Elemental Troupers

Wielders of elemental magic for the sake of entertaining.

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Abderian

A bard who wields elemental magic of spring.

Bards are traditionally employed by a leader or group to maintain oral traditions, entertain, maintain genealogies, and praise the leader or group. Abderians may be employed in this fashion, or they may be wandering entertainers who keep these practices from their nation, culture, or community.

Abderians take their magic from communing with the spring. They belong to cultures or religions that worship the Spring as a goddess of renewal or who view the Spring as a powerful force and important time for rituals, traditions, and community. Each spring, abderians perform rites and traditions for their communities, leading magical festivals, in order to gain their powers for the year. All of their powers are stronger in spring and weaker in autumn.

• Tale of spring: the stories of spring involve rebirth and renewal, and the telling of such a tale taking no less than ten minutes to tell and no more than ten days gives anyone who hears it renewal of any powers or abilities they have used, refreshment as if they have rested and eaten, and all wounds healed down one level (deep to normal, etc.). Difficulty is 14, +3 per target above five.

• Vernal poem: the poetry of the spring evokes scenes of vernal nature. It inspires those who hear it to express love and desire and repels certain infernal energies (brown aether, mollesse, thorn energy, and Eldritch energy). Difficulty is 11. Difficulty is 3 less if the player actually writes and reads the poem. If flowers are present when they recite it that haven’t bloomed, they bloom.

• Song of rejuvenation: a song that evokes beginnings and rebirth, this song refreshes those who hear it as if they were well rested on a normal success, breaks curses and infernal afflictions on a special success, temporarily reverses aging by 10 years on an exceptional success, and permanently does so on a critical success. Difficulty is 14, +1 per point of power they wish to wield against curses or infernal powers, base 10. If flowers are present when the song is sung that haven’t bloomed, they bloom.

• Seasonal lore: abderians know the magical lore of the seasons.

• Bloodline tracing: the abderian’s knowledge of genealogy may be rolled when meeting someone and learning their full name (not True Name, though that works, too) to see what they know of their family history.

• Renewing compliment: the abderian can say kind things to someone, renewing their confidence, giving them +3 to their best or lowest skill (target’s choice). Difficulty is 11.

• Channeling the spring spirit: the abderian can channel the spirits of the spring by drinking dew and nectar off freshly bloomed flowers. This gives them 2d8 vernal magical powers, including but not limited to flower speech or control, blossoming, warming or cooling presence, spring rains, light of spring, etc. Consult the GM for effects.

Other abilities may be possible. Consult the GM.

PRO +1 ATH +2 STR -1 AWA +2 WIL / PRS +3 STH -1

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Parhelion

A parhelion is someone who wields elemental solar magic via special movements.

The dance of a parhelion takes the form of an analemma, a graph of the sun's position in the sky throughout the day, forming a figure eight. Through this dance, they gather the elemental magic to them, and with special ribbons, they guide its flow. At the start of the dance, they must look directly into the sun, and for this, they wear special veils.

Honeyed water is used by all parhelions in order to capture solar magic. Honey absorbs the energy, and the water cools it so it does not burn whatever is washed in the mixture. Parhelions dance with special ribbons made of sunsilk (+3) or any fabric washed in honeyed water (+0). These ribbons gather and guide the solar magic, and when whipped or moved in a different pattern, hurl the solar magic as directed by the parhelion.

Veils worn by parhelions that allow them to look directly at the sun are made either from a sunsilk gauze (+3) or from any kind of fabric washed in honeyed water (+0). When they look through these veils into the sun, they draw the solar magic into themselves, and then it flows out into the ribbons as they dance.

Parhelions who wish to use their powers after sunset or in enclosed spaces may gather solar magic by using a sundial. The sundial must be washed in honeyed water (+0) or made from sunstone (+2) or some other elemental solar material. The sundial will gather the magic during daylight hours and will lose it rapidly during night hours. In order to use the magic, the parhelion must perform a dance of gathering upon the sundial before the sun sets. Stored solar magic fades away rapidly outside of sunlight, but it can be preserved by further washing the ribbons (of any material) in honeyed water.

A heliostat is a device of mirrors that directs sunlight to a specific spot and holds it there. These devices are sometimes used by parhelions to make up for gathering or wielding of solar magic during a weaker point in the day.

The position of the sun and the planet the parhelion is on (presumed in this write up to be Shem). The closer the sun is to the planet, the more power the parhelion has; however, counterintuitively, the parhelion is stronger at dawn than noon, though noon is second in power during a typical day.

• Dawn: the most potent time of day for a parhelion (+6). As the sun rises, the parhelion can capture the first of its rays, which have the most elemental magic within them. After the sun has been up for about an hour, its power wanes (+5 to +1) until halfway (+0) to noon, when it begins to wax again (+1 to +4).
• Noon: at high noon, the sun is once again at great strength (+5), almost as strong as dawn, and then begins to wane until sunset (+4 to +0).
• Sunset: at sunset, the sun has a final flare of power (+1), making it marginally stronger than an hour or so before sunset.
• Night: at night, the sun's power is almost nonexistent, unless the parhelion has found some other source of solar magic (an enchanted object, for instance). Sunlight reflected off the moons becomes moonlight, and thus has lunar magic that weakens parhelions. (+0 to -6)
• Midnight Sun: in places where the sun does not set, it maintains power through the night, but does not reach the same power it does during the day. (+1 to +3)
• Perihelion: the perihelion, about two weeks after winter solstice (northern hemisphere), is the point at which the sun is most potent on Shem (dawn on the perihelion). (+3)
• Aphelion: the aphelion, about two weeks after the summer solstice (northern hemisphere), is the point at which the sun is least potent on Shem (sunset on the aphelion). (-3)
• Equinoxes: on the equinox, the sun is in perfect balance with the world, and thus, no bonuses or penalties apply. (+0)
• Summer Solstice: in either hemisphere, the summer solstice is stronger than other parts of the year. (+1)
• Winter Solstice: in either hemisphere, the winter solstice is weaker than other parts of the year. (-1)
• Eclipse: an eclipse affects the power of a parhelion based on the totality or lack thereof of the eclipse. A total eclipse weakens them the most (-6).

The location of a parhelion on Shem can affect their dance as well.

• Altitude: though most changes in altitude do not affect the power of a parhelion, being above the cloudline or in the upper atmosphere (where air is dangerously thin) can give a small bonus (+1 to +3).
• Weather: light cloudcover will not affect a parhelion's power, but if it is enough to be overcast (-1) it starts to affect it. A major thunderstorm can make it impossible to perform the dance (enough to black out the sky). Other things (ash, floating islands, etc.) can also cause blackouts or weakening. Fog and heavy mist may similarly cause problems.
• Indoors: being indoors obviously can make it impossible to perform the dance. If there's enough room to dance, a room with open windows and doors will cause a minor penalty (-1). Closed, clear, clean windows are a little more (-2). Tinted or colored glass further impede it (-3). And anything where there is no window or door means it is impossible. The less sunlight, the harder it is.
• Underwater: parhelions in who are under water but still in sight of the sun can theoretically perform the dance (with penalties to movement), but suffer from the heavy distortion of the sun (-6 and down). If the sun is not visible, the dance cannot be performed. If they are beings who live underwater, they have no penalties to the dance, but they still have due to distortion.
• Moons: on the moons, the dance is impossible.
• Cosmic: if a parhelion is in outerspace and not on a planet, their distance from the sun determines their power. The closer, the stronger. If they are close enough to die from its heat and radiation, they max out at +12. If they are outside the solar system, the solar magic's character changes into cosmic elemental energy.
• Sunspots: sunspots have a random effect on the dance of the parhelion (-9 to +9, roll a d20, reroll on a 20).

The dances of a parhelion reflect the phenomena and characteristics of the sun:

• Solar flares: the most basic attack used by a parhelion is a flare, a burst of solar magic flame.
• Solar wind: solar wind is a very hot wind blast that a parhelion can throw via their dances.
• Aurora / proton storm: aurora and proton storm dances are used by parhelions who release their powers at night. They light up the night sky with colorful displays and send cold blasts of solar magic that cause radioactive damage.
• Prominences or filaments: these are much, much stronger forms of flares that require a larger amount of magic.
• Magnetic field: the sun's magnetic field can be mirrored by the parhelion in a special dance, sending a wave of magnetism instead of solarflame.
• Solar disc: a solar disc is a black disc of solar magic that can be throw by a parhelion.
• Sun shield: a sun shield is a shield of glowing, molten fajari that is formed by the dance of a powerful parhelion and blocks esoteric attacks.
• Corona: the parhelion can imitate the effect of the corona (an aura of solar magic) through a special dance, which uses an enormous amount of magic to create a protective aura around the dancer.
• Solar elemental: parhelions can summon weaker solar elementals with a moderate amount of elemental magic via their dance.
• Solar hawk: the dance of the Solar Hawk unleashes a hawk-shaped solar elemental that acts as an independent being and fights of the parhelion for a brief period. This requires a large amount of magic.
• Solar lion: the dance of the Solar Lion unleashes a lion-shaped solar elemental that acts as an independent being and fights for the parhelion for a brief period. This requires a large amount of magic.
• Nova: a parhelion can perform a nova eruption (a sudden flash of solar magic and then rapid dimming) via a special dance that will deplete them of energy and leave them in a near-coma state for up to a year.
• Binary suns: two parhelions dancing together form a "binary sun" dance that doubles their power.
• Kilonova or luminor red nova: two parhelions dancing together can perform a these dances, which is essentially a double nova that nearly kills both dancers.
• Supernova: a supernova dance will kill the parhelion, but cause a devastating wave of solar magic.
• Sol Invictus: the dance of Sol Invictus lets the parhelion become an invicible solar elemental for a brief period. This requires a year's worth of stored up solar magic and leaves the parhelion very weak afterward for a year

Other powers may be possible. Consult the GM.

PRO +2 ATH +4 STR +1 AWA +3 WIL +2 PRS +2 STH -2

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Snowsinger

The ancient snowsingers of the polar regions, these are the wielders of the elemental magic of the cold, of ice and snow via song.

In order to wield elemental snow and ice with their voices, snowsingers must have some source of it from nature, freshly fallen snow being best. They hold this in their mouths as they sing, at least at first, in order to command the cold with their voices.

Snowsingers eventually learn how to lower their own body temperatures in order to be able to always wield the cold with their voices. They do this by a series of meditations and ice baths, followed by singing sessions and wearing heavy blankets and furs. They do this over and over again for six winters, and they will, if they are skilled and dedicated enough, have mastered their own body temperatures, allowing them to live at several degrees below normal body temperature for their species.

Because their body temperature is vital to their craft, they become weak if their temperature rises due to fever. A fever can render their powers unusable, sometimes permanently. As such, they guard against disease rigorously via diet, exercise, and preventative medicines.

The snowsinger's music is heavy on words and requires no instrumentation. The special words used are chanted rhythmically, in combination with their lower body temperatures, in order to draw forth the cold and send it where their voices land. Every time they use their music, they lose some of their body cold and must restore it later. The better a singer they are, the more efficient they are with their magic.

These are the commonest powers of their songs:

• Freezing chant: cause any object's temperature to lower by chanting at it.
• Dance of the snowflakes: control existing snow or ice via song.
• Aura of frost: give others the ability to survive lowered body temperature by singing an aura of frost around them.
• Chilling air: make the air uncomfortably, painfully cold and fill it with tiny icicles.
• Deep sounding ice: make water colder, painfully so, and create blocks of ice within it.
• Icicle melody: turn the moisture in the air into an icicle to wield as a weapon.
• Hoarfrost tune: leave a rime of frost around a target.
• Hailstorm lyric: make it hail.
• Sleet rhythm: make it sleet.
• Song of snow: make it snow.
• Icy wind wail: blasts of ferocious, icy winds.
• Split ice echo: open fissures in sheets of ice.
• Polar life calls: call or control animals, plants, or fungi that live in arctic/antarctic cold.
• Coldfire thrum: create a white flame that is cold instead of hot, that freezes to the point of "burning".
• Bloodfreeze chorus: freeze the blood in someone's body, usually killing them.
• Heartdrain dirge: drain emotions from a target.

Snowsingers working in a group, singing in deep-voiced harmony, can do much more powerful things with their songs:

• Iceberg rumble: especially useful at sea, a group of snowsingers can create, control, or call icebergs.
• Blizzard symphony: creating a blizzard.
• Thundersnow bombast: creating a thunderstorm with snow.
• Coldfire-storm thrum: creating a massive area attack of coldfire.
• Frostwall blast: a wall of freezing fog.
• Winterstorm cycle: massive blizzard.
• Snowwhirl dance: creating a tornado from icy winds.
• Elemental call: call or control ice elementals.
• Fissuring echo: open crevasses in glaciers.
• Heartfreeze dirge: completely destroy a person's emotional capacity.
• Icequake depth: cause massive ice-sheets or glaciers to rumble.
• Song of the North Wind: commune with and channel the powers of the North Wind.
• Glacial low: control or move entire fucking glaciers.
• Cryovolcanic scream: cause a cryovolcanic eruption or control an existing cryovolcano.
• Winter-dawning music: bring upon the season of winter, even if only temporarily, over an area.

Some snowsingers are a special kind called carolers, musicians whose songs bring the winter. Their powers are very similar, but more of them focus on aspects of winter beyond snow. Their powers attune to the seasons and get stronger in winter and weaker in summer, and they must perform special rites and festivals in the winter to maintain their powers.

PRO +1 ATH / STR / AWA +3 WIL +3 PRS -2 STH +1

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Sounder

A musician who can control elemental sound via a special tuning fork, creating intricate works of sound that can cause different effects to bodies, minds, souls, or hearts.

To tap into elemental sound, one simply has to listen, but to wield it, one must have special materials. Sounders use tuning forks that can capture elemental sound and transform it into a sound that can be wielded. The tuning forks used by sounders are made of a liquid metal called quickbismuth.

The sounder's main weapon is their voice. The tuning fork will emit a heavy, piercing thrum, seemingly impossible sounds, that will respond to the voice of anyone holding the tuning fork. Sounders train to be able to control the elemental vibrations. Their voices take in the magic and contort it to their intentions as they use pitch, volume, and tempo to incite certain effects.

Sounders cannot use elemental sound produced by mortal voices - if the fork is reverberating with mortal speech or song, for instance, the elemental sound will be affected by the other energies present in the person who initiated it. As such, when their forks are vibrating, a sounder needs silence from themself and those around them. Other sounds, from different sources, will affect different aspects of a target:

• Object sounds affect physical bodies. These sounds are anything made by something inanimate and not mechanical.
• Animal sounds affect emotions. Any sound a non-mortal animal makes will work for a sounder.
• Weather sounds affect the soul.
• Mechanical sounds affect the mind. Anything constructed as a machine is a machine, from simple machines like levers to complex ones like computers. True sounds affect the Name, the entirety of the thing. True sounds come from the moment the universe began and can only be sense by the most sensitive and potent tuning forks, and only wielded by the most powerful sounders.
• Echoes affect body, mind, heart, or soul as the sounder chooses, but will only affect that after they select it.

Throwing one's voice is a vital part of a sounder's skillset. They must learn to be top-notch ventriloquists so they can send elemental sound where they wish it to go.

Sounders tend to have excellent hearing, but even deaf people can become sounders, working by the sense of vibration instead. A sounder will not forget any sound that they've heard twice or more.

Sounders can use their powers to mimic almost any sound their fork has captured.

Tempo, pitch, and volume have different affects on the elemental sound used:

Tempo affects precision. If the tempo is faster, the spell is less precise.

Volume affects power. The louder, the stronger the spell.

Pitch determines the effect. Low or high pitch distorts, middle pitch calms.

The pitch causes one of these effects:

• Distort: the most basic effect is that the sounds will vibrate the target such that they become distorted. If the target is a living body, nausea or other physical disruptions occur. If it is emotional or mental, confusion tends to be the effect. Soul distortion can cause a temporary loss of self, and Name distortion will cause all of the above.
• Calming: the other common effect is that sounds will soothe the target, soothing bodily aches, stilling mental turmoil, lowering emotional intensity, or affirming metaphysical identity. Name calming does all of the above and more.
• Amplify: elemental sound will improve the voice or hearing of a person it is directed at if the sounder directs it to their ear.

More specific affects are determined by the will of the sounder.

Sounders will rupture the ear drums, glass windows, or even the skin of targets with a directed attack, but this will use all of the elemental sound their fork is giving off.

Typically, a tuning fork will allow for six uses of normal successes, three of special, one of exceptional, or six uses of normal failure, three of special, one of exceptional. Six exceptional successes or failures in a row will break a fork.

PRO / ATH / STR -1 AWA +2 Hearing +4 WIL +1 PRS +3 STH /

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Susurror

Those who can take a blade of grass and use it to control the elemental magic of grasslands through whispers, whistles, and breath, summoning the elemental winds through the grasslands.

First, one must listen to the grasslands. Once the sounds of susurration (the rustling of the wind among the grass) reaches their ears, they must capture the sound. Most use a stalk of grass or a reed. Then, the grass or other object must be consumed. Once consumed, it is part of the susurror and can be released in part or in whole.

The art of capturing susurration is usually passed down from other susurrors. Susurration is the sound of the elemental magic of grasslands, the living breath of the grasslands, and therefore, it can only be captured in something that is part of the grasslands. The local grass or other greenery must be drawn from the earth and held between the hands of the susurror, as if to whistle, but instead, they place themselves face to the wind and wait for the sound to enter as they inhale through the grass, reed, or leaf. If they have truly heard the susurrus, they will inhale it. If they are wrong, they have grass in their mouth.

To recognize the susurrus, the true sound of the living grasslands, means to have learned from hours, months, years of mindfulness on the open plain to know the difference between the sounds of the grasslands.

Once the susurration is captured, the susurror has the power within them until they use it or until they stray too far from the grasslands with no anchor. Susurration is released in the same way it is captured, except you exhale instead of inhale.

Some powers include the following:

• Whisper of the grasses: using susurration to send information means throwing one's voice with the winds of the grasslands.
• Distant reeds: using susurration to confuse targets by making them hear things, used as distraction.
• Blades of grass: using grass blades to attack can be done by sending the susurration into the ground near them.
• Kiting: using susurration to float over vast grasslands (and only grasslands) is possible with very powerful susurration and the right tools.
• Grass ranging: bonuses to endurance come if you completely internalize the susurration.
• Echolocation: finding your way on the plains through susurration is one of the easier skills.

The powers revolve around command or influence over the grasslands, their plants and animals and other features, over water and soil within the grasslands, and mostly, over wind and sound within it.

PRO +1 ATH +1 STR +1 AWA +3 WIL +1 PRS +1 STH +1

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Waterwhirler

An acrobat who moves like water. They usually learn from mentors in special troupes.

Waterwhirlers attune their hearts to the flow of waters, submerging themselves and letting their emotions flow out. As they do this repeatedly, the water becomes filled with their hearts, and it starts to absorb back into them. This makes them capable of contorting their bodies like water so long as their emotions remain fluid and flowing in the world:

• Fluid musculature: the muscles of the waterwhirler can turn to semi-fluidity to allow them to contort in ways bodies should not contort, giving them +1 to +6 to ATH, depending on how much of themselves they allow to liquify. When they do this, they must roll STR vs. a difficulty of 3 per point of bonus to restore their solid form. If they fail, it is +3 per failure level per round to try again. Any critical failure means they permanently lose their solidity in that part of their body.

• Empathic flow: their emotions flow outward if they submerge in water, giving them control of the water with their PRS. If they have used their empathic flow, they can draw the water with them and perform acrobatics.

• Tumbling wave: after using empathic flow, they can do a tumbling move that draws the waves with them, sending a wave somersaulting toward a target in a straight line up to 50’ away, stun/wound 18/12//21/15//24/18//27/21.

• Rippling spin: after using empathic flow, they can spin and send a ripple outward in a 30’ radius that knocks everyone prone if they fail an ATH roll vs. 14.

• Tidal balance: their balance score goes up and down with the tides, ranging from -3 to +3.

Other powers are possible. Consult the GM.

PRO +1 ATH +4 STR +1 AWA +1 WIL +1 PRS +1 STH +1