Dust of Empire is a haunting political drama chronicling the final days of a once-glorious desert kingdom whose rulers grew blind behind walls of gold, slaves, and ceremony. As the empire slowly crumbles under the weight of its own ritual, vanity, and silence, its nobles distract themselves with artifice, spectacle, and superstition—while the oppressed whisper stories in the sand.
The central narrative follows three intertwined characters:
- The Archivist, who alone remembers the empire's truths but is forbidden to speak them aloud.
- The General, loyal to a throne that no longer recognises her.
- The Painted Child, a mute orphan raised to act as a symbol of divine purity—yet who holds the bloodline to restore the fallen dynasty.
Each act begins with the sweeping ritual of
The Dusting—a cleansing rite performed to hide flaws, erase names, or beautify corpses. With every passing act, the dust grows thicker, until in the final scene, it chokes the stage and characters alike.
Controversy and Banning
Though cloaked in metaphor, the implications were clear. Many saw in its imagery a direct critique of Sethet-Ka’s court, the ritualised caste system of Y’Matara, and the erasure of pre-Al-Khet cultures. The role of the Painted Child, in particular, was rumoured to mirror a real-life noble heir whose existence had been quietly erased.
The play was shut down after only three performances by decree of the
The Vizier's Council. All known scripts were confiscated. The lead actor was questioned for days.
Iskha de la Plume vanished from public view for nearly a year following the incident.
Despite the ban,
Dust of Empire survives—fragments of its script circulate in scholarly circles and hidden salons, sometimes passed off as poetry or copied into treatises on “theatre symbolism.”
Among the Worker and Artisan castes, the phrase
“to dust a crown” has become code for subtle rebellion. In some quarters, lines from the play are carved into alley walls or sewn into linings of cloaks.
