Catching up
I guess the Outsiders are new, because the Denarians are literally a biblical story.
Sure, the Devil can tempt humans and do great harm (former seen in various folklore, the latter in Hiob etc.), but ultimatly it is written that he'll loose.
And someone with faith in God will believe that the Denarians will ultimatly fail, no matter how much damage the One's ineffable plan allows them to do on the way.
THe Outsiders are not in that context.
More that they are new to his experience, than that they are new.
There's nothing in Judeo-Christian theology or mythology that suggests that the Outsiders will win either.
As far as is relevant to his experience, they are just another variety of demon trying to break into human reality, and demon possession giving the host superpowers is nothing new to either Christian mythology.
Im writing it up to his failing his Willpower roll.
- He is old enough to know Shiro was tortured to death, but that is not information he was given at the time. More broadly the perspective you are advocating for is one he could have taken... if he had not rolled 0 for his willpower
- As for that athame... that is what Arwan used to harvest resources, the kind of resources Mab has use for and which would make Harry query at best and furious at worst
1) Fair enough. Spending time with the family becomes mandatory for the December turn.
2) Hmm. That sounds like an appallingly powerful tool, of the sort that a lot of people and factions would express interest in.
I think we need to have Lydia buy Summoning/Wards Path over the next couple turns. She has Arawn as a trainer for the discount.
If she's keeping stuff like this at home, she needs to be able to build and understand her own wards against intrusion better than just relying on protections set up by her father and repaired by Dresden.
And more dogs on her estate, of the Kangal/Malinois/Greater Pyrenees variety.
*checks* She has Animal Ken, so its plausible that the girl with an affinity for certain animals starts accumulating a pack of canines once she starts setting down roots.
We could go get that dragon corpse.. build armor for mollys dad and her bother. Use the fangs the gossomer and the demon corpse thing for a sword for daniel.
I dont think you get a good reputation in the supernatural by using the bodyparts of a sapient for crafting.
Consider what people would think if you walked around wearing body armor made of human bones. Consider what our reaction was to learning of the Thule Society people stealing the bones of shih monks for power.
And thats not even counting what the remaining Great Dragons might think.
Im entirely willing to study the body if we get the opportunity.
And Im totally onboard with potentially looting the hoard, once we have a Hell to store it in, and sufficient Ancient Sorcery and countermagic to break whatever curse is on it that has kept looters away.
But I dont want to loot the corpse.
She is, unironically, Kemmler's greatest creation.
I think you give Kemmler entirely too much credit.
He shared knowledge of unknown provenance and with a critical vulnerability; there's no suggestion that those were original Kemmlerite insights. Let alone that he had a hand in her birth.
He was dead for like 30 years by the time Lydia was born.
I doubt he predicted that whatever he exactly did to make Arawn an independant deity was meant to cause him to have an almost-Exalted daughter.
And I maintain that the "almost" is important, as she is still lacking that most vital part of the Exaltation, namely the inextinguishable Exaltation itself, that would survive her death.
^^^
All we know is that Kemmler shared knowledge with Arawn.
Thats all.
Where the knowledge came from, or what it was about, and how complete it was, is left open to conjecture.
Im far more likely to believe that Arawn learned of the existence of Grandmother from Wraith/ExWoD and that she put a thumb on the scales. Than I am that Kemmler had the power to design or instantiate an Exigent.
Not to mention that we are completely missing the role of the mother in this entire affair.
Who was Lydia's mother? We dont know. We've had hints dropped by the QM, like the silver lotus jewelry and the ankhs that she says she inherited from her mother, along with her saying her mother had a thing for Egypt.
Entirely possible SHE is responsible for a significant portion of Lydia's mojo and nature, not Arawn.
After all, in the Dresden Files most magic (not all, mind) appears to be inherited from the mother.
I think it should be high on our list as well.
Honestly I like this idea as a solution on multiple levels for this whole class of problems.
For the record? I dont think empowering Daniel is a good idea.
I've given some of my reasons before: his age, his motivations or lack of them, his ability or willingness to pay the costs, what he brings to the table, and all the drawbacks of putting a family member on the battlefield where he's a much easier target than his family members, the potential objections of his mother.
OOC, I dont like the narrative or thematic implications of someone's significant other asking for or getting power on account of who their romantic partner is either. The fact that the PC is female and the person looking for power is a teenage boy this time doesnt make it any better than if it was a woman seeking power from their boyfriend.
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Having established that? There is no reason that this cant be on the table for other people.
Narratively and mechanically, one commonality that World of Darkness, the Dresden Files and Exalted 2E all have in common is getting a powerup by being possessed by/establishing a link to spirits or a spiritual construct-entity. Doesnt have to be sapient. Examples include:
Exalted 2E
The olchiliké are from Scroll of Fallen Races, where a Dragon King and a spirit would do a fusion dance and share powers in one person.
In Autochtonia, human drones were mortals willingly possessed by machine spirits of Autochton, giving them supernatural powers.
Dresden Files(Fool Moon)
The loup garou is possessed by a wolf-like demon that makes it an immortal, unkillable person of mass destruction.
The hexenwulfen use magic belts that use the power of a spirit to make them transform into wolves.
The lycanthropes are possessed by a spirit of rage that makes them more aggressive, stronger, more resistant to injury and disease, and able to heal a lot more
Plus, there's how the White Court vampires are known to work. And the Denarians.
Even The Archive is an example of an external spiritual entity/construct whose linkage gives powers to its host.
World of Darkness
Banes possessing humans and turning them into fomori with superpowers.
The whole Demon The Fallen line.
The Channeler Psychic Path from Sorcerer
The Totem and Tattoo Backgrounds in M20
The tem-akh from Mummy The Resurrection
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Basically, its narratively and mechanically in tune with the setting for Molly to craft spiritual constructs to act as empowering entities for vanilla mortals or minor talents. Especially as its already been established in-quest that she can craft small g- gods with dominion over a small area.
Think something like a Reach Scarab from the Blue Beetle comics at the higher end.
Or a Venom Symbiote from the Spiderman comics at the low end.
Whether we should is a whole different question.
At least, whether we should for Daniel in particular.
On a note completely unrelated to this, it just occurred to me we might have an answer for that nuclear transmutation thing @Yog and @uju32 have been arguing about.
If the elves will sell us stuff like uranium then they presumably buy it from someone, and have a whole supply chain.
We could trivially make the various sorts of heavy elements that don't weaponize easily, but are very useful for industrial stuff and more valuable than gold on a per ounce basis. If the elves are interested we could try swapping it for mortal enchanting materials and other stuff we don't need to report as income.
I know I've mentioned it before that things like payments, gifts and weregeld are principally paid in precious metals.
Accords weregeld is principally paid in gold and precious metals according to the short story Even Hand iirc.
Strength of a River In His Shoulders pays Dresden, when he hires him, in gold nuggets.
The Red Court give Ferrovax gifts of gold, precious metals and precious stones in Grave Peril.
And Dresden loots diamonds from Hades' vault in Skin Games.
If we're aiming at engaging in commerce with the supernatural underground, legal tender that doesnt appear on our financial asset statements will help avoid the attentions of anyone keeping an eye on our mundane financials for indications about our ongoing activities.
Because you know, everytime you withdraw a couple hundred thou or low millions in cash or bearer bonds to pay for some supernatural side shenanigans, it will draw some attention.
It does, but you have to be a solar and in any case wizard magic works differently here so I'd say that would not work the same way. Mages do no Awaken in this world they are born. That said you guys do have alchemy, at the very top of that chain are the means to perform permanent metaphysical transmutations on people.
That just means Solars get to do it the easy way.
For an Infernal, Exalted Craft is the same class of artifice that is entirely capable of making Mage The Ascension Primers and Grimoires for awakening or teaching Mages and sorcerers. Grimoires are Wonders, after all.
Point of correction: Mages DO awaken in this world. Not everyone with the potential to become a wizard/sorcerer appears to get the push, the call, the impetus to become one otherwise. Bianca St Claire had the potential to be a blood wizard/sorcerer as a Red, but didnt seek the training to become one until after the events of Storm Front.
