✎ pattern [Work In Progress]

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====== Ideal of Pattern ======

<blockquote>
Harry thought over his collected experimental data. It was only the most crude and preliminary sort of effort, but it was enough to support at least one conclusion: "Aaaaaaarrrgh this doesn't make any sense!"

<cite>Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (Eliezer Yudkowsky)</cite>
</blockquote>

The Ideal of Pattern consists of the aspects of Order and Chaos. It deals with adherence to and deviation from consistent rules. This can be both rules within a story, and the regularities of the story itself.

Muses of Pattern have power over themes of simplicity, complexity, consistency and running themes, repetition, deviation and randomness.

In [[Vignettes]] and the [[Dreamscape]], these powers can be manifested through applications of the Muses' [[Skills]].

===== Strife =====

{{ pattern_strife.jpg?&nolink300|Guided by the red orbs, the soldiers were kept perfectly in line. Forever.}}

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, or make them stumble over an unexpected obstacle.
  * **Moderate**: A Muse might give themselves an edge in a fight by seeing the pattern in their opponent's moves, or avoiding fighting predictably themselves.
  * **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, or prevent their appointed saviour from saving them.

===== Subvert =====

{{ pattern_subvert.jpg?&nolink300|"No, Benjamin Franklin does not have high arches. I don't even think people shaped their eyebrows back then!"}}

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, or cast false suspicion on one that's genuine.
  * **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.

===== Seek =====

{{ pattern_seek.jpg?&nolink250|"Can you call something 'my precious' when it's only worth 10p?"}}

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 quickly spot the needle in a haystack, or recognise the characteristic style of someone's handwriting.
  * **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, or find the most perfectly archetypal example of a character [[tropes|Trope]].
  * **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.

===== Sculpt =====

{{ pattern_sculpt.jpg?&nolink200|Beautiful in its regularity. Apart from the hairline crack...}}

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, or decorate it to be interestingly unique.
  * **Moderate**: A Muse might cause a computer run perfectly, or produce a table of random numbers.
  * **Strong**: A Muse might enchant the ancient necklace to be fit for its expected purpose, or sabotage a generator so that it fails at an unexpected time.
  * **Exceptional**: A Muse might fill in an empty plot on a street with an appropriate building, or 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.
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