Hellooo!! Again, tysm for the art!! It's wonderful✨✨✨ <33
But I do have a request, and that is for a hurt/comfort writing mayhaps (if you're up to it ofc 👉👈)? It can be any trope really. I usually read hero/villain stuff cause I'm basic/j
Or if you're not really up to long writing at the moment then having your ocs comfort y/n is okay too!!
Or if you're not up for both then that's completely okay! I don't mind whichever you choose because both are fun to munch on either way. And please, have a good day (人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+
Hi friend! I’m so glad you liked the art! And yes, of course I can write this for you! Thank you for the request, here you go!
I used my Storymatic cards for this one!
This ended up being way longer than I intended it to be, so it's going under the cut!
The Rarest Collectible
Hero stirred to the feeling of being dragged across a hard surface. Their bleary eyes fluttered halfway open, revealing the stars above. They stared at the moving sky for a few moments before coming to their senses. They struggled to free themselves from whoever was dragging them by under their arms.
A voice above them tutted softly. They sat Hero up against cool metal. Hero craned their neck- the back door to an ice cream truck. Their assailant crouched down in front of them, producing something from their jacket. They took Hero’s arm and injected something into their system via syringe. They ruffled Hero’s hair and opened the truck doors. Hero’s world began to blur as they were dragged into the chilly interior. The freezing cold would have been a welcome feeling under different circumstances.
The doors to the truck slammed shut, and Hero drifted off a moment later.
…
Hero stirred again, this time to the feeling of something squeezing different parts of their body in place.
“Good morning,” the voice from before greeted.
Hero opened their eyes, staring into their kidnapper’s.
“Who… what…”
“Aww, you’re so cute when you’re confused,” they said, trailing a finger down Hero’s cheek, “you’ll wake up properly in a couple minutes.”
Hero knew their knees would buckle if they tried to stand right now, but they could’ve sworn they were in an upright position. They looked down as their kidnapper tightened straps across their ankles. Sure enough, Hero was strapped upright against some kind of padded board.
They blinked away the sleep clinging to them and cleared their throat.
“Yes?”
“Who are-”
“Civilian,” they answered.
Civilian closed a glass door, sealing Hero in some kind of human-sized display case. They turned a key into a lock on the case, then stepped back to admire their work.
“You look perfect,” they sighed dreamily.
Hero was properly awake now, and they immediately started to struggle. They formed ice crystals, hoping to compromise the integrity of the restraints. Civilian chuckled, pressing a button on the side of the case. Thermal vents in the ceiling and the floor of Hero’s box filtered stifling hot air all around them, clouding up the glass. Beads of cold, icy sweat formed on Hero’s skin, and the ice crystals they had formed quickly melted.
Civilian wiped off some of the steam from the glass, peering into Hero’s case. They smiled, waving.
“Thanks to you, my collection is finally complete!” they said.
“Collection?” Hero panted.
“Of course! No one has more Hero merch than I do! Especially now that I have the rarest collectible of all! Just wait till the server sees this!”
Civilian pulled out their phone, throwing up a peace sign and snapping a picture of themselves with Hero behind them. A few moments later, their phone pinged over and over again with several notifications.
“Ha, jealous amateurs!” Civilian grinned.
Hero scanned the room. Dozens of posters of them adorned every wall, along with collectible dolls, figurines, trading cards, comic books, and… a body pillow? Hero shuddered. There were also collectible mugs, keychains, spoons, plushies, and just about any kind of merchandise one could think of. Since when did Hero have this kind of fan-base? They usually tried to avoid media attention, and this was one of the reasons why. They didn’t need people idolizing them or becoming obsessed.
“Um…” Hero started, “I can see you... admire my work…”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Civilian said.
“How exactly am I supposed to do my job if you’re keeping me here though?”
Civilian scoffed, waving a dismissive hand.
“You’ve done enough for the city! You deserve retirement, you poor old thing…”
“I’m barely old enough to drink!”
“Irrelevant.”
“Let me go.”
Civilian stared at them, their face holding genuine disbelief.
“Why on earth would I- wha- no! What kind of request is that? You’re staying in my Hero room, and you’ll like it! I can take you out of the display case for meals and hygiene stuff and whatever, but this is your home now!”
Hero wanted to argue some more, but Civilian turned the button like a knob, and more heat flooded the little glass box. It was unbearable. Hero felt like they were baking in a glass oven.
Civilian sat down at a desk- covered in Hero paraphernalia, and put on some streaming headphones. They opened their laptop and turned on the webcam.
“What is up, everyone? Today I’m going to be giving you all an updated Hero room tour- featuring some new collectibles and-”
Something creaked overhead. Civilian paused, then shook their head, continuing.
“As you’ve probably seen, I’ve got the best collectible of all! But patience, Herolings, I’m saving that for the end. Now I know Hero Trading Card number thirty-seven is a pretty rare find, but I managed to snag one just last week-”
Drywall and insulation rained down on all of Civilian’s merchandise, and a figure dressed in dark colors dropped down after it.
Civilian turned in their gaming chair.
“Ugh, Villain,” they rolled their eyes, “nobody likes you, you know. You’re interrupting my-”
A blast of power rammed into Civilian, sending them crashing into their desk and the wall behind it.
Villain looked around the room, their eyes landing on the display case. They rushed over, trying to find a way to open it.
“Heck with it,” they muttered, “brace yourself!”
Villain put their hand on the case and released a jolt of red energy. The glass shattered into shimmering dust, and Villain caught it with their powers before it could cut Hero. They discarded the glass to the side, then worked at the straps holding Hero down. Hero tumbled out, limp like cooked pasta. Villain caught them in their arms.
“How did you find…” Hero spoke with great effort, trailing off when it became too difficult.
“I’ll always find you,” Villain said.
Hero flashed a weak smile before their eyes fluttered shut.
“Hero? Hero!”
Villain cursed, flying out of the house through the hole in the ceiling.
…
Freezing cold water being dumped over their head made Hero wake with a start.
“Easy, easy,” Villain said, “you’re safe.”
Hero relaxed in the ice bath, their relieved sigh coming out in a little, white cloud.
“Shh,” Villain said, carding their hand through Hero’s soaked hair, “one thank you is sufficient. No one is going to take you again. You have my word.”
“I love you…”
“I love you, too.”
Hero settled further under the ice while Villain worked to cool them down. Afterwards, Villain would have a list of people to find. It was most convenient that everyone who would dare to take Hero were all in one place online. It was just a matter of tracking them down and making them wish they had never been born.
TW taking off clothes in front of others (only mentioned, no nudity)
Whumpee is forced to take off their clothes. Not sexually, and not with explicit threat, but because of their environment.
A cage so hot it burns to touch the floor. Sweat puddles at their feet with every breath. Swealtering air chokes and suffocates.
Whumpee could take off their clothes, of course, which would make it admittedly easier to tolerate, maybe use as fabric to stand on, or to wrap around their forehead, or maybe a tent for shade…
But that would mean being more and more exposed to those watching. The whumpers, in their climate controlled theater, watch with anticipation. What better torture than a moral (and public) dilemma?
Torture in Fiction: Avatar the Last Airbender, The Boiling Rock
Avatar, the Last Airbender was an extremely popular cartoon series centred on a group of children trying to save their world.
It’s a world where some people can control and manipulate (‘bend’) the elements, water, earth, fire and air. The element a person controls depends on their heritage; whether they come from the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation or from the Air Nomads. Only the Avatar can master all four elements and they are tasked with keeping the world in balance.
The story begins a hundred years after the Avatar disappeared. The Fire Nation massacred the Air Nomads. They’re raiding the Water Tribes and occupying much of the Earth Kingdom.
In this war-torn world two Water Tribe teenagers discover the Avatar, the last surviving Air Nomad, frozen in ice. He’s twelve.
With its wonderful art, powerful storytelling and compelling characters Avatar left a lasting impression on a generation of fans. It spawned comic books, a live action movie (by all accounts terrible but it’s the thought that counts) and a second set of cartoons following the next Avatar.
But I’m rating the depiction and use of torture, not the cartoon itself. I’m trying to take into account realism (regardless of fantasy or sci fi elements), presence of any apologist arguments, stereotypes and the narrative treatment of victims and torturers.
And I’m concentrating on a two part episode from season 3 that barely involves the titular Avatar at all.
It starts with two of the Avatar’s companions sneaking away to break into a Fire Nation prison.
Sokka, who is from the Water Tribe and can’t control an element, feels guilty about the fact his father and girlfriend (Suki) have both been captured. Zuko, ex-prince of the Fire Nation and a firebender, feels guilty for opposing the Avatar for so long and elects to help Sokka.
So they take a balloon to the most secure prison in the Fire Nation: the Boiling Rock. It’s housed on an island in the middle of a volcano, surrounded by a boiling lake. Their balloon crash lands and with no way off the island they decide to disguise themselves as guards. They then find that Sokka’s father isn’t in the prison and think their efforts might have been wasted until they see Suki.
They witness brutality from the guards, with a guard goading a prisoner, Chit Sang, into firebending and then locking him ‘the cooler’ a torturous cold cell. Sokka manages to contact Suki but Zuko’s identity is discovered by the other guards in the process and Zuko is taken prisoner.
In their defence, this is more or less how all their plans go.
Sokka plans to use the cooler to escape. Chit Sang overhears the plot and demands to be let ‘in’ on the plan. They need to unbolt the cooler from its moorings so they can use it to float across the lake. Zuko hides some tools and he and Sang stage a fight.
Zuko is thrown in the cooler and unbolts it from its moorings.
They meet with the cooler but Sokka has second thoughts, especially as a new group of prisoners, including Sokka’s father is due to arrive soon. Sokka, Suki and Zuko elect to stay and try to rescue Sokka’s father. Sang tries to escape with a few of his friends.
The attempt fails and the Warden has Sang tortured. The Warden claims that Sang isn’t ‘smart enough’ to have thought of using the cooler and he must have had help. Eventually Sang tells the Warden that a person disguised as a guard helped him.
The Warden has all the ‘new’ guards, including Sokka, line up to identify the traitor. Sang picks out the guard who goaded him a few days ago.
I’m giving it 9/10
The Good
Sang’s way of resisting, picking out a loyal guard as the ‘traitor’, is brilliant. And it’s realistic. I’ve recommended this strategy to writers because it’s what a lot of Algerian fighters did during the Franco-Algerian war. Seeing it in a cartoon series from a decade before I began the blog brought a smile to my face.
The cooler is actually really similar to torturous punishments that were used in real prisons. In most places a hot cell seems to have been more common then a cold one but cramped cells kept at uncomfortable temperatures were regularly used to torture prisoners throughout the world.
Despite the existence of magic and different technologies the torture throughout this episode is all realistically low tech. We see guards threaten with fire and use it to intimidate but most of what they do seems to be beatings and torturous use of restraints.
There are suggestions throughout the story that torture and abuse are regular occurrences in the Boiling Rock. And the characters use that to cover up their actions. Sokka uses the ‘excuse’ that he wants to beat Zuko as a way to explain a guard hanging around a prisoner’s cell (and then uses a fake beating to pass Zuko details of their escape plan). Zuko uses procedure and the assumption guards should fear the prisoners as an excuse to keep his guard helmet on, covering his distinctive scar. The regular use of the cooler is what allows the group to unbolt it.
There’s no suggestion that the use of torture has made this prison safer for the guards, or made the prisoners more ‘cooperative’. If anything we see the opposite. There are regular fights. Sang can start a riot by shouting ‘RIOT’ to a crowd of prisoners. The prison is shown as dangerous and while the narrative never states this is because of torture it’s still avoiding a prominent apologist trope.
The guards, most prominently the Warden, seem to have very little information about what’s going on inside their prison. That’s consistent with the way torture effects investigation, cutting off sources of accurate information and destroying the ability to fact-check. The Warden doesn’t connect Suki to the escape attempt until she kidnaps him. Sang is only connected to it because he’s caught in the act. Zuko is only identified because he has a one in a million scar. Sokka spends days successfully masquerading as a guard and the only people who notice are prisoners.
Every incident of a guard threatening a prisoner seems to increase the prisoner’s resistance.
The torturers aren’t just positioned as ‘bad’, they’re shown as a mixture of incompetent and physically threatening which feels very true to life. The Warden is never positioned as some kind of action movie ‘badass’ or as a successful investigator. He’s a bully, pure and simple.
The Bad
I think on reflection these episodes do still underestimate the damage done by some tortures but they do this to a much smaller degree then most. The amount of time spent in the cooler is vaguely defined so it could be ‘safe’. But even short periods of time in freezing temperatures can be extremely dangerous. Sang is held upside down by guards, which can easily make victims pass out. Some of the physical effects are being glossed over here.
It’s difficult to say whether the series handles the impact on mental health well or not. Sang leaves the series shortly after these episodes and doesn’t have a speaking part again. Zuko appears to have lasting mental health problems, but they were present before and are narratively linked to his abusive family. The episode is also very close to the end of the series. There isn’t much space to look at the possible fall out of this one incident or for the characters to pause and consider what they’ve survived.
Miscellaneous
The cooler is the exception to the generally simplistic and low tech torture. But the cooler is presented as something specifically designed to limit fire magic. It’s unusual within the world and it’s not overly complicated in use or design. In this case it’s something I’m willing to accept because it’s consistent with the rest of the Avatar world and it (arguably) isn’t designed specifically for torture.
Overall
I have a huge soft spot for Avatar. For me it was a show that struck a very good tonal balance. It goes to a lot of very dark places but it also makes space for humour, friendship and fun.
I didn’t really want to look back at it, I was worried that it wouldn’t stand up as well now.
And I was pleasantly surprised. This episode toys with a lot of unrealistic tropes and then veers off in another, better direction.
The result is a story that’s both surprisingly realistic and full of genuinely unexpected twists.
Yes there are flaws and yes there are things they gloss over that I’d rather they didn’t. But this is still a show aimed at children; I’m not sure I’d want to see realistic depictions of the physical injuries torture causes here and some of the common symptoms (suicidal ideation, self harm-) are also not things I consider suitable for 6 year olds.
And it’s just as important to consider what they do get right.
Torture doesn’t work here. Not to make Sang give up information and more broadly it doesn’t keep the prisoners ‘controlled’. We’re shown a prison where guards ‘rough up’ prisoners for fun and torture is a routine punishment. And that prison is anything but effective. There are fights every day. The guards seem to fear for their lives, both around the prisoners and (occasionally) each other. Sang can start a riot with little more then a shout.
And both of these factors, are important to the plot.
Sang’s refusal isn’t just a twist, it creates a distraction for the Warden and helps the group escape. The prison violence isn’t just a background detail; it lets Sokka create excuses to communicate with Zuko and Suki, creates distractions and gets Zuko in position for their first escape attempt.
Torture and abuse are integral to this plot. But the story isn’t about them grinding people down or ‘breaking’ them, it’s about the holes it creates in organisations and how people exploit them. It’s an interesting use of torture because in many ways it isn’t about victims or torturers. The focus is always on the escape plot.
Torture is used to show how incompetent the guards and the Warden are. It’s used to highlight the resistance of prisoners.
It’s used to create a scenario where Sokka can win. Because if the guards at the Boiling Rock didn’t torture Sokka’s plans wouldn’t work. Trust and rapport between prisoners and guards could have revealed the plot at any point. Without regular use of the cooler the first escape attempt wouldn’t have been possible. And without the background brutality of the prison as a distraction Sokka wouldn’t have been able to communicate effectively with the people he was trying to rescue.
I’ve reviewed quite a few different pieces of media at this point. Some of them handle torture well and some, not so well. But I think this is the first time I’ve seen a story that used torture more or less entirely to show the bad guys as incompetent.
Which is a really brilliant way for a program aimed at children to undermine torturers without dismissing the harm they do.
I read your ask about eyes and I braved this little medical ask that can possibly change a bit of my plot... I have a character who's kept in a cellar (spacious, toilet, sink, mattress) and it's usually well lit, with a working heating system. They're kept confined for about a year, kept in contact with only their abductor who visits for a few hours a day. I read your solitary confinement post and the effects are taken care of. But I'm wondering what a punishment like turning off... (1/2)
(2/2) Turning off the electricity can do to them physically? Their torturer punishes them whenever they misbehave by turning off the electricity, keeping them in pitch darkness and freezing climate. I honestly have no idea how that can affect them during the abduction period and after, so if this isn’t too medical, would you give advice on this type of scenario? Thank you..
-
This isn’t too medically. :) I haven’t covered temperature torture in a while.
So this actually maps pretty directly on to some real world abuses in prisons, both modern and historical. Though I’m unaware of it being done specifically by cutting off electricity.
Generally it was done by simply not turning the heating on in the first place, rendering the heating system unusable, depriving prisoners of blankets and warm clothing. The British also enforced regimes of ice cold showers in some prisons and didn't provide towels.
Given the sort of set up you seem to have I’d saying doing it by turning off the electricity seems realistically simple.
I am honestly unsure what the effect of prolonged periods of darkness would be. There are a few accounts of things like this happening to people but I’m unaware of any sufficiently detailed analysis.
It isn’t sensory deprivation so the effects are not going to be that extreme.
But it would be incredibly distressing for most people.
I think the best way to imagine it is in terms of increasing the character’s stress and hence adding to the long term psychologically symptoms. Basically making those symptoms worse.
The feeling of helplessness and lack of control over their own life/circumstances- it’s the kind of thing that feeds into conditions like depression, anxiety and so forth.
I think that it’s possible that over the long term it could damage the character’s eyesight. But I’m unsure how long the character would have to be kept in the dark (or dim light) for that to happen.
The lack of heating is an easier one. It’s well studied.
The last ask I had on low temperatures is this one, I think you’ll find it useful.
The impression I get from accounts is that most temperature tortures stop at the first stage of hypothermia. It can go much further but that means the victim is much more likely to die.
I think given the set up you have so long as the heating isn’t turned off for days or weeks at a time the character is unlikely to die from cold. Though- that does depend a little on the climate. There’s a significant difference between no heating in an Arctic winter and no heating in the south of France.
I think you can probably use common sense to tell how at risk your character is over a short period of time.
Assuming the character doesn’t go beyond the first stage of hypothermia-
They’ll be in pain. Initially they’ll experience- well things you’re probably familiar with from ordinary levels of cold. Shivering, pain, feeling cold to the touch. Some people appear visibly paler. I get joint aches, I’ve never really adjusted to the cold.
The heart rate increases, people breath faster and blood vessels contract to limit blood flow to the extremities. Those are all adaptions to conserve heat. This is part of early stage hypothermia.
As this progresses they’ll get tired and start to become more confused. The character might also struggle with complex motor skills, anything fiddly using their hands. Their movements will slow.
Some people report that rewarming is painful. But a lot of people (especially with more severe hypothermia) experience some degree of delirium and memory loss.
I’m not sure whether there’s any clear evidence on whether repeated exposure to cold actually increases infection rates or not. Anecdotally a lot of people assume it does. But I’m not sure whether this is true or not.
Beyond the physical, there are the general long term effects of torture. I get the impression you’ve already looked at them but here’s the Masterpost again.
The main thing this scenario keeps making me think of is the way it emphasises the victim’s lack of control over their situation. That feeling of helplessness, and things that encourage it, is something that comes up again and again in accounts of solitary confinement.
I can’t say with any certainty whether this would make symptoms worse then hypothermia produced another way. My instinct is that any clinical difference wouldn’t be significant.
But this sort of thing stays with survivors. Sitting in the dark shivering, not knowing when or if the power will come back on, not being able to do anything about it- It’s the sense of powerlessness so many survivor accounts focus on and return to.
How they go on to process the experience is up to you. You could turn aspects of this scenario into triggers, although you don’t have to (triggers are impossible to predict). You could keep it as a moment of terror, waking up in the dark years later and thinking for a moment they never left that room.
You could also turn into something they actively try to fight against. Because it’s predictable. They can learn to navigate their cell in the dark. They can learn how to do everything they can to keep warm. And they can keep those behaviours later, long after they cease to be empowering.
I think I’m going to leave it there. You’ve got a strong scenario. It’s possible and it has a lot of narrative potential.
Hi! I have just recently gotten into the Dragon Prince, and I was wanting to write a fic detailing some stuff that's glossed over about the character Gren. He winds up getting chained up in a dungeon and it looks like it's a stress position, I'm not entirely sure how to describe the position and I can't link you a photo so I'm sorry about that, but if you know what I'm talking about do you think you could tell me what would happen to him if he was like that indefinitely?
Iactually reviewed exactly this from the first season and youcan read the review over here.
Iwould add that second season seems to show the restraints workingdifferently to the first season. They seem to move more easily, be alot longer and allow Gren to sit and possibly lie down. Which is adifferent situation to what the first season implies.
Thefirst season implies a stress position, which would be lethal overthe time period this is shown. The second season implies a restrainttorture and neglect, which is still painful and is still torture. Butit’s less likely to be lethal over this time period.
Itwould result in a lot of bruising and wounds around the wrists.Because there doesn’t seem to be any form of bedding he’dprobably also be too cold. And because there doesn’t seem to be anysort of hygiene facilities he’d probably have some injuriesassociated with that.
He’dbe likely to develop infections and other illnesses. He might havechemical burns or irritation around the thighs and genital area.
Inthis situation indefinitely a person would die. But it takes a lotlonger then a stress position.
Dependingon the level of medical treatment given to prisoners victims keptlike this can live for weeks, months or years.
ToussaintLouverture died after a few months in a French prison that wasdeliberately kept too cold. He was also kept on a starvation diet.
It’sdifficult to estimate an exact time for survival because it varies alot between individuals and it’s also a lot of different torturesin combination.
Restrainttortures alone are survivable for most people for years when theyhave access to modern medicine. Combined with poor hygiene conditionsand poor medical care they’d become lethal a lot more quickly. Thewounds they’d cause would become infected and those infectionswould be more likely to be fatal.
Thelack of bedding would also lead to lack of sleep and that would bothmake infections more likely and make it harder for the body tosuccessfully fight off infection.
So-basically the short answer to the question is: death. But the exactcause of death and the time it would take depends on exactly what isbeing depicted and how you choose to interpret the canon.
Forinstance you could easily imagine that there arehygiene facilities and bedding available for Gren but they’re notleft with him indefinitely. A guard could give a prisoner thesethings for particular periods of time and then take them away whenthe guard judges they’re not needed. That would change thesituation drastically and extend the character’s life.
Youcould plausibly decide that in the worst case scenario the charactersurvives for several months. He’d be in quite a serious conditionthough and would need weeks possibly months of medical care.
Whateverthe scenario the character would develop some of thelong term psychological symptoms of torture. There’s no way topredict which symptoms anyone will develop so I tend to suggestpicking them based on what you feel fits the character and the storyyou’d like to tell.
My character has severe claustrophobia and freaks out when she hears loud noises. So to torture her, her captors are just keeping her in a very small room (6x6x6) and making sure there’s constantly loud noises around such as yelling, machinery, etc. They then say that they didn’t actually do anything bc they didn’t actively hurt her. My questions are 1. Would this even be torture? 2. Is this problematic in the way I portray torture? She’ll have insomnia, panic attacks, auditory hallucinations.
Thiswould certainly be torture and it would actively hurt her but- yesthere is a problematic element here.
Essentiallytorturers have no way of knowing a victim’s phobias in advance.Because of the way torture destroys an organisation’s capacity forcollecting accurate information the chances of torturers finding outsomething like this is virtually impossible. And this kind ofscenario, where a victim’s deepest fears are specificallytargetted, is often used to portray torturers as much more competentthen they are in reality.
Ithink there are a couple of ways you could eliminate that element inyour story so that you could still use this scenario.
Thesimplest way is this: the tortures are not targetted specifically atthis one victim. Every person the torturers abuse is treated thisway. This character is just unlucky enough to be particularlyvulnerable to these tortures.
Themore complicated way is to devise a scenario that will let thetorturers find out about the character’s phobias after she’scaptured. If you think the character is naive enough to beg them notto do these specific things to her when she’s threatened withtorture- that could work.
OtherwiseI’d suggest creating a scenario that lets the torturers see she’sbadly effected by loud noise. And another that lets them see she’sbadly effected by confined spaces. These scenarios would have to beincredibly, blindingly obvious.
Personally?I would favour the first scenario and the idea these torturers treateveryone this way.
It’smore realistic and it avoids any chance of suggesting that this is‘less damaging’ or only bad because the character has thesephobias. If the torturers do this to everyone that means they expecteveryone to be hurt by this kind of abuse. Which neatly avoids thesuggestion that this is somehow ‘harmless’.
Attackslike this would usually involve locking someone in a ‘box’ for anextended period of time. Which could be anything from around 10 hoursto 48 hours.
Thiswas especially common with police torture in many different countries(it’s most extensively studied in the US) and a lot of old jailsactually had specially built ‘rooms’ for this. They were oftentoo small to sit or lie down in and were sometimes right next to thebuilding’s boiler, making them incredibly hot.
Theseare actually several tortures happening simultaneously.
Thefirst is something a bit like a restraint torture: the victim insidethe ‘box’ has enough freedom of movement that they’re not in astress position but their movement is sufficiently reduced thatthey’re constantly uncomfortable and in pain. The second is atemperature torture caused by the heat from the boiler. The third issleep deprivation caused by the dimensions of the box, thetemperature and the noise from the boiler.
Thiswas all often combined with starvation, dehydration and inadequatehygiene facilities.
Thecell in your scenario is big enough that this isn’t a positionaltorture. But the noisy machinery means that it isgoing to cause sleep deprivation and it could be a temperaturetorture as well. If the roomis very close to the machinery and it’s large machinery there’s agood chance the room would heat up while the machinery is running.
Ina cramped space that sort of heat can get trapped. The room canquickly become painfully hot and stuffy.
Atthe very least I’d expect a normal person to develop an awfulheadache within an hour of being locked in this sort of room.
Ifthe room is hot and they’re not given water then I’d expect someof the symptoms of dehydration to be apparent: headaches, confusion,dizziness, pain and tiredness. If the character was kept there foranything up to 12 hours I think symptoms of sleep deprivation wouldbe likely as well.
Thephysical symptoms include shakes, headaches, muscular pain, poorreaction times, poor coordination, poor reflexes and a higher chanceof accidents. That combines with confusion, memory loss, reducedconcentration, reduced ability to recognise other people’semotions, an assumption other people are hostile, difficultremembering new information, and impairments to logic, creativity,planning and problem solving.
Theseare tortures. They’re incredibly common ones. And the fact they’re‘clean’ (non scarring) tortures means they’re often incrediblydifficult to prove.As a result survivors of these kinds of tortures are often denied services and a chance at justice.
Cellslike the one you described aren’t used often any more because thecell itself is obvious. But the same tortures are still being used,the method is the only thing that’s changed.
Thisis torture. It’sincredibly painful and damaging. That would apply to anyone, not justa character with these specific phobias.
Givingyour character insomnia and panic attacks in the long term seemsplausible to me. They’re both common long term symptoms.
Ithink you should try reading some of @scripttraumasurvivors’s blogbefore committing to auditory hallucinations as a long term symptom.Some survivors with PTSD do hallucinate but not every one does andhallucinations are often portrayed very badly in fiction. It’sworth taking the time to read up on them before deciding if that’sa symptom you want to use long term.
Inthe short term sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations, includingauditory hallucinations. However this would be unusual if thecharacter had been in sleep deprived for less then 24 hours. (Acharacter who hadn’t been getting enough sleep before beingconfined could start hallucinating sooner).
I want my character to be sleep deprived for 9 days and I was thinking the torturers might do this by leaving her in standing cuffs 7-9 hours each night. Would there be enough time in the day for her kidneys to clear out built up toxins before the next night or would this be lethal? If lethal, how long could the torturers do this without killing her? What if they beat her or used other stress positions (for one or a few hours) during the day? Would it depend on how much food/water she gets?
Sofar as I know the amount of food and water someone gets doesn’teffect the survival rates for stress positions. It’s not about whatgoes into the body but the physical limitations of the kidneysthemselves.
Idon’t think your scenario would kill the character but I don’tthink it would be an effective method of sleep deprivation withoutanything else going on. And I can’t be 100% sure whether thisscenario would be lethal or not because this isn’t how stresspositions are usually used.
Essentiallyunless the guards are also waking her up or there are very brightlights in her cell that are never turned off, I think she’d fallasleep almost as soon as she’s taken out of the stress position.This might not happen during the first 24 hours but it would almostcertainly happen in the first 48. When we’re chronically sleepdeprived falling asleep is pretty easy.
Ithink it would probably be best if I address the stress positionfirst and then come back to the sleep deprivation, because this doespartly depend on how sleep deprived you want the character to be.
Usingother stress positions and using beatings would increase thelikelihood of the character dying.
Thinkof it as one of those health bars on a video game: as more musculardamage occurs the bar goes down and with time it slowly recovers. Abig enough hit of muscular damage, or more muscular damage withoutmuch recovery damage results in a significant ‘health drop’. Whenthat reaches a certain level you’ve got lethal damage.
SoI don’tsuggest mixing in beatings and if you’re using different stresspositions count the time as adding to the time spent in standingcuffs. The maximum non-lethal period is 48 hours, after that deathrates increase.
Ithink I tend to suggest a physical recovery period of around a weekafter that for characters.
Whatyou’re doing instead with shorter bursts of damage followed by amedium recovery period could still potentially cause damage to thekidneys and death if it went on long enough. Because we’re talkingabout accumulation of something in the body that’s toxic at acertain level. Like I said I think you’re still in a survivablerange, but I wouldn’t suggest adding in any more tortures thatdamage the muscles. Either directly or indirectly.
Let’sgo back to the sleep deprivation.
It’simpossible to sleep for more than a few seconds at a time in standingcuffs. So a person kept in standing cuffs for the usual length oftime (24-48 hours) would be sleep deprived. Your character is likelyto fall asleep throughout their day.
Ifthey’re mostly left alone in a cell except when they’re torturedthen they’ll probably be getting a normal amount of sleep.
Ifthey’re forced to work or exercise then that would keep them awakefor longer but they’d likely still be snatching quite a bit ofsleep. However forcing the character to work or exercise would beputting additional strain on her muscles. Which would make death fromkidney failure a lot more likely.
Asa result I don’t think having the character in a forced labour orforced exercise situation would be a good idea.
Ithink the best place to start is by thinking about exactly how sleepdeprived you want the character to be. Total sleep deprivation ispossible over this period of time but pretty severe.
Sleeping3-5 hours in every 24 over this time period could be a better option.A character getting that little sleep would still be incrediblyeffected by sleep deprivation. She’d still be in obvious pain anddistress after the first 24 hours, become delirious very quickly andprobably be quite out of touch with reality by day 9.
Thereason I think you need to decide the amount of sleep the characteris getting is because that can effect the method used to deprive herof sleep. So can the time period of your setting but whatever thetime setting there are several options.
Thesimplest options in a modern setting are using electric lights andspeakers. This can mean just leaving the lights on and the speakersplaying something (literally anything) loudly. Sometimes it meanshaving the lights turn on and off every couple of seconds.
Allof that can be done without much effort from the captors. Allowingsleep is as simple as turning off the lights and speakers for anallotted period of time.
Inhistorical settings (or settings without electricity for whateverreason) there are a couple of other ways victims were sleep deprived.
Thesimplest was just having guards bang on the cell doors every 30seconds or so. Or having guards poke or shake victims awake every fewminutes.
Sleepdeprivation was also often achieved by using relay interrogation(which is also still practiced today). This basically means switchingthe ‘interrogator’ every few hours so that they are awake, whilethe victim is expected to keep talking and is deprived of sleep.
These‘interrogations’ don’t yield any sense and they’re not reallyexpected to. Victims are basically being kept in a room andconstantly shouted at. If they talk they’re expected to go over thesame events/story repeatedly. Relay interrogations are often used totry and force confessions, which they sometimes succeed in doing.
Allof the options so far could be used for either total sleepdeprivation or for enforcing a severely reduced sleep schedule.
Anotherhistorical option, which only really works for total sleepdeprivation, is to soak the cell. Water is poured over the floor andover any bedding. In a cold climate this makes it essentiallyimpossible to sleep and comes with a considerable hypothermia risk.In a tropical climate it also prevents sleep and comes with aconsiderable infection risk.
Itdoesn’t work in a hot desert like my home so it didn’t reallyoccur in those kinds of climates.
Torturerswould sometimes adjust this by using human waste. Which comes with areally large infection risk that might turn into something lethalover nine days.
Havea think about which option best suits your scenario and setting. Ifyou want more information on sleep deprivation I found Why weSleep by M Walker a pretty goodand accessible read.
