life with psionic powers

[Halo299]

I was trying to make a sci fi setting for an RPG and i started trying to think of how mental powers might affect culture. This could just as easily be magic, but when i thought of it, i was thinking about psionics.

Now here is what you know. Mental powers are present in some people from birth. Almost anyone who is will to undergo the training to awaken them can also develop these powers.

These powers are mental in nature, they know that they are coming from somewhere in the brain, but that is about all. Test have given us some idea about what parts of the brain are active and involved in using the powers, but that is about it. they aren't all that well understood. There is so little information that some groups maintain that these powers are the blessings of god or imparted by the devil, but enough is know about the powers that not many people take these notions serious.

And you don't have any.

what would that be like, walking around KNOWING that there are people who could be reading or controlling your thoughts, could unlock every door in your house with their mind, or cause you to burst into flames from across the room and their is nothing you could do about it.

What if your girlfriend had these powers, how would that effect your relationship? what if your boss had these powers, what would working for him be like? of course the governments would have laws in place to control these people, but how would that affect society?

these are ideas that never seemed to hit me when i was 13 and making RPG settings, what do you guys think?

-halo

[RavenxDrake]

For one thing, I'd say that psionics would be tightly governmentally controled, especially because of the danger of an untrained person, or someone with uncontrollable outbrusts of power. (Actually I've got a setting/story world where the CDC was presured to classify psionics as an "Abnormal genetic disorder" so that quarantine protections could be extended to and enforced on them to facilitate control of the growing psychic population). That's going to lead to fear, anxiety, public outcry, etc, etc.

For me, personally... I honestly don't know how I'd react. I mean, there are people walking around right now that could reach out and kill me with thier bare hands. People that could do it with thier mind isn't that much different.

I've got a government that can tap my phones, read my email, break into my computer, and use listening devices to eavsdrop on my house without a court order by just waving G. Bush's "tear-ist" namedrop around like the Jedi Mindtrick... my sense of privacy is dwindling so quickly that the possibility of someone reading my mind is almost welcome cause then it's only one guy that knows I sing in the shower.

The one thing that I truely dread, though, above all others is being controled by an outside force. THAT scares and infuriates me to think about. I absolutely can't abide passing control of my situation over to another person(or not being in fit capacity to control my own situation) which is one of the reasons I don't do drugs and rarely drink more than one or two drinks in an evening. The thought that someone else could force me to do things against my will and I would be unable to resist is quite frankly terrifying. Fortunately those people would be collected by the CIA and brainwashed into covert ops guys pretty regularly so I wouldn't be that worried.

[Sonofzeal]

If I was designing a world like that, my first impulse would be to interview blind people IRL, find out how they cope. I have to imagine that living in our world without sight, or hearing, would be in many ways similar to the experience of your protagonists.

What sort of powers are we talking about though? What could the average person do with them? What abilities would be taken for granted by the vast majority of the population? What are the extreme examples, how powerful can espers be in your world?

[Halo299]

I've got a government that can tap my phones, read my email, break into my computer, and use listening devices to eavsdrop on my house without a court order by just waving G. Bush's "tear-ist" namedrop around like the Jedi Mindtrick... my sense of privacy is dwindling so quickly that the possibility of someone reading my mind is almost welcome cause then it's only one guy that knows I sing in the shower.

I thought of that too. But then i realized that while th gov can fuck with my shit if it wants, i tend to think that unless things get much worse then they are now i have got a good chance of staying below the radar and not important enough to warrant government attention.

but if normal people have these powers. then my chances are much higher of running into one of them. Even if i never met one, there is always the chance in my head that i MIGHT and that is almost just as bad. because i know they are really but i don't have much to base my opinion of them on other than what the media tells me about them.

The one thing that I truely dread, though, above all others is being controled by an outside force. THAT scares and infuriates me to think about. I absolutely can't abide passing control of my situation over to another person(or not being in fit capacity to control my own situation) which is one of the reasons I don't do drugs and rarely drink more than one or two drinks in an evening. The thought that someone else could force me to do things against my will and I would be unable to resist is quite frankly terrifying. Fortunately those people would be collected by the CIA and brainwashed into covert ops guys pretty regularly so I wouldn't be that worried.

thought of that too. It would be nice to think that the gov would just round these people up and take them fair away from us so we can be safe....because that always works out.

but what if it didn't get them all. If a Psion makes me commit a crime, will i go to jail, or will they be able to trace the power back to its user? If i MAKE a girl WANT to do me, is it rape or am i just using the tools i am given the way other guys might use good looks or nice cloths.

I think the justice system would be turned on its ear. no need for a jury, because you can just appoint a psionic judge. but the judge would not need to produce any evidence or argue his ruling, so the chance of corruption becomes greater. So have a panel of judges that just sit in their robes and read peoples minds all day.

"Guilty you are, yes. Tried to flee in that white bronco, you did mmmmm."

it sounds nice, but the chance of corruption is still there.

also politicians would be completely unable to speak in public forums.
"I think my tax plan has real potential to stimulate the growth of small business in our community."
"No you don't, you don't think that at all."

What sort of powers are we talking about though? What could the average person do with them? What abilities would be taken for granted by the vast majority of the population? What are the extreme examples, how powerful can espers be in your world?

i don't know yet because i haven't picked out a system to run the game in yet, i originally thought that nWoD could be patched to handle it, but that seems like a lot more work than i originally thought. d20 Future has some nice things going for it...and some horrible things going against it. but at this point i don't know for sure.

Mind Reading i guess is a given. with mental control as a possibility.
Object manipulation seems like a given also. but other powers are also quite possible.

i think that there would be a big market for psionic proof locks and stuff like that. Also there would need to be some way of testing people to see if they were psions. Perhaps brain scans would be the most accurate way but it isn't like you can just point a psion detector at some one and tell if they have these powers or not.

perhaps public schools would scan kids at various ages to tell if they were developing powers naturally. Anita Blake did a rather nice short story about this once. reading it made my soul feel so dirty by the time it was over. good story.

-halo

[Sonofzeal]

You said that almost everyone has the potential to unlock these powers, right? If so, I think that would become almost a mandatory part of education, in which case the few who can't would probably either become servants/helpers to the rest, or break off and form their own insular society on some island somewhere (say, Britain) and let the psychics run the rest of the world.

Peter F Hamilton explored the extention of this idea in the "Night's Dawn" books, in which Humanity has been split between the Edenists, who are all telepathic and imprint their minds into the Collective when they die, and the Adamists who regect psi for moral or practical reasons and develop along more traditional paths. Edenists have far better bio-sci, and grow their own ships and habitats; Adamists augment themselves with internet-wired nanites and build more conventional ships. There's a lot more to it, but it's an interesting picture in any case.

[Halo299]

You said that almost everyone has the potential to unlock these powers, right? If so, I think that would become almost a mandatory part of education,

I'd say that every one learns about them in grade school. but actual training in using the powers proficiently would take about as much work as getting a medical degree.

the people who can use them naturally (Wild Talents) can do one or two things with them (read minds, move small objects) but even they would have to go to school to learn to develop them. They would just have a head start.

but school takes a lot of time and cost money. i'd say that most people just don't have the means or desire to develop their powers.

i suppose it would be possible to teach yourself how to do it, or if you know someone who was willing to train you (for a price (perhaps not money)) then that is an option. Of course i am also sure that there would be lots of scam artists running around offering to train people also. not to mention drug companies offering psionic steroids that most likely work about as well as diet pills.

in which case the few who can't would probably either become servants/helpers to the rest, or break off and form their own insular society on some island somewhere (say, Britain) and let the psychics run the rest of the world.

that is certainly an idea i hadn't thought of. i'm sure there would be places where the locals "wouldn't take to kindly to that type " but i think that the majority of the people would still be psion free. It's just that the number of psions would be so large that it would be impossible to pretend they didn't exist.

-halo

(in the setting i am working on in about 2020 humans make contact with a race of aliens known as the Fraal. The Fraal are all psionics and it is through them that humanity first learns to use tap into psionic powers. The actual game will take place about 500 years after that once things have settled down a bit. there are now about a half dozen known races that populate space with use and the game will take place in a distant cluster of stars far from any of the home worlds.)

[Xero]

I'm actually writing a story out about this...
theres an awakening of powers and a whole bunch of funky shit happens
psi awakens
most people can make a little wall, or string, maybe move a car tire, with about as much strength as a grown man can swing a 20lbs sledge hammer and some other such

course theres ultra-small but statically possible chance the psi user basically gets +1337godmode and pwns the universe

and pretty much everyone doesn't give a crap, except moving things around and fighting/sparing/roughousing are more equal sex wise, so a calmer society over all
kinkier sex
and a mysterious lack of ultra strict child porn laws due to an open religion system thats designed to breed out the weak and only breed after maturity is reached ect...

[ManaUser]

I think the question of how easy it is to detect psionics is a very important one for your setting. Is to possible to detect a person capable of this even when they're not using their powers? And do you detect it? MRI? Hand-held gizmo? Or do you have to be a telepath yourself? Would a normal person have any idea when psionics were used on them? If not, it's hard to imagine how it could even be regulated, short of Final Solution type measures.

[Swordsman3003]

If you're going to have scientific psionics, I think you need to constrain them with some of the laws of thermodynamics.

IMHO, anybody who tries to move something with psychic power should lose calories from his body equal to the energy it took to move that object.

I think that kind of constraint on "the power" would make the whole situation much more interesting. And fair!

Someone with pyrokinesis would might end up with pneumonia if she tries to ignite solid rock, but end up mildly hungry is she bats her eyelash and a barrel of oil bursts into flame.

edite for spelling

[Halo299]

I think the question of how easy it is to detect psionics is a very important one for your setting. Is to possible to detect a person capable of this even when they're not using their powers? And do you detect it? MRI? Hand-held gizmo? Or do you have to be a telepath yourself? Would a normal person have any idea when psionics were used on them? If not, it's hard to imagine how it could even be regulated, short of Final Solution type measures.

I was thinking that a slight raise in body temp would accompany the use of powers. Other than that an MRI style test needs to be run to determine if key areas of the brain have become active. Course other psions have a knack for spotting their own.

See i don't think that regulating it is all that much of an option. sure there are laws to regulate the use of these powers, but it would be hard to tag every single user in the world.

and that is why this idea interest me so much. Sure the guys taking your money for a milkshake might have dropped out of high school when his GF got pregnant, but he's been able to read minds since he was 5...and now he knows why you look so stressed out...

it changes all our assumptions about human to human interaction.

oh...i also see Psi block meds. in the future spam iMails say "Keep your thoughts to yourself!!! Discount prices on Psioxy and other name brands."

of course none of them work...well maybe a +1 bonus on saving throws.

-halo

I was thinking that d20 future would be the easiest way to go. so i made a character to remind myself what the system was like. Woah. There is no way in hell i am doing that much math ever again. So it looks like i'll be homebrewing nWoD for this one.

[Error of Logic]

I think there would be a sudden market for lead-lined caps and/or coats. No, I'm not being flippant. If not everyone has these powers, paranoia would be an issue of some import and people would try to find ways to protect themselves against psionics who meant them harm. The military and intelligence services would have to be provided with anti-telepath screening, as would government buildings, so construction would take a hit as well.

[Warmachine]

Psychic powers, especially telepathy, are game breakers. Evil conspiracies don't last long when the players scan one of the enemy agents and shows the evidence to the TV networks. Countermeasures must exist: identification of telepaths; interference by other telepaths; intereference by high-tech jamming devices; interference by specially treated walls.

By the way, what system are you using?

[Jackalope]

Actually, I was thinking of a somewhat similar subject recently...when we say "disability" we usually think that someone is missing out on life. But there's a whole separate deaf culture now, and they don't consider themselves "disabled." They're different, but they've never been able to hear, so they think it no loss. It's the ones who could hear before that think of deafness as a loss, and they didn't grow up signing with the culture that's entailed in that.

So the difference might be as much as that. You know that some people have extra senses that you don't, but you've never experienced them, so the "loss" or "disadvantage" doesn't bother you much. If the whole world isn't geared towards the people with psionics, then you're not even in as disadvantaged a position as the signing deaf are today.

And yes, I think there would be an increase in paranoia, as well as an increase in mistaken diagnoses of schizophrenia and suicides in cases of telepaths who aren't taught or can't learn control. If you're going to add any sort of prescience, then the numbers on depression and suicide will probably go higher as well (generally people who see the future can't change it, and how would that fuck with someone's mind?)

[Lowky]

What sort of powers are we talking about though? What could the average person do with them? What abilities would be taken for granted by the vast majority of the population? What are the extreme examples, how powerful can espers be in your world?

i don't know yet because i haven't picked out a system to run the game in yet, i originally thought that nWoD could be patched to handle it, but that seems like a lot more work than i originally thought. d20 Future has some nice things going for it...and some horrible things going against it. but at this point i don't know for sure.

Mind Reading i guess is a given. with mental control as a possibility.
Object manipulation seems like a given also. but other powers are also quite possible.

i think that there would be a big market for psionic proof locks and stuff like that. Also there would need to be some way of testing people to see if they were psions. Perhaps brain scans would be the most accurate way but it isn't like you can just point a psion detector at some one and tell if they have these powers or not.

perhaps public schools would scan kids at various ages to tell if they were developing powers naturally. Anita Blake did a rather nice short story about this once. reading it made my soul feel so dirty by the time it was over. good story.

-halo

Take the randomness out of it, come up with your own system based on d4. or d12 if you want more randomness. put those lesser used dice to work. Stop the dice discrimination! There are more dice than just d10 and d20! They need to feed their families. Think of the Children man, think of the children!

[Foolosophy]

cf. X-Men.

[Swordsman3003]

If you're going to add any sort of prescience, then the numbers on depression and suicide will probably go higher as well (generally people who see the future can't change it, and how would that fuck with someone's mind?)

I think Frank Herbert was the only guy able to use prescience as an effective plot device. Anybody else I've read who tries to have some kind of future prediction ends up killing the entire story, and usually has to lampshade it at some point.

If your fictional universe is deterministic, then the prescient should be as gods.

If your universe is not deterministic, and there are 'possible' futures, then their power really isn't prescience. Their conjecture about what could happen in the future is simply more accurate then everyone elses. That doesn't require psionic powers, that just requires a lot of intelligence.

[Kittyboymuffin]

I actually had an idea for a story in which someone, among all his other psionic powers (telekinesis, etc), refuses to develop or rely on prescience because either the vision is accurate, in which case it will happen no matter what you do, and in fact may happen because you tried to stop it; or it is inaccurate, either because you'll change things or because it won't happen no matter what you do. There's no way to determine which possibility it is just from the vision alone.

Also, if you had psychokinesis, you could induce orgasms in other people from a distance. :3

[Sonofzeal]

Take the randomness out of it, come up with your own system based on d4. or d12 if you want more randomness. put those lesser used dice to work. Stop the dice discrimination! There are more dice than just d10 and d20! They need to feed their families. Think of the Children man, think of the children!

Actually, I'd recommend going with a d20 framework, but using 3d6 instead. The average result is the same, but you get an actual bell curve where most of the results fall into the middle. This link shows how to do critical hits among other things.



And I just remembered another book that dealt with a similar premis - a world of telepaths where the main character was telepathically immune, unable to send or recieve. He has the good fortune of being from a highly wealthy family in a fairly agrarian society, so he's taken care of physically. Ends up as very much a loner, spending most of his time with his secret computer.

One facet they explored was that he (and certain highly-illegal devices known as psi-bombs) were, on occassion, able to output a tremendous ammount of negative psi-feelings, the psi equivalent of a sonic boom at point blank range. Enough to incapacitate any telepath in a certain radius, possibly enough to kill in extreme cases. Maybe such a psi-bomb exists in your world? Maybe psi-immunity is not always a bad thing? Maybe the inability to send is connected with the inability to recieve as well?

Also - think about what term you'd use for telepaths and other psi-using people. The technical term is "esper", but that's a little cliche after Final Fantasy. "Tepe" (from T.P., TelePath) is a good one, along with Teke for TeleKinetic. IMO, one of the things that divides good scifi from bad is how smoothly they handle all the new gadgets and techniques. I mean, how long did it take vernacular to go from "automobiles" to "cars"?

[Lowky]

Also - think about what term you'd use for telepaths and other psi-using people. The technical term is "esper", but that's a little cliche after Final Fantasy. "Tepe" (from T.P., TelePath) is a good one, along with Teke for TeleKinetic. IMO, one of the things that divides good scifi from bad is how smoothly they handle all the new gadgets and techniques. I mean, how long did it take vernacular to go from "automobiles" to "cars"?

The funny thing is most definitions of Car I can find online link to Carre or Carra which is old english for Cart. so technically car is older than automobile.

[Xero]

If you're going to add any sort of prescience, then the numbers on depression and suicide will probably go higher as well (generally people who see the future can't change it, and how would that fuck with someone's mind?)

I think Frank Herbert was the only guy able to use prescience as an effective plot device. Anybody else I've read who tries to have some kind of future prediction ends up killing the entire story, and usually has to lampshade it at some point.

I've seen it used in flashes of deus ex to good use, but its not common at all out side herbert's god hold on it