Siranuthis

Siranuthis was was one of the Shan'iatu and one of the heads of the deceived Akhem-Urtu Guild. He is also referred to as the Singer and his domain were the arts of vocal performances.

Overview
The Singer was the first to vocalize the commands of the divine Nomenclature. In Irem, he was neither the wisest nor the most gifted among his brethren, but when he opened his mouth, everyone felt the sheer power that echoed in his voice. This power reverberates in every Temakh that remains of him, and gives other Deceived pause.

The most unnerving of Siranuthis is the intensity of his sheer focus. His followers rarely speak, but when they do, it is with determined precision, focusing solely on the art. For this reason, the Singer leaves the lyrics to the Poet and the acoustic implementation to the Musician, while he himself seeks solely to utilize his voice to the maximum effect.

Cults
As casting and talent shows become more and more popular, some cults of Siranuthis move into these areas to spread their influence. Others reject the molds of the day, preferring instead to spin dark ritual around the climate they knew best, in effect reconstructing the patterns of their lives as open-mouthed stargazers in a time and place they can no longer even recall with any clarity.

Art
While other oral arts, like the maximes of Neshebsut or the tales of Nephir Un-Ankh, rely on interpretation of the rational mind and the beauty of the derived meaning, this layer of detachment, this step of removal from the source, is absent in the art of Siranuthis. The Voice of Forever communicates on a much more primal level; concepts like eloquence, discernment or deconstruction are the things of the higher, more impure mind. The Voice promises only the sublime, and more's the point, it delivers on its promise.

The Howling Stone demands performances, seba that act as the purest expression of what expression is. The chosen of Siranuthis seek out the singularly expressive, expressed singularly - solos that may never be repeated, perfect arias, a theatre presentation that runs without flaws or blocks. Performers experience a surprisingly wide variety of reactions to the claiming of the seba they unwittingly help create, but most feel an inversion (whether gradual or sudden) of the performance principle: Instead of feeling fulfilled and more fully connected to an adoring audience, they feel exposed, embarrassed, and/or unappreciated; on some level they still know they nailed the performance, but they can't seem to enjoy the fruits of their talent and skill.

Mandate
The Singer demands the following of his adherents: "Captivate the voice of expression, itself".

By spending a scene either singing or watching one of the living perform something well, whether it's song or instrumental music or even theatre, the Deceived of the Voice may regain one point of any Pillar. If he spends the scene thus and the relevant roll (either his own Expression roll or the performance roll of another) results in exceptional success, then he may choose to regain all points of Ren instead

Burden
Siranuthis laser-like focus affects his servants in the form of lingering obsessions. Whenever a mummy with this temakh spends most or all of a scene either singing or watching the living perform well, his soul is fulfilled, but so too is the obsession inside him kindled. The mummy can only perform to get Pillar restoration once per day without ill consequence: For each additional time he sings to get a Pillar point restored, he suffers a -1 penalty on Mental Skill checks that lasts for 1 day per penalty point. By similar token, those Deceived of the Voice can only draw spiritual fulfillment from a particular living performer once per story without risking obsession; they must spread their focus around. Violating this proscription doesn't cause the mental distraction that overindulgence of performance causes, but it does risk triggering full-on Obsession - a derangement all vessels of Siranuthis can suffer, even if they don't possess it otherwise.

Expression
Those bound to the Voice of Forever can initiate the Song of the Heartsick Heart. When a mummy of the Voice shares either his Virtue or Vice with another non-Deceived, he can cause that soul to act upon its basest, purest nature simply by singing where the soul can hear; anything with a melody, from wordless, Fitzgeraldera scat to booming, full-throated opera. If a target hears the song, and if the mummy succeeds in a roll, the target is obliged to act on her Vice in a direct and potentially dangerous way; if the target shares only a Virtue with the mummy, he can cause her to act out his Vice, instead. If the Deceived shares both the Virtue and Vice of his target, he can affect her as he could anyone with whom he shared only one or the other, but bolstered by two potent advantages: First, he can choose to cause such a target to act on his Temakh Virtue regardless of the might of his roll; if his roll succeeds at all, that option is open to him. Beyond this, he may also use such a sympathetically attuned target as a means of transferring some of his own unwanted obsession. If his roll succeeds, he can choose to instill the Obsession derangement in the target, reducing his own active obsession one step (from severe to mild, from mild to inactive, etc.); if the initial roll resulted in exceptional success, his own obsession drops all the way down to inactive, regardless of steps. An exceptional success also allows the mummy to instill obsession in another even when his own obsession is dormant, although doing so is a sin against Memory 5. While the target remains so obsessed, the mummy can track her as if through kepher, as if she was a relic known intimately to him.