Quinzel’s Syndrome [-10]
Psychologists, of course, have long been intimately familiar with the tendency of a certain type of individual to willingly dress up in identical and vaguely silly uniforms, take on anonymizing nicknames, and commit crimes on the behest of a bizarrely-costumed and extravagantly-themed supervillain. Research continues in what has been called Quinzel’s Syndrome since the 1990s, but it’s widely agreed that there is definitely an odd physiological, and possibly even genetic, predisposition towards minion-hood among an alarmingly wide segment of the population. Curing it is even more potentially fraught, particularly since there are those outside of criminal life who consider Quinzel’s Syndrome to be potentially useful, too.
In GURPS terms this is best described as Reprogrammable [-10] with a triggering mechanism of “Can be taken over by anyone with Charisma 3 who gets a Very Good result on a reaction roll.’ Possession of this disadvantage also requires either a 5 point Secret or 10 points in Social Stigma (‘habitual criminal’). Note that this condition does not necessarily indicate low intelligence, drive, or general mental fortitude. It is currently possible to test for Quinzel’s Syndrome, but it is not legal to do so in most developed countries. The US Supreme Court in particular regularly strikes down laws requiring mandatory testing for criminals for Quinzel’s Syndrome, and has been doing so since the 1990s. After all, it’s a chronic illness, not a criminal activity in and of itself…