Thus Spake Zaranephilpal/HauntingInflectionTrick
Nephilpal - 01/24/2004 22:15:31
Shataina,
I strongly recommend you not stab yourself with a pencil. It' fairly painful. And I'm sorry you don't like the Charm. Keep in mind that I very rarely write flavor text that isn't immediately appropriate to the mechanics. More often, I try to use the mechanics to make the descriptor possible using the rules. You are absolutely reading the Charm correctly the way you've outlined, and you've also nailed the theme of Abyssal socializing. Keep this simple rule in mind: If they aren't trying to ... you, they're certainly trying to ... with you. And chances are even better they're trying to eat you. They don't play nice and they don't play fair. They're sexier and prettier than you and they'll make you ache for them so bad you'll linger as a ghost just to pine after them. They're so scary they'll make you have a stroke just for considering attacking them, and they reign as dark gods from black thrones in the night over nations of broken souls. Lust and passion and fear are their playgrounds, but they have no power over love and respect. Pity them that and fear them for the rest. Haunting Inflection Trick is very much a part of their thematic repertoire.
When you use Haunting Inflection Trick, it becomes horribly and blatantly obvious to everyone that you are doing something *wrong* as you speak. Victims are often totally helpless before your unnatural Voice (think Dune, if you've read the marvellous book or seen a screen adaptation), but these same victims can certainly remember and will certainly resent the violation you've inflicted upon them. HIT is a form of social violence, plain and simple. It's blatant and cruel, a way to invoke Wormtongue's honey or Sauron's rasping thunder. Can it be used outside of intimidation? Absolutely. Can you be so sexy it hurts, practically purring with your velvet succubus whisper? Yes! Can you give an oration to shame Saruman before the assembled host of the Uruk-Hai? Hell yeah! Can you sing an operatic aria to break hearts like glass? Rock on! But... can you hide what you are doing or disguise the fact that you are a VERY BAD THING doing something VERY, VERY BAD? I'm afraid not. So ultimately, any mote discount is offset by the fact that you can't disguise this power in normal conversation with Personal Essence and you certainly can't disguise your intent. People feel used and manipulated and afraid, even if you aren't actually intimidating them. There isn't a system to govern that reaction, because it's too complicated and varied for a universal system.
So... well called, and I hope you like the Charm more in light of that explanation.
If you have problems or questions about other Abyssal Charms, post an AIM screenname (if you have one) and I'll be happy to contact you directly.
--Neph
Nephilpal - 01/25/2004 02:20:26
The fact that it is obvious pays for the cheaper Essence. You can't call on that while you're trying to be subtle, and if you aren't trying to be subtle, you probably already control the situation... so what's the problem?
I mean, people KNEW Wormtongue was up to no good. Sure, he got away with it for a while... but in the end, if you're playing that way, you WILL attract a happy shiny Gandalf who has moral objections to your continued existence. Or you'll continue to rule from your shadowland, the unchallenged tyrant of your domain. Either way, it's in genre. You don't pay the full price in motes, but in consequences. There are consequences for social violence.
--Neph
