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Old 08-23-2019, 07:14 AM   #1
Prince Charon
 
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Default [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding

This thread is one of several ideas I have (partly because I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life) that were inspired by what Mailanka has been doing with Star Wars in his Psi Wars setting: Don't Convert, Create! Rather than trying to faithfully convert the setting into GURPS (and most likely failing, especially in the eyes of anyone who views the setting differently than you do), create a setting that both fits the system, and the sort of game you might want to run or play in, inspired by the existing source material. As I'm not totally confident in my ability to do this all on my own, and I do have many other time-sinks as well, this is a fairly open thread for this work. As you might guess, this one is inspired by Star Trek. It might or might not turn out to be closer to the source material than Psi Wars is to Star Wars, but I suspect the result will be more like 'closer in some ways, further in others.'


A core conceit of this (Psi Trek) setting is that all of the 'normal' superscience tech is psychotronics (and some of the weird drugs are probably psi drugs), and the 'strangely advanced and powerful organic technology' that some races have or had is psi-based bio-tech; likewise, a lot of the weird superpowers that some races have are psionic. This is mostly consistent with the various ST series and movies that I've seen, so that's good. If we assume that psychotronics work better with sapient operators, and that some don't work at all, or fail fairly soon, without them, it allows us to justify following Ken Burnside's Zeroth Law of Space Combat in a way that makes sense in-setting. Missiles are still possible because they don't have to last all that long, but probes depend on how much psychotronics they use, and how long you need them to work.

In 'A Piece of the Action,' Kirk says that the transtator is 'the basis for every important piece of technology we have,' so in this setting as in my Spice from Skylab setting (which is a different worldline from this one, but could perhaps be in the same skerry), the transtator is the simplest, most basic psychotronic component, from which all others are developed: it converts electricity into psionic energy, and vice versa. The transtator could plausibly be invented at TL6, or even TL5 as an outlier (a society with a mostly lower TL that is advanced in chemistry and knows how to produce electricity could also potentially invent it, though it would be incredibly difficult to do so with stone knives and bear skins). In this setting, though, I would say that it's invented on Earth no earlier than the transition point between TL7 and TL8^ (or TL(7+1)^, depending on how you look at it), and no later than the transition point between TL8 and TL9^ (note '^' and lack thereof).

Looking at GURPS Psionic Campaigns, I'm going to say that Universal Latency is true for any sapient species that doesn't universally have psi powers. The range of powers and abilities available is quite wide, though most races have a short list of universal or common abilities, usually from one or two powers (and may have a racial Talent or Talents in those powers), and the list of powers and abilities in GURPS Psionic Powers are relatively common among the races of Known Space. Terran humanity in this setting is a mostly latent race, which is part of why it took so long for psi-tech to be invented. Looking at 'Frequency' (pp15-16), people with just psi perks or very low level and cost abilities, or just psi talents and disadvantages without perks or abilities, are Uncommon, those with a net 5-25 points in psi abilities, talents, and disadvantages are Rare, and those with a net of more than 25 points in psi abilities, talents, and disadvantages are Very Rare. The most common psi powers among humans are ESP and Probability Alteration, but no psi power is actually unheard-of for humans. In terms of Public Awareness (pp16-18), psi is Acknowledged in most civilizations that have made interstellar contact, though Public Reaction (pp18-19) to natural psi varies widely. On Earth, and in the Federation (or whatever we end up calling the Federation equivalent), Acceptance is the rule, though there are exceptions. Even societies that react badly to natural psi usually accept psychotronics, though, for much the same reason that societies on modern Earth are generally inclined to accept electricity and electronics - the exceptions survive if no-one with the ability to wants to conquer or seriously attack them. Some races only consider specific powers and/or abilities acceptable (natural, artificial, or both), or only consider one or two powers (or specific abilities) taboo/unclean/wrong.

I mention Terran humanity above, because another conceit of the setting is that there are lots of humanoid aliens, as well as 'aliens' who basically are human. The concept of ancient aliens taking humans from Earth to other worlds was used in TOS (as well as other, non-ST settings, like Johnny1A.2's Orichalcum Universe), and I see no particular reason not to use it here. Some of the ancient humans and other hominids are genetically engineered to better survive on their worlds, others were left to evolve naturally, and some are a mix of both. Which psi abilities are the most common varies from race to race, even without getting into the sapient descendants of non-hominids taken from Earth (e.g. the Caitians), much less the really alien aliens.


Thoughts?

Table of Contents:

The Eugenics Wars question
The Eugenics Wars answer

On Teleporters

Faster-Than-Light Drives

Antimatter and Technological Progression

Solar Cooperative

Beings of 'pure energy' options

Alien Races

First Contact question
First Contact answer

Phasers and other energy weapons question
Phasers
Other Energy Weapons

Personal Force Fields and GURPS Action

Romulan War or equivalent
Romulan War - modified canon specifics

The Federation, or something else?

Grenades

Melee Weapons

Earliest 'Preserver' Activity
Dinosaurs and Earliest 'Preserver' Activity, revised
Most Recent 'Preserver' Activity
How many distinct 'waves of settlement' have the Preservers set down?
How many different groups of Preservers have there been?

How many important conflicts was the Solar Cooperative in before the Romulan War?
Who did the Solar Cooperative have wars with before the Romulan War?
On the War with the Crystal Computers in the Psi Trek setting.
On the Kzin, and their wars with the Solar Cooperative.
Should I make the war that started in 2179 longer (which also helps with the Orions), or should I reduce the penalties that the Kzin are under?

Ranks and Organization of the Solar Cooperative Space Patrol

T'Kon Curse Ray and Probability Shield

Cloaking device question and answer

On fighters, missiles, and probes
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.

Last edited by Prince Charon; 05-06-2020 at 01:54 PM.
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