| Nostalgia (• • or • • • Mind, • • • Time, Optional • Life) Tradition Book: Cult of Ecstasy, Revised Ed. 71 |
| The Dissonance Society, a faction of the Cult devoted to creation of
an utopia based around the ideal of self mastery and enlightenment, is
said to use magically induced stimuli as negative and positive
reinforcement. However, the use of Nostalgia is far more
effective and sophisticated than a mere waking of a few nerves. The
Cultist actually conjures up her target's memory of some overwhelming
stimulus he felt in the past, forcing the target to feel the sensation
again as if it had just happened, which makes the experience a very
personal one. This Effect is useful for a number of reasons.
First off, the effect of Nostalgia is not some random sensation, its root
lie in the target's memory. One tends to respond more to, say, a
spanking given as a child, than to a random application of pain.
Secondly, the mage can use these associations and tie them to something
unrelated. For instance, if an Ecstatic wishes to teach a
hard-hearted corporate executive some compassion, she could tie the joy of
his wedding night to the act of donating money. Therefore, whenever
the corporate executive is generous, he feels the elation of just being
married. System: The Ecstatic has no control over when sensations are conjured when she uses Nostalgia, but she may set it as either "positive" (pleasure) or "negative" (pain) stimulus. Doing so generates memories of stimuli, it does not engender full activation of the nervous system. However, using Life 2, the mystic could conjure not only the memory of the stimulus, but the actual stimulus itself. In conjunction with Mind 3, the mystic can "tie" the stimulus to a trigger. By doing so, the mage can encourage or discourage certain behavior.
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