[UA] Cliomancer's power level

[Cassady Toles]

  Hey, here's a question:
  How dangerous do people think cliomancers are?  I know that I visualize
them 
  as the instigators and sources for a lot of the really nasty catfights in 
  the OU. This is because they fight over things which are renewable but
can't 
  be shared, and which can't be moved. This means a cliomantic site (unlike 
  say, a dipsomantic sig charge flask) just sits there, being big and 
  historical, daring some young turk to come take it from the decrepit (35 
  year old) cliomancer who has held it since the late eighties...
  Anyone?

Cliomancers are powerful but in a very subtle ways.  They can learn your
secrets theoretically as random magic, but it should be really expensive
(and their ability to bank charges is limited by their taboo.  And their
abilities are limited by where they've drawn their charges from.  i.e. a
charge from the Berkeley's clocktower may tell you about a student of cal,
but not just some guy on the street.

A cobweb farmer can also dump stories about you out into the ether, but
those stories become part of that white knowledge we discussed earlier, and
will quickly fade from interest among people who haven't heard of you.  For
example, if a cliomancer spreads that Alex Able smuggles drugs, the cops
won't immediately start an investigation, and any cop who hasn't heard of
him will likely forget within 24 house, but if you also have him stopped for
speeding that same day...  The more useful trick a cobweb farmer can use is
to follow you to your apartment (or hire a private dick to do it for him)
and find out where you live.  Then he can tell everyone where you live, and
all your enemies will know.  

The downside is that cliomancers are almost useless in a face to face
confrontation.  Enforcers the world over will tell you, if you deal with a
cliomancer, tell him very little, don't make an enemy of him, and if that
fails,  kill him there with a gun.

The sleepers tend to notice dead cliomancers killed with magic.  No one
knows why--;).

The idea that cliomancers can tell everyone all your secrets is frightening,
but that's major charge material, and there aren't that many of 'em out
there.  It's an urban legend of sorts in the Occult Underground.  But,
seeing as how it scares people who aren't cliomancers, I wonder who would
have started that particular story around...
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I am the messiah in the bottom of a bottle of Jack Daniel's.  Drink of me
and
no peace." -- Cobra Baghdad www.peoplehateme.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





_______________________________________________________
Say Bye to Slow Internet!
http://www.home.com/xinbox/signup.html


_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua