to boot, on an
anthro scale that whole ‘‘manus dei’’, ‘‘transdimensional-machinery-laced-thru-the-hyperspacial-bulk’’
* thing rlly goes well with an idea I’ve had for scifi “magic”, so to spekk.
sumfin’ leik,
(cewl shid in bold text)
The term “psi,” coined by biologist Bertold P. Wiesner, was originally an umbrella term used to describe paranormal phenomena, including so-called “psychic” abilities such as telepathy and extra-sensory perception. While the term was used extensively in the field of parapsychology and pop culture in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the study of psi was largely considered a pseudoscience with flawed methodologies and gradually lost funding and support.
During the Fall, however, repeated rumors and accounts of unexplained abilities drew the attention of scientists, military leaders, and singularity seekers alike. Numerous biological and nanomachine plagues had been unleashed upon humanity, racing through populations and transforming as they spread. Some inflicted only minor biological or mental changes and impairments, but many were vicious and deadly. The most feared variants, however, were those that came to be labeled as the “exsurgent virus”—a transformative plague that mutates its victims and subverts them to its will. The exsurgent virus was observed to radically modify the subject’s neural patterns and mental state, affecting synaptic arrangement and even modulating synaptic currents. In some cases, infected brains even developed new anatomical modules. With some strains, these changes alter and enhance the victim’s cognitive capabilities. In others, they also endow the capacity to sense and affect the minds of others from a short distance. Both of these are dubbed “psi” as the causal factors continue to mystify us.
A NEW EXSURGENCY
The exsurgent virus is exceptionally mutable and adaptive, however, and two
Argonaut researchers who were studying it made an interesting discovery. A variant strain was found that endowed the subject with exceptional mental abilities without engaging the excessive transformative processes of the other strains. Though infection still has other drawbacks, many agencies have come to regard this strain as “safe” in the sense that it does not make the subject infectious to others, the subject does not metamorphose into an alien monstrosity, and their general personality remains intact. Intrigued that this avenue of inquiry might lead to a way to nullify the effects of other exsurgent strains, a number of groups are known to experiment with the strain with the cooperation of willing test subjects. It is known that some hypercorps and habitat authorities have also experimented with these strains using unwilling victims.
Labeled the “Watts-MacLeod” strain after the researchers who isolated it, further study has gained insight into the effect this virus has on human brains. Careful analysis of infected subjects discovered that their altered synapses generate a modulated brainwave pattern that is extremely difficult to detect. These asynchronous brainwaves are now widely referred to as “psi waves,” fitting with the Greek letter designation of other brainwaves (alpha, beta, delta, gamma, theta). Likewise, affected individuals are known as “asyncs.”
ANALYSIS OF PSI
Exploration of the explicit causal factors behind psi waves remains stymied. Neuroimaging and mapping have enabled scientists to pinpoint structures within the brain, neural activity, and perturbations in the brain’s bioelectric field that are associated with psi processes, but attempts to duplicate these features in non-infected brains have resulted in failure or worse.
Researchers have proposed a number of imaginative theories:
mental processes with the ability to change quantum states, subconscious interactions with dimensions of reality we cannot normally perceive, brain modules with advanced hypercomputational abilities, or even distributed synaptic processes that manipulate some as-yet unidentified substrate of reality. At least one Argonaut has advanced the argument that asyncs may prove the Simulation Hypothesis, with their abilities functioning as “cheat codes” in a simulated universe.Hard evidence and explanations, however, remain frustratingly inconclusive. Numerous dead ends have prompted many researchers to postulate that the mechanics underlying psi are simply too strange and too far beyond humanity’s understanding of physical sciences—perhaps reinforcing theories that the exsurgent virus is in fact of alien origin. Of course we can only speculate in accordance with known research—it is quite possible that some parties have made further breakthroughs, but are keeping the information to themselves.
The initiation and use of psi talents is generally understood to take place on a subconscious level, meaning that the async is not actively aware of the fundamental processes that trigger the effects. Practice and training, however, allows an async to focus on activating specific psi abilities. These are called “sleights:” mnemonic or cognitive algorithms that enable the ego to manifest a particular psi function. Some researchers have organized sleights into two categories.
“psi-chi” sleights are mental enhancements and new cognitive functions. These largely impact the async’s perceptions, metabolic processes, information-processing abilities, and self control. Once an async learns to activate this capability, it remains always on, like a new sense or bodily function. Some asyncs only have psi-chi abilities. A second category of
“psi-gamma” sleights involve the ability to impact biological neural functions in others. Though the range on these sleights is limited (with success rates dropping sharply after ~10 meters), the capabilities are more diverse. Specific sleights have been shown to read thoughts, affect memories, inflict damaging neurofeedback or pain, modify senses, and influence cognitive and physiological functions.
Research indicates that asyncs are able to detect and influence other asyncs at longer distances. Sleights have also proven effective on animals, though the lower the level of sentience the harder they reportedly are to affect. Asyncs capable of both psi-chi and psi-gamma sleights have shown an ability to sometimes “push” their sleights for greater effects.
The downside to having spehss magicks; you’re either sharing your headspace with a second mind, or altered mentally in an alien way. shyt leik;
THE ARCHITECT (u want to build unknown devices out of steel, flesh, bone, & exotic matter)
Your infection possesses a distinct curiosity and sense of intelligence. You often see things from a perspective that is different. It drives you to delve into the inner mechanics of things and examine how they work — whether they be machines or biological entities. The urges push beyond exploration and learning — you are often compelled to build and construct new things: architecture with inexplicable functions, strange devices, or even new forms of life. Though the virus’s exact motivation and intent remains unclear, it leaves you with an unmistakable sense of purpose.
THE BEAST (if Khornate psychers were a workable thing in 40k)
Your infection is a ravenous, bloodthirsty monster, yearning to break free. You struggle to keep it in check, placated or distracted, else the desire for carnage and mayhem overwhelms you.
THE HAUNTER (space-woke, brain broke)
The low-level dread of incomprehensible terror, flittering at the edge of perception, is your constant companion. Sometimes it is the crushing weight of the uncaring dark void that makes our extinction a near certainty, sometimes it is a more palpable, unnamable presence, an entity so beyond your ken that you are insignificant in comparison. You are plagued by unrest and unease, taunted by nightmares and a sense that reality is not always as grounded as you would like.
THE STRANGER (two corpses in one grave, & what’s more, the new one is a malevolent sociopath)
Your infection is the shadow at your side, the whispering chant of its unusual desires echoing just below the limits of your perception. It is omnipresent but patient, waiting for moments of vulnerability to steer you towards its inscrutable ends. Though its motivations are hazy, it seems to enjoy testing your limits — and those of society at large.
THE XENOMORPH (bug/fish/scalie mind-reprogramming strain)
An alien presence lives inside of you. Your instinctual responses are different from those of your original phenotype and you occasionally find yourself acting in ways more fitting to a physiology different from yours. You might feel a weird compulsion to burrow into sand, lay eggs, eat non-nutritious or dangerous substances, or clean phantom appendages that aren’t part of your current anatomy. You may even seek out prosthetics and implants that better accommodate these omnipresent urges. You sometimes express an outlook that others find strange, just as you are occasionally confused or mystified by common cultural practices. When the infection expresses itself strongly, these omnipresent urges seem quite normal, but those around you seem more and more bizarre and alien. While some asyncs report this sub-strain as adhering to a specific alien anatomy (i.e., they often feel insectoid or aquatic), others clearly feel that the alien presence within transforms and changes over time.
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Then of course, the ones completely off their rockers
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