The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Mab is cleaning up the White Court
g33k:
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on August 10, 2022, 09:35:16 PM ---Lord Raith used a different ritual for powering the entropy curse, he most likely would only bother to commit the Summoning of Outsiders to memory. As a backstop he isn’t mortal and can’t summon himself where the summoner has to be a mortal, but he can teach the ritual to someone else. That way the Archive can’t “see” the stored information. Raith is a living book.
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Raith had to learn the Summons somewhere. Almost certainly from a book, though I suppose an Outsider -- or one of their mortal minions -- could have taught it to him. Apparently Papa Raith's library is pretty impressive. I honestly don't think reducing it would occur to him.
But given the Oblivion War tactics are (mostly) about destroying books, I am going to allege that avoiding writing Summoning-Rituals isn't a likely tactic for the Outsider-allies!
I'm entirely unclear that Outsiders would realize that the Archive -- whose obvious function is preserving all knowledge -- is orchestrating the entire Oblivion War... and therefore wouldn't know to try and keep secrets from her.
Ed0517:
--- Quote from: g33k on August 10, 2022, 08:58:00 PM ---
* (I have a WAG that) Margaret may have hinted to Papa that she had set "special" protections on Thomas, and Papa was unwilling to risk it after she had blocked his ability to Feed his Hunger
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an interesting idea, but I think by now that info would have leaked thru Lara. Earlier in the series, I'd have given it a better chance.
--- Quote ---Over the (many) years, I expect Raith had been hit with magic more than once, within sight of other Whamps (particularly his daughters (who seemed to act as personal bodyguards?)). That he had some sort of protection seems unlikely to be a well-kept secret. The details, though... I suspect he intentionally dropped multiple contradictory hints. Make a maze of dead-end clues, swim in a school of red herrings. Show up as having a unique & potent ability, that nobody understands.
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They have some anti-magic tech. Those arm wraps they used in the duels. put something similar looking inti his suits. When he is attacked they glow. They are not draining magic, he has them on battery power.
Ed0517:
--- Quote from: g33k on August 10, 2022, 08:58:00 PM ---
Lord Raith wasn't AFAIK any kind of "native" talent. All his magic was cast by following written instructions. The Archive already knows all the stuff in his library, Lara doesn't have to tell him.
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She may not have connected the dots. There's always a lot of info out there and people do not realize how much or how it links.
1) Tom Clancy was supposedly brought in and asked where he got classified info - and he showed them public sources. They were shocked it was out there.
2) A Princeton undergrad named John Aristotle Philips designed an atomic bomb in the 70s. Not just theory, specifics to build it. Demonstrated all public sources. A lot of people flipped.
3) A day or two before D day
Lara would have to tell the Archive he connected the dots if she learned he had.
Ask a computer geek - it's the difference between data and information. Sorting thru the data to get something usable.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Ed0517 on August 11, 2022, 04:38:17 AM ---an interesting idea, but I think by now that info would have leaked thru Lara. Earlier in the series, I'd have given it a better chance.
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The WAG (an offhand idea, really; but we need some reason that Raith Sr. had killed all his other sons, but Thomas lived to adulthood).
]Margaret could have hinted -- over the first few years of Thomas' life, where she was being Raith's "senior concubine" -- that she intended her son to LIVE, and had laid some subtle and dangerous warding on Thomas. Raith figured (a) he had years to break down Margaret's resistance, before Thomas' first kill & the awakening of his Hunger; & (b) his own protections would likely suffice, anyhow.
Then Margaret went walkabout. That eliminated (a) ... and made Raith mad as hell: no woman should be ABLE to reject him! So he tracked her down and had her killed... and her death-curse got him despite his protections! Which, obviously, rendered (b) moot too.
And then Thomas showed absolutely zero inclination to "play politics." So Papa Raith played the long waiting game.
As for Lara -- Thomas ascribes her hands-off approach to him as being a limited bit of family loyalty... but what if she's worried about whatever protections Margaret left on Thomas?
Margaret LeFay escaped her father at the peak of his powers, and then managed to land a curse on him that lasted for decades. And Harry... well, Lara has seen Harry in action. He saw through her papa's charade, in just one night. He killed a bunch of baddies in the Deeps, including summoning lava in Chicago. And then, when there was no way to survive, he saved them both. Lara was giving the sexuality her all... and Harry used her for sex, instead of succumbing. He took the full force of a Whamp, and channeled it into his willpower in an entirely non-erotic fashion. At this point, Lara is likely very cautious about the abilities of that family!
--- Quote from: Ed0517 on August 11, 2022, 04:38:17 AM --- They have some anti-magic tech. Those arm wraps they used in the duels.
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I think those arm-bands were a unique item, probably stolen, traded... even bought (from Svartalves?). They could even have been White Council work (I'm sure at least a few wizards have gotten Whamp-whammied over the years, and served the White Court in return for some o' that sweet, sweet luvvin' (or, as noted, straight-up theft)).
--- Quote from: Ed0517 on August 11, 2022, 04:38:17 AM --- ... put something similar looking inti his suits. When he is attacked they glow. They are not draining magic, he has them on battery power.
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I don't have my copy of Blood Rites to hand (grrrr). I'd like to look at the descriptions of the protections on Lord Raith, vs the ones in the armbands. I don't remember them being similar (the glowy runes, etc).
morriswalters:
Your wish is my command. From Blood Rites.
--- Quote ---I reached out through the cane for Lord Raith—
And felt nothing. Not just empty air and drifting dust, but nothing. A cold and somehow hungry emptiness that filled the space where he should have been. I'd felt something like it before, when I'd been near a mote of one of the deadliest substances that any world of flesh or spirit had ever known. My power, my magic, the flowing spirit of life, just vanished into it without getting near Raith.
I couldn't touch him. The void around him was so absolute, I knew without needing to doubt that there was nothing in my arsenal of arcane skills that could affect him.
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The glow is from Raith using his stored reserves to heal himself.
--- Quote ---Then Raith's flesh began to glow. His shirt was in shreds, and he tore it from him with a negligent gesture. His skin became suffused with a pale light once more, and I saw his body rippling weirdly around an ungainly hole left of his navel. He was healing.
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