Fae and Muses

Fae

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Muses
Description of General Species Characteristics and History:
The Muses are an ancient race, written about in various forms by many nationalities in the past. The most prominent is the Greeks, who apparently only ever envisioned or saw female muses, that they named the daughters of Apollo. Their job was to inspire the poets and musicians, the artists, and to perpetuate the sharing of knowledge through these forms.

The truth of the matter is that Muses are a supernatural race. They were born of the Dreaming and have some racial characteristics that are similar to Fae, though they function in a very different way. Muses were made to interact with humans. They are much more focussed, as a race, on being in the mortal world and interacting with mortals than the Fae they share the Dreaming with, and thus there are far fewer of them there than there are Fae, and they inhabit the fringes that aren't used by their much more structured distant cousins. They have very little of the loyalty to the Dreaming that the Fae have, and simply see it as somewhere comfortable when they aren't in the mortal world. The main characteristics they have in common with the Fae are the use of illusion and the lifespan - they mature in much the same way, and live for a similar amount of time. They also use gateways that only work for Muses, which are always through bodies of water, and are far more abundant than the Fae gateways.

Another commonly held belief about Muses is that they are water nymphs - this is true to some extent, as Muses, while not nymphs, are strongly connected with water. Because they have a strong affinity with water, are creatures of water, which symbolizes depth of emotion and introspection, they use water to strengthen themselves. Their gates, as mentioned, are always through pools, springs, wells, and lakes.

Muses frown on outbreeding - it is borderline forbidden for a Muse to get into a romantic relationship with a mortal, and getting involved with another supernatural risks that Muse being banished from their society. The only exception is Fae - it's not encouraged, but if a Muse gets involved with a Fae, most of the other Muses will turn a blind eye and pretend it's not happening.

The Muses have strong tendencies, usually genetic, to certain types of inspiration, and these schools of thought are where the names of the 9 Muses of Greek mythology came from.

Calliopian (Muses of Epic or Heroic Poetry): These Muses tend to be the aristocracy of Muse society, as it is. They inspire epic and heroic stories, whatever type of story happens to be dominant - plays, poems, movies, novels...anything that has strong moral and heroic themes are usually inspired by the Calliopian Muses. These Muses tend to be strong in personality, to think big and be ambitious. They are also highly just and have very strong ideals, but can be zealots and fanatics.

Clioite (Muses of History): These Muses are the keepers of history and knowledge. They inspire people to learn from the past, to record it, and often have a hand in historical dramas in any form. They are highly intelligent and insightful, but can also be a bit anal retentive and boring.

Eratian (Muses of Love or Erotic Poetry): These Muses are the inspiration behind erotic and love stories. They inspire the less crass forms of pornography, and are behind romance stories and epic tales of love, like Romeo and Juliet. They are passionate, romantic, and idealistic, but can also be major sluts and cheats.

Euterpian (Muses of Music): These Muses are the inspiration behind music and poetry, anything lyrical and melodious. They inspire the music industry, are the drive behind musicals, and are the reason people sing in the shower. They tend to be emotional, and value harmony and balance, but can also be flighty, and evasive like a tune that flits through your head and is gone.

Melpomenian (Muses of Tragedy): These Muses are the inspiration behind everything tragedy. They inspire dramas that end in suicide or murders of passion, and have a hand in some of the more existential and artistic horor stories. These Muses are behind every tearjerker story. They tend to be introspective and deep, but can also be emotional wrecks, angsty and sad.

Polyhymnian (Muses of Sacred Song): These Muses are the inspiration behind sacred songs and stories. They are the drive behind gospel music, hymns, and any kind of religious music or story. They fuel belief. They are empathetic and trusting, but can also be blind fanatics.

Terpsichorian (Muses of Dance): These Muses inspire dance in any form. They are the inspiration behind ballet, jazz dance, tap, and any other kind of dance. They are what makes you bob your head while you're listening to headphones. They are graceful and eloquent, but can also be distant and cold emotionally.

Thalian (Muses of Comedy): These Muses are the inspiration behind comedies in any form, be it plays, movies, television, or even simple jokes. They are always funny and engaging, but can also be crass and flippant.

Uranian (Muses of Astronomy): These Muses are the drive to explore the stars, to go beyond the normal scope of things, and to study things like astrology. They drive mortals to map the stars and to look above their simple lives. They are insightful and open-minded, but can also be very disorganized and head-in-the-clouds.

Special Abilities:

- Muses have a kind of mild illusionary telepathy. They can project mental images into people's minds, usually fleetingly, leaving enough of an impression that a mortal is inspired by it. Though this ability gets stronger the more intelligent the target is, as Muses are creatures of intelligence just as much as they are of creation, it is weaker against other supernatural people.

- This is not so much an ability as a racial trait, but Muses have an aura about them that simply inspires people to be creative, bringing about that urge to draw, write, sing, dance, or create in some other form, whether or not the people around the Muse have the ability or inclination naturally.

Advantages:
- Muses are generally intelligent and usually charming.
- Muses have very long lifespans, approximately 10 times that of a human. They reach physical maturity at 25, and from that point on they age slowly and incredibly gracefully, usually not losing their youthful beauty until the day they die.
- Muses have the above mentioned abilities,which can be used for what they're intended for (inspiring others) as well as defensively to make themselves seem less worth hurting, or offensively to place horrible mental images in people's minds to weaken their morale or confidence.

Drawbacks:

- Being creatures heavily tied to water, Muses are extremely weak against pollutants of any kind. They get sick from being out on an exceptionally smoggy day, can't disinfect their wounds due to the chemicals involved, get queasy from smelling cigarette smoke, have a very low tolerance for any kind of drug including painkillers, and can get drunk off of half a can of 0.05% beer (and get killer hangovers every time). They simply have no tolerance for any kind of unnatural pollutant.
- Muses tend to have frail constitutions, getting sick easily and healing slowly. They get every little bug that goes around and it takes them twice as long to get better afterwards.
- Because of their society's attitude on outbreeding, Muses are generally inclined to not get close to other people who aren't Muses. As a race, they're distant and when it comes to anything beyond friendship, can be utter cold fishes.