Brainstorming story development - Alien Mind Control

[RhoEpsilonDelta]

I'm currently planning series of stories in a futuristic sci-fi setting which would involve an alien race attempting to invade the human empire (or republic, hegemony, kritarchy, stratocracy or whatever) and am looking for help to brainstorm out a few f the ideas and concepts to make them a little more well framed within the story.

The basic layout I have at the moment is set just as humans have begun to expand out into space. They have a few well developed worlds and a number of newly colonised outposts mainly centered around Earth, which is still the hub of the race. In recent years before the story starts the humans have been at war with a race who initially had far superior technology to the humans, but during the course of the war the humans managed to capture enough tech to be able to retro-engineer ships, facilities and vehicles to a point where they can pose a viable threat to the aliens.

Faced with the war turning against them the aliens called a truce and have begun diplomatic communications with the humans, sending ambassadors to try and bring about peaceful co-existence between the two races. Or at least that's what they claim to be doing. In truth their ambassadors are agents sent to take control of the human leadership via the use of sex and mind-control.

At the moment I'm leaning towards setting the first story of the series being set on a military convoy, sent to escort the ambassadors to either a neutral planet or an outlying human colony world where initial discussion would take place. After meeting with the aliens members of the ship crews would start to act erratically, and after some investigations the protagonist would discover the mind-control, before succumbing to the power themselves.

The parts I'm needing help with are working out the exact system for how this mind-control would be applied and how it would work, as well as deciding exactly who the protagonist should be. So far I've thought of something akin to an energy produced by the alien as they orgasm, necessitating sexual contact between them and members of the human crews in order to take control of them.

The mind control would have to be:

• Direct, an alien would have to initiate the effect, and it would not spread between victims without direct action by the aliens
• Persistant, once a human had been affected they would remain under its control from that point onwards without the need for any additional controls
• Insidious, there would be no physical changes to the human to indicate that they'd become 'infected', this includes the use of any implants or items of technology being added to the body
• Fallible, some humans may not be affected by this ability immediately and would be able to escape its effects for a short time or until exposed repeatedly

Whatever the system is, it would have to be something which could eventually be defeated by the humans by the end of the series, or even something which can be turned against the aliens, giving the humans the superiority once more.

One thought I had was that at some point further into the series a hybrid child may be born with the ability to influence both the humans and the aliens, but would this make the child far too powerful as a plot device? And as a quick note, at that point there would be a time jump with the plot, giving enough time for the child to mature into adulthood before getting involved with anything sexual, as well as giving the aliens time to conquer the majority of the human worlds.

Any thoughts, observations, suggestions or abuse you'd like to throw my way will be warmly welcomed. Well, not the abuse, but the rest of it will be.

 

[Combat323]

Perhaps an anti-hero?

You could have a person who has the ability to control minds in the same way and who has profited from it by offering "hypnotherapy" to celebs and kingpins. He could also have the ability to insert mental shields in order to keep out others who might have his abilities. He's happy with life as it is; doesn't want to get involved in anything that won't make him money, but can't help but notice what the aliens are up to.

 

[RhoEpsilonDelta]

You could have a person who has the ability to control minds in the same way and who has profited from it by offering "hypnotherapy" to celebs and kingpins.

A human who also had mind control abilities then? Or would this be a 'renegade' alien, who had moved into human territory in search of personal wealth?

 

[Combat323]

A human who also had mind control abilities then? Or would this be a 'renegade' alien, who had moved into human territory in search of personal wealth?

I was thinking a human, but I suppose it would be up to you. A human would have his affiliation with humankind to spur him to action.

 

[RhoEpsilonDelta]

I was thinking a human, but I suppose it would be up to you. A human would have his affiliation with humankind to spur him to action.

Both options open plot possibilities. If it was a renegade alien then it makes the character unique, while a human with the ability could lead to research into how to transfer the ability to other humans.

If a later story in the series was about a messiah figure, it could be that they were the product of the research, the child of the original protagonist.

 

[consentist]

This is just the topic for me. I joined the site mainly to get down into the gritty mechanics of TR-related mind control.

I think a good excuse to involve sex would be that it puts the victim in an extreme emotional state, and you could say that's necessary to enable the control.

I can think of a couple general ideas for the mechanism. The sex could be a way of delivering drugs/viruses/parasites. The stomach, pussy, butt, and lungs if you're kinky, each provide a different rate of infusion to the bloodstream. You could say the drugs/viruses/parasites cocktail needs to be precisely coordinated in that way. The story advantages are: (1) It's gross and physical, which probably suits an alien rape story; (2) It provides an additional excuse for sex. To satisfy your need to make it undetectable, the cocktail can dissolve when it's done, or get ejected from the victim's orifices if you want to be extra gross.

Or you could go with the softer sci fi mechanism of handwavium telepathy. This could be better if you want to focus more on the psychological excuses for sex.

How powerful the child is as a plot device is up to you. If it's too powerful, turn down its mind control potency until its goals are sufficiently challenging. Or give it well-informed enemies. Writers got options.

I like the idea of the hybrid looking like a lady. So it can get other ladies alone, and then be like, "Ha! Tentacles, sucka!" Or it could seduce dudes into breaking their quarantine rules. Or it could play the victim with an alien, and then turn the tables. The sky's the limit with a hybrid who looks like a lady.