Hypnosis Q&A Post

[atrabilis]

Welcome to Dreamwidth, my dear Damned denizens! This post should be familiar in its contents if you've been a player back in LiveJournal so free feel to ignore this if you've already answered (you can check here if you did). If you are new or have some addendum, please take the time to fill out this questionnaire; it would help me greatly.

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atrabilis has the ability to hypnotize and control the minds of others by using his voice as a medium and his will as a propellant. He can command another to do a specific action or input suggestions into the person's thoughts with simple speech. Usually this power applies to everyone, but in Landel's, it has, as expected, been reduced.

This power will not work on the following: Landel's staff and monsters, strong-willed individuals, or those who cannot hear/understand or obstruct their hearing in some way.

For weak-willed patients, particularly those who show signs of dependency or easy sway, on the other hand, Nigredo will be able to make "strong suggestions" to. What this means is that the listener will want to do or think as he says (but not necessarily follow through).

Of course, the line between "strong" and "weak" (among other things) is difficult to determine, especially when it comes to such a varied populace. Therefore, I request the following from you, good players:

(1) Is there anything (mental guards, language barriers, handicaps) which would prevent his power from succeeding?

(2) How "strong" is your character's will? If your character is independent, relies on the self, is not easily influenced by anyone, etc., they will likely escape his power of suggestion.

(3) Is your character particularly dependent on another? Who are they dependent on? How is this relationship?

Please keep in mind that Nigredo is normally adverse to this power, and unless he hates your guts, he would only use hypnosis as a last resort (e.g., save his or someone else's life). Therefore, if your character does fit the "weak" criteria but you the player don't want them affected, we can always avoid the hypnosis route. Also, for your reference, here is an IC example of hypnosis in use.

That should be everything. Thank you for your input!

Comments

[complicatedliar]

For Loki:

1) Loki's a pretty badass magician, so there might be something that goes along with that helping him out.

2) Exceptionally strong-willed, self-contained, doesn't rely on anyone else, etc. Despite being totally crazypants.

3) Nope.


Renji:

1) Not as such. Shinigami can get hypnotized like everyone else.

2) I'd say Renji's got a pretty strong will on him. The man is like the freaking Energizer Bunny in a fight, and he's ridiculously stubborn. That said, he's probably easy to manipulate when it's on a matter he doesn't have a firm opinion about, so that might translate to this.

3) He used to be really dependent on Rukia when they were kids, but he had to stop that once they became shinigami. So probably not so much any more.

[a_sin_for_him]

Lust

1) No
2) Lust is a pretty strong willed character, and at this point not easily influenced at all.
3) Nope!

Tolten

1) No
2) Not exactly strong willed. He's very easily led and very easily manipulated.
3) Not so much now, but Tolten has a history of relying on other people for basically everything, even his own self-worth.

[court]

Reposting and adding one character!

Sora has a pretty strong will - he has things that he believes in strongly, and he's been through a lot that has tested his limits and also strengthened him. I think he'd probably be able to resist, though it could depend on what was being suggested to him. However, he is very dependent on Kairi or Riku - or, not necessarily dependent, but they are weak spots.

I would say that Guy would be susceptible to this power. He's had a lot of doubts that he's struggled with in the past, for one thing. While he's more or less decided on what he's doing now, he still thinks about it. On top of that, he had the Curse Slot used against him, which was all about controlling him. So go wild here. ♥

Harvey is stubborn/strong-willed as they come, to be honest. And on top of that he isn't dependent on anyone, but he is dependent on his coin now. He relies on it for particularly important decisions and whatnot, so yes.

Castiel probably has some sort of guard against this because he's an angel, and on top of that, he's very strong-willed. He isn't particularly dependent on anyone, either, so he'd probably be closed off to this sort of influence.

[tasteoftruth]

2) Badd is very headstrong and independent, so probably not.

Okita Souji, Aoyagi Ritsuka, Japan

[osoreirimasu]

Reposting and adding characters!

Okita Souji
1. Nothing that should stop it, no.
2. Okita appears strong-willed, but he's only strong when devoted to the cause of another. He is actually fairly weak willed when it comes to things regarding himself, but once given a direction or someone he thinks is worth following, he'll devote himself wholeheartedly and never waver.
3. Hijikata Toshizou (in the Institute) and Kondou Isami (not in the game). They both act as the anchors in his life, Kondou being like a brother while Hijikata is both the reason Okita is in the Shinsengumi and his best friend and pseudo-mentor.

Aoyagi Ritsuka
1. Nothing that I'm aware of.
2. He's strong willed and stubborn when he wants to be and tries not to let doubt eat him away, but he's still just a child and other than his pacifism, he's easily swayed by affection.
3. He was once dependent on his brother, Seimei, but now he mostly relies on Agatsuma Soubi (not in game). Soubi is his Fighter, and their relationship is and odd mix of partnership and dependence, but Ritsuka is much more self-sufficient than Soubi is.

Japan
1. Nothing from canon, although Japan has the wills and minds of the entire Japanese populace balled up inside him, so it might feel a bit strange. He's also heavily noted in canon as being difficult to read.
2. Recently, Japan relies on and just goes with whatever America is saying. His will is strong when it comes to protecting his people, but his ability to say his own opinion is pretty much nil. Although he seems easily bullied into agreeing with whatever America says, he's also one of the few nations shown to go against what his bosses say in order to exercise his own judgment in foreign policy.
3. America... And he basically just does whatever America says since the bigger nation is now responsible for a good deal of Japan's trade and protection against foreign aggressors.

[dividedby]

I've filled this out before for both of my characters, but I'm going to go ahead and repost/redo my answers here. I've been wanting to check them over and update them, anyway. XD

Also, apologizing in advance for the TL;DR....*cough*

For Byrne Faraday...
1. Nope, nothing!
2. Byrne's pretty strong willed, especially when he's determined or really pissed off. He would also never harm someone just because he was told to. However, canon proved that he can be subtly manipulated by a person he trusts. The stronger the bond, the more influence a person has over him - and admittedly, it's not difficult to get on his good side. If someone were to earn Byrne's trust and then gently prod him in a way that made him think he's doing the right thing, then they'd be able to control him fairly easily.
3. He's capable of being independent, but he does have two people in particular that he's somewhat dependent on. There's Tyrell Badd, who he depends on for emotional reasons (especially in Landel's)...and for physical protection from angry convicted criminals, of course. And then there's his daughter, Kay, who pretty much means the world to him. He would do almost anything for her sake, and losing her would devastate him.


For Zero...
1. Nope.
2. Zero's strong willed, independent, and stubborn to boot. Unless the situation is incredibly dire, he won't listen to someone he doesn't know/like/trust.
3. Technically, Zero doesn't depend on anyone; he just trusts a few certain people. That said, Mega Man X and Ciel are the two people he's closest to and for similar reasons - they're both people he highly respects, and he's willing to die for their beliefs. So I guess they can be considered his weak points...but again, he isn't dependent on them to survive.

[diamondstorm]

(1) Is there anything (mental guards, language barriers, handicaps) which would prevent his power from succeeding?
(2) How "strong" is your character's will? If your character is independent, relies on the self, is not easily influenced by anyone, etc., they will likely escape his power of suggestion.
(3) Is your character particularly dependent on another? Who are they dependent on? How is this relationship?

Renamon:
1. Renamon may be a problem for him because of "language barriers". Aka, if he gives her commands in binary, it might work.
2. She's completely self-relient, and self-disiplined. Most likely won't work.
3. But here would be Rika. But even at her most dependent, Renamon was still able to successfully exist.

Albedo:
1. Hi, brother.
2. Hi. Hi.
3. Brother. Brother, hi.

Mikado:
1. Nope.
2. Decently strong-willed for a human, but not infallible by any degree and somewhat prone to manipulations, especially as early as I took him. As shown in places.
3. No dependencies here.

Rei:
1. She harbors the soul of the progenitor of humanity which allows her an insanely strong offensive/defensive shield type thing (but not here. tee-hee).
2. Very. Even when an enemy is basically burrowing into her mind and passing itself off as her, she still retains her sense of self.
3. ...Hmm. Tough. I think this would have to be on a case by case basis here. There's two people she has a bond with, but... Yeah. It'd have to depend.

[not_heavens_adam]

Repost and adding one character~

Locke:
(1) None.
(2) He's pretty strong willed and independent, that's not to say he couldn't be swayed to do something, depending on what the suggestion is.
(3) Locke isn't dependent on anyone, seeing as how he's often out traveling alone in canon, but he'll do absolutely anything for his friends, including risk his own life.

Johnny:
(1) Sadly, none.
(2) Completely independent, sorry. 500+ years will do that.
(3) I don't think there's anyone he depends on, he tries to not make those sort of connections. He does have people he has bonds with, but I don't think it's the same.

[knightspirit]

Tsurugi:

1. Nothing like that here!
2. He has quite a bit of willpower and can be really, really stubborn, so he's not particularly easy to influence.
3. He and his brother are mildly codependent and would basically do anything for each other, so if handled in the right way, that's definitely something that could be exploited, although since something like that has happened before in canon, it might be a bit difficult, since he'd be more on guard about it.

[lovesthepain]

Harpuia:

1. No barriers I can think of!

2. Harpuia's definitely strong-willed and stubborn. There is a canon precedent for him being controlled by outside entities, though, so presumably it wouldn't be entirely impossible.

3. Harpuia doesn't really depend on anyone, per se. He'd be pretty loyal to X -- it'd take something dire to get him to disobey an order -- but he's more than capable of getting by on his own.

[fallenbeanpole]

The Once-ler

1. The Once-ler has no mental barriers of any sort; he's a normal human being.

2. He's very strong-willed, living with the consequences of his actions by choice rather than running from it, and the only person who ever heavily influenced him is his mother, and she abandoned him. He can also be really stubborn.

3. The Once-ler's been living alone in a wasteland for a year, and prior to that owned a massive business that he personally oversaw, so he's a very independent man.

[impudentsongbird]

Gabriel

(1) Gabriel didn't bring any powers into the game which would prevent it, and he's fluent in literally hundreds of languages, but the fact that Nigredo uses his voice as the medium makes me want to say that Gabriel would be able to recognise the talent if Nigredo tried to use it--if only because of who he is and the fact he ordinarily has a similar power himself.

(2) Loaded question. Most of Gabe's strength of will comes from his strength of faith and love for his Master, family and creation in general. Because of that, there are some things he would never ever knowingly do. He relies on himself more now than he used to, but free-will as applied to himself is still a fairly new concept, so he's exploitable in that respect.

(3) God. Gabriel is, literally, His most constant companion, and up until very recently Gabe accepted God's commands without a second thought. Nowadays Gabe's aware that God values free-will in His angels and is trying not to be so subservient, but he's still learning how to do that. Another would be Michael, Gabe's older brother. Gabriel doesn't accept Michael's orders outright the way he does God's, nor is he afraid to put forth his own opinion, but there's a lot of respect and love there, so that's exploitable too.

[showmeyourwreath]

Flora

1) Nothing to my knowledge, no!

2) Flora can be very strong-willed, and she's quick to rebuke ideas and suggestions she doesn't like. But she's also open and flexible, so it depends on the suggestion.

3) Flora doesn't depend on her friends for herself, necessarily, but she loves, trusts, and would do just about anything for them. The same can be said for her sister and boyfriend.

[ever_loyal_dog]

Miketsukami -

(1) In canon, other mind-readers and empaths are able to read him pretty easily. I will have to say no.

(2) Weak.

(3) Yes. Miketsukami is ridiculously dependent on Shirakiin Ririchiyo. She is his reason for living. He is completely obsessed with her and at the time he was taken they were in a relationship.