Minstrellan

### Origin Story of The Muses

At the beginning, The Makers, the gods of all, took an interest in the humans of Earthland, an even deeper interest in the mages as they began to come into existence. In ancient Minstrel, called Otho then, The Makers watched the rise of the Tertia clan among the humans. This empire was a warring people, conquering, staking their claim to modern Minstrel, forging their place into Ishgar. Once the stake was claimed, the leader of the Tertia Empire, the empress Severina passed, the crown she bore passing to her eldest child, a daughter named Drusilla.

Drusilla, unlike her mother, was less inclined to use her cunning and intellect for war, and gravitated to the arts, writing, philosophy, painting, going from one medium of education and fulfillment through creation to another. Under her rule, the Tertia empire thrived, mending sour relationships through goodwill, freeing the territory of the Empire that would become Caelum, and emphasized the importance of art, education, and freedom for her people. The Makers noticed the ruler, respected her for her life-long pursuit of healthy, meaningful expression. Drusilla grew old, watched her children have children, taught them the value of peace, creation, destruction as it’s counterpart.

When she passed on a warm early summer night, The Makers saw the need for Drusilla to live on, but no mortal can refuse Death when he comes to collect. They struck a deal with the god that her soul be his, as was his right, his function in existence, but her brain they would take and make into new beings, beings that would carry out her legacy and spread the qualities that they admired in the woman to all of the humans of Earthland.

The Makers split her brain, the left hemisphere forming with their magic into a woman with milky white skin, vibrant red hair, and golden eyes. She was adorned with a red, flowing gown and wooden beaded jewelry, pieces dripping from her wrists, ears, and neck elegantly. She was named by The Makers Urania, meaning “of heaven” because in their wisdom, they knew that knowledge was divine.

With the right hemisphere, The Makers formed another woman with dark eyes, framed with dark waves, and the same milky complexion as her counterpart. She wore a black and grey flowing gown, feathers in her hair and black markings across her skin, wearing the art she was created to inspire. The Makers named her Calliope, the name meaning “beautiful-voiced” because of the gentle, calming quality of her voice.

Urania and Calliope, with the satisfaction of The Makers, went out into Earthland, touching the humans and inspiring them as only they each could. Urania drove scholars, inspired their pursuits and breakthroughs to advance first, the people of the Tertia Empire, and then the rest of Earthland, while Calliope inspired creative pursuits of expression and art in all its forms.

While The Makers were at first pleased with the creation of Urania and Calliope, they soon found that the inspiration from each could be lethal to the recipient. Over a century, they watched as brilliant artists, scholars, students, and creators of all kinds were slowly driven mad, each kiss of the immortals they created driving the person toward the edge of madness, eventually growing into an overwhelming need to know, with those touched by Urania, or an overwhelming dissatisfaction in those touched by Calliope. The humans touched by both, in their madness, would in turn seek a way out of their misery, often by their own hand.

The Makers brought both immortals to them, binding them together with a ribbon at their essence, hoping the balance they found in each other may balance the gifts they gave to mortals. The immortals were made whole again by the ribbon, two halves reunited as a whole, collectively becoming known as The Muses.

### Ribbons of The Muses

Calliope and Urania found over the centuries of watching and helping the humans that they, like The Muses themselves, needed balance in their pursuits and lives as a whole. When they saw this need, they began tying humans together, placing ribbons that connect their essences to people that would impact their lives the most heavily. The ribbons were connected to these people with the only intention of them becoming a part of one another’s lives. Seeing how potent their influence could be, the more a human was touched by the immortals, the more ribbons they required, needing the balance, grounding that came from the support of important people.