The Merinita Cantori, of Venice, focused his efforts into bringing the muse-spawned songs of the Theban Tribunal to the Latinate world. This focus came after an enlightening Twilight event. He designed the Orphean Lyre, a glimmering masterwork of craftsmanship by a Verditius that was then enchanted to draw music out of the mind of those who touch it. Even with the experimental flaws and side effects, a pair of notable Jerbiton artisans commissioned Lyres for themselves to use in their work creating music.
Orphean Lyre (Creo Imaginem 30)
R:Voice, D: Concentration, T: Group
The Orphean Lyre is a masterfully crafted musical instrument, inlaid with gold and ivory, and strings that vary from gut, to silver, to what looks like glass. It counts as an Item of Quality(+3 to create music), though it takes a bit of practice to not accidentally trigger the enchantment while playing. Striking a particular chord on the enchanted Lyre causes the desired music to spring into being, filling the area where the Lyre is. The person enacting the effect must make a Communication + Music stress roll against an ease factor 6 to create intelligible music, with higher rolls producing better music. Those who understand music but have no personal experience can try to use the instrument using Finesse or Artes Liberales(music theory) rolls, but the ease factor should be 3 higher. When the enchanted effect is activated, light surrounding the lyre seems to refract in a prismatic fashion for a moment, due to the crafter's sigil.
(Base 1, +1 Voice, +1 Concentration, +2 group, +2 intricacy: Fine music; Unlimited use, item maintains concentration)
Side Effects table (1d10)
1 Exaggerated Sigil: When the musical enchantment is enacted, the air surrounding the Lyre seems to refract light into its prismatic colors, and the effect continues to replicate through the entirety of the song being played. It's a Disco Ball.
2-3 Minor Flaw: Striking the musical chord to trigger the songs causes a sharp pain on the fingers of the user, and repeated uses can even create shallow cuts on the fingertips. Lyrists tend to have the calluses already on their fingers so they won't notice.
4-5 Minor Side Effect: Striking the activation chord causes a number of small crystalline prisms to appear in the area the music is affecting, as part of the prismatic sigil effect. These crumble to chalky dust when the song ends.
6 Minor Benefit: The area the music is playing in can be contained in a particular area, which would allow different melodic tunes to be played in different corners of the same room, with no audial disruption from other activations.
7 Major Flaw: Due to a quirk in the vis used to craft the item, the Music roll gets a penalty in Divine or Infernal auras as if a magical power.
8 Major Side Effect: Birds and other musical animals nearby will begin to sing along with any music they hear from the lyre.
9 Major Benefit: With a musical quality roll of 12+, a particular mood or feeling can be enacted, exemplified, and distilled. This gives a +2 to any relevant personality rolls by the affected listeners. Despite lack of requisites, this counts as a Mentem effect with a +0 penetration - although many faeries are affected despite their magic resistance. For some reason, this doesn't work with Finesse rolls.
10 Fatal Flaw: The musical instrument can only follow the intent of the activator imperfectly - while the item is maintaining concentration, the effective roll for musical quality is lowered by 1 every minute. For example, if a Finesse roll of 12 was rolled, after 3 minutes, the music would become only passable (effectively 9), and a minute later the music would devolve into a bit of a chaotic mess of sound.