Compass & Codex
Adventure history and adventure science — fiction stories for boys.
Compass & Codex is a serialized storytelling podcast for boys ages 8–14 and the families who read with them. Every episode is a chapter of an ongoing story: fire ant scouts, Roman legions, pirates, and more — told with real biology, real history, and real stakes.
We explore the unknown, every time.
Current series:
- Colony in Danger (fire ant adventure fiction)
- Eagle's Edge (Roman historical fiction).
New chapters every week.
Subscribe and start from Chapter 1.
Hosted by Reed Sterling.
For fans of Watership Down, Redwall, the Warriors series, Empires of the Undergrowth, and anyone who wants adventure fiction that respects the reader.
Episodes
54 episodes
Brickhaven: CH 1 | Boy Wakes Up Inside His Own LEGO World | A LEGO Fan Fiction Adventure Story
Max built a LEGO town called Brickhaven. Every wall, every street, every guard. Then he woke up inside it — one-and-a-half inches tall. And they closed the gates.Brickhaven Ep.1 follows Max across the vast landscape of his bedroom floor...
Colony in Danger: CH 9 | Trapped in Beetle Territory | Fire Ant Adventure Story
Fire ants don't enter beetle territory. Cinder Marlowe just did — and now his whole team is locked in a hollow log while the beetles prepare to use them as bait at dawn.This fire ant adventure story follows Cinder, Blaze, Thistle, and S...
Treasure Island: CH 1 | A Scarred Pirate Moves Into a Cliffside Inn | Classic Pirate Adventure Audiobook
Jim Hawkins has never left the Admiral Benbow Inn. Then Billy Bones arrives.He’s a weathered, scar-faced pirate who takes the corner table by the window and never takes his eyes off the road. He pays in strange foreign c...
Eagle's Edge: CH 1 | Roman Recruit Swears 25 Years to Caesar's Army | Roman History Boys 8-14
Marcus Aemilius Corvus is sixteen years old and about to swear twenty-five years of his life to Caesar's army. Once the sacramentum passes his lips, he belongs to Rome.In this episode, Marcus arrives at the legion camp outsid...
Iron Rails & Ruin: CH 1 | A 14-Year-Old Engineer Drives a Steam Train Through a Montana Blizzard | Steampunk Adventure Audiobook
Three senior engineers refused to take this route tonight. That left Gunnar Harlan.He’s fourteen years old, running his late father’s steam engine through a Montana blizzard in 1879. The Widow-Maker knows every inch of this mount...
.jpg)
Brickhaven: CH 2 | Max Is Taken Prisoner In The Town He Built | LEGO Adventure Audiobook for Boys
Max knows this LEGO town better than anyone alive. He built every brick, designed every guard, placed every lamp and fountain. But when he's escorted through the gates of Brickhaven under armed escort, the citizens look away and...
Colony in Danger: CH 10 - Ant Scouts Trapped | Can a Caterpillar Break Them Out? | Ant Audiobook Boys 8-14
Four fire ant scouts are locked in a jar with no way out. A strange caterpillar arrives with a deal — and the entire wild world hangs on it.Cinder, Blaze, Thistle, and Silas are prisoners in a cracked clay jar deep inside the ...
Treasure Island: CH 2 | Black Dog Arrives — Then Blind Pew Brings the Black Spot | Pirate Adventure Boys 8-14
The pirates have found Billy Bones — and now everything Jim Hawkins knew about his quiet life at the inn is over.A thin, knife-like man named Black Dog arrives at the Admiral Benbow asking for Billy. The visit ends in a cutlass fight, a...
Eagle's Edge: CH 2 | Roman Recruit Carries 90 Pounds — Then the Centurion Tests Him | Roman History Audiobook
A Roman legionary carries forty-five pounds of armor — and then they make him run.At dawn, Marcus receives his full kit from the quartermaster: lorica hamata chainmail, scutum shield, two pila, gladius, belt, cloak, cooking pot, and wat...
Iron Rails & Ruin: CH 2 | Gunnar Finds His Father's Seat Before He Knows It | Steampunk Adventure Boys 8-14
The Millston run is over. Gunnar Harlan is back at Mrs. Okafor's boarding house before the rest of the town wakes up — and some things about the house feel like they were waiting for him.Mrs. Okafor has run this boarding house for thirt...
Brickhaven: CH 3 | The Scout Who Believed the Builder | Boys Adventure 8-14
Max has been exiled from his own creation...and one small scout is waiting for him on the other side of the gate.Pip is a former member of Brickhaven's scout division. He left when Krag started making midnight deliveries to the eastern ...
Colony in Danger: CH 11 | Every Path Is Owned by a Spider | Reluctant Reader Audiobook
Fire ant adventure audiobook series for boys ages 8-14 — Colony in Danger, Chapter 11.A jumping spider controls every path through this section of the meadow. Cinder Marlowe and his crew face three encounters with Moss Wren — each one m...
Treasure Island: CH 3 | The Map to 700,000 Pounds of Buried Treasure | Boys Adventure 8-14
Pirate adventure audiobook for boys ages 8-14 — Treasure Island, Chapter 3.Jim Hawkins hands a dead pirate’s secret to Dr. Livesey — and Captain Flint’s greatest treasure unfolds on the doctor’s desk. The map shows an island, three red ...
Eagle's Edge: CH 3 | Roman Recruit Bleeds Through 20 Miles of March | Roman Adventure Boys 8-14
The Roman legion moves out before dawn. By midday, Marcus's sandals are soaked through with blood.A full-day forced march north from Genava tests every recruit in the century. Marcus counts his steps when the pain becomes too much to th...
Iron Rail & Ruin: CH 3 | A Syndicate Man Walks Into Gunnar's Workshop | Steam Train Adventure Audiobook
Gunnar Harlan is deep in a watchmaker's repair when two visitors arrive who have no business in Harrow Gulch. The Syndicate has found him.The well-dressed man is everything Gunnar's workshop is not: polished, measured, designed to impre...
Brickhaven: CH 4 | The Boy Reveals He Built the Monster That's Hunting Him | LEGO Movie Fan Fiction Podcast
New to Brickhaven? Start at CH 1: Here!A LEGO Fan Fiction Adventure Story for boys 8–14.Brickhaven is the chapter-by-chapter LEGO fan fiction podcast where a kid...
Colony in Danger: CH 12 | The Pill Bugs Use the Storm to Steal Food in Plain Sight | Reluctant Reader Audiobook Series
New to Colony in Danger? Start at CH 1: Here!A Boys Adventure Audiobook for ages 8–14.Colony in Danger is the chapter-by-chapter fire ant adventure podcast where...
Treasure Island: CH 4 | Jim Meets the One-Legged Sailor Billy Bones Warned About | Treasure Island Retold for Kids
A Classic Pirate Adventure Audiobook for boys 8–14.Treasure Island is the chapter-by-chapter pirate adventure podcast that retells Robert Louis Stevenson's classic story for the generation that was born to discover it.In this Bo...
Eagle's Edge: CH 4 | Marcus Sees an Entire Nation Walking Across Gaul | Homeschool History Audiobook
A Roman Army Adventure Audiobook for boys 8–14.Eagle's Edge is the chapter-by-chapter Roman military adventure story where a sixteen-year-old farm boy from Mediolanum learns what the legion actually demands...one blistered step at a tim...
Iron Rails & Ruin: CH 4 | A Rail Marshal Tells Gunnar His Father Is Still Alive | Adventure Audiobook for Boys 8-14
A Steampunk, Steam Train Adventure Audiobook for boys 8–14.Iron Rails & Ruin is the chapter-by-chapter steampunk frontier podcast set on the 1882 Montana Territory rails, where a young engineer runs a locomotive his father modified....
Brickhaven: CH 5 | Max Meets the People Krag Threw Out...Because They Asked Questions | A LEGO Fan Fiction Adventure Story
In Chapter 5, Pip leads Max to the exile camp — the people Krag expelled for asking the wrong questions. The teacher who corrected the history plates. The merchant who asked one question about supply deliveries. The baker who gave extra bread t...
Colony in Danger: CH 13 | Silas Is Grabbed by a Shrew Halfway Across the Field | Boys Adventure Audiobook
In Chapter 13, the team makes their most dangerous crossing yet — an open field at night, nothing but moonlight and Thistle’s star map to guide them. Halfway across, a shrew takes Silas. Cinder goes after the predator with nothing but a seed hu...
Treasure Island: CH 5 | Jim Hawkins Boards the Hispaniola and England Disappears | Classic Pirate Adventure Audiobook
In Chapter 5, Jim boards the Hispaniola for the first time. The ship is alive with sailors, strange smells, and the barely controlled chaos of a vessel preparing to cross an ocean. Long John Silver takes him under his wing — teaching knots, sha...
Eagle's Edge: CH 5 | Marcus Crosses the Arar River in Formation and Makes His First Kill | Roman Adventure Audiobook
In Chapter 5, Caesar drops his hand and the Arar River turns red. The Helvetii are crossing the ford when five thousand Romans step out of the dawn mist. Marcus has trained for weeks — but nothing prepared him for what happens when the pila fly...
Iron Rails & Ruin: CH 5 | The Most Wanted Man in Four Territories Has Information Gunnar Needs | Western Adventure Audiobook
In Chapter 5, Vesper leads Gunnar through a door he didn't know was there: a black train on an unmarked spur, running without registry or markings, carrying a black market for everything the Syndicate has systematically erased from legitimate s...
