[Psionics/Infinite Worlds] The Psion skerry

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

Oh, sorry! I meant those to be additonal Psion worldlines, but didn't pay attention to the numbers.

They should be Psion-6 and Psion-7.

OK, then those could be interesting.


In case anyone was confused by Psion-4, it was an attempt to make an X-Men reference that makes sense: rather than Marvel's Voodoo Sharking an explanation after decades of using them as a metaphor for Every Minority Ever, their problem is that they're reflexively secretive (and often paranoid) people with strange powers, which makes just enough people suspicious and afraid to cause problems, which makes for a feedback loop. Meanwhile, the ones who get their powers through other means mostly don't act like creepy weirdos, so people make a distinction between them and the natural psis (which can add to the feedback loop).

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

OK, then those could be interesting.

It's one of my minor peeves that in any setting that supposes an origin for superheroes that shouldn't logically affect only humans, still manages to mostly or totally affect only humans.

That's not criticism of your settings, Prince Cheron.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

It's one of my minor peeves that in any setting that supposes an origin for superheroes that shouldn't logically affect only humans, still manages to mostly or totally affect only humans.

That's not criticism of your settings, Prince Cheron.

Imagine the effect of a chimpanzee with TK Bullet. That could happen in these settings. I probably did make psychic animals too rare in most of the Psion settings, though (since things like 'need to deal with trouble caused by a hydrokinetic elephant with a toothache' are plausible adventure seeds). Mind you, the number in Psion 1 and 4 is hard to determine, since they instinctively hide their powers.

[Inky]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

It's one of my minor peeves that in any setting that supposes an origin for superheroes that shouldn't logically affect only humans, still manages to mostly or totally affect only humans.

That's not criticism of your settings, Prince Cheron.

It might make more sense for psionics than for some other fictional superpowers, since it seems plausible to claim that a particular part of the brain is used for the psionic powers and that it just so happens to be one that's much more developed in humans than in most other species.

But it doesn't have to be. (Or it could even be the other way around, leading to things like 5, 6 and 7).

If it did work that way in a particular setting, then logically you might expect that other species that have the nearest to human-like types of intelligence would be more likely to show at least low-level psychic powers. So, among others, primates, parrots, corvids, pigeons (those two might be particularly disruptive, being small, numerous in urban areas, and able to fly), and, to the confusion of any storyline that's trying to be serious, yes, elephants.


(You might still have a typo in your other posting, SilvercatMoonpaw - possibly that's meant to be "as Psion-5", rather than "as Psion-4").

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Inky

It might make more sense for psionics than for some other fictional superpowers, since it seems plausible to claim that a particular part of the brain is used for the psionic powers and that it just so happens to be one that's much more developed in humans than in most other species.

Oh, most definitely. The important thing is not to invoke human exceptionalism without a supernatural explanation; in your example it's the brain construction that's exceptional, not some concept of "human". The implication is that you could give a non-human animal psionics if you could alter its brain the right way.

Originally Posted by Inky

(You might still have a typo in your other posting, SilvercatMoonpaw - possibly that's meant to be "as Psion-5", rather than "as Psion-4").

Yeah, you're right.

[Prince Charon]

OK, this seems to be ready, apart from my inability to write a good 'Current Affairs' section. I thought about posting this with no Notes section at all, and let people speculate, and then decided that some notes were needed and may have gone both too far and not far enough:

Psion-1, 2019

Current Affairs
TBD <conspiracies make a mess>


Divergence Point
In 1981, people who were born after the Trinity detonation in 1945 begin to develop psi abilities.


Major Civilizations
Western (multipolar); Orthodox (empire with rivals); Islamic (multipolar); Chinese (empire); Japanese (unitary); Indic (empire).


Great Powers
United Kingdom (dictatorship, CR5 for most subjects, CR6 for the Irish); France (secret magiocracy, CR4); Germany (representative democracy, CR4); Japan (secret dictatorship, CR5); Soviet Union (oligarchy, CR5-6); United States of America (secret feudal oligarchy, CR4); China (anarchy/civil war, CR0 outside of small enclaves); Brazil (representative democracy, CR3); India (representative democracy bordering on oligarchy, CR4); Crowned Republic of Venice (representative democracy, CR3); Switzerland (secret oligarchy, CR4); Kingdom of Canada (representative democracy, CR4).


Worldline Data
TL: 8^; Mana level: None
Quantum: 6; Infinity Class: Z4; Centrum Zone: Undiscovered

Notes

Polities with 'secret' in the government type are those where a conspiracy or single person has successfully gained control (not just influence) over the government. The type of government that the people believe they have may be quite different. In the case of Japan, the Emperor has assumed direct control of the democratically-elected government (having previously assumed control of a secret cabal that were in control of the government, and then defanging that cabal - Japan from 1998 to 2011 was thus a 'secret oligarchy').

Things started going especially badly in the UK starting in 1984, when a number of psychic conspiracies, some associated with factions who claim the legacy of the Irish Republican Army, began to seriously clash with the authorities and each other, and succeeded in a number of assassinations, the largest being at the State Opening of Parliament, where both the new king, Charles III, and his wife Queen Diana were among the two hundred thirty to be killed. Prince Andrew became Regent for the young King William V (William IV in Scotland and William III in Ireland), and effectively became dictator with Parliament mostly dead, and martial law having been declared. By the time the Prince-Regent had to call for new elections in 1986, his partisans had effective control over the people who counted the votes, and the Sycophantic Parliament (as they were called where the Boss couldn't hear) were either cowed, duped, too politically-weak to matter, or in on the conspiracy. Meanwhile, retaliation against Ireland was harsh, and not only in the North; the Irish Republic had de facto ceased to exist by 1987, though it was not dissolved de jure until the highly-dubious Treaty of Milan in 1993.

(Homeline analysts question whether Andrew of Windsor is intelligent or ruthless enough to accomplish all this, especially as there is no evidence that he has any psi abilities of his own. Some speculate that he may have been replaced, or be a puppet of some unknown group, though evidence suggested that he's mainly a lucky opportunist that has developed some skill at playing conspirators against each other. Whether he is as evil as he seems, or just got caught up in events and made bad decisions while desperately trying to survive, is likewise unknown.)

The king and his brother Henry (often called 'the Princes in the Tower' as a historical reference, despite not living in the Tower of London) were rarely seen in public between their parent's deaths and the boys vanishing and being declared dead in 1992, being taught by private tutors and attended by servants chosen by the Prince-Regent; that same year, two boys believed to be them appeared in Canada, and King William was then recognized as Head of the Commonwealth in opposition to King Andrew, who claims the title but is not recognized as holding it by most members. Canada voted to take the name 'the Kingdom of Canada' in 2003 (many claim that this was done to annoy King Andrew, still called 'Prince Andrew' in Canada, though the actual reasons are more complicated).

The Switzerland of this worldline has maintained its neutrality and remains a leader in finance, as well as more recently being significant in biotechnology (and secretly, biological psi-tech). The elected government is under the control of various conspiracies, with Biotech Chulan currently being primus-inter-pares.

China closed the Bamboo Curtain tight in the 1980s, but that couldn't last with a civil war going on. What Infinity and Homeline China believe happened is that too many conspiracies with psychic abilities formed from people who resented the government, but also hated each other. The result was a perfect storm of bad decisions and bad luck, leading to a new Warlord Era.

[m_weh191]

These are interesting worldline ideas! In 2018 an article I wrote for Pyramid (3/117 "East Berlin") included a short description of a psychic worldline (Rejdák, named for Czech parapsychologist Zdeněk Rejdák) in which the Cold War never ended and the U.S. and USSR continue to fight a psionic arms race in 2009.

[Prince Charon]

Yamada Hanako, 2019 - Psion-1

Age: 15

Attributes

ST 9 [-10]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 11 [20]; HT 10 [0]

Secondary Characteristics

HP 9; Will 12 [5]; Per 13 [10]; FP 10

Thrust: 1d-2; Swing: 1d-1

Basic Speed: 5; Move: 5; Dodge: 8

Social Background

Languages: Japanese (Native) [0]; English (Broken) [2].

TL: 8^

Cultural Familiarity: 21st Century East Asian [0].

Subtotal: 27


Advantages

Attractive [4]
Borrow Skill (Unconscious Only, -20%; Uncontrollable, -10%) 1 [5]
Gizmos 3 [15]
Mental Surgery (Remove 'Contact Agent,' 'Melee Attack, C,' and 'Slow and Sure,' +20%; Unconscious Only, -20%; Uncontrollable, -30%) [35]
Mind Clouding (Unconscious Only, -20%; Uncontrollable, -10%) 5 [21]
Pitiable [5]
Protected Power (Telepathy) [5]
Evil-spirit Sense (Psi Sense w/ Signature Sniffer) 2 [18]

Street Smart Talent +2 [10]
Telepathy Talent +3 [15]

Perks

Classic Features (Traditional Japanese). [1]
Deep Study. [1]
Honest Face. [1]
Improvised Tools (Lockpicking). [1]
SOP (Always checks for 'evil spirits' if she's going to be in one place for a while). [1]

Subtotal: 138


Disadvantages

Compulsive Secrecy ('Evil Spirits') (6) [-30]
Delusion (Major; 'An evil spirit is following me, and messing with people's minds!') [-10]
Paranoia [-10]
Phantom Voices [-5]
Secret (Psychic Mind-controller) [-30]

Wealth: Dead Broke [-25]

Quirks

Assumes any psychics she meets are hostile. [-1]
Likes dogs. [-1]
Nocturnal. [-1]
Thinks she speaks English well. [-1]
Uncomfortable with nature. [-1]

Subtotal: -115


Features


Skills

Animal Handling (Canines) [IQ/A] [2] 11
Area Knowledge (City) [IQ/E] [1] 11
Bicycling [DX/E] [1] 10
Borrow Skill [IQ/H] [1] 12**
Climbing [DX/A] [2] 10
Computer Operation/TL8 [IQ/E] [1] 11
Detect Lies [Per/H] [4] 13
Filch [DX/A] [8] 12
Hobby Skill (Shoujo Manga) [IQ/E] [1] 11
Holdout [IQ/A] [2] 11
Housekeeping [IQ/E] [1] 11
Jumping [DX/E] [2] 11
Lockpicking/TL8 [IQ/A] [2] 11
Mental Surgery [IQ/H] [2] 13**
Mind Clouding [IQ/H] [4] 14**
Merchant [IQ/A] [2] 13*
Psi Sense [Per/H] [2] 12
Running [HT/A] [4] 11
Scrounging [Per/E] [1] 15*
Shadowing [IQ/A] [1] 12*
Sports (Track & Field) [DX/A] [1] 9
Stealth [DX/A] [4] 11
Streetwise [IQ/A] [2] 13*
Throwing [DX/A] [2] 10
Urban Survival [Per/A] [2] 15*
Weather Sense [IQ/A] [2] 11

*Includes +2 from Street Smart Talent
**Includes +3 from Telepathy Talent

Techniques

Area Effect (H) Mental Surgery-5 [5] 12

Subtotal: 62

Total: 112


Equipment

Cheap clothes
Cheap shoes
Cheap bag of stuff

Notes

Hanako was built with some inspiration from the Unexpected Psi template from GURPS Psis, p19. She basically started as a thought experiment: 'What would a mind-controller with no control of their power be like?' The result, at least in this case, is a mentally-ill homeless girl in a generic Japanese city (who could be adjusted for cities in other countries with little effort beyond changing the languages, culture, and possibly her name and hobby). She could be a distraction, or a few kinds of adventure seed (e.g. 'the trouble her power periodically causes has been noticed,' or 'her family ask you to track her down'), but probably not a PC in most games.

Her Gizmos should always be small things that a homeless teenaged thief could plausibly have picked up at some point. Her Mental Surgery is unleveled because it's too different from the standard for an equivalent level to be accurate.

Hanako's variant of Compulsive Secrecy is due to her neither knowing nor believing that psi is real, and instead ascribing all such phenomena to the action of 'evil spirits' that interfere with humanity. This is also the reason for the alternate name of the only psi ability that she has conscious control over. When her unconscious uses a psi technique, she believes that the spirit drained her of energy. She likewise believes that the Phantom Voices are spirits trying to speak to her; the level of the disadvantage has more to do with how much it impedes her than what she thinks is happening.

A nearly identical version of Hanako exists on Psion-4, save that 'I am not a psychic' is added to her Delusion, since they're known to exist. The Delusion also allows her to have the same Compulsion there as here. The Hanako who exists on Psion-2 is quite different, but I don't have a write-up for her, yet.