Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

One more thing here - I would expect Porter to be involved in making of his new body. Which would preclude usage of elf help. Also our enginseers.
I wonder if Porter would like a train body that could transform into a giant mecha? He could be a Trainsformer!

Optimus Porter... 🤓
 
I wonder if Porter would like a train body that could transform into a giant mecha? He could be a Trainsformer!

Optimus Porter... 🤓
I have that in my plan for the next month. Because I think it's fairly straightforward what to do in march:
Convention with Rosie, Crafting for Archive (with bonus AP), Baby Wizards, Porter's body, and 2 relatively free options, where my choices would be Raising the god of Chicago, and further work on the exaltation, but I understand if the latter is not a popular option.
 
Hmm, you know, I just remembered, for everyone who is worried that Molly is "outgrowing" opposition. There are multiple Incarna or possibly even Yozi level threats on Dresden Earth. White God either beat them or more likely tricked them but he wasn't able to kill them - just put to slumber.

I'm talking about the fact that there are multiple Great Old Ones sleeping under our feet. Outsiders that make Walkers look like little babies.
 
Hmm, you know, I just remembered, for everyone who is worried that Molly is "outgrowing" opposition. There are multiple Incarna or possibly even Yozi level threats on Dresden Earth. White God either beat them or more likely tricked them but he wasn't able to kill them - just put to slumber.

I'm talking about the fact that there are multiple Great Old Ones sleeping under our feet. Outsiders that make Walkers look like little babies.
To clarfiy.

I was worried that we are outgrowing the WoD-system's ability to produce well-designed enemies (and allies) for this high-power game.

Not the Setting's ability to throw bigger fishes at us.

Totally different concerns.
 
[X]PLAN SECURITY HOME AND ABROAD
-[X] MOLLY PRIME: 6 AP + 2 Malcoffee AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] NEW Secure the Shard of Gold:
The Temple of Ra Descending holds a mechanism of ancient wonder at the heart of which rests a shard of power born of past ages. See if you can get them to accept more protections: 1 AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] A friend in need. You promised Rosie that you would help and so you will: 1 AP
---[X] Moving out. The sooner you get Rosie out of that house the better
--[X][FINANCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE] The Other side of the Mirror: Secure Nevernever areas corresponding to the Last station: 1 AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] NEW Getting Lydia a Good Boy: assist Lydia in getting a dog, maybe a magical one. Mouse might be interested in helping. 1 AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] NEW Traitor, Enemy of All: Thanks to your Crown you know the names of traitors in the White Council, the trouble is how to explain that without giving the game away. Or perhaps deal with them yourself: 1 AP
--[X][CRAFTING] New Artifact Workshop: Crafting a place of potential(0/10 AP)[+1d4 AP Joe Magarac + 4 AP Tiffany]: 1 AP + 2 Malcoffee AP
-[X]SPLINTERED GALE INCARNATION: 24/24 SGI AP
--[X][SCHOOL][SGI] Attend school:
1 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS][SGI] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 3 SGI AP
---[X] Alphas, friends of Harry, close to you in age
---[X] Friends in Low Places, she might work for Marcone but Grad was really cool
---[X] Spirit Speaker, Mortimer Lindquist is the real deal
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] Updated [SGI] Higher Education: Engage with mundane side of getting into Harvard: 2 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS][SGI] Crown and Scepter, see what good your unique talents can be in Sanctuary: 6 SGI AP
--[X][WRITE-IN INVESTIGATIONS][SGI] The stars were made to guide them: Investigate astrological systems in light of our Crown knowledge to find our what works, together with Bob: 1 SGI AP
--[X][WRITE-IN INVESTIGATIONS][SGI] Little green men: you know where aliens are. Propagate that information back to SETI, in a way that doesn't point to Molly or supernatural: 1 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] [SGI] NEW Teachings of Winter: Teach unknown Paths to the spirit binders of Sanctuary.Your presence, in some manner will help smooth matters. 3 SGI AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] Cauldron Bubble, your new friends in the Ordo Lebetis could use more help
---[X] [SGI] Updated Online presence, See if you can convince the others to set up a strong online presence: 1 SGI AP
--[X][WRITE-IN ARCANE ALLIES] From the pen of: Start working with Bob on your next book, "soul gazes made safer: tricks to protect your soul": 1 SGI AP
--[X][FAMILY TIME] [SGI] NEW Introductions to more of you: Twin jokes. Get your family used to other yous: 1 SGI AP
--[X][WRITE-IN FAMILY TIME] [SGI] Family that crafts together: Help Michael in his mundane job: 1 SGI AP
--[X][WRITE-IN ALCHEMY]: Cooking the good stuff: Produce Malcoffee, Astarte Venerian, Nabu Mercury, and Prima Metallum for yourself and your allies: 3 SGI AP

The reasoning is given above, but to reiterate: this is a vote for security and preparing what next turns. We secure the exaltation, so we don't face a solar enemy or an abyssal assassin with Background Allies Black Court 5. We secure the NeverNever around Last Station, so we don't face ambushes, and in preparation for making Porter a body and making spirit of Chicago. We secure traitors in the White Council, so their training facility in Chicago doesn't face sabotage, or create provocations / incidents to sour our relationships with White Council, something that has been called out as a possibility in-story by Merlin himself. We secure and finish (hopeflly, 50% probability) the forge, so we can quickly and easily make good on our payments next turn. We get Lydia a new dog, which is good for her, and should be a fun adventure in general. Finally, we secure Rosie a new home, as we promised.

For Molly's clones, we do everything that is unlikely to be a trap, or where the possiblity of complications is low.
 
Last edited:
Not to derail, but I feel I have to protest that comparison as unfair. C. S. Lewis's works weren't just "influenced" by his faith, they were straight up Christian allegory morality tales. Outright medieval style in purpose, if not in form.

At worst Butcher follows the same cultural background Christian monotheism a lot of modern western urban fantasy does. That if the Christian God is around, then *of course* he is the strongest and/or special compared to any other gods.
I was being a little hyperbolic, but it seems more than incidental to me. We're told one thing but only really shown another. Which is why this question keeps showing up.

If Butcher had spent the effort to make the stuff he says on this topic in his WoG clearer IC it wouldn't come off so tilted.

Edit:

[X] Uju32
 
Last edited:
If Butcher had spent the effort to make the stuff he says on this topic in his WoG clearer IC it wouldn't come off so tilted.
Hey, at least in this crossover the pecking order is pretty easy to establish if we count White God as Yozi or equivalent.

Ugh, I like Uju32 plan overall but I really think we need to schmooze up to McCoy or Merlin to give them The List before doing anything with little wizards. Yog on the other hand wants to deal with the Shard, Nevernever and Nemesis on the same turn.
 
Hey, at least in this crossover the pecking order is pretty easy to establish if we count White God as Yozi or equivalent.

Ugh, I like Uju32 plan overall but I really think we need to schmooze up to McCoy or Merlin to give them The List before doing anything with little wizards. Yog on the other hand wants to deal with the Shard, Nevernever and Nemesis on the same turn.
I don't see why we need to do that before the little wizards stuff. We need foci on the council anyway if we want to get the answers to what Peabody is doing IC before telling them. This is a good opportunity for that.

We just had two back to back mega turns, I think we've earned a breather.
 
I don't think so. In addition to what other people said, the Sword and the Exaltation are anti-synergy.
The function of the Exaltation is to lift humans "up" to a level where they can deal enough damage to hurt Old Monsters through overwhelming power of Charms that add dice and damage.
The function of the Sword is to pull Old Monsters "down" to a level where they can be hurt by humans. In the Dresden game mechanics, whenever a critter has an immunity or regeneration or other super defense that says it's only vulnerable to some specific thing X (silver, fire) then it is also vulnerable to a Sword of the Cross.

If you rig circumstances to make an Exaltation attach to a Knight of the Cross, what you've got is a human who can hurt Old Monsters in two different ways, but can still only be in one fight at a time and gets one action per turn.

There the sword can be passed onto someone else.

A sword is much less dangerous in less than perfect hands. The Solar Exaltation is a likely apocalyptic disaster in a box. We need to do everything we can to make sure it goes to someone who won't misuse its power.

Michael is also one of the best candidates in the planet to actually earn a solar Exaltation, particularly with ExWoD targeting settings.
 
We need to do everything we can to make sure it goes to someone who won't misuse its power.
Literally impossible. The core of Exalted is that it is extremely hard to influence them. You can't just make them do something. And even less can you change their mind if they already chose a path.

How are you going to do it? For someone who is going to live 3-5k years? Short of invading their mind or doing some other horrible things you won't be able to do it with any level of surety. And good luck making it stick on a Solar. And Exaltation already seeks people who would comply with most of Molly's basic standards.

There is no guarantee that Molly won't misuse her power. And there were some suggestions in the thread that would have ended with Molly getting her Dad on the case.
 
Ugh, I like Uju32 plan overall but I really think we need to schmooze up to McCoy or Merlin to give them The List before doing anything with little wizards. Yog on the other hand wants to deal with the Shard, Nevernever and Nemesis on the same turn.
Uju's plan also has securing NeverNever around Last Station:

--[][FINANCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE] The Other side of the Mirror: Secure Nevernever areas corresponding to the Last station: 1 AP
The differences in our plans are outlined here. Essentially, I swap baby wizards for traitors, and Porter's body for securing the exaltation. In other respects Molly's actions remain the same.
Literally impossible. The core of Exalted is that it is extremely hard to influence them. You can't just make them do something. And even less can you change their mind if they already chose a path.

How are you going to do it? For someone who is going to live 3-5k years? Short of invading their mind or doing some other horrible things you won't be able to do it with any level of surety. And good luck making it stick on a Solar. And Exaltation already seeks people who would comply with most of Molly's basic standards.

There is no guarantee that Molly won't misuse her power. And there were some suggestions in the thread that would have ended with Molly getting her Dad on the case.
That's true, but we can arrange and direct things so that the shard has a higher probability of going to someone in our social orbit who is already an ally. This should help a bit, at least.
 
-Recent argument on people voting for Uju32.-

-People saying there is nothing to be worried about-

- People voting Uju32 before he even voted-

Me: This is funny.

Yeah, I know he proposed a plan, but you have to admit that this does add to that flame.
 
I want a breather Arc after the last two so whichever plan is least plot heavy is probably what I'm going end up voting for.
 
[X]Plan Consolidating our base
-[X] [SGI] Attend school, you have friends at school and you would like to have memories of senior year and graduation, even if they don't teach you anything worthwhile
-[X] In the Sky a Thousand Eyes: If you see something, you can stick a demon in it. It occurs to you that satellites are definitely something you can see with the right tools, although you'll have to figure out which ones you want and what orders to give them.
-[X] [SGI] Look at Chicago's Minor Talents, until now you've been isolated from the Chicago supernatural scene, now that you can get in touch with them without necessarily having your dad with you all the time. came to change that... although, considering how Mouse and McCoy thought you were bad news at first, maybe you should bring Dad or Harry to some of them, just as an introduction
--[X] Alphas, Harry's friends, close in age to you and work to keep monsters off the streets near the University, they seem really cool
--[X] Friends in Low Places, she may work for Marcone, but Grad was really nice and you're curious about her. Luckily you remember the number Dad dialed to contact Marcone
--[X] Spiritual Speaker, Mortimer Lindquist is the real deal, a true medium among fakes, and unlike Pauline, he's good enough at it, or just good enough at marketing to make a job of it. His books are also really cool
-[X] A friend in need. You promised Rosie she would help and will do so, with material and ethereal problems
--[X] Moving, you are already of legal age and you certainly don't lack money, the sooner you get Rosie out of that house the better
-[X] NEW Secure the Golden Shard: The Temple of Descending Ra contains a mechanism of ancient wonder at the center of which rests a shard of power born from ages past. Although they have been good guardians until now, you still worry that such a thing is only protected by mortal magic and faith. See if you can get them to accept more protections
-[X] Higher Education [SGI] Updated: Boston is even more free of supernatural suitors than when you found it, but you've done little to engage with the mundane side of getting into Harvard. While others you may not cheat as much, you are sure they could. Cost 2 AP
-[X] [SGI] Crown and Scepter, see to what extent your unique talents can be used in the Sanctuary. Can spend up to 6 SGI (x6AP)
-[X] [SGI] NEW Winter Teachings: Teach Summoning, dreamweaving, or other Paths unknown to Sanctuary's spiritbinders: Maeve's goodwill allows the teaching of magics unknown in Sanctuary. Her presence, in some way, will help smooth things out. Can spend up to 3 AP (x3 AP)
-[X] Cauldron Bubble, your new friends from Ordo Lebetis would need more help, maybe not as...enthusiastic as last time, but they are small fish in a very big and scary pond
--[X] Updated online presence [SGI], one of the few advantages lesser talents have over more powerful magicians is that they are more up to date with technology and are less likely to blow it up. See if you can convince others to establish a strong online presence, perhaps even recruiting
-[X] Contact the Librarians: Given that you are the sovereign of an interdenominational magical nation, it might be worth talking to a branch of the federal government that knows about magic, one that hasn't come forward trying to fit Harry right into your front
-[X] NEW Training... Wizards?: The White Council in their wisdom seems to have decided that Chicago is the ideal place to set up a training camp for young wizards to serve in the Watchers, you suspect in part because they reason the Red Court I wouldn't dare attack with you in the city. Carlos would like to meet with you, partly to coordinate things so you don't stumble upon wizard babies, but also you suspect just to get out
-[X] NEW Traitor, Enemy of All: Thanks to your Crown you know the names of the traitors on the White Council, the problem is how to explain this without revealing the game. Or maybe deal with them yourself
-[X] New Artifact Workshop: Creating a place of potential, a wild seed so close to the world of form is no easy thing, but once done, you are sure it will pay for itself in full (0/10 AP) ( 1AP +2AP)
-[X] [SGI] Updated Unknown Family, now that you know the complete story, your feelings towards your maternal grandparents are not at all complicated, but people change, right? And even if not, you have other family members further away in Boston who would be cool to meet.
-[X] [SGI] NEW Introductions to more of you: Twin jokes aside it's going to take a bit of time and care to get your family used to other yous and keep the secret

[X] uju32
 
Last edited:
-Recent argument on people voting for Uju32.-

-People saying there is nothing to be worried about-

- People voting Uju32 before he even voted-

Me: This is funny.

Yeah, I know he proposed a plan, but you have to admit that this does add to that flame.
I assume that he's going to vote for his own plan, and I'm going to bed. If I happen to wake up early enough to approval vote other plans that don't involve poking the solar exaltation, I likely will.
 
@uju32 would you swap making a train body for Porter and use this AP in the Thousand Eyes option? In addition to it not being an activity that requires Molly prime (our servants can do it easily) the other option will leave us more informed of events, giving both a greater sensation of a living world and informing the consequences and how others react to ours achievements, in addition to being a basic option that has been waiting for a long time.
Porter is like the big gun of our defenses around Last Station.
I think, on a narrative basis, that we want to invest fully in giving him the tools to fend off potential attackers rather than having to deal with the aftermath.

Especially after the events of the last month.


Surprisingly (or perhaps not) I almost fully agree with your plan, bar two things:
1) Training Wizards - we need to deal with traitors first, and then do this action. Because "The White Council in its wisdom seems to have decided that Chicago is the ideal place to set up a training camp for young wizards to serve in the Wardens" is a decision that has almost certainly been affected by the traitors and compromised agents in their midst to insert spies and saboteurs into Chicago. Perhaps even agents provocateurs, meant to sour our relationship with White Council, because strengthening it
2) Porter's train body. I fully agree that we need to do it, strongly, but we need to secure the exaltation shard first.
1)Yes, I agree that Peabody (likely) has a hand in sending them this way, because it allows for information gathering on behalf of his master(s). AND gives him the option of staging an incident like in Turn Coat.

That plays into our hands, because every scene with them provides foci for the Crown. Every scene with Ramirez gives us a Crown focus to burn in building our strategy; this meeting now, for example, is one we can burn for a full list of everyone in the Council under mindcontrol/influence, which is something that Molly will be looking for after seeing Sandra's work.

Also, this gives us plausible deniability about how we ran across Peabody's work.


2) I dont agree about the exaltation shard.
Like @BronzeTongue has pointed out, we have been involved in two major, 50+ story arcs back to back in the last month; we need a breather.

And after the aggro we just pulled, I would like to further improve the defenses around Last Station as a matter of high priority
Hence both the body for Porter, and Molly scouting the NeverNever around Last Station.


One more thing here - I would expect Porter to be involved in making of his new body. Which would preclude usage of elf help. Also our enginseers.
To the best of my knowledge Porter has no Craft.
Besides, I am pretty sure he has seen the elves work before? Our deal with them doesnt say they cant work where others can see them, just that we cant talk about who they are and where they come from.
 
1)Yes, I agree that Peabody (likely) has a hand in sending them this way, because it allows for information gathering on behalf of his master(s). AND gives him the option of staging an incident like in Turn Coat.

That plays into our hands, because every scene with them provides foci for the Crown. Every scene with Ramirez gives us a Crown focus to burn in building our strategy; this meeting now, for example, is one we can burn for a full list of everyone in the Council under mindcontrol/influence, which is something that Molly will be looking for after seeing Sandra's work.

Also, this gives us plausible deniability about how we ran across Peabody's work.
Outsider cultists and people they subvert, as well as other types of Law breakers are essentially a memetic infection in many ways. I don't want to allow it into our immediate presence if we have a choice. Essentially, I see your argument as one to over-complicate the situation when we don't need to. We don't need to gather intel in indirect way when we can go after the source directly. Letting subverted elements into the city is a risk that we just don't need to take, at all. We can go for the root now. Nothing is stopping us.
2) I dont agree about the exaltation shard.
Like @BronzeTongue has pointed out, we have been involved in two major, 50+ story arcs back to back in the last month; we need a breather.

And after the aggro we just pulled, I would like to further improve the defenses around Last Station as a matter of high priority
Hence both the body for Porter, and Molly scouting the NeverNever around Last Station.
I somewhat agree on the amount of aggro we have pulled, but I think everyone is going to be focused on MIkaboshi at the moment, while he's down. Porter's new body is important, yes, but the exaltation is more so. Both it, and the paired abyssal are far more dangerous potentially. And I don't trust the amount of security it has. Not to mention, that getting back to Vegas for a moment would be good for the alliance we are building there.
To the best of my knowledge Porter has no Craft.
Besides, I am pretty sure he has seen the elves work before? Our deal with them doesnt say they cant work where others can see them, just that we cant talk about who they are and where they come from.
No, the deal is that they can't be allowed to be seen, with some "as long as everyone can plausibly pretend not to have seen them, incidents may slide". And Porter doesn't need to have craft for this. We are building him a body. At the very least this should be as intimate as a bespoke suit. At most, it's an equivalent of major transhuman surgery. In all cases I expect his continuous input to be required one way or another.

EDIT: Also note some additions for SGI actions I made. They got approved, and at least some of them I don't think you'll object to.
 
Voting.
Ive tried to separate the Normal and SGI actions into their own sections, to make it easy to track

VOTE
[X]PLAN HOME SECURITY
-[X] MOLLY PRIME: 6 AP + 2 Malcoffee AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] A friend in need.
You promised Rosie that you would help and so you will: 1 AP
---[X] Moving out. The sooner you get Rosie out of that house the better
--[X][FINANCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE] The Other side of the Mirror: Secure Nevernever areas corresponding to the Last station: 1 AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] NEW Getting Lydia a Good Boy: assist Lydia in getting a dog, maybe a magical one. Mouse might be interested in helping. 1 AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] NEW Training... Wizards?: Carlos would like to meet with you. 1 AP
--[X][CRAFTING] New Artifact Workshop: Crafting a place of potential(0/10 AP)[+1d4 AP Joe Magarac + 4 AP Tiffany]: 1 AP + 2 Malcoffee AP
--[X][WRITE-IN: CRAFTING] Soul Train: Building Porter a train-body like he wanted.[+ Elves]: 1AP
-[X]SPLINTERED GALE INCARNATION: 24/24 SGI AP
--[X][SCHOOL][SGI] Attend school:
1 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS][SGI] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 3 SGI AP
---[X] Alphas, friends of Harry, close to you in age
---[X] Friends in Low Places, she might work for Marcone but Grad was really cool
---[X] Spirit Speaker, Mortimer Lindquist is the real deal
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] Updated [SGI] Higher Education: Engage with mundane side of getting into Harvard: 2 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS][SGI] Crown and Scepter, see what good your unique talents can be in Sanctuary: 6 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] [SGI] NEW Teachings of Winter: Teach unknown Paths to the spirit binders of Sanctuary.Your presence, in some manner will help smooth matters. 3 SGI AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] Cauldron Bubble, your new friends in the Ordo Lebetis could use more help
---[X] Updated [SGI] Online presence, See if you can convince the others to set up a strong online presence. 1 SGI AP
--[X][FAMILY TIME] [SGI] Updated Family Unknown, Even if they didn't you have other more distant family in Boston that it would be cool to meet. 1 SGI AP
--[X][FAMILY TIME] [SGI] NEW Introductions to more of you: Twin jokes. Get your family used to other yous: 1 SGI AP
--[X][WRITE-IN: CRAFTING] ALCHEMY: Making potions of Astarte Veneria and Nabu Mercury: 6 SGI AP


====
RATIONALE
All in on the Forge; the quicker its done, the less chance for interference.
Between Molly and Tiffany, thats 7AP committed. If Joe Magarac rolls high, we finish it this turn.
If not, we finish next turn.


Secure the Last Station Never-Never to get rid of staging posts for attackers. Or spies for that matter.


I dropped Bridges this month for Molly personally building Porter a train-body. Not the most mechanically optimal choice to do it personally, but narratively it seemed appropriate for Molly to give him the best armored train she can.

A train improves his ability to defend Last Station; he told us that the only reason the Will of Kakuri was able to fend him off was because he wasnt embodied at the time.
Next turn, we put two AP on Bridges(1 normal, 1 malcoffee) to compensate.


I DONT want to deal with the Solar Exaltation.
And I dont want to deal with Peabody. Not this turn. Each of those is one its own a major plot point that will dominate the story arcs they are in, and both deserve their own story arcs.

And we need to breathe a little, both OOC and IC.
Vegas and Boston were both in January.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top