SOME THOUGHTS ON DOMINATE by Jo Hart I've tried to make a bit of sense into what you can and can't actually dominate people to do. It works out that if you are dominated by someone with Dom 4 or 5.. then they really can more or less make anyone do anything.... Dom 1: Single Word Dom 2: Single Phrase Dom 3: Complex insertion/ deletion of Memories Dom 4: Personality Suppression/ Alteration (Conditioning) Dom 5: Complete Control of Motor Responses (Possession) ------------------------------------------------------------------- The dominate powers do form a stepladder ranging from very simple and well specified orders to a complete personality alteration over time. The level of control also varies from something that the subject can easily understand and consciously carry out to complex, subconscious levels and finally full motor control. So: what is the advantage to having high dominate when using Dom 1 or 2? Or in other words .. when will 'Sleep' work as a command? Can you dominate someone to 'Trust me'? Or 'Forget every word of English that you ever knew'? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dominate 1: Single Word Dominate 2: Single phrase At the first level of competancy the dominator can make the victim obey any one word command that they could consciously understand and do. Eg. Stand, sit, drink, flee, strip (a fave with one of my players who swears blind that it's not possible for someone to attack you while they are taking thier clothes off).... It also goes without saying that the victim has to understand the command (so you couldn't use this on a baby, or a foreigner who didn';t speak the language) So commands like 'Sleep' and 'Die' will just confuse the victim. 'Vomit', the example given in the book, would also not work. At the second level of competency the limitations are similar, but the dominator now has the ability to specify commands more precisely. So 'Stick your fingers down your throat and make yourself vomit' would have the desired effect. 'Close your eyes, blank your mind and don't move until morning' would do instead of the sleep command. Of course, commands that are easier to understand will require fewer successes. (So the sleep one would prolly be quite tough - a better wording would work better). 'Jump in front of that bus' would still work provided the dominator got enough successes. A specific recurring or delayed command can also be implanted, under the same limitations. At the third level of competency (ie. dominator has Dom 3, but is using one of the lower powers), the user begins to have the ability to command the subconscious mind. This covers most of the tricks you'll see hypnotists use. 'Sleep' would put someone into a light trance (unless the victim was a practised meditator in which case they might put themselves into a deep trance), 'Vomit' would make someone attempt to vomit... ('Die' would make someone try to stop breathing.. they'd probably come round after losing consciousness). In addition to this, the dominator can use her command of the subject's memories to set a delayed dominate command, or a recurring one in a much more complex way. Memories (or false memories) can be timed to be removed and/or released at given triggers through combined use of Dom 2 & 3. At the 4th level of competency the dominator can start to compel deep subconscious responses (eg Dominator has Dom 4 and is using one of the lower level powers) . Commands such as 'Trust me' , or 'Whenever you touch the front door you will instantly develop a splitting headache' are viable. (In the case of the headache command it works because it can be a psychosomatic effect). 'Sleep' -will- compel an instant sleep, 'Vomit' would also be a fairly instant response (psychosomatic again), but the death command still needs to be stated clearly. 'Suicide' or 'You are tired of life and will take every opportunity to kill yurself' will be effective (if sufficient successes are obtained). A simple one word command can be compelled even if the victim doesn't understand the dominator. (yes it's nasty) At the 5th level of competency complete control over motor responses is possible. ie. It is possible to command people to do things that they could not possibly do either consciously or subconsciously (as long as it is physically possible). In this case the command 'Die' would literally make the victim's heart stop beating. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dom 3: Alter/ remove memories Dom 4: Alter/ remove personality Dominate 3 requires that the user explain to the victim (while maintaining eye contact) which memories are to be removed and/ or changed. The user should know quite precisely which memories are to be affected (the precision is generally dependent on number of successes), and degree of success is as per book :-) This can include inserting memories of things that haven't happened yet... or dreams etc (OK, the victim will be screwed up but if the dominator is that inventive, good luck to them). At the 4th level of competency (ie. dominator has Dom 4, but is using Dom 3), it's enough for the dominator to describe the memories quite vaguely.. the victim's subconscious mind will latch onto the relevant parts and fill in the gaps. It does also allow for forgetting and 'remembering' quite fundamental aspects to a personality (as opposed to background). The example of 'Forget every word of English you ever learned' is typical of what could actually be accomplished over time. If the same command was applied at the third level of competency then it would be only for a short period (imagine a hyupnotists stage show). Dominate 4 allows for major changes to a victim's personality over a period of time. Conditioning is particularly applied to personality wiping, but it's also possible (over time) to create an entirely new persona, change very deep seated aspects of the victims personality and basically remould them. At the fifth level of competency the personality change can include entirely new physical aspects and responses. eg. New voice, new way of walking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dom 5: Possession This is as per book :-) Whilst possessing someone, it's possible to use any of the other lower level Dom powers on them.