Binding and tethering

Central to much of the magic systems in the world, is the concept of binding or tethering the will of others to oneself in order to augment magical abilities.

it can be done cooperatively, through coercion or even subterfuge. All binding involves a dominant controller and one (or more) submissive sources of the magical energies exhanged.

Cooperative binding	Where both parties are willing participants.
Coercive binding	Where the Controller takes control against the Source's wishes.

How it works

The actual mechanics of the process is not well understood by anyone. Like most Blood magic, it requires the presence of Uhd - The Prime Duality as catalyst. Proximity does take some role in the process too. It is only possible to form the magical connection when participants are touching. Rituals all involve physicial touch to establish the connections needed.

Once a connection is made however, physical touch does not need to be maintained. And while remaining close helps keep a binding active (especially for coercive bindings), it is not necessary.

How it feels

The feeling of a binding is often described as a breathing sensation, or a strange push and pull felt within the body.

Those who are able to give willingly to this exchange often report a blissful sense of flow and connection to something beyond them, and a distinct lack of anxiety as their worries are handed along to the other. There is often a light-headed euphoria accompanying the experience.

Those experiencing a coercive binding report feelings of suffocation, claustraphobia and panic, with their light-headedness being far from pleasant - more like dizziness and nausea.

Risks

There are a number of risks in any binding:

• Sallowing - if the Controller is not careful, they can sallow those they have bound by using too much of their energy. It is even possible to use coercive binding as a weapon to purposefully do this.
• Hemolithiasis - if the controller takes too much energy from those bound to them without releaseing it, they can suffer rapid hemolithiasis.
• Lack of mental privacy - The connection can make it possible for either party to get glimpses of the others surface thoughts and underlying desires. At first this can be just fleeting snippets, but the longer a binding is in palce, the more clear and persistant this 'mind-reading' phenomenon can become.
• Weakness to conercive control - even in cooperative bindings, any particpant can use the connection as a way to more easily take foreceful control.
• Loss of identity - Ongoing and persistant bindings can result in gestalt identities being created. Very rarely this can result in a new stable 'hive mind' but far more often than not the result is chaos and insanity for all involved.

Breaking coercive bindings

Someone who has been forcefully bound needs to wait until the Controller has been weakened enough, or is distracted enough. The thrall will need the willpower and access to the energies required to break the binding.

Bindings can even be reversed in this way, though this is exceedingly rare.

The death of the Controller will also sever the connection, however this can be an extremely traumatic event for any thrall still bound to a Controller on their death.