## Statistics Title: Singer of the Distant Void Galactic Age: 48,500+ Subjective Age: 1500+ Homeworld: Unknown Home Sector: [[The Sectors#Sundered Harmony (6)|Sundered Harmony]] Affinity Groups - [[Past Projects/The Plague Lords/Affinity Groups/Spiritualists]] - Get Wine Drunk & Scream (Religion) - "Whatever the last person said is wrong." - What's the Point? - "To know the fundamental truths of the universe." - [[Past Projects/The Plague Lords/Affinity Groups/Scientists]] - Displaying Genius (Philosophy) - What is Science? (Wondering) - Recognizing this moment as a single heartbeat in the long life of the universe. You are a Voidsinger, one of the priests of the galaxy's largest and most influential religion. More than that, you're one of most significant leaders in the entire faith which, given your relative youth, is an incredible accomplishment. You're not as young as Tarsus (who is frankly barely out of childhood), but compared to the current [[Holy Reflection]], your whole life is a blink. You suspect that a great deal of your influence has come from the fact that you truly *believe*. You believe that the universe is a song to be sung, that every person has a role in the grand music of the cosmos, and that only by fading into the melody can any individual hear the song entire. This is noteworthy because, as far as you can tell, most Voidsinger leaders are generals and financiers, not philosophers. You can't keep track of the number of times you've quoted a piece of ancient wisdom only to receive blank stares from those who should have been able to cite passage and verse. Your philosophy may be a bit contrarian (and sometimes incoherent), but unlike those skeletons rattling around for millions of years, at least you have one. You want the Voidfaith to become a more fundamental part of the [[Celestial Empire]]. Unlike [[Singer Tarsus]], who wants to wield the empire as a sword on behalf of the faith, you believe that the church can and should provide succor to the galaxy's lowest. The purpose of the faith, as you see it, is to guide the galaxy toward enlightenment. You've spent the millennium-and-change of your life pursuing the galaxy's deepest truths, and you want to give that same opportunity to everyone else. You also have a deep-seated (some would say strange) fascination with [[Sapient Plagues]]. Ever since your childhood, a thing you only barely remember, you've been deeply curious about the galaxy's most maligned citizens. You still remember a time before the [[I Killed the Plaguesmith|Death of the Plaguesmith]], when the Plagues lived among humanity freely, and you long for its return. What you don't know about yourself, because you can only dimly remember your childhood, is that you grew up on a world crafted by the [[Hivemother]] herself, a world designed to bring humans and Sapient Plagues together peacefully. You do remember meeting the Hivemother at one point, long ago. You've come to the [[Plague Council]] because you love debating philosophy in times of crisis. As well, you've heard that the Holy Reflection will be here, and that some of the Sapient Plagues might even be in attendance themselves. ## Goals 1. Befriend a [[Sapient Plagues|Sapient Plague]]. 2. Convince the [[Myriadic Council]] to create a third great pillar of empire alongside the [[Voidstalker Corps]] and the [[Imperial Bureaucracy]], officially placing a Voidsinger in every Holding. 3. Prove yourself a worthy successor to the [[Holy Reflection]]. ## Character Notes - Singer Po is one of two characters (along with [[Singer Tarsus]]) vying to replace the [[Holy Reflection]], the most significant figure in the Voidsinger faith. Po views the role of the faith as being fundamentally concerned with the Celestial Empire and its proper running. This isn't out of a rigid militarism like Tarsus', but instead the simple and straightforward motivation that Po thinks the church is right and the empire the most effective vehicle for carrying its message. Unfortunately for Po's hopes to take over the faith, there's not actually an established process for selecting a new Reflection. How will Po convince those assembled to recognize their ascension? - This character's life has been deeply influenced by Sapient Plagues. Their planet of birth is one of the [[Hivemother]]'s many Hiveworlds, places where humans live in unwitting symbiosis with her children. This has left the character with a deep-seated sense of connection with and attraction (though not necessarily romantic) toward Sapient Plagues in general, and her children in specific, which is exactly the sense the Hivemother intended to cultivate. The character is likely to become aware of this over the course of play, will the realization that they were *meant* to like Sapient Plagues be a comfort or a betrayal? - This character is in the finest tradition of Sophists everywhere. They want first and foremost to examine the mind of the person they're speaking with, and only second (at best) to reach a useful conclusion. Socratic dialogue, koans, the more impenetrable the teaching tool the better. They love the faith, and they love their place in it, but even there they find themselves asking questions no one else seems willing to ask. Will this gadfly-like love of discourse be help or hindrance, and how will the character square their instincts with their goals? ## Connections 1. [[Diplomat Ziz]] 1. "Though in command of great wealth, in possession of none." 2. You see Ziz as one of those strange, fascinating individuals who simply doesn't stand any chance at all of enlightenment. It isn't their fault, really. Ziz is an investment advisor to one of the most powerful and warlike hordes in galactic memory. An old (and embarrassing) legend tells of Red Station and Blue Station, the two great warships fated to war pointlessly with one another for millennia. During the cataclysm known as the [[I Killed the Plaguesmith|Death of the Plaguesmith]], one side (history does not recall which) finally defeated the other, utterly destroying both stations in the process. What survived, however, was the most viciously trained, brutally honed fighting force in history. That force has gone on to plague the galaxy ever since, turning tens of thousands of years of warfare suddenly outward in an ecstasy of conquest. You met Ziz a few hundred subjective years ago, maybe fifteen thousand galactic years. The strange thing is, they don't seem aware that they're representing one of the galaxy's most vicious and deadly raider fleets. Or at least, they don't seem to realize that's how most of the galaxy views the [[The Violet Fleet|Violet Fleet]]. Why have you always made a point to stop and chat when your paths cross; do you hope to save them, or save the galaxy *from* them? 2. [[Governor Biru]] 1. "Proof that neither our perceptions nor our preconceptions are worthy of trust." 2. You know. You've known for nearly a subjective millennium that Biru, Biru of the Bees and Nectar, Biru of the Thousand Thousand Thousand, Governor Biru of Apoidea, is a Sapient Plague. Not only that, but they're a direct bud of the Hivemother herself, rather than some distant great-grandchild of a great-grandchild (though even one of those would have been exciting enough). You've met Governor Biru on a number of state occasions, and your early childhood encounter with the Hivemother meant that something, something deep within the fundament of yourself, recognized them for what they are. You can't help but admire the Governor for proving over and over again that the people calling their kind bloodthirsty monsters are fools (if you could have eaten the planet during some of those meetings, you would have). You've managed to make polite conversation a few times, but something has always stopped you from revealing your knowledge. What about Biru has kept you from making a real connection, and why have you decided to set that thing aside? 3. [[High Seat Oro]] 1. "Death. Death incarnate. A great conversationalist, though." 2. You saw the High Seat go to battle once, and that memory is seared into your mind. Their warship, the smallest and most compact you've ever seen piloted by someone of their status, was like a pinprick of plasma lighting up the dead black of space. Millions dead, billions, an entire fleet, all in a matter of days. You were young at the time, very young, but you saw in vivid detail on church communiqué as Oro broke an army like they were breaking their fast. Since then, like most residents of [[The Sectors#Sundered Harmony (6)|Sundered Harmony]], you've lived your life in the shadow of House Orman's war, a war prosecuted in significant part by the High Seat now vying for control of that same House. Despite their role in the destruction of this sector and the endless stream of cataclysms which have resulted, you can't help but find the High Seat intriguing. Over the long duration of your life, and the tens of thousands of galactic years it has spanned, you've had many opportunities to speak with them, and each time they've made the same points. Order is biased, only anarchy, even a "distasteful, nightmarishly violent" anarchy can ever hope to provide a truly equal galaxy. Each person, reasons Oro, should be given a lunar-class warship and the training to use it properly, and the universe should sort itself out from there. Do you think they're right, or just wrong enough to be interesting? 4. [[Hivemother]] 1. "Older than the stars and stranger than strange matter." 2. You only met the Hivemother once, back in the days before the [[I Killed the Plaguesmith|Death of the Plaguesmith]], when the [[Sapient Plagues|Plague Lords]] and the [[Celestial Empire]] were at peace. It was on your home planet, a place destroyed in some grubby little war long ago, whose name even you forgot in those long, hazy years of studying to become a Singer. You may not remember the name of your homeworld, but you remember how beautiful it was. You remember gardens, and trees, and wonderful, strange creatures wandering freely. You remember plenty, and peace, and encouragement to seek the deeper questions behind all things. You remember, like a lightning bolt, the moment you met the person responsible for this Eden. The Hivemother touched you once on the forehead, and something, some core truth settled deep within you. How has your life been shaped by the memory of meeting the Eldest of the Plague Lords? ## Mechanics **Asset:** [[Voidsong]] The harmonious lilt of the cosmos bears you up from second to second. You do not need food, or water, or oxygen. Not even your physical form is truly necessary so long as you can hear the chorus of ages and your own place in the tune. You are immune to physical harm of any kind, and can survive comfortably in the void of space. If you lose a [[Combat|Combat]], you cannot be forced to take damage unless your enemy has at least 5 net advantage. Even then, in a [[Combat#Local|Local]] or [[Combat#Regional|Regional]] scenario, you immediately discorporate and reappear at a safe location upon taking damage. You can only be killed in [[Combat#Global|Global]] or [[Combat#Fleet|Fleet]] scenarios, or if you're attacked by another Voidsinger. If you are ever excommunicated, you lose [[Voidsong]]. **Lien:** [[Discordant Stars]] The galaxy is not perfect. Not yet. One day, every atom of the galaxy will move in perfect harmony, every photon dance according to its assigned place. The song of the void will resound in all souls and the galaxy will be free of want and fear. Today, however, the song is stifled, drowned out by a deafening din of disagreement. It is the duty of the Voidsingers to bring the galaxy into harmony and give every living thing a chance to hear the song. In every conversation, at every opportunity, you must attempt to guide others toward the enlightenment of the void. If you ever let an entire conversation go by without attempting to instill spiritual wisdom, you are overcome by remorse and a sense of missed opportunity.