There's this popular trope in fiction about a character being mind controlled without losing awareness of what's happening. Think Jessica Jones, The Manchurian Candidate or Bioshock. The villain uses some magical technology to take control of your brain - but only the part of your brain that's responsible for motor control. You remain conscious and experience everything with full clarity.

If it's a children's story, the villain makes you do embarrassing things like walk through the street naked, or maybe punch yourself in the face. But if it's an adult story, the villain can do much worse. They can make you betray your values, break your commitments and hurt your loved ones. There are some things you’d rather die than do. But the villain won’t let you stop. They won’t let you die. They’ll make you feel — that's the point of the torture.

I first started working on [...]

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