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Messages - BrainFireBob

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151
DF Spoilers / Re: Why Harry has Conjuritus as an Adult
« on: February 23, 2021, 09:55:53 PM »
General view is that he caught it from Maggie, and is a sign Maggie is talented and about to start puberty (when power shows up). Harry, never having been exposed, had no immunity. He stays away from other wizards; Ebenezer would have had his case centuries ago.

152
DF Spoilers / Re: The Huntsmen
« on: February 13, 2021, 05:32:16 AM »
She enforces the rules laid out in the accords such as a person being under certain protections while being a guest.  I specifically said "rules by TWG or something" when it came to the threshold itself.  Also I was trying to find the woj but am almost positive he said something about home protections falling under Winter's perview.  Not the threshold part but something else.  Like if you come in as a guest, you have to act like one.

That's guest-right. That's its own thing; it's not inherent.

Guest-right is a fascinating tradition- in Greece, diplomats were people who had ancestral rights to stay/host people in other cities; and may have been an outgrowth of relationships- in short, guest-right as an extension of kinslaying taboos. In many cultures, the breaking of bread and/or sharing of salt (which had fascinating religious taboos around it, and was considered to have power over spirits, household gods, et al) gave you certain rights.

153
DF Spoilers / Re: Merlin the son of Drakul. Drakul son of Loki
« on: February 13, 2021, 05:28:55 AM »
"The children of Loki with the giantess Angrbod a were Fenrir, Jormungandr and Hel. Loki’s children with the giantess were feared and persecuted by the Aesir gods, and are destined to cause their destruction"

Loki is not just a god of fire.  He's very dangerous, and not a friend.

That's the point of his character: Fire is both helpful and dangerous.

You notice there are many myths where he travels with Thor, god of storms, thunder, and lightning- and wildfires frequently follow lightning strikes.

Odin, by being his bloodbrother, demonstrates his knowledge and power as a master of seidr, by gaining the power to control fire. Even the nature of Odin's blood brother pledge, where he would not eat nor drink unless Loki was first served, speaks to a mythological retelling of sacrifice: You burn it so Odin can have it.

Angrbod(a) embodied wrath or hate. I have seen scholarship to the effect that Fenris embodied the darker side of winter, starvation and cold. Jormungandr is similar to the symbolism of the snake devouring its own tail; in some Indian traditions and Celtic this represents time itself- Hel speaks for herself as the inevitably of death.

Loki in the end betrays the Aesir randomly and in an out-of-character way; he's sentenced to eternal punishment under the earth where a serpent dripped caustic venom into his eyes, and his wife desperately caught it in a bowl. When she is emptying the bowl; he screams and shrieks as his eyes are destroyed, then healed- this causes earthquakes. In a volcanically active region like parts of Norse lands, this would explain lava flows. The destruction and regeneration of his eyes, of course, is similar to Prometheus (another fire god) and his liver- cross-contamination or shared root is beyond my knowledge.

154
DF Spoilers / Re: Battle Grounds and Chandler
« on: February 12, 2021, 06:02:36 PM »
It's true we cannot know for certain, but I mean come on.  Drakul is evil.  His raw power is on par with Mab.  He's more powerful than anyone on the Senior Council, probably all of them combined.  Why should we believe Chandler is anything other than dead, or turned?  He was talented but not exactly a Listens to Wind, or Blackstaff.

Why should we make up what happened?

Drakul is evil and amoral. He tossed Chandler wherever it amused him to do so, if they weren't working together. Chandler does have a rare gift, as a chronomancer. From a Chekov's gun perspective, it seems odd that Jim would WoJ that Chandler had this ability that kept him watched closely by the Senior Council, and then he just disappears when the other Wardens are largely devastated. Seems like he's a waste of pages- poor writing- if that's the case. It's a thin reed, but a reed, that the assumption that Chandler will return is based on.

155
DF Spoilers / Re: The Huntsmen
« on: February 12, 2021, 05:59:43 PM »
Mab has nothing to do with enforcing thresholds, where did you get that idea?

156
DF Spoilers / Re: Merlin the son of Drakul. Drakul son of Loki
« on: February 12, 2021, 05:59:09 PM »
A vampire is a demon.  They can be killed or injured with faith magic, and their saliva is a "magical" narcotic.  They gain power from human blood.  They aren't creatures of Earth.

I think "demon" has different meanings within the Dresdenverse.  For example Chauncy the demon isn't the same as the hunger demon the White Court has. 
Their saliva is addictive, and numbs the person while being fed on.  Harry was fed on, he's had the saliva in his blood.  He didn't get turned into a vamp.  I dont' know if they said exactly how they turned someone.
 
At no point did I suggest this.

Which was the topic of discussion, and what I suggested.  One clue is when Harry asked if Kincaid was human and Kincaid responded "As much human as you are"......

Lots to unpack here.

1) We don't know how much wizards are pure mortal. Could be that all wizards have some level of non-human ancestry that their power derives from. Could be that they're physically (due to perfect healing), enhanced humans- and that is what Kincaid physically effectively is.
2) Faith magic isn't restricted to affecting demons. That's headcannon. Faith magic is magic that derives from the power of faith- it's not inborn like a wizard's power. That's more or less what we know about it. It's more effective against some things, it lets you do things like curse a family into a hereditary loup garou curse that in no way otherwise abridges their mortality. Don't equate "affected by faith magic" to "demonic." The KotC are effective against ghosts, demons, materials in their way, Fae, etc- all non-demon things.
3) There's nothing about magical narcotics that's inherently demonic.
4) They gain sustenance from human blood- in two instances we're aware of (the White Court feeding directly on life force); and it seems to also feed their powers in the case of the Red Court.
They're made out of people, though, which definitionally makes them creatures of earth.
We are told how Red Court are made: Infection. We aren't told the mechanism. Could be like the Red Court- you need to ingest their blood. We do know it's not the same as the Kiss (their feeding), because that doesn't impart the Hunger, the key element of the Red Court infected- who also gain superhuman physical abilities, a weakened form of the kiss, and immortality- none of which did Harry show until the Mantle (superhuman strength). So no, very much doubt Harry's carrying a latent Red Court infection.

Maggie herself, even if the infection crossed the placenta barrier, showed no Red Court traits- and once the Red Court was annihilated, her own half-vamp state, if she had one, would have been annihilated just the like Fellowship of St. Giles had their vampire halves annihilated.

Now, the smell of brimstone- that could be a side effect of the Swords, could be specific to Harry (something he'd recognize after Lasciel), could be that when angels damage things, they use fire and brimstone (and Fallen typically are destructive), so the Swords always smell a bit like that when magically cutting. Butter's Sword doesn't hurt mortals. It only hurts supernatural monsters. It hurting Harry, I believe, was telling Harry and the reader that *at the time* he was a supernatural monster, like a battleform Denarian host. Which is consistent with the argument I've raised other places- Harry's "voice" sounded just like when he went full Winter Knight in Cold Days. Harry wasn't in the driver's seat at the time- his Mantle was. And the Knights did the same thing for him they do for the Denarian hosts- gave him the opportunity to resume control. Which he took.

I agree they were trying to make a starborn, and I think Thomas was the dry run- his birth on Valentine's being a side-effect of temporal manipulation by Margaret to ensure a "targeted" birth via her skills with the Nevernever.

Equating the Jotuns with demons is . .problematic. The concept of a demon is much more Middle Eastern- the concept we have is filtered through Christianity, but it comes from a tradition of evil spirits. Jotuns were something parallel-ish. If the Vanir had lost their war, been scattered, and devoted themselves to the ruin of all the Aesir wrought, that would be a stronger parallel to demons. Jotuns were more Cyclopses or Titans.

Loki was the god of fire. Carefully harnessed with caution, a great ally. Running loose, consuming all before him. Hence associations with red hair, shapeshifting, mischief, and danger.

157
DF Spoilers / Re: The Huntsmen
« on: February 12, 2021, 04:48:15 PM »
The Huntsmen gain the strength of those in their "pack" who have died.

They're still berserk killer-mans. So what if they go from the strength of 6 berserk killer-mans to one berserk killer-mans? That's still a fit, trained, dangerous berserker in the basement.

Plus, how do thresholds interact with Kool-aid man wall attacks? Does it stop counting as a house after X damage?

158
DF Spoilers / Re: Been a while since Cowl or Kumori?
« on: February 12, 2021, 04:46:11 PM »
Jim said that Wizard reach their physical prime at about 50, and then their aging slows way down.  Morgan for example was like 150, and was solid muscle. Wizards also heal better than normal people from injuries.  His burned hand for example is totally fine when the doctor said he should remove it, and he'd have little use of it.

Eb is 400, and I think Ancient Mai is nearly twice that.  It's more than 200 - 300.

Eb was a hot shot young wizard in the French-Indian War. That's early 1700s. He's 300s- probably 330s-350s.

Ancient Mai is over 400 subjective, although I think that's WoJ?

You get dilation effects from "slow time" pockets relative to reality in the Nevernever- that's how Rashid is extending his life.

159
DF Spoilers / Re: Been a while since Cowl or Kumori?
« on: February 12, 2021, 04:43:33 PM »
yeah, Dresden is closing in on 50 now, right?  What I find weird is when he lists out the complaints of 40 year olds like their knees going bad and I can't wonder about a magic system that allows you to live for 200-300 years old all as a 50+ year old apparently.  we really should have seen his aging slow down in his 30's at the latest and we didn't.

40. The books are structured internally for roughly 1 year gaps, but he stopped writing them that fast years ago. Harry in fact may not be 40 until the next book.

Indiana Jones- it's not the years, it's the mileage.

160
DF Spoilers / Re: genoshwa
« on: February 08, 2021, 05:23:01 PM »
All his inmates are ghosts though so I don't think he has to worry about them escaping because they don't really have a body. Its been a while since I read ghost story but I remember Harry casting through Molly and not by himself so I don't think ghosts can open portals and run away. Therer is also the myth of Orpheus so we know living creatures can get out of the underworld, another example of that is Harry himself just getting out through the gate he opened beforehand

They are not all ghosts, check your mythology.

The Titans are the big one, but there's also a few characters, like Theseus's buddy that tried to carry off Persephone.

I've always though that Tartarus was the other side of Demonreach for that reason- and why Hades has such an interest in the Warden. It's a backdoor to his place.

161
DF Spoilers / Re: genoshwa
« on: February 08, 2021, 05:21:43 PM »
Not even remotely.  Grendel was unique among his kind, assuming he actually is a bigfoot - though I believe he's more of a distant cousin of their kind whose magic operates in different ways. Irwin is a half-foot so to speak, with different physical and magical properties than a grendelkin.

As to the Genoskwa, if it has magic on par with River Shoulders, then I can easily see it finding its own way out of Hades even if it's injured.  Considering a half-foot has enough life force that a White Court vampire can keep on feeding and never kill him, a full Bigfoot probably has an impressive healing factor too.  The Genoskwa is alive and kicking, the only question is HOW it would get out of the underworld.

River is overt that Grendel is one of his people- River states that his tribe fled "across the ice" rather than join Grendel's war on the humans, and notes he himself was born on that journey.

Irwin was raised with plenty of food et al. He might also be infertile. We don't know.

162
DF Spoilers / Re: Who broke Little Chicago?
« on: February 02, 2021, 06:46:45 PM »
I do want to commend the OP for the question. Most people never ask the opposite.

The tendency is to ask "who fixed LC?" Nice catch to ask "Who broke it?"- or more generally, was it maliciously broken.

163
DF Spoilers / Re: Why is Mab the one who made the Accords?
« on: February 02, 2021, 06:45:02 PM »
Option 1 is definitely a factor, considering how Battle Grounds played out.  Your "firebreak" point also works with this theory.

I doubt it.  The Outsiders are able to manipulate and control anyone who isn't Starborn, which is why Drakul could outright ignore the Outsiders. But to fall under the influence of Nemesis, it would seem that He who Walks Beside has to use some temptation or other  that the person already has - such as when it gave Maeve the ability to lie and deceive despite her Fae nature in order to lure her in, or offering Justine her life back instead of being a near-dead emotionless husk, etc.  For a vampire, it could be as simple as giving them freedom from the Hunger while keeping their power intact.

Step further as a WAG: Do vampires have derivative power?

ie, is there a maternal/paternal "Source" that they derive power from?

Bit of a wild thought, but if, say, the "Source" of each court is starborn- such as the god the Lords of the Outer Night were devouring- then you do have spread protection.

Anyone know where Jim fell on Highlander fandom?

164
DF Spoilers / Re: Could Harry be the next White King?
« on: February 02, 2021, 06:41:42 PM »
If the potential White Court vamp is in love with the first person they sleep with, it can kill the inner vamp and leave them human. It's what both Thomas and Harry hoped would happen with Inara, back in Blood Rites.

So Lara couldn't have been in love with the first person she slept with; if that were true, she wouldn't be White Court. She might have fallen in love with someone else afterwards, but by then it would be too late to be anything other than a vampire.

Right. I intended it as "he loved her"- she found out on her wedding night after she'd killed him he died willingly. My bad. Don't type while talking.

165
DF Spoilers / Re: Could Harry be the next White King?
« on: February 01, 2021, 08:11:01 PM »
What are you basing that on, Mira?

We're talking a 16th century wedding.

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