Campione Dresden Files Crossover Challenge!

by ZE Bri-0n

A challenge to make a Campione! and Dresden Files crossover, caulk full of most of my ideas for it. I'm surprised no one has made one yet, but I don't really have the skill to write it. Rated T because of the source material. Warning: may sound condescending, pretentious, or overall like a jerk.

C!/DF cso Challenge

I admit, I was a bit surprised by the fact that there wasn't one already. I mean, the entire premise of Campione! is people that follow their own paths taking down beings way out of their weight class and mass property destruction. That's Dresden's whole MO right there, but I digress. I've actually put quite a bit of thought into it: it starts with the same general premise as "Beyond the Outer Gates Lies..." by gabriel blessing( great writer by the way, I totally recommend him - especially his works "The Hill of Swords" and "In Flight". I'd honestly ask him to take up this idea if I thought he'd take it): LateSeries!Harry is well, beyond the Outer Gates, having shut them, fighting an Outsider army. But in this one, he doesn't have Lash( which isn't to say that he shouldn't have Hellfire, Lash was a part of him for years, and since the Hellfire didn't go away when he sealed Lasciel's coin, I'm assuming the power was in house, but controlled by Lash. If/when he becomes a Campione, he should get his Hellfire back then), but he does have a Warden's Sword, and how about a few of his little folk, the survivors of the Za-Guard. Maybe even a few fae, a Sidhe Lord, a few fae hounds, a malk or two, etc. But in the end he kills his foe, finds himself drained only to see an even greater threat approaching him. This time it's just another - larger - Outsider army, rather than Great Red. He scrounges up the last of his magic, and tears a hole into what would normally be the veil between the Earth and Nevernever and hopes for the best, because he honestly has no other options, besides the obvious. He ends up in the Campione!verse( rather than the Highschool DxD universe he does in gabriel's story), and begins being, well, Harry Dresden( in gabriel's story he gets turned back into a teenager, which is an idea I admit I find amusing, and it does help with the whole "no identification" thing. I mean, seriously, if a strange, abnormally tall, scar-covered man with no ID or records whatsoever just turned up out of nowhere, how do you think the authorities would respond? Throw him in the nearest jail and leave him to rot, probably as a matter of course.). Which is to say totally badass, while being a chivalrous pig, setting things on fire, and taking down things way outside his weight class. However, while his Outsider status made him a bit odd in the Highschoolverse, it makes him utterly unique in the Campione!verse.

There, magic is purely sponsored, the world is NOT overrun with magical monstrosities (including, but not limited to the Fomor, - formerly - four different vampire courts, several fae courts, ghouls, a number of demonic entities), there is no such thing as a genus loci, Power does NOT have a Purpose, and all magical beings seem to be what to him are just massively powerful ghosts created from worship and stories rather than extremely violent deaths, their descendants, and their creations. Also, there's this "Authority" thing, which from his point of view makes absolutely no sense. He is not only the only mortal with magic not derived from the gods(be it through having divine ancestry, their favor, shards of them power called "grimoires", or having killed them) , he's got none of the fear/worship of the godslayers other mages have, and he has honestly meet worse than the Heretic Gods have to offer. I'd honestly put them between a Fairie Lady and Queen's power. Definitely below a Queen. Not to mention, the Warden Sword is a massive game changer for the Campione!verse. Hell, so is Harry's wizardry. In the Dresdenverse, magic is "the practice/power of manipulating nature/ magical energy energy/the world". Pretty basic urban fantasy magic. Or even DnD Arcane Magic.. In the Campione!verse, it is based off of "the right to command an event to occur", or Authority, held exclusively by the gods and their slayers. To the Dresdenverse, magic resistance means grounding out, negating, or rejecting foreign energies. To the Campioneverse( the way I see it) it means countermanding their Authority. Which is why divine beings like Campione and Heretic Gods - who wield Authority - are all but immune to Campione!verse magic. Your body is your temple, is it not? So with (or without) the addition of Soulfire(which has the power to bypass at least some of an enemy's Dresden-style resistance, and is effective against spirit beings), Harry may or may not be able to simply bypass their resistance altogether.

A Warden's sword is build to cut through magical energy, negate enchantments, etc. That means it'll probably cut through any magical defense the Campione!verse has to offer. Of course, there's still the matter of the titanium-like bones and flesh to match the Campione and Heretic Gods have, but short of that, it's generally going to be one be curb stomp by Harry, not to mention a Warden's Sword's blade has been described as "stupidly sharp", and I honestly think its worthy of that title. In the RPG, it's classified as Weapon: 6. A military grade rifle is only Weapon: 5. It can cut through a tree pretty much effortlessly. Therefore, divine flesh probably isn't goanna hold up against that. Also, remember that Verethagra's Golden Sword(which was usurped by Godou) is one of that setting's most dangerous weapons, at least for the gods. Its entire power is that it cuts through a deity's divinity, for which it has to be attuned. It can only be attuned to one particular deity at once, and only be attuned once a day(oversimplification). It's essentially a less flexible version of a Warden's sword. The Golden Sword can cut through divinity. It's useless against mortals, and requires vast knowledge of your enemy, as well as a massive amount of magical energy (not a problem for a Campione or Heretic God but still), needs a speech about you enemy before it can be attuned to them, and can only be used by the possessor of its Authority(currently Godou). The Warden's Sword can be used against ANY magic, by anyone, including mortals, requires a vastly smaller supply of magical energy, and doesn't require you to know jack shit about your enemy, nor does it require you to rant about them before using it (BTW, is it just me, or is the Talking Is A Free Action trope very much in effect in the Campione!verse? Seriously, why do people always just stand there and do nothing while their enemy chant the long and complicated magic words that may or may not mean their defeat? The only time it isn't is with the Golden Sword, but that incantation has to be tailor made for each opponent, and is two or three paragraphs long. Two to four sentences may not measure up to that, but still!).

Back to Harry himself, as I said before, his entire MO is based on taking down things way out of his weight class. In the Campione!verse, that means the gods, though they only descend infrequently. Knowing Harry, he'll kill one within a year, then get attacked by a few more within a week. After that? King Harry Dresden. And Harry doesn't even need to become a Campione. I think he's perfectly capable of kicking plenty of ass without usurping a god's power. Things WILL burn. But not Gods of Steel. I'm afraid he's simply got too much of the Fae in him as a Knight to have a reasonable chance.

. The basic plot idea: Harry and a handful of fae find themselves in the Campione!verse. Harry sets down a few small roots, buys a house, does whatever he's supposed to do(if you leave him an adult, he'll need a job. If he becomes a teenager again like in BtOGL, he'll need to go to school), while the fae hide out, and begin ordering the Astral Plane, the obvious local equivalent of the Nevernever, and finding ways to rebuild their numbers, probably through the creation of changelings. But there are several key differences: for one, prolonged exposure to the Astral Plane is fatal to unprotected mortals. For another thing, you can teleport around just by willing it. In the Nevernever, the laws of mind and imagination may be more powerful than the laws of physics, and full of all kinds of beauty and horror, but the Astral Plane is on a whole other level of Mind Screw in that regard. The ordering process is just like the creation of what Harry calls a demesne: a little bubble of the Nevernever that has been altered/created to suit the needs of its master. He originally used the term in Grave Peril, where he finds out that especially vivid dreams can actually create them short term, and I think he meets a ghost that has one. Eventually, Harry encounters some of the local supernatural population. And then everything takes a sharp right turn for Hell. I came up with the idea for the god he could kill to become a Campione, and what Authority he may receive for doing such: Tiamat, the Sumerian Goddess of Primordial Chaos, the inspiration for the DnD goddess Tiamt, who is the mother of evil dragons. I think I heard somewhere that she was the goddess that Perseus killed to create the Divine Ancestor Andromeda. But the thing is, Divine Ancestors are created from Mother Earth Goddesses. Tiamat was never an Earth god, at least not originally. She was originally a goddess of chaos and the ocean. After her mate was murdered by their children, she created 11 monsters, one of which was the first dragon in that mythology. She was eventually defeated and killed, by one of said younger gods(Anu, Enlil, or Ea), who then used her corpse to create the earth and sky. After she was killed by Perseus and become the Divine Ancestor Andromeda, because at her core, she was a goddess of chaos and the ocean, her memories eventually returned. She immediately did what anyone would do after losing something so valuable: try to get it back. She inspired the creators of DnD to create the goddess Tiamat, and eventually was able to reclaim her godhood. A Heretic God isn't affected by changes in their legend, but if one could reach into the realm of the gods and call one forth(which has been done), the forming chunks of an existing god's new Authority shouldn't be so hard to summon, especially if the summoner is(a degraded form of) that god. Plus, the Authorities would want to go into the mortal world; they are a part of her, aren't they? Plus, I'm pretty sure it's been stated somewhere that the most powerful spells borrow divinity from the gods, so if you're willing to commit a massacre or two, it shouldn't be much of a problem, right? (Not to mention, I'm relatively certain that when Voban killed all those hime-miko in that ritual to summon a Heretic God, he was saving himself for the fight with the god. He almost certainly could have done it himself. Got a mana pool hundreds if not thousands the times of a normal mage's, after all.) Harry sees said massacre, and kills the newly reborn goddess. Her Authorities would probably be "Ruler of Saltwater"(mental manipulation of salt water, can turn fresh water into salt water, perfect bearings while in a body of salt water, is obeyed by saltwater creatures, can drink saltwater…), "Breath Weapons"( the only Authority inherited solely from her identity as a DnD goddess, the ability to use all the breath weapons of all chromatic – evil - dragons in DnD: fire, ice, acid, poison gas, and lightning), "Mother of Dragons"(I've put a lot of thought into this one Authority: she can create draconic Divine Beasts. The more powerful she wants to make the divine beasts, the more draconic her appearance would become. If she takes a wholly draconic form, she can create dragons that aren't divine beasts at all, but living, breath, magical creature with free will and their own identities who are no more connected to her than any child is to their mother. She may also choose another, compatible, Authority – even if it doesn't belong to her, so long as the possessor is willing-to act as the 'father' of any dragon, altering their powers, forms, and capabilities. For example, she could have her "Ruler of Saltwater" Authority 'father' a dragon, and that dragon would have the power to wield a lesser version of that Authority, and have fins, etc. On the other hand, if she were to have a less compatible Authority, like of a Steel deity, the dragon would be smaller, weaker, but it wouldn't have to fear the gods of Steel, provided the major incompatibility could be bypassed. If Godou were to 'father' a dragon using his Golden Sword Authority, if that Authority was already set to a certain god, then the dragon created would be especially dangerous to that god. Or if King Arthur were to 'father' a dragon, because he is known as "Pendragon", plus there's that whole "red and white dragons dueling" story, it would be much more compatible, and the dragon would suffer a much smaller penalty. If Harry Usurps this Authority – which he has a rather hilarious level of compatibility with considering his spirit pregnancy thing- he'll need to take on a female form before he can use it. This form is – at its basic level-entirely human and simply Harry if he had been born female. Everything about his normal form is carried over.), and "Body of Earth and Sky"(power to manipulate atmospheric and geological events and phenomenon). After killing her, Harry is contacted by the various magic societies of the world. Also, he has to build an item to contain his excess magic, because if it was a problem before, it's definitely a problem as a Campione. Perhaps a spin on his suppression spell? Except tailor made to stay up if he loses his concentration, and contain the fallout if it breaks suddenly? Also, fun idea I came up with while reading Rider of the East by Cardinal Grief(give it a look if you're into Godou not being a pacifist and killing a totally different god, it's a good story), what if Harry were to not only kill Tiamat and take her Authority, but to also turn her(back) into a Divine Ancestor? Of course, Harry would be horrified by the mental blocks on her, and immediately try to do whatever he can to remove them, but it would be interesting to read.

I have a few ideas for arcs for this story. Also, idea for a name: "Damn Fool". Though because all titles must be rates K, I guess it'd have to be "Darn Fool". If you end up writing this, keep in mind that gabriel blessing's Beyond the Outer Gates Lies… story inspired this idea, and there he ends up in Japan, but Campione! has a major character who lives in America, John Pluto Smith, so it's entirely possible for Harry to remain near the original story's plot without ending up there. Moving on from there, a few ideas for arcs: 2 out of the seven cannon Campione have killed fairies: Madame Aisha and John Pluto Smith. Aisha apparently killed someone from Tir na Nog(Irish Otherworld) while John killed Oberon. Naturally, a few other faeries may be angry about this, and seek revenge. Even in another world, Harry is still the Knight of Winter. Perhaps some such deities may sense that, and try to take advantage of it, maybe the local edition of Titania, the wife of the local Oberon. They may not know he's sworn to a Court of immortals of enormous and utterly alien power, some of which are far beyond their own(looking at the Faerie Mothers), but they may assume he's sworn an oath to a different faerie, or is a hybrid or something. They may even use that to explain away his magic. Plus, one of John's Authorities – Mastery of Fairie- has caused him to inherit all the royal power and responsibilities of Oberon. And John is secretly a woman named Annie. The Mantle may react to her as its Queen or hated enemy. Or it may see her the same way it sees Wyldfae. And Aisha has a major Authority based in Winter, no telling how the Mantle would react that that. Or to the Heretic Gods with Authorities based on being the rulers of Faeries. Another idea: the English Campione Alexander Gascoigne, also known as the Black Prince Alec, has apparently been known to steal things he finds interesting. Like, oh say, a sword forged without divinity that can cut all magic brought against it? Naturally, Harry will be mad. It will probably end poorly for Alec. And of course, there's no way in any version of Heaven, Hell, or any of the twisted planes in between, that Harry is going to get along with anyone who chooses to act like their being influenced by the Winter Mantle, of their own free will. IE, Marquis Sasha Voban. Plus, Harry is not the kind of person to bow and scrap, as anyone whose read any part of the Dresden Files knows. Not if he things you deserve it. And of course, he and Luo Hao are not going to get along, especially not with her whole "Might=Right" thing that she's based her entire morality and logic upon. And Salvatore Doni is, well, a dumbass. No getting around it, even if he's at Shirou's level of swordsmanship, when Shirou is fighting with the Sword(which in the RPG's terms is 7: Legendary. Not like, "My god that's amazing", but the level at which one starts composing ballads about after seeing it). He may get along with Godou(who just wants to have a normal life), Madame Aisha(who is actively friendly and helpful), and John Pluto Smith(who's goal in life is to save as many lives as possible. Harry may find John's methods more than a little ridiculous – Harry is a Battle Pragmatist and John is a superhero-but he'd respect his aims and can't really argue with the result). And of course, what kind of crossover between a pair of urban fantasies – in one of which everything enough people believe in/have heard about becomes true – without the character meeting the local versions of all the beings he's meet: Mab, Titania, Santa, Odin(who could very well be the same person in the Campione!verse as well as the Dresdenverse), the Erlking, Merlin, King Arthur(he's never meet those two, but he's held Arthur's sword and, and seen the Original Merlin's work – which is such advanced magic that from what BOB knows, it shouldn't be possible), perhaps a few dragons, valkyries, Hades, Skinwalkers, etc. Further plot: assuming Harry kills and/or grievously injures Alec for stealing the Warden Sword, thus leaving England vulnerable, Heretic God versions of the giants from Norse mythology descend and attack England. King Arthur descends to fight them off and save England, because that's part of his legend(Authorities: "Excalibur: the Sword of Victory",(powerful magical sword, at its highest level it can fire off a massive magical blast that can pretty much guarantees victory, but has a great many constrains: 1) can only be used against enemies more powerful than the user 2) the user must have already tried to defeat the enemy anyway 3) the battle must have been fought honorably by the user 4) it cannot be used against the innocent 5) it can only be used to protect the innocent 6) the user must be a just person 7) using it cannot break a promise of the user) "Knights of the Round Table"(allows the user to summon subordinate god versions of all the Knights of the Round Table, so long as they are not already incarnated in the mortal world, as well as 'knight' mortals, which has an affect similar to Godou's "Youth" Authority, however, these 'knighted' mortals do not have to remain loyal to the user, due to the fact that in his legend, King Arthur was betrayed by a number of his knights) "Caliburn: The Sword in the Stone"(a rather weak Authority the embodies Caliburn, the sword Arthur pulled from the stone. It allows for the manifestation of a divine sword, but has limited power due to the fact that it is often confused with Excalibur, and that it fell into desuse after Arthur obtained Excalibur, be it through simply forgetting it, shattering it, or trading it to the Lady of the Lake), "Iron Dragon"(allows Arthur to command preexisting dragons, despite being a God of Steel, and thus their natural enemy, and increases his power when performing draconic actions, such as protecting his territory, collecting treasure, etc. Based on the fact that "Pendragon" means "Chief Dragon". I've actually thought up an incantation for this one: "I am Pendragon! An Steel Dragon of Iron and Immense Power!". ). Other Authorities may include his hourse Llamei, his spear Rhongomiant, etc.) Because they are grievously outnumbered, King Arthur and Harry begrudgingly agree to work together to fight them. Harry decides to imbue Arthur with Soulfire to give him an edge. After killing the giants, Harry meets Arthur's eyes(as spirit beings, Heretic Gods logically don't have souls, and Harry has probably checked before)and a Soulgaze begins. Harry realizes he's given a Heretic God a bit of his soul, and has no idea what that means for the world, or how it will affect it, or Arthur(logically speaking, it would mean that Arthur wouldn't simply cease to exist if he was completely forgotten about, or lose his Authorities if those parts of him were forgotten about, or have his personality change with his legend. Also, he may be immune or resistant to what I call the Heresy: whatever it is that causes the gods to turn into Heretic Gods when they descend, thus forcing them to become massive assholes with monumental egos and absolutely no regard for human life whatsoever.) Also: principle to explore: in the Campione!verse, spells are cast by appealing to a deity. But when a deity descends, would all spells that rely upon that deity fail to work? What if that deity is slain by a Campione? If that god is completely forgotten, then what happens? How does that affect the local magic system? And, if a Campione usurps an Authority from a Heretic God, and then that god is completely forgotten, is the Campione's Authority destroyed as well? I've heard that a Heretic God isn't affected by changes in their legend until they die and return to it, does that hold true for the grimoires they create or their demigod children? Also, if Harry manages to replicate this, Heretic Gods will probably flock to him to demand or bargain for it. Another idea: Harry could try to create genus loci, because in the Campione!verse, any magic not reliant on the gods of the ancient and modern worlds would probably be much appreciated. Bob once compared the spirit to a plant, and the soul to the earth that plant was growing in. With his newly acquired boatload of magical power, and his soulfire, plus an Authority from a goddess of life(ish), he could probably pull it off. Tear a chunk of his soul off, spread it throughout the ground at a nexus of ley lines, and theoretically, a genus loci will eventually grow. It would probably work better if he gets any Authorities related to the creation of life. Especially if said Authority came from a god that supposedly created humans from clay. Like Prometheus, who I would like to note is the brother of Epimetheus, who is apparently the "father" of Campione. Just putting that out there.

Also, slight side note: anything enough people believe in eventually creates a god in the Campione!verse. There's a religion called "Jediism"(at least that's what I think it's called), and it's pretty much what it sounds like. Yes, Star Wars is famous enough to be a cult classic, which is a thing. Another is From Dust til Dawn. There are more Jediists in England than there are Jews. While Jews may be a minority, they're rather famous, and have been around for several thousand years. Yet they're outnumbered by the worshipers of a religion based on a movie series less than 4 decades old. Yes, I know it's a phenomenal series(I agree, it's awesome), but doesn't anyone else find that a bit odd? Moving on, who wants to see a Heretic God Darth Vader square off against a Campione Harry Dresden? Plus, a Campione's power with any given Authority is somewhat affected by their compatibility with whatever Authority they Usurped from the Heretic God they killed. Darth Vader and Harry are actually a lot alike. They both went dark side( Harry's dip into evil wasn't quite so deep, but he did sort of kill the woman he loved, start a war, wipe out a species, and use Black Magic for the people he loves, not necessarily in that order) out of love, they both joined ancient and powerful and malevolent organizations as they went dark side, they've both started wars, they've both wiped out species, both were missing a parent in their youth, etc. Perhaps as an OMAKE?

All I want is a mention in the AN that this was originally my idea, decent grammar, realistic dialogue (by anime standards), and for the writer to spell god with a lower case g when talking about deities not of monotheistic cosmologies. It's a name, people! When referring to the Father of Jesus/God of Abraham or other nameless monotheistic divinities, feel free to use "God". It's meant as a description, a substitute for a name, even a title! But when talking about oh say the Olympians or the Aesir( Norse gods), they are not "Gods". They are "gods". It just really sets off my inner grammar Nazi. That said, when someone says "Heretic God" or "God of Steel", it's meant as a title, so uppercase is fine, but other than that, please stick to the lowercase g.

If you have read all the way here, I apologize for making it into such a rant. I also apologize if I sounded condescending, pretentious, or overall assholeish. That was not my intention. I just really want there to be a story like this out there, and I don't have the ability to write it properly.