[theories] Where does dissonance come from?

[Jason]

Yeah, I suppose that "it depends" and "it's up to the GM" probably represent the wise consensus. Thanks to all for the thoughtful replies.

It would be very neat and tidy if the answer were that dissonance for angels comes from breaking the rules of the Symphony, and dissonance for demons comes from breaking the rules of the self ... but as we see in the above examples, that doesn't make sense for Seraphim speaking (sincere) untruths or Malakim avoiding dissonance for letting evils to live that they don't know about. I think there are even ways of understanding the Cherubim condition as "internal" (e.g., they immediately know when an attuned target is destroyed, and this knowledge is what causes the dissonance, not the other way around).

I think I may cut Kyriotates without the Destiny attunement some slack along these lines, especially as I didn't allow any of my PCs to purchase servants at character creation. I can't imagine a situation in which blacking out for a while wouldn't leave an ignorant mundane in "worse condition" if for no other reason that they might now be worried that they need to see a doctor about it.