General axiom requirements

    In the Space Gods sourcebook, psionics were given three axiom requirements - Social 21, Tech 15 and Spirit 9.  In this revision, the axiom requirements have been changed significantly.
    The Social axiom is the most important for psionics, with Tech reduced in importance and Spirit no longer required for all psychic abilities.  A small group of psychic powers do have an indirect Spirit axiom restriction though, as explained below.

This section covers the following areas:

  1. Social 18
  2. Tech 15
  3. Spirit axiom
  4. Availability of psionics
    1. Core Earth
    2. Star Sphere
    3. Aysle
    4. Cyberpapacy
    5. Nile Empire
    6. Nippon Tech
    7. Orrorsh
    8. Tharkold
  5. Contradictory psionics
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Social: 18

    Torg psionics derive primarily from the possibility energy generated through the interactions between living beings, particularly those interactions involving large scale cooperative organizations. At Social 18, conditions reach the necessary level of complexity and depth to give living beings access to a previously unknown type of social tool, psionics.
    This is the axiom level at which large organizations begin to recognize that they must cooperate for the benefit of not just society as a whole but for the benefit of the individual as well. This new relationship between the individual and the group, and vice versa, is the catalyst that brings into existence the interconnected mental network that forms the basis of psionic abilities.
    This new network of social interactions has been given many names; Carl Jung called it the Collective Unconsciousness, Pierre de Chardin called it the Noosphere, researchers working for the US military in the 60's and 70's called it the Matrix, and of great interest to the Akashans (who call it the Ocean of Thought) are the Earth mystics and psychics who call it the Akashic Record. (It will be referred to as the Record in this rules supplement.)
    What they are all describing is an inter linked network of thought, information and energy that connects every physical point in a cosm and the minds of every person within a cosm. These connections are not just for the present moment in time but they encompass all moments in time - past, present and future. All psionic abilities stem from accessing the Record and using it to gather information or manipulating it to change information, which then becomes reflected as a change in the physical world. As the Social axiom increases, psionics become easier to use and new ways of manipulating the Record (i.e., new Powers) become available.
 
An Ayslish View of Psionics
Ayslish scholars have noted that the concept of the Akashic Record is very similar to their view of the supernatural as "an archive of all possible things" (Aysle sourcebook, p56) and have suggested that psionics is just thinly disguised magic (though the fact that a Detect Magic spell doesn't detect psychic powers tends to quiet them down!) The Akashans have countered that the Record does not encompass all possible things, only that which has occurred, that which exists now and futures which can reasonably develop from present conditions.

Tech: 15

    While psionics is based on the power of the mind in connection with the Record, certain scientific concepts must first be available to the inhabitants of a cosm before their minds can connect to the Record. At Tech 15 the universal laws and abstract scientific concepts necessary to support psionics become usable at a rudimentary level. This is all that is necessary for most psionic abilities, though a few that involve manipulation of the physical world do require a higher Tech axiom.
    At Tech 26, the underlying principles of psionics and the nature of the Record can be viewed as a whole in context with the other known laws of the natural world, and parapsychology becomes paraphysics, the hard science of psionics. Psionic technology, psi-tech, then becomes practical.

Spirit

    In the published rules, all psionics have a Spirit 9 axiom requirement. In this revision, the most radical change has been to drop this requirement.
    The Space Gods sourcebook explains that the Spirit axiom provides the energy that drives psionic abilities, and that it is the spiritual concept of "a community working together to produce a desired 'miraculous' effect" (Space Gods sourcebook, p56) that allows the individual to join with a group and generate the desired effect.
    This revision takes the viewpoint that it is not necessary to involve the Spirit axiom to provide the energy for the use of psionic abilities; the power behind psionic abilities derives from the mind of the psychic, not from a source outside of himself as that model would indicate. Furthermore, the Spirit axiom's "community" concept is unnecessary since the Social axiom already governs the ways in which an individual can join with a group "to work toward producing a focused, definite effect."
    While it is true that the Social axiom does not encompass "the concept that belief and will can produce some change in physical laws", in this revision the concept of psionics does not so much involve changing physical laws as it involves making use of physical laws in a previously unknown fashion. (The use of these "physical laws" is reflected in the Tech axiom requirement for psionics.)
    That said, a small group of psychic abilities will not function if the Spirit axiom is too low, those powers which involve communication with the dead.  In order for these powers to work, the Spirit axiom must support the concept of spirits, souls, an afterlife, and so on - if there are no spirits of the deceased to contact, there is nothing there able to communicate with the psychic!  
    At the bare minimum these powers require a Spirit axiom of 1, the lowest possible level at which the concept of an afterlife is allowed.  The higher the Spirit axiom of a reality, the easier it becomes for these particular powers to successfully function there.  More information can be found in the writeups for the specific powers.

Availability of psionics

    As a result of the changes made to the axiom requirements, psionic abilities are now possible in a greater number of realities than under the published rules.  Besides Core Earth and the Star Sphere, the only cosms that meet the Space Gods sourcebook's requirements,  the axioms of Aysle, the Cyberpapacy, the Nile Empire, Nippon Tech, Orrorsh and Tharkold now support psionics.
    But just because a realm's axioms support psionics does not mean that psionics will be readily available to characters from those realities. In some cases a character may be unable to develop his psychic talents due to interference from the World Laws of his reality, or there might be cultural impediments that hinder or prevent characters from developing psionics even though the reality itself does not forbid it.
    Each of the realties in the Possibility Wars with axioms which support psionics are described below. At the end of each entry are two indicators of the availability of psionics in that reality.  The first indicator, PC CHOICE, is whether or not players can choose to give characters from that reality psionic abilities during character creation.  The second indicator, PSIONIC POTENTIAL, indicates the chance of an average NPC from that reality possessing psionics and works just like the Possibility Potential rating described in the Worldbook on page 2.

Core Earth

    Psionic abilities have been used on Core Earth since the 19th century, but it is an ability not well understood by researchers. Real psychic ability, as opposed to the kind found at 1-900-PSYCHIC phone numbers, remains rare and is often confused with other "paranormal phenomena" such as magic and miracles.
    Serious research into psychic phenomena did not begin until the 1950's when both the Soviet Union and the United States became interested in the possible information-gathering capabilities of psionics. Attempts to make practical use of psionics began earlier though, the Soviets are believed to have used psychics during World War II to spy on the Nazis and the Czechoslovakian army is reported to have had psychics working for it as early as 1919.
    The United States military did not put psychics into active use until the 1970's, but never devoted the same amount of resources towards research or even gave as much credibility to psionics as the Eastern Bloc countries.  For example, while the US had two research facilities devoted to psionics in the 1980's, the Soviet Union had dozens of institutes located all over the USSR.  The People's Republic of China and Israel are also known to have begun psionic research in the 1970's, though neither country continued their research past the 1980's.
    By the time of the Possibility Wars (the early 1990's in the official campaign material), the United States military and intelligence communities were losing interest in psionics due to a general lack of obvious and easily verifiable results.  By comparison, the Soviets were still going strong and enjoying significant results. Of particular note was Project Omen, which enabled the Soviets to locate and destroy one of Tharkold's stelae in time to prevent that realm from invading the USSR.
    Once the Soviets announced the destruction of the Tharkold stelae and it was revealed that it was due to their Department of Psychic Research, interest in psionic research was revived in many other countries. The Soviets were besieged with requests for information on their training methods, and even had to repel attempts by some interests to lure away or kidnap some of the project's psychics.  In the interests of glasnost and saving the world from the High Lords, the Soviets began providing some assistance to other countries to develop the necessary techniques to identify psychics and to train them in the use of their abilities.
 
A turning point
    The lighting of the Signal Fire (see The Forever City module) did more for Core Earth psychics than all of the governments and their research projects combined.  Besides sparking the creation of new Storm Knights around the globe, the Signal Fire also awakened the psionic potential in hundreds, possibly thousands, of people around the globe.
    Without training, most of these people either never learned to use their abilities, or at best developed one type of psionic power, and the world governments did not have the resources to locate and train so many people.  But many of these newly awakened psychics felt a tugging in their minds, directing them towards Peru and in particular towards the ruins of Macchu Picchu.
    Why these people felt drawn to Macchu Picchu was not clear until the first of the Akashan lightships appeared in the skies over Peru and Those Who Wait(ed), Akashans who had been awakened from suspended animation by the Signal Fire, emerged from secret chambers under Macchu Picchu to greet their returning brethren.  A telepathic homing beacon that Those Who Wait(ed) used to signal the Star Sphere of their location had also served to attract the attention of Core Earth's psychics.
    With the arrival of the Akashans, a race with highly developed psionic abilities and knowledge, Core Earth psychics had an entirely new world opened up for them.
PC CHOICE:  Yes
PSIONIC POTENTIAL: Some (30) before the Signal Fire, Some (22) after the Signal Fire

Star Sphere

    Psionics are a mainstay of the Akashan way of life and over fifty percent of the non-Akashan races in the Star Sphere utilize psionic powers to some degree.  Those races that do not use psionics, such as the Lorbaat and Gudasko, are not actually prohibited from having psionic abilities, they just lack the correct cultural temperament for it. It is the rare individual in these races who can overcome these limitations to develop any psychic abilities.  More on this can be found the the Contradictory psionics section below.
PC CHOICE:  Yes, though of the known races Lorbaat and Gudasko characters may only do so at GMs discretion
PSIONIC POTENTIAL: Akashans - Most (5), Larendi and Draygaak - Some (19), Lorbaat and Gudasko - none

Aysle

    While Aysle's axioms just barely support psionics, its World Laws prevent them from being developed.  Due to the combination of the Law of Observation and the Law of Magic there is only one way that the mind can influence the world in Aysle and that's through the use of magic.  This has the effect of making all psionics a contradiction in Aysle, even when the axioms would otherwise allow it.
PC CHOICE:  No
PSIONIC POTENTIAL:  none

Cyberpapacy

    Before the Tech Surge, Magna Verita's reality was barely able to support psionics (their pre-Surge Tech axiom was 15). While the Surge has made some previously unavailable abilities possible, since their Social axiom is still at the bare minimums for psionics there are still many abilities unavailable in the reality.
    There is also the social stigma attached to anything that might be perceived as being "unholy", and to the unenlightened masses (which is most people in the Cyberpapacy) psionics are seen as just another form of magic, which everyone knows is the tool of Satan! This hinders the development of psionic potential by individuals in the reality.
    Should psionics start to become prevalent in the Cyberpapacy, perhaps through the efforts of Core Earthers or Akashans to train Cyberpapal psychics, its likely that Malraux and Ebenscrux will take steps to extend the effects of either the Law of the One True God or the Law of Heretical Magic (or both!) to limit the effectiveness of psionics in the same fashion that magic and non-Papal miracles have been penalized.
PC CHOICE: At GMs discretion
PSIONIC POTENTIAL: Some (45)

Nile Empire

    Similar to Aysle, while the Nile Empire's axioms support psionics its World Laws act against it, instead preferring that  characters develop in different directions.  The Law of Drama doesn't consider normal psionics to be as 'exciting' as Pulp Powers so the World Law makes psionics of all kinds contradictory even when the axioms otherwise support it.
PC CHOICE: No
PSIONIC POTENTIAL: none

Nippon Tech

    In the published rules, it was only the Spirit axiom requirement that kept psionics out of Nippon Tech. With that requirement removed, psionics are now possible in the reality. But Nippon Tech is another reality where one of the World Laws interferes with the ability of people to develop their psionic potential. The Law of Intrigue seeks to generate an atmosphere of deception and betrayal in the reality, but it's hard to lie and be duplicitous when others can read your thoughts, sense your true emotions and observe your activities from afar!
    Unlike Aysle or the Nile Empire though, the Law of Intrigue does not make psionics contradictory. Psionics are possible in Nippon Tech, but certain abilities are more difficult to use than they would be normally. The Law of Intrigue makes powers from the Telepathy and Psychic Senses Power Groups more difficult to use in Nippon Tech. A +3 penalty is added to the Difficulty Numbers and Psi Strain for all such powers, and the Effect Values of these powers suffer a -3 penalty. The other Power Groups are not affected.
    Psionics in Marketplace tends to go hand in hand with the martial arts; while most Core Earth martial arts derive from a spiritually-based philosophy, Marketplace martial arts tend to focus more on the material, the power of the mind to control the body. It is not surprising then to find that most of Marketplace's psychics are martial artists and that they have developed Powers out of the Body Control group.
PC CHOICE: Yes
PSIONIC POTENTIAL: Some (40), Some (30) if they have the martial arts skill

Orrorsh

    Psionics exists in Orrorsh but is very rare.  As in the Cyberpapacy, most people believe psionic abilities are magical in nature and Victorian society definitely frowns on dabbing in the occult, at least publicly.  Just as there are secret societies for occultists in Orrorsh, there is a secret society for psychics.
    They call themselves Mentalists and see themselves as practitioners of a "scientific" form of magic and spiritualism.  Most Victorian psychics will have learned the true sight skill in addition to their psionic abilities, as their studies of the power of the mind enable them to see themselves and the world around them through the Record, which gives them the same clarity of perception provided by the true sight skill .
    Victorian psychics are also able to learn the spirit medium skill, normally only available to Gaea's gypsies, as an outgrowth of their psychic abilities.
PC CHOICE:  Yes, and probably should belong to the Mentalist secret society
PSIONIC POTENTIAL:  Some (35)

Tharkold

    In the published material, the existence of psionics in Tharkold is rather murky.  The Space Gods sourcebook says that Tharkold has psionics (p62) but the Tharkold sourcebook doesn't say anything about psionics existing in the cosm, and its Social axiom is insufficient to support psionics under the published rules anyway. Then to further confuse matters, the Creatures of Tharkold supplement contains writeups for psychic Tharkold creatures such as the Psi-Bots.
    With the changes to the axiom requirements, Tharkold's axioms will now support psionics.  However, neither the Race nor the Tharkoldu possess the proper cultural temperament to develop the powers of their mind, due in large part to the Law of Ferocity and the more powerful effects that are available through the use of magic and miracles.
    As with the Lorbaat and Gudasko in the Star Sphere this doesn't mean that Tharkold characters are prohibited from developing psionic abilities, just that it is terribly unlikely to happen.
PC CHOICE: only at GMs discretion
PSIONIC POTENTIAL: none

Contradictory psionics

    Characters from realities that do not support psionics can learn them like any other contradictory skill; a teacher is mandatory and the cost in Possibility Points is doubled.  This increase in price applies to the first add of both psionic skills, purchasing a Power Group and purchasing each Power.  More about the cost of learning psionics can be found in the Using psionics section.
    Characters with psionics who are transformed to a new reality that does not support psionics will not lose their abilities unless it is a physical transformation (a roll of 1 on a d20 when transformation occurs.)  They will be subject to the rule mentioned above concerning possible increases in the cost of learning new psychic abilities though.
    As noted in both the Star Sphere and Tharkold entries above, there are some cosms where psionics exist but not among all the races or cultures of those realities.  Should a character from one of those races wish to learn psionics they can do so, but it does require a greater effort on his part.
    He must have a teacher and he must pay double the cost for the first add of the psionic manipulation skill (i.e., ten Possibility Points instead of five.) Buying the first add in the psionic resistance skill, Power Groups and Powers are all at the normal cost however.
 
Optional Training Rules
If the training skill from the Tokyo Citybook is being used, the following modifiers can be applied to uses of that skill when teaching psionics:
  • student's reality supports psionics but racial/cultural temperament is inappropriate: +2 DN
  • student's axioms support psionics but World Laws prohibit them: +5 DN
  • student's reality does not support one of the axiom requirements: +7 DN
  • student's reality does not support psionics at all: +10 DN

    A final type of contradictory psionics is the case of a character from a reality that supports some level of psionics learning a Power that is not supported by his axioms, such as an Orrorshan Mentalist learning Teleportation (object).  An individual Power that is a contradiction to a character costs double to acquire (two Possibility Points instead of one.)  If an entire Power Group is contradictory, then the character must also pay double the normal cost to acquire that Power Group in the first place as well as paying double for each power he buys within that Group.


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