I just started Skin Game and I thought of a cool plot bunny from the first chapter. The british voice that calls out to Dresden is Voldemort. Voldemort who was defeated by Harry and was locked away in Deamonreach by some ritual. This Tom realizes all of his mistakes, because he has his full soul. He's seen what he did and is in deep remorse because he destroyed the country that he loved as he went further into his insanity. Dresden for some reason releases him and Tom becomes a fixture in the rest of the Dresden verse. I haven't gotten much further into the book, I was just struck by how cool it would be to have a Voldemort who is powerful and sane in the Dresden files.

 

Worm: Taylor triggered with Gray Boy's power in the locker.

But since that barely counts some bonuses:
1-Taylor triggers, but she doesn't figure out how to change positions when she rewinds immediately. She's stuck in a time loop and rewinds every time an insect or tampon touches her, making her dirty.

2-Taylor escapes but Gray Boy's shard rewinds back to the person's state when they triggered (it's said that he rewinds for stuff as small as his clothes getting dirty). Taylor is forever stuck with rotting tampon blood on her and perhaps, if I'm being really sadistic, an insect managed to embed itself in her skin and she feels it all the time because nothing can mess with the time loop. Chinese water torture except with insects.

Incredible power and potential for harm in the hands of a broken teenager. Sounds like Worm to me.

EDIT:Since I'm here and I'm horrible:
3-Taylor's offensive power goes haywire and she creates a bunch of time wells in front of the door of the locker so no one can pull her out when she goes catatonic.


There, a mix-and-match plot bunny.

 

I just had a thought for A Song of Ice and Fire AU that I thought would be pretty cool. Basically I was reading a comic called Royals: Masters of War and thought how cool that would be applied to ASoIF, but for magic. All of the Lords have the ability to perform magic. The purer their blood the stronger that their magic ends up being. This has allowed the houses the rule over the smallfolk even easier, but also turns wars into bloody affairs that can be far more costly. I was thinking a basic magic system that everyone with Lords Blood has access to, along with special abilities for the strongest houses. Each of the Great Houses has a unique ability that has set them apart from other Lords, and is what helped them to consolidate power. Essos obviously has their own magic and the Valyrians had a particularly strong version of it, likely what caused the Doom.


House Targaryen: Besides a strength in fire magic way above most, they could turn into a type of Dragon/Human hybrid. The Drakon, as they called it, made scales grow across their skin and gave them speed and agility on land equal to that of Dragons in the sky. This gave them a minor strength boost as well, though not as much as what could be accomplished with some magic. They also formed links with their dragons, allowing them to control them in the battle while operating in the field. Of course this ability was too tied into their Dragons because of Aegon the Conqueror's various rituals. By the time of Roberts Rebellion the Targaryen's Drakon form has weakened considerably, so much so that it's almost a detriment to use in battle.

House Baratheon: Naturally very strong at Earth Magic. Formed from the bastard brother of Aegon the Conqueror, Orys Baratheon, they are the youngest of the great houses and consequently they should be among the weakest. It's an oddity that now their magic is considered the strongest in Westeros. Years of intermarrying the Targaryens has produced their own form of the Drakon. They do not form the armored scales or gain the tremendous speed and agility of the Targaryen version, instead they gain in strength and size. Growing stronger and larger as they use more of their ability. Robert Baratheon was known for using this ability at all times, whether in combat or not, and there are several whores around Kings Landing who can tell you that everything gets bigger.

House Arryn: Naturally very strong in Wind magic. House Arryn's members all have the ability to change their bodies into an ethereal form that is composed of Wind. This form allows them to fly, and for most weapons to completely go through them, though they can't interact with the world as much while in this form. Strong users have been able to switch between the form in the blink of an eye, quickly avoiding blows while sill being able to attack.

House Stark: Naturally very strong in Water magic. House Stark has the ability to form Ice magic, something no other house has been able to replicate. This magic has been exclusive to the Starks for over 8000 years, and is one of the main reasons they have held the North uncontested for so long. This ability also allows them to ignore many effects of the cold, though they do get weaker the warmer it gets.

House Martell: Naturally very strong in Mind magic. House Martell has the ability to form illusions that are unparalleled in all the Seven Kingdoms. Martell illusions differ from regular illusions in that they are real, for as long as they are fed magic. This ability held off Aegon the Conqueror and his Dragons as they were led on a wild goose chase around Dorne. Famously Aegon circled the amassed Dornish army until he and his army were exhausted where they were then ambushed and pushed back across the mountains. The Dornish are also unique in that it is typically the female line that passes down the unique ability.

House Lannister: Naturally very strong in enchantments. House Lannister's ability is called the mirror. Hated around Westeros, this ability allows Lannisters to copy almost any spell upon sight. Though they must constantly be around the person they are copying to use the magic. Only the strongest Lannisters have been able to remember Spells after their opponent has left their field. Tywin is the latest example of this power, being able to cast almost any spell that he has seen. Tyrion has another form of this ability, as he can copy enchantments laid upon items after a brief examination.

House Tyrell: Naturally strong in Earth magic. House Tyrell has the ability to control plants, something that has given them large harvests year after year. Even throughout the winter. One of the younger Great Houses, only the uniqueness of their ability separates them from the same whispered insults that Houses Greyjoy and Tully suffer from.

House Greyjoy: Naturally very strong in Water magic. House Greyjoy has the ability to breathe under water. Their ability has long considered to be the weakest of all the Great Houses, as a good practitioner of Water magic can easily replicate the ability. This isn't helped by the fact that the Tully's ability does the same and more.

House Tully: Naturally very strong in Water magic. House Tully has the ability to travel underwater at immense speeds. Tully's can travel through the Riverlands in hours, and carry along quite a sizable amount of weight with them. Something that has allowed them to move their armies and supplies at a quick pace, out maneuvering their enemies as long as they are near water.

The unique abilities of the Great Houses tend to pass down the males of the line, something which has led many in Westeros to believe that men have stronger magic than woman. The only Kingdom that doesn't follow this line is Dorne, where woman tend to pass unique abilities down.

Many of the other Houses have their own "Unique" magic, often just a spell that was constructed by an ancestor. Though there are a few who do genuinely have a unique aspect of magic that is open to them, such as the Freys, Boltons, Redwyne, and a some others. This has been a point of contention many times in the past, as those who think their magic stronger attempt to overthrow their liege lord.

Bastards are an interesting problem in this Westeros. Since they have magic many houses will keep them as close as possible, so as not to allow another Blackfyre situation. Many bastards end up learning a bit of magic before they are fostered off to an allied Lord to be squired or to be married off. Bastards from Houses that have unique abilities face more scrutiny though, since they could be used to spread around unique abilities. This has resulted in many bastards being sent to the wall. It's not a large bump in numbers, but getting trained magic users is considered a great boon for the wall.

I haven't really thought of the plot much, other than that I'd try to aim for lots of deaths. Also a final battle between Dany and her Dragons vs. Robb Stark and the Others.

 

Your premise is very interesting, but what hooked me was a battle between Daenerys and her dragons against Robb and the Others. I would be very interested in seeing how you draw those battle lines.

 

It would trace back to the origins of how each of the older Great Houses got their unique abilities. The Starks learned theirs from the Others, it's how the Wall was built in fact. I read a fan theory that the Others and Men signed a contract that by right the Others owned everything North of the wall, and that all the Wildlings there was fucking up the contract. That's why the Others are starting to come across the wall and kill people.

Expanding on that Robb, after having been beaten by treachery, retreats across the wall. He gets found by some of the wildlings, who have been long scattered, and nursed to health. The Others attack that little group and Robb starts to fight them. Only for the Stark in him to resonate with them and he gets captured instead of killed. Long talks with the Others over history and he realizes that they are in the right. Though of course he also agrees with them because they agree to ride south with him and take back the North. So he and an army of Others and Whites ride on down and meet Dany, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and the fight ensues. It'd be some epic Ice magic vs. Fire magic, an undead dragon fighting one of Danys dragons, and the Others just running amok on the armies of men.

 

Potential crackfic: Taylor Hebert triggers with the power to construct and control shades:dumb constructs from her imagination with a small ability to affect the outside world at the cost of her own energy.

But, when she accidentally creates a shade based on an Earth Aleph wizard from a young adult series she gets more than she bargained for. He's alive,he's sentient, and he's not happy about his great new adventure.Absurdity abounds.

 

A Song of Ice and Fire idea has been festering in my head for a while, Ned Stark joins the Kingsguard instead of Jamie Lannister. This is basically the mid point, sort of. I have everything ready for what comes before, the tourney at Harrenhall, but the Rebellion is giving me problems. Mainly, I want Brandon to be involved in the war, but without his efforts resulting in Ned getting roasted by Aerys. Figuring out Tywin and Hoster Tully is also a pain, but I think I know what to do with them. Anyway, I could use a sounding board and some ideas to get this working. Thanks.

 

Saw this in Dance of Dragons; "He Who Dwells Beneath the Waves", a reference to the Drowned God the Ironborn worship.

Immediately that sparked off the thought of that being a really neat Name/Title in the Dresdenverse for Cthulhu, akin to He-Who-Walks-Behind and the other one seen in Cold Days. Higher than a Walker, a Dweller slumbers half-in and half-out of our reality, waiting for the ritual process to finish pulling it through and bypassing the Outer Gates altogether. Usually takes centuries even if its done correctly(and when it is, no one knows or lives to blab about the experience, letting the magic do its thing undisturbed).

 

Actually, a fusion of A Song of Ice and Fire and the Lovecraft Mythos sounds pretty fucking amazing.

 

Use the Lysanne True Love Theory and have Ned be a guard? Seems the best and easiest way to remove him from the board.
Tywin would like still try to play both sides without committing to anything.
Hoster no idea.

 

Hoster would be pretty easy to figure if you have Cat marrying Brandon still. You can even have Benjen killed off if you still want a Stark brother to die. Though if Ned is there to see that what he'd do is unpredictable.

 

I don't know how I would develop a story around it, but I had an idea this afternoon in which Sansa and Arya end up working together as like a spy team; Sansa provides the intelligence and the "soft power" schemes while Arya is the Covert Ops section killing the North's enemies. I have no idea how it could practically happen though (presumably it would have to take place after Arya has been with the Faceless Men and Sansa had lived in the Vale and picked up some of Baelish's tricks but beyond that I can't think of a very good hook.)

 

Maybe this was done before (I doubt it) but I've had this strange idea for a Frozen/Star Wars crossover.

Some Old Republic era Sith Lord (Revan, Malak, Malgus, whoever) finds himself somehow transported to the Frozen universe around the time kid!Elsa hurts Anna when they are playing. Sensing the Force in Elsa's Ice Magic, the Sith Lord manipulates the King and Queen and offers to train the girl 'to control her power'.

This in turn leads obviously to a Sith Lady Elsa in the future (Darth Glacia or whatever). Given that the Sith naturally want power, when Elsa becomes the Queen she decides to expand Arendelle's influence using her powers.

As I like to think that the events of Frozen happen around 1790/1800, it would be interesting to see how Arendelle takes on the nations in that era.

 

If you're going to keep Elsa in Arendelle, you might as well cut the Sith entirely and just tweak her childhood. Make her more inclined to 'securing the future of her nation'. It'd be less messy, wouldn't require universe hopping shenanigans, and you could focus more on the nation to nation war/diplomacy without a Sith Lord getting in the way.

 

Plus building lightsabers in the early 1800s would be a bitch and a half.

 

There's a small idea that keeps haunting me. A crossover between Game of Thrones and Dresden Files, it's something I have touched upon in passing, yet something that had never fully let me be, even if the linked bit is something entirely different from what I imagine I would do with this.

There was also the Lord Rayne's theory on the Wolf in Skin Games discussion, which has all but thrown more fuel in the annoying candlelight, thus leading to this post.


I'd replace the gods of light and fire, and cold and darkness with Winter and Summer courts. They would have pawns in the mortal world, and their war would be approaching a critical point.

Unlike in Dresdenverse, here the balance is in disarray, explaining the irregular summer/winter cycles with changing tides of battle.

As for the writing, I'd focus on the Starks. I have something of a vision of a fix-all lookalike plot, where everything goes wrong ever more. Probabaly not as much as this musing of mine, but either close, or similarly.

In essence, there would be a need for a Winter Knight, for a very important battle, and it must be a Stark wielding Ice. At the same time, Summer Court is trying to get the Starks exterminated, so that the Stark lines's old oath (or something like that) would remain unfulfilled, and the Winter would be weakened.

I'd also play with the popular Jon's theory, in turn, making Summer Court hoping to make him into their pawn, bypassing the Winter's claim on him by being quicker.

I imagined it as a shorter story, but it could easily get away from me.


Thoughts?

 

I would read the fuck out of that.

 

Wouldn't the Starks be of Summer though? Their words, their lands are winter... but their ancestors made peace and friendship with the Children of the Forest, which are being replaced here with the Summer Court.

 

Since he's half-Targ/Dayne/Whatever, making him have to choose like a Changeling, but between Courts instead of race? Or, since Cat Stark is herself, offering him something besides whatever he thinks is his lot?

 

Hmm, I might need to read up more, but I'd venture to say that we have a similar example with Harry. Dresden had made deals with Summer and had friends in Lily and Fix, but that didn't stop Mab from getting her Knight.