
They roleplayed as soldiers of the colony, and had to fight a plethora of different monsters arisen as minions of the Mothohive. There were three levels; Fortitude Abominate, where they were up against three beasts by the names of Claustronoctus, Bipolisian and Anxosax, which seemed to be representative of conditions and fears like bipolar, anxiety and claustrophobia. I don’t know if I’m 100% right on that, but I’m guessing. Next was Parasitic Yonder, where they all had to make their way through a cave and wander blindly, as they had to fend against Paradigm Worms, as the Fire Arcane players had to light a gauntlet that would light the cave.
In the second stage of that level, the soldiers had to fight the Griefworm- It was a giant Lamprey with a million jaws. I must preface that I’m simplifying what happened in these stages, and I encourage you to go watch the campaign. Here’s the link:
(624) IRIS – Jaws of Dawn LIVE CAMPAIGN – YouTube
In the final level, Rise Against the Hive, the soldiers fought the Mothohive itself. This thing was insanely overpowered, with a health count of 3,000. Sadly, they all died before the beast could be slain. The thing was at 2.5 health. What happened next was interesting, and it reveals the origins of an important character to come later in the story.
Essentially, Father Tyrant uses a talisman to make a deal with the Damned- the souls of those who dissolved in the Omen water. They convince Tyrant to sacrifice his first born son to be tortured for an eternity amongst them, to revive the army for one last shot against the Mothohive. As the thing was at 2.5, it only took one or two hits to kill it. Before it is slain, however, it swipes it’s tail and draws blood from Fate and Tyrant. As the beast perishes, it’s belly opens and becomes a surrogate for a creature of dark matter and human blood- and thus, Goliath is born.
This game revealed a lot- now we know of the origins of the Depths, as well as Goliath, who we know to be a future protagonist in the upcoming album Dawn of the Demetrix. I wish I had known about this campaign sooner, because I would have loved to play a part in it, but it was still fun to watch. The world of IRIS has become very intricate, the storytelling is quite impressive, and I did take some inspiration from it when writing the story behind my music. So check out IRIS, and as always, stay safe and stay cool!
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