La Maison Soloumbre: Afternoon of April 10th

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Pamela
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Post by Pamela »

Gertrude shook her head. “Beliefs and fears are not rational objects, Brother. They are not scientific formulae. You should investigate the rising field of psychology before you consider dealing with demons, personal or cultural.” A sudden smile flitted across her face as a realisation came to her mind but she merely said, “But that is all I can think to offer at the moment. An interesting discussion, Brother Buchvold. Thank you.” She resumed her seat, calm as ever, lost in thought.
His only real danger is if stupidity is contagious and lethal. In which case, we’re all dead…-Gertrude
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Gertrude shook her head. “Beliefs and fears are not rational objects, Brother. They are not scientific formulae. You should investigate the rising field of psychology before you consider dealing with demons, personal or cultural.”
"Possibly not Professor, but re enfourcing self confindence is certianly possible in my veiw. However, let us not get side tracked
A sudden smile flitted across her face as a realisation came to her mind but she merely said, “But that is all I can think to offer at the moment. An interesting discussion, Brother Buchvold. Thank you.” She resumed her seat, lost in thought.
"Thank you ,Professor. "
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Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

Tucked away to one side of the room, chair turned sideways and one arm casually draped on the seatback, Crow feigns a moderate interest in Buchvold’s lecture whilst focusing his true (covert) attention to those in attendance. He’d once again arrived at the last minute – during the previous day’s incident with the Tarokka cards, “Brother Crow’s” habit of tardiness had been seeded when Quiret came to fetch him; today, he’s opting to reinforce that image – and found no empty places, save for one of the library’s study-carrels. No loss, that: watching from the side gives a better view of the audience than he’d have had, within their ranks.

In truth, the bard has already heard much of Buchvold’s speech: the Borcan’s tendency to show off his own brilliance has persisted, over the past months of their reluctant alliance, and Crow’s imposture demands that he pretend to foreknowledge of topics other than monster-hunting, music and espionage. Granted, the VRS spy isn’t yet convinced that the tall illusionist’s speculations on fiends are justified by the available evidence – given Van Richten’s own discoveries about transposition, the bard suspects any fiend which didn’t embody a distinct form of sinfulness would find few conduits by which to access this Land, in the first place – but the concept of belief as a tangible force, that can warp or create matter if properly applied, is admittedly of considerable interest to him.

If only it could work on our behalf, not just against us…, Crow’s thoughts start to drift, before Buchvold’s demonstration with the amulet catches him by surprise. What’s this, then? Something new? Been keeping this part of your talk to yourself, Raphael? The bard watches the volunteer’s reactions with interest, curious as to what the Borcan’s been hiding from “Mr. Crow”. Afraid I’ll run off with your trinket, maybe? Still miffed about that wretched dagger? Really, Buchvold, you should know I’ve better taste than to play the same prank twice, by now…

…or do you know that? Just what are you hiding, “Brother-in-Shadow”?

Filing the matter away for later consideration, Crow allows himself a mental chuckle at the exchange between Reuland and Buchvold. The spy’s provisional hypothesis as to the gray-skinned Brother’s unorthodox ancestry derives from correlated Richemulouise gossip and Tepestani folk tales, not from the Borcan; he’s not certain if his “ally” actually gets the real joke behind the fiend-blood’s coy phrasings.

(Another dossier-item, provisionally confirmed. The bard discreetly jots a checkmark in his shorthand notebook.)

Kingsley’s inquiry – both skeptical and prudent, hence entirely true-to-form – of course merits Crow’s notice, but Buchvold’s reaction is even more curious. The bard knows, by now, what cues mark the Borcan’s words as less than wholly forthcoming; yet again, the illusionist’s conduct obliquely hints at something concealed.

Funny, that. He’s opted to attend this particular lecture to make sure Buchvold, himself, isn't under suspicion – and, the bard has to admit, to get the Borcan worrying whether “Mr. Crow” was mad enough to heckle his “ally” in public – yet he seems to be catching as many hints as to Buchvold’s own duplicity, as that of any potential Fraternity watchdogs. The bard lets his gaze sweep the audience again, looking for clues to their inner musings and motives in the attendees’ body language, posture, and fidgeting.

Then – because he’ll look either bloody stupid or bloody useless if he never speaks up at a lecture, and because the Borcan’s remarks to the Paridoner have gotten him thinking – Crow waves a hand to catch Buchvold’s attention, half-rises from his seat at the edge of the room.

“Beg pardon, Brother, for re-visiting the good Professor’s prior query,” the bard’s clear voice rings out, as he nods politely toward Kingsley. “But is your selection of a ‘fiend of fear’ – fear of control, specifically – predicated on the assumption that the Fraternity should create a literal fiend, an entity in its own right, to employ its powers of domination on the Brethren's behalf? Or is it that the experiment should mimic fiends' hypothetical derivation of power, by tapping the same wellspring of belief-based arcane energy as they? Is it your aim to become fiends’ master, or to emulate their abilities in yourself?

“If the latter, might that emulation not render the vessels of such power susceptible to the same side-effects as a true fiend – to telltale distortions of Shadow within their immediate presence, for example – or to classical transposition, for assuming an inherently ‘fiend-ish’ state? Or alternately, if you pursue the former goal, would such a crafted entity’s power not truly be vested in the fiend itself, rather than in its creators? Even if succubi do arise from the concentrated urges of lust amongst the populace-at-large, they are not beholden to those whose carnal yearnings create them … else, they’d never venture beyond their makers’ bedchambers.”

Crow pauses, to let a snicker or two from the audience's less-decorous members die down, then proffers a further point.

“Indeed, if a fiend’s powers truly do stem from its own will – the will to exist, to wreak havoc, to spread that sinful conduct from whence it, and its power, might spring – then would a fiend embodying the fear of control not be the worst possible choice, to muster into being? Folklore plainly testifies that most legendary predators exhibit marked resistance to those powers which they, themselves, exercise against their prey: an undead creature’s strength, blood, and ‘life’ cannot be drained; the frost-breathing wolves of Sanguinia need fear no ice or chill; a doppelganger or lycanthrope, overcome by a polymorphous effect, may regain its prior form with scant effort. Is it not, therefore, plausible that a ‘fiend of control’ could well exhibit a comparable and disproportionate resistance to arcane domination … including, perforce, domination by this very Fraternity?

“Those who employ fear as a weapon, Brother Buchvold, often direct at others the very things they, themselves, most dread and resent. What means, then, would you propose to employ in subjugating such a fiend as your researches might potentially create? Surely, a fiend of control will no more savor being controlled, than do those whose terror of same it embodies.”

The bard doesn’t remain standing, but settles back into his chair, his own gaze meeting the Borcan’s for just a fleeting - and pointed - instant, as he does so.


[OOC: Beat your Bluff, Moral, and tossed an innuendo-Bluff back at you. DC 27 Sense Motive for others to catch Crow’s hint that Buchvold himself is very afraid of being controlled, if that’s the kind of power he feels would prove most useful in a Fraternity-enslaved fiend. :wink: ]
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Buchvold smile fades for a moment, when Crow speaks up. However, it quickly reasserts itself. (and suprisingly, appears genuine)

"You make good points; brother Crow."

"Unfortunatly your two major points are almost utterly irrelivent. My idea was to transfer the Energy into an arcane focus, which would be accessable upon need. That is not my field, but initial experements are quite promissing. Any side effects would be unlikely, and certianly controlable."

"As to why I chose that variety of feind, your theories of fear are quite unfounded. In fact, I chose this demon so as to make our attempts at controal easier. It would be easier to adapt to this idea, as a large portion of it's energies are alredy focused in the manner we would wish. "
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Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

Moral Machivelli wrote:"Unfortunatly your two major points are almost utterly irrelivent. My idea was to transfer the Energy into an arcane focus, which would be accessable upon need. That is not my field, but initial experements are quite promissing. Any side effects would be unlikely, and certianly controlable."
The bard's features show momentary skepticism at the Borcan's reply -- a sign he finds Buchvold's self-assuredness premature, perhaps, given the illusionist's own admission this is not his specialty? -- but he voices no comments to that effect, simply bowing slightly in acknowledgement of the presenter's prompt response. Straightening up, thereafter, his gray eyes flick out over the audience once again, then back to Buchvold.


"As to why I chose that variety of feind, your theories of fear are quite unfounded. In fact, I chose this demon so as to make our attempts at controal easier. It would be easier to adapt to this idea, as a large portion of it's energies are alredy focused in the manner we would wish. "
To this, the bard does reply, nodding thoughtfully, as if verbally chewing over the Borcan's explanation. "And if it proves recalcitrant, you might enforce its compliance by turning its own affinity for compulsion-effects against it? Tap into its own domination-power, by which to hamstring its defiance in kind? An intriguing application: the serpent that bites its own tail - icon of the Fraternity - employed as a tactic to tame a veritable icon of lesser men's weaknesses.

"A challenging project, but perhaps enlightening ... provided, of course, that the captive creature's spirit and willpower are not so crushed as to stifle its own access to such energies. One may well need to allow it at least a token show of defiance, lest despair oust control-fear within its fundamental nature, if Brother Reuland's counterarguments regarding free will should prove valid.

"Perhaps ongoing discourse with such an item-bound fiend would, indeed, resolve that question of these entities' capacity for self-determination ... that is, if changes in their essential nature can take place within a feasible time-frame for analysis. If centuries should be required, of course, I'll allow such studies might prove awkward, unless a specimen of suitable antiquity were obtained.

"Still, a prospect of promising potential. My thanks for so-clarifying your intention and thoughts, Brother Buchvold."

The bard's eyes flit across the audience again, with his last few sentences - pausing, if only for an instant, on a couple of faces familiar from last evening - as he bows in apparent respect to the speaker.

(An interesting coincidence, that the questioners' remarks should lead to such an outcome. But the bard does not believe in coincidences, and the Borcan's professed area of research may prove rather more useful, given recent discoveries, than Crow had expected.

(Still, on a practical level, the bard remains unconvinced. Serpents that bite their own tails might be left helpless, but fiends have the intelligence to know when to let go...)
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Those present are mostly a smattering of the middle ranks of the Fraternity, although Exalted Brother Lacomte sits, writing notes of his own, in a far corner, his blue-green eyes surveying the scene tranquilly. At some point in the middle of the lecture Exalted Brother Roeccha entered, as well, and he now stands just a little behind Crow, his saturnine face oddly shadowed by some trick of the light. As Crow seats himself, the darkling wizard nods approvingly at him, his black eyes studying the bard closely.

Certainly one of those most interested by the Borcan's lecture was his fellow-presenter, Dr. Dhurban Ananda, a tall and strikingly handsome Rajian dressed to the nines in the Dementlieuse style, although he tops his elegant white suit with a white turban from which a ruby gleams like a third eye. "Pardon me, M'sieur Buchvold," he now interjects politely, smiling brilliantly at the Borcan. "I would like to clarify one point which Brother Reuland raised. Is it your thesis that the power of the fiend resides in the minds of those with whom it interacts, or that the source of its power is, to use the language of religion, "faith in itself", or do both play a part?"
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

"Neither, I fear, Dr. Ananda" Replies Buchvold
"To some degree It is indeed faith itself, but in my view, the main cause are certian fears and beliefs that are present in most human minds to some extent.A good classic of what I mean would be fear of spiders, which is certianly not a religious tenant. Although many of these are reinfourced by religious beliefs, they are not exclucive to those who practice those religions."
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Post by Glim »

The man sitting next to Dr. Ananda, also of Rajian descent, though hardly as radiant in his appearance as the good doctor, has appeared quite bored trhoughout the lecture. Fanning himself some cool air with the programme, then browsing through it, then looking around, gazing at the rest of the attendees. Half-listening to his collegues question, and Buchvold's answer he makes it clear to the doctor that he wishes to speak, in all the (whispered) decorum that the caste system dictates. The doctor nods and the man stands and speaks.

"Well then, Brother Buchvold. If 'faith itself' as the good Brother to my left called it - let's rephrase that into 'the ammount of angst' here- plays only a minor part, as you claim, why is it then that these deamons vary so greatly in power? Is it..." he decides not to ask the last thing on his mind and is now expectingly watching the Borcan.

"Excuse my abstractness, but I am after all a man of numbers..."
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

"You wish to define this by numbers, Brother?" Buchvold asks, slightly incredulious. Who is that man anyway?

"Hmm.... Very well Brother... err what was your name again?. The reson, in my opinion, feinds vary so much in power, is due, the precisely what belief drives them. The fear of spiders, whirlst an overpowering fear for a minority, is a minor fear for many. Thus, the corisponding demon has a resonable amount of power, but it is possible to subdue it"

OOC Welcome to EWTF, Glim. :D
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Post by Glim »

Moral Machivelli wrote:"You wish to define this by numbers, Brother?" Buchvold asks, slightly incredulious. Who is that man anyway?

"Hmm.... Very well Brother... err what was your name again?"
"Ah, forgive my rudeness Brother. Shadiir Tuyuz, Research Professor of the department of Mathematics at the University of Tvasthri. Pleased to make your acquaintance." the man bows in typical Sri Rajian fashion.

Moral Machivelli wrote:"The reson, in my opinion, feinds vary so much in power, is due, the precisely what belief drives them. The fear of spiders, whirlst an overpowering fear for a minority, is a minor fear for many. Thus, the corisponding demon has a resonable amount of power, but it is possible to subdue it"
At Buchvolds answer:
"As I had suspected. I will not speak for the rest gathered here, but I thank you for pointing out your theory in this lecture. Maybe we can continue this conversation at some point in the future?"

OOC: Thanks *bow* :)
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Post by Moral Machivelli »

Glim wrote:"As I had suspected. I will not speak for the rest gathered here, but I thank you for pointing out your theory in this lecture. Maybe we can continue this conversation at some point in the future?"
"Certianly Brother Tuyuz, at your convenience." Replies Buchvold.
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Post by alhoon »

Draxton just sits there, taking a note here and there and asserting opinions. He also tries to discern who stands with whom in academic matters, which perhaps will lead to an alliance or at least cooperation later.
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Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

The bard watches Buchvold field the Rajians' questions with interest, and allows himself a mild, mute chuckle at the Borcan's nonplussed reaction to the mathematician's query. Just when you were starting to feel smug, too, Crow ponders in amusement. Wonder how badly you'll offend that pair, later on? Or have you really managed to put those opera-birthed stereotypes behind you, Raphael? 'The eyes do not see what the mind does not want', as their countrymen say; best hope your mind's grown up a bit, if you're to converse civilly with Rajians.

The spy begins turning away from Buchvold, to inspect these men from Tvashtri more keenly, then hesitates. Perhaps a sound, perhaps the fall of a shadow, alerts him to another presence; he glances behind him, blinks in sincere startlement -- cursing himself soundly, deep within, for not noticing the darkling's arrival sooner -- then hastily rises to his feet. With the apologetic grin of a rank-and-file who'd not realized he'd deprived so prestigious a personage of the last unoccupied seat, he fumbles to retrieve his guitar-case from the floor and cedes the vacated chair to Roeccha, deferentially gesturing for the Director to sit.
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Rotipher wrote: With the apologetic grin of a rank-and-file who'd not realized he'd deprived so prestigious a personage of the last unoccupied seat, he fumbles to retrieve his guitar-case from the floor and cedes the vacated chair to Roeccha, deferentially gesturing for the Director to sit.
The darkling waves away the offered seat, his mouth feinting very slightly at a smile. He turns his attention back to the Borcan behind his podium without speaking to Crow.

From his far corner Lacomte says, "Are there further questions for Brother Buchvold?...No? Brother Ananda, the floor is yours."

Smiling again at the Borca, the Rajian rises to stand behind the podium.
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Post by Glim »

As Dr. Ananda rises, so does Shadiir, but instead of clmbing the stage he quietly leaves the room. He's had many a talk with the doctor back at the university and basically has heard the entire lecture by now, so he ventures out to find more useful activities.

Picking up a program and enough remnants of the luncheon for a quick bite - 'not too much, you chubby!' he reprimends himself- then studies the tiny booklet. The lectures of this evening look quite interesting, and he decides to just wander in, to see what's happening this late in the afternoon, before Exalted Brother Loder's lecture.
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