Inception

The basis of the entire Inception movie is that it is really hard to implant an idea in someone's head and make them think that it is their own. Ironically, this is actually not impossible in real life. You just don't have the flexibility to choose any idea you want, no matter how unpalatable, like in the movie.

I know because I do it myself. It is one of the ways that I manipulate people. Especially in competitive games.

For example:

Lets say you are playing a strategy game. You are Spain and you want peace for the immediate future, but you don't want France expanding into Italy just yet. The direct way to do this would be to send messages to France, offering peace in exchange for leaving Italy alone. However, this puts your goal on the table and if they refuse then now they know if they go into Italy than you might come after them.

So you may want to be more subtle. So you make a few public comments about how England appears to be forming an alliance with the Netherlands to dominate the colonial scene. Now to England and the Netherlands, it just looks like you are bitching about their progress colonially. But the idea of an Anglo-Dutch pact is what sticks in the French player's ears and they begin to see these two northern neighbors not as pacifistic bystanders but potential plotters.

There are many ways to change people's minds just by making casual conversation and dropping hints. You can let information slip out in a manner that leads people to the conclusions you want them to have. Using careful phrasing, it doesn't even have to be lies.

Which brings me to my question.

Based on a conversation with my editor on Synapse, Peter Kovalsky, as he was reviewing the new Synapse Beta, the issue of Heroism came up. Peter pointed out, rightly so, that when I added some text about how if you have 2 or less Heroism then you are a sociopath, that I was really talking about Empathy. And he thought that Heroism should be recast as just Presence. That Darth Vader would have Presence but not Heroism.

So I chewed that over and came up with this plan.

I am going to change Heroism to Magnetism. And I am going to associate it with Presence and Motivation as before, but eliminating Sacrifice as a talent. Then I am going to move Eccentricity to Magnetism, where it is a more natural fit. This leaves me with an open talent spot under Empathy (which will now have the caveat about being a sociopath).

So Empathy is associated with Persuasion and Seduction now. I need a 3rd talent.

I was thinking about creating a new talent called Inception. The talent for creating ideas in other minds.

Thoughts?