Castle of the Moon is an audio drama created by Alexander Shaw and is the fourteenth story in The New Century Multiverse, as well as the first part of Phase 3 of the overarching story.
Halloween, 1875 in the parallel Earth that will come to be known as Century.
A traveling professional monster-hunter crosses a dark and tumultuous mirror of Europe, now beset by the infection of the “Pricolici” (the name given to these savage and wild former-humans in Romania). On a train from Budapest, she encounters another hunter, the grim and brutal Magwitch, accompanied by a charming and apparently 11-year-old Argentinian girl.
They are in search of the mythical Casteluna, and the countess Sylviana who dwells there. None of them yet realize just how much their actions over this short span of days will change the entire course of history.
Forms a trilogy with Let Them Go and Literature/Nightfall of the Wendigo.
Castle of the Moon provides examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: This line from Chapter 10:"...I am pondering, preparing, to pivot my perturbed practicality into the pretence at propriety, is where in this preposterous place I might launder it."
- Alien Blood: Angels possess golden blood.
- Alternate Universe: As one might expect from The New Century Multiverse Sylviana and the entirety of Casteluna are from a separate universe than Century, which is itself an alternate universe to our own.
- Ancient Tomb: A vast warren of catacombs exists beneath Casteluna, and is dangerous enough that it sits behind a locked gate.
- Arranged Marriage: Between Sylviana and Piotr, a Dutch nobleman who she finds physically and mentally unattractive.
- Asshole Victim: The Snake Oil Salesman, who is outright stated to be evil by Breah, is clearly a conman, and is heavily implied to have had unsavory intentions for Breah.
- Attack on the Heart:
- Jophiel kills Breah with a stab to the heart.
- Magwitch kills the manticore lioness by stabbing it in the heart with the point on the back of his hammer.
- BFS: One of Sylviana's former companions is described wielding a giant, rune-covered sword.
- Bilingual Backfire: Breah and Magwitch attempt to hide their conversation from Rebecca by speaking in Spanish, unaware Rebecca also speaks Spanish.
- Big Damn Heroes: Magwitch leaps in to save Breah from the manticore lioness right before it kills her.
- Book Burning: The university Sylviana establishes in Buda is burnt to the ground, along with all the books that had been in Casteluna's library.
- Boom, Headshot!: During the race to Casteluna, Rebecca manages to blow the head off a Pricolici with her shotgun.
- Bungled Suicide: Magwitch attempts this after becoming infected by the Pricolici by slashing his wrists, but drops his knife before he can and by the time he recovers it he has finished transforming into the state he is at the start of the story.
- Call-Forward: The story takes place before most of The New Century Multiverse, but when Breah is exploring the catacombs of Casteluna, she comes across a portal to what is obviously Rama.
- Caps Lock: Jophiel speaks in all caps, to demonstrate how loud and powerful her speaking voice is.
- Carry a Big Stick: Magwitch utilizes an iron and silver warhammer.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: Rebecca gets caught by Manderley during an intimate moment on her first night in Casteluna.
- Celestial Paragons and Archangels: Sealed in Casteluna is Jophiel, an actual archangel from Judeo-Christian mythology.
- Chase Scene: One occurs in Chapter 6 and 7, where Rebecca and Magwitch race to get to Casteluna across a narrow bridge while being pursued by Pricolici. To further complicate matters it is the middle of the day and if they stop to fight, the Pricolici will likely rip open the bag that Breah is hiding in and expose her to the sun.
- Closet Key: It's explicitly stated that Camille made Sylviana realize she was also attracted to women.
- Creatures by Many Other Names:
- Continuing on the series tradition, we are introduced to the regional Romanian name for the werewolf-like creatures that haunt the world of Century, the Pricolici, which is a sort of vampire/werewolf mixture from Romanian folklore.
- Additionally, Rebecca uses the previously established British term "Barghest."
- Dangerously Close Shave: Sylviana and Magwitch have a conversation while she helps him shave his beard, which carries an air of danger due to both her vampiric nature and his infected blood.
- Dead Guy Junior: Manderly names her adoptive daughter Sylvie after Sylviana.
- Deal with the Devil:
- Sylviana literally makes a deal with a being calling itself Lucifer to be transformed into a vampire.
- Magwitch makes two of these with Yagana.
- Decapitation Presentation: The warrior who kills Sylviana's father is described as holding up the man's head for his armies to see.
- Devoured by the Horde: Jophiel's fate at the hand of Magwitch and his Pricolici.
- Detect Evil: Breah can sense whether people are good or evil in nature, which comes in handy as a Vegetarian Vampire.
- Died Standing Up: Yagana's magic freezes a group of Pricolici in place, and they remain standing even after they die.
- Dystopia Is Hard: Sylviana admits she has no interest in directly taking over the world because she did it before in her original world and found the experience unfulfilling for how hard the day to day work of ruling the world was.
- Eldritch Location: Casteluna, the incomprehensible old castle that is somehow able to travel between Alternate Universes.
- Empty Eyes: Magwitch realizes Breah is dead when he notices her eyes have gone still and flat.
- Epigraph: Part 1 starts with a quote from Bram Stokernote :"Remember my friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker."
- Eye Scream: Magwitch puts out Jophiel's eyes with his thumbs during their climactic battle.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Jophiel has eyes on her wings as well as her face.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: While she is dying Sylviana says that all powerful creatures had their power passed to them by another. When she dies a few moments later, her power immediately transfers to Magwitch.
- Flaming Sword:
- Jophiel wields a sword covered in blue flames.
- Sylviana wield a flaming scythe.
- Foreshadowing: When Sylviana is showing Magwitch a collection of statues of the Egyptian gods special attention is paid to one of Seth.
- Ghostly Glide: How Yagana moves around.
- Glowing Eyes: Jophiel has eyes that glow with an almost blinding intensity.
- Guilt Complex: Breah has one, mostly stemming from being a Religious Vampire. No matter how much good she does, she believes she is damned as long as she is a vampire.
- Gutted Like a Fish: Jophiel does this to Magwitch.
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Breah understandably has nothing but contempt for the unnamed Spaniard who turned her into a vampire.
- Hates Being Touched: Magwitch, though it's understandable since all his bodily fluids carry the Pricolici infection.
- Haunted Castle: Casteluna, the titular Castle of the Moon, is an ancient castle built atop an even older structure and owned by the vampire Countess Sylviana.
- Healing Factor: Magwitch has this, due to a deal he made with Yagana, though people assume it's a result of his Pricolici infection.
- Healing Hands: Jophiel possesses this power, which she uses to save Rebecca.
- Here There Be Dragons: This trope is referenced with Chapter 17 which is titled Here Be Monsters.
- Holy Burns Evil: Angel blood burns vampires like acid.
- Human Sacrifice: The only way to cure vampirism is to complete a ritual that requires the vampire to consume an innocent child.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: Magwitch, who was partially transformed by the Pricolici infection thanks to a rare mutation, seeks to eradicate the creatures because of the death of his family.
- Hunter of Monsters: Magwitch's profession, specifically focusing on the Pricolici.
- The Immune: Magwitch is immune to the Pricolici infection due to a rare genetic mutation which causes it to only partially transform his body, giving him Super-Senses while letting him keep his sanity.
- Intangible Price: In return for giving him a Healing Factor, Yagana takes away Magwitch's memory of him abandoning his family to die.
- It's All About Me: Piotr is incredibly self-centered, to the point he burns down the university in Buda and kills Camille because Sylviana isn’t paying enough attention to him.
- Jerkass: Manderly, whose arrogant and crude attitude rubs everyone the wrong way, even Sylviana at times.
- Kiss of the Vampire: To the extent that Sylviana orgasms when Lucifer finishes transforming her.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Sylviana's last words are cut off as she is turned to ash by the light of the sun.
Sylviana: "I only regret-"
- Knee-capping: Magwitch recalls seeing a man have his knee snapped backwards by a Pricolici to stop him from escaping.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia:
- Rebecca begins the story having completely forgotten the last week of her life.
- Yagana is able to remove specific memories from people's minds. She does it to Magwitch multiple times at his request and is revealed to be the one who did it to Rebecca.
- I Lied: Jophiel is quick to agree to Breah's stipulations in return for her freedom. After being freed, however, Jophiel quickly dismisses any intention of fulfilling Breah's wishes and stabs her.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Casteluna begins collapsing the moment Sylviana dies.
- Magic Mirror: One is housed in the catacombs beneath Casteluna, which appears to contain some connection to the Devil himself.
- Meaningful Rename: Magwitch renames himself Seth after the Egyptian God, who Sylviana had previously described as "an enigma, a thing that should not be."
- The Minion Master:
- It is revealed halfway through the story that Sylviana can control the Pricolici.
- At the end of the story, Magwitch also gains this ability after absorbing Sylviana's essence.
- Missing Reflection: Vampires in this setting do not cast reflections.
- Mobile Maze: The catacombs beneath Casteluna is in fact a giant shifting labyrinth.
- Monster Is a Mommy: The manticore lioness is revealed to have been protecting her cub shortly after Magwitch kills her.
- Mugging the Monster: It's heavily implied the Snake Oil Salesman had unsavory intentions towards Breah but ends up biting off a lot more than he could chew.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sylviana has this reaction when she realizes she pushed Breah too far.
- The Nose Knows: Magwitch has an enhanced sense of smell, able to notice Pricolici by scent alone.
- Off with His Head!:
- Syviana's father, Teodoise III, dies after his head is lopped off on the battlefield.
- Breah removes the head of the Snake Oil Salesman after feeding on him, likely to ensure he doesn't come back as a vampire.
- Magwitch apparently ripped a man's head off during his fight with the villagers in Rauviata.
- Oh, Crap!: Sylviana and Manderley have this reaction when Breah steals the key to the catacombs.
- One-Man Army: Magwitch is shown to be capable of taking down dozens of men equipped with firearms on his own with just a warhammer, which is largely aided by his Healing Factor.
- Origins Episode: The story is revealed to be one for Seth, one of the series' major antagonists.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's clear she has been pushed too far when Breah, who hates foul language, tells Manderley to fuck off.
- Our Angels Are Different: Jophiel is a more traditional angel with six-wings, two of which are used to veil her Glowing Eyes that also grow on the wings themselves, and wielding a Flaming Sword (though the flames on hers are blue. Less traditional is her golden blood that is used to power Casteluna.
- Our Manticores Are Spinier: Breah is attacked by a female manticore in the labyrinth, which is later revealed to be guarding her cub.
- Palate Propping: Magwitch holds the manticore lioness at bay by grabbing its jaws while wrestling with it.
- Parental Substitute: Magwitch for Breah, who directly refers to him as "father" at one point.
- Parrot Pet Position: After befriending Breoth, Magwitch carries him like this.
- Photographic Memory: Sylviana appears to have a version of this, where she can perfectly recall what people tell her.
- Pinned to the Wall:
- Breah finds the angel Jophiel pinned to a tree by spears and a sword.
- Jophiel returns the favor to Sylviana by stabbing the vampire through the chest with her own scythe and pinning Sylviana to her throne.
- Pointed Ears: Vampires possess these, requiring them to conceal them in order to be unnoticed.
- Precision F-Strike: Breah, who normally abhors foul language, tells Manderley to "fuck off" when the later refuses to stop pushing her philosophy that, as vampires, they are inherently superior to humans and should view them as nothing more than cattle.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Yagana uses her magic to force a group of Pricolici to tear their own throats out.
- Really 700 Years Old: Breah is 111 years old, having spent a century looking like an 11 year old child.
- Red Baron: Sylviana becomes known as Draka Dohtor, the Dragon's Daughter, for her fierceness in battle.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Vampires possess red eyes, which highlight the inherent danger they present.
- Satan: The being in the Magic Mirror calls himself Lucifer, though Sylviana implies that the being is just claiming the title.
- Religious Vampire: Breah is a devoted Catholic, which bring with it an unfathomable amount of guilt.
- The Reveal:
- Sylviana and Casteluna come from an entirely separate world, which is why her telling of history is radically different from our own.
- Magwitch is both Vincent Penrose, the long lost father of James, and Seth, the leader of the Pricolici.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Sylviana's "spiderweb dress."
- Single Tear:
- Sylviana sheds one made of blood while telling her tragic backstory.
- She sheds another one as she dies.
- Sinister Scythe: Sylviana wields a scythe that is on fire.
- Slashed Throat:
- Magwitch dispatches a Pricolici by cutting its throat with a single slash of a blade.
- Yagana forces a group of Pricolici to do this to themselves.
- Snake Oil Salesman: Rebecca encounters one of these on her way through Romania and reveals that after the outbreak of the plague, a number of these sprung up selling Barghest fingers and toes in bottles of linseed oil, claiming that drinking it after being bitten could stop someone from transforming. Seeing as the digits were themselves infected, this would actually accelerate transformations more than anything.
- Statuesque Stunner: Countess Sylviana is gorgeous and it’s remarked upon multiple times that she is quite tall for a woman, standing a full head above Rebecca.
- Suddenly Shouting: Sylviana has a bad reaction to finding out Breah hates vampires for being parasites, even though they are a vampire themselves.
Breah: But I say again, I would be taking, not giving.
Sylviana: I GAVE!
Sylviana: I GAVE!
- Super-Senses:
- Vampirism enhances all of a persons natural senses to inhuman acuity.
- Magwitch has them thanks to his Pricolici infection.
- Take It to the Bridge: Magwitch and Jophiel's climactic battle occurs on the bridge leading to Casteluna.
- Take Over the World: It is implied Sylviana did this in her old world, and she definitely plans to do it in Century.
- Tears of Blood:
- Sylviana sheds a single, red tear while telling the group her tragic backstory.
- She sheds another one while dying.
- Technicolor Fire:
- The candles in Yagana's hut have green flames.
- Jophiel's Flaming Sword burns blue.
- Telepathy:
- Sylviana possesses the ability to "walk through your mind" as she describes it.
- Magwitch gains this ability after absorbing Sylviana's essence.
- Three Wishes: Breah is able to extract three favors from Jophiel in return for freeing the angel: 1. Not to harm Magwitch or Rebecca, 2. Make sure the baby Sylvania brought as a Human Sacrifice is brought to a good home, and 3. Let Breah enter Heaven.
- Throat-Slitting Gesture: Yagana does this apparently as part of her forcing a group of Pricolici to commit Psychic-Assisted Suicide.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: Lucifer informs Sylvania that Piotr was responsible for burning down the university in Buda, which led to Camille’s death. This quickly leads to Sylvania ripping out Piotr’s throat with her teeth.
- Turning Back Human: Breah and Magwitch are traveling to Casteluna to find the cure to their conditions.
- Two-Person Pool Party: A slight variation in that Sylvania and Rebecca get naked and intimate with each other in a bathtub, but then actually have sex on the floor next to it.
- Undead Child: Breah appears to be an 11 year old girl, but is actually a vampire who has been around for over a century.
- Unnecessarily Large Interior: Casteluna has notably cavernous rooms, including a library with a ceiling that can't even be seen. It adds to the unnatural feel of the place.
- Vampires Are Rich: Sylviana was a Romanian noblewoman in life and thus has a lot of money at her disposal.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Jophiel sees any type of non-human as worthy only of death, regardless of their personal morality or even what they've done for her.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Breah restricts herself to feeding on animals and evil people, which is aided by her ability to Detect Evil.
- Viral Transformation: If a person is bitten by a vampire but not killed by them, they will become a vampire as well, as shown with Breah.
- Weakened by the Light: Vampires in general can be destroyed by sunlight. Sylviana is eventually burnt to ash by the rising sun.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sylviana intends to raise an army of Pricolici and take over the world, believing she can guide hummanity towards knowledge and harmony.
- Wham Line: Magwitch requests Yagana let him keep a specific memory.
"The birth of my son, James."
- When Things Spin, Science Happens: It's unclear if "science" is what is happening, but the engine that powers Casteluna is a constantly spinning gyroscope-esque device.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Essentially a retelling of Dracula set within The New Century Multiverse, including numerous quotes from the original novel.
- Would Hurt a Child: Jophiel kills the very child-like Breah for being a vampire, and doesn't appear to feel an ounce of guilt over it.
