Mind Control

Violence is virtually ineffectual in an environment where resurrection is built into the laws of physics. The manipulation of thoughts, memories, and emotions has supplanted physical coercion as a means of getting one's way on Puzzlebox.

Thus, mind-control, possession, hypnosis, and reprogramming are not uncommon fates for residents of The Mess. Sometimes these take subtle forms like seduction and persuasion, simply playing upon the pre-existing personality of the target. Sometimes, minds are changed very directly, with implants, hypno-rays, drugs, and the like. This raises some interesting questions about which changes in personality are really consensual (like the Bubble Dolls claim of their irresistably pleasant recruiting process) and which are forced from without (like most people assume of the Strangevirus).