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CHANTEURS

ARCANOI

A Chanteur can learn the following Arcanoi at initiate and common level

 KEENING           PHANTASM          EMBODY

Any other Arcanoi a Chanteur  learns is common level only

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Music, the Quick say, has charms to soothe a savage breast. In the Skinlands, this is a romantic fantasy, but the Restless understand music’s power to stir the emotions and provoke people to action. Keening draws upon this power, allowing those who understand it to make music that provides a soothing balm for the soul — or strikes their enemies as lethally as any blade.

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Guildmarks

The Chanteurs’ guildmark is aural rather than visible. If a wraith stands near a Chanteur and listens carefully, he can hear some version of the Chanteur’s favorite song in life (or some other song with deep meaning for her) playing faintly, almost as if the Chanteur has her own soundtrack. Any significant noise, including any use of a Keening art, drowns out this background music (unless the wraith succeeds with a Perception + Awareness roll against difficulty 9), but it never goes away completely. Many Chanteurs also like to travel with some form of musical instrument or instrument iconography — a relic guitar, perhaps, or a brooch in the shape of a harp. These are affectations, however, and are more likely to be found on wannabes and followers of true Chanteurs than on the genuine article.

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The Guild

Given their tendency toward creative individualism, the Chanteurs didn’t consolidate as a Guild for a long time. Even then the primary motivation (aside from shared love of music) was the need for “defense” against other Guilds, not any
desire to work together. As solo performers or small circles they pursued their art in their own way, often taking advantage of their popularity as entertainers to gain access to (and influence in) the highest levels of Underworld society. But in the years leading up to the revolt, the Chanteurs found their influence waning in the face of other forces. Some of the most powerful Chanteurs — including a few whose names the Quick still revere, such as Taliesin the Bright and Homer, composer of epics — took it upon themselves to combat the problem by founding the Guild proper. This “Council of Poets,” as it soon became known, used logic, persuasion, and sometimes bribery to win many Chanteurs to its cause, but others rejected their overtures. Stubbornly refusing to give up their independence, these “Nightingales” sometimes actively worked against the Council or disrupted its attempts to band the Chanteurs together. Ironically, since they often had to work together against the Council, the Nightingales evolved into an organization themselves, and this was the key to their undoing. The Council challenged the Nightingales’ leaders to a musical competition, with the winning side to determine how the Chanteurs would move forward. The Nightingales, convinced their “freedom” meant they had the greater artistry, agreed. But a panel of Anacreon judges unanimously gave the Council the laurel wreath. Legend claims the Council won because its most talented quartet traveled to a place where two great Byways crossed to learn secret music of surpassing beauty from a mysterious, dark spirit — but if asked, any Chanteur will either deny or laugh at this explanation.With the competition done, most Nightingales joined the guild. But the nascent group had barely established itself when the Artificers touched off the revolt against Charon. Romantics almost to a wraith, the Chanteurs couldn’t help but join the noble struggle — whether it led to glorious victory or was a doomed cause from the start, it would inspire great songs. Few Chanteurs fought on the front lines of the revolt. Instead, from their positions in the courts of the Anacreons and homes of the wealthy, they wielded their influence as a weapon to misdirect anti-rebel efforts, or served as spies for the Guilds’ cause. Many Chanteurs played their parts so well that even after the Breaking they were still able to subtly sway the great and powerful on the isle. Since then the Chanteurs have mostly focused on their artistic and commercial pursuits rather than political machinations. But they know how the world works, so they keep their feet on the ground even if their heads are often in the clouds. And who knows when another cause may fan the heroic fires that burn in most Chanteurs’ souls into a blaze that drives them to action?

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Factions

From some perspectives, the Guild of Chanteurs is nothing but factions — often factions composed of a single Circle (usually known as “bands,” “troupes,” “orchestras,” or the like). The Guild has authority in matters of interest to all Chanteurs, and arbitrates disputes among its members, but only an event of major significance gets the Chanteurs to work together in true Guild fashion. Some of the differences of perspective or practice that divide the Chanteurs include: the Troubadours, ever eager for information, some of which they pass on through song and story, some of which they keep for themselves; the Outcasts, whose music emphasizes rebellion, discontent, and anger at “the system”; the Romantics, who believe music can lead to love, tranquility, and ultimately Transcendence; the Hadean Symphony, whose members seek to create elaborate musical performances (often
using bizarre instruments), and who often serve as leaders of the Guild; the Hard Corps, who wield music as a weapon against Oblivion and its creatures; the Jesters, or “Comedians,” who work Keening through humor rather than music; and the Sanguine Chorus, a network of Chanteur spies. It’s not uncommon for a Chanteur to cycle between several factions over the course of her unlife as her philosophy of music and existence changes.

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