That wouldn't be untrue. Usum does think that. And feudal courtesy is the source for Fae's customs.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
I don't suppose we have any insight into how long Arawn will be inactive for?
Usum said that when he had yet to update his Occult.
Ask again in six months.
Western feudal custom had men bowing over the hands of women who they outranked.
And women curtseyed to each other iirc.
Fae social norms are not a cut and paste of old human ones, even though they share a clear ancestry.
- Location
- Germany
Okay, we have the name of a Neverborn.
Since we managed to involve their name in a ritual without causing terrible consequences we can hope that they're gone for good and there's just some tiny remnant of power left in the name.
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No, though you will have options to try to find out as a first step to waking him up faster.
Ok, I can live with that, I agree.
[X] Courtesy from a Devil v2
-[X] Activate IPM
—[X] Activate with WP if possible
-[X] Activate Etiquette Excellency
-[X] Lean on Usum for formal manners and guidance against saying anything that might leave us on the hook with the fey. Offer her a polite greeting by those terms
-[X] Stunt: As you turn your attention towards Queen Mab, ruler of the wicked fey, something bigger and deeper than your heart beats once, then twice, with world shaking power.
-[X] As the inviolate temple of your mind draws closed its gates, your voice fills with subtle fire, dripping with a charming and poisonous grace.
-[X] With Usum's words echo in your mind, you draw breath to speak, even as the chill of the night seeps from your bones to taste the cold of winter in the air.
Also, guys, I think we might have a big problem. Archive just learned the name of a Neverborn, and got a glimpse of Old Realm. I am fairly sure she is going to be visiting us soon. Possibly with intent to eliminate us with extreme prejudice.
He probably would prefer to be awake, since it lets him make choices. I don't think anything scares him as much as being helpless does.
VOTE
[X] Bow your head and offer a courteous greeting (Charisma+Etiquette)
-[X] Activate Etiquette Excellency: -1 Essence
-[X] Trigger Impervious Primacy Mantle: -1 WP
-[X]STUNT: The almost physical pressure of her glamor cuts off with a snap as your mental defenses kick in. But even without, the Queen of Winter, you discover, remains an unfairly good looking woman with the presence and manner of a Marine drill sergeant. Around you you can feel everyone else freeze like startled animals about to bolt under her eyes, and step forward, drawing her gaze as Usum whispers in your ear. Blue eyes meet green, and you incline your head a calculated fraction."Good evening Queen Mab"
RATIONALE
Charisma/Manipulation 3 + Etiquette 2 + Excellency 5 + Stunt 2 = 12 dice.
Courtesy to a head of state who we want to negotiate with.
Who also has the power to make several of our friends very unhappy if she so chose. Our parents did raise us eith manners towarss the elderly, even those we didnt like.
Mental defenses to avoid eating social penalties from her glamor.
And an Excellency to make us better at navigating Fae social etiquette.
[X] Bow your head and offer a courteous greeting (Charisma+Etiquette)
-[X] Activate Etiquette Excellency: -1 Essence
-[X] Trigger Impervious Primacy Mantle: -1 WP
-[X]STUNT: The almost physical pressure of her glamor cuts off with a snap as your mental defenses kick in. But even without, the Queen of Winter, you discover, remains an unfairly good looking woman with the presence and manner of a Marine drill sergeant. Around you you can feel everyone else freeze like startled animals about to bolt under her eyes, and step forward, drawing her gaze as Usum whispers in your ear. Blue eyes meet green, and you incline your head a calculated fraction."Good evening Queen Mab"
RATIONALE
Charisma/Manipulation 3 + Etiquette 2 + Excellency 5 + Stunt 2 = 12 dice.
Courtesy to a head of state who we want to negotiate with.
Who also has the power to make several of our friends very unhappy if she so chose. Our parents did raise us eith manners towarss the elderly, even those we didnt like.
Mental defenses to avoid eating social penalties from her glamor.
And an Excellency to make us better at navigating Fae social etiquette.
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As an aside; say what you want about Mab, but damn if she doesn't know how to make an entrance.
Sure she's all business, but you can't tell me someone who's this consistently dramatic doesn't enjoy it a little. She's like a primordial theatre kid or something.
We should take notes for when we're the person who's arrival is basically a social record scratch moment.
^^^As an aside; say what you want about Mab, but damn if she doesn't know how to make an entrance.
Sure she's all business, but you can't tell me someone who's this consistently dramatic doesn't enjoy it a little. She's like a primordial theatre kid or something.
We should take notes for when we're the person who's arrival is basically a social record scratch moment.
Dresden canonically agrees. So does her sister.
EDIT
Titania nodded. She said, "You are unlike the other monsters she has shaped for herself over the centuries."
"Uh. Thank you?"
She shook her head. "I have done nothing for you, Harry Dresden." She pursed her lips. "In many ways, she and I are alike. In many more ways, we are entirely different. Do you know what my sister believes in?"
"Flashy entrances," I said.
Titania's lips actually twitched. "In reason."
"Reason?"
"Reason. Logic. Calculation. The cold numbers. The supremacy of the mind." Titania's eyes became distant. "It is another place where we differ. I prefer to follow the wisdom of the heart."
"Uh. Thank you?"
She shook her head. "I have done nothing for you, Harry Dresden." She pursed her lips. "In many ways, she and I are alike. In many more ways, we are entirely different. Do you know what my sister believes in?"
"Flashy entrances," I said.
Titania's lips actually twitched. "In reason."
"Reason?"
"Reason. Logic. Calculation. The cold numbers. The supremacy of the mind." Titania's eyes became distant. "It is another place where we differ. I prefer to follow the wisdom of the heart."
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[X] Trigger Impervious Primacy Mantle and stare her down, you will not bow your head to any who have not earned it on you, offer a neutral greeting
I doubt Molly counts as mortal enough to fall
within the Archive's Intellectus. Just as she wouldn't know what Mab writes down on a ritual circle, she won't know what Molly does.
I doubt Molly counts as mortal enough to fall
within the Archive's Intellectus. Just as she wouldn't know what Mab writes down on a ritual circle, she won't know what Molly does.
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We should mention something about liking her style, if not her actions, to him after all this is over - purely to see the look on his face while he processes things.
Harry when he realizes that he's inadvertently allowed for an impressionable teenager wielding an atompunk god slaying weapon to soak up fashion tips from a fallen angel and style pointers from Mab, Queen of the wicked fey:
@the DragonBard @FriedIce any chance I could convince you to flip to v2 of my plan? The difference is essentially just the stunt.
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- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Why not go for one of the plans that do that but with essence and a stunt behind it? It's the difference between 5 dice and 12 on the roll to do the same thing.
But why? Making a point is all well and good, but it gains us nothing.
We aren't being excessively deferential or anything here, but even if we were it wouldn't put us on the hook for anything.
Right now we need to make a sale. If she goes home laughing at us or something and we go home with her money we win.
To be clear, I don't think this is any worse than someone like an important wizard would show while on a diplomatic trip. Trying to have a stare down with Mab is an ego stroke that the people we're protecting might end up paying for.
This is social combat, right now we aren't likely to be able to make a verbal grapple check, so we need to play like a rogue and set up sneak attacks instead.
The good question is what she's responding to by appearing here. Is it the Mantle's passing? Was she already watching? Or is she responding to an invocation of Perfected Principle of Consumption?As an aside; say what you want about Mab, but damn if she doesn't know how to make an entrance.
Sure she's all business, but you can't tell me someone who's this consistently dramatic doesn't enjoy it a little. She's like a primordial theatre kid or something.
We should take notes for when we're the person who's arrival is basically a social record scratch moment.
She ran out of popcorn and/or sensed an opening for a dramatic entrance.
[X] BronzeTongue
Well, @BronzeTongue , your stunt is good and this is Exalted, so it seems I have to dramatically defect.
Well, @BronzeTongue , your stunt is good and this is Exalted, so it seems I have to dramatically defect.
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Since it was -2/+2 it did not seem necessary.
FriedIce
The Authentic Fake
- Location
- Hyperreality
Mab isn't all seeing, so my guess is she felt the Mantle's passing.
Alternatively, I forget the exact rules of naming Fae, but isn't saying their name once enough for their attention if they're already listening for it. And the Ankou said her name two updates ago.
- Location
- Germany
There's two halfs to social combat.
Convincing the other of something is one thing, merely resisting such attempts is often straight Willpower, as seen in our talks with Charity.
Right now we don't have to convince Mab of anything, we are already presenting her with finished results.
All we have to do is steel our mind and not get drawn into any further shit.
- Location
- Canada
[X] Courtesy from a Devil v2
She isn't all knowing, but if this was an op she was focusing on she might have been scrying Dresden. It's not like he's running around with a mind blank equivalent up, and she does have a link.
That's not true though. What we need to convince her of is that she should take the win we want her to have and go home, instead of spending her time and resources reshaping the situation to suit her better.
Convincing someone to do nothing and take the benefit of completed work is among the easiest things to get them to do, but it's still a negotiation.
Mab probably won't flip the table purely because we're rude or something, but it wouldn't make convincing her to write off Harry's uppity behavior or to accept Matthews hiring himself to work in her company any easier.
Remember, everyone here is deep in fey business at this point with the possible exception of Gard. Mab doesn't have to accept anything about this, and the rules limiting her behavior here are about as lax as they're likely to get.
This situation is among the more favorable setups possible for this conversation, but we can't just coast through it.