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Messages - g33k

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91
DF Spoilers / Re: Dead Beat Question
« on: February 22, 2024, 12:24:24 AM »
what? When did she do that?
Molly?  In White Night, with one of the early victims of the Whampires.  Harry took her to the morgue, and Waldo let her do her Sensitive thing.  It let Harry confirm there was a serial-killer.


92
DF Spoilers / Re: Gatekeeper
« on: February 22, 2024, 12:05:20 AM »
This might be an unimportant detail but its stuck in my head.

How long has Rashid been the Gatekeeper and who did he replace?

Maybe it doesn't matter.

I think we have WoJ that wizards can live 400 years or more... unless they go around giving lip to faerie queens, murdering the queens' daughters, leading frontal assaults on a major supernatural strongholds, etc.

McCoy & Langtry were young-ish (Dresden-age, roughly) wizards around 1760.  We don't know just how "ancient" Ancient Mai is, but she appears older than them.  We also don't know if all wizards age at the same rate, maybe some "kinds" of magic are better at keeping them young.

I believe Rashid is the oldest WC wizard, and I suspect that comes from spending so long in extreme time-dilation at the Outer Gates & other deep-Nevernever regions.

We know Rashid was already incredibly-powerful c. 700AD, taking down a Kemmler-caliber black wizard; I cannot imagine he was not already at least 300ish years old at that point, to be that powerful.

93
DF Spoilers / Re: Lara and Harry
« on: February 21, 2024, 11:47:03 PM »
Do we know whether Lara is able to feed off of Harry?  She surely could BEFORE he became the Winter Knight...
We don't know if Harry's relationship with Murphy would have protected him, or if it hadn't gotten deep enough / serious enough.

I like to think it would have -- I ship Murphy with Harry, tho I think Molly was a better fit for the long term, just because they both have centuries of lifespan (unlike vanilla-mortal Murphy (but who knows what Einerjar-Murphy (or whatever) will have)).

But I'm very dubious that Harry *ever* got that protection via Murphy...  I need to go back to Peace Talks, and re-read the scene where Harry spars with Lara in her home dojo:  IIRC, that wound up with some unarmed/grappling, and that would get skin-contact, and I don't recall Lara getting burned?

Do we know whether Lara is able to feed off of Harry?  ... can Harry's mantle counter the efforts of Lara's demon?
I am pretty sure there is WoJ specifically saying that the WK mantle's sexual urges & the Whamp-whammy sex thing are additive with each other.  No immunity for the WK.

I expect Lara would die (tho it'd be a close thing):  she seems a bit smitten with Harry (in her own predatory way) and I don't think she could resist trying the classic whampire "pacify with pleasure" schtick.

In self-defense, Harry would do the WK-Mantle "sex with violence" thing, fueling both his own magic and the WK-mantle with Whampire sex-mojo.

Lara would do well to remember who kept their self control, there in the Raith Deeps and the brief "cannonball run" over the estate.  We know Harry can fuel his magic with whampire sex-mojo, and he's only been honing his will colder and harder since then.
 

94
DF Spoilers / Re: Does Thomas get a free pass?
« on: February 21, 2024, 11:08:02 PM »
The thought occurred to me reading your post that none of this appears to be spontaneous, and has the smell and look of an inside job, years in the making.  What I am wondering is whether or not Maeve did a lot more damage than even Mab thought while she was possessed by Nemesis?  What took place in Cold Days was plan [A], but is it possible that Maeve was enough like her mother that she'd also have a plan in place?  Plan being what took place in Peace Talks and Battle Ground, plans that were already set into motion whether or not Maeve survived plan [A].

The Fomor were... well, to be frank they were stunningly fast to make their power-play at the fall of the Red Court.  The big old powers just don't like to move that fast, but (as per the Murphy-POV story Aftermath) the Fomor appear to have begun their "kidnap the Talented Mortals" plan about the same time that the Red Court took little Maggie.  I conclude that they expected either the Red Court or the White Council to fall, and to then take advantage of whichever power-vacuum occurred.

I presume it was Ethniu's plan all along to have the Fomor be this "troublesome young punk" among the power-players, and arrange for "Peace Talks," and bring the Titanic WMD to a diplomat-fight.

That must have been in the planning stages for years.

I don't think we have any sign Maeve was involved in that side of things.  It has seemed to me that the different instances of Nemesis usually keep their separate initiatives wholly-separate.  Apocalypse, after all, is more a state of mind...

95
DF Spoilers / Re: Does Thomas get a free pass?
« on: February 21, 2024, 06:25:59 PM »
Thomas was the tool and Nemesis the true instigator of the attack on the Swartalves, it is Nemesis whom they have the beef with, we saw this in Bombshells.
Only Thomas & Harry (and Nemesis (and maybe Justine (if she's even in there anymore)) know this.

At one point in PT (I think, though maybe it was BG?) it was announced that Winter wouldn't be able to bring most of their forces to hit Ethniu & the Fomor armies, as they were needed to defend a major assault on the Outer Gates.  Harry remarked that it was interesting to notice which parties reacted with awareness of exactly what that coordination implied, and which seemed oblivious.

We don't know if the Svartalves understand about the Outer gates, and/or Outsiders in general, and/or Nemesis in particular... I wouldn't bet against them, but AFAIK they've always been noted as tough/dangerous and as skilled crafters (in comparison, e.g., to Mab & Odin & Nicodemus, all of whom are noted as vastly more-dangerous (than their already extreme danger) because of how much they know).

So, even if Harry tried to tell Etri "It was Nemesis," that might not get Thomas off the hook with the Svartalf sense of justice/honor.

96
DF Spoilers / Re: Did Molly teleport
« on: February 20, 2024, 05:49:33 PM »
... The thing is, if Molly had opened a way to the Never Never, it would have been visible and Harry's seen plenty of those. But because he didn't see her disappear here and reappear there, he never put two and two together to realize that it was a teleport. (Our hero is not all that bright.)

The other thing is, Faeries are tricksy AF.  They glamour stuff more-readily than Harry uses fire and force.

Molly could have opened a Way, and hidden that behind a glamour.

We often see Harry get his youth & inexperience rubbed in his face around the opening of Ways.  In the theater, Lily opened a Way and Harry didn't even realize it at first.  People have made "custom" Ways, e.g. the Way Home from Chichén Itzá, and the closet to Chicago from the WK-quarters in Arctis Tor.  Harry expresses amazement at these things; unreliable-narrator Harry is extra-unreliable about Ways, because his understanding of them is incomplete.

97
DF Spoilers / Re: Dead Beat Question
« on: February 20, 2024, 05:43:54 PM »
I think they figured out the ballooner must have swallowed some evidence. So it'd be in his stomach or show up on the autopsy.
Hmmm.  That seems highly-likely; TYVM!  Corpsetaker was a mind-magic specialist, could easily have learned that whatsizname was a ballooner, and that his corpse would have the info.

I bet they could pull a much-more refined & informative version of Molly's "look into the eyes of the dead" trick, too.

98
DF Spoilers / Re: Has Carlos sided with the merlin against Harry
« on: February 14, 2024, 07:21:40 PM »
If they don't give you credit for having the last 4 Knights of the Cross as close friends ...
THIS.
Being friends with the KotC's is about the closest thing you'll ever get in the Dresdenverse to overt, external, objective proof.

99
DFRPG / Q for EvilHat, or those who follow the company/numbers, etc
« on: February 09, 2024, 10:52:06 PM »
Elseforum, I have seen it suggested that EH only ever intended to publish a few books (like, the 3 they *did* publish; then DFAccelerated (dunno if the "Accelerated" line was on their radar, at the time they were producing the OW/YS original DFRPG duology) and then stop the DFRPG line.

Does anyone know if this is correct, and if so why??!?  Apparently, it was being very successful for them, among their best-selling games; there doesn't seem like an obvious market reason to drop a successful line!

At the least, it seems like another RPG volume per every 4-5 novels might see a pretty good market...

But I am neither Evil Hat, nor Jim Butcher; and there may be considerations that escape me.

100
DF Books / Re: Audible version timing?
« on: February 09, 2024, 10:39:36 PM »
As a newcomer to the Dresden Series, I have never had to "wait" for the next book to drop.  I consumed the entire "audible" series over the past year, and finished Battleground over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  So... I wait.

Will I have a longer wait if I want the audible version of Twelve Months, or will they drop on the same day?  How long does it take to create an Audible version of a new work?

Just checking, but... have you read all the short-stories, microfictions, etc?
Lots of Dresden goodness outside the novels!

101
DF Spoilers / Re: Has Carlos sided with the merlin against Harry
« on: February 09, 2024, 10:19:30 PM »
I find Carlos very "Schrödinger's Loyalty" right now.

He may have given up on Harry; or it may all be an act.  We don't know, for sure.

But please note:  when they spoke privately at the end of White Night, Carlos expressed very strong support for the idea that Harry would embed himself with the Black-Hat crew and work his way toward the White-Council traitor(s) from that side.  And everything he's done since then to "alienate" Harry could equally be seen as working to support Harry in that mission.

It occurs to me that maybe Jim himself hasn't decided which way to write it, and is holding off to see which way will work better.

102
DF Spoilers / Re: Dead Beat Question
« on: February 06, 2024, 10:36:57 PM »
Why did CorpseTaker and his/her ghoul go to the morgue?  What did they really need from from Dr. Bartlesby's affects? Other than to give Harry an opportunity to observe them and see what they were?

They wanted the Word of Kemmler; I don't know why they thought there were any clues there.

103
DF Spoilers / Re: Great another starborn theory, this time with vampires
« on: February 02, 2024, 09:34:57 PM »
But who half-turned them?
I am presuming the Red King was the first-ever Rampire, the Patient Zero of Rampirism.

He was, I presume, infected (half-turned) by one of those slimy, leathery, "batlike creatures" that the Rampires naturally are... but one who had never had a human host.

My working theory is that those beings come from the Nevernever (being related to the Ick).  The Red King could have either summoned it to the mortal world, or encountered it in the Nevernever & come home infected (or even performed that First Kill there in the Nevernever, and come home as a full Rampire).

It's also possible the RK wasn't the first-ever, but that other early Rampires -- and any descendent lineages -- died out (or were killed-off in ancient Ramp-v-Ramp intertribal warfare).

I don't think anyone (any mortals) in the Dresdenverse knows those ancient details... wasn't the Red King multi-thousands of years old?  And I don't think WoJ has ever gone that deep into those details.  He may not even have decided them.

104
DF Spoilers / Re: Great another starborn theory, this time with vampires
« on: February 02, 2024, 09:19:03 PM »
... RCVs can also apparently choose who they want to feed upon until they die, and those they want to half-turn.  Bianca's secretary was not a vampire, nor was she half-turned, and apparently Bianca did sip her blood from time to time.  The secretary apparently went along with it because whatever it is in RCV venom, she felt narcotic pleasure and so did Bianca ...
Yes, Harry himself has experienced the narcotic pleasure of Rampire-venom (several times), and attests to the intense and immediate euphoria & loss of judgement.

Rampires -- at least the higher levels of them -- often had "harems" or "herds" from whom they eat lightly but widely, keeping them all addicted to the pleasure but seldom taking any of them to the half-Ramp stage, nor killing them.


... when things went to hell many were killed outright and others like Susan were half-turned.  Then it seems to come down to will, some join the resistance and others go on to kill and become full vampires.
I think feeding-until-dead can be deliberate, or from loss-of-control.  It's less clear what causes the "half-turned" phenomenon... does it have to be intentional?  Does it happen automatically, unless suppressed?  Etc.

What a newly-turned half-Ramp does with their status is highly-dependent on a bunch of different things.

People like Martin were longtime (human) servants of the Rampires, and were deliberately half-turned, then coached / supported / controlled through their initial bloodlust (eating lightly but not killing) until they could control it themselves.  I think the Fellowship of St. Giles does something similar, for newly-turned who come under their influence.

Harry managed to coach Susan enough that she could hold it off, but she wasn't able to consume any blood to sate the hunger, so the urges were getting worse and worse.  We don't know how Susan managed to get her hunger under control after the climactic battle in Grave Peril, before she left Chicago.  It seems very likely to me that the Fellowship contacted her there in Chicago, in the aftermath of the Velvet Room burning down (they likely had Bianca's under surveillance, because of all the Red Court activity surrounding her elevation to the nobility; they might have picked up Susan's trail there).  This is yet another open question in the series.

It's also very possible that -- in all the carnage after Bianca's battle with Harry -- Susan was able to sate the bloodlust from the freshly-dead, not have to actually perform a killing.  That might have given her the time she needed.


... I don't think that every RCV started out as human and was half turned, is there a word of Jim on this? ...
That's just how it works:

A human has to get infected/implanted with a Ramp-spirit before they become a full Rampire.  At that point, they're half-turned.

They may stay in that state indefinitely, or they can turn full-Ramp very soon; but AFAIK they always have that state of being half-turned:  there's no way for a human to go from "just human" to "full Rampire" without -- at some point, however briefly -- being a half-turned who performs a killing.

I don't think we have WoJ on how short that half-Ramp stage can be, but I think a single day or so is likely (it might be something specific like "until the next nightfall" or the like, meaning that someone turned just before the deadline may be able to go full-Ramp in just minutes, while someone turned just after the deadline needs to wait almost 24 hours... but this is entirely speculative, I know of no canonical or WoJ info on the point).


... Nor do I remember exactly where is says that her promotion gave Bianca "permission" to turn and half-turn humans... Or did her promotion merely give her authority to choose who she wanted to recruit and who she wanted merely as food? ...
I think we infer quite a bit about Rampire political and power structures from bits & pieces here and there.  I don't recall any specific canon/WoJ statements as to what Bianca's new powers would be, and thus don't know whether they were mostly "legalistic" permissions, or were extra Ramp-mojo magic/psychic stuff, or both.

...Another interesting point if I remember correctly from the party, one of the things that Harry and Michael discovered was that the wine was either drugged or poisoned, so many of the young recruits weren't even considered suitable as food.
It was a warning from Thomas:  there was Rampire-venom in the drink.
Michael hadn't been drinking, I think; and Harry forced himself to throw it up.

I think the human servants & "party snacks" circulating at the party had been being recruited for some weeks -- maybe even months -- by Bianca, so she'd have a lavish offering at her ball.  Plus of course her longtime servants, who I think were largely tasked with managing these new recruits.  I think there was a mix of down-and-out homeless off the streets (meant largely as "just food" for indiscriminate eaters like Blampires) with "rebellious (but attractive) youth" from local colleges &c (for aesthetes like Whampires).
 

105
DF Spoilers / Re: Great another starborn theory, this time with vampires
« on: February 02, 2024, 07:27:35 PM »
It's quite simple, but perhaps I didn't state it clearly.  Every member of the Red Court ...

Ah, I see; TYVM!
To me, the phrase "Red Court" is a bit ambiguous:  you might mean "any Rampire, or all collectively," but IMHO it largely implies "the Rampire leadership/nobility" (i.e. leaning in on the Court element).  So I had understood you to have meant that the leadership once was composed of half-turned.

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