[WRITER'S GUIDELINES: The Sapphire of the Mind]

The Sapphire of the Mind gives its wearer the ability to control the mind of whomever they choose. However, it is not omnipotent. Here is what it can and cannot do.

• The Sapphire of the Mind can alter and control the mind of a target in any way the wearer desires. This includes, but is not limited to, behavior modification, memory alteration, overriding free will, perception alteration, and even more severe changes such as IQ alteration and language skills.
• The Sapphire cannot direct affect a target's physical body in any way, though it can make the target think they were altered, or make the changes to themselves through more mundane means.
• When a change potentially causes the above two rules come in conflict, such as making modifications to a target's senses or vocal capabilities, the general rule of thumb is that the change can only affect things that are caused by some kind of mental modification. For example, you can render a target blind by making them believe they can't see, or alter how a target speaks or how capable they are of human speech. But you can't make the target's eyes actually stop working, or change how their voice sounds in a way that would involve modifying their vocal chords in any way. And though rare, things that are equally mental and physical in nature, such as addictions, can be fully modified by either gem. Exactly where the line is drawn will be determined on a case-by-case basis, but feel free to PM the story moderator if you are unsure if a potential change will work.
• The Sapphire only works with 100% effectiveness on humans. For every other species of animal, the further away from human intelligence a living creature is, the less they are affected by the Sapphire. A dog for example can be made to stop barking or not perceive you, but you cannot make it attack its owner or have it spell out a message in the sand. Humans that have had their intelligence reduced to that of a dog, however, will still be fully affected as normal.
• The Sapphire has a limited capability to understand the desires of its wearer, and while it can fill in any problematic blanks to changes that need them such as memory alteration, how those blanks will be filled will be based on how the target would most easily rationalize it, unless otherwise specified by the wearer.
• The Sapphire cannot be used to directly or immediately kill someone. Even if you tell them to jump off a building or stop breathing, their survival instinct will eventually kick in before they die. Creative wearers could theoretically figure out a way to use the Sapphire to kill someone indirectly, but remember that and excessive gore is against community guidelines.

In addition, there are some traits that the Sapphire of the Mind shares with its sister amulet:

• As long as the amulet is being worn, the wearer is the only one who can perceive it in any way. This also applies to indirect perception, such as in a photo or video recording. However, if it isn't being worn, it can be perceived normally by anyone.
• The power of the amulet lies in the gemstone and setting, both of which are indestructible and will not lose their power with use. While the current chain will not over time, it can be broken with enough , and replacing it will not affect the power of the amulet.
• In order to use the amulet, the wearer must speak their desired change aloud with the intent of it actually working, which for ease of reading will be portrayed by the statement being in bold. They must also be able to mentally focus on who they are changing, though they do not need to actually be looking at the target in question.
• Bolded statements cannot be perceived consciously by anyone other than the wearer. Due to the nature of the Sapphire of the Mind, smaller or momentary orders can be rationalized by the target as something they wanted to do anyway or a one-time accident. However, unless specified to believe otherwise, the target can still notice that more severe changes are unnatural and not how they normally behave.
• The amulet's range isn't strictly defined, but the general rule is that any affected targets must be within earshot of the wearer's statement for the amulet to affect them. They don't need to actually be capable of audibly hearing the statements, however, so it still works on those who are deaf or otherwise unable to hear normally.
• The amulet is capable of affecting multiple subjects at once. However, the more people a single statement is affecting, the less things can be changed at once. So changing one or two people is easily done, but changing more than three people at a time becomes harder and harder with each subsequent target affected. While there is no actual limit on how many people can be affected at once as long as they are all in range, with ten or more people at once you can only make very basic changes effectively.
• The amulet cannot modify its current wearer in any way, nor can it affect someone wearing the other amulet. If the wearer wishes to alter themselves, they must give the amulet to someone else and have them make the changes.

Dylan Birch may not immediately know all the details about how the amulet works, but before leaving Mr. Light will bestow him with enough information for him to have a general understanding of how to properly use the amulet and when he is pushing its abilities to their limit.