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| + | Contracts of Cocophany: A famous bard once penned, "If music be the food of love, then play on." Another person |
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− | =The Life and Times of Aaron Fletcher (''aka The Background'')=
| + | once said that music could "soothe the savage beast." But what some might call music, another might call noise. |
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− | ==Spring: Mortal Life==
| + | Sound is such a unique thing. Pitches, tones, vibrations to the ear. This contract is not one of melodies, but |
− | * How was your family life before your abduction? Were your parents kind or cruel? Were you spoiled or impoverished?
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− | * Where did you live? Did you live in Vienna, or did you live elsewhere?
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− | * How were you viewed amongst your peers, both in school(if you went) and in your social life. Were you cited as a bully or ruffian, were you kind and charitable?
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− | * What was your occupation prior to your abduction? How did this play a role in your personality (if it did)?
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− | <br>
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− | :They say that the Fletcher family line mixed with the Passamoquoddy tribes in the early life of Aleswich. From the research that has been done on the Passamoquoddy tribe, it is said that their history, culture, and rituals are based on oral history, prior to the arrival of European settlers on their land. The richness of an oral history pales in comparison to a written history. Each teller of the history adds their on flavor to the longer tale. And for those that knew the Fletchers of the mid-sized town in Maine, were unsurprised that two children would be gifted with the craft of storytelling.
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− | Born to a lawyer and doctor, Aaron and his sister, Natasha, were good at telling stories. The twins would spend hours telling stories to one another. Entertain each other with weaving words for hours. One of their favorite games was 'Once Upon a Time,' in which the tale would start sometime in the morning and go through until bedtime. Aaron and Sasha (his nickname for his sister) were a talented duo, but their tales were never light or filled with happiness. It was as though Aaron and Sasha channeled the Brothers Grimm-their stories filled with dark tones, muted light, with dark and malevolent shadows. Their parents thought it was morbid their children could take any happy story and twist it into a tragic tale. It was no surprise that upon entering high school, Sasha and Aaron joined circles of artists, writers, thespians. Even though their parents already mapped out their futures as doctors or lawyers, their parents considered it "quaint" that they felt an artist calling--and didn't see any harm in letting such idle entertainment continue through their teenage years.
| + | one in which someone can manipulate sound to be both beneficial and |
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− | One night, travelling home after the final curtain of the high school production of 'The Mousetrap' ended, both Sasha and Aaron walked back home (as they always did); but this would be the last time Aleswich would hear of Aaron and Sasha Fletcher for some ten years. Whispers of kidnapping, running away, or worse: death, would circle the home and community. So what happened to them? To answer that, one must return to that night some ten years ago.
| + | Contracts of Cocophany even work on people who are deaf/hard of hearing. |
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| + | Fine Tune(•) |
| + | When invoking this clause, the changeling is able to adjust the sound around them in such a way that they can |
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− | ==Summer: Abduction==
| + | pick up things that most mortal ears cannot hear. Like the hightend senses of super heroes, one can even fine |
− | * How did your former master claim you? What methods did he establish to get you into the Hedge?
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− | * How did your Master treat you during this time? Was he forceful? Or was he friendly?
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− | * Give us a small description of how your character felt upon entering the Hedge, and when he officially captured you?
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− | ==Autumn: Arcadia and Escape==
| + | tune hearing to overhear conversations that are best left secret between those parties. |
− | * What tasks did your Master use you for? (This is an important note for Seeming as well as Kith selection)
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− | * Were other stolen people working with you? How did you view them?
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− | * What urged you to escape?
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− | * How do you view your Master now?
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− | ==Winter: Lost==
| + | Cost: 1 Glamour |
− | * How much time has passed since your abduction and return from the Hedge?
| + | Dice Pool: Wyrd + Expression |
− | * Are you just stepping out of the Hedge into Vienna, or coming from elsewhere?
| + | Action: Instant |
− | * If you are in a Court, how did you get brought in?
| + | Catch: The changeling focuses on the subject they want to use their supernatural hearing on, while humming a |
− | * Does your character have a fetch? Where are they? Does your character have their old life back? What is the status of their identity?
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− | <hr>
| + | single note during this clause. If he stops at anytime for longer than a breath, he must pay the cost. |
− | <br>
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− | =The Historian of Fabrication (''aka: The Chronicler of Lies, The Vivisectionist of Memories, The Twisted Author'')=
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− | The Historian is a member of the Gentry, created by Aaron Fletcher.
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− | ==Description==
| + | Results |
− | [[File:Chronicler.jpg|300px|left]] The Floriographer's appearance is rather pointedly unremarkable. While his clothing is simple, never ornate, he simply...fades...into whatever is around him, without ever truly changing colours or semblance. Tall without being too tall, slender without being skeletal, those few unfortunate enough to remember him clearly have described the creature as a mousy-haired, bespectacled young man with vivid, avid eyes.
| + | Dramatic Failure: The Changeling's ears pick up everything and it's intensified. The sounds are constant, loud |
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− | He never blinks.
| + | and distracting, lasting for the rest of the scene. All rolls are done at -2. |
| + | Failure: The contract does not work. Nothing happens. |
| + | Success: Like fine tuning the dial of an old radio to pick up a station, the Changeling is able to hear their |
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− | Many a victim has thought herself alone, only to find the gentle, yet inexorable strength of too many hands drawing her down to be composted for her sins.
| + | target with supernatural crystal clarity. If they are attempting to listen in on a conversation from a distance, |
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− | <br>
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− | ==Realm==
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− | The Herbarium is never truly dark. The realm possesses seemingly endless space, fields upon fields of flowers, formerly human and not, and yet, there is no day. There is no night. There are no shadows, unless the master wills it so.
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− | Not physical shadows.
| + | they are able to hear up to their Wyrd in yards. This effect lasts for a scene or until the Changeling stops |
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− | The shadow of their master's displeasure lies over all who dwell within the Fae's domain, and for those souls whose beauty isn't up to par, the filthsome, rotting, reeking heap of 'compost' more than makes up for the rest. It is never in the same place twice, rumours abounding as to how, or what, or who, is tasked with its silently unlovely relocations.
| + | humming, whichever comes first. |
| + | Exceptional Success: The contract lasts until next sunrise or sunset which ever is first. Further more, for each |
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− | Perhaps most horrifying of all, however, is the herbarium chamber itself. Every blossom has spent hours within it, forced to gaze upon her/his own potential future. Pressed between glass, a thumb's width wide yet still alive, still beautiful, are the Floriographer's most perfect specimens, his pride, his joy, left unable to move, to speak, to interact at all -- but still able to feel.
| + | success the changeling can allow one other person to hear benefit from this effect, though that person might not |
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− | The punishment for their release is unspeakable.
| + | know how their sharp hearing has occured. |
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| + | Whispering Arch (••) |
| + | Like those places found in architectural anomalies over the world, you can hold a conversation with another |
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− | ==Methodology==
| + | individual from across a crowded room without the need to raise one's voice above a whisper. |
− | Victims are chosen for their beauty, their innate loveliness, their grace, their elocution. He does not choose average. He chooses the high school beauty queens, the dancers at the pinnacle of physical fitness and health, the winners of contests, and he chooses them himself.
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− | The Floriographer prefers his blooms hand-picked.
| + | Cost: 1 Glamour or 3 see below |
| + | Dice Pool: Wyrd + Wits - Subject’s Wits |
| + | Action: Instant |
| + | Catch: The changelings using the clause must cup their mouths as though they were talking into their hands. |
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− | Perhaps you saw his eyes observing you through mirrors, perhaps you saw him trailing you through crowds, quiet and intense. Escapees often remember scattered, dream-hazed moments in the night, eyes in the light of a streetlamp, reflections of a man who isn't there.
| + | Results |
| + | Dramatic Failure: The words, regardless of how clearly the Changeling may have been in speaking, are heard |
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− | He is gentle, but utterly ruthless in his pruning of excesses from his blossoms' lives. Too chatty? He will steal your voice and keep it, or train it before he gives it back, to behave as HE wishes it to do. His victims are physically shaped and trimmed, groomed to emulate particular blossoms, made to study them, endless hours of attempting to be them, to behave as they behave.
| + | completely wrong, if sometimes offensively. If the message was meet me at twelve noon, the subject might think he |
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− | Those chosen to be flowers in his garden are groomed toward the emotions and meanings their particular blossom once represented. A Flowering whose form was sculpted into a Chamomile might be forced into difficult situations, given hardships to persevere through -- or to fail, and be unworthy -- as Chamomile's meaning is ''Energy in Adversity''. One sculpted as Basil might be treated cruelly indeed, manipulated into terrible thoughts and actions, as Basil's meaning is ''Hate''. Or, perhaps, a lovely woman he intends to sculpt into a Red Rose (''Love'') persistently becomes a thistle (''LEAVE ME ALONE, defiance''), all on her own. It is this war of wills which most commonly creates hybrid blossoms (a.k.a. Dual Kith).
| + | meant twelve midnight. |
| + | Failure: Nothing happens. The contract does not work. |
| + | Success: The changeling can convey a message to the subject by whispering into his hands. This works between only |
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− | See the '''[[Gentry/The Floriographer/Flower Language|Flower Language]]''' for help in choosing your particular role in his bouquet.
| + | two people in a one-on-one capacity. The two parties must be in the same room in order for this to work. Anything |
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| + | said is recieved by the other in clear quality by the recieving individual. |
| + | Exceptional Success: If the Changeling wants, the Contract works two-ways for a number of individuals half the |
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− | ==Suggested Themes for Escapees==
| + | caster's Wyrd (minimum is 1). Everyone must be within the same room in order to talk to one another. |
− | The vast majority of the Floriographer's escapees are those who were flawed in some way or another, or simply not ''quite'' good enough to merit his especial attentions (read: not beautiful enough to belong in the herbarium -- yet...).
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− | * Few Beast kiths are suitable for his realm. Those that are, are predators, carrion-eaters, those forced to survive by consuming the formerly-human 'compost' of the heap where truly flawed beauty is summarily discarded. Many an escapee was chased by hungry Beasts.
| + | Whispers on the Wind (•••) |
− | * Darklings are almost unheard of, but the occasional kith crops up in those nocturnal predators or mimics who attend the compost and guard the gardens. Who guards the guardians? Beasts are just that: Beasts.
| + | Like Whispering Arch, the Changeling can throw their voice across long distances, sending a message along a |
− | * Elemental Woodbloods are fairly common, though the Floriographer has been known to trade flawed creations for other kiths if his garden requires them. Elementals would most often have been forced to do or behave in certain ways toward growing blossoms, to "encourage" them in directions this Keeper wanted, if they were not blossoms themselves.
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− | * Fairest Flowerings are, far and beyond, the single most likely kith for this Keeper to produce. It is not unknown for Flowerings to deliberately mar themselves, be it a cut to the face or more severe changes, in order to be sent to the compost and take their chances with the beasts which guard the charnel reek of its confines. As Beauty is a major theme of the Floriographer, arguments could be made for many combinations of Fairest kiths.
| + | breeze to anyone they've met. |
− | * Ogres do not typically exist. A player would need to make an excellent case to justify one. See below RE: physical appearance. Their roles, too, would be as aggressors and manipulators, whether or not they realized what their actions caused. Need a blossom to learn humility? Have an Ogre eat her friend for disobedience. They are most often traded for with other Keepers, as they are unlovely and of little interest to his obsession.
| + | Cost: 2 Glamour |
− | * Wizened exist only in the capacity of managing the Beasts and doing chores the Floriographer would rather leave to others' time. If they are aesthetically appealing, they are more likely to please him and be his direct go-betweens. If they are hideous or twisted, they are less likely to have direct contact, their constant slavery and his impossible demands what causes them to change, rather than deliberate Fae intervention. These, too, are often adopted from other Keepers.
| + | Dice Pool: Wyrd + Manipulation |
| + | Action: Extended to a total of 5 successes |
| + | Catch: The Changeling mouths out their message without uttering a single sound. If a sound is uttered anytime |
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| + | before the message ends, they must pay the cost. |
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| + | Results |
| + | Dramatic Failure: The Contract coughs and hacks as their air from their lungs is briefly taken by the wind. The |
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| + | Changeling takes a number of bashing damage in Wyrd/2. In addition, they are -2 in stamina for a number of hours |
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| + | in their Wyrd. |
| + | Failure: The Contract does not work. Nothing happens. |
| + | Success: The Changeling is able to convey their silent message to their target. The effect lasts for a number of |
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| + | hours in Wyrd to reach that individual regardless of where they -- provided that they are within the same city or |
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| + | town as the Changeling. |
| + | Exceptional Success: Whispers on the Wind last for a 24 hour period and can stretch out state/countrywide. Also |
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| + | when the message reaches the person and disapates into the air, the subject will be able to recall perfectly the |
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| + | message. |
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| + | Keening of the Bean Sídhe(••••) |
| + | Folklore tells of a female spirit of Ireland whose wailing sound warns of a death in a house. While this is not a |
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| + | warning of death, all who hear the wail feel that it's a fate worse than death. The Changeling who uses this |
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| + | clause can release a powerful shout that it can split skin, crack bone, or destroy inanimate structures. |
| + | Cost: 3 Glamour (+1 one willpower dot for an exceptional success) |
| + | Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd - target's Composure |
| + | Action: Instant |
| + | Catch: The caster has caused an 1 health level of Lethal damage to themselves. |
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| + | Results |
| + | Dramatic Failure: The Contract does not work and it is instead the changeling has caused severe damage to their |
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| + | throat, lungs, and ribs (equal to their Wyrd in bashing damage). And they may not use this clause again for a |
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| + | number of nights in their Wyrd rating |
| + | Failure: The Contract does not work. Nothing happens. |
| + | Success: For each success the changeling rolls others caught in the wailing sounds will take that number of |
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| + | successes in aggravated damage. Anyone that is able to withstand the intensity of this takes a minus on all rolls |
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| + | equal to 1/2 of the changeling’s Wyrd (min 1/ max 5). If using this power on an inanimate object, the Storyteller |
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| + | determines how many dice (if any) the object may use to “soak” and how many successes are needed to completely |
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| + | shatter it. |
| + | Exceptional Success: Unless the willpower is spent nothing else happens. If a willpower is spent, then the |
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| + | contract lasts for 24 hours for every three successes. During this time the area reverberates with the wailing |
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| + | sound that no one can be within a foot radius of the caster's Wyrd. Anyone brave or foolish enough to walk into |
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| + | the radius will suffer the damage as above. |
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| + | Haunting Crescendo(•••••) |
| + | At the mastry of this Contract, the Changeling can use their manipulation of sound that they can leave a tune |
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| + | hanging in the air in a certain place. Anyone visiting this area can perceive the tune quietly on the breeze, or |
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| + | just on the edge of their hearing. Unfortunately, the tune carries madness, and those who hear it can lose their |
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| + | minds if they are not careful. |
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| + | Cost: 3 Glamour (or 4 for Supernaturals) (+1 willpower point on an exceptional success.) |
| + | Roll Pool: Expression + Wyrd - Composure |
| + | Action: Instant |
| + | Catch: The Changeling and must listen to a song on loop for a number of hours in Wyrd. |
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| + | Results |
| + | Dramatic Failure: The contract fails and the changeling suffers a deep state of emotion (Derangement: Mild |
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| + | Depression) for a number of weeks in their Wyrd and need to roll Resolve+Comp to come out of it. |
| + | Failure: The contract fails. |
| + | Success: The Changeling pick a Severe derangement. For each success she gets, the song she sings will remain quietly hanging in the area for one day. Anyone entering the area must make a Composure + Wyrd at a difficulty equal to the Changeling scored to use the power. If they fail, they suffer the effects of the derangement the Changeling picked for the rest of the night. If they botch the roll, the derangement does not fade and must be removed as if it was permanent. |
| + | Exceptional Success: The song is so infectious that the person caught in the powers of Haunting Cresendo can spread the Mild form of the Derangement to a number of people in the Changeling's Wyrd. Like an ear-worm, the initial target(s) cannot shake the effects of the tune out of their heads (think Emma Stone from the movie Easy-A, where she sings Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful of Sunshine). Those "infected" shake off the effects in a number of hours in the caster's Wyrd. |
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