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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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Arc 9 Post 14: Down to Brass Tacks
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    • Down to Brass Tacks ​

    19th of November 2006 A.D.

    Looking around the pub, soft fire-light playing on polished wood and bright brass, the smell of fresh bread Cincinnati chili and bratwurst you turn a cheese curd between your fingers as though unsure if you should eat it. In truth the decision you make here and now is a lot more serious than that, international diplomacy important, the kind of thing they might have pictures in history books someday. You know the White Council has a traitor problem, but on the other hand this is such a good ice breaker, heh, and you know who the traitors are. "Alright," you reach out to shake on it. "I think both of sides should be able to veto the picks of the other given how alien this is going to be for everyone, no sense risking tensions because a ward threw up walls of fire or because one side's cultural traditions are seen in a bad light."

    "Hey! No need to take aim at me," Harry calls though without much passion to it

    Truthfully it's not a shot at him, its a shield in case you have to bar someone from the Fivefold Courts without explanation. The Merlin's gaze is uncomfortably sharp, mayhap the edge of a smile just guessed at is that distracted him, perhaps not, but either way his grip is firm as he agrees to the stipulation.

    "OK so last thing I wanted to talk to you about, well not you the Council in general. The Skavis plot of killing off minor talents that I helped Lara deal with..." Not for nothing are you name dropping her here, a reminder that you have connections in other parts of the supernatural world. "There is really nothing stopping anyone else from doing that again. the barrier to entry is terrifyingly low, find people with decent recon and firearms experience, twist their brains into thinking they are Torquemada reborn and not one minor talent in a hundred will be able to stand up to them." Remembering Doctor Jackson you add. "Even if they have magic to protect themselves with and most don't actually using in that way isn't something they will have trained in and on the off chance that they have both the tools and the knowhow to use them I'd say it's all too likely they'd end up stumbling into breaking the First Law."

    This time Harry doesn't say anything, but he does flinch. Damn you didn't mean to bring up bad memories it's just this needs to be said...

    For their part three of the wardens scowl, as though you had personally insulted their abilities instead of pointed out a reality. If you had been paying less attention to him you might have missed the way Langtry's eyes go a little unfocused, sending a telepathic message to quiet down... If he can do that then the spoken argument a moment ago was not needed... it was for your benefit to make the Merlin look reasonable.

    Cool

    You might not entirely trust the man, but it is fun to play these kind of games against someone who is not terrifying like Queen Mab or personally revolting like Broken Seeker

    "Practically speaking there is very little the Council can do beyond the protection it is already providing. The calculus of war is simple as it is brutal, the more one pulls from the front the more likely one is to suffer defeats and casualties. The loss of each wizard is not just that of a friend and colleague, it is also of a trained practitioner in the arcane arts broadly who could help guide and protect lesser talents. Even those who are not lost hesitate to set foot outside of their wards as often while the risk of vampiric attack lingers. We must win the war and win is swiftly. Then wizards might return to our other duties with all hands. One hopes that this meeting can be a part of this eventually."

    Hope is good and all but you have some other ideas...

    Choose one or more, DCs will be modified according to how radical the suggestions are:

    [] Provide communication equipment that is unaffected by the tech-bane

    [] Give Council wizards the names of spirits from Sanctuary which may then be summoned and bargained with at a discount and without the usual dangers of calling up such powerful entities

    [] Set up a network of minor talents using the internet so they can pool their resources for common protection (If not chosen can still be done, just without the approval and aegis of the White Council)

    [] Transfer one of Mab's favors (Will dramatically reduce the DC of all other suggestions)

    [] Write in

    OOC: This is also your chance to ask anymore questions with your crown before the scene ends hence why the vote is made with plan voting in mind.
     
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    • [X] Plan Connections
    -[X] Provide communication equipment that is unaffected by the tech-bane
    -[X] Set up a network of minor talents using the internet so they can pool their resources for common protection (If not chosen can still be done, just without the approval and aegis of the White Council)

    They know of Burny, and I'd be more than willing to hand cyberdevil inhabited phones to them. Also, I'd love for us to start getting the Paranet formed. Especially if it's done this way with the White Council essentially inviting us to share authority over minor talents.

    Edit: The big problem practitioners have is that there's too many of them that are too disconnected. White Council works because it brings wizards together. Order of the Cauldron helps by bringing people together. If we want to help people than we need to help them find each other, come together, stay in contact, and be able to call for help when things get bad.
     
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    [X] Plan Active Connections
    -[X] Provide communication equipment that is unaffected by the tech-bane
    -[X] Set up a network of minor talents using the internet so they can pool their resources for common protection (If not chosen can still be done, just without the approval and aegis of the White Council)
    -[X] Set up systems to actively look for talents that are only coming into their gifts in order to avoid them slipping through the cracks

    I want to do more, namely set up trade with the Courts, but I recognize that this is already a lot.
     
    I remember a fic that had the original Merlin and wizard Winter Knight of the time had set up a deal between the White Council and the Winter Court that whenever fairies found practitioners they would get watched over. Wizard level talents would be assigned a fairy godparent from among the Sidhe, and would eventually be brought over to the White Council for an apprenticeship. Minor practitioners would be noted down, the White Council informed, and the Little Folk in a given area would be required to do the occasional check to see if any of them had been eaten, possessed, or what have you.

    The White Council benefitted from practitioners, especially wizard level ones, not falling through the cracks. Their membership was considerably more than canon by the time. Members of the Sidhe benefitted from getting influential relationships with wizards, and if they managed to get along well with their charge, then they could turn into multigenerational alliances.

    If we can set ourselves up something like that with the White Council then that could give us tremendous influence. It'd be a more long-term thing for personal relationships from such a setup to pay dividends, but even the mere existence of such an arrangement would give us influence.
     
    [X] Anaja

    Yog said:
    [X] Plan Active Connections
    -[X] Provide communication equipment that is unaffected by the tech-bane
    -[X] Set up a network of minor talents using the internet so they can pool their resources for common protection (If not chosen can still be done, just without the approval and aegis of the White Council)
    -[X] Set up systems to actively look for talents that are only coming into their gifts in order to avoid them slipping through the cracks

    I want to do more, namely set up trade with the Courts, but I recognize that this is already a lot.
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    Some of that stuff should be left till after the diplomats speak more anyway. I personally like the option with the spirits, but that'd probably start ringing their "too good to be true" alarms this early in the process.
     
    BronzeTongue said:
    Some of that stuff should be left till after the diplomats speak more anyway. I personally like the option with the spirits, but that'd probably start ringing their "too good to be true" alarms this early in the process.
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    I mean, spirit thing should follow the exchange of diplomats. Where the wizards and our people talk between each other, and we authorize the release of the names of those deemed best suited.
     
    Actively finding talents is something that we should do, but it doesn't feel like an active agreement with the White Council thing yet. We know that if we find potential wizards, then they might not even get an apprenticeship. Ebenezer mentioned that whether or not members of the Council should be required to take apprentices more often than just when they feel like has been an argument that they've been having for centuries now.

    Plus, any new ideas and methods for finding them is probably going to come from us. We can set that up, and have would be wizards on hand to approach the White Council with later. I hope that in setting up the Paranet we can help all the practitioners out there. I also hope that we can gradually be the main authority for practitioners with the White Council as a specialized subset.

    Edit: Also, if anything should wait until after the traitors and infiltration of the White Council is dealt with at least somewhat, then it's officially swelling their ranks with a glut of impressionable new apprentices.
     
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    [X] - Write in - I am owed multiple open ended favors from Mab sufficient to give her cause to enter this war without holding back. I will not transfer any of these to you, but I am willing to offer my forbearance in invoking one as part of any peace negotiation. So long as they are in play the Red Court cannot win. If I lose so do they. Informing them of this could speed up getting to peace.
     
    @DragonParadox, does IRIS have the capability to interface with and monitor internet traffic? Specifically, could it manage to hack into something like Google's databases to look for specific keyword searches?

    Seems like a good way to identify new talents, minor or otherwise, would be to find them as they try to find out more about themselves.
     
    Yog said:
    I mean, spirit thing should follow the exchange of diplomats. Where the wizards and our people talk between each other, and we authorize the release of the names of those deemed best suited.
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    If the diplomatic mission goes well yeah. I'd also like to start selling them weird weapons.

    Electro lasers have come up, but I bet that flay ray from earlier would be possible at their tech level, as would a fully realized version of marauder. Which would be doubly funny because it'd basically be shooting a mini version of the life giving plasma ring from the FCF at people to kill them and/or wizards making very aggressive use of circles depending on the user.

    There's also sonic weapons to consider. With modern technology you could probably make something to explode eyeballs* in an unfortunate AoE, and the notes on the dangers of focused sound seem promising for the purposes of justifying sci-fi bullshit. Wonder what it would take to produce a rifle equivalent that pulps organs without breaking skin, or giving a damn about armor, just to name one example.

    We do run a hell after all, one that hit the magitech Industrial Revolution and kept going. Time to show people the fresh horrors that await in the new age. :V

    …After they're comfortable enough with us to not run screaming.

    * This would be a horrible thing to do to people, but remember red vamps have stupid regen. They'd almost certainly grow them back during the fight if the user didn't keep the anti-eye weapon pointed at them.
     
    Goldfish said:
    @DragonParadox, does IRIS have the capability to interface with and monitor internet traffic? Specifically, could it manage to hack into something like Google's databases to look for specific keyword searches?

    Seems like a good way to identify new talents, minor or otherwise, would be to find them as they try to find out more about themselves.
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    She should as soon as she gets online yes, though she would have to roll for it and it might present complications if she is noticed.
     
    Goldfish said:
    @DragonParadox, does IRIS have the capability to interface with and monitor internet traffic? Specifically, could it manage to hack into something like Google's databases to look for specific keyword searches?

    Seems like a good way to identify new talents, minor or otherwise, would be to find them as they try to find out more about themselves.
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    If we want to get serious about that it might be a good idea to revisit possessing telecom satellites.
     
    You know what the FCF would be great for? Setting up our very own Hogwarts.

    If we locate people with magical talent, the safest place we could keep them would be in our hell. The Fey, Vampire courts, random supernatural monsters, etc., wouldn't be able to prey on them there.

    And for every combat-capable wizard of the White Council ready to fight the Reds, there are probably several more who don't have the temperament, power, age, or ability to do so. The war is especially hard on them, I imagine.

    With extremely thorough vetting, I'm sure we could find a sizable group of wizards who, while not able or willing to participate in the war, could make suitable instructors for DF-style magic. Safety is a great incentive, after all.

    I wasn't enthusiastic about inviting the WC into our hell, but that ship has already sailed, so we might as well look toward making the most of it.
     
    BronzeTongue said:
    If we want to get serious about that it might be a good idea to revisit possessing telecom satellites.
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    invest a couple of million into google, get a tour of the facilities (or just get a tour of the facilities), HMP the hell out of them. As long as we are not in conflict with WC about that, it should be safe-ish to do.
    BronzeTongue said:
    If the diplomatic mission goes well yeah. I'd also like to start selling them weird weapons.
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    The plan I almost wrote was called "the merchant of death". Becoming a weapon supplier for WC and Winter is a lucrative deal.
     
    Yog said:
    invest a couple of million into google, get a tour of the facilities (or just get a tour of the facilities), HMP the hell out of them. As long as we are not in conflict with WC about that, it should be safe-ish to do.
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    Google is good, though I don't think you can take their system over that easily, but telecoms are better because you can get everything. The way things work during this period some clever spoofing can get you past the normal encryption for phone transmissions to name one additional thing.

    I'm on board for buying into big companies as part of making a corporate empire though.

    Yog said:
    The plan I almost wrote was called "the merchant of death". Becoming a weapon supplier for WC and Winter is a lucrative deal.
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    I'd vote for this once we've gotten some more stable relations with various powers, including mortal ones.

    For the muggles I think we should start with something new rather than handing out weapons though. If we could make that mundane magic resistant armor scalable we could start tipping the scales a little without freaking anyone out. It's also something we could license export quality production for without too much risk, which makes people cooperative because they aren't wholly dependent on outsiders.

    The best stuff would be ours, but some sweetheart deals on stuff that barely matters are good political fodder.

    Another juicy option that would hide us influence that can't easily be replicated anywhere else is our industrial scale alchemy.

    Not for potions or anything crazy, but for speciality ammunition. Expensive and exotic payloads for big game hunting would be flashy and sell like hotcakes, but the real meat would be making the lowest possible level of effect that elevates something out of being mundane damage.

    I'm not talking Agg exactly, but plenty of creatures walk off bullets but are at least marginally weaker to anything that isn't purely mundane. Lydia being an example of this with her damage reduction charm option.

    For everyone else we can exploit various related properties to make it more effective anyway.

    For a baseline I'm thinking mirrorsteel hollow points where the cavity is filled with salt.

    That stuff is stupid tough, so if you shoot a target that has normal durability I could see the argument for it acting like a normal bullet instead of compressing.

    If you're shooting something too tough it'd instead compress/shatter depending on the manufacturing technique and make a worse wound with very uncompromising shrapnel.

    The salt isn't just to be an asshole. In the early DF Harry does stuff like hurt ghosts by throwing table salt at them. Not all incorporeal entities will have that weakness, but it's common enough that having something to hurt such targets even when they phase through your bullets would be helpful.

    A lowest common denominator round like that wouldn't be ideal for any one thing, but it'd be better than what's currently in use most of the time. We could have specialized lines for dealing with more specific threats anyway.

    Everyone with guns would want something like that.

    In the vein of things that we can sell without easily losing our advantages; mirror steel guns.

    Not sure if our guys use regular firearms, but designing something to exploit a new material is something we can hire earthlings for at the very worst.

    We could use the material to make guns built for use by people with monstrous strength, capable of taking pressures and managing recoil that would shatter bones in a baseline human.

    Stealing the design would require stealing our industrial technology and then building up to a competitive level from zero to matter.
     
    -[] Set up systems to actively look for talents that are only coming into their gifts in order to avoid them slipping through the cracks

    Must admit, not sure what the point is with this one. Was the problem not that the WC simply did not have the resources and manpower for this? Like it is probably going to increase the dc with alot and even if we pass the council will still not have the people and resources need so I cant see it making much of a difference on the larger scale.

    Is it a first step on some plan to poach every potential talent for ourselves or?
     
    Vanguard_D said:
    -[] Set up systems to actively look for talents that are only coming into their gifts in order to avoid them slipping through the cracks

    Must admit, not sure what the point is with this one. Was the problem not that the WC simply did not have the resources and manpower for this? Like it is probably going to increase the dc with alot and even if we pass the council will still not have the people and resources need so I cant see it making much of a difference on the larger scale.

    Is it a first step on some plan to poach every potential talent for ourselves or?
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    I think the idea is that we do it in cooperation with them, in the sense that we do all the work and they "supervise" in exchange for trading on their reputation.

    The organization would also nominally not be ours. It'd be an independent thing we happen to fund and organize. Effectively speaking it would be ours, and we could use it for a lot of stuff, but the council would be watching from the inside and cause trouble if we did something they didn't like.

    Is that about right @Yog ?
     
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