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DFRPG / Does the DresdenVerse default to Ultimate Good or Ultimate Evil?
« on: April 17, 2012, 05:28:49 PM »
Powers like "All Are Equal Before God" can imply that the DresdenVerse defaults to what I would call an "Ultimate Good," meaning that whatever else happens, that God is kinda there as the ultimate power, subject of course to His provisions regarding faith and direct intervention. The inviolability of Thresholds - fortified as they are by the occupancy of happy, loving families - could indicate that something about the way the world works might be intended to protect good people. Also, Angels.
Not that God is going to step in and directly intervene if Outsiders start spilling into the world (or maybe He will?), but that in this universe, there is a Good, following it is Good, working against it is Bad, and there is an Afterlife.
Others have suggested a few powers which I feel challenge this default Ultimate Good, and it makes me wonder if this *is* just an assumption, or if I'm not alone. I am not sure exactly what the Powers were called, and in any case, I'm not intending to call out the contributors as wrong, but I will mention the Powers here.
One was a Power called something like "You Are Alone," which allows a possessor to ignore the "All Are Equal Before God" Power from the Sword of the Cross. Another was the opposite of "Bless This House," which allows the possessor to break down a Threshold from the inside. I find powers like this problematic because I feel, based on my understanding of the setting, that they subvert what should be inviolable tenets of the DresdenVerse: that once you have God on your side, He is going to trump the lesser powers of evil; that once you are in your comfy and well-loved family home, you are relatively safe.
When these things are subverted, I wonder where the line will be drawn - a question of escalation, a supernatural arms race. Does the DresdenVerse default to Ultimate Good or Ultimate Evil (or Ultimate Chaos)? Is God, Himself, eventually to be trumped by Those from Outside? Will someone eventually design a power modifier for "All Are Equal Before God" called "No, Really, God is With Me" which trumps "You Are Alone"? Or are the rare subversions like this an entertaining way to break up the status quo?
Not that God is going to step in and directly intervene if Outsiders start spilling into the world (or maybe He will?), but that in this universe, there is a Good, following it is Good, working against it is Bad, and there is an Afterlife.
Others have suggested a few powers which I feel challenge this default Ultimate Good, and it makes me wonder if this *is* just an assumption, or if I'm not alone. I am not sure exactly what the Powers were called, and in any case, I'm not intending to call out the contributors as wrong, but I will mention the Powers here.
One was a Power called something like "You Are Alone," which allows a possessor to ignore the "All Are Equal Before God" Power from the Sword of the Cross. Another was the opposite of "Bless This House," which allows the possessor to break down a Threshold from the inside. I find powers like this problematic because I feel, based on my understanding of the setting, that they subvert what should be inviolable tenets of the DresdenVerse: that once you have God on your side, He is going to trump the lesser powers of evil; that once you are in your comfy and well-loved family home, you are relatively safe.
When these things are subverted, I wonder where the line will be drawn - a question of escalation, a supernatural arms race. Does the DresdenVerse default to Ultimate Good or Ultimate Evil (or Ultimate Chaos)? Is God, Himself, eventually to be trumped by Those from Outside? Will someone eventually design a power modifier for "All Are Equal Before God" called "No, Really, God is With Me" which trumps "You Are Alone"? Or are the rare subversions like this an entertaining way to break up the status quo?