[CD spoilers] Cowl = Simon reference thread

[wizard nelson]

Not officially, no, but it's made clear in TC that Peabody has had access to all this sort of paperwork and nobody's ever thought to mention it.  They seem to think of him as barely more than a photocopier and filing system.

it wasn't on the books, generally you don't write down super secret locations an what not. cause other people can steal the paper... what it points to is cowl being inside the WC and probably who showed with an army of spiders, standing in a way and unleashing an army seems to be part of his M.O.
also peabody had the same musty smell on him as cowl, probably from hanging around him.

[madness]

There would be requisitions and correspondence.

It is pretty heavily implied at the end of Turn Coat that Peabody had access to all of the leaked information and that everyone overlooked him since he was basically just the court stenographer during meetings.

Even if he wasn't involved in all of the Senior Council meetings he was probably able to piece a lot of things together when they ended the meetings and the Senior Council members promptly began issuing various orders.

[cedz]

Regarding the WOJ which talks about Simon and a death curse:

See what happened to all the vampires around Simon when they assaulted his compound immediately prior to the onstage events in Summer Knight.

Note that Jim doesn't actually state that Simon cast this death curse nor that he died. He just specifically pointed to all the vampires dying around him. Another way to look at this quote considering we know that Cowl has survived death curses before is that this particular death curse wasn't cast by Simon but at him and all the vampires that happened to be around him. He managed to defend against the curse but vampires were obliterated. This chain of logic could work if one of the wizards of Archangel recognised Simon as the traitor who let the Red's bypass the formidable wards and decided to try and take him down as a last ditched effort.

We also know that Simon had a female apprentice which fits really well as being Kumori.

[Sydna]

Regarding the WOJ which talks about Simon and a death curse:

Note that Jim doesn't actually state that Simon cast this death curse nor that he died. He just specifically pointed to all the vampires dying around him. Another way to look at this quote considering we know that Cowl has survived death curses before is that this particular death curse wasn't cast by Simon but at him and all the vampires that happened to be around him. He managed to defend against the curse but vampires were obliterated. This chain of logic could work if one of the wizards of Archangel recognised Simon as the traitor who let the Red's bypass the formidable wards and decided to try and take him down as a last ditched effort.

We also know that Simon had a female apprentice which fits really well as being Kumori.

I don't recall anything about Simon having a female apprentice?

[cedz]

I don't recall anything about Simon having a female apprentice?

We know that Simon had a female apprentice named Larisa Yevtushenko from both the paranet files and I think from either one of the books or a WOJ. I can't seem to track down the book quote at this time though. She is mentioned directly in an excert from the Paranet files at this site though - http://www.evilhat.com/home/paranet-papers-sneak-peek-novgorod-4/

[Cenphx]

We also know that Morgan had some sort of relationsip/connection to her (though I dont remember where I learned this) which helps explain some of his extreme animosity to Harry in SK.

[TheCuriousFan]

We also know that Morgan had some sort of relationsip/connection to her (though I dont remember where I learned this) which helps explain some of his extreme animosity to Harry in SK.

Actually, all we know is that someone dear to him died at Archangel. We think it's Larisa though.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Actually, all we know is that someone dear to him died at Archangel. We think it's Larisa though.

That actually finally makes sense of that.

(Before TC, I was very into Morgan and Simon as the great secret romance of the DV and a Cowl/Simon reveal playing off that.)

[wizard nelson]

just to throw a wrench into all you simon cowl shippers:
Also, just afterward Fred mentions that Jim said he didn't have a whole lot down on Simon Pietrovich. On a mythbusting tangent that is another strong hint that Simon is both dead and not a member of the Black Council (if Jim's earlier mention of what Simon's death curse was isn't enough).:
ha! why wouldn't he have alot on him if he's secretly a dark uberwizard?

[Elegast]

Also, just afterward Fred mentions that Jim said he didn't have a whole lot down on Simon Pietrovich.

I hear that a lot. Could anyone point me to the source and/or give me the exact wording?

[123456789blaaa]

I hear that a lot. Could anyone point me to the source and/or give me the exact wording?

The only thing I can recall like that is that Jim is giving the DFRPG people free reign on Simon's backstory for the Paranet Papers supplement. Here's a link: http://www.evilhat.com/home/paranet-papers-sneak-peek-novgorod-4/

[knnn]

I hear that a lot. Could anyone point me to the source and/or give me the exact wording?

[looks at notes]
Hmmm, it looks like that quote is not as clear cut as I remember it.

It's from a podcast from 2d6 feet in a random direction, #56 (from April 2010, I believe).  I have a transcript for the relevant parts (5-7 minute mark), the rest of the hour is not really about the DF.   Serack -- I don't know if you have this down already, so you may want to add it.

Regular font is Fred, bold face is the interviewers.  Fred is talking about how much input Jim had for the new material.

So, we got a few tidbits from him, we will be getting to invent details; far more detail than we invented for the core books.  Um in a number of cases, but we'll also be drawing from "Hey Jim give us a few bullet points about a particular location".  You know, if we want the people to work for the, the player characters stand in the Nevernever chapter to work for the Gatekeeepr in some capacity, what do we need to know about that, and what came out of that was Jim telling me about where the Gatekeepers demesne is.  Where his domain is, where his private citadel is ensconced somewhere in the Nevernever, and the route to it, and I will reveal that here involves walking across the surface of the moon.

Nice, I mean clearly some sort of magical protection...

So you've got that sort of thing in there, but we've also got things like where Simon Pietrovich, Justin Dumorne's mentor, and the Senior Council member that was a... um... removed from power, shall we say in book four, he clearly lived somewhere in Russia, likely during the Russian Revolution, so we, how much control do we have over him.  {quoting Jim} "Fair amount, I don't really have a lot in mind for him, so obviously I'll want to look at it, what your ideas are, but you can do, you can mess around with that".  So we're like "OK, we're going to make him a friend of the Czar, as the Russian revolution is breaking out and have that, you know, tie his hands a little bit and push some things into a direction the is going to be a problem".

That's pretty cool.  What a terrible terrible set of constraints you have for a licensed product. 

So on the on hand you've got Jim's "I don't really have a lot in mind", but on the other, you've got Fred seemingly avoiding declaring that Simon is dead.

[123456789blaaa]

[looks at notes]
Hmmm, it looks like that quote is not as clear cut as I remember it.

It's from a podcast from 2d6 feet in a random direction, #56 (from April 2010, I believe).  I have a transcript for the relevant parts (5-7 minute mark), the rest of the hour is not really about the DF.   Serack -- I don't know if you have this down already, so you may want to add it.

Regular font is Fred, bold face is the interviewers.  Fred is talking about how much input Jim had for the new material.

So on the on hand you've got Jim's "I don't really have a lot in mind", but on the other, you've got Fred seemingly avoiding declaring that Simon is dead.

...Damn  . I can only hope that Jim changes his mind after seeing this thread and decides to make Simon=Cowl in spite of the paranet papers.

[TheCuriousFan]

[looks at notes]
Hmmm, it looks like that quote is not as clear cut as I remember it.

It's from a podcast from 2d6 feet in a random direction, #56 (from April 2010, I believe).  I have a transcript for the relevant parts (5-7 minute mark), the rest of the hour is not really about the DF.   Serack -- I don't know if you have this down already, so you may want to add it.

Regular font is Fred, bold face is the interviewers.  Fred is talking about how much input Jim had for the new material.

So on the on hand you've got Jim's "I don't really have a lot in mind", but on the other, you've got Fred seemingly avoiding declaring that Simon is dead.

Saved for future use.

[Serack]

[looks at notes]
Hmmm, it looks like that quote is not as clear cut as I remember it.

It's from a podcast from 2d6 feet in a random direction, #56 (from April 2010, I believe).  I have a transcript for the relevant parts (5-7 minute mark), the rest of the hour is not really about the DF.   Serack -- I don't know if you have this down already, so you may want to add it.

Regular font is Fred, bold face is the interviewers.  Fred is talking about how much input Jim had for the new material.

So on the on hand you've got Jim's "I don't really have a lot in mind", but on the other, you've got Fred seemingly avoiding declaring that Simon is dead.

hmmm guess I never listened to that one cause I only added it to the iago interview index in the DFRPG section