TRANSMISSION_PENDING
The Steel Throne
A Cyberpunk Macbeth retelling
"How far will ambition take you before it consumes you entirely?"
THE_STORY
In a near-future dominated by military corporations, Sterling Dynamics controls the world's cybernetic conflicts. General Marcus Bethel — war hero and Vice-President — encounters three prophetic AIs who declare him the future CEO. His wife Elena, a digital manipulation genius, intercepts the prophecy and sets their dark plan in motion.
Marcus assassinates Magnus Sterling, his mentor and father figure, through a corrupted cybernetic life support system. He seizes the Steel Throne — but power brings paranoia. Surveillance systems expand, rivals are eliminated, and the ghost of Magnus begins to haunt him at corporate banquets.
As Elena descends into digital madness, desperately trying to "delete" the virtual evidence resurfacing around her, Marcus sinks into nihilism. The son he wronged — Michael Sterling — gathers resistance with Viktor's escaped heir Felix. The system Marcus built ultimately executes him in the very servers he believed he controlled.
A cyberpunk retelling of Macbeth — where corrupted AI prophecies replace the witches, and digital ghosts are indistinguishable from code.
▶ TRACKLIST
11 TRACKS — RECORDING PENDING
TRACK_st-01
The Sterling Empire (Ouverture)
Instrumental
LOCKED
TRACK_st-02
Binary Fate
Marcus Bethel & The Oracles
LOCKED
TRACK_st-03
Crown of Code
Elena Bethel & Marcus Bethel
LOCKED
TRACK_st-04
The Murder Protocol
Marcus Bethel & Elena Bethel
LOCKED
TRACK_st-05
Digital Paranoia
Marcus Bethel
LOCKED
TRACK_st-06
The Banquet of Ghosts
Marcus Bethel & Magnus Sterling
LOCKED
TRACK_st-07
Is This a Virus?
Marcus Bethel
LOCKED
TRACK_st-08
Viktor's Lament
Viktor Bancroft
LOCKED
TRACK_st-09
Delete, Delete, Delete
Elena Bethel
LOCKED
TRACK_st-10
Tomorrow, Tomorrow
Marcus Bethel
LOCKED
TRACK_st-11
System Restore
Michael Sterling & Felix Bancroft
LOCKED
CHARACTERS
Marcus Bethel
General turned Usurper
War hero and Vice-President of Sterling Dynamics. Driven by ambition and his wife's manipulation, he becomes the architect of his own destruction.
Elena Bethel
Mastermind, Digital Lady Macbeth
Director of cybersecurity and genius manipulator. Her seductive melodic theme gradually distorts as her grip on reality dissolves.
Magnus Sterling
CEO, Paternal Figure
The respected founder of Sterling Dynamics. His corporate anthem echoes through the opera long after his death as a symbol of the power Marcus covets.
Viktor Bancroft
Loyal Friend, Noble Victim
Marcus's best friend and colonel — noble and loyal to the end. His sacrifice haunts the opera's second act.
The Oracles
Prophetic AIs
A trio of corrupted artificial intelligences whose prophecies set everything in motion. The cyberpunk equivalent of Macbeth's three witches.
THEMES
Corrupted Prophecy
AI prophecies used as weapons — the question of whether fate is written or manufactured.
Ambition and Paranoia
How the pursuit of power creates the very traps that destroy the powerful.
Digital Guilt
In a world of perfect digital records, can any crime truly be erased? Elena's madness as data forensics.
Corporate Feudalism
Military corporations as the new kingdoms — the Steel Throne as the ultimate symbol of hollow power.
PRODUCTION_NOTE
The Steel Throne transposes Shakespeare's Macbeth into a near-future of cybernetic warfare and corporate feudalism. Created with Suno AI and undergoing human re-recording.