Princeps - Relationship with the Machine Spirit: When a princeps first links with a new Titan, they must first break its resistance and force it to acknowledge them as its new master. Once that is done, however, the Machine Spirit's (artificial intelligence) resistance does not cease, and each re-connection is painful and mentally taxing for the princeps.Being linked to a Titan will, either through the sheer mental strain of connecting to and becoming a being that dwarfs a Human in nearly every respect, or through the actual patient endeavour of the Titan's Machine Spirit, eventually result in the princeps losing sanity, being broken by the Titan, or being completely overwhelmed by the domineering Machine Spirit, lost in the machine's generated mental landscape or "manifold." At this point, disconnecting the princeps from the Mind Impulse Unit will result in certain death.There is also a perverse effect to the mind-link: it is highly addictive to the Human mind. From the moment they manage to dominate his Titan's Machine Spirit, the princeps will actively crave being linked to their god-engine, for the feeling of becoming a godlike machine of destruction is impossibly intense, and living as a mere Human eventually becomes intolerable for some princeps.Alas, this withdrawal also accelerates the princeps' descent into madness, straining their mind when they are not linked to their mighty war machine. If a princeps does not fall in battle, they will ultimately fall to the Machine Spirit of their Titan when their will finally snaps.Being linked to the Titan's Mind Impulse Unit is a considerable effort in itself, and controlling the war machine's systems precisely is difficult. Most princeps are incapable of controlling all of a Titan's functions simultaneously due to the sheer, unbearable mental tumult it inflicts, and those who do will only do so for short periods of time.For this reason, princeps are assisted in operating these towering war machines by junior Collegia Titanica officers called moderati -- whose role is to operate some of the Titan's systems in their commander's stead -- lessening the mental strain placed on the princeps and allowing for the efficient handling of the machine.The mind-link is a very intimate and immersive connection, causing the princeps and the Titan to leave an imprint in each other's consciousness and grow increasingly alike over time. The Titan's Machine Spirit will learn from its princeps and from the battles they take part in, storing the knowledge and making it available at all times and to any princeps that will command the war machine in the future.The princeps on the other hand, will, with time, begin to show traits of character akin to those of his or her war engine. The nature of the Machine Spirits varies between individual Titans, however war engines of the same class will be similar.Thus, the commanders of Warhound-class Scout Titans are known to be bellicose and belligerent, and sometimes loners, though the latter may be due to their generally solitary assignments as scouts, while the princeps of other classes of god-engines are more cool-headed and better capable of cooperation as part of a larger force.