My point was that it's now a selection process and not pre picked. The exaltation won't have a name written on the side.
Also I'm surprised on that ruling because the book goes out of its way to nix that. Even if that's changed it would burn out his access to a force he has religious reverence for and more practically cause a build problem. Either he loses everything, or he gets an exp refund to some extent and shoots up the ranks way too fast.
Let the wizard be a wizard instead of turning everything into exalted stuff.
Time travel and time travel across ages are two very different things. Allowing them opens the quest up to some incredible nonsense. It also doesn't change the risk profile even if that was what happened. An exalt Merlin traveled through time to imprison from an earlier age of the world wouldn't be safe.
There must be a reason even the Realm at their height and the Siddies always mörisoned Exaltations, not Exalted.
If you leave a proper Exalt in a prison indefinitly, he dill find a way to break out, that's jus the nature of things, in my understanding at least.
I could suspend the disbelief for some Terrestrials, but Solaroids? No chance.
If it was an actual prison where they could be interacted with or conscious they would definitely Escape but this is just being in a rock and we don't know the circumstances upon which they were entombed if they did it themselves to survive some kind of Cataclysm like our ice Perfect Defense from Kakuri then Merlin uses his bullshit time magic to stretch that single moment that defense was supposed to go off into a single moment stretched to Infinity.
Not how it works, this is a frozen in carbonite sort of prison. There's a scene in canon of Harry looking at monsters locked in stasis. The ones that are even capable of any level of awareness are dreaming at best.
There must be a reason even the Realm at their height and the Siddies always mörisoned Exaltations, not Exalted.
If you leave a proper Exalt in a prison indefinitly, he dill find a way to break out, that's jus the nature of things, in my understanding at least.
I could suspend the disbelief for some Terrestrials, but Solaroids? No chance.
Edit: Even if they are just dreaming, they will dream up a Charm to break out in a few decades or centuries.
If they've been put into a form of null time stasis, or in a state where time passes extremely slowly, subjectively they may have only been imprisoned for a fraction of a second or a few moments.
Just tossing out some technicalities here, not sure if things have changed over game versions:
Abyssals are immortal. They have no expiration date and will neither age nor die until they are destroyed.
Sidereals are mortal. They have the longest lifespans set of all standard factory-spec Exalts, around 4k years, but they do eventually die of natural causes. Ergo, Demonreach should not be able to hold on to a Siddie forever by its rules.
If it was an actual prison where they could be interacted with or conscious they would definitely Escape but this is just being in a rock and we don't know the circumstances upon which they were entombed if they did it themselves to survive some kind of Cataclysm like our ice Perfect Defense from Kakuri then Merlin uses his bullshit time magic to stretch that single moment that defense was supposed to go off into a single moment stretched to Infinity.
I have no issue with the idea that they have been imprisoned.
You can beat Exalted, imprison or kill them. It might be hard, but it's definitely possible.
What is not possible is keeping them imprisoned for decades, centuries or longer. That's the point at which they will find a way to get out, be it by physically breaking the prison, swaying a single-issue programmed guard to let them go, developing planar travel to go to a part of the Nevernever where they are not imprisoned or any other possible or impossible solution.
Just tossing out some technicalities here, not sure if things have changed over game versions:
Abyssals are immortal. They have no expiration date and will neither age nor die until they are destroyed.
Sidereals are mortal. They have the longest lifespans set of all standard factory-spec Exalts, around 4k years, but they do eventually die of natural causes. Ergo, Demonreach should not be able to hold on to a Siddie forever by its rules.
Guys,before we continue speculating with barely any info,maybe we should use this scene to ask a question? And maybe try to find ways to ask more questions?
Guys,before we continue speculating with barely any info,maybe we should use this scene to ask a question? And maybe try to find ways to ask more questions?
We should keep in mind that Demonreach has intellectus on the island, if we use the Crown it'll probably get a roll to sense it. It's not unfamiliar with Exalted either.
But you cannot magic the equipment for free. You can create "best available equipment X10" with TTC. You need "best available equipment X10 million". That's not happening, in the same way we can't TTC a Culture Mind hardware.
You propose bridging the gap with path of Fortune magic to increase the odds of desirable effect happening a million fold. That's also not happening. Not without grand magic rituals. Because if you can adjust odds a million times in your favor on a consistent basis? That's how you get your whole civilizations be dragonblooded at least.
Essentially, if your stuff works, than we can guarantee that Daniel exalts as a solar. Because you are arguing that Path of Fortune can reliably make someone roll 10 on a D10 6 times in a row. That's what you are arguing.
I think you are misunderstanding me.
Magicking up the equipment up for free is what Tool Constructs does. Its not enchanted, but its perfect, doesnt fail or overheat and works optimally.
The original Bevalac that Glenn Seaborg used was a 1950s era particle accelerator that was decommissioned in 1993. The Large Hadron Collider, for example, is 4x orders of magnitude more powerful according to the relevant wikipedia article, as well as being much more effective because it was designed along different principles:
The next generation of accelerators used "strong focusing", and required much smaller apertures, and thus much cheaper magnets. The CERN PS (Proton Synchrotron, 1959) and the Brookhaven National Laboratory AGS (Alternating Gradient Synchrotron, 1960) were the first next-generation machines, with an aperture roughly an order of magnitude less in both transverse directions, and reaching 30 GeV proton energy, yet with a less massive magnet ring. For comparison, the circulating beams in the Large Hadron Collider, with ~11,000 times higher energy and enormously higher intensity than the Bevatron, are confined to a space on the order of 1 mm in cross-section, and focused down to 16 micrometres at the intersection collision regions, while the field of the bending magnets is only about five times higher.
The demolition of the Bevatron began in 2009 and was completed in early 2012.[12]
I dont know enough about high-energy physics to go into detail about the qualititative improvements between weak focusing and strong focusing accelerators, and its beyond the scope of this topic anyway.
But it goes to show that a process done in the 1980s on 1950s hardware and under 1960s/1970s computer control, is in no way equivalent to the same process performed two or three decades later on hardware and with computing multiple
Bevalac was built in the 1950s.
The Cray-1 supercomputer, with a whopping 80Mhz of processing power, was developed in 1975 and delivered to US research labs. The 2007 Iphone 1 processor is more than 5x faster than it.
===
Fortune Path mechanics disagrees.
Thats not a grand ritual thing, any more than Molly helping create a house god was a grand ritual thing.
Not that it matters, because Sanctuary can actually afford grand ritual things.
It has the manpower, it has the space to do this.
===
No, we cannot. They are not equivalent events or equivalent targets.
Distorting probability of a specific mundane event in a limited area for a limited time =/= Casting a broad-area enchantment to fuck with a magical artifact of Primordial manufacture. Thats like drawing an equivalence between Path sorcery and the Salinan Working. Nevermind that fucking with a Solar shard is messing with an entity that actively fucks back.
Its also worth noting that winning the lottery, which IIRC is a 1 in 300 million event in the US, is a Tier 4 Fortune effect.
And that the entropy curse, which manipulates probability is literally a cornerstone of Dresdenverse magic, as evidenced by the vampire who got killed by a roast turkey falling out of an airplane.
Define a meaningful difference between creation and transmutation, all creation since the very beginning when Divine Ignition was greeted by Oramus is transmutation of Essence. The act of transmitting something by infusing it with your magic and intent is far more personal, purposeful and thus strong in the Arcane sense than the act of mining what's already there. It's the act of claiming, purposeful establishment of a claim on what something is.
And no its not.
Sanctuary is literally linked to Molly's soul, and she can literally go all Fisher King on it.
Thats a very different matter from importing an item, altering it, and sending it back out.
Morphic resonance is at least the cause of the techbane effect Wizards have in Dresden Files, the various Vampire Bloodlines in WoD, Malkavians especially, and some Sidereal bullshit in Exalted.
Just because the concept itself isn't named in a story doesn't mean it isn't used in a story. #choirpedantic
Custom shaped graphene at industrial quantities might actually be a good option. We'd have to make the market, but we also don't have to worry about someone learning magic exists just because we keep throwing the stuff around. It should be trivial to make for sorcerers because it's literally just rearranging carbon. I wouldn't be surprised if it was already a common base component in a lot of FCF products anyway.
Also some helpful secondary effects in making prepared humans tougher. Graphene armor plates are the sort of thing to make it difficult for a red vamp to gut you without weighing you down so much it's not practical to wear.
We're not legally obligated to tell anyone anything about how our production works either. The trick would be making our systems look vaguely viable for operation at scale.
Thats not accurate. Nationstates retain the right to break commercial secrets just fine if they think its in the national interest.
In this case?
You are asking multiple companies to reorient their business plans to rely on us. To invest millions, if not billions of dollars in our ability to do what we claim, consistently. They arent going to take it on faith.
People will ask how you do it and where. If you're meeting safety and environmental standards.
Potential customers will ask for explanations, as well as tours of your production facilities to ensure that you can meet their needs before signing contracts.
Furthermore?
Uncle Sam will take overt interest in a strategic production capability, just like they do with Intel and Boeing and Space-X, and WILL determine what we do, up to and including taking(or trying to take) the company away from us. So will other nations.
Even the Swedes have no chill about this sort of thing; ask the German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp what happened with their ownership of Swedish sub maker Kockums, and how they came to sell it to Saab.
Noone who has paid attention to the US banning NVIDIA's exports of graphics cards to China, or the regulation of space launch companies, or the long history of restricting the export of software encryption, is under any illusions about how much freedom you get at that level of importance.
I mean, for one recent example, Federal regulators forced a Ukrainian investor in a space launch company to sell his majority stake just when the company was on the verge of viability
=There's an overlooked benefit in having Olivia along.
One of her issues has been that she doesnt really see, or understand, what wizards DO with their time; as far as she's been concerned, they swan in and out, and lord themselves over lesser talents without doing anything while vampires and other nasties run rampant.
Its useful to have her understand the danger and importance, because when they do their job properly, noone gets to know.
=Alfred was female in this AU? Huh.
I get the impression this is a reference to someone, but I dont recognize who she is supposed to be.
=Going to point out that you dont need to die to stop being Warden.
At least according to Butcher; you CAN walk away.
Not that Harry is the type.
=Going to point out that its going to look to an external observer like Molly just upgraded her court wizard.
And yes, people will essentially assume Harry's her court wizard.
=How is Molly's Infernal nature being detected through the activity of Black Mirror? Thats a 5-dot Solaroid charm.
Is she just not using it to conceal her nature?
Or is that weathervane powerful enough to punch through Solaroid effects?
=Five Celestial Exalt-detector: Solar gold, Infernal green, Sidereal stars, Lunar moon and ????
Silver-tarnished black could be Abyssal. Probably. Could also be Lunar. Or Liminal. Or Alchemical. Or even a very powerful Exigent. That doesnt really narrow it down at all.
=Im having serious doubts about the ability of Demonreach to hold a Celestial Exalt or two; the Primordials couldnt do it, so I dont see how he/she could. Unless they are here willingly, of course. Which is possible; I think The Righteous Devil was held in stasis from the First Age till the second in Exalted 2E. As well as one Dragonblood.
=It does say that Merlin had dealings with multiple Celestial Exalts, in order to have something to detect their approach.
Given as we know when Merlin was supposed to be running around, and that there were no Celestial Exalts abroad at the time, this suggests either timey wimey bullshit, or someone used a souped-up version of Night Swallows Secrets on mortal society.
=Pretender/Lie That Forgets Itself does confirm that Embermane is raksha in origin.
And the denial of kinship implies that Demonreach itself is not/has never been raksha, but is old enough or knowledgeable enough to remember. Given that the Fae here used to be raksha, it says interesting things, since Alfred is not hostile to them.
=Kemmler took something from Demonreach? That sounds like it might have some relevance to this Word of Mab:
"That you have little time," Mab said. She turned to face me again. "I must do what I might to preserve your life. Know this, mortal: Should Kemmler's heirs acquire the knowledge bound within the Word, they will be in a position to gather up such power as the world has not seen in many thousands of years."
"What? How?" "Kemmler was"-Mab's eyes grew distant, as if in memory- "a madman. A monster. But brilliant. He learned how to bind to his will not only dead flesh, but shades-to rend them asunder and devour them to feed his own power. It was the secret of the strength that allowed him to defy all the White Council together."
I added two and two and got four. "The heirs want to call up the ancient spirits," I breathed. "And then devour them for power."
Mab's deep-green eyes almost seemed to glow with intensity. "Kemmler himself attempted it, but the Council struck him down before he could finish."
I swallowed. "What happens if one of his heirs is able to do it?"
"The heir would gain power such as has not been wielded by mortal hands in the memory of your race," Mab said.
"The Darkhallow," I said. I rubbed at my eyes. "That's what it is. A ritual, tomorrow night. Halloween. They all want to be the one to make themselves into a junior-league god."
"Power is ever sweet, is it not?"
I thought about it some more. I had to worry about more than just Kemmler's cronies. Mavra wanted the Word, too. Hell's bells. If Mavra succeeded in making herself into some kind of dark goddess, there wasn't a chance in hell that she wouldn't obliterate me at the first opportunity. "Can they do it without the Word?"
Mab's mouth curled up in a slow smile. "If they could, why would they seek it so desperately?" The wind began to stir again, and the lake began to resume its ebb and flow. "Beware, wizard. You are engaged in a most deadly game. I should be disappointed were I deprived of your service."
"Then get used to it," I said. "I'm never going to be your knight."
If Kemmler took something from Demonreach, its worth figuring out what. Maybe we can fix it.
Which means we need to track down Evil Bob. He's the only living witness to Kemmler's thinking I think.
And we can learn Emerald Spirit Binding if necessary. Or use a spell/crafting to reformat him.
=Gonna note that if the tower was built with magic?
I wonder where the runes on the cottage came from? The ones that fended off Shagnasty in canon?
Just tossing out some technicalities here, not sure if things have changed over game versions:
Abyssals are immortal. They have no expiration date and will neither age nor die until they are destroyed.
Sidereals are mortal. They have the longest lifespans set of all standard factory-spec Exalts, around 4k years, but they do eventually die of natural causes. Ergo, Demonreach should not be able to hold on to a Siddie forever by its rules.
I dont think stasis counts for lifespan in Exalted 2E.
The Righteous Devil was in stasis IIRC until Sulumor found him, and its suggested that he is the original Righteous Devil from the First Age. And I think Saibok Gauto(the OLD DB from Dreams of the First Age, the one who lived at least 3500 years) spent time in stasis as well.
I just have my doubts about the ability to hold a Celestial Exalt against their will for that long.
Unless they arent being held against their will.
Guys,before we continue speculating with barely any info,maybe we should use this scene to ask a question? And maybe try to find ways to ask more questions?
Good point. @DragonParadox is "what are the effects/consequences of becoming a Warden that Alfred is unable or unwilling to fully explain if asked?" a viable question?
I think you are misunderstanding me.
Magicking up the equipment up for free is what Tool Constructs does. Its not enchanted, but its perfect, doesnt fail or overheat and works optimally.
The original Bevalac that Glenn Seaborg used was a 1950s era particle accelerator that was decommissioned in 1993. The Large Hadron Collider, for example, is 4x orders of magnitude more powerful according to the relevant wikipedia article, as well as being much more effective because it was designed along different principles:
The next generation of accelerators used "strong focusing", and required much smaller apertures, and thus much cheaper magnets. The CERN PS (Proton Synchrotron, 1959) and the Brookhaven National Laboratory AGS (Alternating Gradient Synchrotron, 1960) were the first next-generation machines, with an aperture roughly an order of magnitude less in both transverse directions, and reaching 30 GeV proton energy, yet with a less massive magnet ring. For comparison, the circulating beams in the Large Hadron Collider, with ~11,000 times higher energy and enormously higher intensity than the Bevatron, are confined to a space on the order of 1 mm in cross-section, and focused down to 16 micrometres at the intersection collision regions, while the field of the bending magnets is only about five times higher.
The demolition of the Bevatron began in 2009 and was completed in early 2012.[12]
I dont know enough about high-energy physics to go into detail about the qualititative improvements between weak focusing and strong focusing accelerators, and its beyond the scope of this topic anyway.
But it goes to show that a process done in the 1980s on 1950s hardware and under 1960s/1970s computer control, is in no way equivalent to the same process performed two or three decades later on hardware and with computing multiple
Bevalac was built in the 1950s.
The Cray-1 supercomputer, with a whopping 80Mhz of processing power, was developed in 1975 and delivered to US research labs. The 2007 Iphone 1 processor is more than 5x faster than it.
===
Fortune Path mechanics disagrees.
Thats not a grand ritual thing, any more than Molly helping create a house god was a grand ritual thing.
Not that it matters, because Sanctuary can actually afford grand ritual things.
It has the manpower, it has the space to do this.
===
No, we cannot. They are not equivalent events or equivalent targets.
Distorting probability of a specific mundane event in a limited area for a limited time =/= Casting a broad-area enchantment to fuck with a magical artifact of Primordial manufacture. Thats like drawing an equivalence between Path sorcery and the Salinan Working. Nevermind that fucking with a Solar shard is messing with an entity that actively fucks back.
Its also worth noting that winning the lottery, which IIRC is a 1 in 300 million event in the US, is a Tier 4 Fortune effect.
And that the entropy curse, which manipulates probability is literally a cornerstone of Dresdenverse magic, as evidenced by the vampire who got killed by a roast turkey falling out of an airplane.
And no its not.
Sanctuary is literally linked to Molly's soul, and she can literally go all Fisher King on it.
Thats a very different matter from importing an item, altering it, and sending it back out.
There's nothing in any of the settings in this quest that implies any of that is true.
Thats not accurate. Nationstates retain the right to break commercial secrets just fine if they think its in the national interest.
In this case?
You are asking multiple companies to reorient their business plans to rely on us. To invest millions, if not billions of dollars in our ability to do what we claim, consistently. They arent going to take it on faith.
People will ask how you do it and where. If you're meeting safety and environmental standards.
Potential customers will ask for explanations, as well as tours of your production facilities to ensure that you can meet their needs before signing contracts.
Furthermore?
Uncle Sam will take overt interest in a strategic production capability, just like they do with Intel and Boeing and Space-X, and WILL determine what we do, up to and including taking(or trying to take) the company away from us. So will other nations.
Even the Swedes have no chill about this sort of thing; ask the German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp what happened with their ownership of Swedish sub maker Kockums, and how they came to sell it to Saab.
Noone who has paid attention to the US banning NVIDIA's exports of graphics cards to China, or the regulation of space launch companies, or the long history of restricting the export of software encryption, is under any illusions about how much freedom you get at that level of importance.
I mean, for one recent example, Federal regulators forced a Ukrainian investor in a space launch company to sell his majority stake just when the company was on the verge of viability
“I hope you now are happy. History will judge all of you guys.”…
arstechnica.com
COMMENTARY
=There's an overlooked benefit in having Olivia along.
One of her issues has been that she doesnt really see, or understand, what wizards DO with their time; as far as she's been concerned, they swan in and out, and lord themselves over lesser talents without doing anything while vampires and other nasties run rampant.
Its useful to have her understand the danger and importance, because when they do their job properly, noone gets to know.
=Alfred was female in this AU? Huh.
I get the impression this is a reference to someone, but I dont recognize who she is supposed to be.
=Going to point out that you dont need to die to stop being Warden.
At least according to Butcher; you CAN walk away.
Not that Harry is the type.
=Going to point out that its going to look to an external observer like Molly just upgraded her court wizard.
And yes, people will essentially assume Harry's her court wizard.
=How is Molly's Infernal nature being detected through the activity of Black Mirror? Thats a 5-dot Solaroid charm.
Is she just not using it to conceal her nature?
Or is that weathervane powerful enough to punch through Solaroid effects?
=Five Celestial Exalt-detector: Solar gold, Infernal green, Sidereal stars, Lunar moon and ????
Silver-tarnished black could be Abyssal. Probably. Could also be Lunar. Or Liminal. Or Alchemical. Or even a very powerful Exigent. That doesnt really narrow it down at all.
=Im having serious doubts about the ability of Demonreach to hold a Celestial Exalt or two; the Primordials couldnt do it, so I dont see how he/she could. Unless they are here willingly, of course. Which is possible; I think The Righteous Devil was held in stasis from the First Age till the second in Exalted 2E. As well as one Dragonblood.
=It does say that Merlin had dealings with multiple Celestial Exalts, in order to have something to detect their approach.
Given as we know when Merlin was supposed to be running around, and that there were no Celestial Exalts abroad at the time, this suggests either timey wimey bullshit, or someone used a souped-up version of Night Swallows Secrets on mortal society.
Tarnished silver sun is a blackened sun, Abyssal, gold does not blacken in this reality
As for that weatherwane the moment you set foot on the island t went off, this is the kind of place an infernal with BMI would have to work to break someone out of, not just have the charm, the charm is a start.
Good point. @DragonParadox is "what are the effects/consequences of becoming a Warden that Alfred is unable or unwilling to fully explain if asked?" a viable question?
=How is Molly's Infernal nature being detected through the activity of Black Mirror? Thats a 5-dot Solaroid charm.
Is she just not using it to conceal her nature?
Or is that weathervane powerful enough to punch through Solaroid effects?
It has island-wide intellectus (which Harry should have access to, by the way), and BMI was said to be vulnerable to Sight. @DragonParadox were there any rolls involved in DemonReach seeing past our charm? That's him contending with a charm effect, after all.
=It does say that Merlin had dealings with multiple Celestial Exalts, in order to have something to detect their approach.
Given as we know when Merlin was supposed to be running around, and that there were no Celestial Exalts abroad at the time, this suggests either timey wimey bullshit, or someone used a souped-up version of Night Swallows Secrets on mortal society.
That's my guess. Either Merlin went to explore earlier ages (or the future, it's quite possible he went into our relative future), or exalts from the ages when time travel was possible went into the future (or into their relative past if those are from our relative future).
=Kemmler took something from Demonreach? That sounds like it might have some relevance to this Word of Mab:
"That you have little time," Mab said. She turned to face me again. "I must do what I might to preserve your life. Know this, mortal: Should Kemmler's heirs acquire the knowledge bound within the Word, they will be in a position to gather up such power as the world has not seen in many thousands of years."
"What? How?"
"Kemmler was"-Mab's eyes grew distant, as if in memory- "a madman. A monster. But brilliant. He learned how to bind to his will not only dead flesh, but shades-to rend them asunder and devour them to feed his own power. It was the secret of the strength that allowed him to defy all the White Council together."
I added two and two and got four. "The heirs want to call up the ancient spirits," I breathed. "And then devour them for power."
Mab's deep-green eyes almost seemed to glow with intensity. "Kemmler himself attempted it, but the Council struck him down before he could finish."
I swallowed. "What happens if one of his heirs is able to do it?"
"The heir would gain power such as has not been wielded by mortal hands in the memory of your race," Mab said.
"The Darkhallow," I said. I rubbed at my eyes. "That's what it is. A ritual, tomorrow night. Halloween. They all want to be the one to make themselves into a junior-league god."
"Power is ever sweet, is it not?"
I thought about it some more. I had to worry about more than just Kemmler's cronies. Mavra wanted the Word, too. Hell's bells. If Mavra succeeded in making herself into some kind of dark goddess, there wasn't a chance in hell that she wouldn't obliterate me at the first opportunity. "Can they do it without the Word?"
Mab's mouth curled up in a slow smile. "If they could, why would they seek it so desperately?" The wind began to stir again, and the lake began to resume its ebb and flow. "Beware, wizard. You are engaged in a most deadly game. I should be disappointed were I deprived of your service."
"Then get used to it," I said. "I'm never going to be your knight." If Kemmler took something from Demonreach, its worth figuring out what. Maybe we can fix it.
Which means we need to track down Evil Bob. He's the only living witness to Kemmler's thinking I think.
And we can learn Emerald Spirit Binding if necessary. Or use a spell/crafting to reformat him.
Kemmler likely took ability to sympathize / understand humans from Demonreach in order to isolate it. Possibly to prevent it from understanding what he was doing and rebelling (I bet there are protocols for this).
Usually exalts cheat and count as mortal or divine as is advantageous for them.
[x] Help Harry look through his new domain, it should be safe enough for you
-[X] Using the current scene, ask what are the effects/consequences of becoming a Warden that Alfred is unable or unwilling to fully explain if asked?
First, ensure Harry's safety. The questions after this are:
1) What are Island's vulnerabilities that Alfred can't or won't talk about?
2) The list of beings currently plotting against the island
3) Everything else
It has island-wide intellectus (which Harry should have access to, by the way), and BMI was said to be vulnerable to Sight. @DragonParadox were there any rolls involved in DemonReach seeing past our charm? That's him contending with a charm effect, after all.
If you were actually trying to hide for a plan I would have done an essence roll-off but you were not so I just gave it to him, especially with you using charms openly to help Harry.
[x] Help Harry look through his new domain, it should be safe enough for you
-[X] Using the current scene, ask what are the effects/consequences of becoming a Warden that Alfred is unable or unwilling to fully explain if asked?
[x] Help Harry look through his new domain, it should be safe enough for you
-[X] Using the current scene, ask what are the effects/consequences of becoming a Warden that Alfred is unable or unwilling to fully explain if asked?
While he might detect crown use (and that's arguable, we used in the presence of Fae Queens and Ladies in their places of power - it is actually subtle), there's no way he'll discern what the question is.
While he might detect crown use (and that's arguable, we used in the presence of Fae Queens and Ladies in their places of power - it is actually subtle), there's no way he'll discern what the question is.
We did not use the Crown in those places. Your going to have to find a quote for that. We tried to in order to see if Lily was possessed by Nemesis but she wasn't a viable Crown focus for him so it didn't fire off. DR being able to tell what the question is isn't the risk factor here.
Edit: Also the Crown was described as not subtle multiple times by DP and the risk of a Queen or the Archive detecting it was originally brought up by him to begin with. This isn't arguable.
[X] Help Harry look through his new domain, it should be safe enough for you -[X] Using the current scene, ask what are the effects/consequences of becoming a Warden that Alfred is unable or unwilling to fully explain if asked?
Except they know who they're dealing with. I wouldn't even put the production facilities where they can get at it. I expect there would be an attempt, but functionally this is an export from a sovereign state that doesn't have to comply.
The appropriate leverage here would be the good old genie out of bottle problem. Play nice with us and get a good deal that provides more access than other players get. Try to screw us and we'll just go do business somewhere else. Sure would suck if everyone but you could get arbitrary graphene parts by mail order wouldn't it?
There are counter plays to that, but almost highly impactful things we could do start running into issues like this as they interact with the existing system. In order to engage without being exploited we need an arrangement that makes it clear that conflict is less profitable and effective than cooperation. People might ask why the US doesn't take our stuff, but them choosing not to do so isn't out of the realm of possibility to the point that the public would smell a rat.
This is definitely overhead to our efforts and would take actual attention to do, but we're going to run into some permutation of this problem with any sufficiently sizable interaction with the mortal world.