Ideal of Pattern

“Patterns emerge and disappear all the time, though there's no pattern in what makes a good story.”

Jo.

The Ideal of Pattern consists of the aspects of Order and Chaos. It deals with adherence to and deviation from consistent rules. Such Muses are particularly curious, seeking to decipher method and order wherever they can find it, or disguising their own methods as they require.

Muses of Pattern have power over themes of simplicity, complexity, consistency and running themes, repetition, deviation and randomness. They believe that the course of the Narrative is governed by characters' knowledge and the gaps therein. Hence, when a Muse of Pattern wants to use their Skills to manipulate the Narrative of a Vignette, they must act to change that knowledge.

The Strife Skill governs uses of powers to attack others. With Pattern, this could mean forcing someone into a pattern that dictates that they are harmed, or out of one that would protect them.

Some examples of applications at different power levels are:

• Weak: A Muse might remind someone of a cut they received earlier in the story, distracting them momentarily.
• Moderate: A Muse might give themselves an edge in a fight by seeing the pattern in their opponent's moves.
• Strong: A Muse might make their side in a fight coordinate effectively, or prevent the opposition from doing the same.
• Exceptional: A Muse might force somebody to go through with their foreshadowed death - whether they want to or not.

The Subvert Skill governs uses of powers to obscure information and deceive others. With Pattern, this could mean making something appear to follow a pattern that it doesn't, or causing misleading foreshadowing.

Some examples of applications at different power levels are:

• Weak: A Muse might forge a document to look just like it's meant to, though not if you look too closely.
• Moderate: A Muse might make someone resemble their sibling, or someone else who looks similar.
• Strong: A Muse might cause an opponent to lose themselves in a town, getting lost in the maze-like streets.
• Exceptional: A Muse might prevent someone from realising the true meaning of a prophecy until it's too late.

The Seek Skill governs uses of powers to gather information. With Pattern, this could mean understanding the rules behind a phenomenon, or seeking out aberrant cases.

Some examples of applications at different power levels are:

• Weak: A Muse might recognise the characteristic style of someone's handwriting, though not necessarily whose it is.
• Moderate: A Muse might know enough local rules and customs to fit in, or notice when somebody isn't acting like themselves.
• Strong: A Muse might notice the subtly wrong behaviour of a spy among some group.
• Exceptional: A Muse might understand the principles by which a society operates, or find the only place in the world where some rule doesn't apply.

The Sculpt Skill governs uses of powers to modify objects. With Pattern, this could mean making something more or less similar to other objects of its type, or making something suitable for its foreshadowed purpose.

Some examples of applications at different power levels are:

• Weak: A Muse might restore a broken pot to be like the other in its batch.
• Moderate: A Muse might cause a computer to produce a table of random numbers.
• Strong: A Muse might sabotage a generator so that it fails at an unexpected time.
• Exceptional: A Muse might make an exception from geometry to make the shape of a house's interior more convenient, even if it shouldn't fit in the enclosing space.