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DF Spoilers / Re: What's Up With Marcone?
« on: March 29, 2018, 04:56:02 PM »What's different about Marcone?
Aside from the fact Marcone learned the supernatural world was real and that he might find ways to mitigate its dangers and co-opt its abilities there might not be much difference between Marcone and some other smart, tough and ambitious leaders. There have been many capable leaders in world history but only a few are remembered like a Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great. People like that often have timing on their side that they as individuals have no control over.
Even if I look at a non-despot like Abraham Lincoln, look at some of the elements that had to line up for him to come into power. An old established political party; the Whigs, that Lincoln was a member of, self destructed in a manner that is too complex to describe here, but it allowed someone who was at most a local Whig leader in his home state to join a new more radical party (the Republicans) and leap frog to the top partially because there was no established hierarchy in the new party to keep him down. Plus, the opposition Democratic party split in two in 1860; again in a manner too complex to go into. Today in the U.S. when a presidential election comes near there is often talk of the possibility of a third party candidate. Could one of the minor parties make a dent or could some charismatic person chose the third party route and screw things for one of the major parties? Abraham Lincoln had the benefit of running in a four-way election in 1860, where every candidate took a significant portion of the vote. This is a situation Lincoln had absolutely no power to create, but he soon realized it was a situation he could exploit. You can read about the campaign of 1860 to learn the details of that time.
Now look at Marcone as a comparison. He had no way of knowing that a war in the supernatural world was brewing that would upend the established order. He couldn't have known that by establishing a stable criminal empire in Chicago he was interfering in the plans of the Black Council. He couldn't have known that there would be other supernatural powers who might want to help him. He was smart, energetic and determined enough to put clues together and learn what was happening around him and take advantage of the opportunities that were presented to him. However, remember that Marcone had to learn and make mistakes to consolidate his position. He first tried to recruit Harry to help him in Fool Moon. If Marcone had been fully clued in he should have gone straight to Vaderrung. I think this early groping for a solution to his supernatural problems is a strong indication that Marcone is a vanilla mortal.