Animal Minion (Life ••••)
Practice: Patterning
Primary Factor: Duration
Withstand: Stamina
Suggested Rote Skills: Animal Ken, Science, Survival
Rather than triggering instincts and directing an animal along a course it might normally take, an Adept can take full bodily control. She does so with raw domination, a puppetmaster commanding a marionette. While she can’t force the creature to do something out- side its physical capabilities, she can make it do anything of which its body is capable. This isn’t full mind control and she doesn’t have access to the creature’s thoughts. The mage can force an human subject to talk, but can’t prompt it to divulge specific information, or even anything intelligible (unless the mage herself demands that it speak certain words). Subjects often move differently from their usual gait in ways noticeable to those familiar with them.
Using this spell renders the mage’s own body inert for the Dura- tion, as she concentrates everything on controlling another’s every bodily function. Her body continues to breathe, tire, and age as normal, but she loses her Defense and remains only semi-aware of what transpires around her body. Damage inflicted on her body will immediately alert her to the threat and she may choose to end control of her puppet-body in order to regain full control of her own.
Unlike Control Instincts (Life ••, p. 149), this spell allows the mage to command the subject completely. It is not simple instinc- tive responses and triggered urges, but a total bodily takeover that allows her to do anything the possessed body could normally do.
+1 Reach: The target behaves more normally as the mage gains an understanding of its normal movements, bodily tics, and habits.