[UA] Lyrimancy

[Michael D. Mearls 97]

Howdy! I'm new to UA, still haven't read the rules all the way through, but
this idea came to me while I was waiting to catch the L train home to Queens
from Manhattan earlier in the week.

I have a rough sketch of the idea here, and I'll post more stuff on Monday once
I learn all the rules.


Lyrimancy: magic derived through the practice of music. The Lyrimancer seeks to
weave consensus and unity, to forge a bond of control over the masses. Of
course, the nature of that bond is determined by the lyrimancer. A lyrimancer
is just as able to whip a crowd into a riotous frenzy as he is to lull them
into a peaceful slumber.

Minor charge: Perform in front of at least 500 people over the course of an
hour. Only one lyrimancer may attempt to harvest a charge from a given area
over the course of the hour. Each location may only be harvested a maximum of
four times per day. Should another lyrimancer attempt to perform within hearing
range of another harvesting lyrimancer, the two most resolve a musical
challenge (duelling banjos, anyone?). However, if a group of lyrimancers agree
to work together, all of them can harvest a charge in a single hour of play.
Doing so will drain the site for a 6 hours per band member once the performance
is finished. Also, note that all 500 audience members need not listen to the
performance at the same time. All that is necessary is that 500 different
people come within hearing range of the lyrimancer during his performance. This
must be a live performance.

Significant charge: Incite a mass reaction among an audience numbering at least
500. This reaction can be of any nature, as long as the crowd as a whole
responds the same. The response must be emotional. The lyrimancer cannot, for
example, simply ask the audience to touch their toes. He has to make them
*want* to touch their toes (or dance, or riot, or sit around smoking grass). As
with minor charges, this performance must be done live.

Major charge: Perform a song that has the capacity to either prompt a person to
commit suicide or incite enough passion in a couple that the two conceive a
child. Unlike minor and significant charges, the lyrimancer may harness this
charge through a live or recorded performance. (Now you know why 90% of the
songs out there are about love!)

Taboo: Always stand out from the crowd. Lyrimancers thrive on attention and
must always seek to make an impression on those around them. If a lyrimancer
ever tries to blend into a crowd in order to hide or otherwise appear
inconspicuous, he loses all stored charges.

Lyrimancers in History

Lyrimancers tend to draw more than their fair share of attention, given the
nature of their work and the methods they use to harvest magical power. The
sixties saw this form of magic hit number one with a bullet, so to speak, with
many pointing to Jim Morrison, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Janis
Joplin as lyrimancers who may have paid the price for flaunting their powers.
An alternate story holds that their deaths were the result of a power struggle
for ascension into the Invisible Clergy. Many current observers believe that
some heavy metal performers, such as Ozzy Osbourne, have done such a good job
of using over the top, cheesy occult imagery in their acts that no one takes
them seriously as true magickal adepts.

The Pied Piper is often seen as a legendary patron figure by lyrimancers.

More to come, once I finish reading the rules.....