Question Belphoebe

Bringing here a few topics that came up for discussion elsewhere, to wit:
- What exactly does it mean that Belphoebe is "magically active?"
- Does Belphoebe have a codename?
- Belfy did introduce herself once as "Belphoebe Blackadar-Wilkins", but is it the name on her documents or she just pulled it out of her cuff?
- Does she even HAVE legal documents? Who issued them? What's her citizenship status? (She has a British father, an American/Karedonian mother and was born in the U.S.) What's her legal age? Will she have to wait until 2028 to legally drink a beer in the U.S.?

Come to think of it, we have seen similar cases before. Not only do we have other people who had to have new identities fashioned out from whole cloth, Witness Protection-like, but we ALSO have another case of a new person "budding off" an existing person, carrying over their memories:
Petra Donner, who grew from Merry/Paige's severed arm, and had two of Merry's personalities "transplanted" into her body by Sara. However, since they were in the process of forging a new ID for Paige, making a second one for Petra wouldn't be too much additional work.

What makes Belphoebe's case unique, however, it's that the story of how she came to be was NOT kept secret -- she is, quite publicly, a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old who didn't exist a mere year ago.Worse, she is related to the Imperial House of Karedonia, which would attract attention even if she weren't, well, a Drow. It would have to be dealt with aboveboard, instead of forging an ID quietly in the backroom as has been done for several other characters.

Fortunately for Belphy, access to Karedonian royalty probably cuts through the red tape for Karedonian citizenship pretty quickly. UK and US are trickier, and probably hinges on whether or not the two countries accept Mrs. Carson's definition of birth (for the US) and parentage (for the UK).

Also it would depend on what the UK's rules are for children born out of the country to UK parents. And I assume that Tribal lands qualify for US birthright citizenship, but I don't actually know for certain.

The only names I remember her using were Belphy, Phoebes or Belphoebe or some other derivative and Blackadder-Wilkins for a last name. I'm guessing that is what Mrs. Carson had Ms. Hartford put into whatever database she hacked into to create an ID.

"Quite appropriate," Mrs. Carson stated. "Here, then, is my judgment. Belphoebe, happy birthday. You were born today. Official age: zero, going on sixteen for legal purposes. Don't think that this is just a legal fiction. Despite your memories, your brain, body, hormones, friends and activities, everything about you will be new and different. This is a chance to grow in new directions, to make of yourself what you will. Whether you want to or not, you will quickly become a very different person from the one who gave you your memories."

"But... "

"Every birth certificate needs other details. Father of record: Philip Blackadar, also known as Belphegor."

"Wait, I never said—"

"Mother of record, Jobe Wilkins, also known as ... Jobe."

She was "born" on Mediwhalia (however that is spelled) Tribal lands, so they probably issued the paperwork.

Belphy's official status is spread across The Book of Jobe stories, No Beast So Fierce, Saks and Violence, and Diamonds Are a Vamp's Best Friend.

- On either end of the scene Val posted, Carson provides the paperwork (this is before Jadis and Jobe figure out she's stable) officially naming her as Belphoebe Blackadar-Wilkins, the unholy union between Jobe and Belfatso, named by her "father". By the end of The Book of Jobe 2, Belphy has expressed the desire to renegotiate the official relationship to be changed to Jobe's sister. Between Mrs. Wilkins finding her adorable in Saks and Violence and then again in Vamp's Best Friend, Belphy gets officially accepted into the Wilkins clan as Jobe's sister and a Karedonian Princess.

- Every indication is that Belphy is following Jobe's example and using no codename. What's the point, when you're that strikingly distinct?

- According to Carson's paperwork Belphy's legal age is 15, 16 by mid-February 2008.

As for the big one, the magically active question...I wonder if this is really a case of Belphegor actually being good at what he does, for once. Belphegor is still known as one of the best devisors on campus, his specialty skill is mashing separate [stolen] devises together and achieving results with them that their creators never dreamed. Similar to the unintentional version that X-O does when she copies multiple versions of an item. Belphy's stable existence is owed to Belphegor taking Jobe's work combined with others to quick-clone a stable body, and the magical signature is part of that, either as a cause or a symptom!

From No Beast So Fierce:

“And lastly- bear with me, I think that it just never occurred to Carson to check this out- Belfy is magically active.”

“Magically active?” Gloriana, Pendragon and the rest looked at Mr. Mystic. He just shrugged vigorously. “Don’t look at me! I just play the role of Merlin; I’m not a real mage, I’m a Package Deal Psychic. I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

I let out a disgusted sigh. “Earlier, during that idiotic scene with your buddy, Bravo-” they all gave me an icy glare at being associated with a yutz like Bravo. Can’t say that I blame them; I feel the same way about being associated with Nephandus. “Anyway, during that fracas with Bravo, I felt Belfy reflexively gather her energies for defense. She didn’t actually DO anything with those energies, but she’s mystically defined enough to have a etheric identity.” Blank stares. Another sigh. “An etheric identity is the imprint that things have on the higher planes. Inanimate objects and dead bodies don’t have etheric identities. Part of enchanting an item is to attune it to the higher planes, giving it an etheric identity. Conversely, one of the ways to harm people and things is to injure their etheric identity. This is part of how the classic ‘voodoo doll’ works.”

Gloriana nodded. “So, are you saying that this ‘etheric identity’ will somehow keep Belphoebe together, or that the fact that she has one means that we won’t fall apart?”

I waved my hand in a ‘so-so’ gesture. “Both and neither. Hey, I’m only a sophomore! But put all of them together, and suddenly, instead of Belfy falling apart in a messy (if dramaturgically tidy) puddle, she turns out to be someone who’s gonna be hanging around for a while.”

This brings up the debate of whether devisors and devises are an offshoot of magic or warper effects, though I suppose it doesn't matter exactly which here. Belphegor's contraption and modification to the engram imprinter may have partially achieved one of Belphegor's main goal, applying a trait to a person.

Belphegor's major goal is to give himself an energizer trait so he's not fat. What if he accidentally gave Belphy a low Wiz trait during her creation as part of his usual practice of mixing other people's work in bizarre and unique ways? That either stabilized her when he unknowingly gave her an etheric identity during her creation, or part of the process he used during the mind transfer resulted in her generating an etheric identity on her own.

It could be a result of the sidhe DNA being allowed to "grow" into a unique individual. I think it was mentioned that as all Sidhe are essence dependent, all of them are, sort of, Magically active or possess something equivalent to the WIZ trait for mutants. Maybe that's what it was, and it simply didn't occur to any of these people (none of who are experts on Sidhe biology/magic/etc) that this would naturally happen.

here is an idea on Belfy's birth certificate?

She was born on tribal Indian land and they would forward the paperwork to the government and they will not argue over it at all!

Belfy might even be able to claim tribal membership in her own way?

Iwasforger03 wrote: It could be a result of the sidhe DNA being allowed to "grow" into a unique individual. I think it was mentioned that as all Sidhe are essence dependent, all of them are, sort of, Magically active or possess something equivalent to the WIZ trait for mutants. Maybe that's what it was, and it simply didn't occur to any of these people (none of who are experts on Sidhe biology/magic/etc) that this would naturally happen.

I was thinking it might be because of loose magic in the environment when Belphy was born, like how TeenPreg might be a bad idea 'cause of ambient magic. But those ideas merge well.

Feebs is always kind of a fun character. Giz frequently expresses his mild or moderate disappointment that Jobe is a bio-devisor, while Belphoebe is more of his successor than Jobe will ever be.

Not the daughter he wanted, or expected, but the one who truly understands what he's been doing all these years.

I look forward to the scene where Belphy meets Joe Wilkins face to face, and they spend 20+ hours collaborating.

Katssun wrote: I look forward to the scene where Belphy meets Joe Wilkins face to face, and they spend 20+ hours collaborating.

To make what tho?

Malady wrote:

Katssun wrote: I look forward to the scene where Belphy meets Joe Wilkins face to face, and they spend 20+ hours collaborating.

To make what tho?

"Tonight we take over the WORLD...Belfy!"

"Snarff!"

Malady wrote:

Katssun wrote: I look forward to the scene where Belphy meets Joe Wilkins face to face, and they spend 20+ hours collaborating.

To make what tho?

How about overhauling the gargoyle armor.

Malady wrote:

Katssun wrote: I look forward to the scene where Belphy meets Joe Wilkins face to face, and they spend 20+ hours collaborating.

To make what tho?

A proper Jobe-bot?

A new and improved OmniSqueal, obviously

Arcanist Lupus wrote: A new and improved OmniSqueal, obviously

Suggestion: Call Sara to consult.

Only if they find her first...

Iwasforger03 wrote: Only if they find her first...

If they find her they could mail her to him as a wedding card.

NJM1564 wrote:

Iwasforger03 wrote: Only if they find her first...

If they find her they could mail her to him as a wedding card.

Now that sounds like a good story and truly funny joke to play on both!

Sara jumping out of the card in her best Samuel L Jackson voice. " Surprise MF'er!

lighttech wrote:

NJM1564 wrote:

Iwasforger03 wrote: Only if they find her first...

If they find her they could mail her to him as a wedding card.

Now that sounds like a good story and truly funny joke to play on both!

Better joke. There parents set up an arranged marriage between the two.

My theory for explaining the Wiz traits that Belpheobe has, would have been that Belphegor was the front identity for Nimbus/Hekate's Master.

This would have explained the Devisor and the Wiz traits, but since Belphegor has turned up in Gen 2.0 stroies, that won't necessarily have been how it went.

(Yes you could have Belphegor being possessed by Hakate's Master, and HM being exorcised from Belphegor, but i don't give that trope great odds.)

It would also have made for a great Heel-Face-Turn, where Belphoebe switches sides to Hekate's Master, and takes almost all of the Drow with her, apart from Jobe.

But since Belphegor survived the coming cataclysm, then that particular story is another interesting theory blown out of the water by the torpedo of common sense.

The idea that Belphoebe got her Wiz traits from her Sidhe DNA, was one i hadn't thought of.

Wouldn't this mean that she would need to be warned about the Binding Oaths problem that crops up with the Sidhe?

If she starts to explore more of her Sidhe side, which would be likely, what with her attending the finger-wiggling classes, and studying under Nikki, the TA, then what will her reactions be like?

To be a fly on the wall watching those first classes....

Malady wrote:

Katssun wrote: I look forward to the scene where Belphy meets Joe Wilkins face to face, and they spend 20+ hours collaborating.

To make what tho?

As long as it goes BOOM!, it's all good!

You could add Jett to the Budded people, There isn't much about her, but she is an instance of Jade/Jinn that Sara ate. It caused her indigestion too! (Billy goes to Hell)

You realize that is plain frightening.