Watching this
on YouTube inspired me.
As the brain healing gel became better accepted pediatricians started using it on young children who had experienced head traumas. Follow ups on such children showed heightened intelligence, dramatically heightened intelligence. Other indicators of radically improved brain function like improved coordination and social skills were also noted. Once solid data was in, by 2023 Doctors were injecting the gel into the brains of any child with any kind of neurological issues. China began injecting healthy children soon after birth to see if they could radically improve the functions of normal brains.
Once the Chinese news got out things got crazy, by 2025 all children in the developed countries were injected with brain gel soon after birth. By 2043 the downside slowly began to show up. Children injected in infancy with brain gel develop powerful psionic abilities but with no skill or control. The effects are trivial until just before fully brain maturity when the psi powers switch on fully and don't shut off.
Stray thought is no longer a metaphor, vast numbers of young people are forming a group mind with little or no control. The fears, anxieties, and desires are being manifested as living beings and conscious forces.
The PCs are a group of kids who were taking a mental conditioning course designed to give one fuller control over their own mind. They've developed low levels of
Mind Shield and some ability to prevent or end psionic fugues which can cause death and destruction.
Basically, the PCs are supersmart scoobies with no Buffy or Giles up against hoards of big-bads.