Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

I'd suspect it'd need a large amount of training to Rosie if she wanted to output good movies. Having it all be a dream running on her brain, I'd think every aspect of the production would be coming from her skill levels -- she's essentially being the director, actor, set designer, choreographer, cg artist, lighting grip, etc. She could be prepped for those things before the dream, but she'd still have to remember and handle all of it herself, and simultaneously at that. (Raw dreams do seem to get by a lot on your brain being in a jumble when they happen. Many people have anecdotes about waking up just enough to write down some stroke of genius that hit them in a dream, and in the morning finding that they've written something like "rotate electric plugs for cheese!!!")

Then things like reusing actor likenesses would run up against all the controversies that AI-recreations are hitting in the present day...
I think it'd depend on how much she has to do at once.

I think a reasonable dream sorcery ritual would be perfectly remembering a dream you had, and if she had something like that she could iterate over it to fill in different elements.

There's also the question of who the audience is supposed to be.

If it's earth mortals then it has to get translated to a pure audio-visual experience, but publishing to the FCF would be perfectly valid. In that case she could basically pioneer the FCF version of cyberpunk brain dances, or at least a new type of them if that technology already exists.

She can become rich and famous in our hell, with a job in artistic R&D or something at our film studio to get USD instead of whatever our currency is ( I vaguely recall something with chips obsidian/night dragon scale or something like that?).

Her choice in the end, but the more I think about this the more I think it's a great idea @Yog . Everyone needs a creative activity to invest themselves in*, and Rosie loves horror movies. On earth her ability to even try becoming a major figure in that field is slim, but with this she could become a prominent figure in the history of her art on her skills/positioning alone.

Imagine artisanal nightmares, where someone could actually play with that word dream "this is normal" feeling to pipe context to your subconscious to establish background, letting people experience completely foreign cultures and languages like a native, impossible sensory input, or perfect emotional sympathy with psychological horror pieces.

It'd also make it way less awkward to give her support. I don't want to assume too much, but in my experience there's a level at which people who aren't outright leeches get uncomfortable accepting help even if they need it. If she's "just" translating her success from one medium to the other it isn't charity.

* Not necessarily as a financial thing either, though it's great if your passion also pays for your lifestyle.
 
I think it'd depend on how much she has to do at once.

I think a reasonable dream sorcery ritual would be perfectly remembering a dream you had, and if she had something like that she could iterate over it to fill in different elements.

There's also the question of who the audience is supposed to be.

If it's earth mortals then it has to get translated to a pure audio-visual experience, but publishing to the FCF would be perfectly valid. In that case she could basically pioneer the FCF version of cyberpunk brain dances, or at least a new type of them if that technology already exists.

She can become rich and famous in our hell, with a job in artistic R&D or something at our film studio to get USD instead of whatever our currency is ( I vaguely recall something with chips obsidian/night dragon scale or something like that?).

Her choice in the end, but the more I think about this the more I think it's a great idea @Yog . Everyone needs a creative activity to invest themselves in*, and Rosie loves horror movies. On earth her ability to even try becoming a major figure in that field is slim, but with this she could become a prominent figure in the history of her art on her skills/positioning alone.

Imagine artisanal nightmares, where someone could actually play with that word dream "this is normal" feeling to pipe context to your subconscious to establish background, letting people experience completely foreign cultures and languages like a native, impossible sensory input, or perfect emotional sympathy with psychological horror pieces.

It'd also make it way less awkward to give her support. I don't want to assume too much, but in my experience there's a level at which people who aren't outright leeches get uncomfortable accepting help even if they need it. If she's "just" translating her success from one medium to the other it isn't charity.

* Not necessarily as a financial thing either, though it's great if your passion also pays for your lifestyle.
Custom nightmares would need a very strict code of ethics not to become a Law violation, but yes, Rosie could get big in entertainment. It wouldn't even need to be limited to FCF. We could claim to have developed a perfect dream recording technology - we are already doing something similar with Chicago Synthetics. And Harry advertises as a wizard. Masquerade is much more flexible than we might be thinking. And once Rosie hits 5 dots (perfect immersive role playing sessions with multiple people) we could make a go at Hollywood.Wave our hands around and technobabble about shared induced dreaming or whatever.
 
Arc 10 Post 38: Familiar Snapshot
Familiar Snapshot

25th of December 2006 A.D.

Essence Restored to Full

Christmas starts with the first rays of dawn peering though the window and minutes later the expected stampede of siblings— hmm that sounds like one of those group names like a skulk of foxes or a crash of rhinoceroses— going down the stairs. Even Mom had given up on enforcing the washing up before going down to the tree on Christmas morning, though something tells you it is going to be particularly difficult to separate Hope from the clockwork princesses that not only walk, but bow and curtsy even dance to the tune of the little music box or Amanda from the three running shoes, red, black and green, all emblazoned with gold thread like they are from some fancy company no one knows about. They certainly fit her and work like the very best fancy shoes out there, if might just be a tad difficult to explain why the lettering is in Middle German. For his part Harry had gotten a pair of skates and a tricycle with glow in the dark flame decals...

"Here ya go Molly!" your little brother shoves a paper at you, a drawing of unmistakably you from the piercings... and the floating green eyes all around. Some are ringed with fire, some look like drops of water and some are encased in ice.

Speaking of gifts to you Amanda and Leech had pooled together to get gifts this year, that is Leech wanted to get everyone stuff and she let Amanda deliver them. It's all notebooks and pencils, but the covers have been chosen to fit everyone and the pencils are all cool with a little astronaut eraser on the end that is also kind of supposed to fit the recipient. Yours is bright green and holding a torch in space somehow.

"So how do you like...?"

Leech already cracked open one of the cryptography books and, at a glare for Mom, starts walking to the bathroom with the book. Dad and Daniel are both laughing outright from the top of the stairs which does not do Mom's attempt to stay serious any favors. Seizing the opportunity you show her your gifts, blue and green silk dressing gown and remote controlled, thoroughly unmagical household cleaning robot.

"Still think I got the better end of the deal gadget wise," Daniel says, unwrapping his PS3. His own gift is an original movie poster for Star Trek: Wrath of Khan that someone had left to gather dust the back of a comic book store.

After handing Mathew his gift leaving him pondering how much he was going to get to watch over the next few days you glance over at the red and green wrapped presents from your parents. Sandwiched between two dark chocolates, the taste of which no one in the family shares is a photo album, family pictures most of which you've seen. There are pictures here from the school play in second grade, you have been a very determined peach tree, holidays all over the country including that hat you lost down the Grand Canyon, marveling at the planetarium, making googly eyes at fish and even one where you are running though a flock of seagulls because five year old Molly really liked the seagull from the Little Mermaid.

"So you are keeping the actual baby pictures for future blackmail I take it?" you ask looking between your parents with a smile.

"No comment," Dad laughs Mom tsks good naturally herding Hope upstairs music box clutched in her hand.

The other part of Mathew's gifts is harder to pull off than Naruto DVDs. How to convince Mrs Evens that you are... a responsible adult?

[] Dress conservatively and pretend to listen to whatever bee she has in her bonnet

[] Play the dutiful daughter for Christmas

[] Write in


OOC: A bit of a short update but this needs a vote on how you guys are planning to do this.
 
Custom nightmares would need a very strict code of ethics not to become a Law violation, but yes, Rosie could get big in entertainment. It wouldn't even need to be limited to FCF. We could claim to have developed a perfect dream recording technology - we are already doing something similar with Chicago Synthetics. And Harry advertises as a wizard. Masquerade is much more flexible than we might be thinking. And once Rosie hits 5 dots (perfect immersive role playing sessions with multiple people) we could make a go at Hollywood.Wave our hands around and technobabble about shared induced dreaming or whatever.
The masquerade is flexible, but there's a difference between that and releasing magical devices at industrial scale. There's only so much attention we can soak up before we start having issues.

There's also a practical level to this as well that depends on how such it was implemented. The FCF likes cybernetics, it wouldn't surprise me if their method for making a device like this scalable would be to make a chip for your brain. Figuring out how to do it a different way would be a fairly novel engineering problem for them.

Easier and safer to at least start from the FCF side if it's possible to do in the first place. We can always expand later as we grow in influence and capacity to disguise our actions.

On the law stuff, I think Rosie would be protected from the magical backlash by the indirectness of it, especially if done by spirit transmission.

I'm thinking the easiest way to do this with the FCF techbase would be via spirit interactions. A producer makes a dream sequence with the spirit along for the ride as the viewpoint for consumers, recording what they experience. The recording is copied to other lesser spirits in magitech devices that recreate dream experiences when interacting with the user's sleeping mind.

The FCF should already have good mind machine interfacing as a function of having cybernetics and AR* in the first place so this isn't unknown territory to them. It just takes things further.

At that level it's basically less connected than the Warden's magic swords. Making an item that can and will kill doesn't trip the first law, so I don't see why making something that people would copy and apply to themselves would trip the third.


* like the functionality we saw at the elevator during the palace tour scene.
 
There's also a practical level to this as well that depends on how such it was implemented. The FCF likes cybernetics, it wouldn't surprise me if their method for making a device like this scalable would be to make a chip for your brain. Figuring out how to do it a different way would be a fairly novel engineering problem for them.
I see no reason for them to do so. If we start selling the tech we will have transhumanists beating down our door.
 
, if might just be a tad difficult to explain why the lettering is in Middle German.
I'm also confused. Aren't those from the FCF?

"Here ya go Molly!" your little brother shoves a paper at you, a drawing of unmistakably you from the piercings... and the floating green eyes all around. Some are ringed with fire, some look like drops of water and some are encased in ice.
Potential talent alert; we haven't exactly told him how Molly's powers work. Those elemental rings could signify that he's seeing something more than the obvious when looking at Molly.
Might be another use for our CEO disguise.
That's an interesting idea. We probably can't pretend to be someone else without causing issues because the group is small and well organized enough that everyone knows each other, but if we show up dressed and acting like Margret Carver we could press her subconscious buttons hard enough that she'd have a harder time doubting us.

I see no reason for them to do so. If we start selling the tech we will have transhumanists beating down our door.
On the mundane side it's an attention thing. We're talking about a huge leap forward tech wise that'd instantly make national news at minimum. Worse, the tech side would be completely different from anything on earth even discounting the actual magic used in it.

People would dig into it, and the more crazy they saw the harder they'd do so. Especially with things that are supposed to go in people's bodies.

On the magic side we'd have the problem of convincing the major players that we're only surgically installing alien technology possessed by minor demons in mortals for financial and artistic reasons. Which is kind of a hard sell even when people don't think you literally operate out of a hell realm.

Just look her straight in the eyes until she gives up and goes home.

Peak-human intimidate must have its uses.
Might also take her kid with her. It'd also be smoother all around if she was less disapproving of the Carpenter kids.
 
The masquerade is flexible, but there's a difference between that and releasing magical devices at industrial scale. There's only so much attention we can soak up before we start having issues.
Ah, sorry about that. I wasn't thinking about releasing any such device en-masse on Earth. No, what we do is we patent a "dream recording" technology. And don't release it, but we do release the products - movies recorded in Rosie's dreams. Basically, we claim to have a unique proprietary thing that allows us to record dreams, and we are making it to use horror movies.
Easier and safer to at least start from the FCF side if it's possible to do in the first place. We can always expand later as we grow in influence and capacity to disguise our actions.
True, yes, but I think expanding to Earth should be done too. If nothing else, Rosie has much more cultural connection to modern USA and its fears than to FCF.
 
CEO is probably the wrong approach here.

Why would Evens trust business-Molly to supervise her daughter?

[X] Swear that you will protect the carolers, from fire and steel and darkness, while looking down in Mrs Evens' eyes until her will breaks and she slinks home in defeat, leaving her daughter in your care like a yuletide-sacrifice of old.
-[X] Intimidate Excellency

Doesn't matter how weird it appears, we have the raw Stats to make it work.
 
[x]This looks like a job for your CEO disguise.
-[x] Tone it down to look a bit more realistic, but the idea is that any experience she has of you in the past is in the past, you are now a sober, responsible, and successful adult and politely but firmly won't take any implication that you're otherwise.
-[X] Intimidate Excellency

I actually think CEO is perfect for the job. Trying to knuckle under to her is basically deceiving her about who Molly is and problematic in that respect, trying to outright defy her is going to make her legitimately worry for her daughter, what we need is to shift her headspace for Molly from 'dangerous influence or worse' to 'potential gossip fodder but no longer actually dangerous to my daughter'.

Like, I love Molly as a character, but would I want my kid to hang out with her and her friends prior to her character building arcs? Eh...
 
Last edited:
However family is one of those duties that just can't be delegated to others. Maybe if we had the clone charm.
I recognize its necessity. I just also think we are going to need to burn an action just mentally recovering because, even if we are supernaturally stalwart, eventually either we will have to take a little time to just be human or else we are going to end up forced into increasingly inhuman mindsets. Game mechanics be damned.

[ ]This looks like a job for your CEO disguise.
-[ ] Tone it down to look a bit more realistic, but the idea is that any experience she has of you in the past is in the past, you are now a sober, responsible, and successful adult and politely but firmly won't take any implication that you're otherwise.
-[ ] Intimidate Excellency

Honestly, this is probably going to be our look for years at a time in the future. If you want to be treated like a professional you have to look like a professional, as bullshit as that is, and this is solid practice. We'll be the rebel-with-a-cause when we choose to be but its setting specific.

I'm not super attached to the idea of it being used right this second but its intriguing and I'll toss in my vote until something else calls to me.
 
Last edited:
Honestly, this is probably going to be our look for years at a time in the future. If you want to be treated like a professional you have to look like a professional, as bullshit as that is, and this is solid practice. We'll be the rebel-with-a-cause when we choose to be but its setting specific.
We could be dressing like a medival cosplayer and anyone with eyes to see, not just supernatural but any mundane insight, would still take us seriously.
 
We could be dressing like a medival cosplayer and anyone with eyes to see, not just supernatural but any mundane insight, would still take us seriously.
Any female characters heavily associated with the winter solstice that we can dress up as? I would want something more serious than a female elf.
 
We could be dressing like a medival cosplayer and anyone with eyes to see, not just supernatural but any mundane insight, would still take us seriously.
I'd rather not operate at any sort of malus. Just because we can drown a problem in dice doesn't mean I'm not going to seek any advantage we can get.
 
With it being Christmas I think that we can take a plus 2 dice from cold for granted.
 
I'd rather not operate at any sort of malus. Just because we can drown a problem in dice doesn't mean I'm not going to seek any advantage we can get.
Agreed on things that matter and foes that might challenge us.

Not agreed when this is about having a little fun in our free time.

Mrs Evans doesn't matter in the big picture and we don't give a f* about her opinion on us, so why not have fun with this?
Not everything we do needs to be optimized for something.
 
Agreed on things that matter and foes that might challenge us.

Not agreed when this is about having a little fun in our free time.

Mrs Evans doesn't matter in the big picture and we don't give a f* about her opinion on us, so why not have fun with this?
Not everything we do needs to be optimized for something.
Write up a funny enough stunt and I will vote for it even it the action is super unoptimized.

Do you think that the White God will be upset if we do Angel impersonation?
 
Last edited:
Ah, sorry about that. I wasn't thinking about releasing any such device en-masse on Earth. No, what we do is we patent a "dream recording" technology. And don't release it, but we do release the products - movies recorded in Rosie's dreams. Basically, we claim to have a unique proprietary thing that allows us to record dreams, and we are making it to use horror movies.
Oh. I guess that could work, but I don't see the point. That's kind of high profile as an excuse, and only of limited additional value compared to using the technology without explaining it to people.
True, yes, but I think expanding to Earth should be done too. If nothing else, Rosie has much more cultural connection to modern USA and its fears than to FCF.
That might actually make her more interesting from a FCF perspective, especially if dream recording/sharing works out as a concept.

You know that feeling in a dream where even the strange stuff makes sense? Where you know things at least vaguely even if it wasn't explicitly laid out like a narrative would?

Stuff like a dream where you know you're speeding without actually knowing the speed limit, or where you're talking to someone you've never seen before but know they're your teacher/boss/ect anyway.

If you could record that with the actual sensory track it'd make for a fascinating experience and convenient tool for establishing context.

Imagine getting dropped into a recording where you're flying a plane, confident in what every control does whenever it comes up despite not knowing what they do yourself, and listening to instincts you don't have about the weather or how to maneuver. Or participating in a conversation where you understand every word like a native speaker - cultural context and all - that you don't speak.

Pieces set on earth where you just know things as they come up without lengthy exposition, or where you can feel things from a perspective that makes no sense to your experience, would be very interesting to people trying to understand the outside world.

For a horror movie example, I bet something like a classic slasher movie would be very weird for people whose entire culture has been under the wheel since the beginning. But what would it be like to experience it from the perspective of someone else? A person who's never seen death, never experienced it, but knows it immediately as a permanent and inscrutable loss.

How about a body horror piece centered on the conflicting reactions earth humans will likely have to the idea of cybernetics? Maybe branch out into something more psychological like a medical story about a doctor managing triage in an ER.

Narratives designed like that could be incredibly impactful pieces for people on the outside looking in.
We could be dressing like a medival cosplayer and anyone with eyes to see, not just supernatural but any mundane insight, would still take us seriously.
Clothing/presentation is a form of communication too. Just because we can work around conflicts in our messaging doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea.

We don't need to give up on personal style, but we're basically talking about the armor and camouflage of social combat. It's worth confirming that you're not not wearing woodlands in the desert or full plate on a boat.
 
What is our goal for this social? Because we can likely accomplish whatever if we define it.

Do we just want to scare Mrs Evens away so she doesn't bother us?

Do we want to fill her with Christmas spirit and goodwill towards her fellow man?

Do we want to convince her to sell us her soul?

All these things and more are possible if we actually try to do them. But we have to actually try.

[X]Fill Mrs Evens with Christmas spirit
-[x] Manipulation Empathy exilancy plus ATB
-[x][Stunt]It once again strikes you just how different interacting with 'normal' people is now. You don't actually care all that much about Mrs Evens. Before you got supernaturally empowered social powers you would likely have actually been rather hostile to her. But now that feels a bit like kicking a bad tempered Chihuahua. Yes it has a bad attitude, but it's not threatening at all so showing hostility back just feels cruel. So instead with the cold and calculation of an engineer you joke and laugh at Evens jokes. You disrupt negativity in her head before she is even aware of the compelted thoughts. It is really actually kind of fun to make someone have a wonderful time when you don't actually care about them or what they think about you. Like drawing scribbles without the pressure of making fantastic artwork.

Edit: Fixed a grammar mistake in the stunt.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top