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Aura Guardian

Story, September 20, 2017

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2 hours ago, Scotty said:

As I said, Arthur never once said anything about magic, he said "the misinformed would call them wizards". it's pretty much saying "you might think that they're wizards, but they aren't" because saying that they are wizards or mages would imply the ability to learn because people who think wizards would think of learning spells by studying and such. But instead it sounded like he's saying these people just one day realized they could do amazing things.

The main thing Arthur was trying to do make people believe that getting powers like that was rare and not something one could do themself. Maybe he was hoping that the majority of people would assume comic book examples like Mutants or something.

I maintain that Arthur has realized that his announcement had failed, and there isn't anything more he can do to prevent the system change, either the majority of people eventually forget about it, or they push things and cause the change. This comic basically reinforces that, Arthur believes that if the FBI stays out of things, then people wouldn't figure out just how easy it is to get special powers as well as keep the fact there are whole organizations that had known for ages.

He mentioned wizards, which gets people thinking about magic. True he said, 'the misinformed would call them wizards,' but that still calls to mind magic, or at least something that might as well be magic if you don't have any context, which his announcement did not provide. If he didn't want people thinking about magic, then why have the line about wizards? He could just have easily said, "There are those with power. Power they did not ask for and cannot explain." He also didn't both to correct the talk show host when he called them wizards, even though he took the time to correct the host on what weight would be growing.

Also, if he was hoping the majority of people were going to assume something like Mutants or something, why not drive the narrative in that direction? The DGB has no qualms about lying to people on a regular basis. They did that throughout Edward's tenure, and he was taught by Arthur, so certainly Arthur wouldn't have any qualms about lying to the public. He could have said "the misinformed would call them mutants." Doesn't waste resources trying to cover up the existence of paranormal goings on and drives the narrative away from magic, which would help mitigate the risk of magic reset.

50 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Dan is being cute here. He isn't giving us a clear idea of what Arthur is really trying to achieve.

If Arthur is talking about the Will of Magic as a thinking being, he might have a justification for what he's doing. That is, he's working toward what he thinks is the best interest for the most people, or at least the best interests of the agency. If so, he's not a jerk, just terribly mistaken. Why?

If magic changes for humans, Immortals will still have magic, and Immortals can be big trouble. Now there are human mages like Edward who can actually overpower at least some immortals. After a Change, there will be few or none. In other words, unilateral disarmament. It would be like trying to get North Korea to give up nukes by destroying all of ours.

But if Arthur does see the folly of forcing a Change, he's really turned to the Dark Side.

Going by this comic, he's either trying to do what he believes is the good thing, or he's trying to deceive his boss. Technically it could be either, but Assistant Director Liefeld has the clout and authority to make things very unpleasant for Arthur if the potential lies come to light. It's not generally a good idea to trick your boss, especially when you're a member of a super-secret organization. Such organizations can arrange for 'unfortunate accidents.' Or they could simply lock him away from a very long time in where ever magical criminals go.

As for why? Immortals will still have magic, but they will still also have their laws preventing them from doing much more then 'Guide and Empower.' Voltaire is trying to change the laws, but Arthur doesn't know that (or if he does, then he's likely been deceived into thinking Voltaire will try to change them for the better, but I think Arthur is too smart to fall for that) There is the potential of aberrations still being a problem, but that depends on whether or not they're human enough for the magic reset to affect. Arthur might believe that they would be, in which case, all the aberrations would simply die once magic resets, as they cannot survive without their magic to sustain them. Other magical threats they could theoretically handle with non-magical means until they can rebuild their magical capabilities. Guns are generally effective against living targets and as a division of the FBI, the DGB would certainly have access to firearms for all their agents. Maybe even some heavier ordnance (I'm not entirely sure what the limits of FBI equipment are), though that could draw unwanted attention. Also the DGB is on good terms with the Uryuoms (or at least they were when Edward was in charge, not sure about Arthur), so they could ask for some assistance from them. (Would have to figure out what to tell Agent Wolf though)

 

58 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

One other thing: I don't think there's any proof in canon about Arthur actually having magic. He's never done any magic in front of us, and no one has said he has powers. All we really know is that he knows a lot about magic. Dressing up like Gandolf doesn't make him a wizard. This could be the reason he hates Adrian so much. It could be that Arthur, who trained Edward, felt that Adrian had stolen away his protege. Kind of like a dad who pushes his kid into becoming a sports hero and then losing the child's affection to some hotshot coach or trainer.

Since he's a high ranking member of the DGB, I doubt him lacking personal magic would matter much unless he's extremely petty. Wands are large enough to supply their own power, so he just needs to order up a few from requisition and have them loaded with whatever spells he wants. It could explain why he doesn't like Adrian, though he could simply not like elves. Immortals are trouble, and elves are half Immortal.

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4 hours ago, Drasvin said:

Also, if he was hoping the majority of people were going to assume something like Mutants or something, why not drive the narrative in that direction? The DGB has no qualms about lying to people on a regular basis. They did that throughout Edward's tenure, and he was taught by Arthur, so certainly Arthur wouldn't have any qualms about lying to the public. He could have said "the misinformed would call them mutants." Doesn't waste resources trying to cover up the existence of paranormal goings on and drives the narrative away from magic, which would help mitigate the risk of magic reset.

Exactly. Or he might say "misinformed would call them superheroes". Superheroes are at least as popular as wizards. As a bonus, the statement would be clear: any serious fan of superheroes is aware that powers alone don't make superheroes.

4 hours ago, Drasvin said:

Going by this comic, he's either trying to do what he believes is the good thing, or he's trying to deceive his boss. Technically it could be either, but Assistant Director Liefeld has the clout and authority to make things very unpleasant for Arthur if the potential lies come to light. It's not generally a good idea to trick your boss, especially when you're a member of a super-secret organization. Such organizations can arrange for 'unfortunate accidents.' Or they could simply lock him away from a very long time in where ever magical criminals go.

He might be trying to deceive his boss and hope that after magic reset the DGB would have other things to do that pointing fingers. Which is naive, as finger pointing would be first which would happen.

6 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

One other thing: I don't think there's any proof in canon about Arthur actually having magic. He's never done any magic in front of us, and no one has said he has powers. All we really know is that he knows a lot about magic. Dressing up like Gandolf doesn't make him a wizard. This could be the reason he hates Adrian so much. It could be that Arthur, who trained Edward, felt that Adrian had stolen away his protege. Kind of like a dad who pushes his kid into becoming a sports hero and then losing the child's affection to some hotshot coach or trainer.

While technically true, note that Edward is likely powerful wizard. Arthur might have magic and STILL feel powerless compared to Edward, especially if his spells are something with dubious usefulness and he is advancing very slowly.

4 hours ago, Drasvin said:

Since he's a high ranking member of the DGB, I doubt him lacking personal magic would matter much unless he's extremely petty. Wands are large enough to supply their own power, so he just needs to order up a few from requisition and have them loaded with whatever spells he wants.

Yes, we do suspect him of having negative personal traits like being petty :) Of course there is no logical way he should feel that way.

 

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