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Messages - Avernite

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556
DF Spoilers / Re: Elaine / Kumori thought
« on: November 04, 2017, 12:11:22 PM »
Kumori is someone obsessed with ending death. Someone who’s had a lot of loss or just one traumatic loss might become obsessed with that topic. Are there any characters who fit that?
Well, Demeter/Beckitt seems the most obvious one in terms of absolute obsession. But I don't think it would hurt Harry to find out he was Kumori - surprise, sure, but not hurt.

557
DF Spoilers / Re: The blood of Immortals
« on: November 03, 2017, 09:38:44 PM »
I wouldn't be surprised if the island is specifically insulated against such contamination. If power can bleed in, there is an opening that can be widened.

And a prison that is wide open is no prison.

558
DF Spoilers / Re: Knight Ceremony [Cold Case Spoilers]
« on: November 03, 2017, 09:33:35 PM »
Argh!? I hope Harry doesn't have to go at it with either Mother....
I meant Queen-the-mother to be opposed to Queen-Mother (with caps). We have the maiden, the mother and the crone, but confusingly the crone is called Mother Winter/Summer.

I was referring to Mab/Titania.

559
DF Spoilers / Re: Mouse vs. Anduriel
« on: November 03, 2017, 09:31:20 PM »
Ah, okay. There goes that thought process. Though I won't deny it'd make for a fun story.
Personally I suspect they would be swept away with the burning rage of a thousand suns, if they ever got out. St. Michael and his Seraphim are there for a reason.

The only downside is that the resulting upset of balances also happens right on earth, so all kinds of other things would be scoured away. Including, one fears, plenty of innocents.

560
DF Spoilers / Re: A pattern in last 4 books
« on: November 03, 2017, 09:21:11 PM »
I do not think so. The gates were not designed to kill everyone but to weed out those not powerful and versatile enough to wield the weapons they guarded. They were tests. There might have been something but it would not have been impossible.

A fire mage for fire, a winter knight for ice and a necromancer for dead, it would have been fitting.

Except those magics aren't exactly created equal.

On the other hand, we have an example of an ectomance binding a soul back into its body, so maybe there's a more benign way than necromancy.

561
DF Spoilers / Re: A pattern in last 4 books
« on: November 02, 2017, 07:32:05 PM »
I have always heard good vs evil is about who you sacrifice.

A) Good (period) will sacrifice parts of the self to improve the bigger picture.
B) Good idealists will sacrifice the self to improve the bigger picture.
C) Evil idealists will sacrifice others to improve the bigger picture.
D) Evil (period) will sacrifice others to improve the self.

Looking this way, Harry has shades of B & C during changes. This puts him below Charity, who seems to hang about more on the B side during Proven Guilty (of course so did Harry during that book).
Deirde in Skin Game is firmly at B, and hence, was better than Harry during Changes.
Nic in Skin Game is firmly at C, and hence is pretty nasty but not the worst. Aurora was here too, if she hadn't been so obviously wrong (we don't know about Nic yet).
Papa Raith seemed to be pretty much at D, as are most of the villains-du-jour (Warlocks, Sells, etcetera).

Category C makes for better villains, because you occassionally wonder if they have a point. Maybe Deirdre or Nicodemus really needed to die to save the world.

562
DF Spoilers / Re: Knight Ceremony [Cold Case Spoilers]
« on: November 02, 2017, 07:19:31 PM »
Personally, I was struck by how, when sealing a definitive bargain, Molly used a kiss.

Maybe the bigger the bargain the bigger the physical intimacy, with Harry's help-for-Knighthood being a particularly big bargain thus requiring serious intimacy (or maybe Mab just always uses that; the Lady-the-flirt a kiss, the Queen-the-mother sex).

563
DF Spoilers / Re: Who was the real target of the bloodline curse at CI?
« on: October 15, 2017, 07:11:05 PM »
The thing is wont the use of such a large scale magical attack encourage other factions to demonstrate similar capability. You don't bring a knife to a gun fight, it is sure to cause an escalation so some kind of balance of power to emerge.

The Reds had long since been going for broke. You don't start a fight with Faerie after already being at war with the Council unless you're basically going for nr. 1. And nr. 1 would be reinforced by having an ungodly powerful weapon that even your allies would be worried about.

564
DF Spoilers / Re: Best adaptions of myth and folklore
« on: October 15, 2017, 07:01:05 PM »
*leans forward in chair* excuse me? never caught on to this one...
Oh R'lyeh?

565
DF Spoilers / Re: Best adaptions of myth and folklore
« on: October 12, 2017, 06:01:39 PM »
Oh yeah, another one:

The Dominions line of video games. The budget is low, but the fantasy kitchen sink approach works.

Where else can a Christian Roman Empire face off against the underworld Lizards, Deep Ones and Starchildren of Lovecraftian fame, the Nephilim of Judaic lore, the Phoenicians, Greek heroes riding the occasional Pegasus, the Allfather, Heart-ripping Aztecs, Satyrs and Panii, Steel-casting Germanic tribes, Druidic armies, Man-eating Amazons, Chinese from the Spring and Autumn period, African Witch doctors, fire elementals, semi-Zoroastrian winged Persians, Cavedwelling giants, Sidhe (with some pre-Sidhe thrown in the mix), Fomorians, Nordic Frost Giants, Rakshasas, Buddhist Apes, Enkidu and his kin, Japanese wild demons, Mermen (and their near-humanoid amphibian kin)... and since a short while, some undead Greek-ish ghosts?

Well, I suppose Harry nearly can ;)

566
DF Spoilers / Re: Who was the real target of the bloodline curse at CI?
« on: October 12, 2017, 05:50:46 PM »
It is also possible that it was a gamble.

As in, they didn't need it so strong - but Arianna had arranged things so there was a good chance Eb would be ill in Edinburgh. Use the curse, and Edinburgh's wards are torn to shreds - so a RC strike team can hit the council while half of it is ill and the other half surprised by the violent destruction of their pretty, pretty wards.

If she misses? Eb is still off the table, as is pesky Harry Dresden, and half the Council is both ill and cowering after seeing even the Senior Council is not safe from the Reds, even when prepared for war.

567
DF Spoilers / Re: Best adaptions of myth and folklore
« on: October 07, 2017, 07:15:21 PM »
American Gods, anyone?
Yeah, though its Odin jars after too much Dresden Files ;)

568
DF Spoilers / Re: "Conjure by it at your own risk."
« on: October 07, 2017, 05:09:13 PM »
I think we should slot White Night into this discussion.

In White Night, Harry uses Elaine's Name to connect with her, and then talk to her - but he only reinforced who she was, he did not somehow control her. Just not sure how to fit that in further.

As regards to conjuring by Harry, the biggest problem is the one Harry faces with the Erlking - containment. You can contain a summoned fairy, but humans have Free Will, and so can cross most circles. Add in his sheer bloody-mindedness, so even the common ways to prevent him crossing the circle (like, say, guarddogs, as used on Ivy) would not necessarily work - and once he's across your circles, you're in a fight for your life.

569
DF Spoilers / Re: What if it isn't just power over Outsiders?
« on: October 07, 2017, 10:10:21 AM »
I think Snark Knight and jonas are right that we've got pretty compelling evidence for Harry having the power of naming. The eye flashes of Alfred and Erl as Harry named them, Mr. Sunshine's fear of being called Uri, etc. Naming in the bible was a power given to Adam over beasts in Genesis, it came directly from TWG. Maybe there's a connection there.

I also think Kindler might be on to something, noting Harry's similarity to Odin and other divine beings. Harry is the only mortal we have seen wielding raw will, as opposed to magic. Other than Harry, we've seen raw will from:

Ferrovax
Odin
Red King / LoON
Mother Winter
The Walkers

There might be one or two others (Mab maybe?) but it has been limited to nigh-immortals and Harry. Given that summoning Outsiders seems to be tied to mortals and their "free will," it seems to me that "power over Outsiders" could actually be "the ability of a mortal to directly apply their will," or "a mortal with enough will to effectively apply it directly." It is after beating Sharkface in a battle of wills that the Erlking says "Well done, Starborn!"  Naming seems to fit in with being a will-based power as well.

Leah probably deployed Will, or her disguise at Chichen Itza would have been poor indeed.

570
DF Spoilers / Re: Changes battle, we only saw the surface?
« on: October 07, 2017, 10:06:54 AM »
I'd add that, not only did the active parties play a role - a lot of people acted by not opposing their counterparts.

Who's the natural enemy of the Winter Knight and Mab's handmaiden acting so brazenly? Summer. And they were not there.
Who's the natural enemy of the Knights of the Cross? The Denarians. And they were not there.

The Red Court was really not being particularly risky, they were insulated from anything but every other active member of the supernatural community acting or not-acting together in an effort to crush them. And even then, it was pretty damned close.

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