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Psionics (Force Using Tradition and Lore)


Kane Wartide

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Table of Contents

  • General Setting Information
  • Psionic Force Powers

    Musings on the Nature of the Force by Kane Wartide:
  • Foreword
  • Part 1  What is the force?
  • Part 2  How do you use the force?
  • Part 3  The Nature of the Force


General Setting Information:

Psionics is a very different way of looking at the force. There is not an “order” or “faction” associated with it, and it need not necessarily even require practitioners to meet or train each other. Because of this, it would not be a good choice for a first character, as it may require you to self train to advance. Note that this must be done with a moderator's permission, and the rank up should be verified by a mod or another Psion player (me, via my Kakuto Ryu account) ) Via DM or Discord.

In brief: Psionics is a force “discipline” build around viewing it as a science rather than a spiritual ability. There is no native morality linked to the practice of Psionics, and it could be described as “Neutral”, but it might be more accurate to say that it’s more subordinate to the character’s individual sense of morality. A character could be a Good Psion or an Evil Psion, and it would not change much about the way the force powers are used. They are built on using neutral, basic powers in combination with sci-fi technology in clever and unconventional ways. A mind for science is a major asset to a player writing a Psion.

Like any force using discipline, it is divided into 3 ranks. They are:

Awakened Psion: A force Sensitive learning the basics of their power. An Awakened Pison has become aware of their gift and is learning how to use it.

 

+Ranking up to Psionic Researcher is achieved without a formal master by making several posts in character developing your character's understanding of the force. Then you must participate in a PVP conflict in which you use force powers where you survive to the end.

 

Psionic Researcher: Someone who understands the principles of the Force, and seeks to broaden and hone their skills.

 

+Ranking up to Master Psion is achieved without a formal master by creating a signature force power, a "Graduate Thesis" if you will, which is approved by a mod and added to the list below. Then you must use it in a PVP conflict where you survive to the end.


Master Psion: Someone who mastered their powers, and knows how to use them to affect reality in a wide range of ways. A True master Psion has developed his own signature force powers.



Psionic Force Powers:

Psions can use most basic force powers. Remote viewing, Telepathy, Telekinesis, Force Speed, Precognition and Psychometry are the powers that most others are built upon. Psions can use lightsabers, but do not have unique lightsaber forms, and would thus rely on preexisting forms taken from the Jedi or Sith.

Psions differentiate themselves from other force users by building powers on their intellect. Essentially, understanding science enables the Psion to use the force to apply that knowledge, multiplying the effectiveness of telepathy for new, novel applications. Dark or Light specific masteries are not available to a Psion, but can be emulated with the addition of a reagent. For instance, a Psion is not able to conjure fire or lightning the way a Sith can, but can manipulate fire and electricity present in their environment. While it may be possible to cause the heat or electron buildup to create fire or electricity, the complexity makes it impractical for more than a small ember or shock.  Likewise a Psion cannot heal someone like a Jedi could, but could attempt to augment the body’s natural healing process and apply medicinal compounds with great precision to improve effectiveness.

Examples of how this is intended to be used include things like using the force to directionalize an explosion by blocking off some of the compression wave, manipulating air pressure to cause winds or to influence conductivity and direct lightning, and vibrating a structure at its natural frequency to make it shake itself apart. This would by no means be a complete list, as there are virtually unlimited ways that you could use the force this way. This is also not to say that these powers are exclusive to this discipline, as virtually any type of force user could attempt to use the force in a similar way.

Signature Abilities
These are techniques that have been created by Psions as part of their master trial, and submitted here. While a power you developed may be special for your character, any sufficiently motivated force user could still duplicate it. Powers should be approved by mods.

Wind Powered flight - Required Equipment: Repulsor Parachute - By Kane Wartide: Air currents are caused by the movement of air from a high pressure area to a low pressure one. You can create air currents and wind by lowering the air pressure at the destination and raising it at the source. If you do in the direction you're moving or intending to move, you will get a tail wind to drive you forward. By combining a repulsor parachute, a wearable device which limits fall speed, you can reduce the effect of gravity on yourself and open up the possibility of flight. It is somewhat clumsy, and not recommended for very long periods or in a situation where you may need to dodge quickly.

Accurate Ricochet - Requires Equipment: Projectile weapon - By Kane Wartide: Bullet Ricochets are very unpredictable. Generally the bullet will deform when it hits, and if it does damage it doesn't retain as much energy. These things add too much randomness to ricochets to make them effective.  By using the force to reinforce the bullet and the ricochet point, you can minimize these effects and cause an intact bullet to continue on a path predictable with the law of reflection. It will even have more of its momentum intact, allowing you to reliably aim and deal damage with a ricochet

Targeted Explosions - Requires Equipment: Explosive Device - By Kane Wartide: Explosions radiate omnidirectionally from a source. However, if that energy is met with resistance the force is deflected in a different direction. By pushing against an explosion with the force, you can shape explosions in a desirable way.  To perform this you would need to prepare in advance, and so it would not be an especially effective technique against hostile or unanticipated explosions. An example usage for a plasma grenade might include walls, cones or pillars of plasma. A cryoban grenade, which releases  pressurized liquid, could be shaped into walls or spikes and would be easier to direct due to reduced force.  While ion grenades would not conform to the same laws, all matter experiences different levels of conductivity as specific pressures, and so it could be possible to modify the path of least resistance that the electricity travels along to guide it toward a target. Targeted explosions could be applied to payload carrying munitions as well.



The remainder of the document is a speculative explanation of the force when viewed through a scientific lens. It is meant to establish a baseline understanding of the mechanisms believed to cause Force related phenomena.






Musings on the Nature of the Force
by Kane Wartide
 

Foreword:

 

When I was a young boy, my mother took me to her home world of Dathomir. There, I met several of the Witches of Dathomir, and witnessed much of their fabled 'magic.' Having been raised on a heavy diet of physics and engineering, the scientific method and explicable phenomena, their 'magic' seemed like an aberration, something that did not fit in my cold rational world. I did not, at first, believe that it was more than a parlor trick--some kind of elaborate illusion for my benefit.

 

But, it was explained to me that like my mother, the 'Magic was inside of me,' and that I too could perform the feats that would bend the laws of physics. Though the witches' strict matriarchal society prevented me from learning from them directly, I felt a strong compulsion to know their secrets, if only to disprove their archaic religion as hokem. Like most people, I'd heard stories of Jedi and Sith, and knew of their supposed powers, but held roughly as little regard for them as I did witchcraft. Even as a child, my world was a rational one ruled by physical laws, so I had every reason to doubt the reality of what I witnessed.

 

In my teens, I returned to Dathomir alone, a stealth field generator on my waist. In secret I observed the practice of both Witches and Nightsisters, and further went on to view their sacred texts, the Book of Law and the Book of Shadows, which contained their rituals. The primitive dancing and magic words they described seemed silly to me, and as I attempted to replicate them, nothing happened. Yet, despite exhaustive efforts to uncover some sort of trick that made their magic work, I could discover no apparent deception. Beginning to believe there might be more to this, I tried the rituals again, and saw my first hints of success. I would come to believe that my failure was not due to performing their rituals incorrectly, as I had observed them many times before and was meticulous in my methods. Only after a great deal of exposure and the exorcism of my doubts did I truly believe that they could work. This belief, it seemed, was the true catalyst for the magic.

 

And so when I departed Dathomir, I left with a new belief in the force. Not faith, mind you, as my understanding of all phenomena remains that they are governed by causality and laws of physics. No, I had the kind of certainty that comes from experimental confirmation. The Force is real. It can be manipulated by thoughts. And whatever spirits the Witches think they're calling, it's only a primitive explanation for a force of nature beyond their capability to comprehend. Thus began my journey to learn the secret laws that governed the mysterious power known as The Force.




 

What is the Force?

 

Sadly, due to imperial restrictions on Force research and a general lack of funding, I have been unable to perform experiments to confirm most of my theories about the nature of the force. Instead, I have only been able to research what had been learned by others since its discovery many millennia ago and perform personal experiments.

 

Looking into the beliefs held by Jedi and Sith, as well as more obscure force using orders, I was inundated with a diverse collection of arcane lore and magical thinking. They were, however, not without some scientific observations. The Jedi and the Sith both agreed that the Force was accessed by way of Midi-chlroians, organelles that reside within the cells of all things that live in our galaxy. A causal relationship between the volume of midi-chlorians in one's body and their ability to influence the force has been well established. This, however, seemed to be a dead end.

 

Beyond this observation, little research has been done to establish their mechanism. Tales of Sith lords gorging themselves on the midi-chlorian rich blood of Jedi to gain powers were common, yet entirely without  significant success. It seems that it's not enough simply to have more midi-chlorians in one's body. I would hypothesize that because the Force is manipulated by thoughts, it's necessary that midichlorians exist within neurons to provide a link. Neurogenesis, the process by which neurons are created, happens almost entirely during development and infancy, with the cells never dividing and living for the full duration of the organism. This could be why the potential of a given force user is somewhat fixed at birth.

 

Going deeper requires anecdotal observation, which is lacking in scientific rigor, but should act as a framework for understanding that can be tested and built upon going forward. If the Force connects all matter in the galaxy, there must be some extra-dimensional field existing in parallel to our own. This field can be manipulated by thought, so it can be described psychogenic in nature. It allows access to thoughts and information external to the person using the force.  This Psychogenic Field can be imagined as a dimension of and for thought, where thought is the only substance, containing both energy and form. In addition to acting as a sort of network for minds, this field can manipulate conventional reality in a variety of ways. While I cannot fully explain the mechanism for this, I can affirm from first hand observation that what follows is true. 


 


How do you use the force?
 

Using neuronal midi-chlorians as a medium force users can send and receive sensory information to the psychogenic field, allowing them to experience a sort of sixth sense. Within the psychogenic field is a sort of reflection of reality, where in most matter and energy can be observed. This type of observation does not require proximity, allowing one to see distant or hidden objects, though it does become exponentially harder to focus the farther away the user is looking.

 

 It is theoretically possible to get impressions from other worlds beyond the one the force user is standing on, but historic examples learned from the force using orders suggest that this only happens in extreme circumstances such as the destruction of entire worlds, which has been said to cause massive "disturbances" in the force that can be felt at a pan-galactic distances.

 

 The practical limitation of this sense seems to be within the space surrounding a single world, and even within that area it becomes prohibitively difficult to spot something on a complex landscape with many life forms to have to filter out. Strong familiarity with the target, whether it be a person or object, seems to lower the difficulty. Additionally, beings with a strong force presence are "luminous" within the force, and can be easier to spot.

 

The Psychogenic field, by nature of being a two way street, can also allow vision into the interior of other minds connected to it. This is the basis for telepathy. For this reason, it is wise to carefully control your thoughts around force sensitives, as they may be listening in. More dangerous than that is the ability to implant thoughts within another mind. Images, suggestions, even whole memories can be transported directly into the conscious mind with practice.

 

Though the Psychogenic Field is of and for thoughts, it is capable of manipulating inanimate matter and energy in the normal dimensions of reality. By projecting will onto the reflection that resides within the Psychogenic Field, it seems a sort of Quantum entanglement between the object and its reflection will occur, allowing reality to be distorted to match what was conceptualized by the force user. This is how telekinetic phenomena take place. The ability to make these kind changes is strongly dependent on the strength of your connection, which is enhanced with practice.

 

In many Force using traditions, the Force is described as being able to provide a glimpse of the past and future, suggesting that the Psychogenic Field may span the total breadth of time. Time may be explored in a manner similar to a landscape, yet spanned across an altogether different direction. Because the past is fixed, it is somewhat easier to explore than the future, though still difficult. Impressions of the past become more difficult to locate the farther back you go, but can be "highlighted" by periods of strong emotion that leave a considerable mark.

 

The future is very different, as it has not yet been decided. An infinite number of additional variables make the landscape of the future endlessly complex to the point of being incomprehensible. As such, only shallow impressions of the immediate future, where there are far fewer variables, can be effectively perceived. Similar to how strong emotions can leave a mark in the past, major emotional events in the future--particularly ones that are likely given the current course of reality--can come through strongly at greater distance from the present.


When focusing intent on objects in the force, the greater your understanding of your own intent, the easier it will be. This is why things like meditation, visualization, and even the Witchs’ “Magic Words” are useful. Memories are made up of networked ideas. So by reading the words “Blue Milk” a number of memories may come to you, the taste, the smell, the appearance, times that you drank it, what it’s made of and even the creature that produced it, and each of these memories will link to a myriad of other things. So when a Witch says a magic word, it brings up memories of all the times they said it before, what happened, what was supposed to happen, and what they are expecting to happen now. It hones their focus on what they are trying to put into the Psychogenic field. To improve one’s mastery of the force is to improve one’s lexicon, memory, and concept of a “force power”. Thus, symbols, runes, incantations, rituals and so forth are a valuable tool, just not for the reasons that the witches understand them to be so.

The Nature of the Force

Almost every force using tradition speaks of a “Dark Side” of the force, a sort of profane application of the force that corrupts those who use it, which exists in contrast to the “Light Side.” Though there is quite a bit of variation on what this really means, it’s generally understood that the “Dark Side” is utilized through the application of strong emotions, whereas the “Light Side” must be accessed with a calm, meditative mind. While I feel inclined to dismiss such simplistic views, it is indeed certain that the “Dark Side” has risks. Sith are well known to suffer a degradation of their sanity and there are examples of previously pious Jedi becoming murderous terrors after succumbing to emotions. I would speculate that there may be an addictive quality to letting one’s emotions directly manifest in reality. It also seems likely that, due to the tendency of strong emotions to leave deep impressions in the Psychogenic field, it creates a sort of echo centered around the user. The strong emotions reverberate with the Dark Force user, staying with them and coloring their actions going forward. This may be creating a feedback loop that drives them into madness.

At the same time, it seems possible that the Jedi’s zealous attempts to suppress their emotional responses at all times can at times exacerbate the problem when they do slip up. By constructing an identity around being a paragon of pacifism and righteousness, they expose themselves to greater shame and a feeling of failure when they are not able to live up to their own expectations, leading to further frustration and hopelessness. This may partially account for the rapid descent into madness that some Jedi experience after using the dark side.

As such, I would advise caution to both extremes. It is probably unwise to let your emotions shape your reality in real time, and dogmatic dedication to remaining emotionless at all times can be unsustainable. If you, dear reader, have the aptitude to use the force, I would suggest avoiding using the force rashly, as it can be habit forming. But if you do, don’t allow yourself to be destroyed by it. Making peace with it and moving forward, perhaps with psychological counseling, seems like the safest approach. 
 

The force as manipulated by living beings is, in some traditions, part of what’s known as the “Living Force.” Additionally, there is believed to be a “Unifying Force”, which has a will of its own outside of any one being. The tendency of the Force to assert a will of its own is considered evidence of a deific nature for some force using orders. Jedi tend to view this as a benevolent force that shapes the universe, and try to let it guide their actions. Meanwhile Sith either view it as a more ambiguous force of destiny or a flow to the universe that can be overpowered by might. Looking at it rationally, it may not exist at all, and it may just be a tendency for religious confirmation bias to lead force users, with the inflated egos their powers provide them, to believe they are chosen by some higher power if things happen to work out in their favor.
 

There are a lot of coincidences that seem to favor certain individuals though, so it’s possible that the unifying force is indeed real, though it would be hard to prove. If it is real it may be a sort of current formed by the weak force potential of all life influencing the Psychogenic field, leading events to unfold in a way that better asserts the will of life forms as a collective. Given that it is common of all life forms to want to live happily and prosper, this might explain the generally benevolent tone ascribed to the Unifying Force. If that were true, it could be possible to modify the course of the Unifying Force by influencing the minds of an enormous body of life forms, like a civilization. This could make for an interesting experiment, but may be too complex to ever truly test

Edited by Kakuto Ryu
Added additional Rank information, power list

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