Is there a minor mode in emacs that attaches a Control Key to every keystroke representing a single character? I wanted to get something similar to action mode in Vim. I've seen Viper, but would prefer not to spend the time to relearn all of the key-bindings.
Take a look at https://github.com/chrisdone/god-mode
This is a global minor mode for entering Emacs commands without modifier keys. It's similar to Vim's separation of commands and insertion mode.
The difference between this and viper/vimpulse/evil is that god-mode is still using the standard Emacs bindings.
It's not a direct answer1 to your question, but I think it implements your actual end goal.
1 This might be of some interest: Software Requirements for Code Creation / Editor with RSI Type Symptoms (unusable fingers)