Mind Impulse Unit - Internment in an Amniotic Tank: Some Titan princeps are interred within an amniotic tank, a device filled with a jelly-like polycarbon fluid in which the individual is suspended, and equipped with augmitters and Vox-casters which allow the person within to communicate with their surroundings.The device acts as a complete life support unit, handling all of the vital functions of the princeps within. The fluid's function is to suspend the individual within the casket, greatly lessening the strain on their motive system, and to create a stable neurochemical environment.Usually it is also a carrier of nutrients and oxygen, and in such a case the Human within is modified to breathe it through his or her lungs. Sometimes, however, the fluid does not fulfill this function, and in this case the life support unit will provide external blood oxygenation and removal of excess carbon dioxide, which is then once again supplied into the body and into the right atrium.To facilitate such change, the princeps' heart will possess an artificially created foramen ovale -- a hole between the upper chambers of the heart, allowing the blood flowing into the right atrium to bypass the lungs -- which perform no function while in the tank -- and enter the left atrium, from where it flows into the left ventricle and is further distributed across the body. Such an artificial circulatory system, as well as the body's suspension in amniotic fluids, closely resembles that of a gestating foetus within its mother's womb.Due to their near-complete uselessness, the hands and feet of a princeps interred in an amniotic tank are sometimes amputated and replaced with augmetic haptic sheaths that serve as a part of the broader Mind Impulse Unit. In addition, the eyes are occasionally removed, and the sense of sight, along with others, is replaced by the sensors and auspexes of the Titan and those built into the amniotic casket.Eye sockets then serve as another medium of connection for the individual to the Mind Impulse Unit, possibly making use of the conveniently placed ocular nerves. The cybernetic link created via an amniotic interface is much deeper than that attained using hard-plugs, which makes disconnection from the MIU much harder. It is a complex ritual that can only be performed by a senior Tech-priest, and if not carried out appropriately the princeps in question can suffer severe mental and neural trauma.Internment in an amniotic tank allows the princeps within to enmesh with the Titan's Machine Spirit more completely than they would ever be able to utilising only a hard-plug connection. This greater and even more immersive neural connection grants an advantage in comprehension of the war engine and speed of reaction over a princeps using the more traditional connection methods. A princeps utilising amniotic interfacing is also at all times in remote communion with their god-engine, even when the Mind Impulse Unit is deactivated and the Titan itself is shut down.Because of this permanent neural connection, these princeps suffer none of the symptoms of withdrawal or the pain of separation which are the domain of Titan pilots using standard hard-plug connection. However, due to this constant mindlink, and because of the atrophied state of their bodies, they are more exposed to the Mind Impulse Unit's effects on the psyche.This is only natural, for as the body atrophies and grows weaker from lack of use, the mind further withdraws into the depths of the Manifold and the personality is degraded. The Human within slowly but surely is detached from their Humanity, and eventually becomes nothing more than a dysfunctional part of the machine, their consciousness lost in the artificial mental landscape created by the Mind Impulse Unit.For this reason, many princeps hesitate to embrace amniotic immersion despite its advantages and fear the consequences it would bring, while some other members of a Titan's crew view such individuals with a measure of unease and uncertainty. Still, amniotic interfacing offers considerable advantages, and for this reason its use is standard practice in some Titan Legions, and some patterns of Titan require it by design.Princeps will also be modified for internment in an amniotic tank in order to save their lives, for example after they sustain great physical or mental trauma, as often occurs after surviving the destruction of a Titan, or when their addiction to the link grows severe enough that they may not be able to bear disconnection from the MIU. Amniotic immersion is then used to preserve their ruined bodies and to keep their sanity intact through the permanent connection to the Mind Impulse Unit it allows.