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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Michael Sandy on April 29, 2011, 03:45:50 PM

Title: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Michael Sandy on April 29, 2011, 03:45:50 PM
I was designing an encounter hook for the party's Warden character and realized that I haven't the faintest idea what the routine method of communication is for the White Council and Wardens.

Obviously, things like phones and fax machines are unreliable, but worse, they are likely to be insecure.  Wizards are unlikely to be experts or current on technology, and therefore be unfamiliar with how easy some of it is to tap into.  And if they use pure human agents to handle the communications they have to deal with the issues of those agents having less defenses against supernatural subordination and deception.

I can see thaumaturgical rituals being used for contact.  Maybe a 5 minute ritual if you have things like the persons address, a photo, something handled by them.  Perhaps they have contact items that are kept in carefully sealed containers so preserve their thaumaturgical properties.

But that is one person contacting one other person.  I can't see wizards doing blast faxes to everybody on their contact lists.  It might be that wizards USED to have major advantages in long distance communications.  They could probably do transcontinental communications through the Nevernever centuries before the invention of the telephone.  A five minute ritual and you can contact anyone you know very well.  But contacting everybody on a friends and acquaintances list is a different proposition indeed.

So, how does it work?
Does the White Council use fax machines and phones and computers and just use wizards who are sufficiently disciplined that the technology doesn't blow up around them as much?  Does it use supernatural allies or pure humans who have long family connections?  Does it use magitech, or is it mostly hopelessly behind the times in communications?

Some ideas:
Synchronized paper:  What is written or typed on one piece of synchronized paper will magically appear on the linked paper or papers in Edinburgh or Regional offices.  Yay!  Wizardy bureaucracies.  Please remember to use up or dispose of old paper before the link expires at the end of the lunar cycle.

Stereotypical magic mirrors.  Constrained summoned creatures that transport letters through the nevernever.  Or the White Council communicates fairly little, trusting the various autonomous Wardens and Regional Commanders to handle things on their own.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Haru on April 29, 2011, 04:03:42 PM
I think they mostly use the communication that falls under the categories "available to anyone" and "doesn't short out immediately near a wizard", which pretty much boils down to a very simple landline telephone.

Plus, I think they simply visit each other or meet up in Edinburgh to talk. The nevernever does make this fairly easy.

Changes Spoiler:
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Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Taran on April 29, 2011, 04:26:28 PM
I don't see why wizards wouldn't use mortal secretaries and lackies.  Having someone who can use technology to email etc and then print out important information would be useful.  Maybe it doesn't occure to them.  Any secure information can be encrypted so that if regular mortals have their mind read, they wouldn't have the actual information.

I'm doing a similar plot hook and just having a mortal employed by the White Council (probably a high refresh one) to deliver a portfolio to the group wizard.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Wolfwood2 on April 29, 2011, 04:28:43 PM
Quote
Or the White Council communicates fairly little, trusting the various autonomous Wardens and Regional Commanders to handle things on their own.

 
I think this is a big part of it.  The Council contacts the Regional Commanders, who are assumed to know how to contact their subordinates.  There is very little 'calling all wizards'.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: MorkaisChosen on April 29, 2011, 04:33:53 PM
Harry rings Warden Central on the phone at one point- I'd assume that a simple landline is sturdy enough for most wizards, and maybe Nevernever messengers for those who are too reclusive and/or old for that to work.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: devonapple on April 29, 2011, 05:57:19 PM
I see them relying on a lot of old-school landline telephones, though I forget if rotary phones will still work on today's networks. Where personnel isn't an issue, they probably have runners and messengers to pass along updates to Wardens at known checkpoints.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: sandchigger on April 29, 2011, 06:25:29 PM
Yes, Harry calls the White Council on the telephone at least twice in the book and when he travels to Edinburgh in one of the books, he speaks with the phone operator there, a little old lady who pulls plugs from one switchboard and puts them in another to route the calls.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Richard_Chilton on April 29, 2011, 06:27:49 PM
Harry calls the wardens twice - once in Dead Beat and once in
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From Dead Beat:
Quote
Just for fun, I tried the phones again, dialing my contact number for the nearest outpost of the Wardens.

Richard
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: sinker on April 29, 2011, 06:46:11 PM
Quote from: Michael Sandy on April 29, 2011, 03:45:50 PM
Stereotypical magic mirrors.  Constrained summoned creatures that transport letters through the nevernever.  Or the White Council communicates fairly little, trusting the various autonomous Wardens and Regional Commanders to handle things on their own.

Harry talks about the fact that he doesn't keep any mirrors around because there's too great of a chance of something nasty coming through. Seems like that might be standard practice or maybe Harry's just paranoid.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: evileeyore on April 30, 2011, 01:03:24 AM
Quote from: Taran on April 29, 2011, 04:26:28 PM
I don't see why wizards wouldn't use mortal secretaries and lackies.  Having someone who can use technology to email etc and then print out important information would be useful.  Maybe it doesn't occure to them.  Any secure information can be encrypted so that if regular mortals have their mind read, they wouldn't have the actual information.

I'm doing a similar plot hook and just having a mortal employed by the White Council (probably a high refresh one) to deliver a portfolio to the group wizard.

This.  I'm considering an "Old Money" style of Wizard for a future game, he'll certianly have an Alfred Pennyworth and probably a batman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(military)).  Any "high tech" will be in a few specific wings of the estate, kept in areas protected with circles. that the PC will tend to avoid.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Belial666 on April 30, 2011, 02:19:54 AM
1) You call forth a spirit that can be in more than one place/time at a time or travel from one place to another fairly quickly.
2) You bind said spirit to several anchor points.
3) You distribute the anchor points to wizards you want able to communicate - they do so by using the spirit to transfer their words near-instantly.
4) You make sure the spirit you bound is not a Legion Demon (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,21533.msg988000.html#msg988000) or bad things might happen.
5) ???
6) Profit!
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Novembermike on May 02, 2011, 02:20:31 AM
There's three ways I can think of.

1) Mortal means. Telephone, mail, that sort of thing. It has the standard problems, but IIRC wizards don't mess with landlines too much. No cell phones or email though.

2) Fae messengers. They're very reliable, but you owe them which is a Bad Thing.

3) Custom magic. It's complex and you can only set this up between so many people, but I could see two people who trust each other setting something up.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Michael Sandy on May 02, 2011, 05:03:58 AM
Thank you everybody for responding.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: deathwombat on May 02, 2011, 10:48:19 AM
The telegraph!
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Novembermike on May 03, 2011, 01:39:25 AM
Quote from: deathwombat on May 02, 2011, 10:48:19 AM
The telegraph!

Fundamentally the same as a telephone. You're just sending some pulses down a wire. IIRC telephones have some extra switching stuff, but that's miles away from the wizard.
Title: Re: White Council and Warden communications
Post by: Wyrdrune on May 03, 2011, 09:13:45 AM
as for custom magic: my wizard is toying around with various means of communication possibilites, seems to be a hobby of his.

he did a "homing pigeon" spell, where a spell construct pigeon carries the messages to his allies. makes only sense if in the same city or it might take to long.

just as I was writing this, I am thinking of some sort of magical "mail" or "forum" gadget. say you have three people who want to communicate and have them participate in a ritual that enchants a large (but empty) book, and dedicates it to them. after the rite the book is divided between the three. the magic could work like this: the individual parts of the book "remember" being part of a large thing and everything written in it can be seen by a person holding one of the other parts, making it something like a web forum, just without the internet. just an idea i an toying around in my head.