Melpomene

Melpomene is the muse of tragedy, sorrow, originally, chorus. Her Children tend to be dramatics, with an tendency towards awful things happening to and near them. When she claims her children, they suddenly feel a compulsion to give a dramatic monologue during which others nearby find it impossible to speak, and when it is finished, the image of a tragedy mask appears above the child of Melpomene.

Her emoji is **🎭**

Her kids live in Deme 12 in the Melpomene cabin

## Demigod Powers:

Please refer to the power-sets on the godrent page when choosing powers

### **Majors:**

Visions of Tragedy (Major)

* Children of Melpomene can force a target  into a hallucinatory state where they see the worst possible outcome to something they care about, be it an event or a past triumph, or even Their own life. In lower levels, these are easily shaken off and only somewhat harrowing. At higher levels though, this power can leave targets deeply miserable and at the highest level, targets are at risk of being trapped for a long time within an illusion of the worst possible scenario for them. It works best on humanoid targets, but at higher levels, can work on something as big as a cyclops. The target must have an sapient mind however, so no purely bestial monsters will be effected. The Child of melpomene is also privy to what the visions are.
* 1-3: Up to two people can be trapped in visions for up to two turns, and doing so leads to horrible nightmares and exhaustion from the user.  To resist visions at this level, one must roll higher than 10 when the ability is activated. It takes 5 turns to recover from using this ability.
* 4-5:Up to four people can be trapped in visions lasting up to three turns, and while using this ability on two people is manageable, more than that leads to the same nightmares and Exhaustion as before.  To resist abilities here, one must roll a 13 or higher. It takes 5 turns to recover from use on 2 people, and 10 turns for use on 4.
* 6-7: Up to six people can be trapped in visions lasting up to four turns, and if they stay in the vision for that full time, they have disadvantage on their next combat roll. However, they do not suffer disadvantage if they are snapped out of it by another, or resist the visions themselves. Once again, if this ability is used on the full six people, it leads to horrible nightmares and exhaustion. if  To Resist visions at this level, roll a 16 or higher. It takes 5 turns to recover from use on 2 people, 10 turns for use on 4, and 15 for use on 6.
* 8: All previous abilities are usable with much less fatigue, and if Focused on, you can trap someone in a perpetual vision for as long as you are focusing on them, and they aren’t snapped back to reality by an ally. For every turn after four that a character is trapped in these visions, they get another disadvantage for their combat rolls after the visions end. The child of melpomene must be completely focused on the target they are attempting to trap within these visions. If their concentration is interrupted, the target escapes. It takes an entire day to recover from using the perpetual visions effect.

Worsening Knowledge (Major)

* Children Of the muse of tragedy can use this ability to learn many things, with one caveat: The knowledge they gain from this power makes the situation they’re in worse. It could be because of how it is formatted, IE: Seeing someone’s confession of love but not their acknowledgement that it would never work, But Often it’s just in the question. At lower levels, Demigods can ask 1 question and it almost knocks them out, at higher levels, up to three questions and each one worsens fatigue.
* Levels 1-3: Children of melpomene may ask one question and get the worst possible, while true, form of an answer. Doing so almost knocks them out.
* Levels 4-6: Children of melpomene with this ability may ask two questions, and get slightly better answers, though the info still makes the situation worse. Doing so Weakens them greatly, but they can stand.
* Level 7-8: Children of Melpomene may ask 3 questions, and each one receives an actually decent answer, although it will in some way make the situation worse. Each question they ask fatigues them more, but nothing as bad as almost getting knocked out for one.

Avert Pointless Death (Major)

* Children Of Melpomene, like their mother, while enjoying a well acted Tragic death, dislike and view as bad writing a meaningless death. This manifests in a strange type of healing. If A child of melpomene tells someone that their wounds aren’t as bad as they are, and the other person believes them, then the wounds magically become less bad.
* At levels 1-3, They can heal Small cuts and bruises with this, and doing so leaves them woozy and fatigued.
* At levels 4-5, They can heal larger injuries, but not anything majorly terrible.Doing so means they need to pretty quickly take a moment to recover.
* And at level 6-7, They can begin to heal injuries that would otherwise have had permanent lasting effects, as long as the target believes them when they tell them it isn’t that bad. Doing so almost knocks them out.
* At level 8,  If another player approves, The demigod can Stop a death from happening assuming it wasn’t dramatic enough. Someone Dying after confessing their love to another they can’t stop, Someone dying because of an infected cut they can, unless the person said something like They would never perish to such a weak disease as gangrene. Using this power almost always knocks out the user. Once this power is used, you must wait two days to use it again.

Curse of Monologuing (Major/Minor)

* When a Child of melpomene wills it, People feel a need to expose themselves. While use of this power is taxing, and requires an item related to the person they wish to force to explain their life choices, (such as a lock of hair or a treasured photo) it can prove incredibly useful, as targets are left Speaking out their innermost thoughts for about five minutes. At higher levels, This power can even force targets to Explain hatreds, Rationalize fears, and Tell more about themselves than they ever would under normal circumstances.After use, this ability cannot be used until moonrise on the next day.
* 1-2: this ability lasts less than one post, and less than a minute in role play. It often weakens the demigod to the point of barely being able to walk.
* 3-5: This ability Lasts an entire post, and it takes about a minute and a half in role play. The demigod can now usually move, but will feel quite tired after doing this ability.
* 6-7: This Ability now lasts two posts, and it takes about three minutes in role play. The child of melpomene can now perform the ability with only minor cramps and issues afterwards.
* 8:This ability lasts as long as the opposing player thinks the character would go on about their nasty little secrets, with a minimum of 3 posts. The child of melpomene is barely affected afterwards. When the ability is done, however, they have to wait until moonrise three days from use of this ability at level 8.

Crushing Despair (Major)

* If a child of melpomene feels anguish or pain, then they can spread those feelings to all who have the misfortune to be in their way. When this ability is used, all targets, with the number of people you can effect going up as the power strengthens must roll a die. On a success, they feel fine. On a failure, they are overwhelmed by feelings of doubt, fear, and most of all, misery and despair, which renders them unable to fight or Run until they are either aided by an outsider or the power wears off.
* Levels 1-3: On a 12 or lower, The target is incapacitated.
* Levels 4-6: On a 14 or lower, the target is incapacitated, and the number of targets increases from 1 to 4.
* Levels 7-8: on a 16 or lower, all targets are incapacitated, and the number of targets increases to 8.

### **Minors:**

Master Manipulator (Minor)

* Like Iago In Othello, The Children of Melpomene have a knack for convincing good people to do bad things. Whenever a child of melpomene attempts to convince someone that they should do something the Demigod considers wrong, whether it’s as simple as stealing or Punching someone or as complex as murder or Concocting a web of lies, they can use this power to make their words more convincing and tempting.
* Level 1: The person the child of melpomene is conversing with rolls a die. On a 1-5, they aren’t convinced and realize that the demigod is trying to manipulate them. On a 6-10, they Aren’t convinced, but do not realize the use of this ability. On 11-20, they are convinced, with no knowledge of this ability.
* Level 2. This power now works on up to 2 people, where everyone who the child is trying to manipulate rolls a die.. The person the child of melpomene is conversing with rolls a die. On a 1-3, they aren’t convinced and realize that the demigod is trying to manipulate them. On a 4-8, they Aren’t convinced, but do not realize the use of this ability. On a 9-20, they are convinced, with no knowledge of this ability.
* Level 3: This power now works on up to 4 people at once, with each one rolling a die. The person the child of melpomene is conversing with rolls a die. On a 1, they aren’t convinced and realize that the demigod is trying to manipulate them. On a 2-5, they Aren’t convinced, but do not realize the use of this ability. On a 6-20, they are convinced, with no knowledge of this ability.
* Level 4/Minor Degree level: This power now works on up to 8 people, with the same dice rolling as on level 3. Have fun manipulating the entire cabin!

Sense Hamartia (Minor)

* When a child of melpomene with this power touches another person, they may choose to see their fatal flaw if they wish to. While it gets easier to do so as the power progresses, They often Find themselves overwhelmed by the knowledge, and may experience Nausea or illness as a result of using it.
* Level 1: Once per day, a Demigod of Melpomene may use this ability while touching someone, and they almost always instantly experience severe nausea or start running a fever afterwards.
* Level 2: twice per day, a Demigod of Melpomene may use this ability while touching someone, and they usually have a painful stomach ache, sometimes resulting in severe nausea.
* Level 3: Three times per day, A demigod of melpomene may Use this ability, and they barely feel the nausea anymore!
* Level 4/Minor Degree level: You can use this ability once per hour! But unfortunately, if you do so, you will very quickly be incapacitated by nausea.

Vicious Mockery (Minor)

* A child of melpomene’s insults are always barbed with the faintest sense of magic that weakens an opponent and makes them feel awful. While many Children of Melpomene dislike this power, even the most childish insult can affect the minds of those they say it to. As the Power progresses, They become more and more able to Wield this power over more and more people.
* Level 1: When a Demigod of melpomene says an insult to one person, they must roll a die. On a 12 or higher, they feel fine. On a 11 or lower, they have disadvantage on their next roll.
* Level 2: When a Demigod of melpomene says an insult to up to three people, they must roll a die. On a 14 or higher, they feel fine. On a 13 or lower, they have disadvantage on their next roll.
* Level 3: When a Demigod of melpomene says an insult to up to five people, they must each  roll a die. On a 17 or higher, they feel fine. On a 16 or lower, they have disadvantage on their next roll.
* Minor Degree/Level 4: The child of melpomene may now insult 8 people at once, with each rolling on the same table as the Level 3 effect.

Summon Thespian Spirit (Minor)

* When desired, A Child of melpomene can summon a type of actor's spirit by essentially convincing them that they are whatever character the child wants to see. The character the thespian spirit assumes may be a real person, but their ability to answer questions is limited to surface level information, the stuff a little research could pull together.This spirit cannot interact with the real world, and at lower levels, has a risk of going rogue and escaping, but once mastered, this ability allows a child of melpomene to Effectively converse with characters of their choosing. If the spirit goes rogue, it dissipates within a couple of days, but can be a frightful nuisance until then. Normally, The spirit dissipates when the character dismisses the spirits.
* Level 1: When summoning a thespian spirit, roll a d20. On a 5 or lower, the spirit goes rogue, and you may now have a crazy ghost that thinks it’s Hamlet going around. On a 6-10, the spirit is stable, but uncooperative. It might not respond to questions the summoner asks. On 11-20, the spirit is both Stable and cooperative.
* Level 2: Same as before, But the table is instead on 1-3 Or lower, the spirit goes rogue, on a 4-8, the spirit is uncooperative, the 9-20 is success and cooperative.
* Level 3: Same as before, but on a 1 the spirit goes rogue, on 2-6, The spirit is uncooperative, and on a 7-20, the spirit works with you.
* Level 4: You may now summon two spirits at once., and roll for each of them.

### **Givens:**

Chronic Backstabbing Disorder (Given)

* Melpomene’s tragic instincts run deep, and many of her children occasionally hear whispers that ask them to slay their best friends, Steal from those who trust them, and generally betray others. They are easily shaken off, but frustrating and can wear down those lacking a strong will.

Unfortunate Souls (Given)

* Melpomene’s children tend to have bad luck, whether it’s a curse from their parents or a reminder to work harder, no one knows. They do however have remarkably good luck when it comes to communal tragedies. A melpomene kid somehow always gets called away when the rest of the class has to sweep the floors.

Tragicomic (Given)

* Seeing as their mothers are natural rivals, children of Melpomene often struggle to work well with Children of thalia. Their powers won’t affect children of thalia, and neither will a child of the Goddess of comedy influence a child of the goddess of tragedy. However, sometimes they become Great partners, in spite of-Or because of- their differences.

Tragic Artists (Given)

* Children of Melpomene tend to be excellent Artists in whatever field they pursue, though their tastes are often quite Macabre.

Ingenue (Given)

* Some children of Melpomene Project an heir of  innocence, be it about life, death, Romance or Even their own powers. How accurate this is varies, but most of them At least appear more innocent in some way to the average observer.

How do you really feel? (Given)

* Some children of melpomene can serve as lie detectors, specifically In terms of someone lying about their opinion of someone. Whether they keep this information to themselves is up to them, but they know it’s a lie if they have this power.

## Credits

Melpomene was originally submitted by Mclevy (@mclevystrongmorse on discord) and thus far all powers have been made by them