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[rydi]

Celestial Chorus
If one listens closely to the disparate elements of the fallen world, a song can be heard, a symphony of such beauty that it moves the very soul, and of such great magnitude that one must acknowledge a higher order to existence. Or at least that is what the mages of the Celestial Chorus legacy claim.
Those of the legacy trace their roots to the earliest times, to those who first attempted to make sense of the patterns of the tapestry’s grand design, not to merely categorize it or develop more efficient tools, but to take joy in the wonder of creation, and learn their soul’s true purpose. These early Choristers used song as both a metaphor to explain, and a direct expression of, the supernal truths they bore witness to. They used song to teach, to guide, and to share the joy of creation with their brethren, and served as spiritual guides to their people forwarding ideas of unity and an understanding that all were part of a greater plan.
Ages later, the Celestial Chorus remains much the same. Its members attempt to comprehend the true nature of the Great Song, and by doing so understand the nature of reality and their place within it. Choristers are, as their name implies, active participants in the Great Song, creating harmony and forging a greater whole out of dissonant elements, and they view it as their duty to move the fallen world toward the beauty and perfection of the Supernal. By acting as a part of the Great Song, those of the legacy perfect themselves as well as the fallen world, and gain an understanding of the greater pattern of reality they could never obtain as mere observers.

Parent Path/Order: Any, though Obrimos compose the bulk of the legacy.
Nickname: Singers or Priests
Appearance: There is not a Chorister “uniform”. Those of the legacy come from all walks of life, and all belief systems. The few commonalities include a preponderance toward religious symbols, and a marked lack of inflammatory symbols or messages that would create a feeling of exclusion. You won’t ever see a Chorister displaying messages of hate or harm; such themes are in direct opposition to the ideals required to be a member of the legacy
Background: Any, though most tend to have been deeply spiritual, broad-minded individuals before their awakening; even those who were agnostic or atheist before joining the legacy tended toward idealism and humanistic beliefs.
Organization: Though Choristers are more than happy to work with one another, and take great joy in sharing their discoveries with others of their legacy, they are not particularly organized, and have little formally structure. The fact that most are called to the legacy by their instinctual understanding of the Great Song, rather than initiated via the traditional teacher/student relationship, likely donates to the lack of structure.
Oblations: Prayer, meditation, singing, participating in pro-social activities such as charities or church organizations, creating works of art, and fostering unity amongst disparate social groups all can serve as fitting oblations.
Concepts: Repentant sinner, hippie activist, catholic priest, wandering holy person.

Attainments
The legacy’s attainments are founded on an understanding of the fundamental patterns of the universe, and especially how they manifest themselves in the thoughts and actions of sentient beings, those who can actively participate in the Great Song. The attainments therefore require an understanding of both Prime and Mind, as well as enough empathy and expression to fully appreciate the beauty of the Great Song itself.
It should also be noted that while the metaphor of song is used to convey the idea of the Great Song, it is not a song as such, but rather the totality of all things, and that the Great Work of the Choristers is about communicating their understanding of that song to others. Thus, the legacy’s attainments are not simply about sound, but about communication. Any form of expression that can communicate the complex patterns of the Great Song may be used to utilize the legacy’s attainments.

1st Attainment: Heart Song
Prerequisites: Gnosis 3, Mind 2 (primary), Prime 1, Fate 1, Empathy 2, Expression 1
The Chorister has begun to understand how the emotions and actions of individuals resonate with the Great Song, and how it affects them in turn. By simply observing those around them, preferably aurally, a Chorister may glean an understanding similar to that provided by the “Aura Perception” Mind effect, the “Interconnections” Fate effect, and the “Supernal Sight” Prime effect by making a successful Wits + Empathy + Mind roll at a -2 dice penalty (the complexity of the Great Song is difficult to interpret). Once activated, the effect lasts for a scene but the Chorister may only “listen” to one target at a time, and may only glean one type of information at a time (Nature, emotional state, type of supernatural creature, connections, etc); switching to “listen” to a different target, or for a different type of information, requires an instant action and a successful Wits + Empathy + Mind roll. Finally, the Chorister may sense the Morality (both the rating and "trajectory" of their morality), as lower Morality is dissonant with the harmony of the Great Song.
Legacy members may also spend 1 mana to influence those around them in a manner similar to the “Emotional Urging” Mind effect, with a dice pool equal to Presence + Expression + Mind. Choristers may speak to the emotional resonance of those nearby, and bring it more in tune with the Great Song, uplifting those around them and, at least temporarily, healing emotional wounds. The Heart Song may only be used to produce positive emotions and cannot be used for harm or to forward conflict.

2nd Attainment: Ward of Harmony
Prerequisites: Gnosis 5, Mind 3
At this point of spiritual development, the Chorister constantly hears the Great Song, and may harmonize her thoughts and actions with its melody. By spending a Mana and in some way communicating her understanding of the great song, the Chorister may protect the minds of everyone in the vicinity, as per the “Mind Wall” Mind effect, for the remainder of the scene.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 3
By spending a mana and making a Presence + Expression + Prime roll, with a penalty equal to the highest Composure + Gnosis in the surrounding crowd and a penalty for the area affected, the Chorister may momentarily manifest the glory of the Great Song as dancing. Those whose existence is at odds with the perfect symmetry of the Great Song experience great existential turmoil as the Song impacts them, and may even be wounded if they remain in its presence. Those in the area with Morality below 7, or Fallen spirits, have the urge to flee (resisted by a successful Resolve + Composure roll, with a penalty equal to the difference between their morality and 7). If creatures succeed at their roll to remain in the vicinity, they take damage equal to the successes on the activation roll at the start of each turn. At Prime 3, the damage is bashing; at Prime 4, the damage is lethal. At Prime 5, the Chorister may spend an extra mana on a given turn to make the damage aggravated. Those affected by this attainment often find that the experience, though painful, helped them to grow, abandon the destructive paths they were on, and become better people (this represents an opportunity for the gaining of Morality). This effect requires the Chorister spend one mana each turn, and ends if the Chorister stops concentrating on it.

3rd Attainment: Virtuoso
Prerequisites: Gnosis 7, Mind 4
At this level of advancement, the Chorister's words and thoughts resonate with the great song, and she may impart an understanding of the Great Song to others. The Chorister may enhance her own mental or social attributes as per the Augment Mind spell, or those of another as per the Augment Other Minds spell, by spending a mana and rolling Resolve + Empathy + Mind. The Chorister is limited to enhancing Composure, Resolve, Intelligence, and Presence (self only).
Optional Arcanum: Prime 4
All things are part of, and made possible by, the Great Song. At this level of understanding, the Chorister can temporarily sing new creations into existence with a successful Intelligence + Expression + Prime roll. This is treated as the "Marionette" Prime 4 spell.


Offshoots
Chorus of the Celestial Spheres
The Chorus of the Celestial Spheres began in ancient Greece, after an apprentice of the Thrice-Great legacy met a charismatic member of the Celestial Chorus. Merging the ideology of the two traditions, the young mage set upon a new, difficult path to perfection in which he internalized the Great Song in an effort to achieve self-perfection. Using the spiritual journey through the celestial realms as a catalyst to spiritual growth, and mirroring those external journeys with astral journeys, the mage grew to great power, and attracted a significant number of followers, to whom he passed on his teachings before venturing off on a final quest to reach perfection. A quest from which he never returned.
In the centuries since, the legacy has maintained a small, but devoted following. Due to the rigor and danger of the quests involved, and the immense understanding of varied Arcanum required of adherents, few make it to even their first attainment, but those able to take the first steps toward the stars usually continue along the path as far as they are able, and often further. In their journeys legacy members search for those worthy to induct into the legacy, as the process of teaching helps the teacher to better understand the mysteries of the cosmos. Apprentices are educated in mathematics, astronomy, astrology, and the basic concepts of Hermetic celestial symbolism, and are chosen for their ability to perceive the greater pattern of the Great Song, usually defined by an understanding of several arcanum at the basic level, a great facility with Prime or Spirit, or intensive understanding of science or the occult.

Other Notes
The Celestial chorus, due to their deep connection with the universe, does not give XP to an instructor. Instead, they give back to the Great Song, becoming part of it as it becomes part of them. Because of this connection they never disconnect from their “teacher,” even after they reach 7 Gnosis, and continue to pay the XP penalty indefinitely. Members of the Chorus of the Celestial Spheres are not only continuously connected to the universe, but must also pay the standard XP to their mentor as well.

Also, those mages whose Wisdom drops to 3 or below are barred from the use of any attainments until they increase their Wisdom to greater than 3, and for every point below 7 Wisdom, all attainment dice pools are at a cumulative –1 penalty, as the intricacies of the Song are ignored in favor of ones own pride and self-interest. Chorus of the Celestial Spheres members are not at a penalty, as there is a certain amount of pride inherent in scaling the Celestial Ladder, and they are less concerned with the overall quality of the Song and more with their self-perfection, but are still barred from the use of attainments if they drop below 4 Wisdom

[rydi]

so. I took most of the concepts i'm using from other legacies. i added limiters in multiple ways, as i wanted to avoid a feeling of the legacy being overpowered. here is an explanation of the limiters i used.

the 1st attainment is kind of wierd, in that it is a combined perception effect. technically it probably should be separated into the primary effect and an optional effect, but it works better the way it is. also it is pretty inclusive, so it risks being overpowered. i limited it in several ways to deal with the problem.
1)the effect requires activation, and important distinction, as it takes turn to activate it, and most sight effects gained through legacies do not.
2)there is at least one example, and probably more, of multiple sight effects being gained at the same time from an attainment; while my design is roughly the same power level, i erred on the side of caution, and limited it so that only one type of sight could be active at one time, and even reduced the aura sight effect so that only a single aspect of it could be active at once.
3)while there are examples of sight and another effect being given at the same attainment level, because the sight effect is especially strong, i limited the utility of the emotional urging effect to be only helpful effects, which is really in line with the legacy anyway.

the second attainment sounds pretty baddass, and really sounds alot better than it is.
1)the permanent shielding effect is actually just a level 1 attainment, and the mind wall is an extension of that. i just included the distinction for rules purposes, but in reality i probably could have just said "can use mindwall at wil".
2)because i made the personal shielding permanent, i made the non-personal shielding suck by requiring a mana expenditure, and limiting it to a scene duration.
3)the damage effect requires mana, which msot attainments do not.
4)the damage effect, both in versatility and damage, is imo less devastating than the tamers of fire effect, which lets you control fire at will, and at higher levels surround yourself with a nimbus of burning death.
5)the damage effect is limited to all hell. damages only low morality critters or fallen spirits, damage limited to successes, and requires TWO! spheres to even get.

the third attainment doesn't even need explanation, as it is basically copy/pasted straight from the books.

[rydi]

Apparently I already modified the legacy once. I updated it further though, because I still think it was a bit much.

1) limited the magesight targets to one at a time (it was aoe before). Changed the wording on the aoe emotion effect slightly, mostly just to clarify its limitations.

2) removed the permanent mind shield effect. Projecting a mindwall to everyone in the vicinity is plenty strong, and will stack with people's magical shielding due to the nature of legacies. I modified the Prime effect to remove Spirit (Celestial Fire rote already effects twilight and material world, and spirit was cluttering up the design), and I limited the damage even further. Now, on the first turn it scares off low morality creatures, and they only take damage at the start of a turn spent in the area of the song.

3) changed the Augment Others to be a mix of Self and Others, but with limited attributes effected. This benefits me, but it also makes more sense with the fluff of the attainment, and it limits the amount it can be abused on rolled skills. Not sure if I should allow Int and/or Wits buff, feedback requested.
I got rid of the Fate 4 thing, as it was cluttering up the design and added more power. Instead I added the 4th dot phantasm creation thing. Not exactly the strongest power, but it fits with the whole miracle-worker angle.

[arete]

This looks good. I am not sure if the limits on the 3rd attainment is needed, but on the whole this a good setup.