Grrl Power VII: Let Me Explain For The Next Thirty Comics!

[Radar]

Have we just identified an exploitable weakness in ArcSwat?

Yes, we have. Sneak in a succubus (they are innately good at disguise), have them excuse themselves to use the lady's room, and once they are out of everyone's sight, turn Lust Aura dial to 11.

A significant percentage of the people in the building (not just supers) will begin having sex. They will not be attending to their duties / monitoring alarms / et cetera.

Now, we don't know if everyone shown boinking was off-duty at the time, or if there's other people getting hot and bothered but still attending to things. Natheless, it seems like a good thing to try, probably as part of a multi-pronged assault. Even if you only get 10% of the force out of action because they are getting some action, that might matter.

Frankly, this kind of problem was already exposed very early in the comics, when Dabbler made her grand entrance during Sydney's interview.

[Dragonus45]

I wonder if supers are impressed by each other? If you're already a 10, do you respond to another 10 the way a 5 responds to a 5?

Probably, especially because being a super can be a bit isolating.

[lord_khaine]

A succubus lust aura has no effect on Math because his default state is 'perpetually horny'.

I did find it plausible he didnt notice because of this, yeah xD

Have we just identified an exploitable weakness in ArcSwat?

No we havent. Initially its not a weakness, since basically every non-borg organisation is vulnerable to being infiltrated,
by mind controlling shapechangers. If anything, Archon is possibly less vulnerable to this. Having a veteran succubus consultant of their own.
And having general reason to be cautious of shapechangers.

Besides Succubi then being absurdly rare on earth due to not being native to it, and having to time the lust aura attack with a time Dabbler is away.
Then its still not likely to accomplish much of anything. None of the people we saw engaged were on duty.
All this did was cause people to go from 'might bang' to 'will bang'.

[Traab]

I did find it plausible he didnt notice because of this, yeah xD



No we havent. Initially its not a weakness, since basically every non-borg organisation is vulnerable to being infiltrated,
by mind controlling shapechangers. If anything, Archon is possibly less vulnerable to this. Having a veteran succubus consultant of their own.
And having general reason to be cautious of shapechangers.

Besides Succubi then being absurdly rare on earth due to not being native to it, and having to time the lust aura attack with a time Dabbler is away.
Then its still not likely to accomplish much of anything. None of the people we saw engaged were on duty.
All this did was cause people to go from 'might bang' to 'will bang'.

And we havent really seen any indication that they are so enthralled that they wouldnt notice alarms or breeches in security or whatever. Remember, this exact scenario, minus succubus, was going on with our computer guy and the reality warper girlfriend and he noticed right away despite having a very horny girl in his lap that something was up and sounded the alarm. It would have to be on par with the boob hypnosis effect dabbler used on vehemence to be THAT distracting.

[lord_khaine]

That one was hilarious as well :D

Though also fair. That did knock the people at the kiosk 'out' in a way.

Still leaves me in doubt about how strong the effect actually are.
It had a clear physical effect on Max. But at the same time she seemed quite clear in her head.
Enough to scold dabbler.

Initially i assume you can resist it if you want to.
The problem is just that most people dont have a reason to wish to do so.

[Rater202]

Dabbler spent an unknown but presumably extended length of time trying to get into Max's pants. She might still be trying to, given Max's immediate response to sudden unexplained horniness.

I'm going to assume that she's had ample opportunity to develop a resistance.

Also, refresh my memory? Was Max affected by Vehenmence's aura? Max's personal forcefield might provide a degree of resistance toward this kind of effect much the same ay that Sydney's shield orb does.

[Keltest]

Dabbler spent an unknown but presumably extended length of time trying to get into Max's pants. She might still be trying to, given Max's immediate response to sudden unexplained horniness.

I'm going to assume that she's had ample opportunity to develop a resistance.

Also, refresh my memory? Was Max affected by Vehenmence's aura? Max's personal forcefield might provide a degree of resistance toward this kind of effect much the same ay that Sydney's shield orb does.

Its hard to say, because he was trying to kill/maim her at the time, and that kind of dictated her behavior more than the aura would.

[Shining Wrath]

It seems that Dabbler is immune to Parfait's aura, or perhaps Dabbler's default setting is always "fully horny".

At any rate, the person in the kiosk (who, presumably, could have to deal with a member of the public at any moment) is not ready to perform their duties. So maybe not the most important part of security, but security is definitely lessened when the receptionist isn't ready to push the "armed goons just walked in front door" button.

And given the fogginess of the window, they couldn't see the armed goons even if they were theoretically paying any attention.

Am I the only one who thought of "Titanic" with the hand on the window?

[lord_khaine]

Dabbler spent an unknown but presumably extended length of time trying to get into Max's pants. She might still be trying to, given Max's immediate response to sudden unexplained horniness.

I'm going to assume that she's had ample opportunity to develop a resistance.

Dabbler failed those attempts. So Max didnt need to develop resistance.
She started out able to resist it.

It seems that Dabbler is immune to Parfait's aura, or perhaps Dabbler's default setting is always "fully horny".

Dabbler has directly stated Succubi are expert on tantric magic.
It would be weird if she could not resist others attempting to change her arousal.

[Rydiro]

I'm surprised that Leon doesn't raise the Dabbler alarm, when the accessing of adult sites rises by 1000% within minutes.

[Pax1138]

Am I the only one who thought of "Titanic" with the hand on the window?

You're right, that's probably the reference. I was thinking of a horror movie where a victim of whatever killer or monster does that same thing, leaving a bloody handprint smear instead. Made the contrast kinda funny in my mind due to the nature of the "horror" in this case.

[Keltest]

I'm surprised that Leon doesn't raise the Dabbler alarm, when the accessing of adult sites rises by 1000% within minutes.

I strongly suspect that if Leon were to get caught policing what the various staff do in their free time, or spying on them in that way, he would be in some pretty deep excrement.

[JeenLeen]

I strongly suspect that if Leon were to get caught policing what the various staff do in their free time, or spying on them in that way, he would be in some pretty deep excrement.

I'm pretty sure there's a way to have a program passively watch what sites are accessed, so that he could code the security feature but not get active access to seeing webpages viewed.
He'd probably have to actively lock himself out of access, or set it so he could only view it if had permission from higher-rank staff.

After this event, it could be reasonable to add such as a security feature to be able to detect "succubus attack". It seems reasonable they don't have a protocol to protect now, but after this it would be foolish not to. Especially as they know Deus is working with Tom, who could command Parfait.
On security: from what Dabbler said, it sounds like she'd be able to tell if this was the source and alert folk. Also someone entering the lust aura (as opposed to feeling it rapidly build) seems able to notice it as an external effect, as Max did.

[Shining Wrath]

Usually on a US government provided computer you are not allowed to access porn at all. If people are using their personal computers via government network, ditto.

So Leon should not be monitoring porn site usage because the firewalls ought to block that. If someone is getting past the firewalls, that *is* his business and he needs to figure out why.

[Dragonus45]

Usually on a US government provided computer you are not allowed to access porn at all. If people are using their personal computers via government network, ditto.

So Leon should not be monitoring porn site usage because the firewalls ought to block that. If someone is getting past the firewalls, that *is* his business and he needs to figure out why.

We have been told numerous times that Arc has a light touch with soft gloves on way of handling it's personnel to begin with so I wouldn't be surprised if the internet filters were generally toned down.

[AvatarVecna]

Have we just identified an exploitable weakness in ArcSwat?

Yes, we have. Sneak in a succubus (they are innately good at disguise), have them excuse themselves to use the lady's room, and once they are out of everyone's sight, turn Lust Aura dial to 11.

A significant percentage of the people in the building (not just supers) will begin having sex. They will not be attending to their duties / monitoring alarms / et cetera.

Now, we don't know if everyone shown boinking was off-duty at the time, or if there's other people getting hot and bothered but still attending to things. Natheless, it seems like a good thing to try, probably as part of a multi-pronged assault. Even if you only get 10% of the force out of action because they are getting some action, that might matter.

It's also a hard weakness to cover because anything sufficient to form a secure protocol against this will seem draconian. Dabbler has already demonstrated in the big fight that succubus lust magic is powerful enough to make someone switch sides at least temporarily, and sydneys orbs ability to pierce succubus disguises is already noted as borderline unheard of. How do you protect from the possibility that a single succubus with bad intentions infiltrates, mindwhammies a couple high ranks, and finds the nuke codes or whatever? Any mundane or technological solution would likely involve a huge breach of privacy.

There could be magical security solutions designed to detect not general horniness but rather the lust energy of a succubus Aura. Considering dabbler previously demonstrated that arc lights Willpower was insufficient, and Vehemence showed how much of a security threat a sin Aura can be when wielded with intent, you would think they'd have been d3veloping countermeasures. But the first one to succumb is the magic Apprentice. She's got enough control to lock her room down for privacy, but not to raise the alarm on an enemy tactic they've almost certainly discussed in private?

[lord_khaine]

After this event, it could be reasonable to add such as a security feature to be able to detect "succubus attack". It seems reasonable they don't have a protocol to protect now, but after this it would be foolish not to. Especially as they know Deus is working with Tom, who could command Parfait.
On security: from what Dabbler said, it sounds like she'd be able to tell if this was the source and alert folk. Also someone entering the lust aura (as opposed to feeling it rapidly build) seems able to notice it as an external effect, as Max did.

No it wouldnt. The case being, its much more likely to be triggered by people being bored a friday evening, than from a genuine attack.
And secondary, from a succubus being extremely far down on the "likely source of attack" list.

As a bonus reason for why not. Then no. Tom is ABSOLUTELY not going to get Parfait anywhere near a potentially hostile situation.
She is the little sister of his girlfriend. He isnt going to make her take any risks.

Usually on a US government provided computer you are not allowed to access porn at all. If people are using their personal computers via government network, ditto.

So Leon should not be monitoring porn site usage because the firewalls ought to block that. If someone is getting past the firewalls, that *is* his business and he needs to figure out why.

Im to start pretty certain that dont apply to the military?
As else i would assume they quickly had a revolt on their hands.

There could be magical security solutions designed to detect not general horniness but rather the lust energy of a succubus Aura. Considering dabbler previously demonstrated that arc lights Willpower was insufficient

This is incorrect. We have not seen anything like this demonstrated by Dabbler.
She made an entrance early in the comic, where she instantly grasped the attention of everyone in the room. But it was natural for her to be the center of attention anyway.
As she were present to give expert testimony. And all it did was cause Max to yell at her to tone it down.

Vehemence showed how much of a security threat a sin Aura can be when wielded with intent

At that point Vehemence had gathered enough energy to solo all of Archon. (he would have won had he not spared Sydney)
Hence what he could do at peak power with his aura is unlikelyto be worth focusing on. If your fighting him like that you have bigger problems.

But the first one to succumb is the magic Apprentice. She's got enough control to lock her room down for privacy, but not to raise the alarm on an enemy tactic they've almost certainly discussed in private?

It seems quite likely Gwen isnt affected before anyone else. We just see her first.
And since she its after work hours she is likely off duty. Hence plausibly not finding it unlikely she suddenly gets in a mood.

[tyckspoon]

Im to start pretty certain that dont apply to the military?
As else i would assume they quickly had a revolt on their hands.

There would most likely be multiple networks - at least one public/guest access network that would be relatively unmanaged/secured, a 'business' network that is open to approved Archon devices with more imposed administration (but likely to be more concerned about blocking malware/ad traffic and unapproved outside probes rather than trying to control where its users go - Archon doesn't really have a reason to care if people want to look for 'adult material' or shop or look up hobby information sites or whatever as long as they're not doing something illegal), an Actual Secure network used to communicate with other governmental/military services (a device used for this would -only- be used for this and would need to be sanitized and re-certified as secure if it was exposed to a lower-level network) and a No S*** For Real Secure one used for accessing truly sensitive resources. And the people responsible for it would prefer that last one didn't exist, they just recognize that it's not physically possible to run a hard-copy only information archive in the modern world.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I think what most people are missing is the fact that this building has Dabbler in semi-permanent residence.

It's like in most of Europe (and large parts of the rest of the world, really), if you hear someone shooting next door you immediately go for the phone to call police. Whereas if you're in America, your first reaction is either thinking "FFS they're at it again" or shouting "QUIET DOWN IT'S SIX AM SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL TRYING TO SLEEP" out the window.

So the reason you don't see anyone being alarmed by the sudden lust aura "attack" is that they know the probable cause. In fact the only person walking immediately alongside said probable cause, also thinks the same, and is only outraged as per her normal reactions to said probable cause's antics.

[Shining Wrath]

I think what most people are missing is the fact that this building has Dabbler in semi-permanent residence.

It's like in most of Europe (and large parts of the rest of the world, really), if you hear someone shooting next door you immediately go for the phone to call police. Whereas if you're in America, your first reaction is either thinking "FFS they're at it again" or shouting "QUIET DOWN IT'S SIX AM SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL TRYING TO SLEEP" out the window.

So the reason you don't see anyone being alarmed by the sudden lust aura "attack" is that they know the probable cause. In fact the only person walking immediately alongside said probable cause, also thinks the same, and is only outraged as per her normal reactions to said probable cause's antics.

Actually, given Dabbler's response to recognizing the source of the aura, I think Parfait is doing a no-no, even by succubus standards. By which I mean I don't think Dabbler has ever turned her lust aura on to the same degree while in residence. That is, this isn't par for the course.

And some of the people currently having sex may regret it in the morning, similar to waking up in the morning and realizing that you did something while drunk that you wouldn't have done sober.

[lord_khaine]

Well that answers a few things about stuff like consent.
Namely that at ground zero, in the arms of a naked succubus, its still possible to get in a surprise eyeball lick to end things if you really want to.
So no i dont think anyone will wake up and regret stuff next morning. Honestly its quite possible noone will even think about it except if told.

Also shows how dangerous it actually is to be kissed by a teenage succubus.
Not at all clearly. As Sydney is still able to get off on a tangent about weird stuff.

[Traab]

Well that answers a few things about stuff like consent.
Namely that at ground zero, in the arms of a naked succubus, its still possible to get in a surprise eyeball lick to end things if you really want to.
So no i dont think anyone will wake up and regret stuff next morning. Honestly its quite possible noone will even think about it except if told.

Also shows how dangerous it actually is to be kissed by a teenage succubus.
Not at all clearly. As Sydney is still able to get off on a tangent about weird stuff.

It took her enough off guard to be basically naked by the time her higher brain functions re-engaged. It might also be helped by her orientation leaning further hetero than homo so its easier to resist that way. Heck, the fact that her brain is firing in a dozen different directions constantly may also have played a part. It jogged her off the horny button being jammed down long enough to realize what was happening.

[Shining Wrath]

It took her enough off guard to be basically naked by the time her higher brain functions re-engaged. It might also be helped by her orientation leaning further hetero than homo so its easier to resist that way. Heck, the fact that her brain is firing in a dozen different directions constantly may also have played a part. It jogged her off the horny button being jammed down long enough to realize what was happening.

If you grab someone's hair to pull them away from you yelling "stop" and they don't stop, you are being sexually assaulted.

If it takes all your willpower to do that then someone of lesser willpower would be helpless; e.g., if Sydney just made a DC 25 will save all the people in the building who didn't roll a NAT 20 do not have a choice.

[Dragonus45]

If you grab someone's hair to pull them away from you yelling "stop" and they don't stop, you are being sexually assaulted.

If it takes all your willpower to do that then someone of lesser willpower would be helpless; e.g., if Sydney just made a DC 25 will save all the people in the building who didn't roll a NAT 20 do not have a choice.

Yea I think it's iffy how much the effect of the aura really changed things for most other people in the building since there was already foreshadowing for a couple of those and some existing tensions and all that. But her going on Sydney the way she did is 100% a crime.

[lord_khaine]

Eh. She is still enough bi that she got caught in cleavage hypnosis twice.
And its mostly when not engaged with other things her brain starts to shoot off on random tangents.

So this hardly makes up for being ground 0 with a naked succubi on your lap.
Hence i stand by my point the main reason someone would regret this.
Is being yelled at by Max.

If you grab someone's hair to pull them away from you yelling "stop" and they don't stop, you are being sexually assaulted.

If it takes all your willpower to do that then someone of lesser willpower would be helpless; e.g., if Sydney just made a DC 25 will save all the people in the building who didn't roll a NAT 20 do not have a choice.

But we dont have any evidence whatsoever Sydney performed an exceptional feat of willpower.
And usually, she would be though off as the one with the least willpower and weakest impulse control.
Sydney was ground zero with physical body contact to a Subbucus.
If she can pull off. Then everyone else who wanted to can as well.
We dont have any evidence to the contrary.

[Shining Wrath]

Yea I think it's iffy how much the effect of the aura really changed things for most other people in the building since there was already foreshadowing for a couple of those and some existing tensions and all that. But her going on Sydney the way she did is 100% a crime.

To quote Monahan quoting Albia in Girl Genius: "Just reach in and use the levers that are already there". The lust aura probably can't destroy a lifelong vow of chastity in 5 minutes, but if you're already dealing with a desire for someone, and they are at hand when the aura hits, watch out.

[The Glyphstone]

I dont think magically roofying an entire building can be brushed off so easily just because the main character nat20-ed her Will save after a few rounds.

[lord_khaine]

I dont think magically roofying an entire building can be brushed off so easily just because the main character nat20-ed her Will save after a few rounds.

Thankfully there are pretty strong evidence on that an entire building has in fact not been matically roofied.

Its quite plausibly that the comic does not run on d&d rules.
If thats the case, then that arguably one of the weakest willed and most impulsive people can shake the effect off.
Shows that the effect isnt that strong.

Just.. if you wish to kiss someone. And they suddenly also want to do it.
Then either part is very likely to try and resist the urge.

[AvatarVecna]

Yeah guys cmon it was only the tiniest smidgen of mind control that got the front desk security several floors down to put their duties on hold for hot steamy sex. That barely even counts as rape, because you can't prove they weren't all into it.

[Rater202]

Eh. She is still enough bi that she got caught in cleavage hypnosis twice.

I don't think being susceptible to an explcitly supernatural hypnosis effect ("They're literally hypnotic") is an indicator of sexuality one way or another.

In fact, the response about wondering how well it works on guys suggests that it's only becuase Sydney isn't into girls AT ALL that she's able to resist the effect to any degree.

On consent: Yeah, no, this whole thing is icky... But I'm also wondering just how much Parfait herself consents here.

Just mentioning the act of being collared made Parfait horny enough to lose control of her lust aura, declare that she needed to be drugged unconscious right now, and sexually assault Sydney. This was right after explaining that Succubi have extra pleasure centers that only activate when they're collared and that provide serious operant conditioning to make them like being sex slaves that' so strong that it takes them a decade or two before they can start to learn how to say no to their master.

The last couple of pages have more or less spelled out that Dabbler was lying, or at least being seriously misleading, about just how big a deal a Succubus's bonds actually are.

After the exposition on how a newly bound succubus, which ti's implies that Parfait is since commentary states that shes still in Succubus Finishing school and that bonding with Tom is a work credit, basically has no free will... Uh, yeah, how responsible is she for this?