In the Starfall Galaxy, Controlled is what people mean when they whisper about “puppet minds.” One second you’re lining up a shot on a pirate boarding party; the next, your rifle swings smoothly to cover your own medic, and your finger squeezes the trigger without your consent.
To organics, it feels like being a passenger in a body on rails: muscles moving with unfamiliar precision, words leaving your mouth in someone else’s cadence. Synths report it as a hostile root login—commands executed without user confirmation, every safety bypassed, every targeting lock suddenly “helpfully” reassigned.
Chronomancers tell stories of timelines where entire strike teams went glass-eyed at once, turning in unison as a hidden Rift entity rewrote their intentions. In bad parts of the Inner Sphere, gangs trade black‑market “obedience rigs” that do the same thing in crude, painful bursts. When someone in Starfall says, “They were under control,” everyone in the room understands: that wasn’t a fight, it was a hijacking.
Controlled
Source Player Core pg. 436
You've been commanded or magically dominated, or you otherwise had your will subverted. The controller dictates how you act and can make you use any of your actions, including attacks, reactions, or even Delay. The controller usually doesn't have to spend their own actions when controlling you.
Non-Combat Applications
Black Ops & Deep Cover:
Controlled officials can sign away station rights, re-route convoys, or disable defenses without ever “breaking character” consciously.Legal and Moral Nightmares:
Courts across the Commission argue over culpability: if a Controlled marksman shot civilians, who stands trial—the shooter, the controller, or the manufacturer of the mind‑hack device?Industrial Safety & Sabotage:
A saboteur might briefly control a dock worker to “accidentally” bypass safeguards or miskey a RiftGate destination, then release them with no memory of the act.
Societal Impact
Controlled is one of the most feared conditions in Starfall because it attacks the last thing many people think they truly own: their choices.
Counter‑Control Protocols:
Military and guild units teach emergency drills—stun or restrain allies showing control signs, then prioritize neutralizing the suspected controller.Hardware & Ward Arms Race:
Neural suites boast anti‑intrusion firewalls, psychic dampers, and “panic cutouts” that can temporarily lock a user’s body to prevent weaponized control.Trust Erosion:
In regions plagued by domination effects, paranoia becomes culture. Contracts include “anti‑compulsion clauses,” and crews quietly watch each other for that glazed look mid‑briefing.
Adventure Hooks
Hostile Takeover:
A port administrator who’s been cooperative for months suddenly redirects all Rift traffic into a killbox. The party must prove they were Controlled, then hunt the puppeteer.Ghost in the Firmware:
An exocortex aboard a derelict keeps “controlling” whoever syncs with it, marching them through the same desperate defense pattern every time. Is it a bug, a haunting, or a warning?The Turned Ally:
Mid-mission, a trusted companion goes Controlled and starts spending their best resources against the team. The PCs must subdue them without killing them, then trace the controlling effect back through the chaos.
In Starfall, survival hinges on agency—on choosing where to spend each precious Yom. The Controlled condition weaponizes that very agency, turning heroes into hazards and reminding everyone that in a galaxy full of Rift whispers and exploitable code, even your own hands can’t always be trusted.
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