Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

Tiffany is right there. She's not getting a reaction.
We don't actually know that, Lydia claiming it's us doesn't preclude Ra being upset about multiple things.

There's also the point that Lash is a low torment Fallen and a completely new type of being. She isn't exactly radiating evil power just standing there - until she chooses or is forced to use the mirror to her powers they're functionally accomplished by the same means an Angel would use.
 
I agree with you but using the occult Excellency is just a step too far for essence. The context is deeply important in using etiquette as a skill. Mage 20th anniversary has an example that uses etiquette in place of linguistics for greeting but you need to have observed the local culture to use it correctly. Knowing why this entity has a problem with us is directly impactful to figuring out how to use etiquette correctly.

We still have nine dice to roll even without the Excellency for occult and if it has to do a Kakuri or the 1,000 Hells more than that. The non contextual etiquette Excellency doesn't make sense because you cannot use just the Excellency and expect it to work 100% of the time.

Also even using the etiquette Excellency what the hell are you trying to get across at that point because you don't know why they're mad at you you don't know how they might feel about you and you have no way of knowing that by just using the etiquette Excellency.
Having said all that.

[X] Yog
You might be right. My only counter is that occult excellency is likely to be useful to have running regardless, given that we are dealing with either divinity of some manner of an occult device.

For others who voted for me - would it be better if I removed occult excellency?
 
You might be right. My only counter is that occult excellency is likely to be useful to have running regardless, given that we are dealing with either divinity of some manner of an occult device.

For others who voted for me - would it be better if I removed occult excellency?
I would prefer it but it works either way for me as long as we actually get a context for which to use the etiquette Excellency for. Though to be honest the concern for a Mote tapping scheme aren't really my concerns I think the usage of the Pawns of Sandra are more about applying a constant pressure and making surprise hostiles rather than focusing on tapping us for our essence. The roadblocks and stumbling points rather than actual attempts to harm us or get us into a position to be harmed.
 
It matters a lot. If it's "our aura is being mistaken for a Yama king", that's one thing, and we behave one way. If it's "the stones remember being shattered by the previous holder of our exaltation", it's another thing. If it's "the last remnants of Sol Invictus loath the heir of Yozi" it's a third thing. If it's "shavings from the walls of Black Vault / Jade prison are attempting to automatically fulfill their function to contain exalted", or "the local god feels a rival for the blessing of the sun", or "the rubble of Ravana's fortress hates the power of nuclear armageddon" all those would require different responses.

We either need to ask who we offended or what the offense is in order to effectively use etiquette appropriate for the situation.
We can afford 2 motes expenditure, because they are either going to be reimbursed by the secret we learn, or we'll get to use occult excellency for this clearly occult situation.
Disagree.
All those scenarios are filled by "I come in peace, and will harm none that offer me and my companions no harm". The minutiae of their reaction, while of intellectual interest, does not really have a bearing on how we choose to react to them.

For another, basic supernatural etiquette in the Dresdenverse has long established rules and customs for interaction between different factions that were actively codified in the Accords. We have read the Accords; Mac specifically gave us a copy when we went to ask to use his bar to meet Mab. We're not fumbling in the dark.


Furthermore, there is nothing to say that we offended anyone; like I pointed out before, Molly is a certified godkiller.
That reaction might not be offense, it might be surprise. Or alarm. Or fear.
The cow was certainly mooing in panic, not disgust.



PS
Adkin gets out of the car, leaning on a silver-headed cane ahead and motions for you to follow him inside as people, guards or 'lay pallbearers' look at you with a combination of curiosity and carefully concealed dread. One thing you had not expected was a pair of them leading in a white cow with a sun disk painted between its horns in gold dust

Alas you do not have the chance to ask questions The earth shakes, the glass panes shake as though a great wind had come upon them. The cow moos in panic adding to the pendemonium such tha no one but the four of you can hear Lydia's urgent whisper: "Er... Molly I think it's you, whatever lives in here does not like you in particular."
Female cow with solar insignia as a sacred animal points to one of the female cow-associated Egyptian deities.

Probably Hesat/Hathor, who is a solar deity associated with Anubis, Ra and Horus in the surviving stories(sometimes considered as Ra's feminine aspect apparently), who is associated with helping Ra's daily rebirth every dawn, and who is also associated with helping the spirits of dead humans pass into the Egyptian Afterlife.

This is the depiction from Wikipedia of Hesat
Hesat as a cow said:
Hathor's commonest depiction said:

en.wikipedia.org

Hathor - Wikipedia

If this was one of the Egyptian male deities like Apis, the sacred animal here would likely be a bull.

===
Some very deep mythological cuts here by @DragonParadox
Very nice work, dude.
Seriously, kudos.


We still get one more mote as a reserve for an excellency, we get occult excellency in the bargain, and, genuinely, so what if we flare?
Flaring in the heart of someone else's power without warning not only risks giving them a good look at your soul and powers, it also risks startling them.

It also limits our options for things like going back out into public without being literally visible for miles.
Especially since apparently every late night news reporter is still discussing possible origins of green fire after the Strip Incident. Its probably a good idea to keep a larger margin for error than 1m.

IF we can.
What kind of spirit, though? From what age (and Age)? From what realm? Offended by what? We need to learn something in order to apply correct etiquette. Fomori etiquette is different from Jade Court etiquette is different from Summer etiquette. What is polite in one court is a deadly offense in another.

Edit: Like, simple real life examples: do you take your hat off when saluting someone in the army?
It doesnt matter.
For one thing, Molly is Occult 5 Etiquette 5, both of which are Key Abilities, and has had remedial lessons with Bob; we can be pretty sure we arent going to unintentionally cause offense to the local supernaturals.


For another, whoever the spirit is, they are self-evidently worldly-wise enough for the cult to function in the modern world.

I mean, this is a cult of Egyptian myth led by a centenarian British guy which has American members, successfully negotiated to use Summer Court land, and is currently sited in a US city where the Egyptian-descended population is not even a rounding error. They are self-evidently cosmopolitan, and so will be the spirits associated with them.

Dresden did not need to learn Greek lore to address Hades in Skin Game
Molly didnt need to learn Norse lore to avoid offending Odin or the Valkyries or Rudolf.



For a third, the supernatural community in the Dresdenverse has long evolved a common set of customs for precisely this sort of thing. Thats essentially a lot of the community practices that the Accords codified, which we've read.
And the cult is currently HQ'd on the territory of an Accords signatory, one we're currently on good terms with.
 
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Disagree.

All those scenarios are filled by "I come in peace, and will harm none that offer me and my companions no harm". The minutiae of their reaction, while of intellectual interest, does not really have a bearing on how we choose to react to them.



For another, basic supernatural etiquette in the Dresdenverse has long established rules and customs for interaction between different factions that were actively codified in the Accords. We have read the Accords; Mac specifically gave us a copy when we went to ask to use his bar to meet Mab. We're not fumbling in the dark.





Furthermore, there is nothing to say that we offended anyone; like I pointed out before, Molly is a certified godkiller.

That reaction might not be offense, it might be surprise. Or alarm. Or fear.

The cow was certainly mooing in panic, not disgust.





PS



Female cow with solar insignia as a sacred animal points to one of the female cow-associated Egyptian deities.



Probably Hesat/Hathor, who is a solar deity associated with Anubis, Ra and Horus in the surviving stories(sometimes considered as Ra's feminine aspect apparently), who is associated with helping Ra's daily rebirth every dawn, and who is also associated with helping the spirits of dead humans pass into the Egyptian Afterlife.



This is the depiction from Wikipedia of Hesat







en.wikipedia.org

Hathor - Wikipedia


If this was one of the Egyptian male deities like Apis, the sacred animal here would likely be a bull.



===

Some very deep mythological cuts here by @DragonParadox

Very nice work, dude.

Seriously, kudos.





Flaring in the heart of someone else's power without warning not only risks giving them a good look at your soul and powers, it also risks startling them.



It also limits our options for things like going back out into public without being literally visible for miles.

Especially since apparently every late night news reporter is still discussing possible origins of green fire after the Strip Incident. Its probably a good idea to keep a larger margin for error than 1m.



IF we can.



It doesnt matter.

For one thing, Molly is Occult 5 Etiquette 5, both of which are Key Abilities, and has had remedial lessons with Bob; we can be pretty sure we arent going to unintentionally cause offense to the local supernaturals.





For another, whoever the spirit is, they are self-evidently worldly-wise enough for the cult to function in the modern world.



I mean, this is a cult of Egyptian myth led by a centenarian British guy which has American members, successfully negotiated to use Summer Court land, and is currently sited in a US city where the Egyptian-descended population is not even a rounding error. They are self-evidently cosmopolitan, and so will be the spirits associated with them.



Dresden did not need to learn Greek lore to address Hades in Skin Game

Molly didnt need to learn Norse lore to avoid offending Odin or the Valkyries or Rudolf.







For a third, the supernatural community in the Dresdenverse has long evolved a common set of customs for precisely this sort of thing. Thats essentially a lot of the community practices that the Accords codified, which we've read.

And the cult is currently HQ'd on the territory of an Accords signatory, one we're currently on good terms with.

If you just want to communicate we come in peace then you want to use the empathy Excellency rather than the etiquette Excellency. Without knowing why the being is upset using etiquette is... saying sorry without knowing what you did or being excessively polite instead of being forthwith. Without knowing why this being is upset at us using an etiquette Excellency just makes sure we don't invite official or otherwise above board restitution or splashback. Also without knowing why it's mad at us it can just tell it's servants this cult here to Bar us entry no amount of etiquette can get past that. At least with the information we can possibly use the etiquette properly to either Rectify why it dislikes us or negotiate our way in.
 
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QUICK THOUGHTS BEFORE I FORGET
1) Black Court vampires
Missed this on first read a couple updates ago:
"What!" Lydia almost spills her drink, the smooth back and forth snapping in an instant. "The Black Court? Here!"

"I have reason to believe that one such troubles the nights of Vegas, that it has been responsible for both the deaths of Kenneth Mayeda and Ambrosio Bianchi of the... White Court. Understand I do not have any love of those who would pervert the arts of Ishtar into a blade that cuts the soul, but compared the Demons of Kur they are as flees to wolves. I ask of you daughter of Arwan I ask of all of you to find this beast and slay it. Then I will offer such aid as I can in your own hunt, whatever that may be..."
Kur is the Mesopotamian underworld.
Citation:
The ancient Mesopotamian underworld, most often known in Sumerian as Kur, Irkalla, Kukku, Arali, or Kigal and in Akkadian as Erṣetu, although it had many names in both languages, was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground,[1][2] where inhabitants were believed to continue "a transpositional version of life on earth".[1]


She's specifically calling Black Court vampires creatures of the Mesopotamian underworld.
I have to wonder if she is being literal.
And if she knows stuff about them that we dont.


I also have to note that in this quest, ghouls are supposed to be scions of the demon-goddess Lamashtu, and have been called such IC and OOC.
Lamashtu? Is from Mesopotamian mythology, and dwells in Kur, the Mesopotamian underworld.

Some deep mythological cuts here by DP.


2) Re: Rosie and Amanda Lucia: Babysitting For New Mothers
I didnt want Rosie leaving her home yet, but since the voters went otherwise?
Something that just occurred to me as a mitigation, so Im putting it down before I forget. Our kingdom is probably moderately unhappy that Molly has no bodyguards with her at home. And we need help for Rosie that we can trust.

So hire a pair of female bodyguards nannies from the Brass Courts.

In a population of more than a billion humans, we can definitely find people with the training willing to be a cross between a live-in au pair and a bodyguard. Six or eight weeks paid vacation, competitive salaries on Earth AND in the Brass Courts(so they get paid twice), and they live in Molly's Chicago home to guard her help Rosie with Lucia.

Initial contract of five years, with the option of extensions out to twenty.
 
The vote is pretty split on if you should ask or just fire up the excellency and go ahead.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jan 16, 2024 at 7:10 AM, finished with 42 posts and 11 votes.

  • [X] Nope, you want to know what's going on here. Any Ra shaped rocks are going to have to deal with is
    -[X] Etiquette excellency
    [X] Plan the Allseeing Eyes
    -[X] Use the current scene as a crown focus to learn why whoever is doing this doesn't like you in particular
    --[X] Occult excellency to better understand the answer
    -[X] Use etiquette excellency to placate them based on Crown's answer
    [X] Nope, you want to know what's going on here. Any Ra shaped rocks are going to have to deal with is
 
Sorry for disappearing, real life yearly report takes precedence.
Disagree.
All those scenarios are filled by "I come in peace, and will harm none that offer me and my companions no harm". The minutiae of their reaction, while of intellectual interest, does not really have a bearing on how we choose to react to them.

For another, basic supernatural etiquette in the Dresdenverse has long established rules and customs for interaction between different factions that were actively codified in the Accords. We have read the Accords; Mac specifically gave us a copy when we went to ask to use his bar to meet Mab. We're not fumbling in the dark.


Furthermore, there is nothing to say that we offended anyone; like I pointed out before, Molly is a certified godkiller.
That reaction might not be offense, it might be surprise. Or alarm. Or fear.
The cow was certainly mooing in panic, not disgust.
What if our presence is actively harmful to it? Have you considered that? What if it's not a person at all, but an automated system? Rocks pretending to be divinity. We need to know what is going on before confronting or not confronting the being/thing causing this.
It doesnt matter.
For one thing, Molly is Occult 5 Etiquette 5, both of which are Key Abilities, and has had remedial lessons with Bob; we can be pretty sure we arent going to unintentionally cause offense to the local supernaturals.
You can roll when it makes sense, but if you are missing context or are wrong, lots of dice don't help, as I understand it. You just become wrong grander.
For another, whoever the spirit is, they are self-evidently worldly-wise enough for the cult to function in the modern world.
Not a given at all. Lydia could well be right - it could be an autoamted divine artifact. And we don't know if these guys can function in the modern supernatural world. They are newcomers. We don't know how well they operate. Like, both Order of Cauldron and fomori are forces in the modern world, with very different etiquette requirements.
For a third, the supernatural community in the Dresdenverse has long evolved a common set of customs for precisely this sort of thing. Thats essentially a lot of the community practices that the Accords codified, which we've read.
And the cult is currently HQ'd on the territory of an Accords signatory, one we're currently on good terms with.
Not everyone is an accord signatory. And customs can differ a lot. And Dresden is a bad example. You can have a cult and not know what the Laws are for quite some time, as shown by Charity's cult.

1) Black Court vampires
Missed this on first read a couple updates ago:
At the same time they were called children of Nergal, I think. I'm not sure this is not a "son of a dog" or some other variant - essentially a swear. Like calling them bastards.
 
Welp, lets see how this goes then
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jan 16, 2024 at 8:55 AM, finished with 45 posts and 11 votes.

  • [X] Nope, you want to know what's going on here. Any Ra shaped rocks are going to have to deal with is
    -[X] Etiquette excellency
    [X] Plan the Allseeing Eyes
    -[X] Use the current scene as a crown focus to learn why whoever is doing this doesn't like you in particular
    --[X] Occult excellency to better understand the answer
    -[X] Use etiquette excellency to placate them based on Crown's answer
 
Arc 11 Post 60: Bloody Gambit
Bloody Gambit

12th of January 2007 A.D.

You glance around at the others, shrug and shape your essence into the shape of answers... well alright, nothing quite so glib, better to say that one's mind is more open to insights of diplomacy as you walk along in the wake of the near-panicking cow. Glass walls are not a good idea, particularly when the glass is imperfect in finish and in hue turning what was a perfect pyramid from afar into a kind of nauseating greenish fun-house filled with distorted echoes and not at all faint moos. To the extent this place has furnishings they are of the kind the Jade Dogs had acquired for the Station back in September, minimal viable habitation.

The sound of many voices is lost in the thud of stone on stone as up ahead one of the glass doors seems to have been wrapped in sheet of gold. Silver and gold touch as the old man knocks then...

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 8/15

Light red-gold like the sun on the desert lands stabs at your retinas such that it is hard to make up the shape of the thing that is glowing, other than being round and about nine feet off the ground, a sun disk atop a pillar, no a statue of limestone, marble and ceder wood, the same one from your vision. A face of stone, a judge unyielding stares down at the four of you as the a golden spear shifts in a fist of stone.

"Frick," you say, not all that softly, but easily lost in the overlapping echoes of the hall.

"Who Dares Taint the House of Ra with the Waters of Apophis!"

"Apophis is far from my thoughts, I bring you no taint, only words of counsel, I bring no sickness only health, I bring no taint, only myself and my companions, the same which have brought warning here before!"

For his part Adkin seems frozen in place, though whether at the words or at the fact that statue had even spoken you cannot say for certain. He seems to snap too when you speak and get out a prayer in what you assume is a dialect of Egyptian. Lydia catches more than you do though since she recoils and then whispers urgently: "He is offering that the wrath of Ra should fall on him if he has done evil and not upon the others, I think the means the other cultists."

"You are sickness, your words are poison, your soul is frozen spite, your eyes the mirrors of sin. The waters cry out at the violation of your touch!"

At these words a leonine face starts to take shape in the light of the sun disk atop a bipedal frame, though certainly not human, spotted like a leopard and streaked with blood, Sekmet protector of Ra and manifestation of his wrath against those who had disrespected him. Yet you certainly do not feel like you are in the presence of a god, much less several of them.

"They weight of your tread unsettles the earth!"

"It is the nature of a heavy step to bring forth echoes," you counter, looking not into the stone eyes, but the blood red sun disk where its power trully lies.

"Perhaps there is something to what you say."
The voice from the stone seems vastly unwilling to consider it.

"Molly!" Lydia grabs your hand. "There's something very wrong with that cow." Only then do you notice the beast is shaking all over, eyes bloodshot and foaming at the mouth.

"On it!" Tyffany says as she presses both her hands to the side of the beast. Her eyes go wide in sudden understanding: "Vampire!"

Three things happen one after another then: the cow's stomach explodes in a shower of viscera and something heavy and vaguely man-shaped thuds to the stone floor and a gun barks three times, bullets flying wildly around the head of the statue with the last one perforating the sun disk among a shower of cokney expelatives.

"I'll grab the piece! Keep 'em off me!" the vampire shouts... and the damn statue raises its spear.

What do you do?

[] Keep the statue off the others while your companions deal with the vampire

[] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him

[] Write in


OOC: Molly is acting on a final initiative score of 36 right now, you are basically moving faster than the human eye can follow.
 
[X] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him
 
[X] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him

Wow, I kinda respect this vampire.
He keeps his nerves in an incredible bad situation for him and is trying admiringly to use all avenues available. Now, I still want to murderize him, still, respect.
 
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[X] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him
-[x]Full out attack we are likely going to be resting in bleach anyway so wounds don't matter that much.

The advantage of 2 ox body.
 
[X] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him
-[x]Full out attack we are likely going to be resting in bleach anyway so wounds don't matter that much.
 
[X] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him
-[x] Full out attack we are likely going to be resting in bleach anyway so wounds don't matter that much.
 
[X] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him
-[x]Full out attack we are likely going to be resting in bleach anyway so wounds don't matter that much.

[X] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him
-[X]Full out attack we are likely going to be resting in bleach anyway so wounds don't matter that much.
-[X]When you kill him use Murder is Meat for essence recovery.
 
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Damn this guy moves fast. He showed himself so we don't have to go looking for him at least.
 
[X] Kill the vampire, that should make it damn clear you are not working with him
-[x]Full out attack we are likely going to be resting in bleach anyway so wounds don't matter that much.
 
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