So... let's see what plothooks we have:
1) Building the Dragon's Nest and taking over Chicago's underground. Possibly finding more Dragon's Nests in Chicago area and linking them into a giant network (I wonder we can make a teleportation network). Taking over part would probably put us in contact and conflict with White Court, leading to us having to kick old man Raith's butt.
2) Fun archaeological expeditions to find things written in Old Realm. This probably involves delving deep into NeverNever, hiking across Tibetian mountains (possibly visiting Mouse's extended family), and bargaining for knowledge with beings literally older than time.
3) Other fun trips to look for not-so-ancient treasure. With Lydia's library of rare books in our access, we could use those as focus of the crown to find Templar's treasures (like the Arc of the Covenant).
4) Looking into Lydia's mom if there's anything there to look into (in before she turns out to be Harry's cousin or something equally ridiculous).
5) Hunting down Evil Bob and making him reform. Knowledge of Necromancy is useful, we just need to beat him until he's a good guy.
6) Looking for good familiars for Lydia. I suggest a rat, a raven and a white horse to be named Binky.
7) Finishing off Thule Society, draining their assets and subverting their associates to our side. Need to get that cult rating, both for ourselves and our circlemate, and, conceptually, Lydia could be called Kemmler's legacy (the good version of it).
8) Reforging Lash (and, through her, Lasciel) into a sword for Harry.
9) Starting up ParaNet, now with more demon admins running the net and automatically finding new talents through their web search histories. We'll need to infiltrate and infect Google for that. That's an epic quest all of its own.
9.5) Designing a comprehensive wizard's education program for modern children, based on Harry's and Ebenezar's knowledge, but with "you get your own demonic familiar and a magic-immune phone/laptop" thrown in.
10) Girl's night out with Lydia, Rosie, possibly Cindy and it wouldn't surprise me Maeve/Lily/Sarissa.
That's fair. My thought was to give him a really huge dice pool for firearms stuff that would let him hit things he had no business hitting, but only through being that good instead of something that cheats for lack of a better term.
Then make him solid at a handful of other things that help him get to places where he can exploit it. I thought you were suggesting doing that and giving him stuff that would make his successes even more consistent on that huge pool.
Doing it your way probably does more to avoid devaluing success than mine would.
You forgot Daedalus, the job offer from Odin, and tagging along on anything Dad or Harry do. The problem isn't lack of plot hooks, it's AP to bite them with, and even then, I expect to be negotiating with Mab as a discount Yama Queen with our soul-realm come October. And 5 dots of Etiquette and Sapphire Circle Exorcism, of course.
It involves telling Michael and if he has an objection he can make it, but you should keep in mind that as far as Molly is concerned more help is better, it has more of a chance of no one getting hurt.
It's not clear how much we've told others about Lydia's circumstances, but considering the importance of compassion and aiding others to the ethos he follows I would expect that "she lost her dad in a horrible way literally yesterday and is alone, in need of a positive relationship with someone she can respect and trust to hold on to" would be a very compelling argument to him. Unless he has a supernatural cue that he's going into extremely deadly danger, anyway, and if he had that he probably wouldn't be bringing Molly.
Though speaking of positive relationships Lydia should probably have a serious honest talk with our brother unless she's dumping him. There's little reason to keep major secrets there and avoiding/mushrooming people can turn emotions ugly fast.
9.5) Designing a comprehensive wizard's education program for modern children, based on Harry's and Ebenezar's knowledge, but with "you get your own demonic familiar and a magic-immune phone/laptop" thrown in.
Speaking of this, the contact information we gave Cindy is going to be pretty tricky to use as she starts throwing around magic and associated techbane. Getting her a cyberdemonic phone is going to be a necessity to keep that line of communication open.
It's not clear how much we've told others about Lydia's circumstances, but considering the importance of compassion and aiding others to the ethos he follows I would expect that "she lost her dad in a horrible way literally yesterday and is alone, in need of a positive relationship with someone she can respect and trust to hold on to" would be a very compelling argument to him. Unless he has a supernatural cue that he's going into extremely deadly danger, anyway, and if he had that he probably wouldn't be bringing Molly.
Though speaking of positive relationships Lydia should probably have a serious honest talk with our brother unless she's dumping him. There's little reason to keep major secrets there and avoiding/mushrooming people can turn emotions ugly fast.
Speaking of this, the contact information we gave Cindy is going to be pretty tricky to use as she starts throwing around magic and associated techbane. Getting her a cyberdemonic phone is going to be a necessity to keep that line of communication open.
Though speaking of positive relationships Lydia should probably have a serious honest talk with our brother unless she's dumping him. There's little reason to keep major secrets there and avoiding/mushrooming people can turn emotions ugly fast.
You forgot Daedalus, the job offer from Odin, and tagging along on anything Dad or Harry do. The problem isn't lack of plot hooks, it's AP to bite them with, and even then, I expect to be negotiating with Mab as a discount Yama Queen with our soul-realm come October. And 5 dots of Etiquette and Sapphire Circle Exorcism, of course.
So... Speaking of this. Let's do some rough calculations:
Etiquette to 5 - 7 XP
Essence to 3 - 16 XP
The King and the Kingdom - 20 XP
That's 43 XP. That's absolutely something that we are likely to be able to get by that point. Now, stretch goals:
Empathy to 5 - 7 XP (if Maeve's situation comes up, it should be relevant)
Law to 2 - 5 XP (3 to buy new one, 2 to raise it to two dots) - when dealing with fae, law is almost a must.
Politics to 2 - 5 XP. If we are to meet her as a ruler of our own realm, then we'll need to be at least somewhat competent in politics. This means raising it to 2, ideally 3.
That's 60 XP. Two arcs, assuming arcs like this one. Conservatively let's assume 3 arcs.
Further, I'd take Sapphire Banishment and Emerald Binding to be able to bargain with Mab using those as leverage. That's 20 XP. 80 XP total.
We'll also need other charms in the process, regardless of Mab. That's Mercy in Servitude, Transcendent Lord of Flies, Boiling Sea Mastery, and Shadow Spite Curse at least. That's 12 XP on top of our previous expenses.
So, In total I would low ball it as 100 XP we'll need to comfortably talk to Mab. That's around 4 to 5 arcs worth, it seems. One arc is probably going to be the first visit to our kingdom. Another is Michael's road trip. Dealing with Daedalus might be the third one. And we should go look into the history of our exaltation to weaken Mab's bargaining position by acquiring our own knowledge.
Their associates are nazis, reform is probably possible but I don't really want to spend time deprogramming them. I'd prefer to shatter the organization and move one with whatever material loot we can carry.
I also think setting up the cyber devil spy network and assisting in the war with the reds are worth entries. We did ask Ebenezer about it, and driving off the red court is basically the zero calorie exp source.
All the same great hyper violence taste, none of the fattening moral quandaries.
Even better, we get cosmic power instead of brain cancer or whatever Splenda will do to you long term.
They're good for sneaking into buildings, but they're also too slow to keep up if we're running around town or escape if they get caught by something unafraid of tearing up the environment.
Sounds like a mother-daughter bonding experience in the making to me.
No better way to reconnect with your rebellious teenage infernal than to build some motorcycles, get couple sick leather jackets and shades, then cruise around town murdering vampires with shotguns and hellfire giving her driving lessons.
Its certainly one way to do it.
Doubt she has the time though; besides Molly, she has six kids 16 and below, and a husband who does field trips when called by the White God and his angels.
The important thing is that it tells us what her interests were, and what to get her. Top Gear DVD box sets, for example, to supplement the old cliches of flowers, jewelry and kitchenware. She drives a minivan as of the events of Death Rites, and as the mother of a family of seven, that limits what vehicles she'll be able to justify to herself is practical to own.
So no motorcycles.
Which means we should probably think along the lines of hooking her up with a sports SUV.
Like an 2007/2008 model Audi Q7, which seats seven passengers.
Once we have the funds, of course.
Nice to see the differing but similar PoVs of Molly's parents.
And its a reminder that Charity has a much less charitable view on people who threaten her loved ones than Michael does.
There's a reason she doesnt bear a Sword, even though she Believes. Because you get the chop right quick.
Should hopefully help convince people that Charity just wants the best for her daughter, even when they disagree.
I dont feel all that strongly about the vote.
But it does occur to me that Lydia doesnt have many friends besides Daniel, and none with any experience of the supernatural.
And its summer vacation time, so she cant even go to school assuming she wanted to.
Taking her out of the house is probably good for her headspace.
We might want to ask him about it. If he's not calling Mab a Lady, but is calling Lydia one, she might actually have an exaltation in-story. Which would probably mean that Kemmler unearthed one at some point.
If Kemmler had access to an Exaltation, the world would look very different from what it looks like.
Even if he couldnt use it for some reason, he'd have stuck it in one of his loyal disciples.
At least one possibility in this crossover, would be that Kemmler uncovered old Autochtonian knowledge that in ages past allowed mortals to craft Alchemical Exalted. Possibly gremlin-tainted version of that knowledge. If so, such could probably be used both as a basis for Darkhallow and for making Lydia.
EDIT: The more I think of it, the more I believe this could be it. Classical alchemicals were made by using a soul of a hero that went through multiple heroic reincarnations to catalyze a birth of a godlike exalted. Darkhallow uses multiple souls to catalyze an ascension of a mortal into a godlike being.
Exaltations are Primordial work.
Alchemical Exalted were crafted by mortals invested with Autobot's blessing at birth by Autobot, then implanted with the soul of a heroic mortal, and then the entire thing was finally catalyzed by Autobot himself.
Its explicitly stated that even Twilight Solars couldnt reverse-engineer it.
And Solars tried and failed to reverse-engineer Terrestrial Exalts back in the Age of Legends.
Basicalky, its not Solar-OK, else there would be a shitton more Exalts around.
I mean, making gods is not an unprecedented matter in Ex2.
Any sufficiently experienced Sidereal could make a human or an animal or a ghost into a minor god by the time they hit E3/E4 IIRC.
They'd just have to justify it.
Not an Incarna-level god, mind, but still an immortal with a domain and powers and entitlement to a place in Yu-Shan.
Even now, the Sidereal charmset can turn a human into a dragon, albeit at the cost of a Derangement.
And at Familiar 5, any Celestial Exalt in ExWoD can turn their familiar into a divine beast if Solar or Abyssal, minor hearth god if Sidereal, devil if Infernal.
The Yama Kings aren't human and still managed to use an exaltation as a battery for a super weapon.
I also really doubt Kemmler could craft them in any capacity. If he could have done that he wouldn't have needed the darkhallow, which isn't anything like how alchemical exalts work.
Alchemicals were also less made by mortals than maintained by them. They ran the vats and stuff but all the crazy supernatural bullshit came from Autobot himself. No mortals were designing charm arrays as far as I recall.
Kemmler was good, but if he was that good this timeline would be run by necromancy flavored nazi terrestrials right now.
I think you drastically underestimate how difficult some of this stuff should be to do, and try to root cause too many things as being related to the exalted when other people can do all kinds of things without them.
Point of correction:
Mortals created the Alchemical Exalts based on a Background that gave them access to inspiration from Autobot. They chose the soul, they built the body, they did maintenance if and when necessary. They even designed the charms, though apparently that was straightforward enough for anyone with Occult 3.
But they didnt provide the final spark; that came from Autobot.
And Autobot had been known to on occasion deny the spark to particular candidates, even after all the work had been done.
Kemmler wouldnt have been able to craft one.
Quotes from E2 Autochtonia book:
Kemmler was good. Very good. He didn't run Darkhallow on himself, and he didn't have access to many gods to catalyze exigents. He didn't have opportunities, I feel.
Basically, what I am saying is that it wouldn't surprise me if the knowledge he passed onto Arawn was something from the first age, or at least related. We'll see, I guess - it's not like we are done with Thule Society.
Those mortals were invested with Primordial power; a blessing by Autobot invested at birth, that gave them access to the inspiration to build Alchemical bodies, and represented by the Savant Background. It wasnt something that could just be learned in class from a teacher or a book.
No, Kemmler was flatout incapable of making an Exaltation.
Solars couldnt do it, and they tried.
Terrestrials certainly cant.
It's an inbuild feature for all Caste Attributes or Abilities an Exalted might have.
Giving it to a single legendary attribute doesn't seem too OP.
Here's the wiki-quote:
I can't check the references since I don't have those books though.
Apparently a gun held to the back of my head engenders a sense of fellowship and goodwill in the depths of my soul. I cooperated.
I unlocked the door to the office, and the gunman followed me in. My office isn't big, but it's on the corner, and has windows on two walls. There's a table, a counter with my old coffee machine on it, some metal filing cabinets, and a table holding a display of pamphlets meant to help public relations with the normals. My desk sat in the corner between the windows, two comfy chairs for clients facing it.
The gunman walked me to one of my comfy chairs and said, "Sit."
I sat. "Hey, man, look-"
The gun pressed harder. "Hush."
I hushed. A second later something slapped my shoulder.
"Take it," the gunman said. "Put it on."
I reached back and found a heavy cloth sleeping mask with an elastic head strap. "Why?"
The gunman must have thumbed back the hammer of his weapon, because it clicked. I put the stupid mask on. "You might not know this, but I don't function all that well as an investigator when blinded."
"That's the idea," the gunman drawled. The gun left my neck. "Try not to make me feel threatened," he said through a yawn. "I'm all spooked and jittery. If you make any noise or start to get up, I'll probably twitch, and this trigger is pretty sensitive. My gun is pointed at your nose. The ensuing cause-and-effect chain could be inconvenient for you."
"Maybe next time you could just say 'freeze,'" I said. "No need to walk me through it step by step."
His tone sounded like he'd colored it with a faint smile. "Just want to make sure you understand the situation. If I blew your head off over a stupid misunderstanding, gosh, would our faces be red." He paused, then added, "Well, mine, anyway."
He didn't sound jumpy to me. He sounded bored. I heard him moving around for a minute, and then there was a sudden vibration in the air. I felt as if the skin of my face had suddenly dried into leather and tightened over my cheekbones.
"Okay," he said. "That'll do. Take it off."
I took the mask off and found the gunman sitting on the edge of my desk, a compact semiautomatic in his hand. He had it pointed at me in a casual way. He was a big guy, almost my own height, with dark golden hair just long enough to look a little exotic. He had grey-blue eyes that stayed steady and missed nothing. He wore casual black pants and a black sports jacket over a grey T-shirt. He was built more like a swimmer than a weight lifter, all leonine power and lazy grace taken completely for granted.
I looked around and saw a circle of salt as wide as two of my fingers poured around the chair. A Morton's salt cylinder sat on the floor nearby. A bit of scarlet stained some of the salt circle; blood. He'd used it to power up the circle, and I could feel its energy trapping all the magic in it, including my own.
The circle had formed a barrier that would stop magical energy cold. I'd have to physically break the circle of salt and disrupt that barrier before I could send any magic at the gunman. Which was probably the point.
I eyed him and said, "Kincaid. I didn't expect to hear from you until tomorrow at least."
"Rolling stones and moss, baby," the mercenary responded. "I was going through Atlanta when I got your message. Wasn't hard to get a direct flight here."
"What's with the Gestapo treatment?"
He shrugged. "You're a pretty unpredictable guy, Dresden. I don't mind making a social call, but I needed assurance that you were really you."
"I assure you that I'm me."
"That's nice."
"Now what?"
He rolled one shoulder in a shrug. "Now we have a nice talk."
"While you point a gun at me?" I asked.
"I just want a friendly chat without either of us getting his brain redecorated with magic."
"I can't do that," I said.
He shook a finger at me in a negative gesture. "The Council will burn anyone who gets caught doing it. That's different." He nodded at the circle. "But from in there, you literally can't. I'm here to talk business, not to die of stupidity. If you like, think of the precautions as a compliment."
I folded my arms. "Because nothing says flattery like a gun to the head."
"Ain't that God's own truth," Kincaid said. He set the gun down on my desk, put left his hand on it. "Dresden, I'm just plain folks. I'm still alive because I don't take stupid chances or walk into things blindly."
I tried to ditch the stubborn anger and nodded. "Okay, then. No harm, no foul."
"Good." He checked a nylon-strap watch on his left wrist. "I haven't got all day. You wanted to talk to me. So talk."
I felt annoyed enough to start screaming, but forced myself to rein it in. "There's a scourge of vampires in town."
"Black Court?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Whose scourge?"
"Mavra."
Kincaid pursed his lips. "Cagey old hag. I hear she heads up a pretty big crew."
"Yeah. I'm going to downsize them."
Kincaid's index finger tapped on his gun. "Black Court are tough to take down."
"Unless you get them in their coffins," I said. "I can find them."
"You want me to bodyguard you until then?"
"No. I want you to go there with me and help me kill them all."
A smile parted his lips from white teeth. "Going on an offensive would be nice. I'm getting bored on defense. What's the play?"
"Find 'em. Kill 'em."
Kincaid nodded. "Simple enough."
"Yeah, that's the idea. What are you going to cost me?"
He told me.
I choked. "Do you offer coupons or anything?"
Kincaid rolled his eyes and stood up. "Christ. Why did you waste my time, Dresden?"
"Wait," I said. "Look, I'll figure out a way to pay you."
He arched an eyebrow.
"I'm good for it."
"Maybe," he said. "But it's funny how a spending a lifetime as a hired gun makes you a little cynical."
"Take a chance," I said. "I'll get the money to you. And I'll owe you one."
His eyes glittered, flickers of malice and amusement sharing space in them. "Owed a favor by the infamous Dresden. I guess it might be worth enough of my time to give you a chance."
"Great."
"Two conditions," he said.
"Like?"
"I want at least one more set of eyes along," he said. "Someone good in a fight."
"Why?"
"Because if someone gets hurt, it takes two people to get him out alive. One to carry him and one to lay down cover fire."
"I didn't think you cared."
"Of course I do," he said. "The wounded guy might be me."
"Fine," I said. "What's the second condition?"
"You need to understand that if you try to stiff me, I'll have to protect my interests." He lifted a hand. "Don't get me wrong. It's just business. Nothing personal."
"It won't be an issue," I said. "Besides, you wouldn't want to eat my death curse, would you?"
"No. So I'd use a rifle at a thousand yards. The bullet outruns its own sonic boom, and you'd never even hear the shot. You'd be dead before you realized what happened."
That scared me. I've faced more than a few gruesome or nightmarish creatures, but none of them had been that calm and practical. Kincaid believed that he could kill me, if it came to that.
And thinking about it, I believed him too.
He watched my face for a minute, and his smile turned a shade wolfish. "You sure you want me on board?"
There was a pregnant half second of silence. "Yeah."
"All right." Kincaid stepped forward and brushed the salt circle with his toe. The tension of the circle's barrier vanished. "But I'm on the clock. I've got to get back to Ivy's place before Sunday."
"Understood," I said. "How do I get in touch?"
He slipped his gun into his jacket pocket and drew out a grey business card. He put the card on my desk and said, "Pager." He turned to leave. I stood up and said, "Hey, Kincaid."
He glanced back at me. I tossed the sleep mask to him. He caught it.
"Just plain folk?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Not supernatural?"
"I wish," he said. "Vanilla mortal."
"You're a liar."
His features smoothed into a neutral mask. "Excuse me?"
"I said you're a liar. I saw you during the fight at Wrigley, Kincaid. You fired a dozen shots, on the move and dodging bad guys the whole time."
"What's so supernatural about that?"
"In a fight, just plain folks miss sometimes. Maybe most times. You didn't miss once."
"What's the point of shooting if you're just going to miss?" He smiled, made a mime-gun of his thumb and index ringer, and aimed at me. His thumb fell forward and he said, "I'm as human as you are, Dresden. I'll see you later."
Then he left.
I didn't know whether to feel better or worse. On one hand, he was an experienced gunman, and absolutely deadly in a fight. Human or not, I might need someone like that with me when I confronted Mavra.
On the other hand, I had no idea how I would be able to pay him, and I believed him when he said he'd assassinate me. The entire concept was scary as hell. The threat of a death curse that could be levied against a wizard's slayer was a major asset. It meant that anyone or anything that tried to attack a member of the White Council would hesitate, unwilling to risk the burst of destructive power a wizard could release in the last instants of his life.
But those instants would be too slow against a high-powered sniper round fired from ambush. I could imagine it, a flash and a thump on the back of my head, a split second of surprise, and then blackness before I could even realize the need to pronounce my curse.
Kincaid was right: It could work. The tactical doctrine of the powers-that-be in the magical communities of the world tended to run along a couple of centuries behind the rest of the planet. It was entirely possible that the seniormost wizards of the White Council had never even considered the possibility. Ditto for the vampires. But it could work.
The future abruptly seemed like a fairly unpleasant place for professional wizards.
I set about cleaning up the salt and settled down at my little desk, putting my thoughts in order. I had to find out more about the circumstances around the victims of the malocchio. I had to go digging for more information on Arturo Genosa's venture into the world of erotic film.
And if that wasn't enough, while I did all of that, I also had to figure out how to get enough money to keep my own hired thug from putting holes in my skull.
For most people it would be a desperate situation. But most people hadn't been through them as many times as I had. My worry and tension slowly grew, and as they did I took a perverse comfort in the familiar emotions. It actually felt good to feel my survival instincts put me on guard against premature mortality.
Hell's bells. Is that insane or what?
Ghost Story c19
I noticed something, too, when we had been talking about the shot that had killed me and the shooter's location, and gathering more information about potential assassins. Murphy hadn't said much—but she'd not said a whole hell of a lot more.
She had never, not once, mentioned Kincaid. Kincaid was a partially inhuman mercenary who worked for the scariest little girl on God's green earth. He was centuries old and he was a phenomenon in a fight. He had somehow overcome the negative aspects of the human nervous system, at least as it applied to firing a weapon under pressure. I'd never seen him miss. Not once.
And it was he who had told me that if he wanted to kill me, he'd do it from at least half a mile away, with a heavy-duty rifle round.
Murphy knew as well as I did that the opinion of an assassin with centuries of experience would be invaluable in the investigation. Initially, I hadn't suggested it, because Murph had kinda been dating the guy for a while, and seemed to care for him. So it seemed more appropriate to let her bring it up.
But she hadn't.
She'd never mentioned him at all.
She'd run the meeting too rapidly, and was ready to fight with me over something, anything. The entire argument about Fitz and his crew had been a smoke screen.
The only question was for whose benefit it had been. Mine, so that a possibly crazy ghost wouldn't go storming off for vengeance of some kind? Or had it been a veil of fog for her own benefit, because she couldn't reconcile her view of Kincaid with that of the faceless person who had killed me?
That felt right. That she knew it in her heart and, without realizing it, was frantically scrambling to find a less painful truth with her head.
Note that these are Dresden's deductions based on observation, not OOC assertions of fact, and that Kincaid denies being a supernatural, telling Dresden he is as mortal as Dresden is.
Note also that Kincaid is a lying liar who lies, as evidenced by when McCoy calls him on being the Hellhound later in Blood Rites.
PS
It also occurs to me that Dresden saw Molly take a handgun bullet(s) to the head at execution range and remain combat effective.
Which, in the light of the Blood Rites conversation with Kincaid, puts some things in a very different light.
PS
It also occurs to me that Dresden saw Molly take a handgun bullet(s) to the head at execution range and remain combat effective.
Which, in the light of the Blood Rites conversation with Kincaid, puts some things in a very different light.
Well she did not so much 'remain combat effective' as 'suddenly donned armor of basalt and green flames wreathed in the shadows of the Apocalypse' and began fighting with a swiftness and grace even more inhuman than before.
Important point - not at birth at all. The pool of people who can be selected for acquiring mutation needed to craft exalted is limited to those with craft 4 and higher. It's stated so in the text. And the process is automated, ie personalities don't come into play here, not really (it's kinda like exalting, isn't it?). So, in principle, Kemmler could have gotten that. Very unlikely though.
Being able to build from raw materials, or repair something really busted, does make it cheaper. Fixing a few and then having Molly ask her for lessons (regardless of how much we may or may not need them) would be worth the trouble I think.
Maybe it's not a material advantage, but her family is something Molly is deeply invested in so I think efforts to reach out would be important to her.
In canon she didn't, but in canon things didn't go off the rails as immediately and they didn't have a period of reconciliation before things went so far that they felt like they couldn't connect again.
Its explicitly stated that even Twilight Solars couldnt reverse-engineer it.
And Solars tried and failed to reverse-engineer Terrestrial Exalts back in the Age of Legends.
Basically, its not Solar-OK, else there would be a shitton more Exalts around.
Well an E10 exalted can do it, but the rebellion happens just before exalted grow old enough to be E10, for a reason.
Thou the Solar's could have fixed the Terrestrial exalted bloodline if the they wanted, it in-fact it narrowly lost the vote. One wonders how history would have played out had they done so. Terrestrial just have the replication feature turned on. Potential their are still the original Terrestrial exaltation's in the care of the 5 Dragons.
Important point - not at birth at all. The pool of people who can be selected for acquiring mutation needed to craft exalted is limited to those with craft 4 and higher. It's stated so in the text. And the process is automated, ie personalities don't come into play here, not really (it's kinda like exalting, isn't it?). So, in principle, Kemmler could have gotten that. Very unlikely though.
I've been wrong on the lore a few times now, so it's possible I'm wrong again, but it seems absurd for autobot to just have people automatically get the ability to craft his strongest weapons automatically. Not unless he was sure it wouldn't dispense that power to people without loyalty to him.
On a meta level, it also seems crazy for Kemmler to get the ability to make exaltations and then do exactly as well as he did in canon. There should have been immediate and drastic changes to everything.
I'd buy it as technically possible in the sense that it's technically possible I'll get struck by a meteor right now. The odds are so low it's not worth seriously considering.
Well she did not so much 'remain combat effective' as 'suddenly donned armor of basalt and green flames wreathed in the shadows of the Apocalypse' and began fighting with a swiftness and grace even more inhuman than before.
Important point - not at birth at all. The pool of people who can be selected for acquiring mutation needed to craft exalted is limited to those with craft 4 and higher. It's stated so in the text. And the process is automated, ie personalities don't come into play here, not really (it's kinda like exalting, isn't it?). So, in principle, Kemmler could have gotten that. Very unlikely though.
No it isnt.
Anyone born in the Design or forcefully integrated into it is a candidate. The forceful integration loophole is in the event of people being brought from Creation.
Manual of Exalted Power Alchemicals page 96: Savant Background talks about the Savant background
Page 27 sidebar: Alchemical Exaltation Requirements. Talks about what it takes to make an Exalt.
Demiurge is in the Autochtonia book, and I dont have it at hand right now.
Being able to build from raw materials, or repair something really busted, does make it cheaper.
Fixing a few and then having Molly ask her for lessons (regardless of how much we may or may not need them) would be worth the trouble I think.
Maybe it's not a material advantage, but her family is something Molly is deeply invested in so I think efforts to reach out would be important to her. In canon she didn't, but in canon things didn't go off the rails as immediately and they didn't have a period of reconciliation before things went so far that they felt like they couldn't connect again.
Like I said, its a time thing not a money thing.
Even if Molly wins the lotto and cuts the family in, its going to marginally lessen but not eliminate most of the existing demands on Charity's time. She's raising seven kids, six if you dont count Molly, and four of them are below 12, with the youngest being 4.
And thats while being Michael's primary logistic support, armorer and training partner; as in, Charity was the person responsible for training Butters in combat after he became a Knight. That was after Michael had retired and most of her kids were older.
Molly is going to be chary of seeming to put more demands on her time.
Which is why Im trying to think of things where they can spend time/interests without actually making demands on each other.
They're good for sneaking into buildings, but they're also too slow to keep up if we're running around town or escape if they get caught by something unafraid of tearing up the environment.
Still, fair enough point.
If Lydia's being modelled as an Exigent/Terrestrial-tier Exalt?
Any 5-dot Familiar would get access to the charms Spirit-Tied Pet, Red Toothed Execution Order and Bestial Traits Technique for free.
Spirit-Tied Pet would allow her familiar to teleport wherever she is if she whistles, and allow it to resurrect if killed by the end of the story arc. Red Toothed Execution Order would allow the familiar to take advantage of their Exalts defense and offense charms.
Bestial Traits would allow the Exalt to absorb the familiar for a scene and manifest some of its traits, like claws.
Hey, what's our base movement speed in yards per round again? And the formula for how that improves with Dexterity? I'm trying to calculate what would happen if someone tried to assassinate us from a thousand yards with a sniper rifle if we had "The City Still Stands," namely whether that results in an angry Infernal that uses Crown of Eyes to track down whoever just shot her, or an angry Infernal that can cross that thousand yards and kill them before the Shintai transformation wears off. I think we can do it between our enhanced speed in Shintai form and the movement multiplier from flight, but I'm fuzzy enough on the movement rules to not be sure.
Edit: no, wait, Rage Recast Flight doesn't give a movement multiplier, I mixed it up with one of the enhanced movement charms from Skinned Alive, I think that caps us out at only 88 yards a round. Which… is only 11 or so rounds of movement to cross a thousand yards, huh.
Important point - not at birth at all. The pool of people who can be selected for acquiring mutation needed to craft exalted is limited to those with craft 4 and higher. It's stated so in the text. And the process is automated, ie personalities don't come into play here, not really (it's kinda like exalting, isn't it?). So, in principle, Kemmler could have gotten that. Very unlikely though.
We were both mistaken.
Tis is what Holden said, and he was one of the writers at the time:
No. This is incorrect.
Demiurge gives a mortal the potential to work with Alchemical Exaltation. That's all.
To actually do anything they have to learn the (jealously guarded) secrets of the process, memorize the efficacious prayers, learn how to monitor and adjust the broth temperatures, etc—these are all skills requiring very high levels of Craft, i.e. a shitload of specialized knowledge and the skill to expertly apply it. Assuming they have the skill to grasp and use this information, another Sodalt has to teach it to them. It doesn't come gratis with the mutation.
Nor does a demiurge's work end when the Alchemical steps out of the Vats. Meticulous Surgeons repair his body when he comes to the Vats for healing, all of the Sodalities work together on upgrades, and Prolific Scholars dedicate their entire lives to designing and developing Charms. Autochthon hands them the cognitive bandwidth and Essence channel to perform this (very limited) Solar-caliber magitech work, but the actual learning, effort, innovation—the demiurge owns those things.
To deny that is to deny that Gordon Ramsay is a talented chef or that a master machinist is anything more than a trained hamster hitting the pedal to get a pellet.
edit: Hell, it's to deny that a Solar owns his heroism, since he got his Exaltation from the UCS.
So then what isn't sitting well with you? Because the only changes to the exaltation process in this edition have been to make the Alchemical's rely on mortal support. Something that you want. It does no such thing. It simply makes mortals into exotic-ingredient gap filler on the way for players...
Word of Alchemical sourcebook author.
Note thats all to build and maintain the Alchemical; after all the work is done, it still requires Autobot to provide the spark to kickstart an Alchemical.
Well an E10 exalted can do it, but the rebellion happens just before exalted grow old enough to be E10, for a reason.
Thou the Solar's could have fixed the Terrestrial exalted bloodline if the they wanted, it in-fact it narrowly lost the vote. One wonders how history would have played out had they done so. Terrestrial just have the replication feature turned on. Potential their are still the original Terrestrial exaltation's in the care of the 5 Dragons.
Hey, what's our base movement speed in yards per round again? And the formula for how that improves with Dexterity? I'm trying to calculate what would happen if someone tried to assassinate us from a thousand yards with a sniper rifle if we had "The City Still Stands," namely whether that results in an angry Infernal that uses Crown of Eyes to track down whoever just shot her, or an angry Infernal that can cross that thousand yards and kill them before the Shintai transformation wears off. I think we can do it between our enhanced speed in Shintai form and the movement multiplier from flight, but I'm fuzzy enough on the movement rules to not be sure.
Base movement speed(running) is 20 + 3*Dex yards/combat turn. Currently thats 32 yards/turn because Dex 4.
One combat turn is 3 seconds.
Flight does not add speed.
Shintai increases Dexterity to 8; that becomes 20 + 3*(4+4)= 44 yards/combat turn.
Windborn Stride increases base speed by x3 normally, or x10 if we spend 1 Essence; assuming we spend Essence, (20 + 3*8)*10 = 440 yards/combat turn.
If we pick up Swift Stride as Rage Recast Aspect at E3, it adds an additional x2 multiplier.
Which would translate to (20 + 3×8)*10*2 = 880 yards per combat turn.
So no, we'd come close, but we cant cover a thousand yards in three seconds.
Not unless we learn the Shih technique that increases Dexterity. Or maybe in Shintai 2.
Or build an artifact that also applies a speed boost, like an equivalent of Ex2's Perfected Boots, which doubles speed.
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