Contents
Introduction
Psychics are precision instruments in an army. Certain disciplines, in particular, can make a trained psychic enormously useful in the field or at headquarters, and these psychics can expect to be employed for very specific purposes. They have a host of specific talents, or curses, which can be employed to give the Mobile Infantry a tactical edge. There are often two considered gifts or curses to this, the precognitive aspects, and the telepathic aspects.
Precognition in the battlefield can provide their associated squad with warning against ambushes and booby-traps. It’s a deep frustration to most armies that such powers revolve around events that have a personal impact on them. Because of this, it’s often necessary to put a psychic on the front lines of combat in order to give them the necessary environment for making predictions about a battle or a war. That comes with huge risk. Novice psychics can serve as point men for squads on important missions. Their ability to give the indication to the to the outcome of simple events that can spell the difference between success and failure for a mission. Many squads can view them as a kind of walking good-luck charm.
The other side is the aspect that most squads hate them for. . .
Telepaths are interrogators par excellence. Novice telepaths serve in the field as translators and as spotters of problematic locals. A telepath can give a squad’s negotiator a substantial advantage for reading a target’s emotional reactions to various questions, even if they can’t catch more than the most basic surface impressions. If you want to detect a control bug or separatist spy, then these troopers are often ideal assets. This has, however, given the Mobile Infantry a bad scare-mongering reputation of "Psychic Operatives" always knowing what you are thinking.
Lastly, psychic powers are always invisible.
What is a Psychic?
A Psychic is defined as an entity that is capable of utilising talents and abilities of a Mental or Emotional nature that can affect one or more individuals including themselves. Examples include, but are not limited to;
- Being able to get a “gut feeling” that something is about to happen.
- Read someone’s mind to some degree.
- Being able to detect something’s association with something that has happened (Such as being able to obtain a hazy idea of what happened with a blood-stained knife).[1]
- Eavesdrop on Psychic communication between individuals.
- Render themselves and nearby individuals more difficult to detect Psychically.
Arachnids possess Psychics in the form of their Brain Bug caste and similarly “High ranked” bugs. They utilise this prowess to control and dictate the flow of the swarm. As of yet, no-one has managed to successfully tap into anything except the basic emotions of an Arachnid.
Skinnies are another race that possess Psychics, though the extent of how and where Psychics fall within Skinny society is incredibly difficult to pin down. However, when the Federation has encountered Psychic Skinnies they have almost always been Chieftains.
How are Psychics found?
During the early years of a child existing, the infant can be subjected to genetic and behavioural testing. Publically, this is under the guise of trying to make sure that the individual is offered the correct support that they may need in life as well as supplying that assistance to their parents. Unofficially, it is done to check for children who exhibit signs of being Psychic. To help ensure the information is correct the testing is re-done every year with a mandatory attendance every fourth year. This continues until either the Federation is sure of whether the child is Psychic or not.
The process isn’t perfect as some individuals can slip through due to administrative errors, faulty equipment, medical staff making errors or in some cases it can be due to deception. If the individual is later found to be Psychic when they enlist, or are found out to be Psychic by the Federation then they are retroactively given the education they need to understand and correctly use their abilities.
What is the Federation’s view on Psychics?
The Federation firmly believes that, even with all of the problems that come with handling them, Psychics are beneficial in at least some capacity. Maybe that person can help track down and find a criminal or terrorist hiding within a Federation world? Perhaps they can provide “Camouflage” for small groups of Infantry as they traverse a Separatist world? The tactical, legal, and research applications for Psychics are immeasurable.
However, the Federation also recognizes that Psychics are a limited commodity that cannot be replaced with ease nor replicated as of yet. Thus, they are the only group of people that the Federation will willingly go out and recruit in stark contrast to how the rest of the Mobile Infantry, Fleet and Military Intelligence obtain their fresh new faces.
The Psychic population is also heavily restricted in what they can and cannot do, lest they run rogue and cause immense problems for all aspects of Federal life. Such restrictions include the inability for any Psychic to hold an elected position of Public Office nor can they take any role within a Governmental body that gives them legislative or executive authority within the Federation. This restriction mainly exists due to an incredibly negative backlash to the reveal that Psychic people existed and was established to assure the population that they will not take control of their lives.
Another restriction is that Psychics are banned from gambling as well as directly investing in the Stock Market on any system. If an individual with Psychic capabilities wants to purchase any stock it must be through an Investment firm.
What is the Public Perception of Psychics?
Generally speaking, people treat Psychics with a mix of resentment and distrust as information about Psychics is scarce be it due to the Federation being tight-lipped on the entire situation or just a case of information genuinely not existing. Because of this, people often choose to believe Psychics aren’t actually real, or if they are that they will never meet one, thus when the individual does meet a Psychic by way of having to look at their identification card for any purpose the Civilian or Citizen in question would start acting severely different than before. They may become quite reserved or abrasive, possibly even immediately move away from the Psychic in question.
In terms of Mobile Infantry personnel, they could find Psychics unsettling or outright untrustworthy due to the potential that the individual is reading their mind, or maybe receives preferential treatment in their eyes because of being special. Indeed, they may even be jealous that they themselves do not have any special talents of the Psychic variety.
So you think you’re Psychic? Maybe you are...
This section is dedicated to those who were given Psychic status before the inception and creation of this document. It serves as a guide for how your character might react and what they may experience as a direct result of being “Discovered” whilst they were in Service.
You may first experience disorientation, confusion, headaches (Even to the degree of being migraines) as your mind adapts to the potential now manifesting within you. This is normal and not something you should be too distraught over.
You may also notice that things begin to feel off, that you may become more hesitant to perform actions that are dangerous because you just can’t shake the feeling that something is going to happen. You may also begin to have a vivid recurring dream of past events or you could keep remembering this one place very well and you can’t stop thinking about it. You may even find that you get the feeling that there’s someone nearby, sometimes more than just a someone.
As you try to adjust to these sensations you may note that people begin to act “odd”, that they start treating you differently. This is normal.
If you begin experiencing these sensations, you may notice that certain individuals start appearing more frequently out of the corner of your eye. You may even experience nightmares where you wake up inside an unfamiliar place. This is normal.
What is a NeoDog?
A Neodog is a biomechanical organism that has been created from years upon years of genetic tampering and purifying from Canine breeds of Alsatian and Wolf. Once a Neodog pup is born, a Neodog handler is then selected and raises the young Neodog by hand for it's entire life. During this time, cybernetic enhancements are integrated with the animal such as sensory enhancements which boost their sight and sense of smell, a small radar-type device that enhances their ability to "Feel" things nearby and track movement and finally, most crucially, the cerebellum implant that is also surgically attached to the Handler's cerebellum that allows the two to communicate to each other silently and in a manner that allows both the Neodog and the Handler to process the other's sensory information (The Handler can "see" what the Neodog sees, for example).
Neodogs are also always fitted with an explosive designed to go off on either the death of the Neodog or its handler. It may also detonate if the Neodog is deemed a threat and has begun attacking friendly people or civilians of it's own accord.
Neodogs are intelligent enough (thanks to their genetic alterations, years of selective breeding and other Federation "inputs") to be able to talk, although they cannot pronounce B, M, V or P. They're also difficult to understand by normal people, though a Handler could understand their own Neodog perfectly fine.
Mobile Intelligence Psychic Operations Detachment
Psychics on board the Grant are not paid an enormous amount compared to ordinary troopers. Their signing, however, is normally enforced with conscription without retirement, often until their own powers burn them out, or they are exhausted of use from service.
You can’t even have a friendly game of cards without the prick calling your hand. The more familiar the soldiers are with psychics the less likely this is to be a problem, but some tensions are inevitable. Because of their value psychics can get away with a lot of things that would see an ordinary soldier jailed, discharged, or occasionally shot. Psychics might suffer petty discipline, punishment duty, and regular screaming rebukes, but the serious discipline that would result in their separation from the service is uncommon. Their odds of dying or going mad from bugs on the battlefield are good enough that most of their peers don’t begrudge them their little perks too much.
In the field, psychics can generally expect summary execution if they’re captured. The federation simply lacks the necessary tech and personnel to rehabilitate a psychic. The best they can do is keep them in a medical coma, which is practical in a controlled situation with medical resources readily at hand but completely unserviceable during combat. Psychics understand that capture means death, they carry one "Reaper" light pistol with 9 rounds; it is said the final round is always kept purely for the operative.
Psychics tend to avoid never wear distinguishing insignia or markings in the field. Their load-outs are identical except for carrying their concealed "Reaper" pistol; which provides little tactical benefit. They always dress and serve just as a normal member of their squad, often serving in the same regular mobile infantry uniform. When it’s possible to conceal the source of a psychic effect, they will do so not only to avoid execution on capture but also to avoid the inevitable hail of gunfire should they be identified as a psychic by enemy forces. Most enemy forces will focus fire on a psychic even faster than they will on an identified officer.
