Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

Person A is about to kill B. A Mercurian with a gun chooses to shoot A in order to keep them from killing B. The Mercurian gets a note of dissonance regardless. But does it make a difference in the reaction of the Superior whether A was hellsworn? Does it make a diffference if B was a Malakite (so that all that happens is that B comes back in another vessel 15 minutes later) or if B was another type of Angel (so Trauma)...

I guess Yves cares whether person A had reached their fate/destiny, but I'm not sure how much other Superiors would.

Re: Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

I think the larger question here is, "Does context matter when an angel earns dissonance?" And I think the answer is yes – so much so, in fact, that I'd consider even more contextual variables than the ones raised here.

If it's a mundane human, ignorant of the War, leveling a gun at a Malakite of Flowers, then yeah, I suspect the Superior(s) involved wouldn't be too keen on a Mercurian opening fire (and the Malakite might even be a bit peevish herself). If it's a mundane leveling a gun at a Malakite of War (serving the Angel of Spies) in a Role that took years to build ... or if it's a Malakite of Faith who can't come back in that vessel without tipping off the shooter that angels or real ... or if it's a it's a Malakite of Protection who simply doesn't have time to get a new vessel approved before jetting off to save a dozen other people ... you get the idea.

That said, while I can see an Archangel being especially sensitive to "the big picture" (and altering their mood about the thing accordingly), the real issue in the Archangel's eyes probably wouldn't be "was the Mercurian looking at the big picture" so much as "was the Mercurian true to its own nature?" If a Mercurian harms a human because that's the only way to prevent harm to come to "the good guys," that is arguably in keeping with the Mercurian nature. If alternatives were obvious, that is worrisome. And if this is not the first time the Mercurian has injured a human, that raises red flags.

Re: Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

For most Superiors, and in most circumstances, I would say that Mercurian should not shoot a mortal to protect any angel; body check maybe, but if B stops a bullet in the course of their duties, that's a hazard of corporeal service. If B is another human, then there's a lot more nuance, involving who B is, why A is going to shoot them, and why the mercurian is carrying a gun in the first place (there are reasons why a mercurian would carry a gun, but most do not, for obvious reasons).

Re: Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

I got the impression from laurences superior book, that if it shoult turn out, that he had hemmed in a servitor with overly cumbersome, obstructive, or impossible orders, Laurence will apolagize to the Servitor, and remove any dissonance they incurred.

no its not on mercurians, but its "how the superiors respond"

Re: Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

I suspect many Superiors would ask "why didn't you jump in front of the bullet instead of shooting the human?"

There can be some perfectly good answers to that question (for example, "they were too far away for me to be able to do that"), but it would subtly remind the Mercurian that he's supposed to be looking for non-lethal solutions to this sort of problem... at least, non-lethal for the human.

Re: Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

And a good Mercurian would probably be asking himself that question as well. I try to remind myself that dissonant behavior, to an angel, is about as disgusting and unthinkable as incest would be to a human.

Re: Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

Yes, it's hard to remember that it is an alien mindset. What would make sense to us has little bearing on what would make sense to them. It's also one of the big selling points on why IN SJG is fun and challenging RPG.

To Mercurians, violence by their own hands is a last resort, so distasteful as to actually shake them to their core (dissonance). They begin to lose a bit of the confidence that structures their angelic nature. Their world view resolve is being challenged and that's making them soul sick. It's like nausea and panic and shock... and they have to live with it.

So yeah, what Rocket Man suggests is not out of bounds for comparison. That, or murder, or torture, or anything that makes us pause and stammer "I'd rather not talk, or even think of that!" is on the level of what is dissonance. It's core value, absolute boundaries stuff we're talking about. Just about any other alternative preferable.

Re: Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

OP here: In this scenario, A&B are very close together, the Mercurian is *much* farther away.

Re: Mercurians and killing to save others.
 

Then they can explain that when the inevitable question comes up - granted it is a *very* good reason to not just jump in the way.

It all depends on who/what B is, how deserving of protection they are - but in few cases, if any, will the Mercurian get off scot free. Even if B is another human, Mercurian dissonance specifically does not extend to letting humans die through inaction, or even to telling your Malakite bodyguard to do the honours, so B had better be an important human for you to make that call. Or A a particularly unimportant one, such as a Hellsworn or a zombie.