A-Z Blogging challenge

T is for Telesensorium

A telesensorium is a specialized room in certain colleges of magick, where through a series of complex rituals the consciousness of one person can be transferred into the body of another being. The room consists of a shallow, circular pool, in which the two participants are partially submerged. Though the procedure has been successfully performed on vastly differing creatures, the highest chances of a complete, frictionless transfer are attained when the two are of roughly similar biological form and composition, of at least average humanoid intelligence and neither party is actively resisting the mental joining. If these conditions are not met, the transfer can cause problems for both the beings; frequently observed are cases where the recipient develops acute schizophrenia. In some instances the host's psyche is too alien for the person attempting to join with it; this can damage the sanity of the latter, and reduce him or her to a gibbering mess when the mind is restored to its original body.

The telesensorium is predominantly used by scholars who wish to research certain dangerous locations, creatures or magickal phenomena without actually running the risk of bodily harm. To this end they hire adventurers looking to make some extra money: by mentally merging with them, they can access the full range of the host's sensory perceptions (but not his or her memories or thoughts) as if they were there in person. Furthermore, the joint mind can relay thoughts to the host mind, though this communication is only one way; nor can the joint mind issue direct commands to the host body. After the psychic transfer is complete, the host participant, now carrying the two minds, leaves the telesensorium to perform whatever tasks are required of him, while the unconscious body of the other remains submerged in the pool, its biological needs attended to by apprentices of the college.