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Old 10-14-2014, 01:01 PM   #1
Mancini
 
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Default Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

Does the seraphim resonance ever turn itself on? Seems like there are a lot of references through the books of 'TV is torture', 'seraphim can't work around politicians', etc. What I can't understand is why any sane angel would try to detect truth in those situations. And if they aren't, why would they be bothered? (Aside from basically going la la la I can't hear you if they get stuck in a press conference)

Also, can resonance be redirected? If a Seraph has their resonance focused on one person, can someone else come up and do a 'big enough lie' that it will be detected?

Thanks

Mancini
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Old 10-14-2014, 01:22 PM   #2
Dalillama
 
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

I suspect that in Heaven, a Seraph's resonance is always on, by default, and learning to turn it off sometimes is a big part of the learning curve for Earthbound Seraphim.
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Old 10-15-2014, 05:20 AM   #3
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

The way I GM it (other than "the party needs to know, so I'll slip this to the seraph") is that simple lies are picked up, but well thought out and carefully concealed lies require focus. So "I work for a secret government agency" is going to ping automatically on a store clerk, but "I earned my money the old-fashioned way" on a blue-collar criminal is slippery enough the seraph could miss it.
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Old 10-15-2014, 06:16 AM   #4
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mancini View Post
Does the seraphim resonance ever turn itself on?
Does the human sense of balance ever turn itself on?

It's part of what the being is, not a convenient super-power - it's always on. Making sense of it can be tricky, though (which is where the d666 roll comes in for the Seraphic resonance), and trying too hard can lead to headaches...

At least, that's how I understand resonances.
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Old 10-15-2014, 11:29 AM   #5
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

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Originally Posted by tHEhERETIC View Post
earned my money the old-fashioned way" on a blue-collar criminal is slippery enough the seraph could miss it.
Besides, it's true; graft and theivery are very traditional ways to get by. (Did you mean white-collar criminal, btw?)
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Old 10-15-2014, 03:45 PM   #6
tHEhERETIC
 
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

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Originally Posted by Dalillama View Post
Besides, it's true; graft and theivery are very traditional ways to get by. (Did you mean white-collar criminal, btw?)
Yep, I did. Not sure why I got that wrong.
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Old 10-16-2014, 12:09 PM   #7
fwcain
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

Please forgive the tangent. When I read about "the old-fashioned way" versus inexperienced seraphim, I immediately visualized the following exchange, and just had to inflict -- er, share -- it with you all...

"I made my money the old-fashioned way," says the now-refined former white-collar crook, with excess smugness.

The young seraphim, on his first corporeal mission, thinks about this for a moment. "...Were you prettier, when you were younger?"

"ExCUSE me?!?"

"Well, it's just that you said you made your fortune the old-fashioned way, and I remember hearing that prostitution is the world's oldest profession, and, to be fair, you're not all that attractive, physically at least, although it's not impossible you could be eloquent and witty enough to overcome that..."

*(and hilarity ensues!!)*

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Old 10-16-2014, 02:58 PM   #8
William
 
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mancini View Post
Does the seraphim resonance ever turn itself on? Seems like there are a lot of references through the books of 'TV is torture', 'seraphim can't work around politicians', etc. What I can't understand is why any sane angel would try to detect truth in those situations.
Because they have a superpower that reveals the nature of truth to them. Wouldn't you use it at the drop of a hat, even if it often freaked you out with what you found? Especially if you had grown up doing so all the time, and whenever you did you found out that the people you were using it on were basically nice people?

Quote:
Also, can resonance be redirected? If a Seraph has their resonance focused on one person, can someone else come up and do a 'big enough lie' that it will be detected?
IIRC, once on it stays on for a while, so there's also that. You might resonate a toddler's babbling, give them what they were looking for, and a few minutes later someone comes up and lies to you and you can't avoid hearing it.
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Old 10-16-2014, 04:37 PM   #9
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

You know, I've always run it by rules-as-written, but I've always liked the fiction better. I've been playing so much Fate lately that it's easy for me now to think of it in terms of that system, where their resonance is an "always true" aspect of their character, but you can invoke it now and then to make it work even better.

(That said, if you want to run it with rules-as-written, you can explain the "TV is torture" line and the like by saying they're not resonating, it's just the blatant obviousness of lies on TV that really drives them nuts. It's like, an architect would need to take a longer look at a building with a decent facade before knowing how solidly built it is, but any just glancing at a crumbling treehouse must drive them nuts.)
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Old 10-19-2014, 02:45 PM   #10
Archangel Beth
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Default Re: Seraphim resonance and auto-activate?

*nod* Playing RAW, you basically get:

1: Seraphim who see obvious lies get really freaked out by it. (Remember, they grew up in Heaven, where "this is fiction" coats every storyteller's line.) The example of an architect is a good one.

2: Assume that a Seraph -- who generally grew up in Heaven -- doesn't understand something for some reason. What will the Seraph do? There's no chance of an Infernal Intervention in Heaven... Need to figure out what "I need a snrfl-wrench" means? Resonate! Hey, you might get really in-tune and the Symphony will tell you the TRUTH! (Check digit 6.)

As one can imagine, the result they get can be highly offensive to their truth-defined psyches, depending on what was baffling them.


That said, one wonders if Seraphim tend to hope that they'll get "and this reads this way/someone said that because they were misinformed." I would imagine that the quality of the irritation, to the Seraph, would be somewhat different if it were a mistake, not a deliberate lie. (Then the Seraph could enlighten the misinformed person! Yay! ...till they discover that the person in question may have emotional investment in believing the untruth, and then you get a really upset Seraph again.)
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