MELPOMINEE

Named for Melpomene, the Greek Muse of tragedy,
the unique Discipline of the Daughters of Cacophony
is one of speech and song. The powers of this Discipline
explore the various uses of the voice for both
benefit and harm. As is the case with mortal art, it is
not always clear which of those directions these powers
take. No character may have a rating in Melpominee
higher than her Performance rating. Melpominee affects
the subject’s soul as well as the ears; thus, it works
perfectly well on deaf subjects, and has caused at least
one known breach of the Masquerade due to this effect.
Additionally, the powers of Melpominee work only on
those who are present when it is used — Daughters
of Cacophony cannot record Melpominee effects, send
them across radio waves, or have them streamed over
the Internet.
Daughters of Cacophony can use some of the powers of
the Melpominee Discipline in concert, as it were. If more
than one Siren uses the same level of this Discipline simultaneously,
the difficulty for the roll falls by one for
each Daughter involved beyond the first. The difficulty
cannot fall lower than 3, however. The Discipline levels
that can benefit from this rule are noted below.

• The Missing Voice
The character can “throw” her voice anywhere within
her line of sight. This enables the Daughter to carry
on surreptitious conversations, sing duets with herself,
or cause any number of distractions. This power can
also be combined with other Melpominee powers to
disguise their source (and some Daughters use it to
conceal the fact that Melpominee powers do not function
through recorded media).
System: This power functions automatically as long
as the character wills it. However, using The Missing
Voice while performing any action other than speech
or singing incurs a penalty of two dice on that action
due to the disruption of the character’s concentration.

•• Phantom Speaker
The Daughter can project her voice to any individual
she has personally met. Distance is no object,
but it must be night wherever the target presently is.
The vampire can sing, talk, or otherwise project her
voice in any way she sees fit (including other uses of
Melpominee), but she cannot hear what she is saying,
and therefore suffers a +1 difficulty to any rolls accompanying
her utterance. For instance, the vampire could
project her voice to an enemy in an attempt to intimidate
him, but would suffer a +1 to the difficulty of the
Charisma + Intimidation roll.
System: The player rolls Wits + Performance (difficulty
7) and spends a blood point. Each success allows
one turn of speech; three or more successes allow
speech for an entire scene.

••• Madrigal
Music has the power to sway the listener, engendering
specific emotions through artful lyrics, pounding
crescendo, or haunting melody. The Daughters of Cacophony
can tap into music’s power, forcing listeners
to feel whatever they wish. The emotion becomes so
powerful that the listener must act, though what a listener
does isn’t something the Siren can directly control.
System: The player rolls Charisma + Performance
(difficulty 7). Each success instills the chosen emotion
in a fifth of the Kindred’s audience (more than five successes
have no additional effect). The Storyteller decides
precisely which members of the audience are affected.
Characters may resist this power for the duration
of the scene with the expenditure of a Willpower point,
but only if they have reason to believe that they are
being controlled by outside individuals. The song the
vampire sings must also reflect the emotion she wishes
to engender — no one’s going to mob the concert security
no matter how well she sings “High Hopes,” but
they might if she performs “I Predict a Riot.”
Affected individuals should act in accordance with
their Natures — enraged Conformists would join a riot
but not start one, aroused Bravos may force their attentions
on the object of their desire, and jealous Directors
may send cronies after their rivals.
Multiple Daughters may use this Discipline in concert.

•••• Siren’s Beckoning
The Daughters of Cacophony don’t spread madness
as surely (or as visibly) as the Malkavians, but their
songs are definitely detrimental to one’s sanity. With
this power, the Daughter can drive any listener to madness.
Most of the time, the victim is too fascinated to
realize that he should leave the area and block out the
music from his mind.
System: Siren’s Beckoning requires an extended,
resisted roll. The player rolls Manipulation + Performance
(difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower);
the victim resists with a Willpower roll (difficulty
equal to the singer’s Appearance + Performance).
If the singer accumulates five more successes than the
victim at any point, the hapless soul acquires a new
derangement or Psychological Flaw of the Storyteller’s
choice. This derangement normally lasts for one night,
with an additional night per success over five. With
a total of 20 net successes, the Daughter can make it
permanent.
Multiple Daughters may use this Discipline in concert.

••••• Virtuosa
Most of the low-level Melpominee powers can only
be used on one target at a time. When the Daughter
reaches this level of mastery in her Discipline, she can
“entertain” a wider audience. Each member of the audience
hears the same message.
System: The Daughter may use Phantom Speaker or
Siren’s Beckoning on a number of targets equal to her
Stamina + Performance. The player must spend one
blood point for every five targets beyond the first.

••••• • Shattering Crescendo
The Daughter can sing powerfully enough to rend
flesh, split skin, and crack bone. While some Kindred
unfortunate enough to witness this power make reference
to the fact that even mortal singers can shatter
glass at the right frequency, others note that volume
and intensity don’t seem to matter when a Daughter
employs Shattering Crescendo. The Siren can sing a
soothing lullaby and still kill a target.
System: Use of this power requires that the victim
be within hearing range (characters with hearing difficulties
— or Heightened Senses — are affected at the
same range as other victims). The player spends one
blood point and rolls Manipulation + Performance
(difficulty of the target’s Stamina + Fortitude). Each
success inflicts one health level of aggravated damage,
which may not be soaked. If using this power on an inanimate
object, the Storyteller determines how many
dice (if any) the object may use to “soak” and how
many successes are needed to completely shatter it.
Multiple Daughters may use this Discipline in concert.

••••• •• Persistent Echo
The Daughter can sing, speak, or even use a Melpominee
power and leave the effect hanging in the air,
waiting for someone to come along and hear it. The
character can control who can trigger her latent song,
meaning that combined with Shattering Crescendo or
Siren’s Beckoning, this power can be used as a trap.
System: The player rolls Stamina + Performance
(difficulty 8) and spends a blood point. Each success
yields one turn of speech that may be left to be heard
later. If the player wishes to time-delay another Melpominee
power, the roll for that power must be made
at +1 difficulty. The echo stays suspended for a maximum
number of nights equal to twice the vampire’s
Stamina + Performance before fading.
The Kindred may choose to make the echo audible to
anyone who stands in her position for the duration of the
power — in effect, an endlessly looped mystic recording.
Conversely, she may choose for it to fade away once it
is heard for the first time. She may also choose to leave
it dormant until activated by the presence of a specific
individual with whom she is familiar. If the echo is made
a one-time-only effect, all traces of the power disappear
once the vampire’s words echo to the intended recipient.
If a character uses Heightened Senses in an area
where an “unactivated” echo exists, he will hear a faint
murmur. Three successes on a Perception + Occult roll
(difficulty 8) are necessary to hear the message, and a
botch on this roll will deafen the listener for the rest
of the night.
Multiple Daughters may use this Discipline in concert.