Keening (WTO)

Keening
Guild	Chanteurs
Status	Allowed
Marking	(1e/2e) Musical instrument (20th) Faintly audible music coming from the Chanteur

Keening is one of the primary thirteen Arcanoi from Wraith: The Oblivion. Those who can use the arts of Keening can manipulate emotions through sound.

Although it does not produce as useful effects as Inhabit or Castigate, Keening is nonetheless a treasured art in the Shadowlands because of the potential power it has. More than anything else, it makes a wraith feel emotional again. Chanteurs can create strong emotions and reactions in almost anyone they chose, and it’s an experience that some wraiths would give their unlives to have again, even if the emotions are artificial sensations made from a manipulative wraith.

Chanteurs primarily work through song, although merely speaking or shouting may have their desired effect. Although Keening can be used with large groups of wraiths, Chanteurs prefer to focus on one target at a time.

Mistakes made with Keening can have severe repercussions. The most common is for an intended positive emotion to backfire and become a negative one, but in extreme cases of misfortune, a Chanteur has been known to be driven mad by his own power.

(For the Spectre type, see Keening Presence. For the mortal corporation collaborating with Spectres, see Keen.)

Basic Abilities

• Perfect Pitch: A Chanteur can tell when another wraith is using Keening.
• Sotto Voce: A Chanteur can hide their use of Keening from other wraiths.

Standard Powers

First / Second Edition

• Dirge: A Chanteur can strengthen a listener’s darker emotions (sadness, anger, grief).
• Ballad: A Chanteur may inspire a listener's higher emotions (love, happiness, joy).
• Muse: A Chanteur can make a suggestion to others to do their bidding.
• Crescendo: A Chanteur can physically damage wraiths with a scream. If Embodied, they can terrify the Quick to the point of harm.
• Requiem: A Chanteur can fill someone with a completely overwhelming emotion.

20th Anniversary Edition

Basic abilities were dropped in the 20th anniversary edition.

The standard powers of Keening are the same as previous editions, with the following exceptions, which replace the skills of the same level or where noted.

• Hearing Voices: A Chanteur can make their voice appear to come from a nearby object or person.
• Mood Music: A Chanteur can inspire both positive and negative emotions in their listeners.
• Satire: A Chanteur can ruin a wraith's social standing with a story or song.

Alternate Powers

Wraith: The Great War

Keening abilities during the Great War are the same as the basic abilities and standard powers with the following exceptions, which replace the skills of the same level or where noted.

• Brenden's Lay: A Chanteur can travel without harm through a Maelstrom so long as they continue a chosen song.
• Songs of the Living: A Chanteur can fill a song with life and use it to damage a Spectre.

20th Anniversary Edition

The 20th anniversary edition introduces the initiate arts, a set of Keening abilities available to members of the Chanteurs' Guild with sufficient standing.

• Sotto Voce: This is essentially the same as the old basic ability.
• Cacophony: A Chanteur can deafen and disorientate everyone nearby, and disrupt other uses of Keening.
• Siren Song: A Chanteur can enthrall a victim, making it easy for them to submit to the Chanteur's influence.
• Banshee: A Chanteur can inflict injuries on a victim that won't take effect until a specified condition occurs.
• Out Of Tune: A Chanteur can temporarily disrupt a wraith's attunements.

Other Books

• Distraction (Renegades): A Chanteur can hum or whistle a tune that interferes with Barghests.
• Spectre Song (The Sea of Shadows): A Chanteur can imitate a Spectre’s moans and screams.

Keening and the World of Darkness

Those Storytellers using werewolves in their chronicles, particularly in conjunction with the Werewolf: The Apocalypse rules, may allow Keening to affect a Garou's Rage. If so, then Dirge may be used to steal Rage points (at difficulty 9, one per success), and Ballad to add Rage (also difficulty 9, one per success). Some Chanteurs have been known to befriend those of the Silent Strider tribe, singing battle fervor into their allies' hearts in exchange for help in the mortal world. The unfortunate side effect is that the Garou thus affected are more subject to frenzy, but such is the power of art.

Keening can also affect other Awakened beings. At Storyteller discretion, an Embodied wraith can spend a Willpower point while using Requiem and force a vampire either into or out of frenzy. This assault can be resisted with a Willpower roll, but only if the object of the Requiem is prepared for it. Otherwise, no resistance roll is possible.

Changelings can also be strongly affected by Keening. If the changeling in question can see a Chanteur, the wraith need not even Embody to work his magic. Keenings of sufficient beauty (usually Requiems, but occasionally Ballads as well) can infuse up to a point of Glamour per success. Many changelings will also cut deals with Chanteurs, dealing with mortal matters for the wraiths in exchange for uses of Muse on favorite artists.

As noted in Wraith: The Oblivion, Crescendo can be used as a physical attack by Embodied Chanteurs.

References

• WTO: Wraith: The Oblivion Rulebook, p. 154-155
• WTO: Wraith: The Oblivion Second Edition, p. 146-147
• WTO/cMET: Oblivion, p. 116-118
• WTO: Buried Secrets, p. 22-23
• WTGW: Wraith: The Great War Rulebook, p. 119-120
• WTO20: Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 181-184
• WTO: Renegades, p. 92
• WTO: Wraith Players Guide, p. 181
• WTO: The Sea of Shadows, p. 91-92