Whisperer

A whisperer is a wielder of negative emotions, though their primary emotional weapon is despair. They use whispers, guided by fans, that subtly alter the emotions of their targets using mollesse.

Distillation

A whisperer gains the power to wield mollesse by destroying their own emotional capacity. There are many ways to do this, ranging from self-repression over the course of many years to magical methods that alter their True Name such that they have no emotional resonance. Others might be born without this capacity. Once they have eradicated their capacity for feelings, they must replace them with mollesse by driving another person to an act of desperation, then harvesting their emotions in that moment. Before they gain the power to wield whispering, they must do this through manipulation, coercion, or some supernatural method. Once they have driven someone to despair, they can harvest the mollesse generated by either drinking their tears or their blood, if they have spilled it. If they do not have blood or tears, consuming any part of them will work.

Whispering

Because a whisperer has suppressed their emotional capacity, they are able to fill themselves where their metaphorical heart once was with mollesse, then direct that mollesse at others, altering their emotions negatively. They do this by whispering such that the target is the only one who can her them. Whisperers have, over the Ages, mastered the ability to use fans to throw their voices, thus targeting people from across a crowd or a room. Their goal in doing this is always to drive their target to desperate or rash actions, which allows the whisperer to harvest more mollesse - though once they can whisper, they can harvest the energy with their fans, wafting it toward themselves and absorbing it.

Emotions

Though this list is not comprehensive, this is the assortment of emotions a whisperer can inflict on others.

• Angst
• Worry
• Annoyance
• Unease
• Self-Pity
• Embarrassment
• Disappointment
• Confusion
• Resentment
• Uncertainty
• Jealousy
• Doubt
• Sadness
• Stress
• Boredom
• Guilt
• Antipathy
• Disgust
• Distress
• Regret
• Sorrow
• Shame
• Loneliness
• Paranoia
• Anxiety
• Distrust
• Apathy
• Homesickness
• Emptiness
• Frustration
• Yearning
• Panic
• Humiliation
• Anguish
• Dysphoria
• Rejection
• Acedia
• Grief
• Despair
• Isolation
• Depression
• Trauma
• Anhedonia
• Desperation
• Suffering
• Suicidal Ideation

The more intense or acute the emotion, the harder it is to inflict upon someone. Furthermore, the more specific it is, the harder it is to inflict - causing someone to feel anger generally is easier than making them angry about something the whisperer implants.

Inventory

Whisperers have two main tools: their fans and their velificatios.

Fans

Fans are usually made of light but stiff materials between two wooden sticks or handles. Common materials include silk, paper, feathers, bamboo, palm leaf, ivory, nacre, tortoise shell, bone, mica, sandalwood, cobalt, lutinus, shadon, gerichtslinde wood, suicide tree wood, man-eating tree wood, whipbird feather, go-away bird feather, cu bird feather, pterosaur feather or bone, hooded vulture feather, scarlet macaw feather, brown booby feather, and more.

Velificatios

Velificatios are flowing strands of fabric that float around the whisperer. They are always made of a fabric called tisseu de pleur, a yellow and blue fabric. They float around the whisperer and help draw in mollesse when it is formed. They also protect the whisperer from emotional resonance from others.

Variations

There are some variations around the world:

Wailing Women

A wailing woman is a whisperer who is being consumed by the mollesse within herself (or him- or themself, but usually her), and thus, her tears are cobalt blue sorrow and her voice cannot whisper but only wail. They do not use fans, their attacks are much stronger, but they will one day soon die of their power.

Hanging Women

Hanging women are whisperers who are so elite they can drive people to suicide with a quiet whisper and a carefully placed noose. These women (and they are almost always women) work either as assassins or intimidators for the wealthy and powerful.

Rolanduccio

The teardrop clowns of central Jesenyan circuses who use heavily disguised fans (usually as part of their outfits or as thin scarves up their sleeves), controlling an audience's emotions.

Other Variations

Other variations include

• Connefier: a bard who uses whispering to affect the powers they serve.
• Jagged Lacey: a carnival worker who uses their powers of whispering to affect the crowd discreetly.
• Jeune fille: a whisperer who works as a sex worker in order to get close to victims.
• Roulant: a whisperer who dances with their fans in order to send their whispers.
• Pleureuse: a whisperer who works on the streets as a living statue, using their powers to manipulate their audience.
• Tragédien: a whisperer who uses their power in a stage performance to control the audience.

Trimer

A laborer controlled by emotional manipulation from a whisperer, caused to be desperate and willing to do anything for them.

Similar Occupations

Other users of mollesse:

• Lachrymosan: witches empowered by tears of despair.

Stats

The typical whisperer will have the following variations from the base stats of their nation/species:

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