[Exalted] Musical Artifacts?

[Reynard]

Barring the Heart-Song instrument in Infernals and the example 2-dot artifact in Oadenol's (Unsurpassed Sextant, I think?), are there any artifacts around that are musical instruments? Preferably a Violin, but that's really a matter of re-fluffing.

[Ganurath]

Why not just work with your ST for a custom Artifact that helps with Performance, focusing on what you need it for? If it's made in this Age, it'd be tailored for the latest incarnation. If it's an heirloom from the First Age, it'd be tailored for what your character is meant to be.

[Reynard]

It's for TDO's game, and that man does enough homebrew already, and I'd rather not pester him with questions about what is too powerful/crap for what amount of dots.

I was just wondering if there's anything that already exists.

[Terraoblivion]

Also it is the Unsurpassed Sanxian. At least i don't know what renaissance navigational instruments have to do with music.

But yeah, you mostly just have to make one yourself if you want musical artifacts.

[Reynard]

That's what happens if you post at twenty to five in the morning, I guess.

Ah well, thanks people, I'll try and make sense of the artifact creation guidelines.

[Revlid]

What kind of Musical Artifact are you looking for, out of curiosity? Just something that will boost your Performance scores, something that will act as a weapon, or something more esoteric (my guitar solo turns coke into pepsi!)?

[Reynard]

The image in my head is of someone delivering powerful kicks to the face and spleen (Using TDO's Cricket Style) while playing downright freaky music on his violin to distract and unnerve his enemies.

If it helps, he's a Scourge with Malfeas as a patron, so... SANITY IS FOR THE WEAK.

[Ganurath]

Maybe something that simulates the effects of Majestic Radient Presence, but requires a roll of Temperance to overcome rather than Valor or Willpower? I mean, the musician may have my adam's apple stuck between his toes, but damn he plays a mean fiddle.

[GryffonDurime]

Also it is the Unsurpassed Sanxian. At least i don't know what renaissance navigational instruments have to do with music.

But yeah, you mostly just have to make one yourself if you want musical artifacts.

The sanxian is a three-stringed instrument from Asia. You're thinking of a sextent.

[AstralFire]

The sanxian is a three-stringed instrument from Asia. You're thinking of a sextent.

...

Uh.

She was correcting the OP.

[Reynard]

GD: It was me who mixed the two up.

EDIT: Damn Night Caste.

[GryffonDurime]

GD: It was me who mixed the two up.

EDIT: Damn Night Caste.

Grah! That'll teach me to post whilst light-headed.

[Reynard]

So, I tried to think of a unique effect that did what I had in mind, but then I saw the Flesh-Galliard Harp. So, instead I attempted to rip that off and make a less powerful version.

Spoiler

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The Dance-Master's Fiddle. •••

A Dance-Master's Fiddle is the younger cousin of the Flesh-Galliard Harp, and some say that the demons incorporated into it were related as well. Possessing the same general silhouette as a mundane fiddle of Creation, this instrument is rather more unsettling in person.
Lovingly sculpted or perhaps simply grown from Malfean crystal, the body of the fiddle is the greenish-white of old marble, with the front taken up by a caricatured mask that changes expression without seeming to move - one moment trapped in a rictus grin, the next free to weep its hollow tears in time with the fiddler's tune. If the fiddle is left idle too long, the mask may extend its translucent green tongue up to the divine-gut strings of the instrument, twanging them tunelessly.
The bow of the fiddle is human bone, carved from the shin of a First Age Exalt, a famous dancer - quite possibly the last bearer of the Fiddler's Exaltation. It moves with the same enthusiasm as it did in life, jerking in the Fiddler's hand like a frantic insect, drawing a cacophonic melody from the Infernal instrument.
Though some have referred to it as a violin, its owner is insistent on his terminology. A violin is for lords and old men - he is simply an entertainer.

Melodies wrung from the Dance-Master's Fiddle carry supernatural potency. It calls those who hear it to dance the dances of the Yozis. The musician’s player rolls ([Charisma or Manipulation] + Performance) as a social attack (vs Parry or Dodge MDV, whichever is higher) that she may use multiple times per scene. Those who fail to resist the fiddle’s song experience an unnatural compulsion to dance for as long as the musician continues to play.

A creature bound by the fiddle’s music may continue to act insofar as he can weave his actions into the dance. When calculating physical dice pools and DVs, a dancer uses the appropriate physical Ability or Performance, whichever is lower. Actions that would normally be impossible to do while dancing, such as writing a letter, sprinting across a room or shaping a spell, cannot be performed without a stunt.

If the musician’s successes exceed the combined value of a target’s Temperance and Essence, he/she may compel the target to act as he/she desires as part of the dance. Crowds may be compelled to waltz back into their homes, lovers to execute an operatic duel, and children to perform ritual dances in honor of the Yozis.

Basically, I made it's effect blockable, made it harder to force people to do things, and got rid of the ability to make the Yozi themselves dance. The base artifact is fours dots, are those changes enough to lower it to three?

The is purely hypothetical at the moment, I don't know if I'm going to ask for it.

[The Demented One]

It's for TDO's game, and that man does enough homebrew already, and I'd rather not pester him with questions about what is too powerful/crap for what amount of dots.

Wait, what? No, do that! I don't mind!

[Reynard]

Oh, okay then.

What do you think of my half-arsed attempt?

[The Demented One]

Oh, okay then.

What do you think of my half-arsed attempt?

I'll get back to you after lunch. Gonna run it past my artifacts guy.

[Revlid]

Is this a Malfean artifact (i.e. the strings are the hairs from an abandoned rag-doll sewn together out of orphans) or one pilfered from Creation?

In any case, it seems like the best way to do it would be (as has been said) to apply the effects of the Charm Majestic Radiant Presence/Dread Lord's Demeanor on a successful Performance Check. Valor or Willpower would work fine, since it's "Oh god freaky music argh it's the theme from Psycho" rather than "ooh, nice tunes".

...Of course, if it were a violin strung with hairs from dead Lilike, it would be kind of cool to have it force the effects of the Charm Hateful Wretched Noise on the hearer.

EDIT: It's not really being Ninja'd, since I took so long to post. Still, yours is a really cool idea, and TDO's on da job in any case, so I'll shuffle off now. Playing a violin.

EDIT EDIT: Wait! I can still contribute!
Your anima banner is this as drawn by Giger.

[Reynard]

Is this a Malfean artifact (i.e. the strings are the hairs from an abandoned rag-doll sewn together out of orphans) or one pilfered from Creation?

The Harp is Malfean, and it's surprisingly tame. It's made out of demon bone, crystals, and some assorted metals. The most disgusting item in it's construction is behemoth gut.

In any case, it seems like the best way to do it would be (as has been said) to apply the effects of the Charm Majestic Radiant Presence/Dread Lord's Demeanor on a successful Performance Check. Valor or Willpower would work fine, since it's "Oh god freaky music argh it's the theme from Psycho" rather than "ooh, nice tunes".

Well I'd like a bit more versatility than just creeping people out. Although that is a pretty big plus for this guy.

...Of course, if it were a violin strung with hairs from dead Lilike, it would be kind of cool to have it force the effects of the Charm Hateful Wretched Noise on the hearer.

Wouldn't that make most people in the vicinity start a fight with the bloke playing the instrument? Although it could be fun do it during somebodies big speech, quietly enough that the person talking is the one making the most noise.

EDIT

EDIT EDIT: Wait! I still have something to contribute!
Your anima banner is this as drawn by Giger.

And 50 feet tall and made of green and red flames. I'm nicknaming the character 'Jiminy' for now, anyway.

[Revlid]

Part-finished this post, then wandered away and forgot about it. Must stop doing that.

Wouldn't that make most people in the vicinity start a fight with the bloke playing the instrument? Although it could be fun do it during somebodies big speech, quietly enough that the person talking is the one making the most noise.

A new Artifact emerges!

Lilike's Warbler: Artifact **
It is unknown how this instrument is related to Lilike, or if its maker simply considered her name well-suited to his creation. Lilike's Warbler is a brass onion flute, hammered out of one of the branches of a metallic tree. It is covered with labrythine interlocking symbols, delicately etched in vitriol, and studded with glass half-spheres of unknown providence. The air ripples faintly around its holes, as it were projecting some great cacophony - but no matter how hard one might blow, the flute is as quiet as Adorjan. Indeed, it is quiet enough to drive men mad, clawing desperately at any sound in order to silence it.
When blowing into Lilike's Warbler, the bearer gains +2 dice to all sound-related Stealth checks, as the noise they make is muffled and dimmed to near-silence.
On a successful Performance check, the bearer may project this silence into those nearby. All "listeners" (those not afflicted by natural or supernatural deafness) within (Essence x 10) yards of the performer are treated as having learned the Adorjan Charm Hateful Wretched Noise until the bearer stops playing the Warbler.

First try at homebrewing anything. Hm.

And 50 feet tall and made of green and red flames. I'm nicknaming the character 'Jiminy' for now, anyway.

So it's a guy, then? Any other description? For medicinal purposes.

[Reynard]

That's a pretty devious little artifact. I haven't got much in description yet, apart from a brilliant sort of madness

Anyway, wasted some time on this, while thinking about my version of the Harp.

Spoiler

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Something had happened to the ball.

Cathak Evar Anan forced his way through the thronging crowd. There was cheerful music in the air, and people were dancing with a fair bit of vigor, but the rigid expressions on their faces, forced and unnatural grins that betrayed their terror. Their eyes showed nothing more than a panic so deep it could cause them to wet themselves. More than a few had telltale dark stains already.

Every now and again, the dancers would all kick into the air in time with the music, and Anan would have to deflect one or two legs. The dance wasn't exactly regimented, so more often then not someone would be brutally kicked by one or more of their fellows.

Anan muscled his way in the direction of the music, eventually reaching a lone fiddle-player, who was skipping and dancing around in a wide gap in the crowd. Although, 'gap' wasn't really the right word. Clearing would be a better fit. Dozens of bodies lay on the floor, many still alive, only with most of their bones broken. Even then, they still twitched in time to the music. Every big note and the fiddler would lash out with a leg and cripple another dancer, laughing as he did so.

"What in the... What are you!?"

The Fiddler kept playing, but instead hopped his way around the bodies, not being too careful where he landed, haphazardly crushing them beneath his boots. Slowly moving towards Anan.

"Answer me, Demon!" Anan screamed in a fury, his red-gold anima bursting into life and giving off considerable heat.
"Why, my good man, I'm the fiddler. I feel it's quite obvious, don't you?" He spoke in a strange way, keeping in time and tune with the music he played. He didn't seem to care that Anan was Exalted.
"I demand you stop whatever you are you doing to these people!"
The fiddler smiled. "Very well." The music abruptly died, swiftly replaced by cries of panic, fear, terror, and pain. The fiddler lifted his arms and spun around gleefully as the crowd all attempted to flee. "This... this is music to my ears. But I don't think you've had the full pleasure of my show, have you now?" He smiled a wicked grin, and started to play again.

Anan felt the music take control of his body, forcing it into the strange thumping rhythm the musician somehow eked from his instrument. The fleeing crowds stopped, and joined in again.

"Well I'm ever upper class high society
God's gift to ballroom notoriety
I always fill my ballroom
The event is never small
The social pages say I've got
The biggest balls of all."

Then a flurry of pounding notes that made the Dragon-Blood, and all his fellow dancers, lash out at their neighbors. Anan ripped though the mortals like they were paper, breaking limbs and smashing bone.

"I've got big balls
I've got big balls
And they're such big balls
Dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls"
"But we've got the biggest balls of them all!"
The whole crowd sung the last line of the chorus. Anan could feel the words force themselves out of his mouth. The fiddler laughed at his little joke. The last three words were all punctuated by a kick or a punch that, for Anan, killed or maimed another person each. He began to break.

"And my balls are always bouncing
My ballroom always full
And everybody comes and comes again
If your name is on the guest list
No one can take you higher
Everybody says I've got
Great balls of fire!" At the last line, the fiddler exploded in green and red flames and a swirling silver ring appeared on his forehead. Anan almost failed to notice because another flurry of notes followed straight after, another half-dozen innocents killed by his hand while he watched powerless from inside his own head.

The chorus played again, and Anan killed more people at the end of it. His eyes, the only part he could still control, shut themselves tightly, and he began to weep, the tears evaporating in the heat of his anima.

"Some balls are held for charity
And some for fancy dress
But when they're held for pleasure
They're the balls that I like best
My balls are always bouncing
To the left and to the right
It's my belief that my big balls
Should be held every night.
The music slowed for this verse, becoming a dull thump where all the dancers merely pounded the floor with their feet. But then the chorus played once more, and with more oomph than before. Anan felt the bones crunch and the blood splatter. He tried to shut it all out. Tried and failed.
The chorus continued and lowered, and the fiddler sang over the top of it.
"And I'm just itching to tell you about them
Oh we had such wonderful fun
Seafood cocktail, crabs, crayfish..."

[Revlid]

Oh, now that's just awesome. Much better than mine.

There's an interesting contrast between the two artifacts, though. In that the player of Lilike's Warbler would be silent and relatively still, playing a silent instrument in the midst of the chaos, the player of the Dance-Master's Fiddle would be loud and proud amongst it all, directing the madness like an overinvolved conductor.

When imagining The Fiddler/Jimini, I can't help but see him as a Rule 63'd Rip Van Winkle. Not sure why.
-------------

Somewhat off-topic - a bit confused. Been going over some of the participants in TDO's thread, and most-if-not-all of them lack any dots in Lore. Er. A duchess/prospective empress who can't read? A musician who can't write music? etc. etc. I'm not hugely familiar with Exalted's system, so have I missed some errata or house rule that makes this less odd-sounding, or is it just bonus points vs xp optimisation?

[Reynard]

Well, my reason is simple. I iz n00b.

But I don't really see The Fiddler as someone who writes his songs. He just plays them, with the same over-exaggerated focus and wild changes in mood as Adorjan.

EDIT: Which Rule 63? Only 1, 2, and 34 are consistent.

[Revlid]

Well, my reason is simple. I iz n00b.

But I don't really see The Fiddler as someone who writes his songs. He just plays them, with the same over-exaggerated focus and wild changes in mood as Adorjan.

EDIT: Which Rule 63? Only 1, 2, and 34 are consistent.

Rule 63 = Genderbender.

Fair enough with the not writing of the songs. It was just a trend showing up among most of the characters there, I was wondering if there was an explanation for it - be that my own ignorance, or munchkinery.

[Reynard]

But Rip Van Winkle is already male.

...aaannd now I've got that image in my head.

[SlightlyEvil]

This seems as good a place as any to share a couple musical Exalted stories.

In my first Exalted campaign, one of my fellow players was a Zenith Caste named Wheel and Thorn, based on a rock star whose name will be obvious in retrospect once you figure it out. Of course, such a character needs a guitar, so he took the stats for a Grimcleaver and it was houseruled to be a guitar (an axe, of course).

My character in that campaign was a Night Caste, and in the second session I had reason to break into a library owned by the Realm. In order to reduce the classic problem of a stealth sequence being a signal to go get snacks while the rogue does his thing, Wheel decided to help out by staging a rock concert down the street as a diversion. The GM decided that, for every Stealth roll I made, Wheel would make a Performance roll, and add its successes minus 5 to my successes. The most memorable aspect of this was when I fired an arrow at an unaware guard to knock him out. Wheel rolled 13 successes on his Performance check. The poor guard presumably woke up some time later (it was a bashing-damage arrow), assuming he was knocked out by the sheer force of Wheel's power chord.

[Revlid]

But Rip Van Winkle is already male.

...aaannd now I've got that image in my head.

Ah. Sorry about that.

See, what I meant to type was "a Rule 63'd Rip Van Winkle of Hellsing fame".

Unfortunately, I forgot the last part, leading to unfortunate mental images all round.

[Reynard]

Well, I think I'm taking this writing a bit too seriously.

Spoiler

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Cathak Evar Anan woke to the sound of music and the smell of blood. The floor was slick with the stuff, turning sticky fast, and was at least a quarter of an inch deep on the fine white marble of the grand hall. Flashes of what had happened before he'd passed out flashed before his eyes. He'd been danced with deadly force, controlled like a puppet and forced to kill those who had no hope of defending themselves. The music was a slow, haunting, mournful dirge, seeming to cry out in sadness at the scene the musician saw.

Pushing himself onto his hands and knees, his hands caked in gore and his face dripping with others blood, Anan tried to stand. A blow to the back of his head instead sent him tumbling forwards, front-flipping over and crushing somebody's body under the weight of him and his armour. Whoever he landed on was either dead or long past feeling, which was better than most of the people he could see now. The person who had struck him was the one playing the music, the same man who'd caused the carnage around him, who'd delighted in it. How could he produce such sad-sounding music when he surely felt nothing for what he saw?

Anan took a closer look at the man. Most of his face was now hidden by a pure white mask with a sad expression, rather than the unmasked and scarred face that had been smiling and laughing in glee as he forced those around him to kill each other. The man was clearly mad, and dangerously so. Which was only to be expected for Anathema.

"Wretched creature. Why did you do this?"
"Insults don't get you answers." the Fiddler replied in a sing-song voice, still matching the flow and pace of the music he played. "You should be happy, you made it to the end."
"What?"
"You're the only one who can stand under their own power. Come, stand, see. See the lives you took and broke and ruined." He sang, spinning and gesturing with the bow.
"You bastard." growled Anan, as he staggered to his feet. "You made me do this."
"I merely play my fiddle, my friend. It makes the music." He continued to play the funeral dirge, gracefully sweeping around the room, until the suddenly flame-wreathed form of Evar Anan flung himself toward him.

The Fiddler side-stepped the burning Dragon-Blood with a spin, seeming to have been expecting it, such was his grace, following through with a sweep kick that blew away half a dozen dead and crippled mortals and knocked the Exalt to the ground. A second kick smashed into the poor fool, sending cracks through his jade armour and the man himself across the room. The Fiddler hadn't stopped playing the same sad song throughout the assault.

I quite like this guy.

[Revlid]

I quite like this guy.

The Fiddler is indeed awesome. I love that he's basically doing the Smallest Violin in the World gag, to a man who he's forced to slaughter dozens.

If you meant the Dragonblooded? Hell, have him survive. Half his face is kicked off, and he becomes Huocaer, a Phantom of the Opera expy with lots of bonus points from Derangements and a negative Appearance. Enemy is a one-to-five point flaw...

[Reynard]

Cathak Evar Anan is the guy who gets the short end of the stick in most of my character backgrounds. My first character killed him with two plain iron short swords, another beat his ass for incompetence in front of the head of the Cathaks, another led him on a merry chase and eventually turned his men against him. He seems to be a magnet for character defining moments, but for other characters.

Maybe I'll try and get to play him one day, and that'll be a fun experience.


Any news on the artifact, TDO?

[Revlid]

Cathak Evar Anan is the guy who gets the short end of the stick in most of my character backgrounds. My first character killed him with two plain iron short swords, another beat his ass for incompetence in front of the head of the Cathaks, another led him on a merry chase and eventually turned his men against him. He seems to be a magnet for character defining moments, but for other characters.

Poor buttmonkey Dragonblooded. He needs a win at some point.

Aside from the tragedy mask and scarred face, what's your image for the Fiddler/Jimeni? A suit? Robes? Ruffles and frills? Puffy sleeves?