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The Old Hack

Story Wednesday February 15, 2017

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18 minutes ago, PrimordialSoul253 said:

On the other hand, Mr. Verres' superior seems to WANT magic to be more widely known.  Rather, Arthur claims that how easily it can be used is the real problem, and we do not know what his long-term objects are .

 

There was speculation as to whether DGB (at least in terms of the inner circle of DGB) knows about the Will and that it could change the system, but why wouldn't Edward know about it? Unless Arthur didn't learn about it until after he passed leadership of the paranormal division to Edward and whatever new position Arthur took was even more in the know.

The only other explanation is Arthur's reasoning for keeping the knowledge of how to get magic a secret was the same as Edward's in that they don't want everyone being able to get magic because the chaos it would cause would overwhelm them.

Disco Wizard said that Magic can handle a greater awareness for a while if people can't figure out how to use it, that statement would fit both theories though as people can still believe that superheroes exist and such as long that they also believe that it's a rare occurrence. The only thing is, DGB has probably been lucky that none of the rogue wizards that have cropped up figured it out and took the info to the internet. And we all know that once something gets posted on the internet, it's dang near impossible to get it removed as a number of people would either have screenshot the page or downloaded it and posted it to other sites.

I'm guessing that rogue wizards and mages probably never question how they got their magic, like how Not_Tengu believed he was given a gift to enslave people, and that it was some divine power that lead him to Moperville, and those rogues probably rarely were given spell books as well and any that were found with spell books were either books that they wrote themselves by trial and error and not nearly as verbose, or they gained the spell that let them create proper spell books. It's probably rare that an Immortal would give a rogue wizard/mage a spell book, Rhoda might be considered a rogue in terms of not yet being known by DGB.

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Would it be possible, by Rhoda and Catalina using their magic together, to turn Catalina into an actual Tiger*?
*While keeping her mostly human brain intact, of course.

Any bets as to when Catgirl Catalina posing as Cheetara becomes a pin up?

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20 hours ago, Don Edwards said:
On 02/17/2017 at 0:40 AM, hkmaly said:

The rogue magic-users will also be affected. But you may be right that the rate would remain same, they will just emerge with less power.

I can't think of a reason they'd be less powerful. There would be a mostly-different group of people who happened to randomly stumble on how to work magic, because that "how to" would be different, but that wouldn't mean they are less powerful or that the despicable among them would be less despicable.

Because currently, there are people like Not-Tengu who already escaped authorities once, or people who remained hidden while training before they started their villain route.

There wouldn't be anyone with experience between them after reset and they will likely regain experience slower than DGB.

20 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

The enforcement body that currently goes after the despicable ones, though, relies on hitting relatively inexperienced rogue magic-users, typically operating solo, with trained and experienced teams of magic users equipped as needed with batteries of magical devices from inventories built up over at least years.. How does that work when there are no trained and experienced magic users and the magical devices have stopped being magical?

You have point, however, that the enforcement would be HURT by their lack of experience worse. Because you need more experience to prevent and/or solve problems than for cause them.

19 hours ago, PrimordialSoul253 said:

On the other hand, Mr. Verres' superior seems to WANT magic to be more widely known.  Rather, Arthur claims that how easily it can be used is the real problem, and we do not know what his long-term objects are .

He doesn't WANT magic to be more widely known. He just decided that it's too late to prevent existence of magic becoming known and instead started to shaping WHAT will people know about magic.

(BTW, is this Arthur Arthur or someone else?)

17 hours ago, Scotty said:

Disco Wizard said that Magic can handle a greater awareness for a while if people can't figure out how to use it, that statement would fit both theories though as people can still believe that superheroes exist and such as long that they also believe that it's a rare occurrence. The only thing is, DGB has probably been lucky that none of the rogue wizards that have cropped up figured it out and took the info to the internet. And we all know that once something gets posted on the internet, it's dang near impossible to get it removed as a number of people would either have screenshot the page or downloaded it and posted it to other sites.

Technically, there is lot of informations "on the internet", and Not Tengu was on internet. It would be hard to create something which would be convincing enough to not only go viral, but be actually believed by public. I mean, if you want to get actual information out: it's easier to just show existence of magic, although not even that is completely easy - case in point, not everyone believes in obvious superhero fighting obvious monster posted by multiple people.

(On the other hand, just making existence of magic public wouldn't be that hard if deliberate. Attacking unique popular tourist attraction - Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal - and causing obviously magic damage would be quite hard to contain. Or, like, freezing Niagara falls in summer.)

17 hours ago, Scotty said:

I'm guessing that rogue wizards and mages probably never question how they got their magic, like how Not_Tengu believed he was given a gift to enslave people, and that it was some divine power that lead him to Moperville, and those rogues probably rarely were given spell books as well and any that were found with spell books were either books that they wrote themselves by trial and error and not nearly as verbose, or they gained the spell that let them create proper spell books. It's probably rare that an Immortal would give a rogue wizard/mage a spell book, Rhoda might be considered a rogue in terms of not yet being known by DGB.

Apparently, immortals rarely empower true villains. Maybe it's against rules, maybe they just wouldn't want the negative publicity, maybe true "scheming" villains are less fun that people who just cause chaos and are therefore easy to catch. On the other hand, magic black market EXISTS and immortals are not ONLY way to get magic. Also, there may be people who TURNED rogue - that is, used to be legal, possibly even working for DGB or other country equivalent, getting book ... then escaping and started "better" career in crime. So, I'm sure there ARE rogue magic users with spellbooks, maybe even wizards.

And, yes, Rhoda is technically rogue. So is Luke, unless they told Edward about him already and he informed DGB to catch him.

 

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2 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

So is Luke, unless they told Edward about him already and he informed DGB to catch him.

Before Justin's date with him?! NOOOOOOOO!

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2 hours ago, Scotty said:
2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

So is Luke, unless they told Edward about him already and he informed DGB to catch him.

Before Justin's date with him?! NOOOOOOOO!

If he would be reasonable, they may not lock him somewhere in dungeon. They will just talk with him. And maybe force him to sign something.

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On available evidence, simply having magic is not considered grounds for government-imposed restraint, not even to the extent of having to do any paperwork.

What one does with it, is what matters. It is not illegal to be a catgirl in a shopping mall. It is not illegal to fly over the city (FAA might want to have words with you depending on altitude). It is not illegal to change sex. Drugging people with enchanted alcohol, mind control, lighting people on fire, changing someone else's sex without their consent... that kind of stunt, and you can expect a knock on the door (or other appropriate place for getting knocked).

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2 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

On available evidence, simply having magic is not considered grounds for government-imposed restraint, not even to the extent of having to do any paperwork.

What one does with it, is what matters. It is not illegal to be a catgirl in a shopping mall. It is not illegal to fly over the city (FAA might want to have words with you depending on altitude). It is not illegal to change sex. Drugging people with enchanted alcohol, mind control, lighting people on fire, changing someone else's sex without their consent... that kind of stunt, and you can expect a knock on the door (or other appropriate place for getting knocked).

Clearly, the DGB has a strong Libertarian tradition. Possibly dating all the way back to the Revolutionary war. >.>

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3 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

On available evidence, simply having magic is not considered grounds for government-imposed restraint, not even to the extent of having to do any paperwork.

Available evidence is very thin. While main "eight" didn't needed to sign anything (as far as we know), they were under constant surveillance of experienced DGB agent (namely, Edward). Also, they were minors. So, while I agree other restraints are unlikely, paperwork might be needed.

1 hour ago, ijuin said:

Also, prior to the Fire Golem incident, doing anything too flashy in public would get at least a stern warning from DGB.

Definitely. And while unlikely to be Luke's case, Rhoda can be "flashy". Imagine if she resized Statue of Liberty.

3 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

It is not illegal to be a catgirl in a shopping mall. It is not illegal to fly over the city (FAA might want to have words with you depending on altitude).

Both might actually warrant warning pre-fire-golem due to the risk of other people seeing them.

(CAN Cheerleadra and/or Nanase even flight high enough for FAA being concerned?)

3 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Drugging people with enchanted alcohol, mind control, lighting people on fire, changing someone else's sex without their consent... that kind of stunt, and you can expect a knock on the door (or other appropriate place for getting knocked).

"Knock" you say ... 110405-F-JA180-002.jpg

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I often wonder why law enforcement officers don't wear helmets during maneuvers like that.

A football or motorcycle helmet could provide a lot of protection.  Or a full NHL Goalie mask and helmet is always intimidating.  I'm about as low as you can get in Security, and even I have a hard hat available.

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Or simply surplus Army helmets--there's like a million of those still hanging around. Ye olde M1 steel-pot helmet (circa WWII till1980s) is simple yet effective.

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5 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

I often wonder why law enforcement officers don't wear helmets during maneuvers like that.

A football or motorcycle helmet could provide a lot of protection.  Or a full NHL Goalie mask and helmet is always intimidating.  I'm about as low as you can get in Security, and even I have a hard hat available.

Because none of those will stop any thing moving at ballistic speeds and will actually make the wound worse, by putting plastic fragments in it.  Of course head wounds are bad enough.

 

4 hours ago, ijuin said:

Or simply surplus Army helmets--there's like a million of those still hanging around. Ye olde M1 steel-pot helmet (circa WWII till1980s) is simple yet effective.

Those stop, maybe, shell fragments, do squat against anything stronger than a .22LR round.

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7 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

I often wonder why law enforcement officers don't wear helmets during maneuvers like that.

A football or motorcycle helmet could provide a lot of protection.  Or a full NHL Goalie mask and helmet is always intimidating.  I'm about as low as you can get in Security, and even I have a hard hat available.

Something like this?

 

anubis-1.jpg

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On den 18 februari 2017 at 11:50 PM, The Old Hack said:

I am very sorry, but if I ever happen across one of these and it is hungry, I am going to slowly back away and then leave.

Followed the link, though I fully expected it to be about Gamle Ole or Sorte Sara. Being insulated by several routers, not to mention not having any hardware for olfactory stimulation attached to my computer I figured the aroma stench couldn't be to bad.

I actually was a bit disappointed... :)

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11 hours ago, mlooney said:
17 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

I often wonder why law enforcement officers don't wear helmets during maneuvers like that.

A football or motorcycle helmet could provide a lot of protection.  Or a full NHL Goalie mask and helmet is always intimidating.  I'm about as low as you can get in Security, and even I have a hard hat available.

Because none of those will stop any thing moving at ballistic speeds and will actually make the wound worse, by putting plastic fragments in it.  Of course head wounds are bad enough.

16 hours ago, ijuin said:

Or simply surplus Army helmets--there's like a million of those still hanging around. Ye olde M1 steel-pot helmet (circa WWII till1980s) is simple yet effective.

Those stop, maybe, shell fragments, do squat against anything stronger than a .22LR round.

So, the reason basically is that they expect noone would bother with a baseball bat or brick from above and only thing they will be against are high-calibre weapons?

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2 hours ago, Cpt. Obvious said:

Followed the link, though I fully expected it to be about Gamle Ole or Sorte Sara. Being insulated by several routers, not to mention not having any hardware for olfactory stimulation attached to my computer I figured the aroma stench couldn't be to bad.

I actually was a bit disappointed... :)

Well, then you haven't read the books. Horace the Cheese has been known to get into fights with not only rodents and small predators but even Fey and actually win.

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Just now, The Old Hack said:

Well, then you haven't read the books. Horace the Cheese has been known to get into fights with not only rodents and small predators but even Fey and actually win.

Wait, Fey? Oh, you mean Nac Mac Feegle, right?

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2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

So, the reason basically is that they expect noone would bother with a baseball bat or brick from above and only thing they will be against are high-calibre weapons?

The weight and movement restrictions are enough to out way the being bashed in the head chances.

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3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Wait, Fey? Oh, you mean Nac Mac Feegle, right?

No. The Fey. The Fair Folk. The Lords and Ladies. The Sidhe.

In Pratchett's interpretation, they are not very nice people. To be fair, nor were they really in the old tales. The more modern view of them as nice and cutesy stems from a Victorian dislike of tales with unhappy endings.

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18 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
22 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Wait, Fey? Oh, you mean Nac Mac Feegle, right?

No. The Fey. The Fair Folk. The Lords and Ladies. The Sidhe.

If you talk about the "a couple of rogue cheeses in the cellar put up quite a fight" sentence, that precede Horace and probably isn't him.

18 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

In Pratchett's interpretation, they are not very nice people. To be fair, nor were they really in the old tales.

But they are wonderful and marvellous and fantastic and glamorous and ... what, noone said they are NICE.

18 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

The more modern view of them as nice and cutesy stems from a Victorian dislike of tales with unhappy endings.

Are you sure it doesn't stem from few of those wonderful fantastic elves standing behind those Victorian authors with fantastically sharp swords?

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20 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
On 02/21/2017 at 11:04 PM, hkmaly said:

If you talk about the "a couple of rogue cheeses in the cellar put up quite a fight" sentence, that precede Horace and probably isn't him.

No. I am talking about the Tiffany Aching books. They are well worth reading.

I though I've read them.

Oh. There is one more. I though Raising Steam was the last Discworld book.

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