House of Muses

"Reality is dead. Accept fantasy with hosts who never die, so press the keys on the piano for the ritual please~"

Life is a chore, the Nexus is a drab prison until you inevitably go hollow, what if there was a dash of color? The House of Muses is a house that thrives upon the arts, the spark. Where does one find the spark? F̴̛͘ř̸̊i̸̒̚e̵͕͠n̵̫̒d̴̛̈́s̸̮̚ ̶̀̀f̷̛͝r̵̅̓ó̶̇m̷̑͘ ̶̺̈́t̸̔̍h̶̔̉è̷̾ ̷̍̐ȍ̸̀t̸̲̃ẖ̵̓e̸̿̇r̸͗͠ ̴̊̎s̵̓̀i̸͒̇d̵̎̉e̷̓͆.̵̩͌

The House of Muses is named for their defining feature, their connection to devils. They trade their souls away to eccentric fiends to gain hope in the hopelessness of the wastes. This hope manifests as creative energy, often all it takes is surrendering both your physical and metaphorical dreams to the fiends. In return you are granted a fantastic muse to be your friend, teacher, and retainer.

The Muses work with their kin to spread a splash of color and life in the Nexus-- through vandalism. The collection of hopeless, passionate artists bring to life festivities in the names of their muses, insisting that the devils aren't truly evil, just different. The fiddle has been claimed as the signature token of the house. "Gentlemen! Are we not fiends? Let us light this city up, they have a show waiting!"

**Amount of Members**: 450 strong.

**Tenets:** Artistry, Passion, and the Occult.

**Alignment: C.**

The Conductor of the parade of demons is Mr Guillermo Piper, a demon who has long abandoned his original form. He manifests as a man, dressed up in a wicked red suit and ruby monocle. A tacky specimen for sure. The demon is random, surreal, and desires reality to keel to the parade. He leads the larger scale "displays of artistry".

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Below the Conductor is the Red Artisans. A group of exemplary creators in tune with the madness of the Conductor himself. Within Imaginaerume, the Red Artisans are permitted to ignore the guidelines and break the contained reality all they wish. Red Artisans can be both fiends and mortals, creating much variety within their composition. The attain the rank of Red Artisan, one must demonstrate absolute mastery in their field and defeat their closest equal in a battle of the Conductor's twisted design.

Below the-- "Hold it spectacles. I'll take it from here, I am Mr Piper, Gentleman, Artist, and Reality Breaker. Below the Artisans are my lovely muses. Wonderful folks. They have control over dreams and can conjure dreams into reality, rather nifty. Some have ulterior motives with being a muse, such as using their host as a way to attempt to dominate the material world, but take it from me, the Conductor of this wonderful madness. These fiends will behave, ö̸́̋ṛ̶̉ ̷̎̑è̵͠ĺ̴̳s̸͑͑e̵̒̑ ̵̋͠b̸̈́̑ä̶̏d̵͗̽ ̵̬͒t̶̖̅h̴̋̚ï̵̋ń̸̅g̸̔̾s̶̒͝ ̸̹̒h̸̔͂á̷͗p̷̃͝p̸̀̂e̸͂̆n̵̽̚.̶͇̂"

"Below the Muses are the Starving Artists, or you kid. You suffer for the art, the raw passion, we can use it as fuel to restart the fire within Nexus, you hear? No more dull safety, complacency, posh, with the assistance of all, there'll be no stopping the ř̵̟ê̷̕ḓ̴̑."

"Hope to see you real soon, the show's only starting."

## Season of Strife

A staunch ally of the Cobras in the years since their creation, the Muses find themselves entrenched deep within this conflict as well. The fiend touched ones lend their skilled infiltrators, to sow the seeds of deception and strife. There is an old adage about knowing your foes, and that is what makes the Muses and Cobras working together so frightening. To know what your foe will do, you must know your foe. The disorganization of the Cobras lends itself to several plans interweaving with the Muses, causing chaos even for those who are in the know.

*“Infiltrate, get your information, get out. Cobras can be our strikers for now, we just need to point them in the right directions.”*

*- An unidentified Muse*