Sounder

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

The Essence of Sound

Sonic aether is the essence of sound, and thus, it is contained in any sound that exists. To tap into it, one simply has to listen, but to wield it, one must have special materials. Sounders use tuning forks that can capture sonic aether and transform it into a sound that can be wielded.

Tuning Forks

The tuning forks used by sounders are made of quickbismuth, a liquid metal that only a shimisi can forge. The forks, however, can be shaped from the quickmetal with sound alone - placing them inside a small chamber filled with echoes will cause the quickbismuth to react and transform, and if shaped properly by moving the chamber so as to make sure the metal is hit from the correct sides and at the correct points. Chambers can be anything from a metal box to a conch shell. The forks will pick up any sound, but a sounder can only control some of the sounds it resonates with.

Voice

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 aetherial vibrations. Their voices take in the aether and contort it to their intentions as they use pitch, volume, and tempo to incite certain effects.

Sound Source

Sounders cannot use sonic aether produced by mortal voices - if the fork is reverbrating with mortal speech or song, for instance, the sonic aether 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 nommos:

• Object sounds affect bodies. These sounds are anything made by something inanimate and not mechanical. If these are controlled by mortals, it does not have the same impact as their voices. A shoe on the foot of a mortal makes noise when it hits the ground, it will resonate with the fork in a way the sounder can use, though the voice of that same person will not (nor will other sounds emanating from their bodies - if their feet are bare, the sound will be just as tainted). Object sounds affect the bodies of things - the physical part of them. Whether person, thing, landscape, or air itself, object sounds affect matter.
• Animal sounds affect emotions. Any sound a non-mortal animal makes will work for a sounder, from the squawk of a chicken to the shriek of a cetan to the roar of a swarm of locusts. The clack of hooves, the splash of fish jumping, and other noises made by animal interact with other things count as well, and often count as multiple things - a hoof on stone is both animal and object sound.
• Weather sounds affect the soul. Thunder, the patter of rain, the shriek of wind, the clatter of hail, all of them can be captured to affect the soul. As with animal sounds, these can be multiple sounds as well - rain hitting stone is both weather and object. Hail making a cow low is both animal and weather and object. It is up to the sounder what aspect they use.
• Mechanical sounds affect the mind. Anything constructed as a machine is a machine, from simple machines like levers to complex ones like computers. The fact that they were made by mortal hands makes them something affected by the mind, and thus their noises affect minds. These are distinct from object sounds and do not count as multiple sounds in that regard, though there are other ways they can be multiple sounds. Recorded sounds do not work at all.
• 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 any single ordinal power that the sounder chooses, but will only affect that after they select it.

Throwing

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 the sonic aether where they wish it to go.

Hearing

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.

Mimicry

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

Sound Characteristics

Tempo, pitch, and volume have different affects on the sonic aether 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.

Effects

The pitch causes one of two things:

• 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: sonic aether 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.

Rupture

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 sonic aether their fork is giving off.

Soundless

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.

Variations

Some variations include

• Ansager: ansagers are sounders who improve their voices so the news they announce reaches everyone in town.
• Bruellen: warriors of central Jesenya who wear heavy furs and wield axes and spears, but their primary weapon is their voice, through which they unleash the power of sonic aether through great roars.
• Erinerrung: erinerrungen are living archives of all they've heard.
• Hyperacoustician: those who use acoutics science to improve their sounding, or vice versa.
• Long-ears: spies who use sounding to listen in long distance.
• Mpilaza tantara: those who use sounding to create sounds that complement their storytelling.
• Ohrenarzt: ohrenarzt are ear doctors who use sonic aether.
• Tierischersprecher: sounders who use their powers specifically to mimic insects, and therefore call upon them.

Persecution

Sounders are generally limited by some laws to keep their powers in check, but mostly they are accepted.

Skills

Some skills include

• Ventriloquism
• Singing
• Rhyming
• Oratory
• Music
• Anatomy

Stats

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