As I use him, Alzis doesn't usually need DG agents to do crappy little
jobs for him. He has the Network for that. But by allowing DG agents
to help him with a problem he can often gain leverage on them, and
thus on others in DG who might be more useful later. Plus, sometimes
the moral chagrin of DG agents resigning themselves to working with
him can be amusing.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 10, 2009, at 7:58 AM, "Brian Ridge" <bwridge@...> wrote:

>
>
> SO I was reading my Delta GReen book while killing time at the
> airport today and something struck me as somewhat hard to swallow.
>
> THe book portrays Stephen Alzis as this uber-powerful master fo the
> dark arts-slash- avatar of Nyarlothetep who is one of the most
> powerful entities in the DG world. Yet, he is also presented to GM's
> as a sort of dark Mr. Johnson who can send PC's off on missions for
> artifacts and whatnot as part of some deal. BUt:
>
> 1) IF Alzis is so damn powerful, how is it that he would need the
> help of a couple of mortals (albeit mortals with guns and security
> clearances)? IF ALzis wants some book out of a library vault
> somewhere, doesn't he have more than enough power and ability to get
> the book himself?
>
> 2) And, assuming that there is someone or something out there that
> can put hurdles in front of Alzis that would require him seeking
> outside help, wouldn't that same person or thing have an even easier
> time preventing human agents who are aiding him? What.. .they can
> track down some esoteric and long-forgotten magical ward but can't
> find a home depot with quality locks?
>
> It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The mere fact that Alzis
> has to cut deals to achieve ceertain ends seems to me to be evidence
> of a limited power.
>
> Granted, I'm probably not the most knowledgable person around these
> parts as to the finer points of magic and lore in CoC, so if someone
> can come up with an explanation I'd be more than willing to listen.
>
> Brian
>
>


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