Ideal of Affiliation

“Who I am is not important; only who I am to you.”

Jo.

The Ideal of Affiliation consists of the aspects of Antagonism and Reconciliation. It deals with the relationships between characters in all their forms. Such Muses delight in bitter rivalries and childhood friendships, kindly mediators and mischievous troublemakers. They favour narratives of trusts betrayed and friendships forged.

Muses of Affiliation have power over themes of collaboration, rivalry, friendship, love and hate. They believe that the course of the Narrative is governed by characters' relationships to one another. Hence, when a Muse of Affiliation wants to use their Skills to manipulate the Narrative of a Vignette, they must act to change those relationships.

The Strife Skill governs uses of powers to attack others. With Affiliation, a Muse could turn allies against one another, or inspire coordination among their enemy's enemies.

Some examples of applications at different power levels are:

• Weak: A Muse might subtly stoke the antagonism between characters, turning disagreement into an argument, or an argument into a fight.
• Moderate: A Muse might reprogram a menacing robot to act as their guardian.
• Strong: A Muse might reveal a dark secret and have it drive two friends to enemies.
• Exceptional: A Muse might cast a spell of memory wiping to get rid of a character by having everyone forget them.

The Subvert Skill governs stealth, duplicity, and forgery. With Affiliation, a Muse might do this by taking on another's identity or tampering with letters between allies.

Some examples of applications at different power levels are:

• Weak: A Muse might draw the attention of a character by writing in a old debt between them and the character they are playing in a Vignette.
• Moderate: A Muse might quickly strike up a friendship with a legendary outlaw who can smuggle them into an enemy stronghold.
• Strong: A Muse might disguise themselves as an evil noble to use their relationship with the guards in order to sneak into a castle.
• Exceptional: A Muse might tamper with info-beams between two Hyperempires, leading them to go to war.

The Seek Skill governs uses of powers to gather information. Muses of Affiliation typically manifest this power by becoming confidants of secret keepers, or bringing together those who each have a part of the puzzle.

Some examples of applications at different power levels are:

• Weak: A Muse might act as a trusted underling to get a dark wizard's orders.
• Moderate: A Muse might come to understand two characters' relationship after observing them together.
• Strong: A Muse might get an AI implanted in them in order to learn its secrets.
• Exceptional: A Muse might assemble legions of scholars from different schools to piece together the unknown.

The Sculpt Skill governs uses of powers to modify objects. Muses of Affiliation focus on relationships between individuals, and so favor this Skill less. However, they often try to manipulate the relationships between people and objects, stirring affection or disdain for items.

Some examples of applications at different power levels are:

• Weak: A Muse might remind a character of their history with an item, enhancing their fond memories of it - or their negative ones.
• Moderate: A Muse might easily trade trash for treasure, having persuaded a merchant it is the item they have hunted for a long time.
• Strong: A Muse might produce the ultimate meal; striving to outdo their rival in a cooking competition.
• Exceptional: A Muse might create a broadcast revealing a MacGuffin, giving it great personal importance to everyone.