The Byron Chronicles

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Imagine if the world as you know it... was nothing more than an illusion. What if creatures like elves, dragons, vampire, zombies and werewolves walk amongst you every day... but you never see them. This is the world I walk in. I am called Byron. And these are my chronicles."

The time? Present day, or something not too far off. The place? Portland, Oregon. The problem? More like problems. The Vatican's trying to prevent a Zombie Apocalypse, some idiots in England freed a bunch of fallen angels from their prison, Satan's lost his daughter and is not happy about it, and a new street drug is turning the homeless people who use it into monsters. It's up to Byron, an immortal superhuman of unknown origin, to save the day.

The Byron Chronicles is an audio drama series from Darker Projects dealing with the troubles behind maintaining The Masquerade. David Ault stars as moody Byron, a being with immense powers who spends his life protecting humans and keeping the peace in his chosen home of Portland. He's been around awhile, and he's not happy that things keep going wrong. Joining him in his endeavors is Christina Sparrow, a young woman who had a run-in with a monster that left her very changed, and together they explore the underworld of magic that lies just beneath the surface of reality.

Season One dealt mostly with Christina's introduction to Byron, as well as werewolf pack politics, a street drug that turns long-term users into monsters, and an angel prison known as the Labyrinth. Season Two wrapped up the Labyrinth storyline and swept Byron and Chris up in a vampire clan conflict that almost destroyed Portland, while tormenting Byron with the consequences of past actions. Season Three is ongoing, introducing a new villain known only as Leviathan and giving Byron someone else to hang around.

Tropes used in The Byron Chronicles include:
  • Action Girl: Chris counts, Sam not so much.
  • Adrenaline Makeover: Chris goes from a naive college student to a Badass Demihuman with superhuman strength.
  • All Myths Are True - not only myths and legends, but multiple fictional stories. See Shout-Out below for some examples.
  • Anti-Hero: Byron is Type IV, reluctant to get involved with other people's troubles unless It's Personal, to prevent The End of the World as We Know It, helping a friend or the problem is his fault.
    • He also seems protective of his adopted home of Portland, Oregon.
  • Apocalypse How: Rome's fall was between types 0 and 1.
  • Arc Words: "Leviathan dances"
  • The Atoner: Byron's comments indicate that his present heroic actions and duties are an attempt to balance some rather questionable actions in his Mysterious Past.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Happens to Byron for a time if he pushes his power too far, like in Season Two.
  • Byronic Hero: Guess
  • Came Back Wrong: Lazarus (aka that one guy whom Jesus brought back from the dead) not only didn't die naturally again, but precipitated the entire Zombie Apocalypse.
  • Church Militant: The Watch, a secret branch of the Vatican
  • Christmas Episode: Two so far - "Alistair and the Strange Case of the Christmas Undead" and "Nicholas".
  • Deadpan Snarker: Byron
    • Max, the Armani-wearing, merlot-downing demon.
  • Demihuman: Chris, post-monster attack.
  • Demonic Possession: Caroline in "Dead Time".
  • Damsel in Distress: When Chris first appears, she's attacked by a Rush user-turned-monster and must be saved by Byron.
  • Dracula: Wants to kill Byron. Though, to be fair, Byron did kill his wife.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: Many of the vampires live in complex subterranean chambers to protect themselves from the sun.
  • Empty Shell: Christina's dead body is possessed by Leviathan.
  • Fantastic Drug: The new street drug Rush, a potent psychedelic, is growing popular amongst the locals of Portland... and turning its long-term users into vampire-like monsters. Byron can't find the secret ingredient until Chris comes along - she was bitten by a user and became a vampirelike human. Turns out it's vampire blood that's causing all the trouble.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Faven, a half-demon, is trapped within Byron's tower after breaking in. Chris's imprisonment in Dracula's machine also counts.
  • "Friend or Idol?" Decision: At the beginning of Season Two, Byron is trapped with Jo on a mirror world by Logan so that Logan can free Lilith from Byron's realm. Later it is revealed that Byron could have returned at any time to his own realm without Jo but chose to stay to try and get Jo home, thus invoking this trope. However Jo dies and Lilith is freed anyway.
  • Fur Against Fang: Season One two-parter "Code of Conduct" has almost-vampire Chris meet a female werewolf named Amy. They don't get along.
    • Subverted at the end of Season 2 when the eastern council of vampires and the werewolves join forces against Dracula and begin to broker a more permanent peace.
  • Government Conspiracy: The organization introduced in Episode 6, "A Time Of Rising", is a branch of the U.S. Government dealing with things like angels and keeping the public in the dark.
  • Jerkass Gods: God created the world and sent Jesus to die for humanity, but now he doesn't give a crap.
  • Hell Is That Noise: In-universe - season 2 episode 2, "Noise", has the human population of Portland driven mad by a high-frequency sound. Also qualifies as a Brown Note.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Leviathan
    • Byron himself may qualify, due to his unique nature and odd appearance.
    • Chris may also qualify, due to her One-Winged Angel nature.
  • Knight Templar: Agent Catherine of the Watch
  • Louis Cypher: Logan
  • Mage Tower: Byron's home in the Rose Gardens
  • The Man Behind the Man
  • The Masquerade - referred to by name and actually made into law via the Masquerade Pact, which prohibits humans finding out about the nature of reality en masse.
  • The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Surprisingly averted - Chris's transformations actually enhance her love life, giving her exciting new dating prospects in Byron.
  • My Greatest Failure: Byron has a lot of these in his past but the greatest may be being forced to kill Chris.
  • My Secret Pregnancy: "Code of Conduct" has Amy the werewolf pregnant by Gareth, a member of her pack (but not the one she's supposed to mate with). She conceals her pregnancy to save her own life; in the werewolf laws, a female who doesn't mate with the Alpha to preserve the bloodline is killed.
  • Mysterious Past: Byron himself, of course, and his three siblings as well. It's hinted that they control different season, with Byron's being autumn, and they all have their own realms, but most of their true nature are unknown.
    • Though we do discover that Byron once called himself Alistair.
    • And his father liked to fish, and that his name is Peter.
    • Byron also had something to do with the fall of Rome, and whatever he did not only caused the imprisonment of Death but makes everyone afraid of him.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Voices of Flame and Leviathan from season 3
  • Not So Different: Done to Byron by Leviathan.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A regular occurrence of the series.
    • Byron has destroyed Rome, created a demonic mist and refused to save its third victim before imprisoning it, created a race of super zombies For Science! and refused to give up Lilith to angels which may result in the destruction of all reality. Among others.
    • Hurray Jo, you saved the world from the fallen Seraphim! By releasing them into another world where they killed everyone.
    • Even Jesus gets one of these! Turns out he brought Lazarus back from the dead alright- as the first flesh-eating zombie.
  • One-Winged Angel: Chris can assume a monstrous form if angry or threatened.
  • Only In It For The Merlot: Max, a demon summoned by Chris to find out what's causing the Noise.
    • As he puts it, "like banks, there are no vineyards in Hell." Apparently wine's quite hard to come by when you're a demon.
      • A season three episode explains that the wine can restore energy and some magic after a shock or exertion.
  • Our Monsters Are Different: Angels, vampires, werewolves, and zombies all make appearances.
    • The angels are all fallen, cast out of heaven by an apathetic God. Though some still serve him out of loyalty.
    • The vampires can't come out in daylight and must survive on human blood, but are incredibly egotistical.
    • The werewolves worship the goddess of the moon and have a matrilineal society in which the genetic strength is passed through the female.
    • Zombies can be brought back with a drug, but only remain human if not fully turned and continuously taking the pills.
  • The Password Is Always Swordfish: Byron's English companion, in an effort to escape from some cultists, opens a number of code-locked doors by punching in 007.
  • Public Domain Character: Dracula and his wife Mina
  • Pro Bono Barter: Chris gets Max's help in exchange for a case of merlot.
    • She did offer to pay him, but his reaction was less than pleased:

"You think there are exchange rates in Hell? A branch of Western Union to cash a check?"

  • Religion of Evil: Leviathan's "religion", which not only marks believers with a tattoo-like symbol but protects them from going insane. The cultists' devotion to the fallen angels in season 1 counts as well.
  • Sacrificial Lion: Chris
  • Santa Claus: Is actually a evil Humanoid Abomination!
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Comes in a variety of flavors. They inevitably escape.
    • Fallen Seraphim and Leviathan are imprisoned in a dimension called the Labyrinth until Logan releases them.
    • A demonic mist created by Byron that can possess victims and turn them into serial killers is sealed in a bronze box created by Tibetan monks.
    • Nicholas aka Santa Claus is imprisoned and let out once a year and forced to deliver presents to children.
    • Byron himself from time to time, courtesy of both Dracula and the Vatican.
    • Byron keeps some himself, including Lilith and a race of super zombies he created.
  • Shout-Out: Too many to count. Apparently, not only is The Byron Chronicles in the same universe as every other podcast from Darker Projects, but multiple fictional universes as well.
    • Byron once quipped that "Harry's quite a nice fellow. Pity about that Voldemort business."
    • Prime Minister Saxon was responsible for almost destroying the Earth with angry fallen angels.
    • Chris met a coven of animal-feeding vampires who live in Washington.
    • The government organization mentioned that they were concerned about a vampire in New Orleans named "Lestag" who was publishing his memoirs.
  • Town with a Dark Secret: Blackthorn, Vermont, where everyone went crazy.
  • Weakened by the Light: Christina's reaction when she's affected by Rush.
  • Wham! Episode: The last episode of season 2, ending in Chris's death.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: Seems to happen with alarming frequency. Byron even lampshades it.
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