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Harry Potter and the Skittering Spouse

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Fencer said:
yo, lore check and idea bouncing time folks. The Basilisk. What kind of condition was its corpse in when they went to grab fangs in seventh year?
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tri2 said:
don't think they ever mentioned the corpse condition, but it should be fine considering the whole chamber was not covered in molds despite being left alone for like 20 years+ so the body should not be rotting yet.
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It had rotted away to just a skeleton by the time Hermione and Ron went down in 7th year in the movie. The book doesn't mention what state the corpse was in.

Incidentally, this implies that something magical happened, because even considering that the Chamber of Secrets was damp and moist and full of decay, something the size of the Basilisk should have taken a lot longer than ~5 years to rot away entirely.


Given the nature of the Basilisk, my guess would be that at some point in the intervening time its venom sacs ruptured and the venom dissolved what flesh was left right off the bones.
 
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What tri2 said, and you could also argue that the venom might've killed off most microbes, as it's absurdly lethal stuff

Edit: nevermind, Neruz remembered it better
 
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Fencer said:
yo, lore check and idea bouncing time folks. The Basilisk. What kind of condition was its corpse in when they went to grab fangs in seventh year? dialogue went a little sideways as it tends to when I let the characters run and I need to start considering what Taylor might use to make her new magic resistant costume. Giant spider silk is a given, but for the armored bits? Dragonhide and basilisk hide are the fandom standby. Though I'm not opposed to using bits of giant spider carapace as a homage to her original costume.

Naturally she isn't going to let the others run around without some kind of armor either. Thing I'm considering is that tanning is not a skill in her repertoire and the snakes been dead years so the corpse is probably a no go. Shed snake skin seems to be pretty damn thin... but 60 foot monster snake. if the shed skin is even half an inch thick.... ehh you see why I'm scratching my head.

thoughts?
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Fairly common fannon that likes to deal with that subject usually rules that basilisk venom is deadly even to bacteria so it doesn't decompose easily. Of course, they then often have the meat being sold for consumption to the goblins so take that with a HUGE pinch of salt (as in, enough to preserve that basilisk).
 
Neruz said:
It had rotted away to just a skeleton by the time Hermione and Ron went down in 7th year. This is briefly mentioned in the book and explicitly shown in the movie.

Incidentally, this implies that something magical happened, because even considering that the Chamber of Secrets was damp and moist and full of decay, something the size of the Basilisk should have taken a lot longer than ~5 years to rot away entirely.


Given the nature of the Basilisk, my guess would be that at some point in the intervening time its venom sacs ruptured and the venom dissolved what flesh was left right off the bones.
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yeah you right, wtf? why is it literally just the bones? not even the shed skin outside the chamber disappeared so how did the whole body skin and all disappear?
 
It was a very magical creature by nature, so this is "writer's call." If you want it to be nothing more than bones with some rotting scraps of skin still attached, then it is. If you need it to still be in good condition for your heroes to salvage, then it is. So, what works best for you?
 
Admiral Kol said:
Fairly common fannon that likes to deal with that subject usually rules that basilisk venom is deadly even to bacteria so it doesn't decompose easily.
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One of the many pieces of common Harry Potter fanon that is simply wrong.

tri2 said:
yeah you right, wtf? why is it literally just the bones? not even the shed skin outside the chamber disappeared so how did the whole body skin and all disappear?
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The Basilisk's venom is the only good explanation I can think of; its bones are obviously immune to its venom because it uses its fangs (which are bone) to inject it.

But there's no particular reason why its flesh and skin should be immune to its venom; snakes aren't immune to their own venom, so there's no particular reason to expect that the Basilisk would be either. And we know its venom is horrifically corrosive and just generally hostile to anything even vaguely alive, including magic, so its plausible to me that as its body decayed its venom sacs ruptured and the venom massively sped up the rot.
 
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No official word in the book, but the venom was still viable. In the movie it was a picked clean skeleton by Year 7
 
Yeah, the shed Skin might still be usable but the skin on the corpse has probably spoiled. Might still be able to use the bones for something though.

Then there is dragonhide as you already suggested... And while they are unsavory options, giant and troll skin have similar effects. But again, that's just being devils advocate. I doubt Taylor would want to wear sapient humanoid skin. Probably a bit too close to Skinslip from the S9.

Lastly on this topic... I don't think it usually brought up, but her first suit used layered insect carapace for armor. As it is still a biomaterial, she would have had to treat it. So she may know more about leatherworking than you would expect. Even if just the basics.

For the armor in more general terms? Instead of literally making suits of armor, maybe have the dragon hide sown in between the layers of the robes? Easier to conceal and blend in that way.
 
Fencer said:
Snip
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Considering the sheer amount of magic that resided in that snake it's probably not going to begin to decompose for a decade. It is over a thousand years old, and Harry made comments on how large the molted skin it shed was on his way to the actual entrance to the chamber in Year 2 if I remember correctly and that stuff wasn't rotted. It's doubtlessly incredibly valuable, but and this is extremely important to note it'd be a terrible material to use for armor. It'd weigh way too much if it was used without weakening it, and since it's magically resistant it'd be impossible to enchant to a usable and useful degree. That being said the corpse is still incredibly valuable, and it'd be worth getting professionals to sell it off. Goblins likely could do so and it'd earn Harry and Taylor a ridiculous amount of money. Beyond keeping a fang and a few liters of venom it's not really useful for them. The fang would make good sheathes for weapons if Taylor and Harry wanted to get some Goblin steel daggers to infuse with said venom.

Taylor would be better off using Acromantula silk and Dragon leather since those are high quality materials for enchanting in her new armor.

Neruz said:
It had rotted away to just a skeleton by the time Hermione and Ron went down in 7th year. This is briefly mentioned in the book and explicitly shown in the movie.

Incidentally, this implies that something magical happened.
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I always took this to mean that Voldemort visited the chamber sometime after Year 6 and got really fucking mad that it died, and decided to use some form of magic draining spell to get it to start rotting and then helped it along until it was completely useless to deny anyone else the usable parts of it. He is petty like that so it'd be completely in character.
 
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Windborne said:
I always took this to mean that Voldemort visited the chamber sometime after Year 6 and got really fucking mad that it died, and decided to use some form of magic draining spell to get it to start rotting and then helped it along until it was completely useless to deny anyone else the usable parts of it. He is petty like that so it'd be completely in character.
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I don't think so, if he'd done that he would have just vanished the corpse entirely, or at least not left behind the venom-filled fangs which are literally the most valuable and important part of a Basilisk.
 
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Fencer said:
yo, lore check and idea bouncing time folks. The Basilisk. What kind of condition was its corpse in when they went to grab fangs in seventh year?
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The book doesn't have any information on that unfortunately.

Excerpt from Deathly Hallows regarding Hermione and Ron visiting the basilisk.

And then he skidded around a final corner and with a yell of mingled relief and fury he saw them: Ron and Hermione, both with their arms full of large, curved, dirty yellow objects, Ron with a broomstick under his arm.

"Where the hell have you been?" Harry shouted.

"Chamber of Secrets," said Ron.

"Chamber — what?" said Harry, coming to an unsteady halt before them.

"It was Ron, all Ron's idea!" said Hermione breathlessly. "Wasn't it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after you left, and I said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn't got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!"

"What the — ?"

"Something to get rid of Horcruxes," said Ron simply.

Harry's eyes dropped to the objects clutched in Ron and Hermione's arms: great curved fangs, torn, he now realized, from the skull of a dead basilisk.
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doug89 said:
Excerpt from Deathly Hallows regarding Hermione and Ron visiting the basilisk.
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I love how the two of them are literally each just carrying a pile of fangs covered in the most powerful venom known to man, that will straight up kill them instantly if they so much as scratch themselves on said fangs, as if that aint no thang.

And the mention of Ron with the broomstick presumably means that they flew back up the pipe on the broomstick while carrying piles of razor-sharp ultra-lethal Basilisk fangs in their bare hands.

Children, amirite?
 
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There's also the question of what exactly the characters want the armor to block, and what the author wants the armor to accomplish.

Will it stop a Stunning Charm?
A Blasting Curse?
Is it only for shrapnel?

Will they rely on it?

If there's a team of 6 people, and three of them have the armor, and 3 don't, and they all get into a fight with a group of Death Eaters, what condition would the armored people be compared to the unarmored ones?


Honestly I rarely see a character leverage their armor.
In a lot of stories, you have one dude in plate, and one chick in stripper-wear, and they both come out of the fight in the same condition.
 
Fencer said:
What kind of condition was its corpse in when they went to grab fangs in seventh year?
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I just quickly skimmed book 7, and it looks like the basilisk is entirely off screen when Ron and Hermione go down to get it. So there is no answer one way or another in book canon. It looks like the movie shows a skeleton.

I've seen arguments ranging from the venom preserving the corpse, to the venom destroying most of the corpse when the basilisk no longer has magic to protect itself, so you can very easily have it in whatever state is most convenient for the plot, and it would be reasonably canon compliant.
 
Neruz said:
I don't think so, if he'd done that he would have just vanished the corpse entirely, or at least not left behind the venom-filled fangs which are literally the most valuable and important part of a Basilisk.
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It might be completely immune to magic, or so close to such that it makes little difference, being the skeleton of such a magically infused creature that lived for as long it did. Skeletons seem to be the sort of thing that'd have the most magic in a body and they don't decompose for tens of millennia normally so it could be that it wasn't in Voldemorts capability to remove.

But yeah @Fencer it's up to you to decide what you want to do with the corpse since it really isn't covered. I've laid out my reasoning on what I think logically would occur and how useful it'd be, but that's ultimately just my take on it.
 
acromantula silk armor, dragonhide layer ontop of that, then another layer of acromantula silk on top of it to hold it all in place to base armor

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further idea, get enchantments placed on the dragonhide to further enhance durability and maybe self repair. Get moleskin pouches enchanted with auto retrieve for weapons and ammo.

biggest thing to get if possible would be more house elves, arm them with blowdart weapons and silenced pistols or bioweapons to spread around via teleporting and blowing into vents.
 
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Neruz said:
Incidentally, this implies that something magical happened, because even considering that the Chamber of Secrets was damp and moist and full of decay, something the size of the Basilisk should have taken a lot longer than ~5 years to rot away entirely.


Given the nature of the Basilisk, my guess would be that at some point in the intervening time its venom sacs ruptured and the venom dissolved what flesh was left right off the bones.
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Honestly given how magic lets animals laugh at the square cube law… ok the biggest offense there are the spiders, but dragons, giants, and the snake? I wouldn't be surprised if dying unmoored some of the magic and the body just couldn't hold itself together without active magic, but that flies in the face of potion ingredients and wand cores working at all so I have no idea either.

JVR said:
It was a very magical creature by nature, so this is "writer's call." If you want it to be nothing more than bones with some rotting scraps of skin still attached, then it is. If you need it to still be in good condition for your heroes to salvage, then it is. So, what works best for you?
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Ehhh don't take this the wrong way but "whatever works best for me" isn't really what I'm looking for when I ask for a lore check. Like my planned ending for Archer? That's a "this is how I'm interpreting the powers in question work and you will accept it" moment. This is "I have three options that could all work equally well and I'm not to bothered one way or another so let me bounce the question off the audience to see what they shake loose."

xbox432 said:
Then there is dragonhide as you already suggested... And while they are unsavory options, giant and troll skin have similar effects. But again, that's just being devils advocate. I doubt Taylor would want to wear sapient humanoid skin.
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There are probably a plethora of less used magical creatures she could tan for a spell resistant vest. Or I could invent some. Blast ended screwt shells would probably make killer shields or armored plates if you're willing to deal with extra weight. But yeah skin of humanoid is a bit much even if this was absolute practicality Taylor.

xbox432 said:
For the armor in more general terms? Instead of literally making suits of armor, maybe have the dragon hide sown in between the layers of the robes? Easier to conceal and blend in that way.
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Was actually thinking more along the lines of a bullet proof vest. With spider silk sleeves. For Taylor at least. For the magicals? If they ask for combat robes Taylor is going to hand them pants and tell them to wear them and like it. Robes just are not combat wear. Though I plan to have Taylor's new costume be less form fitting since she isn't playing supervillain and it doesn't need to fit that esthetic nearly so closely. Martial art, or military style pants tapped or tucked into her boots. Silk shirt with vest over top or work the silk shirt into the vest so it's one piece of clothing instead of two. Mask because intimidation. Use bits of giant spider for arm and leg guards. Or use chitin to redo her old style armor but more magically resistant, hopefully. Maybe add the skirt from later iterations as a place to hide bugs and magical items. Little bulkier than her original look little more military, little less supervillain.
Blaflaix said:
There's also the question of what exactly the characters want the armor to block, and what the author wants the armor to accomplish.
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The primary goal of the armor is going to be the same as police or military. Give the person wearing it a chance to take a hit and not die from it. Still better to not get hit. Secondary goal is to protect against shrapnel. Fairly regular in story for spells to destroy physical objects even if the spell isn't a blasting curse. Knife proof sleeves and pants are the difference between cuts and bruises if little bits of stone or wood go flying at significant speeds.

Obviously it's not going to stop an AK because canon says nothing stops the unforgivables. But then it's not like body armor is meant to stop direct hits from RPG's so it's still not a bad call.
 
Fencer said:
Honestly given how magic lets animals laugh at the square cube law… ok the biggest offense there are the spiders, but dragons, giants, and the snake? I wouldn't be surprised if dying unmoored some of the magic and the body just couldn't hold itself together without active magic, but that flies in the face of potion ingredients and wand cores working at all so I have no idea either.
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I mean, magical creatures decaying unnaturally is an established thing; Ashwinders for example just instantly collapse into ash at the end of their lifespan.

But yes, potion ingredients and wand cores would suggest that most magical creatures decay in a way at least vaguely comparable to non-magical creatures.
 
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....have hagrid breed hybrid blast ended skewts with some kind of fly. flies that can shoot cannon shots at you in swarms and have carapace. Use them to form a living suit of armor and swarm around you as a shield that can unleash dakka
 
tri2 said:
acromantula silk armor, dragonhide layer ontop of that, then another layer of acromantula silk on top of it to hold it all in place to base armor

edit
further idea, get enchantments placed on the dragonhide to further enhance durability and maybe self repair. Get moleskin pouches enchanted with auto retrieve for weapons and ammo.

biggest thing to get if possible would be more house elves, arm them with blowdart weapons and silenced pistols or bioweapons to spread around via teleporting and blowing into vents.
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You would need to enchant the silk not the dragon hide.
 
tri2 said:
the silk would be more replaceable than the dragonhide and can function as cheap ablative armor for taylor
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Dragon hide can't be enchanted since magic slides off it/doesn't stick, it is why the hide is used in potions gloves (beyond it being strong and tough) the magic in the potions ingredients can't affect the brewer through them and they won't leave any unexpected magical residue which could affect the potion itself.
 
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