IM REREADING PHONOGRAM ITS BASICALLY ABOUT LIKE....PHONOMANCERS/PHONOMANCERY?? AND THAT IS WHERE YOU??? USE MUSIC TO PERFORM MAGIC and it's really confusing honestly like i've read phonogram three times over and i'm still really shaky on it but phonomancers are portrayed sort of as addicts? they need the music for themselves but really they can use the magic that comes from it however they please, it's better explained when you actually Read the Comic but a) i hated the first volume (the mc was a jerk and hhhhggn) and b) it's still really...vague. you can see how it works because certain 'mancers prefer certain genres and can specialize in certain kinds of phonomancery like invoking nostalgia etc with a particular kind (one character does this??? ye) and hhhhhhhhhh i like that a lot. dang
1) Yes and No. What wasn't made explicit - but will be in the next, I think - was that Phonomancery is actually a larger category. It's like saying "Scientist". "Retromancer" is a *sort* of Phonomancer (like Biologist is to Scientist) rather than an alternative to one. If I can think up enough catchy names for sub-sects of Phonomancers, they'll be more of them. It's about what each phonomancer chooses to specialise in - for example, Indie Dave in the comic is into Memory Magic. He's really into Memory magic. Not that Kohl can't do it when he's taught what to do, but it's not really his key things - you can't imagine him doing another memory kingdom trip for kicks, can you? But Indie Dave is all about the memory magic.2) As the previous answer suggests, depends on what the Phonomancer is, and what it they choose to do with it. Some stuff just doesn't *interest* a specific phonomancer, even if they abstractly could do it. Kohl's a sort of generalist Phonomancer - he has his interests, but he's not as obsessional as someone like Indie Dave is (Which is why Kohl works as a lead in the first series, as he's a bit more flexible, if not as powerful). So, yes, it's relatively open. It's not really a set superpower - it's stuff you can learn and use.For example, not all Phonomancery is OUTWARDS looking. The Memory Kingdom stuff is an example of an introspective spell which lets you dwell in fantasy. But some phonomancers use rituals to get closer to music, to make it hit harder, turning it into a harder hitting opiate or whatever. No-one else would know they're feeling more intensely, but it would be enormously moving for THEM. (source)
THAT REALLY DOESNT EXPLAIN SHIT but bascially the right kind of music for a phonomancer can strengthen them and the wrong kinda music can fuck with them and iTS SO. CONFUSING BUT I LIKE IT A LOT, I LIKE THE GENERAL CONCEPT OF IT, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE ITS JUST THIS REALLY SELF-AWARE PRETENTIOUS SORT OF DECONSTRUCTION OF MUSIC and im a baby
