Hmm, ok. I can see the argument. I can even agree with it. Molly, with her history of mind control blowing up in her face, would probably be against or at least very leery of using active mind manipulation. And it's active. It's the difference between DPE, which is a passive aura and can't be controlled, and, say, Crowned with Fury. So, even in fear of splitting the vote more:
[X] Plan Court and War of an Alchemist
-[x] Molly: 25 xp
-[x] Wind-Born Stride, 8 XP
-[x] Murder is Meat, 4 XP
-[x] Rendered Villain Dispersal: 4xp
-[x] Naked Wicked Souls, 3 XP
-[x] Alchemy 2 dots, 6XP
-[x] Lydia: 7xp (25% of Molly's, rounded down 29 / 4 = 7.25 = 7) + 5 xp = 12 xp
-[x] Hunter's Bolt: 6 XP
-[x] Command The Dead: 3xp
-[x] Authority of the Psychopomp: 3xp
So, I swapped Maggot Mana Plague with NWS and Alchemy. NWS enhances Molly's "court" part, which was lacking a bit. Alchemy at 2 dots gives us sleep reducer, which is likely + AP, healing potions for combat, and one more recipe, which I would suggest to be either a polymorph, which is incredible, or an ability enhancer of some kind (I am voting craft, craft is the best). I keep 12 points for Lydia, in order to give her Huner's bolt as a weapon.
Yes, we miss out on making the skavis mutant. But I see the argument of this being... Not mind control, but certainly something that Molly IC wouldn't go for. I personally would be ok with using it with informed consent. Molly probably wouldn't.
What you are proposing is a long term project that is conditional on people consistently voting to throw AP and xp in the hope ghat we see z unknown pay off some time kn the future.
Given that thd quest is voting by committee, I do not see it happening.
So to you it is a "easy" solution, but to me it is a practical and realistic one.
I mean it's not like we don't have decent enough solution already for just daily life? MiS is enough, especially when combined with low harm feeding methods like the horror movies.
For just the purpose of living daily life the problem is solved. We just need to set up proper structures for MiS to work without too much fuss. And we were already going to do that.
The only thing we really need MMP for right now is if we want to be letting our minions gorge to power them up for combat.
And that is a luxury for us. I am perfectly fine not having a solution for that for quite a while. Sure we won't be able to use our minions as freely in combat but that's fine. They aren't our minions because we want to use them in combat. They are our minions because we want to help them.
Annd new vote. I'll add it to my approval vote: [X] Plan Authority Doesn't Need Mind Control.
[X] Plan Duck Out
[X] Plan Cross Eyed Look
[X] Yes Minions, No Mind Control
[X] Plan Court and War of an Alchemist
NWS any Nemesis possessed person. A large number of crown related questions. Hellscey Chakra a possessed mortal or summer fae. Continue study of ancient lore. Pull on the "Black Court serve the f*cringed Neverborn" plot thread. Interact with White Council more. Interact with Odin more (that's a terrible idea). Get Uriel to tell us. Crown question or NWS an outsider. That's from the top of my head. Lots of options.
Naked Wicked Souls doesnt work that way.
We dont even know what questions to ask, and Crown questions cost Essence and burn focuses.
Hellscry Chakra doesnt work that way.
The Black Court were created by A Neverborn. Has nothing to do with the Outer Gates as far as we know.
The White Council didnt tell Dresden who was a senior military commander of more than five years with access to the Council library. The Gatekeeper wears a disguise when he attends Council meetings. This isnt precisely stuff you can
Uriel wont do that. Appears to break his remit
We wouldnt even know what question to ask, and could very well burn the entire topic.
No, Mab isn't some kind of "everyone eventually comes crawling to me begging for help" ultimate power behind the setting. Mab is a leader of Western based power with global reach. Everyone might be affected by her global actions, but far from everyone has to deal with her.
When the Red Court were plotting, they first attempted to subvert her second in command. When the Vampire War broke out, the White Council went to her to negotiate free passage through the Never Never for their forces and logistics. When the Kemmlerites came to town, Dresden went to her for basic information.
When whatsherface threatened Chicago, her available forces bore most of the ground level brunt of defending the city.
She doesnt CONTROL everything, mind.
But her influence is pervasive, and Summer and Winter lie at the heart of essentially every supernatural power relationship established in the last thousand years.
I will not. Make deals with Mab that is. She only has as much power over us as we give her. And it's precisely because most don't get terms as "generous" as Dresden did that I won't deal with her. Mab is evil. Probably the most evil you can be while still being on the side of good broadly and strategically speaking. If we are forced to stoop down to dealing hpwith her, we have already l
1)Mab's power in no way depends on what we give her.
We and our monkeysphere live in a society that has been buttressed by her powers on the supernatural side, one where she has built power and influence since at least Hastings. She has guarded the Gates for centuries.
Thats about as wrongheaded as for a resident of our future Hell to make the same claim about us.
2)Mab isnt evil. Mab has never been evil. She has done evil things, but she doesnt meet the definition.
Mab is the head of a supernatural nationstate. She's no more evil than the average US POTUS, or PRC head of state.
Uriel works with her on occasion, and he's got a more restrictive set of ethics.
Its the QM's prereogative to rewrite the setting for the needs of making an engaging story.
But Winter is a foundational pillar of the setting for a reason.
You cant not engage with them.
Its worth remembering we have the advantage here because she called this meeting.
If we have to call it, the advantage shifts.
And we have no guarantees of being able to get Mab at will; even absent general bureaucratic shit, she's a busy woman.
Its like trying to get a face to face international meeting with POTUS, or the PRC chairman.
Of course one of the big reasons I want to get Bakemono charms that saves us a point when making our hell. We can populate it with loyal humans that we can easily empower.
A Hell with only a million people and 1% bakemono demographic would require individually converting 10,000 people.
Inner Devils Unleashed costs 3m per bakemono, iirc.
Chirality Prohibition Index costs 7m over 7 days.
And noone's interested in feeding people MMP until they become bakemono.
None of our charms is designed to scale to those types of numbers
We have neither the Essence pools, Essence regen or the time to do that sort of thing.
So put that out of your mind.
Well they might play devil's advocate, but the Infernal will have the last word.
I actually wonder what we are going to do with all the extra grub. We are making enough to feed 200 people at the moment and the current plan seems to be not to primarily feed them grub.
It keeps for a week without efforts at preservation, but it stands to reason that if you try to preserve it, it lasts longer.
So put it in a fridge. Or smoke it or dry it or otherwise preserve it.
Its the 21st century. You got options.
Yeah but the thing is that 1/week feeding will cover their need for human food because the demon maggots are just that nutritious. If you scarf enough of them down to feed the demon you do not have to eat food that week, though of course you can do so.
1)As evidenced by Papa Raith's involuntary three decade fast, the Hunger of the White Court has a parallel nutrition track to their normal food requirements. It doesnt appear to behave like a biological hunger.
If a Whampire isnt actively burning power for mind whammies or combat or regen or magic, it stockpiles it like a camel stockpiling food and water in its hump, or a bear fattening up its reserves before winter.
We dont know how deep their reserves can go, or whether thats affected by heredity or age.
Lord Raith demonstrates that those reserves can be very deep. Decades deep.
He hadnt fed since Dresden was born/LeFay died, which was 30 years by the time of Blood Rites.
2)MMP is not a 1/week meal. I quote:
Maggot Mana Plague (••)
With a casual gesture, the Infernal conjures forth fat,
wriggling maggots from the Hell of Burrowing Maggots,
grown fat on the souls of sinners. They writhe forth from
the dust and then expire. Those who eat these highly-nu-
tritious grubs find them delicious and nourishing, but
also find their destiny bound to that of the Infernal.
System: The Infernal can only use this Charm in
a place of desolation (defined as a place where Surviv-
al rolls are at least difficulty 8, or where most of the
inhabitants feel despair at the state of their lives). She
spends a moment concentrating and then spends 3 Es-
sence to conjure her grotesque repast. One use of this
Charm summons enough maggots to feed (Essence x
100) people, and the maggots remain edible without
preservation for a week. One meal of maggots is suffi-
cient to feed and water a person for a day in even the harshest environment, but it also makes them vaguely
loyal toward their Infernal benefactor; all of the Infer-
nal's social actions against the maggot-fed reduce their
difficulty by one. Those who exist on a primarily mag-
got diet become creatures of darkness after (Stamina
rating) weeks, and may display subtle changes such as
growing pale or soft-skinned over time; or may man-
ifest features befitting the Infernal's personal Hell, if
she has one. The Infernal's social actions against such
beings reduce their difficulty by three.
Signature Effect: When the Infernal emerges
from her anima cocoon, she emits an Essence-shock-
wave which transforms and corrupts all foodstuffs
within half a mile. Maggots of the same sort conjured
by Maggot Mana Plague eat their way out of all pre-
pared and stored food within the affected range, and
then promptly die
Its a daily meal. I presume you could just as easily break up that meal into snacks over the same day.
Taking it only 1x or 2x a week would both extend the duration of any given supplies, and it would prevent the actual social influence parts from lasting more than a day at a time.
Also, regarding craft - I think I got the idea of what to gift Harry. We could make him a new gun, exalted-grade quality. And get Murphy to legalize it.
1)Murphy is a CPD cop.
She isnt firearms registration, which is a function of the Illnois State Police. Its a plot point that she owns an illegal automatic weapon that she received as a gift from Kincaid, a 5.7mm P90 with a 50-round mag.
2)Harry doesnt need additional police permission to own a gun.
An 18 year old can own an AR15 with parental approval, and a 21 year old a handgun in their personal cognizance. In Illnois you apply for and get your FOID card once you are of age and can own any legal firearm. And as a PI who carries a gun, he's already registered for that stuff: the standard FOID, a concealed carry license, and the relevant PI certs.
3)If we get Enchantment 1-2, one of the 1 or 2 dot items is a gun with -1 DC to aiming, and there's an Enchantment ritual at 1 dot or 2 dot that enchants items from breaking down. Should work against techbane.
Or we get Exalted Crafting. Or the Sorcery spell Wood Dragon Benediction.
We get that by default from all COD. We don't really have a use for being a free holding lord. Our authority is instantly recognized without a piece of paper.
No it isnt. And a lot of the world is not CoDs. Literally the only canon actors who arent official members are
1)The Jade Court, and thats because they were isolationists who never left the Yangtze Valley and have never been seen onscreen
2)The Knights of the Cross, because they dont need legal paperwork, and everyone trusts their word
Everyone else, good guys and bad guys and neutral guys, are signatories. Should tell you something.
Even enemies need to be able to talk.
I'll give you guys an option to ask Bob about the Winter Court in detail next turn, he knows quite a lot, more than Mab would prefer even, but it is not really something he hands out in the background because he is rather terrified of her. That said Molly is a pretty girl with untold occult lore, that is like double Kryptonite for him.
Yes, just as an Exalted can sell their souls to the Lords of Hell so too can they gain the aid of more benevolent powers if they are willing to place themselves under their aegis.
I want to get it before the kingdom. Mostly because with it loyal humans from our kingdom are just as useful as demons which saves us a kingdom point. We can have a 5 fold court of different types of humans.
Just like Yog, I like the mushroom people and see no reason to remove them.
Plus, the numbers we get from having our kingdom with them and from making some of our citizens into them using the charms is not comparable IMO, we'll never have as much without the point in the kingdom. There is also the benefits of allowing more creativity with the already there demons to think about, I doubt you can make something like the mushrooms with the charm, and that's important.
I mean it's not like we don't have decent enough solution already for just daily life? MiS is enough, especially when combined with low harm feeding methods like the horror movies.
Point of order:
You've been operating under a mistaken impression.
Maggot Mana Plague is not mind control.
Narratively, it makes us more persuasive and convincing, just like when we activate a social Excellency. It doesnt suborn the will of its targets. Mechanically, its first stage effects are less than Demonic Primacy of Essence(-1DC vs -2DC), and we have no problem walking around with that as standard when talking to the ghouls and Whampires and Rampires and ghosts and Fae.
Because we recognize it isnt mind control. Under Ex2E mechanics, it would be NMI not UMI.
Furthermore, even the second stage effects(-3DC) dont suborn the will of its targets; they can still win the roll, or spend WP to resist an argument. Its harder, but its doable if they care enough about the subject.
There are other charms in that vein, like Night Swallows Secrets and The Man Who Sold The World.
We have actual mind control charms in our charmset, like Crowned In Fury.
Which just takes over the mind of the target with a successful roll.
CWF said:
Crowned With Fury (•••) Concentrating her implacable will upon another,
the Infernal crushes her target's psyche with a display
of her hellish glory. Green flames creep from her eyes
and mouth whenever she commands her newly-sub-
orned lackey, forming a blazing crown that burns above
her head while she speaks.
System: Spend 2 Essence and roll Charisma +
Leadership (difficulty of the target's Willpower). Suc-
cess transforms the target into the Infernal's obedient
servant. The more successes rolled, the longer the tar-
get's servitude lasts, as per the chart below:
Result Duration
Botch Subject cannot be targeted by this Charm
for the rest of the story.
Failure Subject cannot be targeted by this Charm
again in the current scene.
1 One hour
2 One day
3 One week
4 One month
5 One year
The target can resist a command from the Infernal
for a scene, but doing so causes her body to begin tearing
itself apart under the strain of disloyalty, inflicting one
unsoakable level of lethal damage. Each level of damage
the target suffers to resist this Charm negates one suc-
cess on the Infernal's roll, shortening its duration.
Signature Effect: The Infernal's Shintai form
wears a crown of emerald flames, and her words tear
at the minds of those who hear them. She adds her Es-
sence rating to all social rolls, and the cost of Crowned
with Fury drops to 1 Essence.
See the difference?
They dont even get a roll to resist it working; they only can attempt to resist after it hits, and thats at the penalty of taking unsoakable Lethal damage.
Its a daily meal. I presume you could just as easily break up that meal into snacks over the same day.
Taking it only 1x or 2x a week would both extend the duration of any given supplies, and it would prevent the actual social influence parts from lasting more than a day at a time.
It is permanent, you are fundamentally binding someone to you by the gift of your own essence, sating any hunger. Those who are already creatures of Darkness so not go through the full transformation because their inner darkness already has shape and purpose, but mortals are more malleable.
Point of order:
You've been operating under a mistaken impression.
Maggot Mana Plague is not mind control.
Narratively, it makes us more persuasive and convincing, just like when we activate a social Excellency. It doesnt suborn the will of its targets. Mechanically, its first stage effects are less than Demonic Primacy of Essence(-1DC vs -2DC), and we have no problem walking around with that as standard when talking to the ghouls and Whampires and Rampires and ghosts and Fae.
Because we recognize it isnt mind control. Under Ex2E mechanics, it would be NMI not UMI.
Furthermore, even the second stage effects(-3DC) dont suborn the will of its targets; they can still win the roll, or spend WP to resist an argument. Its harder, but its doable if they care enough about the subject.
There are other charms in that vein, like Night Swallows Secrets and The Man Who Sold The World.
We have actual mind control charms in our charmset, like Crowned In Fury.
Which just takes over the mind of the target with a successful roll.
See the difference?
They dont even get a roll to resist it working; they only can attempt to resist after it hits, and thats at the penalty of taking unsoakable Lethal damage.
No.
Mind control doesn't have to be blatant. In fact it is all the more insidious due to it's subtlety. It is a permanent mental bias that affects the targets judgement and mental processes. It doesn't make us more convincing. It makes the targets less able to resist us. If we are talking to a group of people, and some have been affected, and some not, only the ones who have partaken will be affected by the difficulty reduction.
Just because it doesn't fully suborn the targets will doesn't mean it's not mind control.
I'm not really differentiating between mind control and mind manipulation here. Language is a bit fiddly like that.
The important part is that we are effecting direct alterations of other people's mental processes via supernatural means. "on their end and not ours" as you say. And that is a big no-no for me. Especially when the ones we would be using it on already have a very imbalanced relationship with us.
I'm not really differentiating between mind control and mind manipulation here. Language is a bit fiddly like that.
The important part is that we are effecting direct alterations of other people's mental processes via supernatural means. "on their end and not ours" as you say. And that is a big no-no for me. Especially when the ones we would be using it on already have a very imbalanced relationship with us.
That's the thing, you see direct alteration on their end and think *that's mind control*, Uju sees it and think *that's manipulation but not mind control so it's not that different from a conversation since any arguments can be seen as manipulation*.
Or at least that's what I see from your arguments, maybe I'm wrong, but in all cases, I am applying my own brand of mind manipulation to try and explain things (it's called talking, just to make sure, yes I explained the joke, deal with it).
At this point I am neutral on this and just throwing popcorns to see how it goes.
I can see both points, but am not invested enough to bother actually arguing one side or the other.
Hope it helped. If it didn't, *shrug*, I tried. Back to the popcorn munching.
No.
Mind control doesn't have to be blatant. In fact it is all the more insidious due to it's subtlety. It is a permanent mental bias that affects the targets judgement and mental processes. It doesn't make us more convincing. It makes the targets less able to resist us. If we are talking to a group of people, and some have been affected, and some not, only the ones who have partaken will be affected by the difficulty reduction.
Just because it doesn't fully suborn the targets will doesn't mean it's not mind control.
I dont agree.
Thats not how it appears to work in the Dresdenverse, or in Ex2E.
Im not as conversant with WoD mechankcs, so I make no claims there without a book at hand.
Mind control IS generally quite blatant in the setting.
Exalted 2E does not count this sort of thing as mind control; DC adjustment is essentially the same type of mechanic as using an Excellency: add more dice, or reduce difficulty. It would count as Natural Mental Influence. Unnatural Mental Influence is what Ex2 calls mind control, like in the Crowned With Fury example.
Neither does it count in the Dresdenverse.
We SEE Molly use mind control, and the Blampires, and the Whampires. It sure as hell isnt subtle when Molly binds you not to take drugs, or the Blampires mindcrush you into a Renfield, or Whampires program instructions.
We see Peabody use it on wizards.
And even in this quest, we have had Demonic Primacy of Essence applying -2DC to all lesser CoDs.
Every ghoul, every vampire, every ghost and dark spirit we've interacted with for the last two months has been under the influence of a -2DC debuff to their rolls.
In real life, I shared an apartment with someone who I generally disliked. He bought me a turkey one Thanksgiving, when I'd been unable to afford literally any food but rice for a couple of months. I'm pretty sure he got a -1 to the DC of social rolls against me out of that turkey for years after we'd both moved out.
It doesn't have to be mind control for feeding someone to influence them.
(Only reason I voted for one of the anti mind control plans is that it was the only one with Sinner-Boiling Stare in it, and I think we need that if we're going to be fighting things which can soak agg.)
I dont agree.
Thats not how it appears to work in the Dresdenverse, or in Ex2E.
Im not as conversant with WoD mechankcs, so I make no claims there without a book at hand.
Mind control IS generally quite blatant in the setting.
Exalted 2E does not count this sort of thing as mind control; DC adjustment is essentially the same type of mechanic as using an Excellency. It would count as Natural Mental Influence. Unnatural Mental Influence is what Ex2 calls mind control, like in the Crowned With Fury example.
Neither does it count in the Dresdenverse.
We SEE Molly use mind control, and the Blampires, and the Whampires. It sure as hell isnt subtle when Molly binds you not to take drugs, or the Blampires mindcrush you into a Renfield, or Whampires program instructions.
We see Peabody use it on wizards.
And even in this quest, we have had Demonic Primacy of Essence applying -2DC to all lesser CoDs.
Every ghoul, every vampire, every ghost and dark spirit we've interacted with for the last two months has been under the influence of a -2DC debuff to their rolls.
Right from the text of the charm:
"but it also makes them vaguely loyal toward their Infernal benefactor; all of the Infernal's social actions against the maggot-fed reduce their difficulty by one."
It Makes Them Loyal.
Supernaturally induced, circumstance independent, permanent loyalty. Not particularly strong yes. But broad and subtle. We could murder their family in front of them right after and we would still have -1 to social rolls against them.
And it never wears off. They could eat a single meal 100 years ago and still have the effect be just as strong.
The difference between this and DPoE is that one is an alteration to us. The other is an alteration to someone else.
Let me present things flipped around. If we were on the receiving end of this power, not the dispensing end, would active IPM block it?
Right from the text of the charm:
"but it also makes them vaguely loyal toward their Infernal benefactor; all of the Infernal's social actions against the maggot-fed reduce their difficulty by one."
It Makes Them Loyal.
Supernaturally induced, circumstance independent, permanent loyalty. Not particularly strong yes. But broad and subtle. We could murder their family in front of them right after and we would still have -1 to social rolls against them.
And it never wears off. They could eat a single meal 100 years ago and still have the effect be just as strong.
The difference between this and DPoE is that one is an alteration to us. The other is an alteration to someone else.
1)Vaguely loyal. Better than DPoE.
You can get much the same effect conventionally. And frankly much less effect than the fiat loyalty that we intend to take as a feature of our Hell.
As for permanent loyalty as an issue, thats what training charms are for, to improve their resistance.
Alternatively, Exalted Crafting. That and Sorcery. And maybe eventually VEE.
2) I find that a distinction without a difference. The actual result is what matters, not the medium through which the effect was mediated . Especially when you are talking about supernaturals who already have a Hunger as a monkey on their back.
Frankly more ethical than continued feeding on unaware people.
And MiS gives control over your Hunger.
It doesnt prevent you killing yourself if you burn through your reserves in a fight. The Hunger still needs to be fed to stockpile power for those incidents where supernatural performance is necessary.
I'm not a fan of MMP, not so much because I have an issue with subtle, minor mind control but I just don't think the XP expenditure is worth it right now, not when there are so many other things we can spend it on which directly enhance our abilities in combat, crafting, or social interactions. Again, it looks like we're getting RVD and WS this time, so I'm generally cool with MMP as a trade-off.
My main concern at the moment, however, is how much in-thread friction there is going to be if we do learn it. There seems to be enough opposition to its use that I worry we'll end up spending an inordinate amount of time debating whether or not to use it, and how, rather than more immediately relevant discussion.
So when/if MMP wins this vote, can we all be chill and just roll with it instead of arguing in circles like I've seen happen too many times in quests over the years?
I dont agree.
Any more than I consider DPoE to be mind control. Or, for that matter, a Sidereal social Excellency, which works in ExWoD by reducing DCs by 3(TNs in Ex2), which is the same magnitude that MMP would work with.
Im more iffy about it counting as emotional manipulation.
And as an aside, Sleep Reducing Potion works better than actual modafinil, which is an actual pharmacological agent used in the military and in people with narcolepsy as a wakefulness agent.
If you took it to the FDA, it would be a prescription-only medication.
Any more than I consider DPoE to be mind control. Or, for that matter, a Sidereal social Excellency, which works in ExWoD by reducing DCs by 3(TNs in Ex2), which is the same magnitude that MMP would work with.
It's not about the magnitude of effect. It's about who is being affected. Excellencies affect the user, not the target. DPoE changed Molly, not the others, and can't be turned off. MMP is an active effect that needs to be invoked and changes that target.
Prescription only isn't based on the magnitude of the useful effect. It's based on "how dangerous can using this drug be without constant supervision by licensed professional":
Prescription drugs (or legend drugs) are drugs that require a prescription because they are considered to be potentially harmful if not used under the supervision of a licensed health care practitioner. Certain prescription drugs have additional controls placed upon them. These drugs are called controlled (or scheduled) drugs.
Sleep reduction is harmless. You can't overdose on it. There's no withdrawl. There are no side-effects. It would be over the counter medication, and make us billions of dollars, after FDA tests it very thoroughly.
And if we can actually make it mass-producible, I would very much want to try and get it FDA approved.
The issue is that, as far as I can see, MMP is the only option we have in our arsenal that would allow supernatural beings we know (whampires, ghouls, and such) to actually make use of their non-human gifts in a morally acceptable way.
They can't live on it full time; MMP is not a long term solution. It also varies in consumption level required by different supernaturals, so it isn't capable of supporting as many people as it says on the tin.
MMP or no we will need to develop feeding strategies that aren't inherently harmful. Something we know is possible from a handful of canon examples.
Edit:
[X] Plan Authority Doesn't Need Mind Control.
[X] Plan Duck Out
[X] Plan Cross Eyed Look [X] Plan Court and War of an Alchemist
The loyalty being permanent makes this very difficult to manage, and could ruin our reputation.
I don't like the mental influence/mind control or whatever you want to call it, but if we take a purely cynical look at the situation I think this makes it lose a lot of its value.
Cults and supernatural groups fishing for rubes to corrupt are a dime a dozen. Someone with actual power who gives a shot and deals fairly with the little guy is the next best thing to unique on the market.
People will be hypersensitive to the possibility of subtle manipulation, and -1 difficulty isn't a lot but it should still be noticeable.
If people could detox themselves free of our influence then shooting straight and setting up mechanisms to avoid abuse could work. But from the outside looking in with the changes being permanent and the social environment being what it is even being completely honest and aboveboard about it wouldn't do a lot to reduce the impression that we're just another group like the pathfinders with a novel hunting strategy.
This sort of reputation loss would make a lot of things more difficult for us in the future, and it hard to actually fix. MMP isn't worth it on that alone.
On MMI, it's an amazing power to help forcibly rehabilitate monsters.
For example, the Wan Kuei akuma we're facing. It means we don't have to give them true death. We can just beat them to the Little Death (Wan Kuei who are killed with chi remaining or without taking the final wound with aggravated damage aren't completely killed), drag their remains back to our workshop/a warded prison, wait for them to remake their bodies, keep them captive and feed them maggots, and then use the massive DC reduction to persuade them to repent and defect.
The Yama Kings have rebuilt the greater akuma and can absolutely command both them and lesser akuma that have performed the Rite of Renunciation after bargaining away all their souls, but they still need to command them. Akuma can still change their mind and rebel, although it's very hard and almost always completely futile.
However, the massive difficulty reduction we can get on social roles against CoDs that have eaten enough maggots is enormous, allowing us to persuade them to take risks they wouldn't otherwise dream of.
And given that we know some of them are dreaming of it anyway, we just have to change the nature of their rebellion.
The fact that we then have a plot hook for a later arc of sneaking into Kakuri and stealing back the souls of Emma-O's akuma is just gravy.
On the fae, from WoJ:
I was talking with a friend about the faerie courts, and since we live in Australia, we were both wondering what the explanation is for the seasons being reversed in the southern hemisphere. Does Titania take a vacation down south for Christmas? Or is there a seperate pair of courts for the south?
Oh, no, they'll just rotate interests. Mab has more power in the southern winter, Titania in the southern summer. Though, as fundamentally northern-hemisphere, basically Western European beings, they don't have the kind of absolute reign there that they enjoy in other parts of the world, and their relationships there consist more of strong alliances and consensus influence among a much larger population of Wyld fae
Edit: note the absolute reign is in the context of there being other fae courts, not saying Mab has absolute reign over non-fae supernaturals in Western Europe.
Most people would be digusted if we created a drug that makes people who take it more suggestible so we could control them easier. MMP is not meaningfully different.
