Author Topic: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2  (Read 99011 times)

Offline Quantus

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #285 on: October 11, 2012, 02:01:13 PM »
He at least has access to the known universe and was probably around to watch the language develop (also, glasses are probably ectoplasm constructs to humanise him in the eyes of those who make deals with him), HWWB was trapped outside the the universe in Outside, he would have had precisely zilch chance to learn English (which is a bitch to get right even when you're raised with it).
I see two three four possibilities: a)the outsiders are having a lot more contact with schmucks like Justin and Papa Wraith than the WC want to admit to itself, b)they can pull it right from a persons mind c)they can just Know it, same as how Toot knows russian, or d)They are getting it relayed to them from their secret sleeper agent The Archive.
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I'm asking because it's one of the mechanics questions that occasionally bugs me (the other being why things instantly age to death when something stopping their aging is removed, shouldn't they just go back to aging as normal?).
Well, several people, including Mab have referred to Time as a "he" so maybe harry was right and the old man with the hourglass was "was collecting his due"  Maybe we'll meet him someday

Quintus Cassius was more than old enough to have been instantly aged to death, but instead he merely started aging at an extremely accelerated rate. He described it as a balancing effect, the aging process making up for lost time, etc.

I tend to like the explanation that it was all of the entropy that was being held off hitting them all at once, though obviously that argument fails when brand-new immortals react the same way as the ancient ones.
The best I can come up with is that he was supplementing the lost coin with his own magic, some sort of Necrmancy most likely.   He was aging unnaturally, but not decomposing in seconds that we saw with the other denarians in SmF or with the half-reds in Changes
« Last Edit: October 12, 2012, 11:54:49 AM by Quantus »
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Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #286 on: October 11, 2012, 02:08:14 PM »
Quintus Cassius was more than old enough to have been instantly aged to death, but instead he merely started aging at an extremely accelerated rate. He described it as a balancing effect, the aging process making up for lost time, etc.

I tend to like the explanation that it was all of the entropy that was being held off hitting them all at once, though obviously that argument fails when brand-new immortals react the same way as the ancient ones.

That idea doesn't really work for me, let's see if I can explain why...

To use a movie example, let's say you're watching a two hour movie, you watch half an hour of it, then hit pause and go off and do other things for an hour or so, then come back and hit play again. Normally one would expect the movie to then continue as if never paused (going back to aging normally) rather than going into unavoidable fast forward to the hour and a half point unless you hit pause again (hyper sped aging to where you would be if you never stopped aging unless you find something else to stop the clock in time).

Did that get my problem with the rapid aging across clearly?
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Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #287 on: October 11, 2012, 02:29:24 PM »
To use a movie example, let's say you're watching a two hour movie, you watch half an hour of it, then hit pause and go off and do other things for an hour or so, then come back and hit play again. Normally one would expect the movie to then continue as if never paused (going back to aging normally) rather than going into unavoidable fast forward to the hour and a half point unless you hit pause again (hyper sped aging to where you would be if you never stopped aging unless you find something else to stop the clock in time).

Normally one would, but sfaict from the text, the way this actually works in the Dresdenverse follows the "unavoidable fast forward" model.
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Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #288 on: October 11, 2012, 02:39:15 PM »
Normally one would, but sfaict from the text, the way this actually works in the Dresdenverse follows the "unavoidable fast forward" model.

Yes, and I'm wondering why it does so.
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Offline Sheaman3773

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #289 on: October 12, 2012, 02:52:18 AM »
I understand what you are seeing, but perhaps I can give you some figurative language that might help.

Think of aging as your body's response to the increasingly heavy weight of time weighing on your body. When you get something that freezes you in time--a Denarian coin, becoming a Rampire--then all of the additional weight keeps piling up, but it's prevented from actually affecting the body by this power. When the power is gone, all of that weight falls on them, instantly aging them as much as if they had not had the power. Or, if you assume accelerated aging like in the DV rather than instant, what was keeping the weight off is no longer supported, so the weight starts falling through, more and more of it piling on the person, until they die.

Now, that's obviously not a comprehensive theory, given that organisms grow into their prime before they begin weakening, but it might be illustrative to think of it in that manner.
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Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #290 on: October 12, 2012, 03:22:37 AM »
No, I think I'll just stick with asking for an answer.
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Offline Sheaman3773

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #291 on: October 12, 2012, 03:48:36 AM »
Does that mean that you don't find it helpful, or that you would prefer official confirmation?
And when Mab thinks your evil plotting has gone too far.  You know you're way way over the line.

Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #292 on: October 12, 2012, 03:51:44 AM »
Does that mean that you don't find it helpful, or that you would prefer official confirmation?

Official confirmation.
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Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #293 on: October 18, 2012, 12:11:48 AM »
In Changes, Odin talked about the power of the Lords of the Outer Night's blood being spread among thousands of offspring, what did he mean by this? How does having offspring weaken the LooNs?
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Offline Kathryn Rose

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #294 on: October 18, 2012, 12:49:45 AM »
Thomas has a pentacle just like Harry's.  They got theirs from their mom. 

Harry has mentioned a few times that Elaine has  a pentacle like his.  Where did hers come from?  Did she get it to match his, or is there a hint in there?  Or is it just "like his" in that it is a silver pentacle on a necklace?

Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #295 on: October 18, 2012, 12:56:11 AM »
Thomas has a pentacle just like Harry's.  They got theirs from their mom. 

Harry has mentioned a few times that Elaine has  a pentacle like his.  Where did hers come from?  Did she get it to match his, or is there a hint in there?  Or is it just "like his" in that it is a silver pentacle on a necklace?

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In the early books you mention that Elaine has the same pentacle as Harry.  Is that significant or have you changed your mind on?
No it's significant.  There is a reason for that.  Harry and Elaine come from the same philosophical background as far as magic is concerned... Or at least so he believes in any case.  I guess we will have to see if Elaine thinks the same way.  Who here has read White Knight so far?  Yah, Elaine doesn't think exactly the same way as Harry when it comes to the use of magic, but at the same time though they are not exactly on a totally different page either.  It's significant that they both have the same symbol.  It says something about what they think and what they believe. 
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Offline Kathryn Rose

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #296 on: October 18, 2012, 12:59:40 AM »
Thanks.

Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #297 on: October 18, 2012, 01:04:07 AM »
Thanks.

No problem, it was easy enough to find.
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Offline TheCuriousFan

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #298 on: October 18, 2012, 02:36:12 AM »
Why did Milwaukee, Wisconsin vanish from the face of the Earth for two hours in the Unseelie incursion of 1994?

Also, this is my 5000'th post. :)
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Offline dpara

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Re: Questions for Jim 2012 style 2
« Reply #299 on: October 18, 2012, 08:20:45 AM »
That idea doesn't really work for me, let's see if I can explain why...

To use a movie example, let's say you're watching a two hour movie, you watch half an hour of it, then hit pause and go off and do other things for an hour or so, then come back and hit play again. Normally one would expect the movie to then continue as if never paused (going back to aging normally) rather than going into unavoidable fast forward to the hour and a half point unless you hit pause again (hyper sped aging to where you would be if you never stopped aging unless you find something else to stop the clock in time).

Did that get my problem with the rapid aging across clearly?

My explanation for Cassius fast aging is, Cassius is wrong/lying not because of "father time's due" but because the Fallen are jerks. If I were them I would give the eternal youth package, but just in case they get separated let's also add 100 year old internal organs.
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