With the destroyed records all of those claims are suspect and need an * after them.
I quote:
"Nicodemus is an ancient foe of the Knights of the Cross," Forthill said quietly. "Our information about him is limited. He has made it a point to find and destroy our archives every other century or so, so we cannot be sure who he is or how long he has been alive. He may even have walked the earth when the Savior was crucified."
"Didn't look a day over five hundred," I mumbled. "How come some Knight hasn't gone and parted his hair for him?"
"They've tried," Forthill said.
"He's gotten away?"
Forthill's eyes and voice stayed steady. "He's killed them. He's killed all of them. More than a hundred Knights. More than a thousand priests, nuns, monks. Three thousand men, women, children. And those are only the ones listed in the pages recovered from the destroyed archives. Only two Knights have ever faced him and survived."
I had a flash of insight. "Shiro is one of them. That's why Nicodemus was willing to trade me for him."
Forthill nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. "Likely. Though the Denarians grow in power by inflicting pain and suffering on others. They become better able to use the strength the Fallen give them. And they gain the most from hurting those meant to counter them."
What they have is incomplete, but its not inaccurate. If this information was inaccurate, the Knights would know.
Its not like the Swords werent there, even if they arent particularly talkative.
I am really getting sick of this hyping of enemies with everything always indicating that they must be even more dangerous than shown in canon. Yes they are tough and smart doesn't mean everything is easy for them.
Launching nukes as a terrorist action is a hard problem that many people have put thought into making harder. Hence it never having happened in real life.
These. Are. Denarians. People possessed by Fallen Angels who remember when Creation happened, and who Butcher describes as the elite of Hell. Fallen Angels whose power to act on Earth is only limited by Heavenly fiat.
Who Lucifer sent to Earth because they were threatening his power in Hell.
Are you under the impression that the White God put loyal angels in three Swords in order to chase around scrubs?
Mab herself had Nicodemus command the defenses at the Outer Gates when she came newly to power and had to be somewhere else because she didnt have a deputy at the time.
Thats where she owed him the favor that he called in as the plot of Skin Game.
Nicodemus Archleone and his merry men are a Big Fucking Deal in this setting because they have Fallen Angel patrons.
Thats why Molly freeing Lash, a beta fork of Lasciel the Webweaver and incarnating her as an independent entity is a Big Fucking Deal. It wouldnt fucking matter if this was just a newbie vampire.
Launching nukes as a terrorist action is a hard problem that many people have put thought into making harder. Hence it never having happened in real life.
This is not RL, this is an urban fantasy setting with multiple primordial figures walking around.
The naagloshii could launch nukes by stalking the staff, eating one of them and replacing him before he goes to work in the silo.
Drakul could do it by walking into a silo, killing the staff, raising them as vampires, having them launch the missiles, then leave via the NeverNever.
The White Court could potentially do it by mindfucking senior staff of a SSBN before it goes on patrol.
The Archive literally knows the nuclear codes as soon as they are written.
Molly could launch nukes today if she wanted to.
She already has HMP, a 2-dot charm that costs 8xp. She could also use Electric Devil Caress, another 2 dot, 8xp charm.
She just needs to fly onto the base at night.
arstechnica.com
