How would you do this magic? Based on RPM/Realm/Syntactic

[Gef]

You're welcome to use my initials or my name, Geoffrey E. Fagan.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Gef

You're welcome to use my initials or my name, Geoffrey E. Fagan.

Thank you and added.
I am hoping to get a GURPS database up and online and will post them there. Already in the database as a local file. I just need to reconfigure it for a website. And buy a domain.

[dataweaver]

Coming in really late on this.

Basically, the magic of the Muses is an elaborate “bardic magic” system, and you should think of the spells they can cast and the role they play in the setting in that light. In the setting, they’d probably be entertainers, storytellers (and oral record-keepers?), and advisors.

Clio and Urania give you a past-and-future arrangent, with Clio having postcognitive abilities (good for finding skeletons in peoples’s closets; but mainly “calling on the past to inform the present”) while Urania lets you read peoples’ destinies.

Melpomene and Thalia are another pair; I’d draw on the contrast between them, with “comedy” being more about light-hearted/uplifting (vs. “tragedy”’s morbid and depressing) than it is about being humorous. Melpomene would feature curses while Thalia features blessings.

Euterpe, I figure, would be a master of sound, amplifying and/or directing it and/or modifying it. I’d similarly make Terpsichore a master of motion, with telekinetic-style effects — a bit like Bending, but without the elemental associations. I could see a Dancer enacting a “Walk on Air” spell (or, more accurately, “Dance on Air”), and/or incorporating effects akin to Light Walk and Lizard Climb, letting them dance on any surface as if it was solid ground.

Polyhymnia? Spirit magic: the hymns this Muse is associated with are known primarily for their religious characteristics; so making her magic involve summoning friendly spirits and warding against hostile ones strikes me as being quite appropriate.

Erato, meanwhile, would deal with manipulating emotions, inciting or soothing the audience.

Finally, Calliope. I’m not quite sure what to do with Calliope, though I’m thinking some sort of “power of legend” that lets the subject replicate feats from the epics, so long as the situation resembles in some way the circumstances in which the feat took place in the epics. Another possibility is illusion magic, e.g., granting the audience visions of the epic being told.

[Anders]

Melpomene could be about performance art. :)

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

Coming in really late on this.

Your ideas seem similar to what I was thinking, particularly with the pairs. I would build them as a pair of paths where the difference is what counts as lesser and greater are different. For example, history is crossroads (time). time effects can accomplish more and still be lesser, while spacial effects are almost always greater.

Astronomy and History are a pair: Crossroads (space) and Crossroads (time).
Erato and Polyhymnia are a pair: Erato is concerned with the force of life, and Polyhymnia is concerned with intelligence and harmony. This isn't quite the path's of body and mind, though the comparison is apt. Erato is about the force of life, not its matter, and includes many emotions and instincts, while Polyhymnia is about intelligence and patterns of all sorts and includes communication.
Melpomene and Thalia are a pair: Blessings and cursings. While this is a narrow field of magic, it is also an incredibly useful one.
Euterpe and Terpsichore together form the path of energy. Euterpe is not limited to sound but is master of all forms of energy perceived by the senses, particularly light. Terpsichore is over motion.

Finally, Calliope. I’m not quite sure what to do with Calliope, though I’m thinking some sort of “power of legend” that lets the subject replicate feats from the epics, so long as the situation resembles in some way the circumstances in which the feat took place in the epics. Another possibility is illusion magic, e.g., granting the audience visions of the epic being told.

Path of Magic. Colliope is the head of the muses, and concerns herself with the dealings between the higher forces of the world.

[dataweaver]

I think a more apt way to describe the Erato/Polyhymnia pair would be to split the Path of the Mind between the cerebral and the visceral (or thinking vs. feeling). So:

Clio and Urania have Crossroads (time and space)
Polyhymnia and Erato have Mind (cerebral and visceral)
Thalia and Melpolmene have Chance (blessings and curses)
Euterpe and Terpsichore have Energy (illusions and motion)
Calliope has Magic.

Not covered in the above are Body, Matter, Spirits, and the Undead; also not covered are such things as Energy (fire and lightning). Which is fine; bardic magic doesn’t need to cover everything.