Sentient Addiction

[Rachel Shale]

So in her most recent character arc, Rachel got involved with a sentient, and I started treating it as she became addicted to their touch. Nox informed me in chat that this was a first on site and that I was setting precedent here, so I decided to put my thought processes here so you guys could examine them. 

My idea was that the sentient touch is in essence a drug. Generally speaking if used sparingly and wisely, it can manipulate emotions in a short term manner, but applied consistently it can lead to an addiction as the body “loses” its ability to regulate emotions. Essentially the mind becomes so reliant on the external push of emotions that it quits doing so itself. They are not emotionless, but they kind of get reset to whatever emotions were usually pushed or just significant mood swings. It’s not a lack of emotions but an inability to regulate. 

There are of course varying degrees and certain people will have higher tolerances to the effects. For example, people who are more vulnerable (depressed, anxious, mental disorders) will be more susceptible. The quantity of the pushing and how hard they push also plays a factor.  Those who are more stable will take significantly more work. People like Nox may even develop enough of a tolerance that it has little to no effect. They may be immune. 

Like all drugs, withdrawal symptoms will occur if they don’t get their fix in time. Shaking, irritability, insomnia would be common. Eventually they may seek their attacker for their fix (any sentient will do, but psychologically - they will search for the one who manipulated them) Treatment is the same as drug rehab. Sleep will help, and so will distractions, but they are temporary to delaying withdrawal. Over time, the body will relearn how to regulate, but it can be sped up through therapy. Other sentients can “wean” them off of their addiction to speed up the process as well. 

Anyways - that was just what I was thinking going through this :-D I’m up for discussion on it though.

[Nox]

Building a tolerance is definitely possible (only cause I already had Nox do that with Aria), I imagine it's a lot like poison tolerance, "injest" a little over a long period of time to create that immunity. which is what he and Aria did, but for a Sentient it's also a force of will which is more or less what Nox does... he has a tolerance, but if he KNOWS someone is pushing him then he can fight it and win cause he knows. At least that's how I've been playing it.

As a side note, if in the fight against Lucio you saw Lucio trying to push Nox and it wasn't working, this had nothing to do with his tolerance/immunity this was 100% using his left, mechanical hand which is not touching Lucio

I'd also like to add that I think a Siren could help wean the addition since the sentiments who can push emotions essentially have a siren as some ancesestor far back (or recently)

[Rachel Shale]

Yeah - my mention of Nox was a nod to that. Tolerance building is in character am established thing and how to do it is as well. And I caught that in the fight against Lucio. Nox is a sneaky bastard sometimes :-p also - if the intended victim knows they’re being manipulated, it will be harder to addict them.

Agreed with the siren - we also talked about that a bit in chat. The main thing is rebuilding the body’s ability to regulate on its own - so as with anything - it needs to be strategically applied. I think you mentioned something like that when we talked about it. That Nox would warn Em to be careful about using it.

I also thought that even though it would be possible for someone to accidentally get addicted, it would be unlikely to happen. The sentient doing it would have to be very skilled not just with their abilities, but at reading people (the reason why it’s harder to addict people who know they’re being manipulated is that they can fight back). You mentioned this with Lucio where he maker her do something because she would never want to do that. On top of that - it would take a lot of pushing to break the mind that much (on a reasonable person. So where it is possible accidentally, I think in general the sentient has to want to do that much damage.

[Nox]

I agree. It's not accidental. It could be with a really powerful sentient who doesn't know they are one. Aria has accidentally killed with her power before. Before she knew what she was and how to really control it.

So that feedback loop of emotions is also addicting to the sentient. Mae being very addicted to having sex that way. Aria also pushed that particular vein too though she wasn't addicted to it. But Lucio and Giordano are both addicted to that feedback loop of emotions which is why they do what they did.

[Rachel Shale]

That was something I never considered, but it’s clear when you point it out. Sentients can be just as addicted as their victims.

[Nox]

Remember Sentients are siphons of emotions. They feed on it for the Finn (when the door is open which it now is). They get the the rewards of doing their jobs, I'd say it's creating those endorphins and dopamine and all the good feelings the same as drugs hit.