Maxims of the Dresdenverse (Part 1)
Maxims of the Dresdenverse
There are certain themes that hold true in this world which are noticeable enough that you should take them under consideration. They can be roughly summarized as follows.
Monsters have Nature, Mortals have Choice
Almost all beings that could be considered “monsters” are, one on one, far more powerful than the average mortal. They have great strength, implausible toughness, blinding speed, and unnatural powers. What they don’t have is choice.
A monster’s nature is oriented towards fulfilling its hungers. Vampires need emotion or blood or death, loup-garoux need the hunt and the kill, fae literally cannot step outside their natures or break oaths…These entities have power, but they don’t have the option of saying no. They are what they’re made to be—and some things are simply made cruel, or bloodthirsty, or just plain evil.
On the other hand, mortals have options: choice. That’s their great strength and their great responsibility. Only animals and monsters can truthfully say that they can’t do anything else, or that they can’t be other than what they are. Every human being can make a decision about what to do or not do, what to accept and what to refuse, whether to kill or not kill.
HARRY: Mortals—humans—also have the advantage of numbers. Up until very recently, calling mortal authorities into a supernatural situation was like radioing in an airstrike.
Unfortunately, in the course of the Vampire War, some of the supernatural “nations” seem to have gotten hold of the mystical equivalents of nukes.
That said, the situation is often grey and not clear-cut. There are those few who are part mortal and part monster: vampires who struggle to fight their hungers and do the right thing; werewolves who chose lycanthropy to get the strength to defend their community;
BILLY: Alphas, represent!
wizards who accept help from dark sources, but hope to restrain the urges that threaten to overwhelm them. Choice is the overwhelming theme of these individuals’ lives. Will they retain their humanity or will they become monsters? And is there any way that those who are now monsters can perhaps regain some degree of humanity, some capacity for choice?
HARRY: For Thomas’ sake, I hope so.
Things Fall Apart
The world is growing darker. Humans are choosing the worse over the better, and the monsters are cheering them on. There are trolls under the bridges, unseelie fae stealing the children, vampires running businesses behind the velvet curtains, and ghosts sucking the life from babies in maternity wards. Organized crime is strong and getting stronger, gunshots echo in the night, and policemen take payoffs. Drug use is spreading, alcohol is an answer rather than a stopgap, and people lose themselves in their searches for pleasure, power, or escape.
But there are those who stand against the rising tide of shadow. Whether they are ordinary humans, secretive wizards, individuals chosen by supernatural powers, or people empowered by some other means, they will not let the darkness win. Perhaps all the more obvious against the shabby dirtiness of the world around them, perhaps stained or marked by their own errors and problems, they nevertheless hold their ground and work to protect, to support, to rebuild. They choose to use their power for others as well as for themselves. These people exist, and they haven’t given in yet.
HARRY: Billy, have I ever mentioned that sometimes you speak like a freaking superhero in a comic book?
That’s not an insult, but I’m not sure it’s a compliment.
Tune in in two weeks for part two of Maxims of the Dresdenverse
This is pure awesome. I was extremely excited, now I’m ….. what’s past extremely excited? It’s really hard to be counting the days without a release date. Hmmm…… Must ponder.
I have to second the last post. This game screams awesome, loudly and repeatedly. Great work so far everybody!!! I cannot wait!
Hell and Yes!
Who knew one could get a dresdengasm this far from April…
*brain exploded*
Though we’ve had hints of the first maxim, seeing it laid out makes it seem completely different… very nice!
I like the dichotomy of nature vs choice, especially as expressed as inherent power vs multiple options.
It begs the question that as Wizards age gaining more power, are their choices curtailed more, a trade off as they change their nature? Harry, for example seems far more able to play fast and loose, by the seat of his pants than the white council or even veteran Wardens.
@JohnS
Got it in one – the more power and responsibility a wizard gains, the less freedom of action he or she has. Despite – or, rather, [i]because of[/i] – his immense power, the Merlin certainly has less freedom of action than Harry has in a given situation.
SPOILERS.
“the more power and responsibility a wizard gains, the less freedom of action he or she has. Despite – or, rather, [i]because of[/i] – his immense power, the Merlin certainly has less freedom of action than Harry has in a given situation.”
Which seems to me to be a bit untrue — many of the wizards, at least, respect Harry because of the raw force he’s swinging around. So do most of the vamps, who presumably have less choice than he does, Marcone, etc.
Sure, he’s not the Merlin, but he’s pals with a Knight of the Cross, carries around a demon in his spare pocket change, is owed a favor by a certain divine spook, is one of the more potent wardens, bests a bunch of vampires in single and mass combat, bests a bunch of demons, various levels of fey, etc…
Sure, these books are his adventures, and Harry makes a big deal about how tough it is — and it is! — but in every book, Harry seems to get a leetle bit stronger, and those dribs and drabs add up. He keeps winning against beings who, by the simple formula of “power = 1/free_will” (or, as in fate, “free_will = 10 – power”
), should be kicking his ass.
But Harry’s just the odd man out; everyone else in the Dresdenverse _does_ seem to obey that dichotomy. I tend to find that forgivable in a main character, but it does mean that it’s hard to measure things in those terms against him.
@Andrew C, part of what you’re describing is people being afraid of Harry’s reputation and friends. While that fits a broader definition of “power”, that’s not necessarily what we’re talking about here.
Also, please note that this is from the primer, not from the “here, let us inform you of all the various shades of finesse in terms of how story and system interact to convey the particulars of the impact of power on a character”.
It’s a maxim: a basic principle. A black and white idea. And in the Dresdenverse, black and white always ends up grey when you look at it close.
Harry, in system terms, is a min-maxer focused on getting himself as much raw power output as he can manage. He’s also getting regular dollops of advancement, which is helping him forestall the eventual “a couple hundred years down the line, I’ll probably be pretty locked in like the Merlin, too” outcome.
@fred
Yup. Sorry for confusion: I was more chatting about how I view the story through the lens of (what I understand of) the game than I was discussing the snippet here presented.
But seriously. He is indeed a min-maxing cheater-head, and packs a positively unfair amount of potence into that duster. He fireballs the hell out of people, and that tends to make people give him a wide berth, later.
Well, I’m pumped for this game. Come on, soon! Please?
I have to agree with you there. . . Impatience rearing its Hunger filled soul. . . Is there such a thing as the Nerd Court? Those addicted to satisfying their inner hunger for RPG’s?
If there were such a thing, what would they eat? Knowledge? Memory? Something to explain our endless need to absorb the ever more minute details of every possible aspect of a fandom…
I need the series to come back on television. What were they thinking when they cancelled it. I first watched this show on Hulu.com and i was so excited to click on season two and it doesn’t exist! Is network televion crazy?!!!! That was one of the best quality scifi show I have ever seen. Please put the show back on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Morgan
Not book-Harry but a good TV-Harry … in my opinion at least. However, we’ll soon be able to create our own stories in the Dresdenverse.
In the words of Jim Butcher, “there’s no chance at all, whatsoever, that the Dresden Files is coming back to tv.”
I did like the TV series. The australian guy that played Harry was good, but having listened to the audiobooks, I would def. want James Marsters to play Dresden if they ever create a movie franchise or something. Too bad he’s just way to old for the part now. Such is life.
this thing is shapin up to somethin awesome man I can’t wait til it comes out lol
Something seems a bit off in the timeline with Harry’s notes here. The note about Thomas in this part of the preview implies it was written after the events of Turncoat, but the previous one about Billy and Kirby suggests a pre-Turncoat time frame.
Probably way too late to do anything about it now (I only found out about the RPG today!), but it is a little confusing as it stands.
@Nick, the note about Thomas in this section is said more in light of what Harry saw when he soulgazed Thomas in Blood Rites, when he got a firsthand opportunity to witness Thomas’ internal struggle with the demon that is the source of his power.
I did wonder if it might be something like that, but had forgotten about the soulgaze scene in particular. Thanks for the response
Looking forward to the game!