How a being becomes vulnerable to Nemesis - hint from WOJ

[Yuillegan]

I think Jim has dropped a few hints on this, but unless I am much mistaken I don't think this idea has been actually floated.

Any being becomes vulnerable to Nemesis infection via being too close to Mortals and the Mortal World.

But I think that only applies to beings that are not multiverse spanning - Archangels, Angels, perhaps the Mothers (guessed but unconfirmed). But the hint is in this WOJ:

Mortals, in their own possession of free will, have a tendancy to influence beings who don’t have it, in one way or another.  I suppose it’s entirely possible, for example, that too much association with mortals are what changed Aurora, former Summer Lady, and gave her a determination to destroy the natural order in an effort to change its very nature–for the better, true, but it would never even have occurred to any of the other Queens, Mothers or Lady that such a thing might be, until it had already happened.  It isn’t in their nature.

But perhaps I’ve said too much.  I’ll shut up now.

So this first part I have highlighted pretty much gives that hint. We are pretty sure Nemesis is what corrupted her, but how it was able to get past her guard might be the fact she was spending too much time with mortals...like Elaine Mallory (make of that what you will...was it really chance she ran to the Summer Court...?)

And secondly, what is also really interesting is that Jim seems to be saying that the destruction of the natural order would be a GOOD thing. Huh? Yet that second part I have put in bold seems to suggest that destroying the natural order might have been for the better. Could it be that the Faerie Courts are not as good for reality as we think? Could Nemesis serve a purpose?

Now of course, that is somewhat unrelated to my opening but it is important. And I am aware that this doesn't really address how Mortals become vulnerable to Nemesis, unless of course by their very nature they are always vulnerable. By being able to Choose to do something, to shape themselves and their destiny via their Choices. I think so, and I think it is the same reason Immortals would otherwise not be vulnerable, but become so.

And it makes sense too! Lea spent too much time with Mortals, especially just before she received Morgana's Athame. Her immune system was down you might say (draws a nice parallel from Winter being Realities immune system, and the Outsiders being the virus). Maeve spent a lot of time with Lloyd Slate and Lily etc justs before Lea got to her. Cat Sith spent a whole bunch of time with Harry before HWWBf got to him.

Thoughts?

[forumghost]

Well for my part, my first thoughts are:

- Jim is a lying liar who lies, especially with something like Nemesis, that was a big ol' spoiler at the time of that particular WoJ.

-Elaine is indeed suspicious in a number of ways that Harry refuses to acknowledge because he tapped that when he was 16 and so obviously she's not dodgy all all hell, but her running into the Summer Court could well just be some Sidhe going "is that a powerful Wizard that's desperate, isolated, and has no knowledge of how to deal with the Fae? Sound's like free Real Estate to me!"

-"For the Better" in this quote was IMHO in reference to Aurora's motives/goals- Her plan was to Destroy the Faerie Courts so that she could reform them into something that was better for the Mortals (because seriously, the Sidhe on the whole are a Bag of Dicks who go out of their way to screw over us puny mortals for the lulz at least twice a day). Of course, this would have had the 'minor' side effect of causing an Ice age for the next few centuries, but hey, eggs, omelette, yada yada.

Essentially Aurora was:



All that aside, could association with mortals be what leaves people vulnerable? Maybe, But I personally don't think so. Lea still required exposure to the Athame, and Sith had not be hanging around mortals all that much beyond ripping their spines out (remember, CD was only a couple days tops). If your immune system goes down in a matter of hours... you don't have much of an immune syste.

[peregrine]

"I suppose it's entirely possible" he said.  As in, this could have happened.  We now know better.

[groinkick]

From what I gather, what made her vulnerable was desire...  Just as Maeve had what I would describe as a nearly insane desire to be able to have sex, but not being able to.  Or to lie, which she loved.

It seems more like Nemesis didn't corrupt them, it just simply unlocked some of the Mantle's rigid limitations.   

[exartiem]

Cat Sith only associated with a few mortals for a short time before he was N-fected.

[Mira]

    Based on that Molly is really vulnerable since she was very mortal, and comes from a very mortal family with a different set of moral values than Mab has...

[KurtinStGeorge]

All that aside, could association with mortals be what leaves people vulnerable? Maybe, But I personally don't think so. Lea still required exposure to the Athame, and Sith had not be hanging around mortals all that much beyond ripping their spines out (remember, CD was only a couple days tops). If your immune system goes down in a matter of hours... you don't have much of an immune syste.

I get the whole Jim is a lying, liar thing.  You could be right.  However, I take slight issue with what you said here.  Sure, Lea became nemfected through her exposure to the Athame, but perhaps it was her association with Harry, his mother and possibly Justin DuMorne as well, which impaired her spiritual immune system and this is what allowed the Athame to do its work.

Unfortunately, my clever explanation doesn't really explain Maeve being vulnerable.  Mostly Maeve liked to torture mortals.  She didn't really have any extended relationships with them.  So yea, maybe Jim was just doing some misdirection for his own amusement or to keep us from figuring out what's really going on within the story.

[Avernite]

I think it may be more 'wanting to break your role'. Molly, as per SG, thinks the Lady role is good and necessary but (as per cold case) can use improvements. Aurora and Maeve seemingly had switched to thinking the role was horrid and they should break the system.

Whether or not such thoughts only come in through a mortal route is a good question.

And I think part of the reason Cat Sith got broken while being taken over is because he didn't WANT anything else than being a horribly vicious murderous malk. So he could be taken, but not turned into a Nemesis agent.

[exartiem]

I think Nemesis offers the being a taste of free will.  Then, how much you are infected depends on how much that free will means to you.

For Sith, honor to his queen meant more to him than his bloodthirsty nature so he resisted.

Aurora and Meave had desires that the free will allowed them to pursue, thus they were completely taken.  Lea was jealous of Mab and wanted her power, thus she was taken, but Mab was able to get her to give up and re-embrace her loyalty to Mab.

Humans already have free will thus Nemesis has nothing to tempt them with.