Madness Manipulation

From The Character Database

Madness Manipulation is the ability to influence the sanity of other beings, usually in a way that drives them insane. Although it is often associated with Mind Manipulation, the methods by which this effect is achieved vary from character to character, with some of these means overlapping with other, separate abilities.

Types

1: Biological: Certain characters can alter a person's sanity through biological means, many of which involve manipulating specific parts of the brain. Chemical agents (such as drugs, poisons, and toxins) also fall under this category.

Limitations: Sufficient Resistance to biological manipulation may render this method useless. Characters with robotic, elemental or incorporeal forms are naturally immune to this, as they lack conventional biology.

2: Mind Manipulation: Users of this type rely on interacting directly with the minds of their victims, using various forms of mental attacks to drive them insane.

Limitations: Sufficient Resistance to Mind Manipulation renders this method useless, as does anything else that would impair the user's ability to affect the victim's mind.

3: Cognition: Those possessing this type drive others insane as a side effect of their nature, with the mere attempt to look at or perceive them being enough to send victims into a state of madness or terror. More extreme forms are capable of outright killing those who suffer their effects.

Limitations: Those who are able to perceive, understand, and/or experience that which is inherently extreme or incomprehensible should be able to ignore it. Likewise, beings whose physical forms are similarly complex or extreme should be unaffected by an encounter with such a being, unless there is evidence to the contrary.