IT'S MY PARTY, AND I'LL PSI IF I WANT TO
I've been thinking about a New Era pocket empire that uses
psionics...and I mean _really_ uses them. Picture, if you will:
After the Collapse, the Psionics Institute on the central
world came out of hiding and took over, aggressively recruiting
and developing the psionic potential of the younger generation as
well as inculcating them with a sense of mission and/or manifest
destiny.
The psions, by virtue of a breakthrough in the research
they'd been conducting for the Imperial Navy, then constructed a
few of those psionic-transfer drives from the alternate tech
section of FF&S, installing them in some relic hulls.
After seventy years, they've managed to conquer or
assimilate most of the worlds in a four or five parsec radius
(why, that's practically a *subsector*)...and now they're ready
to expand. They've got psionic idiots-savant instead of
computers, they ain't afraid of no Virus, and they think they're
the _real_ heirs of the Third Imperium.
Perfect for the nemeses in your Star Vikings campaign, since
the Zhodani are just too darn far away. The RCES just wants to
recover old technology...but these guys are the former Imperium's
version of the Butlerian Jihad, for one, and they want young,
talented minds to train as sort of interstellar janissaries.
Rather a cross between the Zhodani and the Borg.
Center this pocket empire on Terra, and you again have
Solomani that you can love to hate. Call them Nusolomani, or
Solomani Nuevo, if you like.
[Note that, as written, PT drive ships spend one hour per
parsec in jump...which makes them much more strategically
manueverable than their opponents. This is a neat idea, with
interesting ramifications, even if you change the formula to 1
day per parsec jumped (as I suspect is a good idea).
However, PT users have a much tougher time crewing these
ships with psipilots than standard shipowners have with regular
pilots. Therefore, the psions would have a greater tendency
towards "smash and grab" tactics of the "hit 'em where they
ain't" variety than even the Star Vikings... because they have to
warm up the drives for hours before they can jump, and once in
normal space they're evenly matched with their opponents (at
best).
So they're tough, and _spooky_ -- "How the hell did that
ship get here? Last we heard..." (See _A Talent for War_, the
author of which I disremember, for some ideas about this) -- but
not invincible.]
Or, hell, make 'em Droyne. I don't know if Grandfather
would approve, but you could do it.
Or you can use the Psionic Pocket Empire as your campaign
background to run that Adventure on Arrakis ("...the only source
of naturally occurring psi booster in all of known space...")
you've been thinking about.
[BTW, you can say that the PT drive doesn't really break the
"one stardrive per universe" law, since you can call it a version
of psionic teleportation, albeit amplified, which already exists
in a standard Imperial campaign. On the other hand, if such is
the case, then why haven't the Zhodani discovered it? Maybe they
have, but don't use it because jump is more economical from the
standpoint of resources and personnel availability...but then why
does it make sense for our pocket empire? Maybe the Zhodani just
weren't desperate enough. Oh, well; if you like the idea, you
can justify it. If you don't, than you don't _need_ to justify
it.]
Speaking of psionics:
Q. How fast do telepathic signals travel? Speed of light?
A. Check out _Survival Margin_ p. 7 and tell me if it
implies what I think it implies.
Bill White
[email removed]