IN> Paradox

[William Keith]

> I'm now wondering if the NPC Habbalite of Fate in my next adventure can
> use some more subtle variation of the gentle murder paradox:
>
> If you murder someone, you should murder them gently
> If you should murder someone gently, you should murder them
> Therefore, if you murder someone, you should murder them

This only appears to be a paradox due to a flaw in natural language, by 
the way.  The transitory property is:

A implies B.
B implies C.
Therefore, A implies C.

But in interpreting the above paradox, the two instances of A aren't 
interpreted the same way.  The cognitive dissonance arises when people 
read it conceptually as the following (which is a non sequitur):

If you *have* to murder someone, you should murder them gently.
If you should murder someone gently, you should murder them.
Therefore, if you are murdering someone, you should be murdering them.

If read without mental interpolation, the transition is thus:

If you *have* to murder someone, you should murder them gently.
If you should murder someone gently, you should murder them.
Therefore, if you *have* to murder someone, you should murder them.

Which, of course, is true: necessity implies some reasons made 
something necessary.

IN Content!

Doxon
Seraph Vassal of Destiny
Angel of Paradox

      What is the sound of one Seraph clapping?

      Doxon works for Hamaliel, the Angel of Logic.  (So he is a Seraph 
of Destiny working under an Elohite who answers to Judgment and 
Lightning.)  Doxon is well trained in logic, mathematics, philosophy, 
linguistics, and psychology, and is working on picking up some 
neurology as he employs his considerable intellect to understand how 
the perfect truth he senses with his Resonance can give rise to so many 
seemingly intractable problems.

      Though it may seem a strange Word for a Seraph, Doxon considers 
Seraphim uniquely suited for the study of paradox: they can sense the 
Truth.  Since truth is by its nature free of paradox, resolving 
apparent paradoxes brings humans closer to truth, while irresolvable 
paradoxes of language and the like provide insights into the human 
viewpoint on the Symphony, tools that will serve Heaven well in 
interacting with God's special creations.  He spends almost as much 
time teaching other Seraphim how to handle the weird word games played 
by humans and demons as he does delicately guiding human philosophers.

      Doxon has the Divine Logic Attunement (if this exists in your 
game) and loves tactics of proof by contradiction.  When face to face 
with demonic manipulations, he likes to find the weak spot and poke it. 
  Able to sense paradox through his Word, he is highly sensitive to 
Balseraph resonances that are not completely true statements the 
Balseraph simply decided to force some obstinate target to believe.  In 
particular, he is completely immune himself!