Magnifying disturbance

[Rocket Man]

How far away does one disturbance have to be from another to avoid "magnifying?"

The situation arose in our game the other night. A Malakite had engaged with and killed four human muggers, getting badly wounded in the process. This happened roughly across the street from the condo where a local Cherub of Protection lives (and where the Malakite had originally been heading). The Malakite and the disturbance reached the Cherub at roughly the same time.

The Cherub healed the wound, of course. It was still within the time frame of the echoes. But was it far enough away to keep from adding to those echoes itself?

Keep in mind:

1) That this was separated by the width of a modern city street, both sidewalks, any landscaping on either side, and pretty much the width of the house. (The Malakite had circled around and come in a window in the back, so everything was about as far from the front door as it could be.)

2) That the healing disturbance was caused by a different being than the one who created the killing disturbance. (Pretty sure that doesn't matter, but I thought I'd bring it up in case it squares with anyone's theories.)

Thoughts, theories?

[JCD]

Okay

If Able and Baker were in a football field, side by side throwing Songs against
Clod and Dmitri, you wouldn't suggest that 'different people' would make a difference. So that really isn't a factor; Range and Time are.

Just off hand. I would say if within the first range of echos (i.e. within the distance the first -1 from the Disturbance occurs) would be the 'reverb' range and one tenth the 'echo' time if it is heard. But that is very math intensive.

Call it two yards per point of Disturbance and 10 seconds per for a quick gouge?

[Acolyte]

The core's wording is pretty vague: "close in time and space."

Given the gravity of four human deaths (that's four ripples, each successively louder than the previous one, and if the angel's blows weren't all mortal ones there could be even more ripples carrying a human-death strength disturbance), I'd say that we were well within "reverb" range--and that would turn the relatively simple Song of Healing into a disturbance that encompassed a few human deaths.

Even my Perception-low Ethereal, or that human next door, couldn't've missed out on that.

[Rocket Man]

Both the answers sound reasonable. Where I hesitate is in the idea that any new Disturbance in echo range of the last one automatically acts as a magnifier. Taken to an extreme, most of the Earth -- or at least most of the population centers -- would be nothing but one loud continuous noise, as the progressively wider echoes kept catching new minor Disturbances and growing ever louder.

At some point, it seems, small sounds must simply get "drowned out" in order for peace to resume. Do we perhaps need an upper range for Disturbance, louder than which you simply cannot get?

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

At some point, it seems, small sounds must simply get "drowned out" in order for peace to resume. Do we perhaps need an upper range for Disturbance, louder than which you simply cannot get?

Can you hear the Thunder?

Why any Virtue of War or Lightning would fail to use this is beyond me.

[tHEhERETIC]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Taken to an extreme, most of the Earth -- or at least most of the population centers -- would be nothing but one loud continuous noise, as the progressively wider echoes kept catching new minor Disturbances and growing ever louder.

While I wasn't consciously aware of the Disturbance rules (whacks knuckles with ruler) this was the assumption I've been going one. I have one character who likes to stay off the mainland precisely because it's the only place to get any Symphonic peace and quiet.

However, to serve plot purposes I also allowed that a really huge Disturbance in L. A. was heard on Oahu, in part because of this relative silence. I also figured that without Oannes and Vephar, the oceans would act like stone walls, echoing the noise across the waters. Mind you, that was a back-engineered thought--I just needed a character on Oahu to hear a disturbance in L.A.

[Acolyte]

I think the limiting factor is the extreme rarity of celestials on Earth in canon IN that prevents constant disturbance. Sure, LA is ALWAYS going to be loud with that many demons whomping about, but you wouldn't need to get too far out of the city to escape that--just over the mountains to the North, in the desert, I imagine it would be very quiet indeed. Only major metropoli are likely to have regular disturbance.

...plot hooks aside, of course.

[Rocket Man]

Hmmm ... if the time comes to GM myself, I may just have to try out a house rule.

Dramatic Echoes: When a celestial creates disturbance, echoes are determined by the "scene of the action." A Malakite killing a second human in a park just after dispatching a first one in the same battle re-echoes the noise as in canon; but a Mercurian who's in a house across the street using Divine Destiny to puzzle out someone's future is part of a different "scene" and creates only the usual small whisper in the Symphony. This will often require a GM call as to what disturbances are or aren't part of a particular scene!

Duration of the disturbance and echoes remains the same as in canon, as does the range at which the disturbance is heard. This means it's quite possible for a celestial to hear a Symphonic noise without adding to it personally.

[Archangel Beth]

*beth looks shiftyeyed* Personally, I'd always do Dramatic Echos. Here's my handwavium about why, too! If something is "localized" by Symphonic themes (of violence, of proximity, of whatever the GM feels is thematically appropriate), then only things associated with those little sub-themes (or the jangling thereof) add.