[UA] The Muse

Sat Sep 23 16:50:17 PDT 2000

So, I've been planning on writing this up and mailing this to the list for a while.  Someone said The Muse isn't in Statosphere, but I wouldn't know (I'd get Stat quickly, but I'm waiting for my copy of the Rough and the Smooth to come before ordering more).  I'm sure that I'd change things around once I have Stat, but here ya go.  Comments on changes would be good.  
Is there anything necessary to do to get this on the Archive page other than mailing it?

Mr. Teapot
avatar of the Muse

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The Muse
Attributes:  Historicaly, artistic inspiration was thought to come from the gods.  In some cases, this view was not entirely incorrect.  The Muse is the incarnation of artistic inspiration.  If someone is attempting to create something artistically, then the Muse can help.
	Muses never, however, create on their own.  They merely provide the initiative to other artists (this is what separates the archetype from that of The Artist).  Muses, therefore, often have jobs where they are near artists but not doing the creation: editors, art critics, models, art supply store clerks, art teachers, etc.  While the mythological Muses were female (and many historical avatars have been so) this is not a necessary requirement of the archetype. 

Taboos:  The Muse cannot create art by him or herself.  Any writing, drawing, painting, etc., weakens your chances of getting into the IC.  A short, straightforward list or note might work, if it does not make any attempt to express inner emotions.
	The Muse can never become better known than the artist being inspired.  Most or all of the credit must go to the artist, or the Muse loses some mystic power.
	While being female is not required (though it is typical) a sexual tension must exist between the artist inspired and the Muse.  The Muse must be of the gender(s) that the artist would choose to engage with sexually.  So, as many artists historically have been straight males, most Muses have been women.  If the artist were a gay male, then he'd need a male Muse.  There need not be any overt love or desire between the two, just the possibility thereof.  The muse doesn't need to return any of this possibility of love: a lesbian Muse could inspire a straight male artist, but a gay male muse could not.

Symbols:  Light, especially a candle or the modern cartoon lightbulb above the head.  Breath and wind (inspiration comes from a term meaning to breath in).  Music and art of all kinds.

Suspected Avatars in History:  Alcibiades is described by Socrates as inspiring him to various acts in the Symposium (as Phaedrus is in the eponymous dialogue).  Regina Olsen possibly inspired some of Kierkegaard's writings.  Naming  more Muses in history is difficult, though often we know their faces quite well.  The Mona Lisa, perhaps, and various other women depicted in famous artwork.  If you researched a given artist's life enough, one or more possible avatars could be found.  (I wish I was an art historian for this.  My knowledge of philosophy rather than art history should be clear from my examples.)

Channels
1%-50%:  The Muse can either choose an artistic medium (painting, singing, filmmaking, comic books, etc) or a particular artist.  If the Muse chooses a medium, then he or she can inspire anyone attempting to create this type of artwork, but can't use the skill for inspiring other artistic creations.  If a particular artist was chosen, then the Muse can inspire him or her in any artwork created, but only that artist.
	Either way, the rules work the same.  The Muse makes a roll whenever the artist attempts to make something artistic.  If the Muse succeeds in this roll, the artist can then flip-flop the roll for the artistic creation (if the art skill is not his obsession) or add up to X points to his skill for that artist's roll, where X is the total of the Muse's roll (if it is his obsession).  So, if Kenneth Ohara is trying to write poetry with his obsessed "Surrealist Poetry: 55%" skill, and Jenny Never, his Muse rolled a 46 (successfully), she could let him act as if he had "Surrealist Poetry: 65%" .

51%-70%:  At this level, the Muse becomes able to implant complete thoughts into someone's head.  These thoughts take the form of a message that the receiver recognizes as not his own thoughts (though he or she won't know who's they are unless the Muse lets on).  You roll your Av: Muse skill, and if successful, then the message can be up to a number of words equal to the total of the dice (count 0 as 10 for a range of 2 - 19).  If the person would have been an acceptable target for your 1%-50% channel (i.e., your one Artist or engaged in your particular artform), then you can double the number of words.
	In addition, the 'range' of your Muse effects becomes broader.  You can now have two specific artists, or expand to a more broad artform (from poetry to writing, for example, or from drawing to drawing and painting) or take a bit of both (one specific artist in any plus any artist in one specific artform).

71%-90%:  The Muse can force someone (anyone, not just a inspirable artist) to face the ful force of an idea or concept, ignoring their mental defenses.  Once per day, the Muse can force someone to make a stress check in a gauge of the Muse's choosing, which ignores any hardened marks the target has in that gauge.  The gauge must be one that the Muse has previousy had to make a stress check on. 
	The Muse's power reaches more now, so that he or she could either use the 1%-50% five specific artists, or anyone in a broad range of arts (all visual arts, or all narrative arts, all auditory arts, etc) or some combination (all writing and two specific artists, etc.)

91%+:  Sometimes having too many ideas can be as imparing artisticallyas having none at all.  The Muse at this level can implant so many ideas in a target's head that it is impossible to concentrate on even the simplest of actions.  Take the target's mind score and add the first digit to the second (like figuring hand to hand damage.  Count 0 as 10).  Then do the same with the target's Soul.  Whichever total is higher is their penalty to all rolls.  This effect lasts as long as the Muse takes no other action than to concentrate on these ideas.
	Finally, as the Muse has achieved this amount of power, the 1%-50% channel can target anyone making any kind of artistic creation.

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