High Noon Over Camelot

High Noon Over Camelot is a Western-style retelling of Arthurian legend, using folk songs in a variety of musical styles. It is the Mechanisms' third story set / studio album. A tale of hope and despair aboard the Fort Galfridian, long lost to the outside world, where the chaos of centuries of solitude has been brought in check at last by the guns of the Pendragon Gang. But the visions of the mad prophet Galahad, and the schemes of the Pendragons' lieutenants Mordred and Gawain, threaten to cast the station back into anarchy. And all the while, the Sun grows hotter...

This is the third studio album by The Mechanisms, written 2013-2014 and presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2014.

Setting
High Noon Over Camelot is a dieselpunk take on westerns and Arthurian mythology. The album takes place on Fort Galfridian, a space station built by an unnamed but highly advanced civilisation in orbit around their sun, Avalon.

Fort Galfridian is a cross between a rotating wheel space station, and an O'Neill cylinder - a space station made of a series of concentric cylinders, with inhabitants living on the inside of the curved surfaces of the cylinders; by spinning along its axis, this generates artificial gravity through the centriputal force. The central cylinder is several miles wide, and is ceiling-less, with light provided by a large central lamp that runs the length of the cylinder, which is known as the 'sun'.

Construction on Fort Galfridian is incomplete, having been abandoned after contact with their home world was lost. The highest ranking military officer on the station - a general - seized control over the station, enforcing a totalitarian rule, supported by the Captain Joseph Mathia and his access to the GRAIL. Discontent with this iron rule, the engineers on the station mutinied, and the Captain refused the General's order to slaughter the engineers. Instead he locked himself in his cabin and undertook suspended animation, while his cabin's defences killed the General and her supporters.

The incomplete construction and decades of neglect have caused several issues on the station - the only consistently working light on the station is the central sun, the other levels being near-permanently dark ; several sections of the station are flooded; drinkable water is scarce ; and the bare metal floors have rusted into a 'desert' of rust particles, causing deadly storms. In addition to this, without running engines the station is slowly falling into Avalon, slowly heating the station and guaranteeing its eventual destruction if no action is taken.

Society on the station has also split into two distinct societies - the inner rings are the home of small towns, ruled by Sheriffs and Water Lords, with the wastelands between them filled with bandits. In the outermost levels, known as Annwn, the Saxons live. The Saxons survive through cannibalism - both hunting the occupants of the inner most levels and practising endocannibalism - with a small amount of food trade with the inner levels. The Saxons are highly persecuted by the townsfolk, and are known by them as the 'Ghouls'.

For further information, see the The World of High Noon Over Camelot page.

Plot
On the space station Fort Galfridian, the sudden loss of contact with their home-world leads to mutiny and civil war as resources dwindle. Generations pass, and the history of the station is forgotten. Banditry is common, power comes through controlling the water sources, and the people have split themselves into 'townsfolk' and 'Saxons', who live in the lightless outskirts of the ship, and are considered to be barbaric, cannibalistic 'Ghouls'.

In Camelot, the Stone clan rule, until the three Pendragons - Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere - arrive. Killing Sheriff Lavinia Stone and her deputies, they declare Arthur the new sheriff and begin strengthening the town, filling the seats of the round table with fighters. Their family has been waiting in the desert for safety, but when Gawain is sent to fetch them to Camelot, the caravan breaks down. Gawain leaves for help but when he returns, it is discovered that the people have died, and the camp turned over by the Saxons. It is assumed that Arthur's daughter Morgause is one of those killed, but her body is not actually found; she has in fact been adopted by the Saxons.

Growing up, Morgause realises he is trans, and chooses the name Mordred. He then journeys to Camelot and pledges himself to the Pendragons, rapidly rising through the ranks of the gunslingers. However, he keeps his time with the Saxons, and his identity as Arthur's son a secret.

The Hanged Man, a robot strung from the gallows in Camelot and known as Merlin, divulges three prophecies. He tells Arthur that his son is alive, raised by the Saxons and that it is essential to listen to him; to Gawain, he says that the hate Gawain has for the Saxons for slaughtering his family is unjust, and it's Gawain's own fear that will cause war. Neither of the pair believe Merlin (especially since Arthur thinks he had a daughter, not a son). Galahad, a preacher, receives the third prophecy, taking Merlin's suggestion to sit in the seat at the head of the round table. He discovers the station is falling into the local star, Avalon, but by restarting the ship's systems by using the GRAIL system, they could prevent this. The Pendragons resolve to do this, collecting together a band of fighters and heading out questing. They leave Mordred and Gawain in joint control of Camelot.

The quest for the GRAIL kills all but the Pendragons, but eventually they reach the Captain's cabin and kill the previous holder (Joseph Robert Mathia, who has been in cryogenic hibernation), then claim the GRAIL. They are then transported back to the round table in Camelot, which is the control interface for the ship. Forced to chose a single Captain, they nearly come to blows but decide on Arthur. Before they can input this, though, they are interrupted by Mordred.

With the power he had been given, Mordred had arranged  for a peace treaty to be signed between Camelot and the Saxons at Camlann. When a Saxon kills a scorpion about to sting Mordred, this is taken as an attack by Gawain. Fighting breaks out, and many are killed. Mordred decides the world is not worth saving, and goes to find the Pendragons.

Mordred shoots all three of the Pendragons, killing Lancelot and Guinevere and injuring Arthur. He reveals his identity to Arthur, then places his father in a life-pod, ejecting him from the ship to live as Mordred crashes the space station into Avalon, killing everyone on-board.

Characters

 * Arthur Pendragon (played by Marius von Raum): the sheriff of Camelot, lover of Lancelot and Guinevere, and father of Mordred. He is described as the brains of the three Pendragons, and is twice appointed the leader of the three. He does not recognize that his child (previously daughter Morgause, now son Mordred) survived the death of the rest of his family, and refuses to allow any of Mordred's early attempts to secure peace between Camelot and the Saxons. He is the sole survivor of Fort Galfridian.
 * Lancelot Pendragon (played by Jonny d'Ville): lover of Guinevere and Arthur, and the sharpshooter of the three.
 * Guinevere Pendragon (played by The Toy Soldier): lover of Arthur and Lancelot, described as the quickest draw of the three.
 * Mordred (played by Ashes O'Reilly): the son of Arthur and Ygraine. Raised by the Saxons after the death of his caravan, he keeps his identity secret as he travels to Camelot and attempts to secure peace between Camelot and the Saxons. When this fails, he destroys Fort Galfridian.
 * Gawain (played by Gunpowder Tim): one of the Pendragon's fighters, described as young and hot-headed at the start of the album. He hates the Saxons for the slaughter of the caravan while he was away, and sparks the battle at Camlan by attacking a Saxon who was trying to kill a scorpion before it could hurt Mordred.
 * Galahad (played by Jonny d'Ville): a travelling preacher/religious zealot who is told to sit in the Siege Seat by Merlin, and discovers the fact that Fort Galfridian is falling into the star Avalon. He sparks the quest for the GRAIL, and willingly goes to his death to overcome its final defences.
 * Merlin: actually DrumBot Brian. Brian had been hung upside-down from the gallows in Camelot many years before the events of the album. He initially gave prophecies to the inhabitants of Camelot, but when he stopped, he was slowly forgotten over the generations. His true name was lost, and he became known as the Hanged Man or Merlin, based on a misreading of the damaged and upside-down engraving of Brian on his chest. He restarts giving prophecies when the Pendragons take over Camelot, and gives various prophecies to Arthur, Gawain and Galahad to varying success.
 * Joseph Robert Mathia (played by Jonny d'Ville): the Captain of Fort Galfridian, and first holder of the GRAIL. Supervised by a General (played by The Toy Soldier), he helps run the station until contact is lost with their civilisation. As rebellion occurs, the General asks him to put it down by killing those involved. The General dies, and Joseph locks himself in his cabin with the defence system killing those who try to take the GRAIL from him. He enters stasis, and is only woken when the Pendragons arrive. Named for Saint Joseph of Arimathea, a Biblical figure who later became associated with the Holy Grail legend.
 * Unnamed Woman (played by Raphaella la Cognizi): the narrator of Empty Trail, and generally assumed to be Ygraine, Mordred's mother and one of Arthur's partners.

Information about the background characters mentioned in the album and related fiction can be found on the Minor Characters In High Noon Over Camelot page.

Fiction

 * The Fastest Shot Guinevere's backstory. Sixteen year-old Guinevere lives with her brother Gote after their father's death. Gote is an aggressive drunkard, and Gwen hides from him as he and his gang lieutenants drink and shoot rats, remembering when Gote taught her to shoot, but was jealous when she was too good and too fast. When Gote comes in to find Gwen, he reveals he plans to marry her to the Meleagrant to cover his own back. Gwen decides she would happily kill both her brother and the Melegrant, and takes the gun her brother has dropped. She shoots him.


 * The Sharpest Aim Lancelot's backstory. Lancelot arrives in a new town. He is attacked by a group of five boys, he kills them quickly and impresses Gian, the local water-lord. Gian is fighting the Wolf Gang and is loosing, and the men Lancelot just killed were Wolf Gang recruits so he wants to hire Lancelot to fight for him. Lancelot introduces himself as the Man Mal-fet and refuses. At the party Gian throws that night, Lancelot meets Mary who Gian has forced to be his mistress by drowning her lover Dan. Lancelot steals Gian's bike and sends Mary away to Camelot. When Gian discovers Lancelot's theft, he captures Lancelot and leaves him in the desert to die. However several locals rescue him, and secretly nurse him back to health. Lancelot gathers the information he needs on Gian's gang and then finds himself a pylon and kills them all.


 * I Will Rule this Town. Arthur's backstory. In Camelot, Arthur has nightmares about drowning. Thirty years earlier he spent three months whittling down the followers of Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, and ruler of the hydroponics. He planned to kill Nimue to take her gun, which he had learned about off Merlin. Arthur had always spent time with Merlin when he was in Camelot as a journeying sell-gun, as he'd learnt about Merlin from his father, and could be in Camelot as people didn't recognise him as his father's son. Arthur finally kills Nimue and takes her x-calibre rifle, leaving him ready to attack the Stones.
 * The Wake. Mordred's backstory and an exploration of the use of cannibalism in the Saxon's funerary rites. Morgan, Mordred's adopted mother has died, and her funeral is being prepared. The Saxon's fast the night before, as the priests prepare the body, boiling it to make a broth. Mordred remembers the first funeral he participated in - his adopted brother Garet's. There had been opposition to this, as it was suspected Mordred himself had killed Garet. The funeral begins, and those connected to Morgan speak of her. Uren, Ywan's father with Morgan, defends her as determined. Ywan tells a child-like story. Lot, who had been particularly against Mordred's adoption holds his tongue. Mordred remembers Morgan fighting for him, Lot's rage against him as a child, and Morgan's delight when he came out as Mordred. He talks about his first memory being her finding him. The heart, brain and stomach are presented to those Morgan chose. Head priest Orel takes the brain as Morgan's mind, as is traditional. Ywan, as the oldest birth-child takes the stomach as the soul. Mordred is surprised to recieve the heart, the highest honour.   The funeral breaks up, and Orel finds Mordred to speak to him. He reminds Mordred that Morgan had reasons to be proud of him, and Mordred agrees to go to Camelot.

Songs

 * Pellinore and the Beast (Tales to be Told): A retelling of the Questing Beast story. For three hundred years a robot has deconstructed parts of the settlement of Camlann during the night. A bounty is placed on destroying it, and Pellinore spends forty years tracking it before he finds it in its lair. He discovers the robot was a builder-bot, and had been pillaging materials when it ran out of its own. He considers its work too beautiful to destroy it.

Solo Work

 * Pure of Heart - Sure of Aim (Kofi Young): A story of the quest for the GRAIL. Arthur laments those who have died and been abandoned by the questers without burial or mourning - including his own mother. Injured, his prophetic dreams of his life in other universes or timelines and which have shaped his life from birth strengthen, and he worries the Pendragons won't survive the quest.

References in High Noon Over Camelot
Line by line explanation of the references in the lyrics in High Noon Over Camelot can be found on Genius, explanation of references included in the associated images, characters, background and fiction can be found within References In High Noon Over Camelot. Background reading material on the source myths can be found on the Further Reading page.

The Mechanisms' Locations

 * DrumBot Brian: Was the Hanged Man in Camelot. He is still on Fort Galfridian when it crashes into Avalon, and it takes a centaury for the rest of the crew to retrieve him from the sun.
 * Marius von Raum: Was on the station previously, but left prior to the events of the album. He participated in the Saxon's coming of age ritual of looking at Avalon and was considered a prophet for being able to look at the sun for hours when the Saxons could only manage seconds due to the intense, unfiltered radiation

Live Performances
Several live performances of High Noon Over Camelot were given by the Mechanisms. The recordings that were taken of some of these performances are compiled on the Past Events page.

Trivia

 * This is the only main album to feature all nine of the band members - Once Upon A Time (In Space) was made prior to the joining of Marius von Raum and Raphaella la Cognizi; Ulysses Dies at Dawn was made while Nastya Rasputina and Ivy Alexandria were on hiatus; and The Bifrost Incident was written after Nastya Rasputina and the Toy Soldier left the band.
 * The album liner includes a copy of a message board in Camelot with an advert for Wayland's Blacksmith shop; wanted posters for Vivian Nimue and Ysbaddaden Bencawr; an advert for Merlin; and a warning of bandits and raiders in the wastes around Camelot.
 * The Hanged Man Rusts was played at Death to the Mechanisms and features on the album; The Once and Future King was played during the Saturday show but doesn't have an official recording.