The Laws of Magic and the Soul

• First: Never take a life.
• Second: Never transform another.
• Third: Never invade the thoughts of another.
• Fourth: Never Enthrall another.
• Fifth: Never reach beyond the borders of life.
• Sixth: Never swim against the currents of time.
• Seventh: Never seek knowledge and power from beyond the outer gates.

Breaking the first four laws always stains the soul. Breaking the the 5th and 7th laws violate the natural order of things, but can in some circumstances also stain the soul. The White Council always assumes that violating the 5th and 7th has gone far enough to stain the soul, or that it will eventually. Breaking the 6th law doesn't stain the soul but causes so many problems that it might as well as far as the council is concerned. Breaking the 6th law always breaks the natural order of things.

Who is subject to the Laws?

This question really has two parts, whose soul gets marked by Lawbreaking acts, and whom do the Wardens hunt down and punish.

Creatures with Souls
Any creature with a soul is subject to the metaphysical laws Only things born as mortals have a soul. Souls can be lost, given up, or subverted to the will of another being. In game terms those things which do have souls are Mortal Practitioners, Mortals, Scions (The first Merlin was a half-demon, scions are mortal and have souls), Changelings (before choosing to be faeries or after choosing to be mortals), People of Faith (they also answerable to a more stringent set of rules), Classic Werewolves, Hexen Wolves, Lycanthropes, White Court Vampires and Virgins, Red Court Infected and The Summer and Winter Knights. There might also be some strange things which count as having souls, intelligent zombies (ie a wizard cursed to reside in an undead body) but those exceptions are for a GM to rule on.

Creatures without Souls
The following creatures do NOT have souls and are not subject to the metaphysical laws: Demons, Dragons, Faeries, Ghosts, Ghouls, Gods, Hecatean Hags, Old Ones, Outsiders, Spirits, Full Red Court Vampires, Black Court Vampires, Warped Animals, Valkyries, Zombies, and Wolfweres.

A few things deserve mention:

• Constructs: generally do not have a soul but someone could put one in a construct to power it. If the soul is not enthralled it could be responsible for violating the laws.
• Thralls: have souls but are no longer responsible for their actions.
• Loup-garou: have souls but the soul is completely subverted when in werewolf form to a demon. Actions taken by the werewolf do not stain the soul.
• Angels and The Fallen. Bob states that angels are only made of soul material. This suggests they can be soulgazed, and become tainted. By extension the Fallen as former angels are the same.
• Denarians: The Fallen of the coin may not have a soul but the host does. It may be subverted to the will of the Fallen or cooperating with it either way its probably irredeemable. Actions taken by a Fallen alone do not stain the hosts soul, but actions taken by a cooperating host do. Don't worry about it, they signed the Accords and aren't subject to the White Council for Lawbreaking anyway.

In the end the Unseelie Accords, the Council itself and politics determine who are subject to the Council. A few creatures whom at first glance might be under the Council's authority may or may not be. A good example is Dresden himself once he becomes the Winter Knight. Becoming the Winter Knight doesn't mean he loses his soul, or leaves the White Council, it just puts another player in the game, the Winter Court. If Dresden breaks a Law it stains his soul, and the Wardens probably come after him, unless the Winter Court steps in and protects him and causes a political fight.

Outside the Council's Authority
Not being subject to the Councils authority doesn't mean a character can break the laws, it just means its not the Council's job to enforce them, unless of course the Wardens think they can get away with it. A character also cant just claim immunity from the Council. Think about the factions as countries metaphor, a person must be the citizen of some country, even if they don't like the country. In order to cease being a citizen of one country a person must become a citizen of another. Yes I know there are some exceptions, they are homeless and living in airports, that is not a game option.

Taking Lawbreaker

Only those characters which meet the requirements of having a soul, and being under the Council's authority (even if its questionable) can take Lawbreaker stunts. In game terms the cost of the stunt (-1 refresh) for a +1 across the board bonus is too cheap, especially when stacked with other specializations and refinements unless the Wardens are looking for the character. Doing something to completely remove a character from the Councils authority (like becoming a Denarians) voids any Lawbreaker stunts the character might have.

Getting screwed without the bonus

A character doesn't have to actually get credit for the Lawbreaker stunt for the Council to come after them. The Council can do it even if the character is not guilty or cant take the stunt for some other reason. If a

Specific Notes on the Laws

• First: Never take a life You've taken a life with the use of magic, turning a little bit of your soul dark. This should be the easiest one to comprehend. THOU SHALT NOT KILL. Intent matters, if a character tries to kill someone but circumstances interrupt and the victim dies some other way the character still gets a stain. If a character tries to kill and the victim escapes but the character doesn't know it they still get stained, because the intent was there. If a character unintentionally kills they still get stained. If a character unintentionally kills but doesn't know about it, they still get stained (but only the GM may know). In all cases when the Wardens hear about it they will come looking for the character.

  Taking life applies to anything with a soul. That isn't to say killing something without a soul doesn't stain, its just not covered by the Laws of Magic.

• Second: Never transform another. Willing or not changing someone else's form is a no no. A character can restore someone to their natural form, they are ending a spell/curse not casting a new one.
• Third: Never invade the thoughts of another. Don't read minds, don't look for things in peoples heads, even with permission. No White Council Wizard in the books breaks this law. They look for magical tampering from the outside they don't go digging through thoughts and memories, or they soulgaze which is OK since its a shared experience.
• Fourth: Never enthrall another. Even with good intentions. Breaking someone to your will is evil no matter why. It leaves mental and magical scars that can been seen with the Sight. Even if the character has permission it does bad things to the victim and the characters mind. The victim doesn't even have to have a soul. Enthralling demons and faeries is just as bad for a character as enthralling family members.
• Fifth: Never reach beyond the borders of life. This even counts for what Koumari does, the dead can't back to life with magic without violating this. This only applies to creatures with souls. Bringing back a dinosaur isn't a violation of the Law but the White Council doesn't really want that to get out and might enforce such actions as if the broke the law anyway.
• Sixth: Never swim against the currents of time. Don't go into the past. Peering into the future is OK, it might not come to pass.
• Seventh: Never seek knowledge and power from beyond the outer gates. Only people with souls can even attempt this anyway.