General Would a Psion have to become a Spy in the Imperium?

[Badenov]

I'd see it handled more by propaganda if psionics were known but the government wanted them suppressed. You have a sustained campaign that spreads propaganda about how "dangerous" psionics are. You instill a fear and loathing of them in the public. Over time, someone who displays psionic powers ends up being reported to the authorities by witnesses who have been indoctrinated to do just that.
You only need the nobility empire-wide to order and sign onto such a campaign. Now, they might be in the know about any psionic that is arrested being sent to a government facility for training as an agent or something, the central government even possibly giving out a suitable reward for their cooperation in catching the psionic. That would incentivize the ruling powers to find and arrest such persons.
For the public, they just know psionics are dangerous and if you are able to report one and it's confirmed, you get a good reward for it. That would make for a great policy polity wide.

Make it something like the agency in the show Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

This sounds like a familiar background story, but it doesn't address the idea that psions also get the propaganda and know that being caught will get them put away. It's super-easy to not use powers that will get you put away if you use them, it's not like you can accidentally use psionics or be compelled to use it against your will. That leaves only the few psions who can't resist using their powers to get caught. Obviously you'd have psionic agents at every school listening to see who's listening in to others' thoughts, but even school kids are smart enough not to do stuff that will get them dragged off. At least most kids. And the only ones who grow up and have kids of their own are the ones who can keep their powers secret, and they'd tell their kids so the kids wouldn't get dragged off.

Also, how obvious are psi powers? In movies, there's a special sound effect surrounding the use for the benefit of the slower audience members, but RL comes without SFX (unless there's some IYTU - that would make things super interesting in a very different way) and you wind up with a guy who wins at roulette ten spins in a row with no outward signs. But that's one out of every thousand or so players anyway, so that's hardly a smoking gun.

Obviously some powers are more subtle than others, but I would expect in a psionic-restricted society as described, there's 10 or 100 times as many psions who play it cool and don't get caught, many raised by parents who gave them The Talk at an early age.

So I want to caveat all this with me not knowing how psi powers work in game, I'm thinking about general cases. If there's a Detect Psi power, it's all over, of course.

 

[kilemall]

Hmm:
2 types of drive, a regular normal space reaction engine arrangement, and a get there quick "firefly" drive - the firefly drive being larger than the m-drive matching the LBB:3 letter drive paradigm
shotguns and other slug throwers in space, with rare appearance of laser weapons
low TL planets next door to high TL planets
the crew all had prior careers
Wash calls the crew Travellers...

Above all space noir, patrons commissioning dirty deeds, crew doing them but with limits, pay the bills keep flying.

 

[Enoki]

This sounds like a familiar background story, but it doesn't address the idea that psions also get the propaganda and know that being caught will get them put away. It's super-easy to not use powers that will get you put away if you use them, it's not like you can accidentally use psionics or be compelled to use it against your will. That leaves only the few psions who can't resist using their powers to get caught. Obviously you'd have psionic agents at every school listening to see who's listening in to others' thoughts, but even school kids are smart enough not to do stuff that will get them dragged off. At least most kids. And the only ones who grow up and have kids of their own are the ones who can keep their powers secret, and they'd tell their kids so the kids wouldn't get dragged off.

Also, how obvious are psi powers? In movies, there's a special sound effect surrounding the use for the benefit of the slower audience members, but RL comes without SFX (unless there's some IYTU - that would make things super interesting in a very different way) and you wind up with a guy who wins at roulette ten spins in a row with no outward signs. But that's one out of every thousand or so players anyway, so that's hardly a smoking gun.

Obviously some powers are more subtle than others, but I would expect in a psionic-restricted society as described, there's 10 or 100 times as many psions who play it cool and don't get caught, many raised by parents who gave them The Talk at an early age.

So I want to caveat all this with me not knowing how psi powers work in game, I'm thinking about general cases. If there's a Detect Psi power, it's all over, of course.

I'd think the 3I, and the Zhodani for that matter, among others, given something like a millennia to work on the problem would have come up with a reasonable test or set of tests that could determine with reasonable accuracy if someone were psionic. Rather than administer it to everyone--think big $$$--they have the test(s) available and use it / them when someone is reported to be psionic. Why go hunting down the psionics that are "harmless" (to the government) when that requires lots of time and money?

For the Zhodani, they'd want to know who is psionic and I could see them administering such tests to everyone at some age point like say, 16 or 18. For a Zhodani, being psionic would be something to be proud of so people would be eager to do well on the test(s).

I would assume, either way, that the tests can't be faked or eluded. That takes care of the problem.

 

[Badenov]

I'd think the 3I, and the Zhodani for that matter, among others, given something like a millennia to work on the problem would have come up with a reasonable test or set of tests that could determine with reasonable accuracy if someone were psionic. Rather than administer it to everyone--think big $$$--they have the test(s) available and use it / them when someone is reported to be psionic. Why go hunting down the psionics that are "harmless" (to the government) when that requires lots of time and money?

For the Zhodani, they'd want to know who is psionic and I could see them administering such tests to everyone at some age point like say, 16 or 18. For a Zhodani, being psionic would be something to be proud of so people would be eager to do well on the test(s).

I would assume, either way, that the tests can't be faked or eluded. That takes care of the problem.

So the Zhodani are different. They are pro-psionic, and their known psions occupy public roles. I'm sure all the kids take the standardize Psionic Aptitude Test (PsAT) in the second year of high school and eagerly look forward to results which may point them at a prestigious government job.

My argument about the complications of repression given the secretive nature of Psi are for the 3I. The RAW do present an interesting thing. The Life Detection power under telepathy (at Lv 1, so relatively easy access) detects (LBB3p40) everyone except those with a 'Shielded mind', which are conspicuous in their undetectability. Shielded Mind is described in LBB3p41: "All telepathically able characters learn how to create a mental shield which protects the mind against unwanted telepathic interference. Such a shield is automatically in force at all times and requires no strength point expenditure to maintain. (emphasis mine)" So all you have to do is sit your agents in the school lunch room and watch people as they come in. Whoever is undetectable is telepathic. Of course this doesn't detect anyone else, but your system at a minimum scoops up all the telepaths.

 

[Enoki]

So the Zhodani are different. They are pro-psionic, and their known psions occupy public roles. I'm sure all the kids take the standardize Psionic Aptitude Test (PsAT) in the second year of high school and eagerly look forward to results which may point them at a prestigious government job.

My argument about the complications of repression given the secretive nature of Psi are for the 3I. The RAW do present an interesting thing. The Life Detection power under telepathy (at Lv 1, so relatively easy access) detects (LBB3p40) everyone except those with a 'Shielded mind', which are conspicuous in their undetectability. Shielded Mind is described in LBB3p41: "All telepathically able characters learn how to create a mental shield which protects the mind against unwanted telepathic interference. Such a shield is automatically in force at all times and requires no strength point expenditure to maintain. (emphasis mine)" So all you have to do is sit your agents in the school lunch room and watch people as they come in. Whoever is undetectable is telepathic. Of course this doesn't detect anyone else, but your system at a minimum scoops up all the telepaths.

That doesn't preclude there being a test or tests that can determine if someone is psionic. It could be something like a DNA test (remember Starwars making some sort of test for Jedi ability?) for all we know. The test you mention above could be another. If the 3I doesn't go out of their way to track down every psionic, such tests could be limited to situations and times when there is a problem locally.

 

[Quint]

Good heavens. I've read both of those books. DKM is a favorite author, I've read The Long Run more times than anything else. I recall enjoying Path of the Fury as well.

If you haven't found/read Great Gods: Times Wars Pt1 by DKM I'd really suggest picking it up. It's digital only and is the Camber Tremodian origin story.

D.