Wringing

Fair warning: This article contains non-detailed descriptions of Wringer work that may be disturbing to those who experienced it firsthand. Read with caution.

Water Seekers have long been famous for their large-scale workings such as the Dancinglight's Dome. Water manipulation on the smaller scale--now known as "tuning"--may have been discovered before, but it wasn't until early in the 2000s Vol that Kezlaf became notorious for using it to force changes in others' states of mind. He trained young water sensitives, many of them his own children, in these techniques. They were known as the Wringers because their ability to strip identity and independent thought from a mind was likened to the action of wringing out a wet cloth.
Soon after Alcendis Varenonde began rebuilding the Eddy, rumors began circulating that it would be the Wringers' new base of operations. In fact, the revived Water Seekers have forbidden the use of any kind of wringing.

Effect

Wringing was applied across a spectrum of severity, from compelling someone to agree with a statement to completely erasing the self. A minor wringing could be subtle enough that the victim didn't notice it had happened. If she were forced to take an action, she might experience a sense of confusion, lost time, and no memory of the thing she had just done. A complete wringing often resulted in enough damage to the brain to kill the victim outright.

Side/Secondary Effects

Where a full wringing didn't immediately disable or kill its victim, it left a shell of a person incapable of doing anything without a direct order. Later methods were refined to more selectively remove memories and volition, leaving the wrung with the knowledge of how to use tools they were already familiar with. Kezlaf made the claim that this was better than execution, because the obedient body could be put to use doing hazardous work.

Discovery

Kezlaf left no record of when and how exactly he applied water tuning to auras, but presumably he began developing the technique soon after Walemin recruited him. The One Mind's immediate acceptance of Kezlaf as Uniter is better explained by assuming that he already had the ability to alter someone's thought patterns. He often used prisoners as subjects to test out new methods and teach his children how to use them.

Resistance

With enough awareness of the shape and feel of one's own aura, it's possible to notice and fight against an attempted wringing. Frequent meditation seems to produce a natural resistance to external influences on the aura, which is a reason the practice is so heavily emphasized at the new Eddy. Meditation is recommended for non-Seekers as well, although they're not guaranteed to get the same benefits from it that Seekers do.

Controversy

To limit the possibility of someone independently rediscovering wringing, the few Water Seekers who have worked as Wringers refuse to share any specifics of what they did. There is a growing feeling among younger Seekers that this prohibition is excessively strict. Water Seekers with skill in tuning but no knowledge of wringing are in constant danger of accidentally breaking the ban.

Related Organizations

• The Unity

Applied Restriction

Ever since the day that Kezlaf was killed and the Unity defeated, wringing has been forbidden. To be accepted as Water Seekers, protos must take an oath promising never to influence or interfere with another's mind.
The Seeker's oath was put to the test in 2055 Vol, when an itinerant Seeker intentionally performed a minor wringing on a Seeker candidate as a demonstration. For that violation, the Seeker admitted fault and accepted the penalty of being removed from rank.
In the investigation it came to light that he and his partner had been using similar techniques to pass mental notes to each other, not realizing that this practice fell under the category of forbidden activites. They were ordered to cease and both have been permanently barred from consideration for the rank of Sage.