The Muse
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| File:Bwah.jpg | |
| "Arrogance is a matter of opinion..." | |
| The Muse | |
| Player: @The Godchild | |
| Origin: | Magic/Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Security Level: | 50/50/50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Marie-Alice Drake, Pfeffe'Rah |
| Known Aliases: | Malice, Gaishin, Muse, Rah |
| Species: | Pooka (Faery) |
| Age: | 32 (Appears early 20's) |
| Height: | 5'4 |
| Weight: | 127 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Kitten Gold |
| Hair Color: | Varies |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Caucasian |
| Occupation: | Mother, Mercenary leader, Bohemian trickster, Hired blade |
| Place of Birth: | Baggotville, Quebec |
| Base of Operations: | Croatoa |
| Marital Status: | Questionably Single? |
| Known Relatives: | Katie Drake (24, sibling), Orianna Drake/Chaotic Flare (14, daughter), Jillian Drake (4, daughter), Charles & Lorane Drake (Parents) |
| Known Powers | |
| Martial Prowess, Eternal Soul | |
| Known Abilities | |
| See entry | |
| Equipment | |
| See entry | |
| Warning! Treat with extreme caution. Not to be trusted. | |
Contents |
Personality
Shameless, arrogant, and sly are just some of the terms most commonly associated with Muse. Much like the felines she emulates, her personality is tempered with a unique mix of human and feline characteristics that make her seem rather odd at times, and deeply alluring at others depending on the person's views. On a good day, she's lazy, content, and a charming soul to be around; basking in sun beams, or just lounging around doing nothing productive short of gathering dust and having lazy contests with her feline companions. On a bad day, she's a living nightmare...
Not truly a girly-girl, but not really a tomboy, Muse walks a strange line down the middle of both, balancing a love of clothing, shopping and socialism with sports, cars and other physical hobbies. Her love for clothing seems to stem from her feral instincts to preen and present. What she lacks in fur, she makes up for in flares, belly shirts, and all manner of home-made creations to suit whatever her needs might be. Her hair colours and styles change on a whim; so much so that many in her troupe believe she has "mood hair," meaning you can read her present emotion by whatever colour her hair happens to be.
While a master of conversation and word games, Muse would much rather act than talk if given the choice. Words are fanciful and lack the true passion of doing something firsthand, and many find that her subtle word games are usually a ploy to lure someone into a fight to better understand them. Her powerful empathic nature, combined with her confidant ability and feline expression, makes her ability to read body language second to none, though she still finds people much easier to read in a combative situation where her target's focus isn't on their own movements.
Strengths and Weaknesses
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One key weakness all fae possess, called a Failing, helps to off-set the benefits gained from their Birthrights and is just as unique. In the case of pooka, their failing is quite ironic given their talent for subtle interrogation and information gathering. Despite every secret a pooka might know about something or someone, they're forced to lie instead of telling the truth. This compulsion can be quite frustrating at times when a pooka really wants to say something meaningful, though many have leaned ways around this annoying setback (See Trivia below). This compulsion does not apply to dire situations where friends and allies are in danger, a pooka may freely speak the truth under those rare moments of duress and no other.
Combat Styles (Powers)
Chaos Dervish (Dual Blades) 
Riot Duelist (Martial Arts) 
Savage Fang (Katana) 
The Dragon's Dance / Eternal Soul (Willpower) 
Cantrips/Training (Additional Skills)
Faery magic comes in many different forms, much like its practitioners, and allows for all manner of grand effects if the user feels so inclined. Their magic is broken down into Arts (Paths/schools of magic) and Cantrips (spells). Muse's focus was never really towards magic. With weapons drills and daily training routines to be done, what little magic she did pick up would ultimately lend itself to her combat ability. Her primary magical focus has been Wayfare Arts, cantrips focusing on movement and travel as well as reaction speeds at lower levels of study.
Hopscotch (Leaping) 
The most basic of Wayfare skills, hopscotch allows its practitioners to leap incredible distances with the greatest of ease. The user may control how strong the jump is with only a thought when in effect, allowing them to shift from long distance to short-range mobility at a moments notice. In the case of Muse, she controls these effects through instinct they've become so familiar to her. Along with her impressive leg strength, Muse is capable of attacking a group of enemies without ever touching the ground by bouncing instead off her targets, walls and ceilings much like a skiprock.
Quicksilver (Speed) 
Still considered rudimentary, but not to be taken for granted, Quicksilver can allow its practitioners to attain super-human levels of speed and reaction for short periods of time. This cantrip comes in two forms: a land speed increase allowing for near instant movement across short distances (one of the ways Muse seems to "appear" from thin air), and a burst of reaction speeds, allowing for multiple actions to be accomplished in a fraction of the normal time. Both uses of this cantrip are taxing, but the second can prove more detrimental when its effects wear off and the sudden exhaustion catches up.
Feral Awakening (Leadership) 
This rather unique pair of skills originates from both Muse's feral side and her force of presence on the battle field, resulting in an increase in both physical and mental strength for herself and any allies nearby. While she might not be aware of the affect this has on others, Muse enjoys her feral side greatly and relishes in the opportunity to let loose and go wild. Those unaccustomed to such wild compulsions may feel unnerved or overly confident as a result, feeling the need to match Muse's pace with disastrous results. These effects radiate out as an aura and move as Muse moves.
Feral Might: The first awakening Muse can grant increases blood flow and stimulates the adrenal glands in those affected, increasing both physical strength as well as mental focus to help shrug off mental effects that would keep them from from attacking their 'prey'. Those affected show no physical signs of change, though they may act a bit more aggressively then normal.
Feral Sense: This second awakening stimulates the senses and mind, increasing all 5 senses considerably while under the effect. Affected allies can easily sense sneaky or hidden targets when they couldn't before, and piece deceptions that would normally make them attack an ally. Already in possession of enhanced senses and an iron will, Muse gains less from this awakening than others, other than the ability to track via scent.
Mercenary Training (Fitness) 
Through her life, both on and off the hero scene, Muse has trained her body quite extensively through daily training and practice. A combination of meditation, physical combat and acrobatics learned over the years, it could almost be considered a fighting style in itself. Muse has mastered the following abilities as a result of her training.
Hustle: Basic marching drills help to increase overall land speed, as well as serving as the foundation for all further physical demands.
Vigor: Through repetitive exercise and focus, a person has increase blood flow around their body to aid in wound recovery. From this training, a person can learn to further increase their stamina as well.
Endurance: The pinnacle of a mercenary's training blesses a person with increased recovery, allow them to fight or act longer then normal people could. This training requires a person to push themselves to the utter limits frequently, both to learn what their limits are, as well as push past them.
Other Abilities
Unfortunately none of the following abilities really have any impact on her heroic careers directly, but they still offer great potential for intrigue and scandals later on if a person is not careful in Muse's presence. The following abilities are called Birthrights, unique powers that set pooka apart from other Fae.
Confidant: This subtle trick is the key reason people fear and openly distrust pooka, since it allows pooka to nurse little secrets from a person without them ever realizing they've said anything otherwise. This birthright cannot be used to directly force information from a target, instead the target leaks little tidbits over the course of a conversation. This is a purely RP-oriented ability.
Shape Shift: As the name implies, this birthright allows a pooka to shift forms to whatever their affinity animal happens to be. Most pooka emulate domestic animals, though some rare pooka take after larger, more predatory animals depending on their surrounding when growing up. Again, this is a purely RP-oriented tool, though it can explain her unusual talent for stealth and information gathering. Muse's animal form is a white mane coon house cat with black-tipped ears and tail.
Equipment
Muse travels quite light when it comes to combat, relying on little more then her own skills, weapons and impressive training instead of focusing on armor or other methods of fortification. Any armor she's seen wearing is purely cosmetic and serves little to no defensive function other then her boots and bracers for her Riot style. Her blade preferences vary; light, easily concealed blades for her Dervish style, or long oriental blades for her Fang style. She's managed to acquire Talisorian versions of both blade types thanks to her participation in the Vanguards efforts, as well as some of the more exotic blades found through Paragon; such as her Redcap daggers and even the nightmarish Rularuu blades.
Background
((Work in progress...))
Trivia
- Pfeffe'rah means "Queen of Cats" in Rabbit (read Watership Down if you don't get it).
- Muse is based off of the Changeling: The Dreaming RPG system from World of Darkness games. Any and all non-city terms and references stem from that system.
- As a character, Muse/Gaishin has been around since I started role playing over a decade ago. She's matured and aged mentally according to the passage of time even if her body remains unmolested by it thanks to her fae heritage.
- Despite being born and mostly raised there herself, Muse can't stand anyone from Quebec.
- Muse's catgirl nature isn't readily obvious to normal people. Occasionally her ears and tail may be seen, but situations where her Fae Mein (Faery soul) manifests are exceedingly rare outside of combat.
- Her life outside of Paragon is somewhat of a mystery to those who can't understand the world of dreams and the politics that come with it.
- Even though she's forced to technically lie anytime she speaks due to her Failing, the rule only covers openly telling the truth -- nothing else. Pooka have created their own unique forms of conversation that's an elaborate mix of word games and frustration to get around this limitation. This dialect (if it can be called that) is commonly called Pooka-ese by many non-pooka, and comes in a variety of styles used in different combination to match the users personal style.
- Muse's styles are confirmed to be Enigmas (questions in response to questions), Evasion (changing topics, shifting focus) and Scandals (speaks for itself: used rarely for obvious reasons). She favors using evasion in conjunction with enigmas to steer conversations towards what she really wants to say without actually saying it, making it a guessing game for those involved.
- ((OOC note)) I did not draw the chick in the picture, nor do I claim any ownership to it. I don't remember where, when or how I came across it, so whomever the artist is/was, all credit to the foreground goes to them accordingly.
