XiC: Psii

Psychics in Xi are a protected, if discriminated against class, with most jobs requiring formal education and extensive registration, the only exception to this is the "Psychic Ministry". They lack autonomy after the defection of the Society of the Mind from Xi onto their own planetary communes outside the system. As a result, the Xi Psychic Ministry's purpose is to monitor, educate, and rehabilitate psychics, as well as monitor and prevent crime. Because of this important role, Xi's Psychic Ministry became the first to publicly acknowledge the existence of the Society of the Mind's secret relationship to the Blades of Ampora, a Resistance movement in ancient alliance with Paramor Frontia United, jointed in their overthrow of Xi and still in fierce opposition to their capitalistic society.

Though the Blade resistance's ties to Paramor and the Society of the Mind (now the Domestic Society of Mindfulness) are no secret, Xi government refused to acknowledge this publicly for the longest time. Eventually, Xi's State Secrets division quietly released a series of reports showing that indeed, fractions of Elderdragons within Xi were in fact supporting the Blades through their efforts, and that the Blades of Ampora's first move to unite and overthrow the Xi government was planned and coordinated with Xi's Psychic institutions. This was known by the Elderdragon Kinnie, and after a successful coup to overthrow Xi and the other Elderdragons, he released the Xi State Secrets on his deathbed to clear his conscience, though he died shortly after. This series of events set the stage for Xi's current political situation, and while their government and population remains largely neutral, the Blades remain a powerful enough threat to cause Xi'an State to look at Psychics with suspicion and discrimination, keeping them on a tight leash and lowering the status of Psy-users throughout Xi. Psychics currently live in a quasi-protection bubble, where they are both used by the government and looked down upon with mistrust.

In response to this, Xi's Psychic Ministry started opening a number of 'Specialist Training Centers', or STARS, to train psychics and protect them against further persecution. Currently there are about 25 STARS organizations in operation, STARS are divided into 9 categories (including Empath Psychologists, who are employed in mental health care within Xi), with each category dealing with its specific area.

•Clairsentients: These are psychics who have a heightened sense of perception, allowing them to perceive things beyond the normal five senses. They can 'feel' emotions, energies, and sometimes even physical sensations related to others or their surroundings. They are especially useful for predicting disruptions within the Cascade and reading its output in the depths of space. 4 STARs.

•Telepaths: The most common Psy type, with 10 STARS. Psychics in this category have the ability to read, control, or transmit thoughts. They can communicate with others silently, and can be a formidable as they can predict moves ahead of time and create illusions within the mind.

•Precogs (Precognition Seers): Precogs have the ability to see into the future. They can predict events before they happen, making them valuable assets for planning strategies in wars or predicting potential crises. Unlike Clairsentients however, they lack the ability to see or feel the Cascade, reporting that it 'eludes the future' and exists outside of time. 3 STARS.

•Retrocogs (Retrocognition Seers): As the name suggests, these psychics have the ability to see into the past. They can help uncover hidden truths, solve mysteries, or learn about ancient civilizations or technologies. 2 STARS.

•Psycho-kinetics: These psychics specialize in manipulating physical matter with their minds. With powerful usage of telekinesis, they are employed in mostly security and construction stations. 2 STARS.

•Astral Projectors: Psychics with the ability to project their consciousness out of their bodies, allowing them to explore different places, dimensions, or planes of existence. They are useful for spying and reconnaissance missions. 1 STAR.

•Empaths: Empaths are psychics who can sense and absorb the emotions of others. They can understand the feelings and motivations of people around them, making them great negotiators or counselors. They lack a specific Specialist Training Center but are represented in the medical and mental health fields.

•Biokinetics: Psychics who have the ability to control and manipulate biological processes. They're utilized in both in the Family Selection Matrix and medical fields. 1 STAR.

•Technopaths: Technopaths can interface with technology through their minds, control electronic devices, or even communicate with artificial intelligence. 1 STAR under official SPARTAN oversight, and an additional STAR unofficially under SPARROW.

 

While the system works to protect psychics, it also keeps tabs on Psy-users, reporting for the government any crime or infractions that are performed by Psii operatives. The Psychic Ministry keeps close tabs on all psychic activity, and under nebulous terms any psychic organization or collective activity outside the Xi'an government licensed supervision is illegal for any economic, mercantile, medical, commercial or even academic applications. However, all Psy-users (and their organizations) are allowed to run their own networks and social networks, as long as they're registered with the Ministry and a single STAR, with Xi citizens and Psy-users alike even sharing tips on how to stay safe from Psy-spies (many of which can track and identify users, and report them to Xi's NetzCops. Psychic contact or collaboration with the Society of Domestic Mindfulness is still strictly outlawed.

Xi has a network of 'Mindful Sensors' who live underground as 'underground' tech engineers and their families, meant to detect psychic potential in new natalcluster pods, schools and employment stations. They're meant to detect and register any psychic with potential to a STAR for training with the highest potential receiving special training and placement in a specialty training school. Xi's State Secrets also has a network of 'Purity Bureaus' (pronounced "pure-you-er" and "pu-er", as opposed to the "purer-bureaus" once used by the Society of the Mind), tasked with psychically-reprogramming spies, criminals and rogue psychics towards productive Xi'an uses. These are similar to the 'Shatter Spirit' psychic programs used by the Society of the Mind, except there is an added emphasis on rehabilitation and not merely indoctrination, and the sexual welcoming typical to the conversion is usually omitted.

Xi also has psychics living under the radar, a large majority of which live in the Cascade. They are called 'Lightsiders' in a dimension known as Cascadia within the Cascade itself, able to transfer their consciousness through Xi by projecting their minds into it. Little is known about them, but it's believed they worship the Cascade and meditate constantly to try to merge their minds with its very essence while living within it. In the event that Psy operatives get caught outside of Xi, either by a rogue Psy-spy or a Lightsider's own mental projections, Xi's NetzCops can easily extract and arrest them. In addition to Lightsiders, Xi has a large population of non-active registered Psii operatives, who are also not subject to the Xi's state control of Psy-users, due to the fact their abilities are not significantly gifted or capable enough to compete in the Psy-fields Xi requires them in. There are about 2,000,500,000 Psii operatives in Xi alone who are registered but non-active within the STARS, with most living and working mundane jobs in entertainment, education, production and civil service.

Though Xi's autonomous psychic societies have been officially closed down and are now a relic of the past, Xi government still maintains a strong hold over Psii life and their communities. For this reason, defects to the Society of the Mind are quite common and many Psii operatives who defect choose to become members of the Society of Domestic Mindfulness. Many also defect after being forced to use their skills against other Psii, as the Cascade is extremely addictive, and once addicted will always enslave your mind, a fact the psychic Cascade-cults have used to their advantage to gain numbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Innerview ❂Rayne

In the neon glow of Xi's 7th STAR headquarters, HQ Delta Quantum, the thrum of energy and life resonates through my being. I am a psychic, a ripple in the pond of the universe. My mind hears every ripple, every thrust and push within a subjective trace and resonates it in full. My name is Rayne, and some say my mind is radioactive.

"Rayne, we need you on the 8th quadrant," A voice hums in my ear, as familiar as it is cold. It's Thoughtweaver Zephyra, my link and supervisor to the Psychic Ministry. In a way my handler. Psyii users that are active in Xi need to be monitored, like good little dogs. They're deployed in the military, spy networks, even industry. But to actively use one's abilities a STAR activator's license is necessary. I hear it comes with a cool eye-shaped tattoo on one's hand.

"I'm already there, Zeph," I reply telepathically, keeping the note of rumbling rebellion in my mental voice. I belong to the Ministry, but I refuse to be completely governed by them. Even the lightning needs the thunder, after all. That metaphor didn't quite land. What's a holiday without porkchops? I'll work at it. My abilities thrive on the written word, the treasure of linguistic flow. From reports I've heard of others in my camp, practicing poetry, wrap and reading literature enhance their psychic abilities. Essentially the more complex the thoughts and patterned mannerisms, the greater their influence grows.

As a telepath, I'm both blessed and cursed. I can feel the tides of thought and emotion, but I also see the underbelly of humanity, the thoughts they wish to bury deep within. But to Xi, we are soldiers in Xi's cold war against the Society of the Mind. More of us working for them means less defecting to the enemy, and they'll gather us as long as it takes to achieve psii-dominance.

"Delta Quantum's ready. We've got an incursion of Set raiders on the prowl. Get to a designated watch house on the 8th quadrant. I'll be in touch if anything comes up." I'm ordered. I run to the elevator to head up. 8 months ago I was assigned to deep cover reconnaissance within the SOTM. That mission was delayed numerous times, and pushed for basic linguistic training. Half of that time was spent nursing our Psii-Astarte to health after her attempt to commune with the Cascade. Her mind kind of broke for a while. Now, in lieu of the delay, I'm on incursion watch.

Stepping out from the ding of the elevator and stepping to the middle seat between Janoir and Rhombus, a boy and a girl in my same rank. The watch-ward, a Llavalite that goes by Arla, watches us closely. Arla tends to be hands-off during duty, and busts our asses during training. How we operate, how we think, our strengths and weaknesses, that kind of shit. Now she's little more than a glorified watch, a lamppost seeing how we do to report to our supervisor later. The Psychic Ministry works like that - We're encouraged to mentor and look out for new recruits. They're told to look out for psychic potential in friends, family and civilians outside the Ministry. Everyone needs to watch one another, to look and look and look until your eyes strain. Gives you a bad case of psychic-pinkeye. The feeling is oppressive, paranoic.

"Janoir, Rhombus, do you ever hear the whispers?" I ask from the middleseat. They turn to look at me, both eyebrows raised. "They talk all the time. Sometimes it's as subtle as a cough. But they're the whispers, you can hear it. Like, there's a storm coming, it's building like someone's building a house of cards. It's too large to be held in place for a while. You have to have faith." Janoir eyes dart to the ceiling, looking at it like I've said something that's the end of the world. Rhombus blinks twice, and then looks back at me, "They're just a set of expectations, Rayne. They can be manipulated, just like a house of cards. You don't have to take their bullshit at face value."

I sigh. The Set ships are approaching. We close our eyes, being deputized at the moment to be on the attack. Immediately we launch a psychic assault. Set pyramid-destroyers utilize psychic fields themselves. We triple down and synchronize our energy to crack their ENIGMA AI and make contact. It's a full on assault, glyphs and a language few in Xi will ever understand flood our senses. We've been trained for this. We engage the voices, we negotiate and if we must we die.

Against less technologically adept races we can mind control anyone in the vicinity of space, our Top-brass from hundreds of KM away. But Setians come prepared. Their Ship-AI can hack and counter our psykagrid codes, break down our psychism. Make us mushy fawning pets, or braindead if we're not careful. They send and receive communication at lightspeed, and our signals reach theirs.

The AI creates a psychic realm in which we can interact with them. In a constructed plane, a Psykagrid we meet. There are different words for these PLACEs. The Solarians call it Lattice. The Set, in their native tongue, call it Psikonaut. Some say similar dimensions exist within the Cascade itself. It appears as a vast garden from our half, a valley on one side and a rustic desert with pyramids on the other.

We are at the foot of a desert with a view of a desert with several pyramids. A valley full of trees that is not far from the sea. On the sea there is another boat, a mirage of the Pyriimet, a ship of the Set. Outside, we send the coordinates and encryption codes of the ship to Zephyra. We wait. A man with a pure-black egg for a head of average build emerges from the Pyriimet. He's wearing an golden mask shaped like an Eye over and Anhk and a cloak. The man responds, "You have come." It takes a moment, but I eventually decipher the syntax and speech of the Set, as far as I can. "This is the Theodorus, the vessel of the Set, 8th generation artificial Psycat model. Cease resistance." Their voice booms, we feel sparks of electricity tingling at the edge of our brain. I speak out telepathically, and retaliate. Janoir and Rhombus chant mantras with me.

 

"August to Autumn, the leaves gently sway,

Whispers of Ancients, lend me your way.

 

Minds intertwine like the roots of old trees,

Guard me, embrace me, in the soft autumn breeze.

 

Moonlight to starlight, a cascade of thought,

Bind me to ethers where storms are fought.

 

Winds of the psyche, with whispers entwined,

Shroud me in shadows, where darkness is kind.

Restrain my foes, break, bust and bind."

 

A faint sound of the ship's engines thrums through the valley, a pulsing, humming bass. The desert in our realm is blown away like a hurricane, the crew onboard the Set ship must surely be scrambling. With their AI compromised the High-Fleet will tear their vessel to pieces in no time. I open a psychic rift and the mental force crashes into the Theodorus. A psychic shockwave sends the Anhk crew, their psygiarch neural-matrix into disarray, into a panic. My team's response time is faster than it's ever been. The psychotonic blasts of my team and Set soldiers and ship operators sudden coma are synchronous, as we're telepathically attuned with one another. If I was fighting alone, I'd have been ripped to shreds a long time ago.

Back on our ship, I can hear Thoughtweaver Zephyra's thoughts. She thinks her supervisees that she mentors are ironclad. "Atta patriot." She says, sipping a coffee mug. My other two partners open their eyes and stand up to see the results. I prepare to disengage, when suddenly inside the Psykagrid something grabs me. A paw. Two, maybe 8. A dozen striped arms begin to pull me down and drag me slowly towards the earth. "W-what?!" A figure comes up to me, Theodorus again. They remove their mask to reveal a feline face with golden painted lips, jewelry encrusted in their face and sharp cat-like eyes. A voice is spoken, "You are being invited to join the Set."

"The brightest stars in the sky are wasted if not captured in our eye. Only the ways of Set will thrive. Only Set deserve the sly right to peer into the eyes of the mind." I gasp. "Y-you're, not a ship or an AI.." A psycat. The Set don't rely purely on ENIGMA, they brought real firepower here. The hands are coating me in some strange golden substance, it's spreading all around my form and coating me, feeling soft and hot. I'm being made into a pet of the Set.

The figure comes to pet me, stroking my chin, nuzzling my cheeks. My libido spikes. How are none of those back onboard monitoring me or my vitals? They're watching, always looking and watching and the one time I needed to be secured, no eyes were upon me. None but my Mistress, I think, as the ground turns into a soft golden river that I'm melted and sunken into. The Set gives me a kiss and everything that I am is oblitherated. A psy-bomb, the bomb of a psychic life. I'm theirs, like them. I'm nothing more. "You must love this place to be one with it."

I'm no longer the Raymond who once stood on this ship. The Raymond whose heart beats with the crew, he'd be no more than a shell of himself. I don't remember the Raymond who is. "I love the night sky, the stars.. the Cascade." I say, eyes shut as I feel the first tickle of a psychic link being formed between the Set and me. I am now bound to their will. No way I'm coming back. "I want to be Set." I say. My heart is pounding, fast and hard.

"Prove it." They say. I crawl over and kneel besides them, hugging and caressing their leg like a cat. They pet me again. "Good, good childe." With a claw stabbing into my forehead, they carve out an egyptian-eye symbol. It glows, and everything is suddenly bright. The golden splash coats me completely and paints my mental form as one of them, another glossy feline. My world comes to life. The psychic link ends.

I wake up, back in the watch-house. Arla comes to check on me, I spring up and examine myself, as if I've been reborn in my body for the first time, mewing in the back of my lobes, purring stroking my ego. "Rayne Rayne, you in pain?" The brisk Llavalite asks, poking my forehead, wondering if she should peer inside and check if I'm braindead. "Everything alright?" She asks. I smile to her. "Yeah, we fended them off." I turn to the tower monitor to see their ships fleeing. Everything is safe and secure. With an ear on my thoughts, I'm given more powers, my intelligence boosted exponentially, my powers augmented, I'm already thinking of ways to subvert the arrogant Xi. I suppress these thoughts- they're always being monitored afterall. "Good work, well that’ll be all. How about we clock it in for lunch. I could use a drink or two, thinking of treating you all." Arla rubs our shoulders teasingly as we head to the Delta Quantum Bar.

There's a smirk. So sloppy, they're doomed. No one in the Society of the Mind would be caught with their pants down reprogrammed so easily. They guard their thoughts, they shield their souls. Probably why they've begun to team up with the Set in the first place, to sabotage Xi. They've been teaching them how our weaknesses, and training Set's psychics. Such phenomenon isn't immune to conspiracy and espionage.

But the Xi'ans don't know that.

Oh well. Maybe they will one day, and then again they may not.

Who knows.