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citybeatnik posted:Not gonna lie, I kind of want my mage to go have a beer with the Old Man at some point. Not to do anything Abyss related but just because he's so chill. Aren't the Aeon's supposed to be everything their supernal sphere isn't? Or something like that? I recall reading that he actively mocks any abyssal mage that tries to worship him and basically calls them suicidal idiots if they want to deepen their connection to the supernal or abyss. If so it'd seem like he'd be pretty chill to hang out with.
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Apr 7, 2017 07:59
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Ignoring the bit that anyone who goes into his shack is never seen again, yeah.
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Apr 7, 2017 10:45
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Archonex posted:Aren't the Aeon's supposed to be everything their supernal sphere isn't? Or something like that? I recall reading that he actively mocks any abyssal mage that tries to worship him and basically calls them suicidal idiots if they want to deepen their connection to the supernal or abyss.
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Apr 7, 2017 14:18
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Man the TF2 hat economy is getting out of control
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Apr 7, 2017 14:31
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Apr 7, 2017 14:51
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Yawgmoth posted:If they try to worship him, yeah. If they show up and say "hey I heard you can give me a sweet new hat for my nimbus, let's make a deal" or whatever then he's just as amenable as ever. I think he advises against it, if I remember right, but he's not unwilling to bargain. And especially willing to gently caress you over as much as possible in the process.
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Apr 7, 2017 15:40
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Reene posted:Ignoring the bit that anyone who goes into his shack is never seen again, yeah. So sit out on his front porch after bringing a six pack but if you have to pee do it outside, got it.
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Apr 7, 2017 16:03
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Hanging out with the Other is pretty bad for your mental health. One Mage had a polite chat with him and had nightmares so vicious that she killed herself to escape them. The Old Man is, like the Aeons, a pretty great metaphor for the thing he represents and how it interacts with Mages: He seems placid and calm and maybe even inviting, and he doesn't actually do anything to harm you, right up until you actually start interacting with him. Then he's a ball of nightmares that's horrible and inescapable; not because he actively influences you but because he's an idea that you let in, because you couldn't keep your friggin' curiosity to your self. His cane is made from the spine of a child and vicious metal thorns that have no place in existence save to cause pain and misery spring from his step, and every single one of those things was there but you're only seeing them now because you made them real. Meanwhile, the Copse of the Serpent and the Stag is right over there, and they're pretty chill because they're the Aeons of Life and Spirit. The Thyrsus Path is brutally unpretentious. Either of them might try to kill you, but not because you violated some ritual taboo (I mean, Snake, maybe, but for practical reasons). They're more likely to ignore you than hunt you.
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Apr 7, 2017 17:38
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OK I seriously think I need to read the Soul Cage, this poo poo sounds incredible.
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Apr 7, 2017 17:53
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Axelgear posted:He seems placid and calm and maybe even inviting, and he doesn't actually do anything to harm you, right up until you actually start interacting with him. Then he's a ball of nightmares that's horrible and inescapable; not because he actively influences you but because he's an idea that you let in, because you couldn't keep your friggin' curiosity to your self. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZowK0NAvig And now I'm imagining a piece of infrastructure that's just the radiator from Eraserhead, singing dream girl inside and all.
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Apr 7, 2017 17:55
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That, and this, formed a big chunk of inspiration for my first ever gulmoth. Eventually, Harvey, from Farscape, got into the mix. At this point, said gulmoth has saved a PC's life probably... Three or four times now? It's really fun how often the question of "Why would he keep saving me?" comes up, oblivious to the horror he drags around behind him like a human tornado.
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Apr 7, 2017 18:35
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Axelgear posted:Hanging out with the Other is pretty bad for your mental health. One Mage had a polite chat with him and had nightmares so vicious that she killed herself to escape them. The abyss stopped being an evil negaverse as of 2E though, so nowadays his characterization probably still gives you nightmares, but more because you just interacted with something your mind can't quite parse.
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Apr 8, 2017 00:29
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I mean... Kinda? The Abyss became more complicated and nuanced than just "evil monsters" over the course of 1e, but at no point did it stop being utterly antithetical and inimical to all sane and healthy life. The Abyss may or may not be malicious but that doesn't mean it isn't evil in every worthwhile sense of the word. The Ocean Oroboros and the Old Man are mentioned in the 2e core, the former being the incarnation of the Abyss in the Astral, and it annihilates everything it touches. Abyssal entities are described as incarnate corruption, shed from stillborn godlings who send them into reality to twist it and give them a foothold in the existence that is so repelled by their very existence. The Abyss is nonsense. It is non-sense. It is corrosive and destructive and turns whatever it touches into a blighted hellscape that defies understanding and reason. It's the thing that makes Quiescence happen, and which hurts Sleepers for the simple act of seeing the Supernal. The Abyss is pain and lies. If that isn't evil, I don't know what is.
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Apr 8, 2017 00:57
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Axelgear posted:The Abyss is pain and lies. If that isn't evil, I don't know what is. Pleasure and truth, obviously.
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Apr 8, 2017 01:04
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crime fighting hog posted:What's something horrendously bad that agents of the God Machine are trying to dig up buried beneath a town? I've dropped hints to my players the God Machine agents are trying to cover up what they're digging under the guise of a huge construction site but I'm blocked. Rare but seemingly useless minerals that the GM knows how to convert into something useful. The discarded waste of a previous project. Nothing. Figuratively or literally. City infrastructure to replace with some of its own
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Apr 8, 2017 01:35
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PLANS
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crime fighting hog posted:What's something horrendously bad that agents of the God Machine are trying to dig up buried beneath a town? I've dropped hints to my players the God Machine agents are trying to cover up what they're digging under the guise of a huge construction site but I'm blocked. An ancient city from an alternate timeline that threatens the GM by existing. The GM wants to suborn it and activate its latent power to extend its influence into the alternate timeline (and thus gain strange and powerful tools it can use here, in our reality) but the remains of the city must be largely undisturbed or else it will be rendered useless as a source of power. There are Exiles there, still living, who claim to have been created by something other than the God Machine, but whether they are truly alien creatures from another reality or merely highly confused deep-cover agents created by the GM is unclear.
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Apr 8, 2017 01:53
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Axelgear posted:The Abyss is pain and lies. If that isn't evil, I don't know what is. Evil is a value judgment that implies both malice and intent. Those are certainly things some Abyssal entities have, but I prefer viewing the Abyss as a whole as amoral but antithetical to reality, which is why it manifests in ways which are abhorrent to the senses.
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Apr 8, 2017 02:04
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crime fighting hog posted:What's something horrendously bad that agents of the God Machine are trying to dig up buried beneath a town? I've dropped hints to my players the God Machine agents are trying to cover up what they're digging under the guise of a huge construction site but I'm blocked. They're not digging anything. Something is digging up to meet them. A perfectly mundane disaster is going to happen during excavation/construction, as a pretext to evacuate the surrounding area. They're building a portal to escape something that's coming. They're building a portal to a better world, to invade it. They're digging a landing site for something that's coming. It's a retrieval/archaeology mission. Something happened here, a long time ago, and the God Machine is retrieving its agents or tools after the fact. They're burying something better off lost and forgotten. It's going to break loose, and the PCs need to do it right, or contain the damage.
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Apr 8, 2017 02:12
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Reene posted:Evil is a value judgment that implies both malice and intent. Those are certainly things some Abyssal entities have, but I prefer viewing the Abyss as a whole as amoral but antithetical to reality, which is why it manifests in ways which are abhorrent to the senses. I think his point is that there is no functional difference between cosmic evil and cosmic destructive amorality. Particularly from the viewpoint of the victim, which is in this case all of reality.
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Apr 8, 2017 02:57
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I was mostly just being flowery, yeah. There's not really any distinction and, even if you care to make one, the Old Man certainly doesn't meet it. He still acts willfully as an extension of the Abyss, and what he does is grant power to the worst examples of the Awakened; to people who seek power at any cost and willfully accept the annihilation of portions (or perhaps all) of reality in that bargain. Even if the Abyss doesn't fit anywhere on a moral scale, it is still pain and misery and despair and hopelessness and decay and agony, encapsulating eternal unending stagnation and blind, pointless chaos all in one. The Old Man is still a horror and a terror that drives people to madness through merest contact; not because he is simply a piece of something unfathomable, but because what is comprehensible about that unfathomable entity is that it is vast and terrible and awful beyond human ken. He's still the Abyss; the thing you invite in because you think you can handle it when, in fact, you are so exceptionally out of your depth.
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Apr 8, 2017 05:09
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So me and my friends, one of which posts in this thread who happens to be the ST, are playing a Hunter game, and this is the current story line. The group features Terry Fetcher (me), VASCU's Computer Forensics Expert and winnebago owner; Lakewood and O'conner, Bad Cop and Badder Cop duo who cannot be separated at all, much to the chagrin of the VASCU higher ups. Billy, the Drug dealer and Drug Using Cabbie Driver from Chicago who knows all the good stuff. And the Doctor, a Cheiron doctor who is really just there for medical experimentation, and apparently stitching Vampire skin onto himself. Previously the agents were sent out on a Mission by Agent Smith, our contact in order to figure out who stole a special camera from thescience museum and why. Our agents bravely went forth to the Museum where we found that the person who stole the camera did not appear at all on the camera film. Our first thought, provided by lakewood, was that it was Assassin Yetis. This quicky was shot down as we had found that the person who had stolen the camera had driven off in an early Chevrolet automobile. Using the lead we found that the tag owner was none other than a Vampire. Our investigation lead us to a woobie vampire named Thomas, who sounds surprising like Ringo who tipped us off about where we could find the vampire in question with Terry quickly attaching himself to Thomas. I would give the vampire's name but the notes we keep online is currently down so let's call him Craig. Craig was usually found hanging out at a nightclub called the Sanguine Club. Which I am going to be honest, the Vampires could have spent a little more time making a less obvious name for their club. Inside Lakewood quickly went to speak with the manager as the rest of us took part in the revelry downstairs. While Lakewood learned more about Craig and the Camera we found that people were entranced. They could not stop dancing no matter how tired or dead they looked. Their dancing and partying would not stop. We quickly got out of the bar, not wanting to get infected by the obvious Interdimensional Space Spore that was feeding on the people's emotions, with Lakewood stealing a cellphone, calling 911 and throwing it into the crowd. It was after all, an emergency. We learned from Lakewood that craig had taken pictures of the bar with the camera, explaining to the manager that the camera could take pictures of spirits. Of course at the time we didn't know what it would actually do is open up small holes to the spirit realm where the spirits could come out temporarily and feast upon the emotions and such within the people in the area. We also learned that craig could be found usually hanging out in the sewers. We needed to find Craig and we needed to find him fast. But first we needed to learn more about spirits so we went to a two bit Psychic who was not actually psychic but learned in the world of the occult. She gave us a bit of information about spirits. It was off to the sewers we went! Within the sewers we found Thomas on the top level, feeding on what I imagine to be mice. Thomas is a woobie like I said. We had thomas go back home because things might get dangerous and he quickly obliged. Heading downstairs and down deeper into the sewers we heard someone yell at us not to get closer, and to illustrate the point they fired a warning shot at us. They were hunting after a vampire, which what'dya know we were too. However the Hunters weren't really willing to help us and were very sovereign citizen. So of course we had an altercation. It ended with us luring them into a trap and taking them both out. We weren't going to arrest them cause to be honest there is no law against shooting something that is already dead. They informed us the path that we were originally heading down was a dead end. So we took the opposite path and eventually came across craig who was clutching the camera tightly. After some convincing we managed to get the camera out of his hands and we started to quickly move out of the sewer. As we left towards the entrance. We heard a voice behind us, chasing us, threatening. We shot behind us to no avail and as the group provided (except the doctor) cover for Terry and the Doctor to get out with the camera only for terry to be yanked into a Metal door where he was held up by a Vampire offering either the choice of his life or to give him the camera. Either way he thought the camera would get into the hands of this vampire, who was threatening life, which Terry didn't want to happen, so he thought (though soon learning how bad of an idea it was) and shot the camera, shattering. The vampire let go of Terry and escaped and we learned how terrible of an idea it was: The camera openned a hole into the spirit realm and now we were dealing with the after math. After discussing a person well versed in Spirits and A hobo who is connected to the city, we made a plan to get rid of the hole: Create a spirit distillery in wrigley Field, using 50 cent beer night to get the stadium packed with people and then use that to lure the spirits over to get them and turn them into Spirit goo to seal the hole. so yeah, we are the best federal agents now.
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Apr 9, 2017 16:53
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Senior Scarybagels posted:So me and my friends, one of which posts in this thread who happens to be the ST, are playing a Hunter game, and this is the current story line. Are you sure your group isn't the gang from Always Sunny?
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Apr 9, 2017 18:42
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Slimnoid posted:Are you sure your group isn't the gang from Always Sunny? I mean we could be, I think we have discussed this as a group. If I remember correctly they have assigned Terry the role of Charlie.
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Apr 9, 2017 19:33
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Slimnoid posted:Are you sure your group isn't the gang from Always Sunny? I'm more amused that they seem to be pro-vampire. No wonder those sovereign citizen hunters wanted them dead. I mean, it's VASCU and they don't give a flying gently caress about all this supernatural drama so long as you pay your taxes and don't commit any crimes. But still.
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Apr 9, 2017 23:49
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Archonex posted:I'm more amused that they seem to be pro-vampire. No wonder those sovereign citizen hunters wanted them dead. Look Lakewood says it best, as long as they follow the secret supernatural constitution and pay their taxes, drinking blood, hey that's fine. It would be a hassle to bring vampires in to the secret society paranormal midnight court, which is presided by Naamah.
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Apr 10, 2017 01:50
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As a view into the way my current nDemon character thinks and approaches problems in general, we are attempting to infiltrate a piece of infrastructure that is at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and my character suggested walking to it, along the ocean floor and jumping into the trench. Said character is the only one that can survive actually doing that, but we have ways to portal in, provided an initial breach is created.
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Apr 10, 2017 02:09
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In our current nDemon game, we tracked an angel of despair and disease to its fettered point - a young girl of great sentimental value to one of the circle. We decided we were gonna do this as covertly and cleanly as possible with no one the wiser for it. No desperation moves, just strategy Next week: https://tinyurl.com/n86jpbj
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Apr 10, 2017 07:13
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Oh and we're also selling the angel to a local mage kingpin in exchange for not having to fight it ourselves. The exorcism and caging of the angel by the mages will take place in the heart of my demon's 5-dot cult stronghold. He doesn't like anything about this.
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Apr 10, 2017 07:18
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It's not quite world of darkness, but I forgot how much the Dark Matter setting scratches that crazy gonzo millenialist 'everything is a conspiracy and freemason aliens run the country' itch.
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Apr 10, 2017 08:02
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Loomer posted:It's not quite world of darkness, but I forgot how much the Dark Matter setting scratches that crazy gonzo millenialist 'everything is a conspiracy and freemason aliens run the country' itch. I have the same problem with it as I do with Delta Green, which is that the UFOlogy/pre-2000 conspiracy stuff just isn't really culturally relevant anymore and while it used to be fun, nowadays it's a lot more obvious how much of those conspiracy theories were just barely-coded racism.
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Apr 10, 2017 12:16
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Are you suggesting that reports of paranoid fears of shape changing reptiles secretly infiltrating European monarchies in order to destroy society from the inside that quote extensively from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion may in some way be anti-Semitic? More seriously, that aspect of things was always one of my annoyances as well when it's handled badly. I still think vast shadowy cover ups full of alien influence and Sinister Freemasons Who Run The Country are fun but there's a lot of ugly baggage to work around and try to excise. Joining the Craft changed my perception as well. As fun as they are in a wild-eyed wackjob way, conspiracies about us Masons are uncomfortable to hear from outsiders who repeat it seriously. Not only are half of them just coded anti-semitism, but the same thinking lead us to death squads and gas chambers right along side the Jews, the leftists, the wrong kind of rightists, the Roma, etc in Spain, Italy, Germany and Russia. So I completely get the tensions in using the theories, and I often feel it too.
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Apr 10, 2017 14:58
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Yeah, conspiracy ideas are fun to explore if they're a blown up and over the top look at actual global elites. It's why I love the Bohemian Grove conspiracy. The grove is real and exists and is 100% a place for all the old rich white dudes to get together and really say what they think. It's not that hard to jump to really insane conspiracies from that. But in real life all of those conspiracies just boil down to somehow being the fault of the Jews.
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Apr 10, 2017 15:39
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If you think a cabal of bloodsucking lizard people rules the world at our expense at twenty, you have no heart. If you don't think a cabal of bloodsucking lizard people rules the world at our expense at thirty, you have no brain.
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Apr 10, 2017 15:51
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One way to avoid the associations with anti-Semitism is to make your conspiracy Nazis. Nobody would think for a second that a conspiracy of Swiss Nazi bankers are a barely veiled metaphor for Jewish bankers! :PPope Guilty posted:I have the same problem with it as I do with Delta Green, which is that the UFOlogy/pre-2000 conspiracy stuff just isn't really culturally relevant anymore and while it used to be fun, nowadays it's a lot more obvious how much of those conspiracy theories were just barely-coded racism. I have great respect for Arc Dream because they acknowledged that there's a bunch of racism in conspiracy lore, and they're said they're trying their best to not feature any of that racism.
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Apr 10, 2017 16:06
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Our Previous case Part 1:quote:Starring the symbiotic Lakewood and O’Conner, The Taxi/Uber/Dealer Billy, The Good Doctor Clydsman, special guest Charlie Saturday with the ineffable nerd Terry Fetcher.
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Apr 10, 2017 17:26
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Pope Guilty posted:I have the same problem with it as I do with Delta Green, which is that the UFOlogy/pre-2000 conspiracy stuff just isn't really culturally relevant anymore and while it used to be fun, nowadays it's a lot more obvious how much of those conspiracy theories were just barely-coded racism. I thought Delta Green leaned more on the "ALIENS!!1!" side of things, which while being extremely outdated wasn't that racist (Except the reptilians stuff).
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Apr 10, 2017 17:46
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Senior Scarybagels posted:Our Previous case Part 1: There's something about Hunter games involving fast food that just makes sense. The previous two successful hunts, the characters went to Dairy Queen to celebrate putting an end to a cult of demon worshipers and then a hive of psychic alligator men.
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Apr 10, 2017 17:58
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The biggest let-down is that point in your life when you realize that conspiracy theories are rare; not because there aren't powerful and shadowy forces trying to rule the world, but because the elite don't really... Need them. If you can already monopolize political and economic power and enjoy the benefits of a systemic advantage where wealth is self-propagating, why on Earth would you bother going to the owl god blood orgy every new moon? It's like finding out the presents under the tree are really from your parents; you still get the exact same outcome, but some of the magic is gone. If we're on the topic, though, conspiracies and cults are kind of my jam, so if anyone can recommend some good inspirational sources - preferably internet accessible ones that I could, say, browse while waiting in line - I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm always looking for new material to inform Mage cults or the Ladder's cryptopoly, but searching for a database on the matter has been hard. Most aren't "Hey, here is what some people actually believe", but rather actual conspiracy theories, and those tend to get uncomfortable and sad.
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Apr 10, 2017 18:23
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Also the elite don't have anywhere near as firm of control of the world as they think they do and are much more foolish and short-sighted than conspiracy theory would like to reassuringly believe them to be. The world is a lot less scary if someone's driving, even if they're terrible people. When people want to believe 9/11 was an inside job, they're asking for the universe to be more ordered and make more 'sense', so that they don't have to worry such a thing can happen again unless the Secret Masters let/cause it to.
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Apr 10, 2017 18:27
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Yeah, I never really got that, myself. The idea that there's an all-powerful shadowy network that will kill you as a political tool doesn't really strike me as more comforting than the idea that there's a modestly powerful shadowy network that will kill you as a political tool. Don't get me wrong, I can understand wanting to personify villainous forces for other things, like the economy taking a downturn or the economic system you live under (or life in general) being fundamentally unfair. That gives you something - someone - to blame for things that are otherwise faceless and difficult for a monkeybrain to deal with. It's honestly heartbreaking to see some fundamentalists who believe in a coming Satanic New World Order talk in really pained and agonized terms about wanting to see some blessed Olam HaBa, because they're just expressing universal human pains in the only context they can make of it. Feeling like there's some cause that you can actively work against is a bulwark for the soul. That to me, though, feels like a decidedly different beast.
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Apr 10, 2017 18:39
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