Vampires and Werewolves and . . . Aliens?!?

[Richard_Chilton]

In a lot of "mythological research", the general conclusion is that aliens == fae and fae == aliens. 

Exactly.

See the movie "The Mothman Prophecies" for a purported real life encounter with modern fairies.

Richard

[Sh33p]

Could borrow a page out of Warhammer 40,000's playbook: Yes, it's an alien Wizard...but really, he/she/it is just a psychic tapping into powers from another dimension. With a better understanding of it than humans, such that magical spells and rituals are just crazy math equations or something.

Incidentally: Perils of the Warp.



Aside from that: Babylon 5 has a nifty idea with organic technology, which has since shown up elsewhere (Star Trek and nBSG both borrowed the idea, among others). Maybe that could be a means of countering the Wizard techbane?

[Peteman]

Actually, organic ships have been in Star Trek since at least 1990 (see episode Tin Man)

[Compass Rose]

"Supernatural" recently had an episode with fae and other supernatural beasties making crop circles, abducting and 'probing' humans, etc. Quite a lot of fun - especially when Dean gets a good glimpse of the Tinkerbell-sized 'fairy' and realizes she's got boobs and all... just before he smacks her into a microwave and blows her up. Whee!

[WilliamPall]

Wow. a lot of good idea's here. sorry for not getting back to this board for a while.

I haven't had a chance to talk to my friend about his character concept yet. But, as I said it's still early early stages.

I'm not necessarily keen on the "He's not really an alien, just from a new part of the Nevernever" cause that seems like I'd be taking the core concept of the character and pulling the rug from underneath him.
I'd say yes the space aliens are real.

I also like the idea of the Nevernever not yet being formed on locations yet to be inhabited. Or, at least the "human" version of the Nevernever we are familiar with. it could be that there's an Alien NN on the alien's home planet, completely separate from what we have here.

[devonapple]

It wasn't until this discussion that I realized a) how spiritually geocentrist the Dresdenverse seems to be, and b) how negatively I respond to any ideas that might challenge that very geocentrism.

To be fair, the DV does acknowledge some alien presence: the Outsiders, inspired, of course, by Cthulhu and similar notions, which themselves have plenty of sci-fi potential. But these are locked out of the universe, not simply elsewhere in space. And an alien Nevernever? Should make sense, but it seems to come out of left field, more so than other plot twists.

Plus, despite the fact that technology is already present in the novels, adding in Aliens would decisively turn it into a Sci-fi/Fantasy game, which is a whole new flavor. And maybe one which you'll want to entertain.

[WilliamPall]

adding in Aliens would decisively turn it into a Sci-fi/Fantasy game, which is a whole new flavor

Exactly.

I think the intent of my original question was how make the flavor that I'm familiar with work with the flavor my player would want to introduce.

[devonapple]

Exactly.

I think the intent of my original question was how make the flavor that I'm familiar with work with the flavor my player would want to introduce.

Well, you've heard a lot of "no" - but if you want to go forward with it, here are some of the bases you have to cover.

1) Scope of the Universe:
One alien means other aliens. How are they going to figure into your expanded Dresdenverse? Do all those cave paintings, Nazca lines, etc. have extraterrestrial explanations after all? Are aliens simply humans who found a way to leave Earth a long time ago and evolved differently? Did they maybe evolve magically, allowing them to leave Earth?

2) Scope of Technology and/or Magic:
Okay, so we have aliens from another world. Is their technology really that advanced? Or can they be fit into the Dresdenverse as advanced magical techniques allowing them to cross space (and time?)? If tech, can it be hexed? Is it so advanced that it is even easier to hex than most anything else on the planet? Is that the real reason we have alien crash sites: the magical equivalent of solar flares bringing their ships down?

3) The Nevernever:
The strong implication is that the Nevernever and its supernatural population, as well as the Outsiders, have existed long before mortal faith/belief/etc. So the Nevernever must logically exist everywhere outside of our geocentric paradigm, including alien worlds. What is their relationship to it? Did they never dabble in magic, effectively limiting their own ability to explore the Nevernever? Or is there something special about OUR world that makes it a nexus of supernatural energies? Can you get to another planet on another galaxy through the Nevernever? Is the void of space, in fact, TEEMING with countless supernatural intelligences?

[bibliophile20]

and 4) on a more pragmatic, meta-game level, are your other players okay with this?  This could very, very easily turn into a bad case of Special Snowflake Syndrome if you are not superbly careful.  You'll want to make sure no one else in the group is going to strenuously object to the change to the Dresdenverse as a whole-- it's always messy when the paradigm shifts without a clutch --and that there aren't going to be any issues with a potential spotlight stealing character who brings all this baggage with him. 

[devonapple]

a bad case of Special Snowflake Syndrome

I get nerd points for already knowing what a Wakyambi was!

[bibliophile20]

LOL!  Okay, but do you know what a Menehune is?  Or a Nartaki?  Howabout a Xapiri Thëpë? Or a Koborokuru?  A Harumen?   

[devonapple]

LOL!  Okay, but do you know what a Menehune is?  Or a Nartaki?  Howabout a Xapiri Thëpë? Or a Koborokuru?  A Harumen?  

Very cross-cultural! Those all fell outside of my geek radar, I'm afraid.

But back to Aliens...

An additional implication by my first question (Scope of the Universe) is that, with one alien species comes other alien species as well. What's that power structure like? Are there intercultural disputes among these galactic denizens? Is Earth poised to become a Battlefield... Earth? And does Mab have her hand in their dealings as well? Does she have a separate filing cabinets of players for each planet, hoping that one day the Space Age will allow her to combine all of her supernatural flunkies into one RoloDex?

Or is this alien the ONLY other sentient species in the universe besides us? Why is that? Do we have some special but unexplored supernatural relationship after all? Are they maybe the Yin to our Yang, a cosmic balancing race with aptitudes in tech which we have neglected, and commensurate weakness in tech which we have mastered?

AAAAAAAND...

Are the other players comfortable with adding basically a whole new set of heavy hitters to the game table, with all of the alliances, inequities, betrayals and such that doing so opens up?

[Sanctaphrax]

@bibliophile: I'm pretty sure that those are Shadowrun metavariants. Do I get nerd points?

Anyway, aliens do not fit the Dresden Files books at all. But that's no reason to not have them in your game. I think that this thread has covered the issues involved pretty well.

So, what sort of society and powers would these aliens have?

[admiralducksauce]

Can you get to another planet on another galaxy through the Nevernever? Is the void of space, in fact, TEEMING with countless supernatural intelligences?

It's this thing you said here that made me able to reconcile aliens, magic, and an astronomical nevernever.  All I had to do was the following:

1.  Call the NeverNever "The Warp".
2.  Rename Fae to Eldar.
3 (optional, but awesome). Add boltguns. 

[bibliophile20]

@bibliophile: I'm pretty sure that those are Shadowrun metavariants. Do I get nerd points?

Nerd points for Sanctaprax!  They're metavariants from Shadowrun, but they're also other races from myth and literature of various cultures.