I don't think they "bought the tech" -- they bought the item:  1 set of armbands, magical-warding.
The "tech" is useless to them, because very few (if any!) Whamp magicians are strong enough to enchant such magic items.

OK, that is more where i was going, they bough the item. Like when a company says they are investing in new technology for their assembly line, they are not buying the engineering blueprints and chip specs, they are getting stuff installed.

I doubt the White Council would have "officially" transacted with the Whamps to provide such an item.  But one wizard selling "under the table"?   Very possible IMO.  Stolen from a WC wizard?  Another good possibility.  Commanded from a WC wizard whose will was Whamp-subverted?  Another possibility.  LOTS of ways for it to be "White Council work."

Selling? No way. The wizard weakens himself. Whamp subverted? seems unlikely. He'd have to have it already. Stolen? I gotta think stuff like that is held VERY securely, but this one could be.   But I am thinking non-Council.

There's Molly's apartment, yes... but also:

The Raith Deeps!  It had that cheesyclassy mood-lighting going on.  Survived the (repeated?) Entropy-Rituals, survived Harry's fight with Papa Raith, and even IIRC survived Harry&Carlos' duel with the Whamps.  High emotions, lots of un-warded magic being flung about... should have blown all lighting.  I'm pretty sure the Raith Deeps' lighting was Svartalven work.  And, that being the case, the warding arm-bands seem likely Svartalven, too.

I think the Deeps were likely simple mortal work. The Whamps are not envisioning magical duels happening much. Harry is not blowing up streetlamps and making cars freeze in place every time he walks near one. Cheesy lighting? Mortals can't do that? Ever hear of Las Vegas?

Rituals cast by non-wizards may not have the short-out-the-electronics aura that wizards do. Molly has a cell phone, doesn't she? Up to her ear! So Mantles don't blow things. And a cell phone has far more elaborate circuitry than wiring. Mac has fans and lights in the pub, and he caters to multiple wizards, not Harry level, usually, but there for HOURS every day. Where Harry LIVED, even continual low level emissions can toast stuff. But he didn't blow up his office.  Or the others in the building.

Svaltalf work is gonna be high - and the bill may not be in dollars. Heck, the Whamps can seduce a couple of electricians or stagehands to rig this all up simple.

All I'm saying is that their relationship makes favors redundant, be that friendship or work relationship. Remember Mab's offer of canceling the three favors in exchange for his service as a knight? Mab doesn't have to ask Harry for favors, she can order him to do what she wants, and in return she has a specific set of obligations towards him. Same goes for the other two queens.

No, I think they can order Court business, but not other matters. For example, Molly is really busy, and realizes she forgot to get a present for Michael's birthday tomorrow, she asks Harry if he will do her a favor and pick up tickets for Cubs Opening Day.  That isn't the Lady. It's not Court business. It's a favor between friends.

 

Also, a lot of that sort of stuff likely is not written down! Who is writing down the wards and tricks to their castle - if anyone finds it, they may be able to thwart your defenses! Or reverse engineer them.

The Nickelheads may have a lot written about them. Possibly a WHOLE lot. And much may be contradictory - we do not know she can sort out true from false, just she knows what is reported.

Who would write down much about his Mom? Maybe Eb, but that is likely it.

And yeah, she likely has to earn a living, so there may be costs involved.

Exactly, though if she ever becomes Queen, we can pretty much guess what it would be and what it would cost Harry.

She won't do that. She wants them to give themselves, not her take it.  Taking it is a power play, and not Molly. Too much Molly left.

Harry has already beat Eb - confidence is a huge thing for a practitioner of magic and now Eb realises he can’t beat Harry without killing him. Harry on the other hand knows he has stood up to the worst Eb can dish out and walked away unharmed.

Harry wins every time now over Eb.

The Merlin requires a different strategy Harry needs to undermine the Merlin politically in any duel they have, show what he has been up to behind the scenes to the assembled White Council destroy his political power and his confidence at the same time.

Harry didn't beat Eb - he stalemated an Eb who was holding back. Eb showed if he went all out he could win. This can embolden Harry, but he has to recognize the limits Eb put on himself.  We saw the best Eb could do will kill Harry.

I'm not 100% sure Langtry takes Harry down. He probably does, but Langtry is a defense specialist. I don't think Harry has a chance of taking him down either (Barring maybe a Soulfire attack Langtry didn't know about). This is possibly like when Nik offered Harry a coin, and when Harry asked if he was going to let him walk, Nik said "I doubt I could stop you" as in "You can't hurt me. I know that. The question is if I have the firepower to get you". Eb has shown he can if he has to. I wonder sometimes if Eb is really the best battle wizard. We know little of Rashid....

Carlos has technical ability that may (or may not - Harry tends to run himself down) exceed Harry's but I don't think he can take Harry.  A middleweight contender gets pounded by a journeyman heavyweight. 

And yet he fought Eb to a draw in Battle Ground who is supposed to be the best Battle Wizard. Langtry is considered to be the best defensive wizard, but you don’t win a duel on defence. For example Langtry erects a shield no attack can get through, Harry could use soul Fire to enhance that shield so that Oxygen doesn’t get through and then wait for Langtry to pass out.

Langtry at this point has to consider Harry a greater political threat than Eb, he isn’t an asset, and he is the more immediate threat.

To be fair, I think Eb was holding something back. He wanted to win without hurting Harry badly or killing him. Langtry will not pass on that so readily.

The WAG (an offhand idea, really; but we need some reason that Raith Sr. had killed all his other sons, but Thomas lived to adulthood).

]Margaret could have hinted -- over the first few years of Thomas' life, where she was being Raith's "senior concubine" -- that she intended her son to LIVE, and had laid some subtle and dangerous warding on Thomas.  Raith figured (a) he had years to break down Margaret's resistance, before Thomas' first kill & the awakening of his Hunger; & (b) his own protections would likely suffice, anyhow.

Then Margaret went walkabout.  That eliminated (a) ... and made Raith mad as hell:  no woman should be ABLE to reject him!  So he tracked her down and had her killed... and her death-curse got him despite his protections!  Which, obviously, rendered (b) moot too.

And then Thomas showed absolutely zero inclination to "play politics."  So Papa Raith played the long waiting game.

As for Lara -- Thomas ascribes her hands-off approach to him as being a limited bit of family loyalty... but what if she's worried about whatever protections Margaret left on Thomas?

Margaret LeFay escaped her father at the peak of his powers, and then managed to land a curse on him that lasted for decades.  And Harry... well, Lara has seen Harry in action.   He saw through her papa's charade, in just one night.  He killed a bunch of baddies in the Deeps, including summoning lava in Chicago.  And then, when there was no way to survive, he saved them both.  Lara was giving the sexuality her all... and Harry used her for sex, instead of succumbing.  He took the full force of a Whamp, and channeled it into his willpower in an entirely non-erotic fashion.  At this point, Lara is likely very cautious about the abilities of that family!

No, no, I am not arguing it is a bad idea! I LIKE the idea. I just think if it was implemented we would have had word leak thru Lara or Thomas by now.  Earlier in the series this would have fit great.

 

I think those arm-bands were a unique item, probably stolen, traded... even bought (from Svartalves?).  They could even have been White Council work (I'm sure at least a few wizards have gotten Whamp-whammied over the years, and served the White Court in return for some o' that sweet, sweet luvvin' (or, as noted, straight-up theft)).I don't have my copy of Blood Rites to hand (grrrr).  I'd like to look at the descriptions of the protections on Lord Raith, vs the ones in the armbands.  I don't remember them being similar (the glowy runes, etc).

I didn't say the Whamps developed it. They could have bought the tech.  I doubt it is WC work - selling defenses against their own attack? Not smart. Svaltalfs? Could be. I think they are the best bet here

As far as appearance, I was suggesting the battery operated suit as a way of hiding Raith's magical black hole. If the suit lights up, the observer thinks his suit is absorbing the power. Otherwise it raises the question of "who did he make a deal with for this defense?". The suit glows on batteries, not magic.

Lord Raith wasn't AFAIK any kind of "native" talent.  All his magic was cast by following written instructions.  The Archive already knows all the stuff in his library, Lara doesn't have to tell him.

She may not have connected the dots.  There's always a lot of info out there and people do not realize how much or how it links.

1) Tom Clancy was supposedly brought in and asked where he got classified info - and he showed them public sources. They were shocked it was out there.

2) A Princeton undergrad named John Aristotle Philips designed an atomic bomb in the 70s. Not just theory, specifics to build it. Demonstrated all public sources. A lot of people flipped.

3) A day or two before D day

Lara would have to tell the Archive he connected the dots if she learned he had.

Ask a computer geek - it's the difference between data and information. Sorting thru the data to get something usable.