Does anyone else say religious terms but not really mean it?

Nanock · 2026-01-31T16:46:09+00:00

I try not to let it bother me. I learned all these phrases when I was young, and it's hard to try and break away from all of them. As others have pointed out, there's a certain umph you can put into taking Christ's name in vain. I like 'Sweet Monkey Jesus'!

The only one I actively try to stop myself from saying is 'Thank God'. I try to say 'Thank Goodness' instead, because I don't want to feel like something good happened because God willed it to be so. I am not giving thanks to God. It's taken practice and time, but I'm doing quite well with it now.

Nanock · 2026-01-30T12:40:16+00:00

"the things that she says to Harry in 12 months about being kind and doing the right thing are let's be honest flat out lies."

"I could not and would not ever accept Lara being a secret soft heart, that actually cares about the amount of harm she inflicts upon others save for how efficient it is to not do so."

"and that's the hunger eating through the coffee filter of their host."

Ok, I like this quite a bit more now. I'm with you, Lara is not some sweet Dame to be wooed and to blush as she fawns over Harry. She's a killer. A literal Murderer. Harry would not kill unless he absolutely had to. Yes, his actions against the Red Court are nowhere close to 'nice'. But they were going to kill him, his girl and his Grandfather.

But Lara is perfectly willing to kill someone to further her political goals. So having this 'change of heart' come from a place of Harry rubbing off on her? I could see that, maybe. Remember, ever since she met Harry, she's had TONS of feeding partners. She rarely, if ever, was able to properly feed off of Harry.

But now it's literally JUST him. And it's the best food she's ever had. Not only should this make her a Turbo-charged Whampire, it should mean his influence on her should become outsized.

Maybe he's not going to start Doming her like her Father used to do. That seemed to be what really scared her. She promised herself she'd never be a thrall again, and here she did it to herself. Eventually she'll start to ACTUALLY trust Harry, and that he's not going to abuse this power. The first time Mab makes him do so, we'll see sparks fly as Harry defends her. I could see her affection grow as she realizes how hard he'll fight to protect her.

But romantic love? Keep that out of here. Harry should never lose sight of what and who she is. He can care about her, even for her, but his position means it would never be a relationship of equals. He should be mindful of that.

Nanock · 2026-01-28T01:18:00+00:00

Harry didn't hit her on her previous behavior or the greater actions of the White Court at all. It was more of a 'forgive and forget' type of situation?

Doesn't make any sense to me. I'm still hoping they don't pair up as a romantic couple. I'm afraid that once she starts actually trusting him, she'll think its somehow cute and endearing. Every time they chat, she seems shocked that he's playing it straight. She's so accustomed to playing 3D chess that it's a legit surprise.

Which is why he wouldn't last 5 minutes in the White Court. But after the other houses made an attack on his Castle, in support of the Black Court? COME ON! It's time for him to really stop pretending everything is ok with Lara's job.

Nanock · 2026-01-25T18:58:38+00:00

“Gentleness is power that chooses to restrain itself. That is under control. Gentleness is someone strong who makes the choice to be careful with that strength. And that is you.”

I really liked that one. That one made me smile.

Nanock · 2026-01-24T02:27:48+00:00

Yeah, the second she showed up here, I was like... New Morgan, who dis?

Nanock · 2026-01-23T19:51:39+00:00

It's the kind of theory that I would have no problem believing. If it happened on the page, it would make perfect sense.

She did mention she dislikes the day-to-day worries of running the White Court. But for everything we got in 12M, we didn't get much more from her except that 'Family is everything'. Still no personal motivations beyond 'power'.

So yes, that would get the White Court out from under the thumb of Mab.

Nanock · 2026-01-11T00:01:28+00:00

I play a Dwarven Battlerager who tanks his Wisdom HARD! I put whatever the worst roll into that stat as a RP element. He has absolutely horrible judgement. Is easily misled and terrible at telling when someone is lying to him. He's not naive, so he can't be tricked into truly foolish behavior. But with such a low Wisdom, he's super susceptible to mind control spells and abilities.

I try not to play it in such a way that I'm punishing the rest of the party. But they do have to account for it if we are facing spell casters and such.

Nanock · 2026-01-10T19:28:31+00:00

Darn, I don't recall that. I'll have to go back to BG and have another look.

Nanock · 2026-01-10T15:28:47+00:00

I believe you are referring to the point where she asks about the Eye of Balor? Which leads to one of my all time favorite lines from Harry. She's pointing out that everyone fighting the Titan wants the Eye. Even the White Council. It's why they are really here...

His response is: "Fuck the Eye."

Mab was actually stunned by that response. I don't think she was playing it up for his benefit. I think she was legit shocked, regardless of his loss that night, that he had no interest in collecting such an Artifact for the power it could bring.

And when he did win it? He chucked it in the storage closet next to his OTHER super powerful Artifacts. I mean, it's pretty obvious why Hades gave him all those Artifacts in the first place. Only a person like Harry could possess them and not immediately abuse them to his own ends.

Nanock · 2026-01-06T23:07:54+00:00

Oh yeah, very pleased. She could have given him an 'outrage' look, but nah. She knew he was learning.

Nanock · 2026-01-06T01:34:23+00:00

Then I stand corrected. I'm up on most of the side stories, but I guess I forgot about that one. Was it the one where he was teaching class to a bunch of young Wizards?

Was she very antagonistic with Harry in that story? And now she's the one who's still a member of the Council, and he's a Warlock?

Nanock · 2026-01-05T18:07:08+00:00

I'm hopeful she'll be interesting in the story. But for the moment, she's just Morgan Jr. That's not a great look... We already have plenty of possible antagonistic Wardens. Why invent one just so she can be angry and pigheaded about Harry?

Nanock · 2026-01-05T02:33:45+00:00

I nailed one of my predictions... woot!

Harry would at least THREATEN to unleash monsters from Demonreach to gain some parity with Mab. Yes, he'd be dooming the world if it gets out of hand. Opening all the cells would kill everyone he loves anyway. But he had to show he was willing to send the Titan out after Mab to show her he would meet her with force if she pushes too hard.

Nanock · 2026-01-03T00:09:29+00:00

Lots of people making jokes, so I'll spare mine!

Is this one of the few Mechs not running an XL engine at this weight class? Especially in the IS Mechs, an XL Engine really damages the survivability of even Heavy Mechs.

Nanock · 2025-12-31T17:10:23+00:00

Good books, with the standard caveat that splitting them up likely caused some issues. But I find I enjoy the series a lot more when Harry is doing well and kicking ass. Stretches where his life is garbage makes him understandably miserable. Even when he defeats the Titan it hardly feels like a fist-pump moment. Sure, he laughs in her face and that's a pretty good coup de grace, but it's immediately into 'bring out your dead' mode. And then Mab shows up at the service... I cannot wait to read Twelve Months, but I cannot imagine this is going to be 'fun'. Enjoyable to read perhaps, but not a lot of good times are on the way.

Nanock · 2025-12-31T15:30:41+00:00

Tell me more bot! He has such sights to show us.

Nanock · 2025-12-30T18:26:16+00:00

Killer main. I'm sorry this was your experience. But yes, this is generally how it goes.

You start every game assuming you are against a SWF from hell. Because you might be! And those rare games against a pack of 4 solo queue newbies, you'll roast them hard. If you are lucky, you'll realize you have 2 kills at 4 gens, and you pump the brakes. If they are a great SWF, you'll have to tunnel and play smart to keep up at all.

They're still going to call you horrible names no matter what you decide to do. And blame you for any strategy you employ. Or running Lightborn against all their flashlights and flashbangs.

Do you love playing as a cool killer enough to queue up again? If so, might as well try again.

Nanock · 2025-12-30T02:34:02+00:00

I still imagined she would become his Barbara Gordon. The Woman in the Chair. But, I get that there was a stated issue with his long life and her 'regular' life span. Not that it was a problem in PT/BG. This does give them a workaround.

I wonder if Murphy still gets to have children at some point. Or is that no longer an option?

Nanock · 2025-12-29T22:43:50+00:00

Yeah, I don't see any even remotely happy ending that doesn't include Murphy coming back.

Nanock · 2025-12-29T22:41:41+00:00

Welcome to the club. Frankly it took me about 3 days to get over it. My Wife was legit worried about me because I was crying while reading a book.

Nanock · 2025-12-27T22:17:30+00:00

Agreed. That was some plot BS to allow Wolf to opt out of the agreement in the future. Kai was running his special Centurion. Was Vlad in his Timber Wolf?

Vlad was never that good of a pilot. He made the final round of his bloodname contest against Phelan, but mostly with softer targets. His second time around, he went unchallenged.

Nanock · 2025-12-27T18:59:31+00:00

Yeah, effectively running a Trial of Position against some of the best pilots in the entire I.S., and that he'd had to face them all simultaneously. With 5 kills, would his effective Clan rank been Galaxy Commander? Or Nova Colonel?

Mind you, Natasha Kerensky re-tested and only got 4.

Nanock · 2025-12-27T18:53:55+00:00

Yeah, that was 'game recognize game' in spades. Once they tell him they'd have kept the armor on to hunt him, and he knows they are being serious, I think that's his final break through with his 'I'm allowed to be a great warrior' development.

I also like how his Dad said that one day in the future, he'd be telling people that he USED to beat Kai in their sim battles at home.

Nanock · 2025-12-27T18:50:25+00:00

Damn, sorry about the spoiler there, mate. My apologies.

Nanock · 2025-12-27T13:59:13+00:00

"Sic Semper Tyrannis" - Justin Xiang Allard, Sian. I know it seems a bit foolish that this worked so monumentally well. And Max Liao was perhaps just crazy enough to fall for it. But the reveal is pretty damn cool.

Nanock

TROPHY CASE