- Location
- florida
It struck me more as isolation through anonymity than the usual kind.
Space can be unkind though your right.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
Space can be unkind though your right.
[X] Goldfish
- Location
- florida
I will say. Layering up doesn't prevent us from contacting them if that's what we decide to do, advice might even be useful.
I would also say that this is exactly the kind of situation Harry tends to come out of stronger than when he went in. I wouldn't mind doing nothing and letting him take the lead OOC.
I would also say that this is exactly the kind of situation Harry tends to come out of stronger than when he went in. I wouldn't mind doing nothing and letting him take the lead OOC.
I do hope this convinces people to spend actions to take over the cities network/infrastructure
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
We might be. What about our family (Michael probably aside) and friends, though? What happens when they start going after Charity, or our siblings, or Rosanna, or the people from our school? They can and probably will use such connections as leverage/blackmail against us and milk them for all that they're worth. I'm guessing that the reason that they didn't do so against Dresden was not being able to easily find such connections, Marcone and Michael possibly aside.
- Location
- florida
While God might help our dad out of legal trouble it's not the thing we should count on.
That being said we do have charms for these sorts of scenarios. We would just need to buy them.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
So right now we do not, in fact, have such charms. Also, I'd rather not have to find out just how scary the Library of Congress people are...
This attitude is sort of annoying; there are plenty of entirely legitimate reasons to be suspicious of and unimpressed by a government agency that is acting like this.
I can see their perspective just fine, I just disagree with your value judgement.
[X] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry
In all honesty, I can't see that this is the first time the government has pulled this kinda thing, and if anyone is likely to know about how best to deal with it's the Venatori. (Which Forthill is a member of).
I think the idea of "catch the real killer and provide evidence they did it" is probably a better solution than cutting deals right now, Forthill can give us advice and assistance on such. The FBI is likely to be a bit underhanded, but not to the point of drumming up entirely fake charges, especially if political pressure is applied from the church and Venatori.
In all honesty, I can't see that this is the first time the government has pulled this kinda thing, and if anyone is likely to know about how best to deal with it's the Venatori. (Which Forthill is a member of).
I think the idea of "catch the real killer and provide evidence they did it" is probably a better solution than cutting deals right now, Forthill can give us advice and assistance on such. The FBI is likely to be a bit underhanded, but not to the point of drumming up entirely fake charges, especially if political pressure is applied from the church and Venatori.
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Government: "catches wizard"
The church: "this is the only thing we have and you're gonna steal this from us? We did witch hunts before they were cool!
Government: "we just want to talk to him…"
The church: "So what you're saying is we should take back the holy land?"
The church: "this is the only thing we have and you're gonna steal this from us? We did witch hunts before they were cool!
Government: "we just want to talk to him…"
The church: "So what you're saying is we should take back the holy land?"
Commentary later. Catching up.
Getting into a Lash-empowered Dresden's place without a key to his wards is rather more difficult than it would appear.
Even before you consider Mouse the Temple Dog is house sitting, and doesnt have any prohibitions on killing mortals he thinks are hostile. Good chance vanilla humans would not be able to see through any illusion magic on important stuff.
As for Bob, owning old human skulls is not prohibited by federal law, unless they are Native American.
Illnois state law might be different, but generally not prosecuted as long as its not from a criminal investigation.
Ebay used to have human skulls for sale up to 2012-2014ish.
Natural uranium ore is also legal, and you can literally buy depleted uranium on the internet, though there are limits on how much you can legally own, and you cant export it.
Also, wizard hubris has and can cause disaster.
According to the RPG, the last time a WC member was involved in great power politics, it exacerbated the events of the Russian Revolution; Rasputin was allegedly a non-WC biomancer introduced to the Romanovs by a WC wizard to fix their son. The WC takes the no-politics rule VERY seriously, to the point of sending the Blackstaff to enforce compliance on a Senior Council member.
Its just incredibly rash to put yourself in the position where you are attempting to manipulate or negotiate with the sort of people who consider it a good idea to use a false murder charge to maneuver someone into working for them.
And you have literally no leverage besides presuming their good will.
Also?
I will point out that in Changes, de facto White Court head Lara Raith was able to get the US Navy to send a medevac helicopter for Molly Carpenter in Chitchen Itza. In Mexico.
At roughly five or ten minutes notice.
Consider how much influence it takes to arrange that with a phone call, and consider that maybe this is is a niche that already has occupants or is contested, and careless rushing in will get a rock dropped on you from orbit.
Possibly literally.
Remember that we're not yet a Dresdenverse Power; an E4/E5 Exalt with 200+XP spent on purchases, several dozen charms, multiple Backgrounds, an internal Hell with millions of loyal minions, and sorcery both ancient and modern.
We're a several week old E2 Infernal living in their parental home.
We are a lot more vulnerable than a lot of people assume.
The Wardens are not subtle about spreading knowledge of the Seven Laws among spellworkers, and the men in grey cloaks are well known enough that even minor practitioners know of them.
Also, Dresden has been Warden western US regional commander for almost a year, since last October when he got hit with a conscription order and a field promotion at the same time. The Paranet is canonically not due to be set up before next year, but he's been responding to consults across the Midwest.
It gives me the impression this is classified well above Wrights level. Dude's aminion field agent. No need to know.
The people with actual secrets in their heads are not in the field where hostile operatives can kidnap or mindwhammy them and make them talk, or where a pissed off troll can rip their heads off.
Dresden's in the phone book. At any given time they could have walked into his office and hired him for an hour or a week, all above board.Murphy hires him as a consultant for the Chicago police SI department, so they know there is precedent. They could have approached her for an introduction; her ex-husband, who is currently married to her younger sister, is a Chicago FBI agent.
And frankly, the FBI being ignorant doesnt mean other parts of the US govt are ignorant.
The White Council has diplomats. Good chance they have contacts at very high levels.
That is not, actually, how the competent spooks operate.
Spooks know damn well that making someone work for you under coercion is vastly inferior to getting them to work for you of their own free will. Its simpler, easier and safer to simply buy a person's services than coerce them for it.
You might consider the potential recruitment avenues by which these guys got their minor talents to work for them in this setting, if their approach to recruiting someone who has literally been for hire as a freelancer in the phonebook for at least five years is "Wait till we can get him on a false murder charge".
I would not be surprised if they have really high-level contacts in government; McCoy, Listens to Wind and Langtry are all older than the United States, and there's evidence that Rashid dates back to the first millenium AD.
But forget the WC. Dresden's literal fairy godmother is the Leanansidhe. Handmaiden of the Winter Queen, and the third or fourth most powerful Sidhe in the Winter Court. She is currently imprisoned and being cured of a Nemesis infection; we saw her in Arctis Tor's heartspring. So while she's incapacipated, her duties and obligations to other people are being carried out by her liege lord.
Mab.
The Fae have a bit of that Blue-Orange Morality going on, and there is no guarantee they'd intervene to save you, but you never quite know which way they might jump. Especially Mab, for whom the phrase Xanatos Gambit might well have been invented to describe.
Or how they might choose to express their displeasure. Or when.
The very possibility of a corporate agency of the US becoming the focus of Mab's displeasure should make testicles shrivel in those offices and those of anyone in the general blast radius.
It may not be the choice of the field personnel, it might be orders from whoever is above them in seniority.
Wright and his team might be nice people and good agents.
But the fact that someone in the organization could give those orders and not be countermanded is indicative of a troubling corporate culture, and very strong incentive not to create unnecessary exposure for yourself with that organization.
There's a reason why IRL you are told to shut up when dealing with law enforcement until your lawyer is around.
"Good" cops will often not raise a finger when "bad" cops are screwing you.
And these spooks are currently letting their colleagues in the FBI Chicago Field Office(Criminal Division) and the Chicago PD run off after an innocent based on evidence they have reason to know is false, and which they have explicitly stated they can disprove.
Meantime the actual murderer is out there, as is whoever actually gave them orders.
And can repeat the process.
Arrest warrant =/= Search warrant.
Getting into a Lash-empowered Dresden's place without a key to his wards is rather more difficult than it would appear.
Even before you consider Mouse the Temple Dog is house sitting, and doesnt have any prohibitions on killing mortals he thinks are hostile. Good chance vanilla humans would not be able to see through any illusion magic on important stuff.
As for Bob, owning old human skulls is not prohibited by federal law, unless they are Native American.
Illnois state law might be different, but generally not prosecuted as long as its not from a criminal investigation.
Ebay used to have human skulls for sale up to 2012-2014ish.
Natural uranium ore is also legal, and you can literally buy depleted uranium on the internet, though there are limits on how much you can legally own, and you cant export it.
The WC, by order of the first Merlin, keeps wizards out of politics because its a skip and hop from backing different sides to shooting at each other. Even back when they used to be advisors to rulers, they did their best to stay out of direct politics even when their mortal proteges might be hostile.
Also, wizard hubris has and can cause disaster.
According to the RPG, the last time a WC member was involved in great power politics, it exacerbated the events of the Russian Revolution; Rasputin was allegedly a non-WC biomancer introduced to the Romanovs by a WC wizard to fix their son. The WC takes the no-politics rule VERY seriously, to the point of sending the Blackstaff to enforce compliance on a Senior Council member.
You certainly dont lack for ambition. Literally no power base, and you want to pull a Red Court on the US Govt's natsec apparatus.
Its just incredibly rash to put yourself in the position where you are attempting to manipulate or negotiate with the sort of people who consider it a good idea to use a false murder charge to maneuver someone into working for them.
And you have literally no leverage besides presuming their good will.
Also?
I will point out that in Changes, de facto White Court head Lara Raith was able to get the US Navy to send a medevac helicopter for Molly Carpenter in Chitchen Itza. In Mexico.
At roughly five or ten minutes notice.
Consider how much influence it takes to arrange that with a phone call, and consider that maybe this is is a niche that already has occupants or is contested, and careless rushing in will get a rock dropped on you from orbit.
Possibly literally.
Remember that we're not yet a Dresdenverse Power; an E4/E5 Exalt with 200+XP spent on purchases, several dozen charms, multiple Backgrounds, an internal Hell with millions of loyal minions, and sorcery both ancient and modern.
We're a several week old E2 Infernal living in their parental home.
We are a lot more vulnerable than a lot of people assume.
To be fair, they should know.
The Wardens are not subtle about spreading knowledge of the Seven Laws among spellworkers, and the men in grey cloaks are well known enough that even minor practitioners know of them.
Also, Dresden has been Warden western US regional commander for almost a year, since last October when he got hit with a conscription order and a field promotion at the same time. The Paranet is canonically not due to be set up before next year, but he's been responding to consults across the Midwest.
It gives me the impression this is classified well above Wrights level. Dude's a
The people with actual secrets in their heads are not in the field where hostile operatives can kidnap or mindwhammy them and make them talk, or where a pissed off troll can rip their heads off.
Not actually credible.
Dresden's in the phone book. At any given time they could have walked into his office and hired him for an hour or a week, all above board.Murphy hires him as a consultant for the Chicago police SI department, so they know there is precedent. They could have approached her for an introduction; her ex-husband, who is currently married to her younger sister, is a Chicago FBI agent.
And frankly, the FBI being ignorant doesnt mean other parts of the US govt are ignorant.
The White Council has diplomats. Good chance they have contacts at very high levels.
Its not paranoia if they are actually out to get you.
That is not, actually, how the competent spooks operate.
Spooks know damn well that making someone work for you under coercion is vastly inferior to getting them to work for you of their own free will. Its simpler, easier and safer to simply buy a person's services than coerce them for it.
You might consider the potential recruitment avenues by which these guys got their minor talents to work for them in this setting, if their approach to recruiting someone who has literally been for hire as a freelancer in the phonebook for at least five years is "Wait till we can get him on a false murder charge".
The White Council tends to move slow, and they actually have diplomats.
I would not be surprised if they have really high-level contacts in government; McCoy, Listens to Wind and Langtry are all older than the United States, and there's evidence that Rashid dates back to the first millenium AD.
But forget the WC. Dresden's literal fairy godmother is the Leanansidhe. Handmaiden of the Winter Queen, and the third or fourth most powerful Sidhe in the Winter Court. She is currently imprisoned and being cured of a Nemesis infection; we saw her in Arctis Tor's heartspring. So while she's incapacipated, her duties and obligations to other people are being carried out by her liege lord.
Mab.
The Fae have a bit of that Blue-Orange Morality going on, and there is no guarantee they'd intervene to save you, but you never quite know which way they might jump. Especially Mab, for whom the phrase Xanatos Gambit might well have been invented to describe.
Or how they might choose to express their displeasure. Or when.
The very possibility of a corporate agency of the US becoming the focus of Mab's displeasure should make testicles shrivel in those offices and those of anyone in the general blast radius.
^^^^
It may not be the choice of the field personnel, it might be orders from whoever is above them in seniority.
Wright and his team might be nice people and good agents.
But the fact that someone in the organization could give those orders and not be countermanded is indicative of a troubling corporate culture, and very strong incentive not to create unnecessary exposure for yourself with that organization.
There's a reason why IRL you are told to shut up when dealing with law enforcement until your lawyer is around.
"Good" cops will often not raise a finger when "bad" cops are screwing you.
Yes, the murder happened.
And these spooks are currently letting their colleagues in the FBI Chicago Field Office(Criminal Division) and the Chicago PD run off after an innocent based on evidence they have reason to know is false, and which they have explicitly stated they can disprove.
Meantime the actual murderer is out there, as is whoever actually gave them orders.
And can repeat the process.
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- Location
- Norway
I don't know what to think about the feds here, but I will make a general comment that they are very likely fragmented and compartmentalized - I think some of the thread reasoning about their behavior is assuming more organizational unity than we have evidence for.
That raises an interesting question, did Butcher ever mention how the witch hunts were supposed to have gone down in Dresden history? 🤔Because things get very different when the fantasy witches have the superpower to blow up the entire courthouse.
Yes.
Note that you are free not to agree with Mr Butcher's interpretation; there's plotholes to my eye afforded by the existence of the NeverNever. But thats offical Word of Jim on the subject.Quote from: chadu on February 22, 2010, 04:57:13 PM
They kinda /do/ win. It's one reason the White Council thinks of itself as something so ohmygodmighty important. But bear in mind a few things:
1) The White Council /exists/ in order to limit the power of wizards. These days, it's mostly about keeping wizards out of the black magic–but in the past, it was also to keep wizards out of politics. They would show up as advisers, rarely (most "court wizards" were charlatans or underpowered schmucks), but the Council itself was very much against getting involved in things.
That's mainly because if the Council threw its weight in anywhere, it was all but guaranteeing a civil war among its own members. (Remember, it's very Euro-centric.)
The original Merlin learned a lesson about wizards involving themselves in politics.
They already have too much power to use wisely, from his point of view.
2) Wizards were a hell of a lot more rare in centuries past. Their numbers have increased along with the world population, but back then a given country was lucky if it had produced a single wizard-level talent more than about one generation in three.
3) Travel in general was a lot harder. Disease, in general, was a lot more rampant and likely to kill you. Yeah, wizards have the capacity to recover from things, but they don't have any particular increased resistance to contracting a disease. They just come back from it in better shape than regular folks. For example, if you get a good case of pneumonia (like I did), you've got a reduced capacity to resist subsequent similar infections. And that's it. In fact, having gotten pneumonia once gives you a pretty darn big mathematical probability that you're going to die of pneumonia in the future. (Pneumonia being one of the main things that actually does the killing when you've got cancer or other serious medical issues.) Wizards don't face that same danger. If they beat it, they beat it, and it isn't of any more consequence than getting over a cold.
But even so, before antibiotics, wizards were as worried about disease as everyone else was. And a great way to not get diseases was to STAY HOME. Which most of them did. That kinda limited how much conflict they would actually get involved in.
4) The Inquisition. Fact of the matter is that the Inquisition, for better or worse, made everyone REALLY aware of practitioners. If a wizard started slinging his power around willy nilly, it would attract attention. Probably /hostile/ attention, at that. Which leads us to…
5) Wizards have to sleep. Yes, an enraged wizard could probably kill just about anyone he wanted to, flatten towns, all the mighty wizard stuff. But… there are about a million humans to every full-blown wizard talent. A strong wizard can kill a mortal with about as much effort as it would take you to pick up a piece of gravel and toss it twenty feet. Now, go out to a gravel pile and do that a MILLION times.
You aren't going to finish that project today.
The appearance of overwhelming power is one of the only things guaranteed to make human beings unify out of sheer fear for their survival. (Example: see Haiti. Overwhelming power of nature drew a response of overwhelming relief efforts from fellow human beings. Now, imagine that someone told those people that the earthquake was someone's fault. Someone real, and dangerous, but someone who you could punch in the nose. Think about that.)
Wizards were certainly a force of nature. One that would frighten people enough to go after them with overwhelming numbers and a vengeance.
Of course, that leaves many, many other things they could do to influence events. The most powerful such was the gathering of information and rapid communications. Their ability to travel rapidly, to gather information and send it elsewhere was something that didn't really get beat until a Mr. Ford, Mr. Marconi, and some guys named Orville and Wilbur came along. And they were basically in the information business, which is an excellent way to guarantee security.
They were also largely responsible for the Renaissance, in the Dresden universe. Not directly, but by going out and finding the best and brightest minds and seeing to it that they got the education and the chances they needed to succeed in life. Some wizards even did direct mentoring of various brilliant figures of European history (DaVinci and Gallileo were two prime examples).
But they stayed out of direct involvement in wars and politics, instead focusing on becoming involved in the intellectual progress of society. Wizards from France and Germany, for example, would treat each other much the same way as opposing lawyers in a big case. Even when their clients were tearing each other to bits, that didn't meant that the two wizards were foes. They were, in fact, professional colleagues, who were likely to go off and get a beer and roll their eyes at their clients' foolishness.
(All of this is mostly focused on the White Council, which was centered in Europe. Wizards in other areas of the world, such as the Americas, eastern Asia, and Australia have far different histories.)
But that factor–the sheer weight of numbers of mortals–dictated the role they had to assume to survive and prosper. They hoped that a more advanced, less warlike culture would provide a better place for wizards to live. In fact, it did. But it also robbed them of the extreme power they'd possessed until that time, relative to vanilla mortals.
6) PEOPLE BELIEVED IN MAGIC AND IT SCARED THEM. I mean, there was none of this "but there's no such thing as magic" nonsense involved. And not all the witch hunters were in it for the money. There was a class of men who knew all about the various forces of the supernatural, out there in the darkness, and who made themselves as able to contend with them as any mortal could be. If a wizard went all kaboomy on mortals, he knew that there was someone who was going to hunt him, striking in a moment of vulnerability.
(I'll leave it to you to deduce who they grew up into, eventually. It isn't complicated or hard to see.)
End of the day, even wizards bleed. And as the wise Governor of California says, if it bleeds, you can kill it.
But they sure as hell enjoyed their centuries on top of the food chain.
I assume that most(not all, but most) people caught in witch hunts were talents or lesser sorcerers or really young newbies or changelings. Not fullscale White Council-class wizards; there were relatively few wizards, and they had a lot of tools at their disposal to evade the common mob.
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[X] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry
- Location
- Norway
No.
That was a very long answer to a very different question from the one I asked, and I'd appreciate if you crop more next time. The only tangential mention of witch hunts in that wall of text suggests it involved more assassination-style behavior from witch hunters, which tells me very little.
Historical witch hunts frequently involved trials. People were interrogated and tortured into confessing before a court. Witnesses were called to testify that they'd seen the accused witch meeting with the Devil. These behaviors should change a lot when witches can set the interrogator on fire, and/or have friends who can set the false witnesses on fire afterwards. Is Butcher suggesting that Dresdenverse history replaced the trials with assassinations, wholly or partly? Were the assassinations done freelance, or by kill order from a judge, with trial in absentia? The magic powers he's added to the world should have more implications for how the world looks!
But maybe I shouldn't prod too much at the tapestry of retconned history that a masquerade fantasy inevitably has.
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
I am grateful to you as your post has caused me to reexamine this fact its associated implications.
@Goldfish
The bolded bit of your write in looks to be operating on the assumption that the people who ordered for Harry to be arrested do not know that he can just be paid by state officials (like the police) to aid them.
Thinking on it, they certainly do know that he's available for hire if he's worked with the Police Department in the past. That he does stuff for pay.
Therefore we can assume that they want him to do things that he would not do for money.
Your write in therefore has Molly showing these people a gap in her reasoning/knowledge, that she thinks that these people might be on the up-and-up, and such gaps/errors generally ain't good when it comes to trying to negotiate.
If you're going with the "Harry's too much of a Big Deal to do this shit with and ye have Royally Fucked Up" approach alone I think it would still work, but I think you should modify the last subvote in some manner.
As it is, I now prefer to get help from the lawyer-priest, and bring him the recording we have, and if need be, point out to him what uju32 brought to my attention.
-----
Potential silver lining though: We wanted a few practitioners, these people being forced to work under duress need a Big Damm Hero.
It's a match made in... Heaven?
[X] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry
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FriedIce
The Authentic Fake
- Location
- Hyperreality
If I remember right, wasn't the Inquisition's official stance that there was no such thing as a witch, trust us guys we checked, and therefore anyone burning witches is a heretic?
Most witch burnings happened in the Protestant countries, not Catholic. The Catholic Inquisition was much more interested in if you were a secret Jew or Muslim (or worse a Protestant) and was perfectly happy to burn you for that though.
Most witch burnings happened in the Protestant countries, not Catholic. The Catholic Inquisition was much more interested in if you were a secret Jew or Muslim (or worse a Protestant) and was perfectly happy to burn you for that though.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Good point. I've edited my plan to remove mention of Harry being listed in the phone book.
Those happened, I think, but in the main, not with wizards. They did call them witch trialsNo.
That was a very long answer to a very different question from the one I asked, and I'd appreciate if you crop more next time. The only tangential mention of witch hunts in that wall of text suggests it involved more assassination-style behavior from witch hunters, which tells me very little.
Historical witch hunts frequently involved trials. People were interrogated and tortured into confessing before a court. Witnesses were called to testify that they'd seen the accused witch meeting with the Devil. These behaviors should change a lot when witches can set the interrogator on fire, and/or have friends who can set the false witnesses on fire afterwards. Is Butcher suggesting that Dresdenverse history replaced the trials with assassinations, wholly or partly? Were the assassinations done freelance, or by kill order from a judge, with trial in absentia? The magic powers he's added to the world should have more implications for how the world looks!
But maybe I shouldn't prod too much at the tapestry of retconned history that a masquerade fantasy inevitably has.
Butcher is talking about pre-modern nations having maybe 1 wizard-level talent born every three generations or so, which would be around 1 every 60 years and that modern countries have maybe one wizard for every million people.I think those precise numbers are an order of magnitude too low for the setting, but it give some idea of just how thin wizards are supposed to be on the ground.
That implies that most of the ppl caught up in the EuroAmerican witch trials were the small fry.
Changelings, diviners, lesser sorcerers, talents. Maybe apprentices. Those and innocents with no actual power to their name.
Which is something he's mentioned before as part of the potential collateral of a new global witch hunt against the supernatural.
Most mature wizards would presumably be able to simply walk out of jail after a night's rest, with some exceptions; Etienne the Enchanter, who was the person who created Bob's skull, was allegedly burned in Paris in the middle ages.
No idea if there was a trial.
VOTE
[X] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry
Best option would be to talk to Murphy.
But while we have her number, we dont have the sort of relationship with Karrin Murphy that she would run out to meet us on a phone call. Especially since we dont know if she is under surveillance, whether by the Feebs or whoever did this.
Ergo, talk to the priest.
He has actually met her, and she knows he's comnected enough to listen to him
Plus, he has a law degree. He can provide advice as per Dresden.
[X] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry
Best option would be to talk to Murphy.
But while we have her number, we dont have the sort of relationship with Karrin Murphy that she would run out to meet us on a phone call. Especially since we dont know if she is under surveillance, whether by the Feebs or whoever did this.
Ergo, talk to the priest.
He has actually met her, and she knows he's comnected enough to listen to him
Plus, he has a law degree. He can provide advice as per Dresden.
- Location
- Canada
[X] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry
That's true, but on the other hand Ebenezer McCoy could almost certainly personally destroy the United States (if he can set Krakatoa off he can set Yellowstone off), and could destroy the government a lot more easily.
And the US government has been shown to back down in the face of annihilation, as seen in the Cold War.
A motivated Senior Council level wizard with prep-time is a walking apocalypse, and it's only the metaphysics around magic that keep them in check - and the Blackstaff doesn't have to care about that.
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry
I doubt most of the real wizards would even be caught if it came to that. Wizards are really good at countering threats when they have time to prepare; regular mortals can do a lot with mundane engineering , but unless they go full clarketech they can't stop a wizard from doing things like fucking off into another dimension with a moment of effort if they want to.
In terms of defenses we know from comments Harry made in canon that a somewhat common warding tactic is binding summons to trigger conditions on your defenses. Which sounds like a plausible work around to the first law to me, and means that if you do find a wizard's hidey-hole even them appearing being alone doesn't mean they're vulnerable or that you can take your time figuring out how to exploit gaps in their defenses.
The only ones that are likely to get caught in that scenario are the really young and really unlucky.
I kind of doubt that. I bet he could do a lot of damage, but this isn't a white room fight and everyone else would get a say too. I'd bet on them figuring it out and shooting missiles at him before he managed more than a few serious strikes.