Melpominee

Named for Melpomene, the Greek Muse of tragedy, the unique Discipline of the Daughters of Cacophony is one of speech and song. The powers of this Discipline explore the various uses of the voice for both benefit and harm. As is the case with mortal art, it is not always clear which of those directions these powers take. No character may have a rating in Melpominee higher than her Performance rating. Melpominee affects the subject’s soul as well as the ears; thus, it works perfectly well on deaf subjects, and has caused at least one known breach of the Masquerade due to this effect.

Additionally, the powers of Melpominee work only on those who are present when it is used — Daughters of Cacophony cannot record Melpominee effects, send them across radio waves, or have them streamed over the Internet. Daughters of Cacophony can use some of the powers of the Melpominee Discipline in concert, as it were. If more than one Siren uses the same level of this Discipline simultaneously, the difficulty for the roll falls by one for each Daughter involved beyond the first. The difficulty cannot fall lower than 3, however. The Discipline levels that can benefit from this rule are noted below.

## **Powers**

### **• The Missing Voice**

The character can “throw” her voice anywhere within her line of sight. This enables the Daughter to carry on surreptitious conversations, sing duets with herself, or cause any number of distractions. This power can also be combined with other Melpominee powers to disguise their source (and some Daughters use it to conceal the fact that Melpominee powers do not function through recorded media).

System: This power functions automatically as long as the character wills it. However, using The Missing Voice while performing any action other than speech or singing incurs a penalty of two dice on that action due to the disruption of the character’s concentration.

### **•• Phantom Speaker**

The Daughter can project her voice to any individual she has personally met. Distance is no object, but it must be night wherever the target presently is. The vampire can sing, talk, or otherwise project her voice in any way she sees fit (including other uses of Melpominee), but she cannot hear what she is saying, and therefore suffers a +1 difficulty to any rolls accompanying her utterance. For instance, the vampire could project her voice to an enemy in an attempt to intimidate him, but would suffer a +1 to the difficulty of the Charisma + Intimidation roll.

System: The player rolls Wits + Performance (difficulty 7) and spends a blood point. Each success allows one turn of speech; three or more successes allow speech for an entire scene.

### **••• Madrigal**

Music has the power to sway the listener, engendering specific emotions through artful lyrics, pounding crescendo, or haunting melody. The Daughters of Cacophony can tap into music’s power, forcing listeners to feel whatever they wish. The emotion becomes so powerful that the listener must act, though what a listener does isn’t something the Siren can directly control.

System: The player rolls Charisma + Performance (difficulty 7). Each success instills the chosen emotion in a fifth of the Kindred’s audience (more than five successes have no additional effect). The Storyteller decides precisely which members of the audience are affected.

Characters may resist this power for the duration of the scene with the expenditure of a Willpower point, but only if they have reason to believe that they are being controlled by outside individuals. The song the vampire sings must also reflect the emotion she wishes to engender — no one’s going to mob the concert security no matter how well she sings “High Hopes,” but they might if she performs “I Predict a Riot.”

Affected individuals should act in accordance with their Natures — enraged Conformists would join a riot but not start one, aroused Bravos may force their attentions on the object of their desire, and jealous Directors may send cronies after their rivals.

Multiple Daughters may use this Discipline in concert.

### **•••• Siren’s Beckoning**

The Daughters of Cacophony don’t spread madness as surely (or as visibly) as the Malkavians, but their songs are definitely detrimental to one’s sanity. With this power, the Daughter can drive any listener to madness. Most of the time, the victim is too fascinated to realize that he should leave the area and block out the music from his mind.

System: Siren’s Beckoning requires an extended, resisted roll. The player rolls Manipulation + Performance (difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower); the victim resists with a Willpower roll (difficulty equal to the singer’s Appearance + Performance).

If the singer accumulates five more successes than the victim at any point, the hapless soul acquires a new derangement or Psychological Flaw of the Storyteller’s choice. This derangement normally lasts for one night, with an additional night per success over five. With a total of 20 net successes, the Daughter can make it permanent.

Multiple Daughters may use this Discipline in concert.

### **••••• Virtuosa**

Most of the low-level Melpominee powers can only be used on one target at a time. When the Daughter reaches this level of mastery in her Discipline, she can “entertain” a wider audience. Each member of the audience hears the same message.

System: The Daughter may use Phantom Speaker or Siren’s Beckoning on a number of targets equal to her Stamina + Performance. The player must spend one blood point for every five targets beyond the first.

### **••••• Mosh Pit**

This rather dangerous power can be used to inspire frenzy in any supernatural creature prone to such a thing (such as vampires and werewolves). The Daughter sings of her primal anger, and her target finds it hard not to lose themselves to their most violent urges.

System: The Daughter spends a blood point and makes a Manipulation + Performance roll at a difficulty of her choosing. If she is successful, her target must make a roll to resist frenzy at the same difficulty. If a frenzy is inspired, it plays out as normal. The Daughter has no control over the target beyond triggering the frenzy. Other Melpominee powers might allow the Daughter to effect multiple targets.

### **••••• Primal Scream**

This time the Daughter’s song is one of terror, not rage. It is awe inspiring and makes her appear frightening in the extreme. Her target becomes terrified beyond belief.

System: This power works in exactly the same ways as Mosh Pit (above), except that instead of frenzy, it inspires Rötschreck.

### **••••• • Shattering Crescendo**

The Daughter can sing powerfully enough to rend flesh, split skin, and crack bone. While some Kindred unfortunate enough to witness this power make reference to the fact that even mortal singers can shatter glass at the right frequency, others note that volume and intensity don’t seem to matter when a Daughter employs Shattering Crescendo. The Siren can sing a soothing lullaby and still kill a target.

System: Use of this power requires that the victim be within hearing range (characters with hearing difficulties — or Heightened Senses — are affected at the same range as other victims). The player spends one blood point and rolls Manipulation + Performance (difficulty of the target’s Stamina + Fortitude). Each success inflicts one health level of aggravated damage, which may not be soaked. If using this power on an inanimate object, the Storyteller determines how many dice (if any) the object may use to “soak” and how many successes are needed to completely shatter it.

Multiple Daughters may use this Discipline in concert.

### **••••• •• Haunting Melody**

The Daughter can use this power to leave a tune hanging in the air in a certain place. Anyone visiting this area can perceive the tune quietly on the breeze, or just on the edge of their hearing. Unfortunately, the tune carries madness, and those who hear it can lose their minds if they are not careful.

System: The Daughter picks a derangement and makes a Manipulation + Performance roll at a difficulty of her choosing. For each success she gets, the song she sings will remain quietly hanging in the area for one day. Anyone entering the area must make a Willpower roll at a difficulty equal to the one the Daughter picked to use the power. If they fail, they suffer the effects of the derangement the Daughter picked for the rest of the night. If they botch the roll, the derangement does not fade and must be removed as if it was permanent.

### **••••• •• Persistent Echo**

The Daughter can sing, speak, or even use a Melpominee power and leave the effect hanging in the air, waiting for someone to come along and hear it. The character can control who can trigger her latent song, meaning that combined with Shattering Crescendo or Siren’s Beckoning, this power can be used as a trap.

System: The player rolls Stamina + Performance (difficulty 8) and spends a blood point. Each success yields one turn of speech that may be left to be heard later. If the player wishes to time-delay another Melpominee power, the roll for that power must be made at +1 difficulty. The echo stays suspended for a maximum number of nights equal to twice the vampire’s Stamina + Performance before fading.

The Kindred may choose to make the echo audible to anyone who stands in her position for the duration of the power — in effect, an endlessly looped mystic recording. Conversely, she may choose for it to fade away once it is heard for the first time. She may also choose to leave it dormant until activated by the presence of a specific individual with whom she is familiar. If the echo is made a one-time-only effect, all traces of the power disappear once the vampire’s words echo to the intended recipient.

If a character uses Heightened Senses in an area where an “unactivated” echo exists, he will hear a faint murmur. Three successes on a Perception + Occult roll (difficulty 8) are necessary to hear the message, and a botch on this roll will deafen the listener for the rest of the night.

Multiple Daughters may use this Discipline in concert.

### **••••• ••• Calling Song**

This ability allows the Daughter to place a tune in the mind of several different targets. They begin to hear her Fugue all around them, quietly at first, and then growing more difficult to ignore. They will hear the tune in myriad places, even in the walls of buildings, and it will seem to come from somewhere in particular. Eventually they will find themselves drawn towards the source of the music.

System: The Daughter can implant the song in as many people as she likes. She must sing for each person individually, making a Charisma + Performance roll at a difficulty equal to their current Willpower. When she has implanted the song, she can choose to activate it at any time. When she does, she must sing the calling song once more at the place she wants the others to come to. From that moment on, each person with the song in their head must do their best to reach the place they are being called to as if they were under the effects of Summon (Presence ••••). Supernatural creatures may make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) to resist this effect, but ordinary humans may not. What they find there depends on the Daughter’s plan, but she need not be there at all. Once each targeted person arrives, the call of the song fades and they know they have reached its source. If the target manages to make a successful Willpower roll, they continue to hear the song and are still drawn towards it, but they may choose not to go. At the next sunset, they must make the Willpower roll again, and if they fail the song takes control of them once more. If they manage to succeed the Willpower roll three times in a row, the song loses its power and fades away.