No one is sure where it came from. Jean denies making it. After all, it's not
his style. A lot of people suspect Eli, but he's not around to confirm or deny
it. Of course, it could be Vapula's, but why in the Hell would he make
something like this? Then again, why in the Hell does he make anything?
Dubbed by the Lightning Team which is testing it, The Symphonic Connection
Amplifier looks like a ray gun from a 50's sci-fi movie. It's very simple to
use. Just point the Inverter at a being and pull the trigger. With a loud
Zap!, the target is hit with a ray of pure white light. He may then try to
resist with a Will roll. If the target is a demon, the Will roll is penalized
by the total levels of discord it has. If an angel, any levels of discord act
as a bonus should it wish to resist. If they fail to resist, the being must
endure the effects of the ray for its Celestial Forces in hours.
Researchers theorize that the ray actually a transmission of a variant
Celestial Song of Faith. Of coure, this is only conjecture. No one is sure
what it actually does. Another popular theory that there's actually a Tear of
God inside the mechanism, and the inverter merely projects a minute portion of
its power. Unfortunately, since the inverter is unbreakable, they haven't been
able to open it up and check.
What the ray seems to do is open up or strengthen a connection between a being
and the Symphony. Angels become totally partially subsumed by their divine
nature, sort of like a weaker version of the Celestial Song of Faith. They
must make a Will roll penalized by their Celestial Forces + the CD of a failed
Resistance Roll to act in any way contrary to their Choir and Word.
Ethereals, when they fail to resist, are drawn instantly back to their domain
in the Marches, where they must stay for the duration of the effect. Unless,
of course, they are summoned by a sorceror. When that occurs, the Ethereal
suffers a penalty equal to the sorceror's Celestial Forces in any attempts to
resist him in a Will War, or any sorcerous powers.
Humans who are affected by the beam become Symphonically Aware for the
duration. For those who already are Symphonically Aware, such as Soldiers,
they instead gain the Ethereal and Celestial Connections for that time period,
and sometimes the instinctive ability to use Songs they do not know as well.
Sorcerors recieve a bonus equal to their Celestial Forces in any sorcerous
skill and rituals. Undead, well they become fully living human beings for the
duration. Some say if they died in such a state, their souls would again be
caught up by the Wheel of Destiny and Fate, but no one knows if any have
chanced it.
It's what it does to demons which caused some Creationers to dub it the Bizzaro
Ray. Those in Lighting described it more accurately as a Symphonic Polarity
Inversion Effect. What the ray seems to do to demons is somehow create a
temporary link to the Symphony. Simply stated, an affected demon is the
subject of a pseudo-redemption which lasts for the duration of the effect.
Symphonically, for all intents and purposes, for those few hours he's flipped
to the Choir counterpart of his Band. He's has its Resonance and Dissonance
conditions. He loses access to any Infernal Attunements, Rites and Distinction
abilities, though they will return when the effect ends. On the plus side, for
the duration of the effect he's no longer subject to the Dissonance Conditions
of either his Band or his Word. Alas, as this is not a real redemption, he
keeps any dissonance he's accumulated.
The basic personality of the demon remains the same, though there have been
reports of an affected demon's attitude being somewhat affected by the nature
of his new state of being. What's really interesting is what happens if
attempts to convert dissonance into discord. Unlike "real" angels, it can
accumulate the Selfless Discord. In fact, any dissonance it attempts to
convert in this state tends to become the Selfless Discord (any random roll
which sends one to the Celestial Discord table instead automatically inflicts
the Selfless Discord). Any Selfless Discord accumulated does not interfere with
its gaining essence as long as it remains an "angel." Of course, once it's
reverted back to its demonic state, this Discord will interfere with gaining
essence just like any other Celestial Discord.
For a potential Redemption Canidate, being zapped might be the shock which
convinces them to seek the real thing. For those who are basically
unrepentant, this usually sends them in a descending spiral into Discordant
Madness.
As you can probably guess, the Princes are not happy that this thing is
around. They're grateful for the fact that there is only one. Unfortunately
for them, Vapula's attempts to produce an Infernal Counterpart utilizing the
Celestial Song of Self has so far met with failure.
Of course, it doesn't help that they first tried to test it on was a Malakite,
which only seemed to make it more powerful and adamant about slaying evil. At
least that's what one reported in their last transmission.
Oh, in case you're wondering how hideously expensive it is, here's a breakdown.
Relic/6 (Song of Faith Variant?)...........48pts
Reliquary/6 (only usable with Relic).......12pts
Activation Time: 1 Round...................+1pt
Disturbance: Creates none (it merely
amplifies the Symphony to the target).....+15pts
Fragility: Totally Unbreakable............+10pts
Use Enhancement: Anyone can use Relic......+6pts
Use Enhancement: Anyone can use Reliquary..+3pts
Visibility: Automatically detectable.......-3pts
Total Cost: 92 points
Pricey, isn't it? Not that any sane GM would let you buy it in the first place.
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