BLACK

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

Interesting update from Lucius!

I remain interested in whether the Order Only spell is working, and on its face, this post would seem (by its account of a Ministry crisis at dark-thirty o'clock; by Lucius' apparent outrage; by its assertion that the Protector's circle has been monitoring Sirius Black's posts, but that they've until now found them benign and judged them likely to alienate rather than draw readers) to indicate that Lucius and Voldemort are wholly unaware of Sirius' Order Only posts.

However.

Might alt_lucius not post exactly this if he and Voldemort have been reading ALL the posts all along? Obviously, Sirius expects to get some reaction: this gives him a predictable and satisfying reaction. Obviously, Voldemort and Lucius have a vested interest in bringing Sirius to ground, in bringing his threat to a quick head that will enable them to crush it once and for all: so it would do no good to tip that they are reading his secret posts, and this response robustly suggests they have not.


I'm not really suggesting that I think the Order Only spell doesn't work. I think it's most likely that it works just as billed. And I suspect that we can take Lucius at his word when he writes, "Meanwhile, this alerts the Ministry to a drawback to the journals, namely their ability to spread rumour, lie, and blatant treason if anyone is so foolish as young Black."


But.

I want to keep myself mindful that there IS another possibility. A possibility that would be fully consistent with Slytherin-style, Death Eater-ish, Dark Lordly behaviour.

Comments

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

So is Umbridge the MoM? Is that why Lucius saw her in curlers?

Interesting test of your theory in Sirius' latest post -- will they look for him "on the [South] coast" or try to intercept him in Calais?

[zorb]

Do we have a MoM in this universe? Honest question: I can't recall if one has been mentioned, but it would seem that it wouldn't be a position any longer with magic out in the open and dominant. Is Voldemort the head of government or outside the structure?

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

We know from Lucius that there is a Minister and that she is female (http://alt-lucius.livejournal.com/1558.html).

I've assumed that Scrimgeour is head of Magical Law Enforcement: does that seem right to you folks? (Lucius pressures him to reassign the Gringotts investigation from Dawlish to Bellatrix (http://alt-lucius.livejournal.com/2375.html), and remarks to Bella that Scrimgeour is sure to resist the use of forced confessions for those interrogations (http://alt-lucius.livejournal.com/2375.html?thread=7239#t7239).)

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought, too, for the same reasons. S is head of MLE in canon, isn't he, before becoming MOM.

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

What she said! There's good Totalitarian precedent here, isn't there, for a parallel political structure of Commissars and Gauleiters parallelling the official structure. Sort of like the fact that McG is Headmaster but has to watch her step around Carrow.

[angstalaska.livejournal.com]

I doubt they are on to the 'order only' posts. sirius (true to form) has just been more than a little cavalier about laying low, and luci just wants to spin this so that it looks like the current regime has this whole situation under control.

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

It's fun to watch Lucius frantically covering all his bases in that post. And a nice touch of Bush the Elder. Sirius must be feeling pretty content.

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

More thoughts: does Lucius' "Addendum" at the bottom of his post mean he's noticed Sirius' comment in Hermione's journal? And if so, does this count as the "distraction" Sirius was proposing, to divert attention from the smuggling of wands through the Chunnel? So that security focuses for the moment on counter-propaganda rather than counter-infiltration?

If that's what's happening, is it a cynical thing for Sirius to do to Hermione? And is it wise, considering that Dumbledore seems to plan on using Hermione to help distribute the wands? Does Sirius know what he's doing?

Also, I'm thinking the question of the security of "Order Only" posts could cut both ways. Could the Order be checking for infiltrators by creating a red herring about Calais and the Chunnel?

It will be fun trying to calibrate the appropriate level of paranoia to bring to reading all this! :)

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

Yes! I've been contemplating Lucius' addendum. (And also how to take Sirius' message to Hermione, which makes his provocateur's invasion of everyone's journals his birthday present to her. (More properly, I suppose, it is his manifesto on the humanity of Mudbloods that is his gift, but could he put her in any more peril? Especially in a climate where the standard technique of oppression is to punish the vulnerable in place of the guilty -- most recent example is Bella's comment that Lucius applauds in which she threatens harm to Sirius' English relations and friends.)

I certainly take Sirius' point that submitting to the tyrants only encourages them, but he's not the one who will suffer first here. (Assuming that he evades the net.) He doesn't Order-lock that birthday greeting to Hermione, though he does lock his reply to her "What should I say?" Indeed, what should she say? What are they doing, putting her at risk by making her an Order member and encouraging her to feel a part of their circle -- and making her complicit in their conspiracies?

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

I love Sirius' comment on Bella's threat -- "just who does she imagine my relatives are?"

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure he should be so dismissive. She clearly has *somebody* in mind, and no matter who it is, the thought of seeing someone else harmed on his behalf should be a frightening one. I guess he sort of has to laugh it off, though, or else he'd be immobilized out of fear, and that wouldn't do anybody good.

I hope he is able to continue his "Grim Truth" posts, though, and that at least one non-Gryffindor student starts to hear a little sense in what he's saying and has their world shaken by it.

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

This makes me wonder -- who is Sirius close to? It might be that a motive for bringing Regulus back to England is to have some leverage for Sirius' good behavior -- do you suppose, in this world, that Sirius is an important enough dissident for that to be part of the Lord Protector's plans?

Also, I'm pleasantly mystified by wondering what's up between Sirius and Remus. Remus spent a lot of time abroad (http://alt-lupin.livejournal.com/951.html?style=mine) before coming home -- reportedly with Greyback, at least for a while. But there's some tension between S and R that reads like history and hard personal feelings, if I'm not getting too fandomy there. I keep going back and forth on whether I can fit the Remus peg into the villain hole or the hero/spy hole. If Sirius and Remus are allies and friends, then maybe the tension in their conversations is meant to hide that fact from people who may be looking for a lever against Sirius. Though I may be over-thinking all this -- it's just an area where I keep nosing around for more evidence.

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

Er... that was player error. I meant to make it Order Only and didn't realise until next morning that it wasn't.

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

Thank you for clarifying that!

That makes me feel better about Sirius (though, frankly, I'd believe that Rowling's Sirius might make that sort of brashly thoughtless slip). I'm still feeling out how this Sirius is different from Rowling's. I know *why* he's different (he didn't spend a bunch of years in Azkaban going nuts and missing out on normal lessons in how to transition from teenager to adult), but I'm not sure how much difference this difference makes. I'm watching your character with great interest, in other words. (You are doing a great job, btw.)

I am especially looking forward to future issues of The Grim Truth!

*applauds*

Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

I didn't want to start a new post, since I think the fan community is having about as many posts lately as the actual game, and perhaps we should worry about that :)

But here is what I have noticed for the day. The connection between Ron and Ginny is so strong it carries across universes. Exhibit A:
Ginny icon from TIN:
Ron icon from Alternity:

Speaking of which, I can't wait to see Ginny and Luna in this game. I see that they have journals, and I know casting is closed, so I suppose they are just waiting for the right moment to post.

And finally, I have been very intrigued today with the idea of Bellatrix in this universe. In canon, she slowly went crazy in prison for 12 or more years. In this universe, she has probably barely been near a dementor, and she is a mother. She clearly is still fairly bloodthirsty and a fervent supporter of Voldemort, but is there a more sympathetic side to her in this universe, that we will begin to see? I also can't wait to see what Hydra's personality is like, and how the friendships and ideas that Hydra eventually forms at school will impact her mother.

Re: Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

Bella's great, isn't she? I love the sort of Martian way she uses the phrase "small one" when she talks to children. I can't quite place what other character, in a book somewhere, uses that same term that way -- some sort of science fiction alien, though, I think, which is a wonderful touch. Her interactions with Theodore, that sociopath-in-training, are marvelously creepy. But I absolutely love the way Ron just takes her down in the Sirius thread. :)

I didn't realize Hydra was Bella's daughter -- I had wondered if she were a younger Malfoy, even. They all sort of live together, don't they? The Voldemorts at Home!

I don't know what the sense of the community is, but I can think of some precedents for watcher communities that are nearly post-for-post with the underlying game. :) What do you think? I'd vote for top-level community posts on each significant thread. The advantage is in keeping multiple conversations straight and making it easy to see what threads have already been started, and if some of them don't take off, so be it. What we really need are more watchers, though. Time to evangelize!

Re: Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

"Time to evangelize!"

I *would* like more people to discuss with... but I can't figure out who to tell about it, or how to explain it to people who don't already know about this sort of thing. I've been toying with the idea of mentioning it in my facebook status, but I can't figure out the best words to use.

I found out about it through a post on tin_hats. Maybe someone should post about it on nraged?

Re: Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about nraged, too -- there'd be a nostalgic appeal, and certainly no need to describe the concept! I've also told Sister Magpie and one or two other people, and we'll see if they come opver and take a look.

For posting elsewhere, it's kind of interesting to imagine how to describe the concept to an absolute newcomer. :) I once found quite a good online article about nraged, at:

http://www.gameology.org/alien_other/n_a_and_nraged

The language is maybe a bit too academic and theory-oriented for a general reader, and sometimes wanders into woolier terrain. But it really nails how the game-watcher interaction worked. I am of two minds about whether it might be effective as an introductory sort of link for people who aren't familiar with the concept.

But on nraged itself . . . I might post there myself in a day or two, if you or someone else doesn't post ahead of me. See what happens, anyway.

Re: Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

That was me who posted to tin_hats, and since I was (one-half) the mod of TIN I felt comfortable pimping hpalternity out to the old TIN readers because even if the games aren't really connected, alternity it is the same "style" of RPG as as NA and TIN--the journaling style, which is kind of getting harder to find these days, I've noticed. Some of the old TIN players are also now at alternity, as are some of the old NA players, me included. I was never involved in the modding of NA, though, so I didn't feel it was my place to make a pimping-style post to nraged. If someone knows the NA fen well wants to post about it to nraged, then by all means, do as you like! I know that we'd love to have more readers, though we're already very glad that you guys are here. :)

But really, this post isn't to either encourage or discourage a pimping post to nraged, but merely an explanation as to why I posted about alternity to one fan community and not the other. :)

Re: Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

I seem to have forgotten that I play in hpalternity, not alternity. *headdesk*

Re: Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was shy about putting myself forward to plug this on nraged because really who am I to do it? But after all it was a community of people who enjoyed doing this sort of thing, so it might be a good network to reach out to. I'm personally inclined to wait and see if someone who is an actual representative of either game decides to post there; but in a pinch, I may remind myself that shyness doesn't get anything done. :)

Re: Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

Okay, I took the bull by the horns and posted something over there at nraged, on the basis of being a former NA-player. Hopefully, that will get us more readers.

Re: Unrelated: Thoughts for the day

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

Yay!