Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
What I wrote above and also, even if it draws attention the attention will be slow, big companies looking for their nest-diamond strike are slowed by the complexity of corporate structure, governments are even slower especially they they are in fact getting paid their tax.
Does he have a list of properties open for purchase? I.e. is my idea for the Crown use viable as written? Or does it need to be modified?
The alternative I had was using the map of Africa as a focus and ask the question "what is the property up for sale that has the most undiscovered and unclaimed by anyone magical power on it, or buried underneath it?"
He does not currently have a property in mind because the important part of the scheme if you go in that direction is not the property, it is finding an official or group of them that will stay bought, the land per say is secondary to making sure the paper trail is solid enough to pass inspection.
Ok. We'll just have to hope we are lucky and get something with buried treasure then.
[X] A small mining operation, try to make diamonds that could pass for natural
Well, finally almost at the end of the thread, god does it moves fast, there were ten pages less when I got to sleep yesterday….
Also, since it is recent:
So, I cannot tell for most of the other splats, but I did see someone with a great explanation of that absolutely being the case for infernals in a Code Geass/Exalted quest, now, the biggest thing talked about were the excellencies of E2, who are extremely clear on the fact that they want to change how you think to make you able to use them in the first place, but you can still see it in some charms here.
Freedom let's go encourages you to make acquaintances, to get attached to everything and everyone… and to consider even the strongest bind fleeting and temporary.
CCC encourages you to see everything as a prison, everyone as an obstacle.
All things betray says everything with just it's name, be ever vigilant, in case you would get betrayed.
Violence is worship makes you search for places where violence is likely to happen, it makes you happy when someone else is launching the hostilities, but discourage being the one that does it.
Without honor, without hope make you want to be in a blizzard. And if there is none, well, you'll make one.
I'm sure there are other examples.
Anyway, the reason why these charms wants you to act in certain ways is easy to guess when you remember where they come from in the first place: they were the charms of the yozi, they aren't what they do, they literally are what they are, how they act, how they think.
Of course making situations when you can use them is intended, one of the plans the yozi had for escaping was having the infernals become new versions of themselves that were outside their prisons, they want you to think like them, they want you to take their charm, get warped by them, and then decide that taking the charm to become so and so yozi who you already are very close to anyway is a good idea.
They just got thwarted by the fact that the infernals were better than anticipated and can *easily* decide to make their own charm trees, with blackjack, and hookers.
Also, since it is recent:
So, I cannot tell for most of the other splats, but I did see someone with a great explanation of that absolutely being the case for infernals in a Code Geass/Exalted quest, now, the biggest thing talked about were the excellencies of E2, who are extremely clear on the fact that they want to change how you think to make you able to use them in the first place, but you can still see it in some charms here.
Freedom let's go encourages you to make acquaintances, to get attached to everything and everyone… and to consider even the strongest bind fleeting and temporary.
CCC encourages you to see everything as a prison, everyone as an obstacle.
All things betray says everything with just it's name, be ever vigilant, in case you would get betrayed.
Violence is worship makes you search for places where violence is likely to happen, it makes you happy when someone else is launching the hostilities, but discourage being the one that does it.
Without honor, without hope make you want to be in a blizzard. And if there is none, well, you'll make one.
I'm sure there are other examples.
Anyway, the reason why these charms wants you to act in certain ways is easy to guess when you remember where they come from in the first place: they were the charms of the yozi, they aren't what they do, they literally are what they are, how they act, how they think.
Of course making situations when you can use them is intended, one of the plans the yozi had for escaping was having the infernals become new versions of themselves that were outside their prisons, they want you to think like them, they want you to take their charm, get warped by them, and then decide that taking the charm to become so and so yozi who you already are very close to anyway is a good idea.
They just got thwarted by the fact that the infernals were better than anticipated and can *easily* decide to make their own charm trees, with blackjack, and hookers.
The thing is, after 2003 every diamond mine needs to be inspected and every diamond have its lineage tracked to try to block the trade in blood diamonds.
Without a working mine that has been inspected and that can be isotopic and chemically matched to the diamonds, you can't import rough diamonds into basically any developed country.
You can't just fake a mine, you also have to fake a mine with a local geology and geochemistry that matches the diamonds we're manufacturing.
[X] An innovative diamond creating start up, make high quality but obviously artificial diamonds
Without a working mine that has been inspected and that can be isotopic and chemically matched to the diamonds, you can't import rough diamonds into basically any developed country.
You can't just fake a mine, you also have to fake a mine with a local geology and geochemistry that matches the diamonds we're manufacturing.
[X] An innovative diamond creating start up, make high quality but obviously artificial diamonds
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I assure you neither is true plenty of diamonds are still blood diamonds. Because quess what immoral people care more about profit then something like being a good person. So guess what they just bribe and fake the paperwork, and put on a nice stage show for any inspections.
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That's an interesting take that we've sort of brushed on once or twice, but not really gotten into that much.
What I'm curious about with this paradigm is how much give and take there is.
As in, do they "load" the same personality elements into anyone that takes them, or is it more an enhancement of what similar elements already exist in the infernal?
Giving everyone the same paranoia pattern for example might make sense to the Yozi, but could also be the sort of thing the exaltation would itself veto. Sort of a stretch, but opens some more interesting character options.
Two different people with the same charms could behave in very different ways if ATB enhances their paranoia instead of gifting them both a copy someone else's.
ViW could enhance the protective instincts of an infernal with Harry's disposition or the a more passively sadistic tendencies out of someone like Maeve.
Who actually enforces those rules, and how through are their checks?
Hell, do we even need to sell to people who demand that sort of paper trail? I'm sure there are plenty of sketchy people around the world who just want shiny rocks and don't care about where precisely you got them.
As long as they pay in a hard currency like USD or euros it all spends the same.
Thomas at least thinks he can pull this off, with the primary issue being in attention from a teenager owning a mine and potentially getting caught out by a visit.
Both of which are diffused by him being a princeling of the white court. The counterbalance to the risk of having recruited someone like him is that he has connections, and people are a lot more willing to believe he can and would do things like this.
- Location
- Florida
[X] A small mining operation, try to make diamonds that could pass for natural
- Pronouns
- he/him
[X] Actually you have another idea
-[X] Claim both. You will sell diamonds that pass as natural as diamonds obtained from the mine, and diamonds that don't, as artificial ones, made in the facility located in Africa where the "mine" is.
--[X] Have Thomas gather the list of properties for sale, then use the Crown on the list to arrange them starting from the one that has the most unclaimed and undiscovered supernatural power within its borders, including buried underneath it. Use the sales announcements of the properties to check what kind of magical power each one has.
--[X] Have Thomas put it in his name.
-[X] Claim both. You will sell diamonds that pass as natural as diamonds obtained from the mine, and diamonds that don't, as artificial ones, made in the facility located in Africa where the "mine" is.
--[X] Have Thomas gather the list of properties for sale, then use the Crown on the list to arrange them starting from the one that has the most unclaimed and undiscovered supernatural power within its borders, including buried underneath it. Use the sales announcements of the properties to check what kind of magical power each one has.
--[X] Have Thomas put it in his name.
That's actually a good point. I mean, if we wanted, if nothing else, some third world country where the masquerade is not as established, and local shamans are an actual political power would be easier for us to operate in. Hell, South Korea will be getting controlled by a shadow cabal of shamans in less than a decade. We could probably roll up into there, flair our anima and be elected president for life (or at least a local mayor) on the basis of "great demon lord is clearly the greatest local power".
[X] Plan Magical Diamond in the Rough
[X] A small mining operation, try to make diamonds that could pass for natural
-[X] Ask Thomas if he'd be willing to be the public owner of the company to reduce the odds of investigation from interest parties
Gives more money AND less scrutiny.
Why is there even another option again?
And then we'll get arrested for fraud, what a great idea! /s
From what I remember of the more in depths explanation given by someone who knows a lot more than me on Exalted:
It's not really that the charms put an UMI on you to force the change, it's that they encourage behaviors by their very mechanics.
The excellencies where a far easier to explain example so I'm going to go with them to explain:
So, looking at the malfeas excellency, it says
So what does it say? It says you want to be loud, you want to be flashy, stealth is anathema, overkill is welcome and expected.
Now, compare to the excellency of someone else:
This one is very, very different even at first glance, it wants you to plan, to take your time, being brash and hasty is not the way, you also really want a cult, and law is law is law.
Both cases really change how you want to act and think just via what they help you do, if your excellency absolutely loves overkills and refuses any stealth, you are not going to become a spy master, if it encourages you to plan and grow a cult while enforcing the law, you will not be a barbarian.
The charms we get aren't as explicit, but they do have some of the same idea behind them.
You're not going to love long walks in the sun if you take witness to darkness and the perfect defense of kakuri, and you will probably begin looking hyperactive if you take too much *murder wind vroom vroom* charms.
I can absolutely see that happen, Molly did manage to use mercy in servitude in a way that is hers, after all. I doubt the original owner even thought about charity even once instead of manipulating minions to be grateful.
[X] A small mining operation, try to make diamonds that could pass for natural
-[X] Ask Thomas if he'd be willing to be the public owner of the company to reduce the odds of investigation from interest parties
Gives more money AND less scrutiny.
Why is there even another option again?
And then we'll get arrested for fraud, what a great idea! /s
From what I remember of the more in depths explanation given by someone who knows a lot more than me on Exalted:
It's not really that the charms put an UMI on you to force the change, it's that they encourage behaviors by their very mechanics.
The excellencies where a far easier to explain example so I'm going to go with them to explain:
So, looking at the malfeas excellency, it says
Malfeas: The fallen King of the Primordials is arrogant, cruel and given to excessive displays of obvious force for the chance to show off and the sadistic joy he feels when enemies and allies look upon him in awe and terror. He is vast and full of hate toward those who betrayed and imprisoned him, seeking vengeance with indiscriminate callousness to the collateral damage he inflicts on the innocent. The Demon City is resilientand strong enough to lift the world or crush it underfoot. The green fires raging in his heart blight the very Essence of everything they touch, marking the world with his wrathful glory. He holds authority over all things wise enough to bow before the world's creators.
Characters may apply this Charm to any actions in which they choose the ostentatious or overkill approach over merely adequate solutions. Any intentional subtlety or display of restraint makes this Excellency inapplicable, including adding less than half the maximum possible dice bonus to a roll (rounded down). Note that force does not necessarily equate to violence. A forceful seduction in which an Infernal confidently orders a prospective paramour to accompany him rather than cajoling or flattering her can benefit from this Charm just as readily as a stomp delivered to a prone enemy's face. Strangely, the power of Malfeas may also enhance any Performance action to dance or create music. These are the secret pleasures of the Demon City that embarrass Ligier.
Characters may apply this Charm to any actions in which they choose the ostentatious or overkill approach over merely adequate solutions. Any intentional subtlety or display of restraint makes this Excellency inapplicable, including adding less than half the maximum possible dice bonus to a roll (rounded down). Note that force does not necessarily equate to violence. A forceful seduction in which an Infernal confidently orders a prospective paramour to accompany him rather than cajoling or flattering her can benefit from this Charm just as readily as a stomp delivered to a prone enemy's face. Strangely, the power of Malfeas may also enhance any Performance action to dance or create music. These are the secret pleasures of the Demon City that embarrass Ligier.
So what does it say? It says you want to be loud, you want to be flashy, stealth is anathema, overkill is welcome and expected.
Now, compare to the excellency of someone else:
Cecelyne: The Endless Desert is patient and deliberate. She holds back, amassing resources until she can overwhelm her opposition. Her law places the strong over the weak, celebrating a doctrine of arbitrary and capricious hypocrisy. She demands reverence from allies and enemies alike and works terrifying and wondrous miracles to expand her worship. She is deeply insightful into the desires and failures of others and owns those whose wishes she fulfills. She borders everything and eternity, so everyone comes to her in time. Her heart overflows with desolation, turning all around her to literal or metaphorical wasteland. When her patience runs out or her plans reach fruition, her rage is sudden and shocking.
Characters may apply this Charm to any actions in which they build on prior planning and effort to succeed more thoroughly or carefully. Cecelyne's Excellency also assists actions that give others what they wantin order to influence and ultimately own them. She also helps punish those who break a deal or betray their loyalty to the Infernal or his laws. The Charm may assist any attempt to amass or jealously protect resources that are directly useful to the Exalt's established plans, but has no power to help spur-of-the-moment whims, acts of meaningless self-indulgence or displays of truly selfless altruism. The Endless Desert helps Infernals endure unrelentingly harsh conditions, whether physical or social, as well as resist challenges to their long-term plans. The Charm does not help characters resist random misfortune, nor can it thwart actions of those advancing an agenda unrelated to the Infernal's long-term goals.
Characters may apply this Charm to any actions in which they build on prior planning and effort to succeed more thoroughly or carefully. Cecelyne's Excellency also assists actions that give others what they wantin order to influence and ultimately own them. She also helps punish those who break a deal or betray their loyalty to the Infernal or his laws. The Charm may assist any attempt to amass or jealously protect resources that are directly useful to the Exalt's established plans, but has no power to help spur-of-the-moment whims, acts of meaningless self-indulgence or displays of truly selfless altruism. The Endless Desert helps Infernals endure unrelentingly harsh conditions, whether physical or social, as well as resist challenges to their long-term plans. The Charm does not help characters resist random misfortune, nor can it thwart actions of those advancing an agenda unrelated to the Infernal's long-term goals.
This one is very, very different even at first glance, it wants you to plan, to take your time, being brash and hasty is not the way, you also really want a cult, and law is law is law.
Both cases really change how you want to act and think just via what they help you do, if your excellency absolutely loves overkills and refuses any stealth, you are not going to become a spy master, if it encourages you to plan and grow a cult while enforcing the law, you will not be a barbarian.
The charms we get aren't as explicit, but they do have some of the same idea behind them.
You're not going to love long walks in the sun if you take witness to darkness and the perfect defense of kakuri, and you will probably begin looking hyperactive if you take too much *murder wind vroom vroom* charms.
I can absolutely see that happen, Molly did manage to use mercy in servitude in a way that is hers, after all. I doubt the original owner even thought about charity even once instead of manipulating minions to be grateful.
[X] A small mining operation, try to make diamonds that could pass for natural
[X] A small mining operation, try to make diamonds that could pass for natural
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think we have a bit of magic to demonstrate.
And then Mab smacks us for breaking the masquerade.
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
We'll need to keep an eye on De Beers. They are... kinda crazy protective of their market in a heap of different African countries. They practically bankroll Botswana singlehandedly, though we probably wouldn't target Botswana specifically because it isn't corrupt enough. We need a middle ground between Botswana's monopoly-fueled diamonds and, say, Sierra Leone or Liberia's blood diamond trade.
I kind of wonder at what point we'd be better off just creating the actual machines to make artificial diamonds (we could make such machines in truth) or else finding and purchasing our own diamond mine using our otherworldly knowledge. Hell, there is probably some obscure charm that would make a mine whole cloth but I have no knowledge there.
I kind of wonder at what point we'd be better off just creating the actual machines to make artificial diamonds (we could make such machines in truth) or else finding and purchasing our own diamond mine using our otherworldly knowledge. Hell, there is probably some obscure charm that would make a mine whole cloth but I have no knowledge there.
- Location
- Germany
We propably can't make that machine.
We are pretty low in tech and no genius with raw Intelligence either.
Our Charm can make impossible machines that also don't need power besudes the invested Essence.
Any real machine we build has to respect physics and exist within the current frame of technology
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
It's not just that. The Yozi like the primordials that they came from are amazingly hyper competent in their area of specialization. They don't have exalancys they are just that good. But they are also amazingly incompetent in anything outside their area of expertise. More than just incompetent outside their area, completely uninterested and dismissive of the idea that things outside their field might be important.
So they get blindsided by Infernals using their charms in ways they wouldn't, because the idea wouldn't occur them.
The problem is that actual machines need power to work. Alot of power so much power that creating artificial diamonds isn't nearly as profitable as you might expect. Also problems of having to watch the machines and deal with tonix buildups.
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