Bloodline: Orpheans (Vampire: the Requiem)

The origins of the bloodline that calls itself Orpheans is uncertain. The members of the line will swear that the line is ancient, taking their name from the legendary poet and performer of Thrace. They point to famous, and infamous, broods and Kindred choral coteries throughout history, such as the victorian Daughters of Cacophony, as proof of their existence and impact on Kindred society. However, many of these claims are disputed and the use of signature devotions, rather than a clear dedicated discipline, means it is virtually impossible to verify that the Orpheans are not simply building on the legacies of other groups. To cloud the situation even further, all of those known to claim the Orphean bloodline in modern times draw their lineage through a single shadowy progenitor known to have been active in the Paris Opera in the 1830s and 40s. This operatic phantom, while known to the Kindred of the city, was intensely reclusive and disappeared sometime in the late 1900s.



Parent Clan: Daeva
Bloodline Disciplines: Celerity, Dominate, Majesty, Resilience
Weakness: Members of this bloodline are consumed by their music and the need to create. Any perception check unrelated to music suffers a penalty due to the raging of their muse. Each night a member of the bloodline rises this penalty increases by 1, and it can only be reduced by performing before an audience of individuals who have not previously heard the vampire perform. Such performances vary in length, but average half an hour. The amount of penalty reduction is determined by the size of the (qualifying) audience witnessing the performance; one person reduces the penalty by 1, two people reduces it by 2, six people reduces it by 3, 20 people is a 4 point reduction, while a vast number of people (an auditorium, a mob) reduces it by 5.
Nickname: Sirens
Covenant: The musical talents of the Orpheans are valued by all of the covenants for both their choral prowess and their supernatural power. The elegant musical worships that can be performed in both the Lancea Sanctum and the Circle of the Crone are a particular draw to the members and the Invictus, with its penchant for high art and soaring performance can provide appealing venues.


The Orpheans practice a series of Devotions that are common to their number. Whether these powers were developed by their members or originated in older groups with a similar focus, they share this collected knowledge among their numbers freely and refer to it by the name of the greek Muse of tragedy, Melpominee.

The Perfect Choir

(Celerity •, Dominate •, Majesty •)

One of the signature traits of the Orpheans is the ability for a group, no matter how disparate, to come together and create music of unearthly beauty with no preparation. 

Cost: One Vitae per participant.
Pool:  None.
Action: Extended.

The Missing Voice
(Celerity •, Majesty •)

A vampire with this power may 'throw' their voice anywhere within their line of sight, causing it to emanate from many place within their view. The voice operates independently of the vampire, who can talk normally at the same time their voice sings elsewhere. The result is that they can carry on two conversations simultaneously (one with their Missing Voice and one with their actual, physical one). Treacherous vampires may further impersonate other individuals' voices in order to mislead listeners, and less devious ones can use their two voices simultaneously to perform hauntingly beautiful 'duets' or eerie one-actress plays.

Cost: One Vitae.
Pool:  None.
Action: Immediate.
This power functions automatically as long as the character wills it. However, performing any action other than speech or singing while using The Missing Voice incurs a +1 difficulty on any roll that might be required, due to the disruption of the character's concentration.
The vampire can only impersonate voices they've heard, although attempting voices filtered through electronic media will be more easily recognized as forgeries due to imperfections and distortion added by the media.

This Devotion costs 6 experience points to learn.

The Phantom Speaker
(Dominate •, Majesty ••••)
With this power, the vampire may project her voice to any one individual - with the limitations that the target has heard the vampire's voice previously and the vampire knows the name of her target.
Cost: One Vitae.
Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty.
Action: Immediate.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire harms their vocal cords, suffering a point of lethal damage. The character cannot speak or sing until this damage is healed. All blood points spent to activate this power are lost.
Failure: The vampire is unaware of failure, however no words are heard by either the desired target or any other. All blood points spent to activate this power are lost.
Success: Each success allows one turn of speech.
Exceptional Success: This allows the vampire to maintain speech for an entire scene.
System
The only distance limitation to this power is that it must be night wherever the intended target is. The vampire can talk, sing or make whatever other noises she wants. The sounds are inaudible to anyone but the target, unless an eavesdropper has some supernatural means of doing so (and has reason to be listening for such). The vampire cannot hear the sounds - or the subject's responses - unless she is within earshot.

This Devotion costs 15 experience points to learn.

Madrigal
(Dominate •••, Majesty ••••)

The vampire may inspire in her audience the emotions expressed in her song, rousing them to passion or deluging them with seemingly bottomless despair. The user of this power names an emotion that is appropriate to the song they are singing (anger, courage, dejection, desire, despair, disgust, fear, hate, hope, love, sadness). For example, the song "High Hopes" won't cause anger or dejection. 

Cost: Two blood points.
Pool: Manipulation + Expression + Majesty vs subject's Composure + Blood Potency.
Action: Instant and contested, resistance is reflexive

Dramatic Failure: The vampire is unable to affect the emotions of her audience as she desires. Instead, the audience become hostile to the vampire, resulting perhaps in being booed from the stage, characters walking out, or in the case of paid presentations demanding their money back. The vampire cannot attempt this discipline again during the remainder of her performance. All blood points spent to activate this power are lost.
Failure: The vampire fails to inspire any extra emotion in her audience, and must wait until her next song to attempt this power again. All blood points spent to activate this power are lost.

Success: Success instils the chosen emotion in the audience. Any members of the audience that fail their resistance begin to experience that emotion intensely. This does not give the singer control over those effected, but if a member of the audience is presented with a situation requiring an emotional response they must spend a point of Willpower not to behave in accordance with that emotion, even to the point of escalating situations. 

Suggested Modifiers 

The user of this power must attempt to effect all within hearing, but the larger the crowd the more difficult it is to inspire them.

— Character attempts to use this power on one person 

-1 Character attempts to use this power on two people

-2 Character attempts to use this power on six people 

-3 Character attempts to use this power on 20 people 

-4 Character attempts to use this power on a vast number of people in the vampire’s immediate vicinity (an auditorium, a mob) 

This Devotion costs 21 experience points to learn.

Siren's Beckoning
(Dominate •••, Majesty ••••)
This power enables the vampire to entrance others with her voice. The target will sit still, in awe of the character's voice, until the character stops singing. Thus the effects can last seconds, minutes, hours or even the entire night.
Cost: Two blood points.
Pool: Manipulation + Expression + Majesty.
Action: Instant to activate, Extended to resist.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire not only fails to entrance their subject, but the subject becomes aware that they attempted to use a supernatural effect to entrance them and become immune to your further uses of this power for the night. All blood points used to activate this power are lost.

Failure: The vampire fails to entrance their victim and all blood points used to activate this power are lost.

Success: As long as the singer has even one success more than their victim the victim is captured in a trance and unable to do anything but watch the singer. If the subject wants to do anything else they must achieve more successes with Wits + Blood Potency than their attacker gained when entrancing them. If the target does not resist, than the trance will last until the character stops singing. Multiple victims can be so entranced, but each must be ensnared with a separate activation of this power.

Exceptional Success: Provides no benefit other than that of additional successes.

This Devotion costs 21 experience points to learn.

Art's Traumatic Essence
(Dominate ••••, Majesty •••••)
As the vampire sings, choosing a derangement fitting to the song, and this power reaches deep into a target to twist his psyche causing temporary insanity in their victim. Individuals with more derangements than the singer are immune to that individual's use of this power, as they are too warped to be further affected.
Cost: Two blood points.
Pool: Manipulation + Expression - target's Wits.
Action: Extended.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire acquires a derangement of her own for one day (storyteller discretion). The vampire is also unable to use this power on the same target for the remainder of the night. All blood points spent to activate this power are lost.
Failure: The vampire negates all of her successes and must begin afresh on her next turn. All blood points spent to activate this power are lost.
Success: The vampire must accumulate a number of successes equal to that of the target's willpower. Doing so gives the target the named derangement for 24 hours. Every success over the target's willpower rating extends the duration of the derangement by another 24 hours. If the vampire reaches double the target's willpower rating in successes, the derangement is considered permanent until somehow cured.

Exceptional Success: Provides no benefit other than that of additional successes.
The derangement given with the use of this power can only be inflicted through song - the vampire therefore must make certain her target remains within earshot. The target need not be focused on the vampire, but must be able to hear the song to a substantial degree - for instance listening to a performance in a bar, whilst speaking to others, would suffice.
If the target should leave the vicinity of the vampire, all successes gained remain, although only for one night. It's best the vampire track down her victim and continue with her song before the dawn, unless she wishes to start over on another night.

This Devotion costs 27 experience points to learn.

Virtuoso
(Dominate •••••, Majesty •••••)
Cost: One blood point per additional target.
Pool: None.
Action: Immediate.
The vampire may use Phantom Speaker, Art's Traumatic Essence, or Siren's Beckoning simultaneously on a number of targets equal to her Presence. The character must spend one blood point for every additional target she wishes to affect. Once the vampire has selected her targets and spent the necessary blood, she may put the chosen power into effect on her next turn.

This Devotion costs 30 experience points to learn.

Requiem's Prelude
(Majesty ••, Vigor •)

Mortal singers can shatter wineglasses with their voices and rhythms can destroy entire structures, all by finding the precise pitch at which an object resonates. A talented vampire can go beyond the destruction of relatively fragile objects, pitching her voice to find the resonant frequency of virtually any object, including a human or Kindred body. Only one victim at a time can he affected by this power; anyone else within earshot will hear an intense, though not harmful, call or shriek.

Cost: One Vitae.
Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty vs targets Stamina + Blood Potency.
Action: Instant.

Dramatic Failure: Not only does the vampire fail to create the sound he’s attempting, but he actually damages his vocal apparatus in the attempt. He suffers one point of lethal damage and cannot speak again until he heals the wound.

Failure: Either the attacker fails to generate a success, or the target’s successes equal or exceed those of the Discipline user. This power has no effect.
Success: Each success the user of this power inflicts over their target deals one health level of bashing damage.

Exceptional Success: Provides no benefit other than that of additional successes. 

This devotion costs 9 experience points to learn.

Shattering Crescendo
(Majesty ••••, Celerity •, Requiem's Prelude)

Building upon the power of Requiem's Prelude, the vampire learns how to refine their control of the devastating power of their voice to inflict significant harm on their targets.

Cost: One Vitae.
Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty vs targets Stamina + Blood Potency.
Action: Instant.

Dramatic Failure: Not only does the vampire fail to create the sound he’s attempting, but he actually damages his vocal apparatus in the attempt. He suffers one point of lethal damage and cannot speak again until he heals the wound.

Failure: Either the attacker fails to generate a success, or the target’s successes equal or exceed those of the Discipline user. This power has no effect.
Success: Each success the user of this power inflicts over their target deals one health level of lethal damage.

Exceptional Success: Provides no benefit other than that of additional successes. 

This devotion costs 15 experience points to learn.

Death of Drums

(Majesty •••••, Dominate •, Shattering Crescendo)

Considered by some the pinnacle of vocal power, and others a brute application of what should be a more refined tool. A Kindred who understands the Death of Drums has increased their ability to inflict harm with their call to unearthly levels.

Cost: One Willpower.
Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty vs targets Stamina + Blood Potency.
Action: Instant.

Dramatic Failure: Not only does the vampire fail to create the sound he’s attempting, but he actually damages his vocal apparatus in the attempt. He suffers one point of lethal damage and cannot speak again until he heals the wound.

Failure: Either the attacker fails to generate a success, or the target’s successes equal or exceed those of the Discipline user. This power has no effect.
Success: Each success the user of this power inflicts over their target deals one health level of aggravated damage.

Exceptional Success: Provides no benefit other than that of additional successes. 

This devotion costs 18 experience points to learn.

Persistent Echo
(Majesty •••••, Dominate ••••, Celerity •)
With this power, the Orphean can speak or sing to the air and leave her words for a later listener. This can either the next being to stand where the character is when she uses this power or a specific individual that she is already acquainted with. This power can also be used to "suspend" other sound-based powers for a future listener or victim.

Cost: One Vitae
Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty.
Action: Instant.

Dramatic Failure: The vampire harms their vocal cords, suffering a point of lethal damage. The character cannot speak or sing until this damage is healed. All blood points spent to activate this power are lost.
Failure: The vampire is unaware of failure, however no words are heard by either the desired target or any other. All blood points spent to activate this power are lost.

Success: 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 + Blood Potency 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.
It 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 are necessary to hear the message, and a botch on this roll will deafen the listener for the rest of the night.

Exceptional Success: Provides no benefit other than that of additional successes.

This devotion costs 30 experience points to learn.

~~*~~

As Vampire the Masquerade progressed there was a proliferation of Bloodlines that begin to emerge. This created several issues for the line storywise. However, it also created opportunities, both in terms of storytelling and sales. For this reason it's not terribly surprising that when the Requiem was published this concept was given a more central place where the benefits could be garnered. One of the, surprisingly underutilized, features of this was that a number of bloodlines that had difficulty fitting into the old World of Darkness fit much better in the new. While clans suffered for the transition from primacy groups that were already bloodlines became just that many more variations of the blood. 

While one of the primary features of many bloodlines is their signature discipline, sometimes providing access to an existing discipline is more than sufficient. In the case of the Daughters of Cacophony I decided that thematically the idea of a supernatural singer's power would be equally buttressed by the use of Dominate, which requires eye contact and voice, as it was an explicitly focused Discipline. In exchange, by converting the benefits of the Melpominee discipline to a series of Devotions, it provides a method for other "singers of power" concepts outside the bloodline.