Cacosinger

The creation of cacophonic energy requires the disruption of sound via sound. Cacosingers can use their voices (or instruments) to turn any sound into dissonant, painful noise, and thus wield it by casting the cacophony vocally.

Rite of Cacophony

The energy of cacophony is the energy of disruption, discordance, and disconnection. A cacosinger taps into this energy through an act of disconnection, severing their selves from those around them through ritual violence and isolation. To become a cacosinger, one must cause severe trauma or, in extreme cases, murder someone close to them - usually a family member, close friend, or lover - and cut out their vocal chords. These parts are then taken to an isolated spot, left in a metal pot filled with vinegar, blood, and spoiled eggs, and then buried for at least six days (and always in stretches of six days - so 12 days, 36, 600, etc.). The cacosinger then must remain alone for that time, dig up the pot, and then consume what is inside. Their subsequent scream must shatter their voice (and, if they will be wielding an instrument, their subsequent use of that instrument).

Distortion

Once this ritual is done, a cacosinger will be surrounded by their first noise, an aura of sound that distorts everything around them. With their voice or instrument, they can then direct this distortion with certain sounds. Everything they say from this point on will be subject to this distortion, making them very difficult to communicate with.

Discordance

Every sound made by the cacosinger's voice and instrument will be a weapon. The cacophony is directed through arrhythmic, atonal, amelodic sounds that disrupt other sounds, affect literal and metaphorical connections, and cause enmity and distrust.

Voice

The voice of a cacosinger is their primary weapon. All cacosingers use their voices, though some use instruments made with special materials to complement their voices. They often train in the arts of ventriloquism and other forms of vocal arts in order to pitch their voices when, where, and how they wish. Anything their voice touches is disrupted.

Instruments

Instruments must be made of one of the following materials in order to channel cacophony:

• Bismuth: the commonest metal
• Sgreichian: cacophonic metal
• Coeden Uchelaf: screaming trees
• Craig Swn: a unique rock that makes terrible noises
• Shrike feathers or gut
• Horned screamer feathers or gut
• Screech owl feathers or gut
• Howler monkey bones, fur, or gut
• Cicada chitin or wings
• Shrew bones, fur, or gut

Disconnection

The power of cacophony is one to disconnect and disrupt. A cacosinger can destroy solid matter if they are powerful enough. They can break up marriages, disenfranchise citizens, or sever blood lines with their skill. They can end ownership, break dams and bridges, alter chemical compositions, and more. Anything that is a connection, whether interpersonal or physical, emotional or mental, can be shattered. To do this, the cacosinger must learn how to target their voice to something specific (general assaults default to physical).

Mental Disconnection

To disconnect something mental - memory, understanding, psionic connections, logical connections - a cacosinger must vibrate their voice on the same wavelength as a person's natural psionic field. This can only be done if they can isolate their own psionic field and sever themselves from it. There are many ways to do this, but they cannot do it with their own voices. The most common method of doing this, among the original cacosingers of Shrikewood, is to cause themselves physical brain damage with a special sharpened tuning fork (made of sgreichian) that is inserted into their right ear by one of their religious leaders.

Emotional Disconnection

To disconnect something emotional - feelings for something or someone, a romantic relationship, a friendship, a nemesis, sentimentality, etc. - a cacosinger must spend six years in emotional isolation, feeling nothing for anyone else. Most cacosingers who choose to do this do so early on in their time as a cacosinger. During this time, they go on each triple new moon and murder a stranger with their voice, take their vocal chords, and boil them into a stew, which they eat, then stab themselves in their own heart with an object made of one of the above mentioned materials. If they are successful, they will recover in six days to continue their isolation. If they fail, they simply die.

Metaphysical Disconnection

To disconnect something metaphysica - someone's personal experiences and innate abilities, someone's faith, someone's esoteric powers - a cacosinger must shatter their own soul. There are three methods of this: having a follower of Neidi wield their faith in a powerful ritual to do this (offering the soul up to their deity); using infernal powers such as demonology or blasphemy; or through ritual murder. The latter is always temporary, requiring another murder every six days or the power wanes. The ritual involves killing a complete stranger, one whose name is unknown to the cacosinger, one who has never met or seen the cacosinger before (and vice versa), with a tool made of one of the above-mentioned materials, with no one else around. The victim's vocal chords must then be eaten raw.

Nommic Disconnection

To disconnect a True Name, to sever parts of someone's identity - make them not their own species, remove their emotional abilities, sever their connection to their own mind, remove their soul - a cacosinger must complete all four previous rituals, then unite them - something fundamentally antithetical to what they are - via a harmonic, multichord song known as the di-gân. This song is only known amongst the cacosingers of the Shrikewood, and only shared if a cacosinger defeats a master in cacosonic battle and coerces it out of them.

Attacks

Cacosingers use their voices in six different ways:

• Countertoning: this is their only defensive measure, using their voice to counter sonic powers of users of euphony or sonic aether. This involves using a tone that is discordant with the tone used by their foe, creating disharmony.
• Disharmonizing: simply inserting bad sounds into good, creating cacophony with their voices by disrupting existing sounds and breaking up harmony, in order to sever connections of any kind.
• Rupturing: this is a power of disruption, a power invoked via extreme volume of voice, causing connections or bodies to rupture, usually wieldeda against eardrums.
• Severing: this is an elite power, used for one of the non-physical disconnecting powers, to disconnect someone from a relationship or power.
• Shattering: this is the strongest of their powers, a complete breaking of something (usually physical) by volume and dissonance at once.
• Soundbreaking: this is targeting sound (or euphony or sonic aether) directly in order to break it, creating cacophony out of existing sounds.

Variations

Most variations are from Shrikewood:

• Anerchwr: a cacosinger who delivers messages in complete disruption and distortion.
• Diadurwr: a cacosinger who uses their powers as a towncryer or herald, a spreader of news, who disrupts the information they share in order to sew discord among the masses.
• Difynon: a cacosinger who uses their powers to confuse and lure people in, seduce them, and kill them for power.
• Gair llafariad: a cacosinger who does not sing, but engages in spoken word performance to wield their power, often for entertainment purposes.
• Gwneuthurwr delwedd: a cacosinger who works in the film or television industry and uses their power to score a work, thus creating a record of disruption (which deteriorates quickly, often eventually destroying the work).
• Llenor: a cacosinger who creates and recites poetry as the means of wielding their powers, creating emotional disruption and confusion.
• Meteldalen: a cacosinger who uses the above-mentioned materials to create instruments that channel cacophony.
• Mlodyn: cacophonic gardener.
• Twyllodrus: a cacosinger who uses their powers to disrupt security system and locks and other obstacles in the pursuit of theft.
• Twyllwr: a cacosinger, usually on the fringe of society, who uses their powers to cheat at games of chance.

Canwr Drwg

The bards of Shrikewood are an elite order of cacosinger who keep a secret, broken version of history and political ties in order to create havoc and violence. They are manipulators and killers, often agents (whose allegiances change often) of the powerful.

Cerddwr

A ranger of Shrikewood whose bond to the forest is extremely unstable and dangerous, often ending with them being killed and turned into a screaming tree. The shrikes flock to them, always on the edge of attacking them or defending them.

Llyg

Women outcast from society in Shrikewood who take up cacosinging and the lore in order to protect themselves and prey on men, disrupting the social order of Shrikewood for their own benefit.

Porthor

Extremely powerful cacosingers who can use their voices to disrupt the connections between worlds and realms of existence, creating planar gates. In order to gain this power, they must be able to wield nommic disconnection and attact the Name of the plane they are in.

The Regent of the Shrikewood

The king of the Shrikewood is the cacosinger who uses their power to disrupt the political ties of the court in order to gain the upperhand and take over.

Other Cultures

Some cacosingers in other cultures include

• Dionora: in the infernal circuses of Jesenya, the knife-thrower acrobats wield cacophony in order to create a terrifying show for the audience.

Similar Occupations

Other users of cacophony include

• Butain: a sex worker who uses cacophony and other infernal essences to lure in people and rob them.
• Camgam: a dancer whose art is done to a cacophonic score, thus wielding the cacophony via their movements rather than internalized and released from their own body.
• Shrikewood Druid: a druid bonded to the evil forests and disrupting nature.
• Hysbysebwr: a user of cacophony and other infernal essences who works in advertising.
• Offeiriades: a priestess of Neidi.
• Saethwr: an archer who uses weapons that resonate with cacophony.
• Ymladdwr: a melee warrior who uses weapons that resonate with cacophony.

Societal Role

Cacosingers are the elite of the societies of the Shrikewood. In other cultures, they are either illegal or frowned upon, except as agents of the state.

Skills

• Sound/music theory
• Accoustics
• Ventriloquism
• Singing
• Musical instruments
• Hunting
• Stalking
• Anatomy
• Cooking

Stat

Modified from base of nation/species

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