Innocence

An innocent refers to a human who is not aware of the supernatural.<ref name=":0">“I do have a family,” Fell told Rose. “Conquest might try to use them against me as leverage.”

Family. Did that mean allies? “Can I ask who they are, or is it too personal?”

“You can ask. My niece hasn’t been inducted into this world yet. She benefits from the protections of innocence, and she’s in capable hands, but I’d still like to be sure.” - excerpt from Subordination 6.9 </ref><ref name=":1">“This will go more smoothly with her here. Everyone will have to carefully choose their words, and nobody will pull out weapons with a relative innocent in the way. Peace, after a fashion.”

Because cluing her into the world behind the curtain means taking on some responsibility for whatever happens to her.

[...]

Our meeting would take place with innocents in the room. Say the wrong thing, or use powers in an obvious, aggressive way, and we risked becoming responsible for those same innocents. - excerpt from Void 7.9 </ref><ref>He had putting her in a situation where she couldn’t chase him. Where she was sufficiently distracted, pinned down in Jacob’s Bell, unable to leave out of concern that he would return, or that her fathers would fall prey to the goblins.

They weren’t quite innocent of Other things, but they did have protections.

She had to wonder if it was enough. - excerpt from Signature 8.3 </ref> The term is sometimes used for anyone who hasn't undergone Awakening, even those who know about magic's existence such as a Blackguard.<ref>I want a non-practitioner. There are benefits to having you with us, as a relatively innocent human. - excerpt from Judgement 16.4</ref><ref name=":2">“I’m gonna step out, then,” Priss said. “Keep my eyes virgin and innocent.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Goosh? Joel? Go with her. She’s your model. Get advice from her on being the designated liar, what you can do, what you can’t, what to stay away from, and when to step in.” - excerpt from Subordination 6.2 </ref>

Protections of Innocence

As part of the Seal of Solomon,<ref name=":3">“I did. The trick is to realize your strengths. We’re newcomers. The Solomon whatsit doesn’t apply. We have access to anyone we want to go after, innocent or otherwise, see?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that.”

“Far more,” he said. “Far, far more. Usual protections might not apply, but the universe will protect innocents in a roundabout way.

“Something like that,” I said.

[...]

Innocents have some protections, the universe will contrive to shield them, but if you can leave a lasting mark, that’s worth a fair bit.”- excerpt from Mala Fide 10.2 </ref> and possibly other centuries-old bargains,<ref>Men, women, children. Humanity. We’re beating back the Others. [...] We’re reveling in a culture of relative innocence, and longstanding agreements put in place centuries ago protect people. - excerpt from Signature 8.7</ref> unawakened humans are protected and shielded from the "true" nature of the world.

Over time, karma has reinforced this rule to the level of a natural law. The universe will try and contrive to shield innocents, even from Others who aren't bound by the Seal of Solomon.<ref name=":3" />

Anyone who clues an innocent in on the existence of magic takes some responsibility for them.<ref name=":1" />

Limits

The effects of innocence are severely weakened in the Abyss.<ref>“You can hear me?” Evan asked.

“Different rules,” I told Evan. “Less layers separating you and them. Besides, I don’t know how much innocence you hold onto, here.” - excerpt from Duress 12.5 </ref>

Many Others, such as Dragons, Giants, and the Eye, were quite capable of killing the unawakened through sheer destructiveness.<ref name=":4">“Oh, great,” Peter said. “Innocents are protected, they say. It’s good to have some innocents along. Innocents are harder to affect with magic. You aren’t entirely magical, but you should go along. You’ll help the group just by being there, an extra set of skills. What happens in the first half hour? Dragon, giant, now falling trees. Are we protected? Noooo.”

“This is natural,” Tiff said. “But it’s hers, in a way that very few things are anyone’s nowadays.” - excerpt from Sine Die 14.5 </ref><ref>The Eye didn’t give me a chance for a sudden rescue. He touched the car before I could grab the driver and pull her out of the window.

The gutted underbelly had leaked gas, against all odds, and the Eye had ignited it.
The rolling eruption of flame knocked me over. I could hear the screams. The driver and many of the bystanders who’d tried to help were

caught, and onlookers experienced pain of another sort. Horror. - excerpt from Subordination 6.7  </ref>

Innocents are not protected from purely natural phenomena that had been shaped by Others or Practitioners, such as Crone Mara's forest which had been pruned over centuries to form a death-trap.<ref name=":4" />

Exiled Faerie were forbidden from attacking innocents directly, but not from giving them magical "gifts".<ref name=":5">She was pretty certain that presents and boons like the ones Keller was giving out were traps. That they’d be wonderful and fantastic up until the point that things turned sour. Maybe they became too much of a good thing, maybe there was a rule that had to be followed, with some horrific backlash if it wasn’t. Maybe there was a catch.

Exiled Faerie weren’t allowed to go after innocents, not directly. But, Maggie was fairly certain, they weren’t forbidden from doing something like giving a kid a flute that would summon a sprite to do their chores for them, with the caveat that the sprite would blind them if they ever tried to watch it while it worked.

End result? The kid would be stupid, the sprite would eat the kid’s eyes. People, the kid included, would rationalize it away as an accident, an infection, or just a freak occurrence. Life would go on as

normal, and the local Faeries-in-exile got their jollies without 

breaking the rules. - excerpt from Signature 8.2 </ref>

Drawbacks of Innocence

Innocents are blinded from a number of supernatural phenomena. They can't see people who are falling through the cracks,<ref>The blast was deafening in the relative quiet. She wondered if her lack of presence in the world would keep people from paying attention, or if they’d catch the shotgun blast all the same, but find themselves unable to place it.

They were ignorant and innocent, whatever the case. - excerpt from Signature 8.7 </ref> hear familiars talk,<ref name=":6">“I came back, kind of!” Evan said.

“The bird mo- he came back,” Green Eyes translated from ‘can’t be heard by innocents’. - excerpt from Duress 12.4 </ref> see creatures in the mirror world, etc.

Much of this is a result of not being Awakened and so applies even once a person is informed the supernatural exists.<ref name=":6" />

Innocents also have a tendency to rationalise and forget supernatural occurences.<ref name=":5" />

Examples

The Feorgbolds sent by the Briar Girl hunted Blake but did not pursue him when he fled into a gas station full of people.<ref>Was that a rule, here? No monsters after sunrise, or no monsters when others could see? - Excerpt from Bonds 1.2</ref>

Fell hoped that Conquest would leave his niece out of their conflict because she was an innocent and therefore protected, but wasn't sure.<ref name=":0" />

Midge's rampage in the spirit world was interpreted through innocence.<ref>As a group, Fell, Rose, Maggie and I stopped by a store display. Televisions played, showing surveillance camera footage and cell phone video. A crazy obese woman in the middle of a city street, flinging glass at fleeing shoppers. The news caption on the bottom read ‘Drug-fueled rampage?’

The pattern was the same, the path she took, amid cars that had stopped in the middle of the street.

Until she was gunned down. In the same spot where Rose had banished Midge.

We watched as the screen changed over. Changing topics. Arson, fires throughout the city. Car accidents. Property damage. Deaths. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.8</ref>

Isadora brought Paige to a meeting to force people to watch their words around her and refrain from violence.<ref name=":1" />

Blake noted that the innocent Thorburns would provide complications for their enemies while they were in the Thorburn House.<ref>Stay out of the way of the innocents on the ground floor, and the one we’ve got in the bedroom across from you. They’re… complications for the enemy. - excerpt from Histories (Arc 11)</ref><ref>“Well,” I said. “As last-minute defenses go, filling the house with innocents, if that even works for these guys, it’ll slow down a lot of the stuff they could throw at us.” - excerpt from Malfeasance 11.6</ref>

The presence of sleeping innocents anchored Jacob's Bell in reality while it was trying to slide into the Abyss. However they would "suddenly decide" to evaccuate as soon as they woke up.<ref>Jacob’s Bell is on the way down. The only thing keeping it here are the innocents, snug in their beds. No innocents in this house, so nothing to keep it up.

Now, if I don’t keep the locals from suddenly deciding to evacuate this
town, which they will, shortly after waking up, Jacob’s Bell is going 

to become a new attraction in the Abyss, complete with a spiteful lesser

god and a perpetually tolling bell. - excerpt from Sine Die 14.1</ref>

Witch Hunters<ref>*One Nightmare-type monster was invading dreams. Targeting normals. Not affiliated with Johannes or Sandra. Found wandering the streets in a human guise, spotted through the trickery with innocence, cut down with katana. - Excerpt from Interlude 10</ref> and Blackguards recieve training on how to use Innocence to their advantage. Unlike supernatural beings, they could kill innocents without consequence,<ref>“If they don’t kill the others,” Ty said. “Because Witch Hunters can kill people. Even innocents.” - excerpt from Malfeasance 11.7</ref> ignore supernatural edicts such as the enforced neutrality around Jacob's Bell council meetings, and enter warded Demesnes without issue.<ref>We turned down that street, and were soon joined by Andy and Eva.  <br>The witch hunters.<br>

“I assume they aren’t bound by any neutrality rules,” I said.<br>

“No,” Laird said.  “But if they wanted to kill you, they could enter your home and murder you in their sleep.” - excerpt from Damages 2.1 </ref> They had some resistance to effects that altered memory.<ref>When I asked Eva, Eva reminded me of the techniques we learned.  Right off the bat, she found the discrepancy.<br>

When we ask, “How did Rose manage?”, we struggle to answer.<br>

When we ask, “How did the second Thorburn heir manage?” we can mutually agree that the heir was almost eerily in step with this world.<br>

As witch hunters, free of any vows or ties to the world the monsters and practitioners inhabit, we’re protected against the trickery.  A measure of innocence can challenge that reality, and clearly see the emperor without his clothes. - excerpt from Gathered Pages (Arc 10) </ref> Some Blackguards would deliberately avoid watching supernatural things to keep their eyes innocent.<ref name=":2" />

Childhood Innocence

The ability of young children to see through certain magical illusions is also sometimes referred to as "innocence".<ref>“Careful, my lad,” the bogeyman said, clapping a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the boy said.

Then the boy looked up, and his eyes widened in fear.

The boy was still young enough to be innocent, it seemed.

No matter. The boy was already running away, releasing only a small, incoherent, frightened noise before he was gone from view. - excerpt from 5.x (Histories) </ref><ref>Roxanne raised her eyes. I might have thought she was young enough to be innocent, but she looked right past me. At most, I might’ve been an odd shadow she wouldn’t notice unless she was looking for it.

James, at fourteen, was two years Roxanne’s senior. He saw me.

Why the difference? Was it that James was quieter, more studious, less exposed to the ugliness of the world? Or was it that James had never truly grown up or defined himself outside of the shadow of his parents and their desires? - excerpt from Malfeasance 11.6 </ref> Innocent children are sometimes attractive to Demons, and so useful in summoning them.<ref>Should another practitioner need to bait him again, know that this author used [...] an innocent and a virgin in the form of a one year old innocent, placed at the height of the pile. For more on the reasoning behind this methodology, please see my other work, Dark Contracts, chapter four.

This author cannot say whether he was attracted to the virgin aspect or the innocent, but this author was nonetheless happy to have an option at hand to serve both purposes. The

child was unharmed and largely unaware of what occurred. - excerpt from Bonds 1.7

</ref>

It's unclear if this type of innocence has anny connection to the "innocence" of uninitiated humans.

References

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