: Basically, we are made of stuff, messing with that stuff messes with our
: minds, and they are learning more and more about it every day. If you know
: how somebody's brain/mind works then you can influence it at a level that
: they might not be aware of or can resist.

For all of my teenage years, I listened to the same sort of music. I'd have the same dozen albums playing in my car and in my portable CD player and in my stereo at home. Take those away, and I wouldn't remember how the tunes went. A week after listening, I might be able to remember snippets, but now how the whole thing went together.

Last summer, I went off a certain brand of antidepressants, and it was suddenly like I had a jukebox in my head. I never would have thought to connect the two.

: Maybe geases aren't so far fetched even if they make annoying story telling
: devices.

I don't know. My understanding of biology is that it's not a finely tuned machine. Shake it and it rattles. It's not a Von Neuman machine, it's a yardsale toaster.

The Geas used to steer Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting makes sense, because Forerunner biology is engineered to make it possible, same as the mutations. The idea of the Geas surviving a hundred thousand years of genetic drift when every other bit of Forerunner technology that doesn't have dedicated repair systems to keep it going is harder to swallow.