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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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DragonParadox said:
I mean if you start buying up congressmen... now you might be in a position to impose stronger rules on the banking system, you know if you feel like being the Shadow Tyrant of the USA, just be careful of the Library of Congress. :V

Incidentally I still have not decided if all the politicians are the same though. In a world with multiple magical conspiracies one would imagine that there would be quite a few different people and maybe a few differing trends.
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For my part I think this would be a good excuse to change all or most of the names, players, and issues at hand.

Politics can get charged, and not having flags points around to set someone off would likely save us a lot of headaches.

Creating a whole new political landscape is way too much work though, so I think we should just maintain an agreement to avoid getting too far into politics.

That way when we do brush up on it you can just use modular replacements for X issue that only loosely need to make sense with each other instead of coming up with something whole cloth.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Yzarc on Jun 21, 2023 at 11:49 PM, finished with 79 posts and 19 votes.
  • [X] Look over that sword you took from the Akuma, carrying that thing around with you, even if you are not going to do it will make a statement
    [X] The Brothers LeFey
    -[X] Talk to Harry about what happened, see if the White Council is willing to do something about a plot aimed ultimately at them
    -[X] Speak to Thomas about White Court politics and etiquette, movers and shakers within the Court we might encounter at the party, and generally how such gatherings tend to play out, both when they are peaceful and when they include bloodletting.
    [X] Go in the dress you made for Lydia's graveyard party
    [X] The Brothers LeFey
    [X] MAKE some new clothes, you need something intimidating. An emerald green spider silk dress with bronze chain accessories studded with emeralds. Make Lydia a matching dress, but white silk, blackened steel chains, and smoky diamonds.
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This is our one chance to research that sword for free.

If we don't do it now, do you think we'll spend AP on it in the next months?
 
VOTE
[X]Goldfish

We have been outright told that the Skavis wants us to attack the cultists, and has set a trap for Molly and/or Harry. We want Harry to be aware of it so he doesn't blunder into a trap by mistake.
 
DragonParadox said:
Abyssals can make vampires in the core book, vampires are about terestrial tier... if they are strong enough. But the Five Dot Abyssal charm that makes them defaults to 15th generation Cadifs. Those are not Terestrial Scale. If you take that charm as apocalyptic and then as a 5 Essence Abyssal you roll 5 successes on that essence you get an 8th generation clanless vampire. That is about on par with a fresh Terestrial Exalt, if you build them right.

So yeah making circle mates is not going to be easy, but if you start with a minor talent like Olivia and give her some fomori powers it is at least a start, there are other ways to enhance people out there for those who would dare to walk beyond the lighted paths, and other sorts of beings you could find.
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My actual preferred route there is to go the Exalted Crafting route.

An unholy cross between a Chaomorphic Symbiote from Exalted 2E, and a Reach Scarab from DC Comics Blue Beetle, with a callback to oilké style voluntary possessions in Ex2E's Dragon Kings. Spec with Whampire physiology and largely midtier Sorcery Path powers.


BronzeTongue said:
We need a ruling about this, because the nuclear byproducts are more physical elements of the working material and seem less reasonable to poof than energy that came from essence anyway.
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We're fucking with mass-energy either way.

Seriously, a lot of us dont really realize exactly how far out on the cutting edge of material science we already are.

A normal chainmail shirt apparently weighs around 18 pounds, and is worn with a gambeson underneath for padding. Its bulky, seldom subtle and not actually bulletproof.

Molly is wearing a version thats light enough to be an undershirt, with no underwater, and which can help stop assault rifle bullets.
BronzeTongue said:
They care about not being screwed though. The background doesn't matter as long as it scans clean, but anything that triggers a flag on a test if it's real will be a problem even if other tests would show what's going on.

On the industrialist thing, I agree we aren't set up to be Stark, but we can and should still deal with softer economic things at some level.
Too much power to be had to avoid it, though I wouldn't make it a primary thing for us.
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In which case theyd take a small consignment and test it before deciding they want a larger one. Or theyd deposit money in a bank account or with an established intermediary/middlemen but it would be in escrow until they took delivery and established provenance.These are all solved problems for legal/grey market trades.

If they werent the grey market wouldnt be viable.



Softer economics sure.
Which is why I suggested finance/stock market, because being an investor, financier and venture capitalist suits our current suite of capabilities a lot better than deciding to play megacorp tech bro, and affords us a greater breadth of economic intervention.

Not to mention that it requires the most flexible personal time investment, AND it gives us the option of involving Lydia; Intelligence is a Key Attribute for her, meaning that even now she can throw Int 4 + Finance 1 + Willpower 6 at financial issues. And she has the in-story background since Arawn's cover was that he was something in international finance, so she can apply her Mentor Background here narratively as well.
 
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uju32 said:
Yes, can help.
Normal mundane chainmail doesn't offer any protection against bullets at all.
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I see that as a necessary abstraction of the system.
There is no seperate armor against bullets, blades and blunt force, even though in reality there are different types of armor better suited against either.

Armor 1 barely helps against bullets, if you can't soak it naturally it will only ever reduce the damage from a regular handgun by a quarter.
Is that so out there, that a bullet might be slowed down by having to break a few chainlinks before hitting flesh?
 
uju32 said:
My actual preferred route there is to go the Exalted Crafting route.

An unholy cross between a Chaomorphic Symbiote from Exalted 2E, and a Reach Scarab from DC Comics Blue Beetle, with a callback to oilké style voluntary possessions in Ex2E's Dragon Kings. Spec with Whampire physiology and largely midtier Sorcery Path powers.
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A combination for me. We have the following paths to investigate to empower someone:
1) Learning how it's done in canon. Use the photo of the nameless rune caster valkyrie to learn how valkyries are made. Use one or two of the lesser akuma foci to learn how infernal bargaining works from the perspective of the being that grants power. Use one of the fomori foci to learn how Kakuri fomori are made. Use one of the fomor foci (from the alchemical lab equipment we are yet to pick up) how Fomor work (bioshaping). Use a whampire foci to learn how whampires were created, and another to learn how their hunger empowers them, and a third one (we have an abundance) to learn how that empowerment can be furthened. If/when we come upon the topic of soulfire (probably when studying the valkyrie) learn how one can obtain it.
2) Applying alchemical solutions and magical enhcancements. We will need Alchemy 4 for MMP, and will probably be pushing it up to 5/6. That should be enough for a supersoldier serum equivalent. Enchantment at 2 dots explicitely can make +2 Attribute and +2 Ability objects. Making those and embedding them into the subject seems like a reasonable step.
3) Fomori making charm, probably the cybernetic one, actually, to interface with further enchanted objects.
4) Ape the Swords. We have canon Fetish making charm, and we can get powerful enough spirits to empower them.
 
uju32 said:
being an investor, financier and venture capitalist suits our current suite of capabilities a lot better than deciding to play megacorp tech bro
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But that's just flat wrong. When doing the techbro thing, we can use technology, which we have dots in, and fall onto cyberdevil background, especially if/when we buy more dots of it (I want to point out, that we are underutilizing them. They have Technology 3, which we haven't been using at all). We have Finance 0, it's not a key ability, and we have no appripriate backgrounds to fall on for this. We can't judge what investments will be profitable, or how the stock market will behave. If we are talking about the setup which actually is intended to generate revenue, using advanced technologies from our kingdom, and importing them into the real world, seems like a much more profitable venture. A yearly R&D budget of USA is ~ 100 billion dollars. Assuming that our kingdom is only 10 years more advanced technologically, and is only equal to USA in economic power (Fivefold Court technology is supposed to be ~ Cyberpunk 2077 level, and it's population is ~ 5 billion, making it definitely more economically powerful than USA), that's a trillion dollars of invested money in technological resutls and advances that we would have as an advantage. DARPA has ~ 5-10% program success rate. So, that's 50 to 100 billion worth of useful technologies, with a 10 year advantage. Pairing it even more down, let's say 10% of those can be patented immediately and sold to Apple, IBM, Intel, etc. That's still 5 to 10 billion immediately available. realistically, this number can be multiplied by at least a factor of 10.

Remember:
1) We don't need to manufacture stuff ourselves. Selling technologies is possible. We might need a working sample of the technology, but we can do that with Craft, or just getting a prototype from our kingdom.
2) We would need Finance, politics, law, etc advisors and people running the firm no matter who we choose.
3) Our Kingdom is our resource. Because it's likely to be culturally different, have different legal systems, language, etc, we can't use it for stuff like investment help reliably. We need things that are either universal, meaning technology and hard sciences, or can be easily adapted, meaning stuff like some entertainment (books, some comics and cartoon, board games, etc, stuff that isn't live action). ignoring our kingdom as an asset is a folly.

Also, it occurs to me that we might be talking past each other when talking about a "megacorp" and "running a megacorp". While I can see paths towards making said megacorp, where we have both manufacturing, corp towns, etc, a far easier path is that of a technological startup and a private "research" firm. We outsource manufacturing. We sell knowledge, patents, technologies, science. Also maybe entertainment. Venture capitalism is basically the same, only with less success rate, and not using stuff we actually have / will have.
 
Vote closed.

Looks like we are going to talk to Harry and Thomas, but since there is an interest in the sword, just maybe not now I'll give you guys an option to hand it to Harry to study, for payment obviously
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 22, 2023 at 4:29 AM, finished with 93 posts and 21 votes.
  • [X] Look over that sword you took from the Akuma, carrying that thing around with you, even if you are not going to do it will make a statement
    [X] The Brothers LeFey
    -[X] Talk to Harry about what happened, see if the White Council is willing to do something about a plot aimed ultimately at them
    -[X] Speak to Thomas about White Court politics and etiquette, movers and shakers within the Court we might encounter at the party, and generally how such gatherings tend to play out, both when they are peaceful and when they include bloodletting.
    [X] Go in the dress you made for Lydia's graveyard party
    [X] The Brothers LeFey
    [X] MAKE some new clothes, you need something intimidating. An emerald green spider silk dress with bronze chain accessories studded with emeralds. Make Lydia a matching dress, but white silk, blackened steel chains, and smoky diamonds.
Click to expand...
 
DragonParadox said:
Looks like we are going to talk to Harry and Thomas, but since there is an interest in the sword, just maybe not now I'll give you guys an option to hand it to Harry to study, for payment obviously
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That's an interesting option, yes. I quite like it. Harry would also probably learn quite a bit from it, especially because he already read our Big Book of Yomi Wan.
 
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Arc 8 Post 13: A Wizard Forewarned
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    • A Wizard Forewarned ​

    10th of November 2006 A.D.

    The following morning classes crawl forward even slower than usual as the revelations of the night buzz around in your head like a swarm of angry wasps. What are you even doing here? Calculus? You have people for that, you have living computers for that, their minds are made of math. Mom and dad will be upset if I ditch again, you remind yourself and it is at least enough to see you through the end of the day, sloshing though the last of the November snow as the powers of winter finally slacken their hold on the city just in time for the cold grey late autumn weather fit for nothing but writing moody verse staring out the window.

    Essence and Willpower Restored to Full

    Fortunately for you and any poor sods who might have it inflicted on them, you have no time to write poetry. Instead you go to meet with Thomas and Harry over a Harry's, that being one of the safer places in town to talk about White Court plots and etiquette alike. So you wander in giving Mouse a scratch behind his ears to find Thomas looking his usual fit for GQ self and Harry wearing the kind of plaid sweater that could only have been a gift. He still looks nicer. No, bad Molly, no ogling the wizard when there is important stuff to talk about.

    Stuff there is indeed talk about, your adventure last night, but also Harry's attempts to track down Broken Seeker which are leaving him frustrated and a little freaked out, in his experience things this powerful don't go to ground for months. "I went out to Deer Grove to poke around some and..."

    "Wait a second you went to the place where the Naagloshii and its tribe of murder-loons are, alone?" Your voice ascends about half an octave in the course of the question.

    "Yes..." he starts, then scowls, though at a point to the left of the couch. Still weird to know the shadow of a fallen angel is in the peanuts gallery. "Its my job."

    "To risk your life without backup?" you prod sharply. "You know I didn't go fight the Will of Kakuri solo."

    As Harry's eyes slide over Thomas the vampire raises his hands. "Don't look at me I agree with her on that one."

    "I was staking things out from the car," Harry defends himself.

    Personally you very much doubt that car would in any way help escaping a predatory god-monster from the dawn of time, but he is alive. A jolt of fear goes though you that burns with Essence behind your eyes. No aura, still Harry. Mouse is almost guaranteed to have noticed, but you trust your own eyes more.

    Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 14/15 (HC)

    "Moving on, what did you find?" Thomas interjects.

    "Signs of camping, bones, stains of black magic on the land, sick trees and the like but nothing more recent than about ten days ago. It looks like they ran as soon as you caught their spy. Doesn't really match with what I've been able to learn about these things, they are supposed to revel in pain and misery filled with spite and pride."

    "They are also supposed to be old. Hunters you don't get old by being sloppy," Thomas muses and you nod along instantly.

    Something about that shared understanding must have looked a bit creepy to Harry, eyes widening briefly before he changes the subject back to your upcoming vampire party... and how he really doesn't think you should be going. You would have been entirely content to let him run through his arguments if he had not brought up 'you're seventeen'

    "It's my birthday."

    "What?" He really is unfairly cute when he does a double take.

    "It's my birthday on the thirteenth and I was born at 3 PM so I will be eighteen by even the most technical of standards by the time the party starts."

    Now we have moved on to 'deer in the headlights', still cute, also funny.

    Speaking of keeping Harry out of trouble you have been thinking of that sword recently. Maybe you could give it to him to study. Between Bob and the book you compiled about Yomi you have no doubt he will be able to suss out its secrets, though if they are too deep and dark he might feel it is his responsibility to destroy it.

    What do you do

    [] Commission Harry to look into the Akuma's sword (Cost Paid Automatically from Resource Background; Risk that he will feel duty-bound to destroy it if it is too bad)

    [] Do not commission Harry to look into the Akuma's sword

    [] Write in

    OOC: I will admit I did not mention the birthday in the last update because I wanted to get the full impact from Harry being told out of the blue here.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • I like this option. It gives Harry something to do, gives us an excuse to further boost his finances, and gets the sword research done without taking any of our time. And if Harry deems it necessary to destroy the sword, I'm cool with that.

    [X] Commission Harry to look into the Akuma's sword (Cost Paid Automatically from Resource Background; Risk that he will feel duty-bound to destroy it if it is too bad)
     
    [X] Commission Harry to look into the Akuma's sword (Cost Paid Automatically from Resource Background; Risk that he will feel duty-bound to destroy it if it is too bad)
     
    [X] Commission Harry to look into the Akuma's sword (Cost Paid Automatically from Resource Background; Risk that he will feel duty-bound to destroy it if it is too bad)
    -[X] Use it as a crown focus before giving it to Harry.
    --[X] "What are the secrets of forging such a blade?"

    Not sure about the question, would like suggestions.
     
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