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Curiousity about vampires and werewolves


Badger

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Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

Even in my AnitaUniverse game, it's emphasised that humans have been hunting the supernatural about as much as the reverse. That's why dragons are extinct.

 

I pretty much ignore the vampires v. lycanthropes thing though. It's not White Wolf, the monsters don't have much to feel angsty about.:)

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Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

When the magicians – who I notice are often portrayed as amusingly ignorant of “muggles†– get all superior and snide, I want to walk into the book, and say

 

“Excuse me – you know this ‘unforgiveable curse’ watchamacallit, the most powerful spell there is, that strikes a person dead instantly?

 

ONE person?

 

Muggles have weapons capable of killing most of the people in a city. At one stroke. And the rest will probably wish they were dead. You haven’t SEEN ‘unforgiveable.’

 

Oh, and those broomsticks you think are so impressive? That carry one comfortably, maybe two? Muggles have devices that transport people through the air by hundreds.

 

No, this incredibly powerful cultural taboo you have to keep yourselves secret from muggles isn’t there to protect them from YOU. Your ancestors were wise enough to create and enforce and pass down this unbreakable taboo to protect you from THEM.

 

If this Voldemort fool ignores that taboo so blatantly he ends up sparking a muggle-wizard war, he’ll wish he’d done something safer, like sign on at Hogwarts to teach Defense against the Dark Arts.â€

I've read more than a couple of good fic takes on this subject. One, The Muggle Way, posits the idea that the barriers that prevent Muggles from finding the Wizarding World weren't even created by wizards, but by a blood contract with the British Crown. And when the Crown decides that the Wizarding World can't police itself ('pranks' are on the rise), they discuss both sides of the issue, and send in the SAS.

 

Avada Kedavra? I think you've nicknamed that AK? This is my AK, 47 to be precise, and it does what your stick does, only faster. Oh, and if you'll note that blossom of red on your mate's forehead, that's a L42A1, and you'll never find the man who fired it. Wanna surrender to the Muggles now? If not, we've got a lovely bunch of Demo boys who'd love to practise on your houses.

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Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

However, the non-mage reliance on devices is also a weakness. One of the mages could cause all explosives in the ammunition to discharge in a large area. Or teleport the nuclear bomb before it detonates.

 

It really depends on preparation and who suprises whom.

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Guest WhammeWhamme

Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

 

Reminds me of something I thought while reading the Harry Potter books, where the magical world has a Masquerade of its own.

 

When the magicians – who I notice are often portrayed as amusingly ignorant of “muggles†– get all superior and snide, I want to walk into the book, and say

 

“Excuse me – you know this ‘unforgiveable curse’ watchamacallit, the most powerful spell there is, that strikes a person dead instantly?

 

ONE person?

 

Muggles have weapons capable of killing most of the people in a city. At one stroke. And the rest will probably wish they were dead. You haven’t SEEN ‘unforgiveable.’

 

Oh, and those broomsticks you think are so impressive? That carry one comfortably, maybe two? Muggles have devices that transport people through the air by hundreds.

 

No, this incredibly powerful cultural taboo you have to keep yourselves secret from muggles isn’t there to protect them from YOU. Your ancestors were wise enough to create and enforce and pass down this unbreakable taboo to protect you from THEM.

 

If this Voldemort fool ignores that taboo so blatantly he ends up sparking a muggle-wizard war, he’ll wish he’d done something safer, like sign on at Hogwarts to teach Defense against the Dark Arts.â€

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary reminds me I’m due at work….oh fewmets….gotta run

 

Problem: It was established in book 4 that Muggle technology fails completely and utterly in the presence of sufficient magic (specifically, Hogwarts).

(The reason it fails was specified as the abundance of magic there)

 

Not so impressive when the bullet stays in the chamber, the explosive doesn't detonate, and the wizard kills you with some degree of annoyance.

 

Avada Kedavra is scary because it's unstoppable*, not because it kills. Heck... Pettigrew used an explosive spell that killed twelve people in one hit as a diversion when he escaped Sirius the first time (mentioned in book 3).

 

 

And the mystic transportation is impressive. Portkeys for one.

 

Broomsticks are personal jetpacks... that's impressive. They're _cars_, not planes.

 

 

*Unless you're Harry Potter, or Dumbledore, or Voldemort. Yeah...

 

 

I'm not saying I _like_ that viewpoint, but it's justified.

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Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

Problem: It was established in book 4 that Muggle technology fails completely and utterly in the presence of sufficient magic (specifically' date=' Hogwarts).[/quote']

 

So what counts as Muggle 'technology'? Assault rifles? Flintlock muskets? Compound bows? Telegraph? Signal lamps? Steam engines?

 

I also like the idea that you can effectively scram a nuclear reactor and prevent a meltdown just by shipping the reactor to Hogwarts. In fact, I think we just found the perfect nuclear waste disposal site.

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Guest WhammeWhamme

Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

So what counts as Muggle 'technology'? Assault rifles? Flintlock muskets? Compound bows? Telegraph? Signal lamps? Steam engines?

 

I also like the idea that you can effectively scram a nuclear reactor and prevent a meltdown just by shipping the reactor to Hogwarts. In fact, I think we just found the perfect nuclear waste disposal site.

 

i thought it was electronics' date=' not technology in general, that magic made "not work"[/quote']

 

IIRC, Hermione said that it was 'all those devices Muggles use as a substitute for magic' that shut down.

 

The book in question is currently on loan, so I can't double check.

 

It definately includes all electronics; the info came up in regards to the possibility of a walkie talky.

 

Given the possibility of using an Aqualung was seriously discussed and rejected for other reasons, electronics only might be somewhat closer to the mark... then again...

 

Still. Given how poorly defined the limits of magic are (I mean... even 'dead is dead' and 'there is no way to stop Abra Kedavra' have at least two exceptions)... I'm not backing technology.

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Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

One would assume that a bullet, being a lump of lead moving very fast, wouldn't suddenly stop working just because it crossed from a "low magic" area to a "high magic" one...

 

Either way, a Muggle/Wizard war would be very unpleasant, for all concerned.

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Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

I posit that not all technology stops working in the presence of magic...

 

Take the point of book 2... one of the students likes to use his camera. It's assumed to function correctly--and it ain't digital, people.

 

What that bespeaks?

 

Chemical/mechanical actions still work in a concentrated area of magic. That means, simply, a gun will still function as it's designed.

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Guest WhammeWhamme

Re: Curiousity about vampires and werewolves

 

I posit that not all technology stops working in the presence of magic...

 

Take the point of book 2... one of the students likes to use his camera. It's assumed to function correctly--and it ain't digital, people.

 

What that bespeaks?

 

Chemical/mechanical actions still work in a concentrated area of magic. That means, simply, a gun will still function as it's designed.

 

There is such thing as a Wizard Camera, with which they take Wzard Photographs (which are quite extensively documented in the series - Wizard Photos wave and move around; Dumbledore on the Chocolate Frog card, Lily and James Potter in Harry's photo album, etc.),

 

Colin, being a young wizard, probably had a Wizard Camera. IIRC, he was from a Wizarding Family? He definately had a Wizard brother, and I think he knew about Harry before coming to Hogwarts.

 

At no point I can think of has anything definately muggle-made has worked within Hogwarts grounds. Except the enchanted car, of course. (But given the car _was enchanted_, grew a personality and drove off of it's own accord, that doesn't exactly speak well of the chances of Muggle technology working there).

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