Zhodani without Psi

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

It would be possible to replace the creepy psionics with creepy cyborgs and end up with the same basic relationship.

To really work you would need implantable FTL communicators to stay linked to the hive.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

To really work you would need implantable FTL communicators to stay linked to the hive.

Overkill. After all, the Zhodani thought police don't have interstellar range either.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Overkill. After all, the Zhodani thought police don't have interstellar range either.

Then it just becomes a more realistic cell phone, just implanted. That's a bit boring in my opinion.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Then it just becomes a more realistic cell phone, just implanted. That's a bit boring in my opinion.

You could add automatic functions to reproduce soem of the effects of psi in the consulate.

Something like the Neural Verifier from UT would be about right. Zhodani territory is a place where no one lies in court or commits crimes of fraud. That's one of the deliberate amibiguities about it that makes it more than a place run by a psionic gestapo.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Then it just becomes a more realistic cell phone, just implanted. That's a bit boring in my opinion.

Implantable FTL communicators are a bit setting-breaking. No what I was thinking of was that commoners would have a baseline implant that could be used by them to access the net, but could also be used to monitor their activity, location, physical health, and emotions and incapacitate them as needed. Meanwhile the soldiers have massive and blatantly intimidating body replacement and the upper classes are chic would-be transhumanists with glowing LEDs just so you'll know they're upper-class. Although possibly, the planetary AIs are the ones really in charge. Or maybe upper classes graduate to having their brains added to a ruling immortal collective intelligence of networked brains that stand-in for true AI...

Even if you went full on Hive mind, it would be more interesting for different planets of the of the confederation to have distinct and different personalities. The Borg are fundamentally boring in their own right after all. That's why they were rewritten with every appearance.

[Malenfant]

Why do we need the Zhos to have a psi-like ability at all? If we're looking for "Zhos without Psi", then make it actually be without anything like psi too.

I think you can have an very effective 'bad guy' (and one that is much less morally ambiguous than the current Zhos) through extensive, invasive brainwashing and monitoring and ruthless 'efficiency' - combine Nazi Germany, North Korea and the worst elements of the Chinese and the USSR systems and add a dash of The Prisoner and 1984. Keep the Thought Police around (and they don't actually have to be psychic) and the population will stay cowed - Fear and paranoia has proven rather effective historically in "keeping the proles in line" without magic powers.

Plus it gives you opportunities for Resistance, guerilla warfare and memetic countermeasures too. It makes the Zhodani much darker than they are currently, but if you really want them to be the bad guy of the setting then why not go the whole hog?

OK, you lose the invisible teleporting commandos or whatever, but let's face it, those are game-breakingly stupid anyway.

[David Johnston2]

The reason I suggested creepy cyborgs was for contrast with the Empire, which certainly has the technology for such things but apparently not the social environment.

Apart from that the Zhos need to be a credible threat. A smaller state that expends most of it's energies on crushing it's own people doesn't qualify.

[Malenfant]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Apart from that the Zhos need to be a credible threat. A smaller state that expends most of it's energies on crushing it's own people doesn't qualify.

I wouldn't say that they're really a 'credible threat' as they are at the moment - all that's happened are the odd border skirmish and a few worlds swapping hands, which is no big deal really. They're more a 'bogeyman' for the Imperials - they're more feared because they use their psi and for how their society works than because they're an actual military threat.

Besides, a state can grow quite large despite spending a lot of energy crushing its own people. See Nazi Germany, China, and the USSR for examples.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The reason I suggested creepy cyborgs was for contrast with the Empire, which certainly has the technology for such things but apparently not the social environment.

Apart from that the Zhos need to be a credible threat. A smaller state that expends most of it's energies on crushing it's own people doesn't qualify.

Makes sense to me.

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by Malenfant

I think you can have an very effective 'bad guy' (and one that is much less morally ambiguous than the current Zhos) through extensive, invasive brainwashing and monitoring and ruthless 'efficiency' - combine Nazi Germany, North Korea and the worst elements of the Chinese and the USSR systems and add a dash of The Prisoner and 1984. Keep the Thought Police around (and they don't actually have to be psychic) and the population will stay cowed - Fear and paranoia has proven rather effective historically in "keeping the proles in line" without magic powers.

As a good source to steal ideas for this from, see CJ Cherryh's Cyteen, Cyteen: Regenesis, Serpent's Reach and other Union/Alliance stories featuring the azi. Union may not be quite as dark as above, but they easily could be, and probably most people in the Alliance think they are.