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06-05-2017, 08:39 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
I've been digging into the source literature that inspired Traveller (see, inter alia, Deciphering the Text Foundations of Traveller). I've found some interesting insights, which I'm still digesting.
One thing I haven't found, however, is an antecedent for Traveller's public prejudice against psionics. Some works (e.g., Andre Norton's) have criminals with psionic abilities. It also seems to be widely accepted in these sources that a crime is a crime, whether it is committed by a psychic or by mundane means. The idea that the mere use of psionics is objectionable and may result in lobotomy or death has not appeared in anything I've read so far. Is this original to Marc Miller and company? It makes sense from a game balance perspective: it's a fairly simple way to keep the game from revolving around developing and using psionic abilities (unless that's what you want to do). If not, what are the literary sources or inspirations for this feature? Remember, the source would have had to be available prior to 1977, since the section on "public prejudice" appears in the first edition (and, indeed, pre-dates the OTU). |
06-05-2017, 09:10 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
Slan (AE van Voght), perhaps .
Cat the Psion (Vinge) is slightly more recent. X-men, sort of. Some of Campbell era pulp short stories , I would bet, but no title come to mind immediately . Carrie (King) was published and filmed right before that time. May have contributed. Last edited by Celjabba; 06-05-2017 at 09:37 AM. |
06-05-2017, 10:03 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
Itīs not psi, but Heinleinīs Methusalahīs Children covers prejudice against longlived humans. It wouldnīt be that big a stretch to assume similar problems for psis.
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06-05-2017, 11:44 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
Zenna Henderson is a plausible source, though there's not a huge amount of evidence for that influencing Traveller. I think I first ran into the concept in Escape to Witch Mountain (novel 1968), but Key was likely influenced by Henderson.
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06-05-2017, 12:41 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
I read Alexander Key's books growing up, but I've never run across Zenna Henderson before. Either one sounds plausible, especially as GDW's staff was more your age (as I recall it) than mine.
On a side note, I wonder if Zhodani commandos were influenced by Andrew J. Offutt's Galactic Rejects (1973). |
06-05-2017, 03:25 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
I do think Slan is probably the root of the theme in science fiction, and it's been a handy trope to allow you to address themes of racism or religious bigotry without actually quite saying so ever since. Though it's not as if prejudice against witches has no antecedents elsewhere. The attitude of the characters in Foundation toward mutants might play a role too.
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06-06-2017, 11:57 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
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In any case Traveller had an elegant arrangement wherein psi were an oligarchy in one empire and a persecuted minority in a rival one.
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06-06-2017, 01:49 PM | #8 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
That is possible, although the rest of the series wasn't published until the 1990's. The Center may have served as a model for the Psionic Institutes as well.
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The cited sources are strongly literary. The only exceptions are Star Wars and Star Trek, which I think we can agree are only peripheral influences at best. Mostly irrelevant to the current discussion, as these features came much later in Traveller's development. Both the Psionic Institutes and public prejudice against psionics were there from the beginning. |
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06-08-2017, 10:40 AM | #9 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
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I have to modify this: in his White Dwarf #23 interview, Marc Miller said, "Movies and television particularly affected me." |
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06-08-2017, 02:38 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Re: Literary source for anti-psionics prejudice?
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old school, psionics |
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