Zhodani without Psi - Page 3

cptbutton · 12-25-2012, 07:52 PM

Since it is being discussed in the Hard SF vs. Traveller threads, I figured I'd dredge up my old idea for how to have the Zhodani without supernatural psionics:

Earlier version here. (That was a repost of my idea, but the original was on the Pyramid boards. I think.)

By law all children in the Consulate have brain implants with wireless communication at birth. In theory, everyone should be able to use them for telepathy by radio, cyberpunk access to computer systems, etc. In practice, only a minority of people ever learn to use them effectively.

No one has ever found a way to get implants to work well if they are put in later in life, so other societies can't duplicate this without going far down the road to becoming just like the Zhodani.

Using them to spy on other Zhodani's brains is the most common skill, but others exist like being able "become" a spaceship, have 360 degree vision, a squad that fights as a hivemind, etc.

So you still have a noble psi class, thought police, elite warriors, and other people able to do stuff impossible for normal people.

You don't get precognition, teleporting commandos, telekinetics, or telepathic spying on foreigners. But there are rumors of all these things and they are the kind of urban legend stuff that just will not die regardless of the facts. And the Zhodani intelligence services are not above spreading such stories and faking evidence of them as misinformation. Or maybe the rumors are a Hiver plot.

12-25-2012, 07:52 PM	#1
cptbutton Join Date: Jul 2007	Zhodani without Psi Since it is being discussed in the Hard SF vs. Traveller threads, I figured I'd dredge up my old idea for how to have the Zhodani without supernatural psionics: Earlier version here. (That was a repost of my idea, but the original was on the Pyramid boards. I think.) By law all children in the Consulate have brain implants with wireless communication at birth. In theory, everyone should be able to use them for telepathy by radio, cyberpunk access to computer systems, etc. In practice, only a minority of people ever learn to use them effectively. No one has ever found a way to get implants to work well if they are put in later in life, so other societies can't duplicate this without going far down the road to becoming just like the Zhodani. Using them to spy on other Zhodani's brains is the most common skill, but others exist like being able "become" a spaceship, have 360 degree vision, a squad that fights as a hivemind, etc. So you still have a noble psi class, thought police, elite warriors, and other people able to do stuff impossible for normal people. You don't get precognition, teleporting commandos, telekinetics, or telepathic spying on foreigners. But there are rumors of all these things and they are the kind of urban legend stuff that just will not die regardless of the facts. And the Zhodani intelligence services are not above spreading such stories and faking evidence of them as misinformation. Or maybe the rumors are a Hiver plot.