The touch of a muse is filled with radiant energy. A muse's feelings then empower the touch to alter the emotions of those they touch, if they so choose. A muse can wield only positive emotions to convey inspiration, and she can decide the general theme of the inspiration but not its details. Themes include artistic, relationship, personal, religious, craft, and health.

The more skin-to-skin contact a muse has with someone, the more powerful the inspiration they can convey. Thus, a full body embrace is more powerful than a brief handshake. However, this is balanced against the emotions the muse is feeling and how strongly.

Negative emotions make a muse unable to inspire others. This developed as a protection against those who would coerce a muse to inspire them, but manipulation and abuse are sadly possible.

Muses live in small matriarchal communities. Being primarily island dwellers, they are sailors and fisherwomen, making the sea their primary source of food and resource. They are also known for their vinyards, olives, and shepherding. They travel mostly small distances, trading with other small communities nearby. Children are raised by the whole community, and they meet mates through travelers and traveling.

Muses teach each other communally, but when a muse decides upon her specific art, she often goes off to live with a master of that art for a time. Because muses are long-lived, sometimes they trade service to a short-lived artist for learning their skill and giving them inspiration. Other time, they study under other long-lived species, or amongst each other. However they come to study their art, they always return to the village with works to share. Most muse villages have a public square or community house that displays some of their finest works.