Who are the Psians?
In the Star Fall trilogy, there are 3 human civilizations: The Earth Confederation, The Polarian League, and the Starry Empire. These civilizations are genetically related, but the humans of the League and the Starry Empire did not originate from Earth.
As noted on the blog about the Militants, the transgeneticists of the Starry Empire created subset humans after a devasting war against the AIs. The idea was to create specialized human populations to fill in gaps caused by a rollback of reliance on technology. These subsets, because of their engineering, were deemed to be separated from the Divine, no longer fully human, and so the Empire justified to itself treating them as slaves.
After a prolonged subset revolt, this was codified in the Blue Compromise which permitted them a level of autonomy.
Though Psians are grouped with the subsets, they were not engineered by the transgeneticists. Long before the war between the humans of the E’lani Empire and the alien alliance of the Commonweal, long before the 3 civilizations even existed, the Psians came to be through managed procreation sustained over thousands of years. Telepathic traits, however slight, were identified and the people who had them were funneled into a breeding program.
The E’lani Emperors were driven by a grand vision. They were in possession of an ancient artifact of which no one knew the origins. But it was the most sacred object in the known universe. It had gained many names—the cosmic song—the sacred endless—the god form. And the Emperors had gleaned its purpose. They had a vision: use a massive network of telepaths in conjunction with the ancient artifact to lift the Emperors into a god-level consciousness.
It was a multi-millennia plan, and it almost succeeded.
In the Starry Empire, the telepaths no longer know their own history. But they were present from the First Age, and though restrictions governed the use of their telepathy, they were as free as other citizens.
Until the subsets came along.
The Starry Empire of that time grouped the Psians with the subsets, deeming them as less than human. Overnight, a free people had been subjected. It was the Psians who orchestrated the revolt that led to the Blue Compromise.
And they ever scheme to improve their status in the Starry Empire.
The Psians of the Starry Empire are organized into 12 societies. They are led by the Inner Communion (The Twelve, which consists of the highest ranked person from each Society).
By law, the fingers are Psians are branded to denote their talent (red) and raw power (black). A perfect score is 2 bands on each figure up to a total of 20, which translates into a rating of P-100; some societies have an additional mark/color to denote their special talent.
The 12 are as follows:
Society of Penitence and Approbation (interrogation)
Society of Substance and Curiosity (empaths, Prophet class)
Society of Truth and Gnosis (seers); highest rank: The Weeper.
Society of Temperance and Severity (exorcists) special band color of green; highest rank: The Expunger
Society of Contrariety and Reversion (mind control) sometimes referred to as wizards; highest rank: Suzzerant
Society of Will and Wallow (blockers)
Society of Measure & Laxity (no special abilities but they are able to pick up surface thoughts)
Society of Motion and Agitation (telekinetics) quite rare, special band color of neon purple
Society of Permission and Compulsion (trainers/teachers)
Society of Consciousness and Impiety (spiritual leaders/ masters at meditation and dream cosmology)
Society of Intuition and Regret (clairvoyant, work with thought police/empire security / picking up a wide range of broadcast emissions at a subconscious level (unable to block) which they are able to sort into meaningful connections at the conscious level without actually having to read minds). This type can be especially fragile, are highly empathic, and require significant downtime. Special band color of washed pink.
Society of Limit and Modesty (minimal ability, unable to initiate connection with most people, but they can detect if they are being scanned or others nearby and so they are often used for anti-telepathic monitoring). They are in high demand even though they are the least prestigious of the societies.
Sentinel, one of the triumviri of the Starry Empire, is obsessed with using the seers to chart the future through a communion. The more seers in the communion, the more futures that can be observed and weighted. Sometimes they are able to provide specific guidance to encourage preferred outcomes but other times there are too many variables and the actions that need to be taken remain murky.
The Star Fall Probability, which adds much fuel to the narrative fire, is the result of a communion which included all of the seers, except the Weeper who stayed sequestered in the ivory towers of the 12.
Psians are no longer in an enforced breeding program. However, within their own culture, there is still an imperative that drives them to choose mates within their society; but this isn’t an overriding requirement. Family structures are mostly traditional, but there are many conceived arrangements. Though they are still influenced and driven by biology, conscious perception is a powerful dynamic. Psians make love at physical and conscious levels, and sometimes the latter is given more weight (where gender doesn’t play a direct role). Psians are also communal. They share a responsibility for their greater culture. Life isn’t just about serving the self. Connection, having children, sustaining their unique brand of humanness are important virtues.
I initial name for Psians was Mentalists. I ended up changing it because the latter sounded a bit to “fantasy.”
I did however keep some of the nicknames (wizards) and pejorative (ghosts, spooks).
Superpowers require limitations. For Psians, to read or to control another mind, they must be in physical proximity. But this boundary is more expansive for stronger Psians. Line of sight is always best. Also, controlling another takes a tremendous amount of energy and focus, the more so if they are attempting to dominate a strong mind; therefore, sustained possessions are not feasible. Psians working in concert however can amplify their abilities. And that amplification is more than the sum of the parts; 3 psians working in concert exert much more power/energy that what would be possible if they worked alone. That’s why, for example, communions (a gathering of seers) can be so powerful in terms of charting the future. It’s also why Psians will often die during a communion—because their minds and bodies are still constrained by biological limits that are sometimes pushed too far in group efforts.
I will say straight-up that I am influenced by Babylon 5. There is no intent on my part to copy the B5 telepaths. And, I was intrigued by the use of telepaths on B5 and found the characters and their impact to the storyline fascinating. So it’s simply not possible for me to employ telepaths in my story without a kindred resonance to those of B5. I’m fine with that.
I do have “thought police” which are akin to the Psi Corp; the thought police are not Psians, but humans from the “normal” human population with strong telepathic abilities, which derived from Psian and normal humans swapping genes at the start of the First Age (survivors from the Long War). Because of this, I limit the “thought police” in the narrative; they are present, but rarely mentioned and there are no named characters, and I did this in part to avoid creating what might have felt like a rip off of the Psi Corp.
