Psionics
Taken directly from the book "Your First Steps" by Athlon M. Topia II

I know that you know that I know that you know what I'm thinking!

     Psionics, the power of the mind, is a fascinating subject to folks like myself. I myself am not particularly gifted with the psionic arts but I know a few fine folks that are. There are several different "disciplines" of psionics, and each of the major races of the Patrolled Sectors is predisposed to a certain discipline. My people, the Machi'Na are predisposed to "Telemetrics", or object reading. We can communicate with machines or "read" their history.

     I should explain what being "predisposed" means. Being "predisposed" to a certain ability doesn't gaurentee that you'll get that ability. While Machi'Na are predisposed to Telemetrics, less than 1% of my entire race has the ability. It just means out of all the abilities, we're most likely to develop that ability.
     Another example, Humans, are predisposed to "Telekinesis", which means they're much more likely to get that ability over say, "Pyrokinesis", but that doesn't mean they can't develop Pyrokinesis. It's just very unlikely they'll develop anything other than Telekinesis.

     The abilities, or disciplines that I know of are--

Telekinesis= The ability to move objects without physically touching them. This doesn't just mean moving objects, a being could theoretically crush someones windpipe, create a bubble of force in a beings brain and expand it outwards till their head explodes, or just slide a drink into easy reach. Humans and Mon'Za are more likely to develop this.

Pyrokinesis= The ability to control ambient heat. A being can raise or lower ambient heat levels in a room, raise another beings body temperature to boiling, or lower it till they freeze solid. This ability is subject to it's surroundings. Meaning, that it can't be used in the cold vacuum of space. A Pyro needs "ambient" heat, he/she/it can't just make it out of thin air, it's subject to the laws of physics. A pyro could boil someone alive in their space suit, but he can't make a fire when the temperature is subzero. Mon'Za, Terrans, and Saurians are more likely to develop this.

Telemetrics= The ability to read the history of an inanimate object, and in rare instances the ability to communicate with machines. This can allow you to, for example, pick up a gun and "see/read" every being that's ever touched it, particularly skilled beings can diagnose a malfunctioning piece of hardware just by touching it. A service robot having a fit and you can't figure out why? Telemetrics would allow you to touch it and have the robot itself tell you. Machi'Na and Mon'Za "Body" are more likely to develop this.

Telepathy/Empathy= (commonly referred to as Telempathy) These two are generally classified/grouped together. Telepathy is the ability to read a being's thoughts, or project your thoughts into another being's mind, while Empathy is the ability to feel the emotions of another, or to project your emotions onto another. Most folks that develop Telepathy will also eventually gain Empathy, usually through some sort of trauma, however folks that get Empathy first rarely, if ever will gain Telepathy. I don't know why and all my research comes up nada for the whys and hows, that's just how it works.


So you want to explode peoples brains but don't have the Psy t do it?!

     Then a "Tap" is for you! Taps are a cybernetic device implanted into a beings brain that can draw out the psy abilities of a being. Using a Tap wil give you any School regardless of disposition, and will allow you to use many abilities of that school regardless of skill level. HOWEVER, Taps are dangerous, they can cause nerve damage and loss of fine motor control. You will lose some hand/eye coordination and in all likelyhood develop the shakes. On the plus side, you can now do all kinds of really cool stuff.

     Taps are invasive, they are dangerous, but they're handy. A level 1 Tap will give a being a skill lvl 3 of any ONE psy school. That ONE psy school will be the only school that being will ever be able to develop psy abilities from, and they'll never be able to learn psy abilities naturaly from then on. A being also suffers half the taps skill level rounded up to Agility and Speed. Meaning a level 1 tap that gives you 3 points of psy skill will set you back 1.5 or rounded up 2 points to those aforementioned stats. The next level tap will give you a total of 4 psy skill, but no increase in stat loss. The next level will give a being a skill of 5 in psy skills, and a being will now suffer -3 to the aforementioned stats. The next level of Tap will also effect a beings Strength, The next level will also effect a beings Charisma as the Tap is now visibly poking out the top of your a beings head and doesn't look natural, it also makes a being less able to deal with other beings, they tend to be cold and machine like. Taps can increase a psy skill ability all the way to 10, but at that point a being is most likely to frail physically to do much, and they'll be almost exclusively doing nothing but using their psy abilities.

     If a being with a naturally developed psy ability gets tapped, they will lose all of their natural abilities, 2 points off of every statistic, and in all likelyhood will NOT gain any new abilities from the Tap.

     Naturally occuring Psychics can become very powerful, but natural abilities require lots of training to use effectively. Meaning it takes twice as long to raise a psy skill than a regular skill Most psychics also tend to be frail from failure to keep their bodies as strong as their minds. This isn't always the case, but it's what most likely happens. Meaning that while regular non-physical skills like gun combat, computers etc work the same as always, skills like Acrobatics, Running etc will take twice as long to increase. The 1.5% bonus to dodge from agility becomes only 1%, and physical skill rolls are generally a little harder, however, increases in natural Psychic skills doesn't increase the negatives across the board. A Character with a skill level 1 in pyro has the same cons as a level 10 pyro.

     Very powerful Psychics are generally distrusted immenesly and one should be wary when stopping at ports with high law levels. Also one should be wary of Mon'Za, it's generally NOT reccomended to try and read the mind of a Mon'Za of any kind. Souls won't hurt you to bad, but a Mon'Za Mind and/or Body will make your brain explode, literally. It's also recomended that a being invest in some sort of Dampener when around MonZa, a good half of their language is Telempathic, and it could get quite loud if you're not skilled enough to block out the noise.

     Dampeners come in many shapes and sizes. They however all generally function the same way by emitting a localized EM field. Some can be implanted just behind an ear under the skull, but most folks just wear them as necklaces or ear-rings. Dampeners only effect and/or block Telempathy, Pyros and TKs aren't effected, and Telemetrics can actually be boosted by Dampeners. I should warn you that even if equipped with a very powerful Dampener, a Psychic with sufficient skill can still get passed it, and most MonZa "Minds" can get past a Dampener without much effort. The only real way to defeat a Telempath is full cyborg conversion. At that point their is far more metal than meat so it's harder to communicate or read a beings mind in that condition. However, that's a bonus to a Telemetric as you're now in their territory.

     There is a way out. If you've got a Tap and are tired of it, just die. The GCN very RARELY ever incubates a clone and implants cybernetics in it after the death of the master. If you want your Tap again, you'll have to pay for it to be installed again, same with most cybernetics. There are instances where the GCN will incubate a clone and add cybernetics before activation of said clone, but I haven't decided on the whos/whys/hows yet. It's kind of a storyline conundrum in my head. Beyond storyline considerations, it might be an option that a player can choose. However the GCN has no need of money, so what could a player give the GCN to take better care of a clone?