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Celestial Troupers
Those who wield celestial magic for art or entertainment.Drumleader
Type: Dancer A drumleader is one who leads a communal dance that bonds the community together. This bond allows them to protect one another and share qualities. It is a power originating with native peoples, but any oppressed or exploited group may wield it if they are truly a community. The group being bonded must be a group who live and work together, who are part of an existing community. They must live in a communal, cooperative environment without hierarchy or dominion over others. A drumleader often wear special clothin, and the ceremony must take place in the appropriate time, place, and with the right accoutrement. The appropriate time is after wild onions have grown in the springtime. These onions are gathered for special communal meals. New bonding ceremonies can be held once per week until the start of summer, but they usually only happen once a month. The place must be a central communal location like a townhouse or councilhouse, a community center, or some other place where everyone can dance together. The drumleader must bathe in the nearest river before the ceremony, washing away impurities, infernal energies, and old bonds. To do this last part, the old bonds, they must wash and use special stones and sticks to scour their skin. They must also abstain from alcohol or drugs for a week beforehand. Every communal bonding happens via dancing together. These dances are on a central raised structure inside the place used for the dance which vary by community and occur in rounds throughout the night. They start before midnight but after sunset, and they end at dawn. Those who are to be bonded must participate all night and touch medicine (see below) multiple times. The drumleader will either be a man calling upon different people to lead the dances with song, or a woman wearing shakers (shells or boxes or other materials) who dances with each dance. If they are of neither gender, they may choose which role they take. Whatever role they take, they will be speaking/singing the poetic words of bonding (yahas) throughout the night. The song is call-and-response, always in the tongue of the local community, and the woman with the shakers creates the rhythm. The dance leader will lead four songs as everyone dances around the sacred fire in the center of the raised space. At the end of their four songs, the dance leader will either choose someone from the dancers to enter the fire or do so themself. The person in the fire calls and is responded to, then steps out purified. After this, everyone rests until a new dance is called. By dawn, everyone who will be bonded must have been transformed in the fire, including the drumleader. Every participant should wear a mask. Those who wish to bond must wear special masks made of gourds, hornets' nests, buckeye wood, animal skins, or poplar wood. The mask will burn away in the fire during the dance, transforming into being a part of the dancer. Most fire is sacred, but some kinds of drumleader may use a specific kind of fire special to their community. The sacred fire is lit by the drumleader right before the dancing starts and is tended by them throughout the night. If the fire goes out before dawn, the bonds die. Medicine for bonding ceremonies is made from special plants and their roots by the drumleader and/or their helpers the dawn before the dance. During the ceremony, the drumleader guides each bondee to make sure they perform correctly. Everyone in the ceremony makes rolls on each important aspect of it - dancing, singing, mask creation, medicine creation, and bond creation in the fire - that they are part of. Every success adds points ot the final total, every failure takes from it, leading to a tally that determines the length of time the bond lasts. Some rolls have significant impact; if a medicine roll is failed, every time the medicine is touched, that degree of failure is added to the final tally (i.e., if someone has a normal failure in creating the medicine, the final tally loses a point for the failure and each subsequent touching of the medicine during the ceremony). This is why the drumleader must be vigilant on every aspect. Since the medicine must be made the dawn before the ceremony, there is almost never time to remake it. Therefore, it must be made up for throughout the ceremony with better singing and dancing. If the medicine is not touched at all during the ceremony, the whole ceremony fails. Furthermore, if the drumleader does not wash in the river properly, everything they do will bring penalties to the final tally, often leading to a complete failure to bond. The determinants are as follows:- Shared work
- Timing
- Place
- Riverwash
- Making medicine
- Outfits
- Masks
- Calling the dance
- Rhythm
- Dance-leading
- Maintaining the dance
- Touching medicine
- Sacred fire
Powers, skills, and stats are much easier to limit, as they may control the number of points of each that get through. This can be a general filter (1 pt/rd for anything) or specific (STR is limited to 1 pt/3 rds) or even character-specific (Inali may only share 1 pt of Hunting skill per day). Any shared point is lost to the original user unless shared to all users. However, sharing to all users weakens the bond over time. For every point shared amongst the entire group, the bond loses an hour of time (10 points) for every 10 seconds of use. Universal sharing may be refused by the drumleader at the time it is attempted. Every individual in the bond has the right and the ability to refuse to share or to refuse to accept something shared. If a universal share is refused, it is not a universal share. Sharing to multiple people eats up multiple points if not a universal share. They can, however, also convert points from the hours into points shared universally or individually, thus lessening time but adding points to stats without sharing. The drumleader has veto over this. Permanent sharing is impossible. Once the bond is over, it is over until a new dance. PRO / ATH +1 STR +1 AWA +3 WIL +3 PRS +3 STH /
Gaudian
Type: BardA gaudian is a bard whose songs, stories, rhymes, and japes bring genuine happiness.
To become a gaudian, one must be able to sense the energy of euphoria. To do this, the gaudian must undergo a ritual wherein they open their metaphorical hearts. This ritual may vary by culture, but the basics are that the gaudian sits in a circle of people on a clear night, and eachof the people speaks of their problems. The gaudian then asks questions until they feel they fully understand the problems. At this point, they go into a meditative trance, and those in the circle wash the gaudian in clean water from head to toe, removing the gaudian's clothing (if any), then shaving their body (if need be), so that they are laid bare literally and therefore metaphorically in their emotional state. In their trance, the gaudian will take in the pain of those in the circle as each one pours water over them. When they come out of the trance, they will have until a lunar revolution is over to address the pains of the people in the circle. They can address the pains by solving or healing them or by taking the pain from them via magical songs. If the latter, that pain will always follow the gaudian. If they fail, they may try again the next revolution (and there is no limit to how often they may try) after their hair has regrown (if possible). If they succeed, they will have the ability to sense euphoria and capture it, to place it into songs, rhymes, japes, and stories.
They will also be unable to grow their hair back after succeeding. Their inability to regrow hair is a reflection of their bare emotional state and ability to take on the emotions of others. If they are of a species that does not grow hair, sometimes this is replaced with other physical loss (scales, feathers, etc.) or alteration (smoothing of crystal crags, for instance). The physical downsides to these changes remain present (less ability to be protected from cold, inability to fly, altered ability to refract light, etc.). In some cultures, it is considered inappropriate for a gaudian to cover up their hairlessness with wigs, etc., but in others it is considered standard to their role. In the colonies, covering it up is common - they are criminalized and must operate in secret - and in the native communities, covering up is fine but not encouraged.
Euphoria is generated by any resonant response to pleasure, joy, delight, happiness, or other positive emotions within the realm of joy. Small amounts are created with almost every form of pleasure a mortal experiences, but usable amounts are only created - and even then, only briefly - via moments of collective joy. Parties, celebrations, ceremonies, and so on generate the most euphoria. Any kind of celebration will work, from birthday parties to orgies, from weddings to harvest festivals, from religious celebrations to holidays, from regular parties to celebrating accomplishments. The use of euphoria requires capturing and storing it after it is generated - for gaudians, they place it in musical instruments, scrolls or parchment, or other implements of their work. This is done only with willing participants. Those who contribute to it will find their own positive emotions slightly lessened (never to the point of losing it entirely) by contributing, but it will be stored to be used later when needed. The gaudian must ask and receive permission before taking in their joys.
Once captured, the euphoria within a container is essentially a battery that the gaudian can draw from to spread happiness.
- Joyful performance: if the gaudian performs a dance, music, theatrical performance, clowning, etc. with an instrument of happiness, they will spread out their happiness to everyone watching. Though the larger number of targets weakens the effect and uses up more power, it also might create more euphoria to absorb, creating a feedback loop if all consent.
- Lavender art: if the gaudian makes a work of art - a painting, a sculpture, something tangible - and imbues the lavender light of euphoria into it, the object will temporarily spread joy to any who see it.
- Song of long happiness: the most common work of a gaudian is their signature song, one that brings the most happiness to those listening, that can instill long-term happiness in people by inspiring them to pursue what would make them most happy.
- Recitation of mirth: a recitation of a poem, monologue, or other singular performance that instill brief but intense mirth in those who hear it.
- One thousand japes: a seemingly endless series of jokes that mesmerizes those listening, paralyzing them with laughter.
- Gamboling: running and jumping playfully with children or even merry adults will act as a full rest for a gaudian.
Many other abilities are possible. Consult the GM.
It is impossible for them to wield it for oppression, cruelty, or violence, as those destroy joy. As bards, they are also responsible for oral traditions, genealogical records, and arguments of law and philosophy in their communities.
PRO -1 ATH +1 STR / AWA +1 WIL -1 PRS +3 STH +1
Harmonist
Type: Musician A musician whose harmonic music bonds people together. All music has some magical power to it. Music that unites, connects, and empowers people against imperial powers is celestial. This music is dominated by harmony, polyrhythms, and syncopation.To learn celestial music, harmonists must learn from other harmonists. They need to be trained not only in how to play or sing music, but also how to emotionally connect with others, how to understand their own emotions, and how to work a crowd. They must also be devoted to uniting the people, not the powers that exploit, oppress, abuse, or harm the people.
After years of training and playing with a mentor, harmonists are encouraged to perform before a crowd on their own to test their powers. If they succeed in uniting and empowering the crowd on their own, they unlock their abilities. As harmony is important to their magic, they are much, much more powerful with other musicians, especially other harmonists, but their magic allows them to create harmony without another musician. Most stick with bands and their mentor, but some go work on their own, usually for personal reasons.
Their powers may vary by their chosen instrument and style, but some common powers include the following:
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Looping: in order to create solo harmonies or polyrhythms, harmonists can capture loops of music magically and let them continue playing. They do this by physically grabbing the music out of the air and tying it to their instrument or themselves. This is required for their music to work if they don’t have other musicians or harmonists present. Difficulty is 8. Failure means the looping fails. Successes mean it lasts 3 rounds per success level before needing to be restored. One loop adds enough to a song to activate their magic; two loops adds +2 to their magical music, and another +1 for every loop added thereafter.
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Harmonic unification: anyone who even so much as matches a rhythm or note of the song will sense the emotions of everyone around them and be drawn into the same emotional content (sincerely). If this is sustained for three rounds in combat or three minutes out of combat, certain effects will take place (see below). Difficulty is 14 and must be re-rolled each round. Looping is required.
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Nightingale’s song: a version of harmonic unification possible if songbirds have joined in the song. This is difficulty 17, but does not require re-rolling and is +3 above harmonic unification’s powers.
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Polyrhythmic empowerment: one person per rhythm chooses one skill, ability, or power to give +3 to. Difficulty is 11 and lasts three rounds per success level. Critical failure gives -3 penalties to the chosen score for 12 rounds and cannot be re-attempted in the same amount of time, exceptional failure gives -1 for 9 rounds and cannot be re-attempted in the same amount of time, special means the rhythm cannot be attempted again for 6 rounds, normal failure means it cannot be reattempted for 3 rounds. Tie means +1 to the chosen power, ability, or skill for one round. Looping is required.
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Song of the heart: the emotions the harmonist is feeling is spread to everyone who hears the song. Difficulty is 11, +3 more per target above three targets. It lasts 3 rounds per level of success. Looping is required.
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Syncopation: a target of the harmonist’s choice who can hear the song gets an extra action. Looping is required. Difficulty is 11.
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Emerald note: a single note of pure celestial power will cause harm to any infernal being within 24’. Difficulty is 14 for a protection of power 10, +3 more difficulty for every +2 points above 10. No looping required.
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Ninth chord: on the ninth round or in the ninth minute of a song, a special chord can be played to eradicate any infernal effects on listeners. Difficulty is 11, +1 more for every target above three. Looping is required.
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Shimmering air: a light air gives everyone who hears it whom the harmonist chooses +3 ATH temporarily (one round or one minute). Difficulty is 11, +3 per target after three targets. No looping required.
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Passerine dance: targets who can hear the song may dance and summon songbirds. Difficulty for the harmonist is 14, +3 per target above three. Targets must roll dancing ability vs. difficulty 8, gaining +3 to dancing for special success on the harmonist’s part, +6 exceptional, +9 critical. Looping is required. Songbirds may sing and alleviate need for looping once they are summoned.
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Rousing flourish: a flourish within the song can break stun, LNA, or unconsciousness (but not coma or death). Difficulty is 8 for LNA, 11 for stun, 14 for unconsciousness, +3 per target above three. No looping required.
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Thrush’s song: a song of pure love that makes anyone who sincerely loves another person think of that person and either gain empowerment to act for them or lose time thinking of that person, depending on the harmonist’s intent. Difficulty is 17, +1 per person above three, success rate determines duration and bonuses. Looping is required.
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Alouette: the target (if they can hear the song) will fall apart, one body part per round. Difficulty is 17. Looping is required.
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Chanticleer’s call: a bright rooster call that all allies to the harmonist within 24 miles can hear and respond to. Difficulty is 17. No looping required.
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People’s melody: a song that gains power as more people join in, empowering them against oppressors, abusers, exploiters, or infernal powers. Difficulty is 17. Bonuses scale up as success level does. Looping is required.
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Cumulative song: a song that builds on itself, giving +1 to a skill, ability, or power on all who are affected every round/minute it is played. Difficulty is 14, +3 per target above three. Looping is required.
Harmonic unification has the following effects after three rounds/minutes:
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Empathic communication: all affected by the song can silently communicate via empathic resonance.
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Harmonic action: all affected by the song can act together for every turn.
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Unifying resonance: every subsequent round/minute, anyone hearing but not affected must roll to resist or be drawn in.
Many other abilities are possible. Consult the GM.
PRO / ATH +1 STR / AWA +2 WIL +1 PRS +3 STH -1
Hetaira
Type: SensualistThe hetairai (or hetairo(i) for men, hetaire(i) for others) are sex workers who are highly educated, skilled at art, entertainment, and conversation. They are learned in arts, philosophy, and culture. They are extremely highly valued sex workers, for they are skilled users of sex magic. Their arts and skills were brought over from the west, but in Endruin, they are still criminalized, even if their clients are high-paying. They often use this to help serve their purposes by gathering information, blackmail, or funding. Most of them are former slaves and have a passion for the work.
The sex magic of the hetairai is generated with a familiarity with their own bodies and pleasure. They engage in rituals of relaxation, comfort, and physical pleasure in order to learn how to wield their magic, then practice it with clients or lovers. The more intimately they know their own bodies, the more they are aware of the flows of energy within and how it responds to pleasure, allowing them to focus on it and draw it out. With long practice and effort, they learn to draw forth the blue light that can transfer pleasure between themselves and others. They generate this via their rituals, via acts of sexual pleasure, or via arts of seduction. They gain points of blue light every time they do this.
- Evoke pleasure: with their touch, they can transfer the blue light to another to cause them to experience physical, sexual pleasure. This costs 1 point of blue light per 3 points of power they wish to roll from.
- Alluring aura: they can wreath themselves in blue light, making themselves alluring to anyone who sees them. This costs 3 points of blue light per minute of 8-power aura.
- Intensify pleasure: with their kiss, they can transfer the blue light to another to cause the physical, sexual pleasure they are experiencing to intensify. This costs 2 points of blue light per 3 points of power they wish to roll from.
- Transform pleasure: with their touch, they can use the blue light to change the physical pleasure someone is experiencing from any kind of physical pleasure to sexual pleasure (i.e., good tasting food becomes sexual pleasure). This costs 3 points of blue light per 2 points of power they wish to roll from.
- Alleviate discomfort: their breath can make someone's discomfort reduce or go away. This costs 1 point of blue light per 2 points of power they wish to roll from.
Other powers may be possible, so long as they reflect pleasure, especially sexual pleasure.
PRO / ATH +3 STR +1 AWA +2 WIL +2 PRS +4 STH +1
Raqisa
Type: DancerA dancer who creates magical grace.
Raqisas gain their powers in the moment. They are believers in the powers of hope and miracles, and in the act of dance, they find small moments of pure grace. If they notice and draw it in, they can store it for later and wield it. This is something only the most profound believers in hope and miracles, the most optimistic and kind people can sense and wield. Any pessimism or cruelty in their personalities will weaken and eventually take their powers away.
All of their powers derive from dance:
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Flower Blossoming: a wide gesture that instills grace for three rounds during combat or for three minutes out of it in everyone who believes in hope and miracles within 30’.
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Swallow Return: inward gesture that increases ATH for three rounds in combat or three minutes out of it.
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Bounding Lemur: leap of 50’ that allows for standing on walls or ceilings for one round.
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Shadow Wide: a wide gesture that spreads celestial shadow in a 30’ radius, providing a 1% chance of a miracle for anyone who believes (other than the raqisa).
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Lilac Chain: anyone the raqisa touches and anyone that person touches within 1d4 rounds (in combat) or minutes (out of combat) gains +1 PRS for every person touched.
Someone with grace instilled in them automatically succeeds on dodge rolls, gets the benefit of the doubt when speaking up for themself (target takes low die), and resistance to infernal magic (+6).
Belief in miracles must be marked in the character’s motivations for PCs, and for NPCs, if there’s any chance of belief in miracles, GM rolls a d100. One a 1-10, they do.
Raqisas’ beliefs are rare and seen as naive by most. Any evidence of their powers working will be treated as a blasphemy by the authorities in the colonized lands.
PRO +1 ATH +5 STR +1 AWA +2 WIL / PRS +2 STH +1
Rhapsode
Type: Bard A bard whose stories and songs draw from the magic of romantic love.Bards are traditionally employed by a leader or group to maintain oral traditions, entertain, maintain genealogies, and praise the leader or group. Rhapsodes may be employed in this fashion, or they may be wandering entertainers who keep these practices from their nation, culture, or community.
The powers or a rhapsode come from romantic love. To be a rhapsode, one must have experienced romantic love (or be experiencing it), and they must not be someone who has abused, assaulted, or otherwise deeply harmed a loved one intentionally. If they have, they must have quested for redemption and gained the nearly impossible feat of true forgiveness - not the false forgiveness of one gaslit by an alleged lover, but true forgiveness only possible if one has truly been redeemed. If they meet this condition, they must be trained in the abilities of a rhapsode by another rhapsode.
Rhapsodes use their love or memory of love to infuse their work. If they are near others who have experienced or are experiencing romantic love, their own emotions will resonate with it and become stronger. Their own romantic love gives them a base of 10. For every person within 10’ per point of AWA above 8 the rhapsode has, they get +1 if that person has experienced or is experiencing romantic love AND if that person is not working against the rhapsode in some way AND if that person is not a wielder of infernal powers. PCs must have this listed as a Motivation. Any important NPCs should have it noted. Random NPCs, the GM rolls a d100 and anything above 55 means the NPC meets the criteria.
Some powers of the rhapsode include the following:
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Tale of romance: the rhapsode may tell a story - taking no less than ten minutes to tell and no more than ten days - that gives anyone who hears it protection from certain infernal magicks (baleblood, feirua, hollow energy, gossamer light), +1 to +6 PRS when determining if someone’s love is sincere, and +3 to protect their romantic love if they have one. This lasts the same length of time the story took to tell. Difficulty is 14, +3 per target above five.
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Verse of love: the rhapsode may write and perform a poem that amplifies the romantic love anyone who hears it feels (+3 to protect loved ones) and instills a sense of missing something (LNA to stun) to anyone who does not feel it. Difficulty is 11. Difficulty is 3 less if the player actually writes and reads the poem.
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Lover’s ballad: the rhapsode may perform (and possibly write) a song that all who hear it feel moved by. Anyone affected must roll PRS or fall asleep and dream of them. Difficulty is 11. Difficulty is 3 less if the player actually writes and sings the song.
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Romantic lore: the rhapsode has a deep knowledge of romantic stories and histories.
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Bloodline tracing: the rhapsode’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.
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Satirical observation: the rhapsode may make a wry observation about someone’s love life and have the impact of a taunt or mockery - inspiring them to sadness, good feelings, or rage. They roll PRS vs. AWA.
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Invocation of tradition: the rhapsode may invoke a tradition of the family, group, or person they are employed by or come from and enforce its rules once per year. Consult the GM to come up with the details of this based on the family, group, or person.
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Romantic archetype: the rhapsode may tap into an archetypical romantic figure from story or history and employ powers, abilities, or skills of that figure by telling their story (ten minute minimum). Difficulty is 11, +1 for every point above 8.
Other abilities may be possible. Consult the GM.
PRO -1 ATH +1 STR -1 AWA +2 WIL +1 PRS +3 STH +1
Visionary
Type: Artist A visionary is one who recognizes when celestial light has touched them and wields it to create special works of art. Once they have created something, they can store some of it to use for their next work. The two forms of art created by visionaries are those created to attract celestial light (focal art) and those created to release it. The former is very specific, requiring special ingredients and forms, while the latter is unhindered and can be almost anything. Focal art is made of celestial materials, which are rare and restricted, but not impossible to find, make, or acquire. The universal truth in focal art is that it cannot be used to promote oppressive ideas, nor can it depict anything infernal. Visionaries use any form of art in which they are trained to do this, including but not limited to architectural, beading, ceramics, culinary, dance, drawing and sketching, fashion, mosaics, music, painting, performance, poetry, printing, sculpture, textile and fabric, theatre, and writing and prose. Consult the GM if you wish to specialize in one not listed. Once a piece of focal art is made, the visionary must spend time focusing on it as it draws in celestial light. They will know it worked because it actually glows (a full rainbow aura will form around it). Once this happens, they must spend time meditating on it until they have a vision and are filled with inspiration. What they create next will have one of these special powers:- Blinding: agents of infernal powers or oppressive authorities will be blinded by the work.
- Breathtaking: agents of infernal powers or oppressive authorities will literally lose their breath for a short period of time (effectively stunned).
- Clarifying: those who are lost and confused may suddenly understand what they are feeling and what they truly want in the world.
- Inner beauty: those who see it are better able to see the beauty and goodness in the world around them, and how to combat the evils out there.
- Inspiring form: everyone who experiences their art takes a bit of celestial light with them, inspired to act, to think, to express, to create, thus inspiring others.
- Mirrored images: those who see it see into themselves in a new, insightful way that inspires them to change themselves for the better or better accept who or what they are.
- Reawakening: jaded or dishearted people are renewed in their inspirations, hopes, creativity, goals, dreams.
| Roll | Effect |
|---|---|
| Critical failure | -12 power |
| Exceptional failure | -9 power |
| Special failure | -6 power |
| Normal failure | -3 power |
| Tie | -1 to power |
| Normal success | Equal power |
| Special success | +3 power |
| Exceptional success | +6 power |
| Critical success | +9 power |
| Roll | Effect |
|---|---|
| Critical failure | -12 power |
| Exceptional failure | -9 power |
| Special failure | -6 power |
| Normal failure | -3 power |
| Tie | -1 to power |
| Normal success | Equal power |
| Special success | +3 power |
| Exceptional success | +6 power |
| Critical success | +9 power |
GrandGuignol
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