Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

The problem with giving people a tool whose only use to break the Laws is that it looks like a strong message that breaking the Laws is Ok.

Murder is murder, no matter if done with a bullet or a fireball. Rape is rape, no matter if done with drugs or mind altering magic. All should be punished accordingly. But if this allows more leeway in punishment? If at least one in ten of those who kill in self-defense will be spared the sword? If just one more law-breaker feels genuine regret? It's worth it.

The thing is, fundamentally, the White Council don't agree with this. You're completely ignoring what Harry just said.

Murder may be wrong, but it's merely a mortal crime. Murder with magic is also sacrilege, defiling/desecrating something much bigger than any one person.

Just asserting that what's basically their religion is either wrong or a nullity doesn't change their quasi-pantheistic belief that magic is sacred and should only be used for life affirming ends.
 
Last edited:
[X] Harry, I believe in the Ten Commandments, I've also killed people, the Knights of the Cross kill people when they have no other choice, what you are describing is a hurdle ot cross, not a reason to never set off on the road, not when it could save lives
 
The problem with giving people a tool whose only use to break the Laws is that it looks like a strong message that breaking the Laws is Ok.



The thing is, fundamentally, the White Council don't agree with this. You're completely ignoring what Harry just said.

Murder may be wrong, but it's merely a mortal crime. Murder with magic is also sacrilege, defiling/desecrating something much bigger than any one person.

Just asserting that what's basically their religion is either wrong or a nullity doesn't change their quasi-pantheistic belief that magic is sacred and should only be used for life affirming ends.
1) Harry doesn't know about Blackstaff. We are not convincing WC, we are convincing him.
2) The argument is not that breaking the Laws is acceptable. It's that sans corruption a bit more leeway can be allowed. Hence the example of self defense murder with magic. We know that thr council makes exceptions in punishment. We know that one of the big reasons so few are made is mental effects of the law.

It's not a perfect solution. It's one more step to solving the issue. Not a big one, but a step.
 
[X] It's not means to circumvent the Laws. It's means against the corruption brought by breaking the Laws. Murder is murder, no matter if done with a bullet or a fireball. Rape is rape, no matter if done with drugs or mind altering magic. All should be punished accordingly. But if this allows more leeway in punishment? If at least one in ten of those who kill in self-defense will be spared the sword? If just one more law-breaker feels genuine regret? It's worth it.

The thing is, fundamentally, the White Council don't agree with this. You're completely ignoring what Harry just said.

Murder may be wrong, but it's merely a mortal crime. Murder with magic is also sacrilege, defiling/desecrating something much bigger than any one person.

Just asserting that what's basically their religion is either wrong or a nullity doesn't change their quasi-pantheistic belief that magic is sacred and should only be used for life affirming ends.
Well, they are wrong. Their beliefs are used to murder innocents and there is no reason for us to tolerate it just to please their more conservative members, who probably do not hold favorable opinions of Molly anyway if we have an alternative. I don't think killing people becomes a good thing because killers attach some traditional/religious meaning to it, if the council wants to be the law then they should punish people according to facts, not vibes.

Additionally, correct me if I'm wrong but don't they already circumvent their own laws with the Blackstaff thing?
 
[X] If the flaw is not wrongdoing, but the perception of wrongdoing, then the solution is the adjustment of how it is perceived.
Returning to life deceased fowl looks foul, and even returning to life eggs that never hatched might make the council call foul, but what of eggs that never were? Unrealised potential brought forth from those birds who called the passenger pigeon family? If the throne of England lost its' royal family and a distant cousin changed their last name and swore to Anglicanism, could they not make a claim to inheritance? The pigeons are not so selfish that they need it to be the souls that have passed beyond life who carry on ther banner.
 
[X] It's not means to circumvent the Laws. It's means against the corruption brought by breaking the Laws. Murder is murder, no matter if done with a bullet or a fireball. Rape is rape, no matter if done with drugs or mind altering magic. All should be punished accordingly. But if this allows more leeway in punishment? If at least one in ten of those who kill in self-defense will be spared the sword? If just one more law-breaker feels genuine regret? It's worth it.
 
The Laws aren't just metaphysical, they're also social 'institutions' that exist for a reason. Mass producing (and uncontrollably mass producing) a way for anyone to mind control others without breaking themselves probably doens't stop them breaking the minds of their victims as the inflexible command shatters the fragile mind it's embedded in.
A person who carelessly mind controls everyone into compliance doesn't need any magic corruption to change them. Because there is nothing to change. With or without the Molly provided tools.

Take a psychopath, give him a wand and nothing will change. Because the person in question never cared about other people in the first place. There is nothing to corrupt because he would already consider it normal to kill or mind control people as long as it is aligns with his goals and other behavioral rules.
 
1) Harry doesn't know about Blackstaff. We are not convincing WC, we are convincing him.
2) The argument is not that breaking the Laws is acceptable. It's that sans corruption a bit more leeway can be allowed. Hence the example of self defense murder with magic. We know that thr council makes exceptions in punishment. We know that one of the big reasons so few are made is mental effects of the law.

It's not a perfect solution. It's one more step to solving the issue. Not a big one, but a step.

The White Court's argument is that there are three things wrong with breaking a Law

1) It fucks up the mind of the person doing it
2) The consequences of the act (.e. dead person) are usually bad
3) It is inherently evil to break a Law, it's a form of sacrilege against Magic itself

Your premise is that if we remove 1, hen there are scenarios 2 does not apply, like killing in self-defence, so it's fine.

It's not fine, 3 is still in play. The council can sometimes forgive people for 3, in very rare circumstances, but it's very much an exception that's essentially designed for political purposes to avoid having to execute the loved ones of influential people.

Number 3 is why what the Blackstaff does is a kept a secret and why Harry was mortally offended by its existence and his Grandfather using it.

Well, they are wrong. Their beliefs are used to murder innocents and there is no reason for us to tolerate it just to please their more conservative members, who probably do not hold favorable opinions of Molly anyway if we have an alternative. I don't think killing people becomes a good thing because killers attach some traditional/religious meaning to it, if the council wants to be the law then they should punish people according to facts, not vibes.

Additionally, correct me if I'm wrong but don't they already circumvent their own laws with the Blackstaff thing?

It's very hard to convince someone that the essentially unfalsifiable premise of their religion/moral system is wrong.

It's like asserting that 'killing innocents is not wrong', given that's not a derived principle, it's gettin towards axiomatic.

You can't reason people out of a belief that they didn't reason themselves into, and this is an example of that.
 
Last edited:
The White Court's argument is that there are three things wrong with breaking a Law

1) It fucks up the mind of the person doing it
2) The consequences of the act (.e. dead person) are usually bad
3) It is inherently evil to break a Law, it's a form of sacrilege against Magic itself

Your premise is that if we remove 1, hen there are scenarios 2 does not apply, like killing in self-defence, so it's fine.

It's not fine, 3 is still in play. The council can sometimes forgive people for 3, in very rare circumstances, but it's very much an exception that's essentially designed for political purposes to avoid having to execute the loved ones of influential people.

Number 3 is why what the Blackstaff does is a kept a secret and why Harry was mortally offended by its existence and his Grandfather using it.
No, that's not my argument. My argument is that if we remove 1, then the range of situations in which non-lethal punishments for breaking the Laws are within an acceptable margin of risk increases. Doom of Damocles is already a thing right now. A member of the council in good standing can vouch for a Law Breaker. Even with the act of breaking the Laws affecting the mind of the lawbreaker. It's allowed. Dresden was allowed to do this in canon. It happened to Dresden in canon too. If we remove 1, then the risk of applying Doom of Damocles is lessened. More council members will volunteer for it, and it would be allowed in more cases. This is my argument.
 
No, that's not my argument. My argument is that if we remove 1, then the range of situations in which non-lethal punishments for breaking the Laws are within an acceptable margin of risk increases. Doom of Damocles is already a thing right now. A member of the council in good standing can vouch for a Law Breaker. Even with the act of breaking the Laws affecting the mind of the lawbreaker. It's allowed. Dresden was allowed to do this in canon. It happened to Dresden in canon too. If we remove 1, then the risk of applying Doom of Damocles is lessened. More council members will volunteer for it, and it would be allowed in more cases. This is my argument.

My view is that the Council doesn't want to expand the range of people who aren't punished for their sacrilege against magic. They view death as a far and just punishment for defiling something sacred. They only reluctantly spare politically connected people who are too important to receive what they consider just punishment for their sins out of expediency now, and this will continue afterwards.

It's like how rich people in some societies can pay off their victims, or their relatives, something like diya in Islam.

The Blackstaff is an example of them being willing to have one and only one of their trusted leaders do evil (defile magic) in order to prevent a greater amount of defilement. It's the exception that proves the rule, in the proper meaning of the term, given how they keep it secret and how Harry reacted to it He thought it was appalling that it existed and that a wizard used it and ostracised his Grandfather for years over the matter.

You now want to make more Blackstaffs, an hand them out, not to a carefully vetted and experienced wizard with centuries of learning how and developing (magically reinforced) habits of using magic in Law-Abiding ways, to all and sundry, who haven't any education and haven't built up those magic feedback induced habits., with no controls at all.
 
Last edited:
Here, quotes:
Tiffany being able to make phantastical beings as extension of flesh crafting:
No, Lore of Flesh allows you to alter human beings in fantastical ways
You can make a mortal dude into a griffon, you cant just alter a cat or a pigeon or a dog.

If you're fucking with animals, you're gonna need Lore of Beasts 5.
• • • • • CREATE CHIMERA
The Devourer is capable of manipulating an animal's physical body, enhancing its capabilities or mutating it into a hideous, fantastic creature that combines characteristics of numerous different animals.

System: Spend one Faith point and roll Intelligence + Animal Ken. Each success allows the Devourer to add one point to a specific trait, or to alter a specific feature of the animal's physical form. The laws of physics and the conservation of mass do not apply, so if the Devourer wants to make a winged tiger, she can. Too much change too fast can put a tremendous strain on the animal's psyche, though. Total up the number of trait points and alterations that have been added to the animal and make a Willpower roll for your character. If you get more successes than the total number of modifications applied, the animal comes through the process unharmed. If the roll fails, the animal becomes dangerously unstable. The Storyteller determines the specifics of the animal's altered behavior, and in the interests of creating tension can make the Willpower roll on your behalf, keeping the result secret until the animal's true nature manifests. The effects of this evocation last for a number of days equal to your character's Faith score, or can be made permanent with the expenditure of one Willpower point.

Torment: Monstrous demons invariably infuse their creations with the taint of their own Torment, creating pain-maddened, murderous beasts. No Willpower roll is necessary to determine the mental state of these creatures. They are invariably deranged, rabid beasts that exist only to kill and maim the living.

If you are trying to put a spirit into a body, you need Lore of Spirit 5.
• • • • • RESTORE THE DEAD
This evocation allows a Slayer to anchor a spirit into any soulless physical body. This effort returns the ghost to the land of the living, at least for a short time.

System: Spend one Faith point and roll Stamina + Awareness. The Slayer must have the soul she wishes to restore in her immediate vicinity and be able to touch the body she wants it to possess. The body in question must have died only recently (i.e., within the last 48 hours). If successful, the soul is anchored to the body, healing any injuries the body may have had and returning the spirit to the land of the living. The new person has the same Physical Attributes that the body had in its former life, and the Mental and Social Attributes and Abilities of the new soul. The effects of this evocation last for a number of days equal to your character's Faith score, or it can be made permanent by expending one point of permanent Willpower. Demon spirits without hosts can be placed into bodies through this evocation.

Torment: Monstrous demons who perform this evocation invariably taint the spirit with their own Torment, leaving the soul twisted by hate and pain. Once the soul has been restored, the Storyteller makes a Willpower roll for it with a difficulty equal to your character's Torment. If the roll is successful, the restored person suffers a temporary derangement. If the roll fails, the derangement is permanent. If the roll botches, the restored person becomes a frenzied monster, attacking the living until it is destroyed.

If a disembodied demon spirit is put into a body with the high-Torment version of this evocation, a Willpower roll is made for it, too. If the roll is successful, the possessing demon has a Torment score that's one point less than your character's. If the Willpower roll fails, the possessing demon's Torment score equals your character's.

And, if the Willpower roll botches, the possessing demon's Torment score exceeds your character's by one point.

If your plan is to do this with Lash's powers, you need those.
There really is only so far you should be able to bend Lash's powers.
The QM is generous, but it behooves us not to abuse it.

Forge being usable for arcana making:
The Forge does not obviate the other needs. I quote:
Simulacra are the most variable Arcana in terms of raw materials. A simulacrum might
potentially be a marble statue brought to life, a clone force-grown from a tissue sample, an
android made from advanced composite materials, a variety of corpses stitched together and
brought to life, or a bundle of corn sheaves and twigs bound into the shape of a person and
woven with potent enchantments. As a result, the preparations required can vary widely.
Simulacra built on the model of a more elegant golem are fairly demanding, requiring raw
materials worth at least Resources 3 at the most basic level, and rising to Resources 4 for 3-dot
simulacra and 5 for 4 and 5-dot simulacra. Clones require either a fully outfitted cloning lab,
which is a Resources 5 investment, or some kind of ramshackle Apparatus (see the Gadgets
section) designed to facilitate the cloning, along with a genetic sample or samples
. Androids
present the same Resources burden as golem-style simulacra. Frankenstein-esque simulacra are
at least comparatively cheap, requiring only the breaking of a number of laws to acquire,
preserve, and store the necessary bodies. The rustic simulacra built by Heart-Eaters are the
easiest to prepare, requiring only whatever trash the Heart-Eater intends to make the Arcana out
of.
Simulacra, once again, can be produced through a number of approaches. Animated masterworks
require an extended Dexterity + Crafts roll against difficulty 9, made at one-week intervals and
requiring a total of (Arcana's rating x 4) successes. Androids require Intelligence + Technology
against difficulty 9, made at one-month intervals, and demand a total of (Arcana rating x 3)
successes. Clones require Intelligence + Science rolls at difficulty 9, made at one month
intervals, and demanding a total of (Arcana rating x 3) successes.
Patchwork corpse-people need
an extended (Dexterity or Intelligence) + Medicine roll against difficulty 7, made at one-day
intervals, and requiring a total of (Arcana rating x 7) successes. Finally, the manikin-husk
simulacra constructed by Heart-Eaters demand only a single successful difficulty 9 Dexterity +
Craft roll, taking the better part of an afternoon to complete. A botch at any point ruins the entire
project, forcing the Exalt to discard her incomplete simulacrum and to start over from scratch
with new materials and a new plan (with the exception of clones; she can re-use a clone lab or
Apparatus, and must simply acquire a new tissue sample).
If you are trying to make biological Arcana, those are the rules.

No specifications on the type, and the previous quote uses flesh crafting as an example.
Thats an either an error, or a misunderstanding.
I dont believe the QM means to give us access to two Lores for the price of one.
And I dont think its reasonable to assume so.



On Inspiration's Wings​
10th of February 2007 A.D.
COMMENTARY
Four caches.
I wonder how he got down to the bottom of the Bermuda triangle? Im guessing that particular cache has something to do with the Fomor.

This was more or less predictable reaction to someone trying to line-step a fundamental .
If Harry, the family friend who has known us since we were a kid, is objecting this strongly, we can expect other wizards to have a much less polite reaction.

Lol Lydia being a pedant.

@DragonParadox
QUESTION
Just to be clear, which part is Harry objecting to?
Im assuming its not the de-extinction itself, which can be done as an entirely biological thing with mundane science.
 
QUESTION
Just to be clear, which part is Harry objecting to?
Im assuming its not the de-extinction itself, which can be done as an entirely biological thing with mundane science.

If we worked out how to open a portal to Sanctuary, we could take the hive mind back with us, as it apparently counts as one entity, wait until we learn how to make a portal, then have it die and reincarnate as the many hundreds of billions of birds who have lived, and then release them back on North America through a portal just before harvest time like a biblical plague to take their revenge on a nation that annihilated them.

Karma. ;)
 
Last edited:
[X] Harry, I believe in the Ten Commandments, I've also killed people, the Knights of the Cross kill people when they have no other choice, what you are describing is a hurdle ot cross, not a reason to never set off on the road, not when it could save lives
 
[X] Maybe... maybe you're right, this might take too long to roll out
[X] Passenger Pigeon Incarna Plan Go!

As I don't want to just turn around and tell Harry and the other wizards that their faith is wrong, that we know better, and that we're going to do our best to remove the spiritual consequences of defiling magic.
 
[X] It's not means to circumvent the Laws. It's means against the corruption brought by breaking the Laws. Murder is murder, no matter if done with a bullet or a fireball. Rape is rape, no matter if done with drugs or mind altering magic. All should be punished accordingly. But if this allows more leeway in punishment? If at least one in ten of those who kill in self-defense will be spared the sword? If just one more law-breaker feels genuine regret? It's worth it.

Yes, I am ruthlessly pushing Dresden's own history into this.
He's not wrong about the politics of it. This is something I'd want to do slowly and use the birds to do outreach with. Just releasing them is basically setting loose pistols with wings to find new homes for themselves. Instead they should be the basis of a network that helps the community police itself.

Initially we hand them out very selectively until we have a network going where the birds communicate and try to guide their humans to each other. Once it's big enough to be partially self correcting then we'd do limited releases where the birds would search for unrealized talents and play Hogwarts acceptance letter. Ideally they'd get normalized by people getting them so early they don't realize they're strange.

In a way they'd be like magical cellphones; an immensely useful tool that largely serves its user, but exposes them to being observed in new ways.

So the sell to the council the play would be pointing out that nobody currently has a practical plan for managing the rising human population and associated talents. If there aren't more unrealized practitioners waiting to stumble into warlock hood than there are active ones today there will be in their lifetimes. They cannot police a population that large; something will have to give.

The purpose of the spirits then isn't to let lawbreakers escape punishment, it's to reach the unnoticed and arrest spirals into madness before they happen. Once the system is in place for flocks to track their members they can find people early and get them moving towards a healthy community instead of accidentally driving themselves crazy and festering somewhere out of sight until they've made too many victims to avoid notice.

That could potentially be done without the extra insulation, but practically speaking people are going to stumble. Without a safety net they're all but cursed into recidivism. The only sort of person who'd "benefit" in the manner they fear is someone who'd almost certainly fall to black magic anyway.

A serial killer who found magic would violate the first law repeatedly even without the mental effects. A dentists killing somebody in self defense with shadow magic, to name an example we almost saw in the quest*, isn't likely to start spree killing unless the act itself compels her to.

Or some argument to that effect.

* Yeah the guy was a whamp, but that could have happened with a mortal gunman just as easily.
 
If we worked out how to open a portal to Sanctuary, we could take the hive mind back with us, as it apparently counts as one entity, wait until we learn how to make a portal, then have it die and reincarnate as the many hundreds of billions of birds who have lived, and then release them back on North America through a portal just before harvest time like a biblical plague to take their revenge on a nation that annihilated them.

Karma. ;)
Eh. Molly likes the US too much. Its where she keeps her stuff.
And unleashing billions of birds on US farmland at is going to make Hope's favorite cereal too expensive to buy.
And Molly doesnt want to piss off Hope. Or Amanda. Or Leech :V


More seriously? Taking them back to Sanctuary is easy; just build a Splendor with the My Private Dakota feature.
Thing is, still an Incarna-class.
I wouldnt bring something like that into a domain linked to Molly's soul.
 
Back
Top