Broken by war, reborn through magic—a mechanical soldier defies his creators to protect a child in 1944 Europe. Unknown Soldier is a mythic war story told across audio, art, and game design.
Listen to Chapter 1
Characters
(The Game Party)
The Soldier
A silent war machine sparks with defiance, becoming Europe's most unlikely guardian amid the flames of war.
WEAPONS
Fists, Pistols & Shields
Salome
A six-year-old refugee with unshakable courage who sees a guardian angel where others see only a monster.
Bill
A reluctant American soldier forced to chronicle the impossible as history and myth collide around him.
WEAPONS
Rifles, Pistols & Staves
Thorne
A distinguished fairy knight whose four arms and strategic mind serve an ancient duty with unwavering loyalty and military precision.
WEAPONS
Spears, Shields, Swords, Maces & Healing Magic
Rosie
A wool-covered fairy whose anxious trembling masks centuries of empathy and an uncanny ability to sense approaching danger.
WEAPONS
Staves, Daggers & Healing Magic
Balthazar
A gruff Russian Kolobok fairy of living dough whose weathered exterior masks an unshakable loyalty and battle-tested wisdom earned across centuries of conflict.
WEAPONS
Swords, Axes, Katanas, Staves & Offensive Magic
Grendel
A slimy, kimono-clad amphibian mercenary whose pragmatic hunger for both food and profit makes him a dangerous ally.
WEAPONS
Daggers & Axes
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Supporting Cast
Wilbur
A cheerful mushroom entrepreneur whose fungal body houses both boundless optimism and an impressive transportation network connecting the strangest corners of multiple realms.
Bjarne
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Queen Gloriana
The timeless ruler of Annwfyn whose ancient wisdom and regal authority command respect across realms.
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Locations
Saint-Lo Countryside
Where fiery metal meets scorched earth, a mysterious impact crater mars the French countryside near the haunting remnants of a once-peaceful farmhouse, now reduced to smoldering ruins.
Saint-Lo German Encampment
Nestled strategically among the hedgerows, a fortified German encampment stands vigilant with machine gun nests, sandbag barricades, and watchful sentries guarding passage through contested French territory.
Saint-Lo Tunnel
Beneath the battle-scarred hills of Saint-Lo, an ominous tunnel entrance beckons the brave with promises of shelter—and terrors lurking in its unexplored depths.
Le Mesnil-Durand Barn
Weathered beams and shadow-filled corners define this isolated French barn, repurposed by Allied forces as a makeshift prison where secrets and strategies unfold under cover of darkness.
Lore
Annwfyn
Existing just beyond the veil of human perception, the Otherworld pulses with ancient magic enchantment—a parallel dimension where immortal beings and mystical creatures thrive alongside our own, accessible only through hidden passages and secret gateways veiled from ordinary sight.
Mycelium Network
A vast interconnected web of luminescent fungal pathways spanning both mortal and magical realms
Unknown Soldier began as a graphic novel I created over twenty-five years ago, back in high school. The story has evolved since then, but its heart remains the same: a tale of loss and redemption set against the backdrop of World War II.
I'm Nick James; dad, designer and art school drop-out. For the last two decades, I've worked in branding and product design, while quietly chipping away at my own creative projects: illustration, coding and music. But like many people, I never had the bandwidth to fully realize something this ambitious...
But that changed in 2024, when the company I worked for shut down overnight. Two months later, Hurricane Helene swept through Asheville and displaced my family for several months. In the middle of all that chaos and a brutal tech-job market, something unexpected happened: life cracked open just enough space for the Unknown Soldier.
The audio production on this site is the end result of that time and space.
It began as something I made for myself—simply to hear the story I'd written on paper come to life. But now that it exists, I can't keep it bottled up. This readthrough is just Act 1 of a much larger interactive experience—a tactical RPG with deep storytelling, turn-based and real-time combat, and a character-driven power fantasy at its heart.
I believe that after listening, you'll want to play this story too.
WHAT'S ALREADY BUILT
Behind the audio production is a solid foundation:
GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT
Covers mechanics, systems, economy, lore, worldbuilding, and player progression. There are 17 core playable characters with 10 more secret party members.
SCREENPLAY
A full three-act script with a core main story and plenty of optional content (only Act 1 is voiced so far).
GAMEPLAY PROTOTYPES
Hand-coded early-stage prototypes made in the Unity game engine. Designed to test concepts, gameplay elements-not visual polish.
CONCEPT ART
A library of concept art for characters, locations, and themes.
A NOTE ON AI VOICES
Yes—some voices in this production are AI-generated. Controversial? Maybe. But I'm a one-man studio with kids, a mortgage and a thin wallet. While I don't envision AI in the final version, it's a powerful way to prototype this ambitious story and bring it to life.
That said, I wasn't satisfied with off-the-shelf AI tools. So I built my own.
I created Legion TTS, a tool that lets me assign voices to characters, tweak emotional delivery, and layer in music and sound effects—like any film editor would. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done in a way that's immersive and expressive enough to do the story justice.
LET'S TALK
If you're a game director, studio producer, or even someone from the film/TV side who's curious about this project, I'd love to hear from you.
nick@rebuildhim.com
Thanks for listening,
