A Report Summarizing the Psihistory of Humanity, as Known to Precepteur University

An Informal Treatise Sponsored by Aaron Singh

Researched and Authored by Dr. Gerome Bettencourt, PhD, LIS

Begun in February, 3200

The First Wave
In order to understand and appreciate the strife and unity that has befallen the segments of humanity since the dawn of the interstellar age, we must briefly recount it. While the mythos of humanity, tracing back to the times of Old Terra herself, has long included beings of magical power it has consistently been asserted that no psychic powers were scientifically confirmed until manifested by the offspring of humans who had transited slipstream space. There is still some debate on this (reference Dr. Snalso's poorly construed thesis from 3174), but the overwhelming consensus and archival evidence supports the slipstream offspring theory.

Within a hundred years of the first interstellar colonization, the unexpected and rare appearance of psychic abilities manifested in adolescent humans raised some concern and interest among the rest of humanity. Many of these gifted children quickly went insane, as treatments to stabilize the use and dependence on exercising Metadimensional Extroversion did not yet exist. For the initial first few generations, the only way to reach the age of 25 was for a psychic to avoid the use of their abilities altogether."The response to the emergence of psychic abilities varied from world to world. Terra experienced few documented cases despite its starfaring navy -- suggesting they quickly identified and removed psychics from the populace. Some frontier worlds held the psychics as religious abominations and sentenced them to death.  Other worlds treated them as divine powered... with mixed results when the psychic went insane.  Generally, the initial relationship between Homo Sapiens and Homo Psions has been construed to be fearful and mistrusting."This made it more difficult to identify, study, and treat the mental disorder as it was classified at the time. Several worlds and organizations began to court parents and children, offering to take them to gifted academies. While records are not found of those academies, the fact that it took another three generations before MES drugs were available and that the children never returned suggests the children were laboratory subjects."During the fourth through sixth decades after the advent of Homo Psions, the public relationship turned trusting and hopeful. Literary fragments suggest many of these newpowered humans were seen as superheroes. But when the gifted did not return home and the academies disappeared or shutdown, the whiplash and mistrust against the governments extended to crackdowns and forced expatriation of psychics.  Within a decade, relations between Sapiens and Psions were fragmented and locally determined throughout the Empire."However, it cannot be denied that the advent of the MES drugs, allowing psychics to safely use their abilities without inadvertent torching and burnt insanity, was a game changer. Several generations led to the formation and percolation of the Psychic Authority, based on Old Terra, which identified young psychics and trained them.

The archives at Precepteur University on Argus have little concrete regarding the relations between psychics after that. There is some evidence that this Authority has curtailed and censored some history records of the subsequent hundred years, which Dr. Snalso's thesis does a passable job defending."The Psychic Authority standardized training and established widely accepted cultural norms for psychics, allowing their integration into civilization. Relations were still subject to local influences, but now psychics were publicly regarded as powerful yet noble servants of humanity. At least, the Authority's version of history suggests this.  There are excerpts suggesting that some worlds were reluctant to welcome and trust psychics, but these appear little more than rumor."The mastering of psychic abilities would lead to the next quantum leap in humanity's technology and civilization.

The Second Wave
Not lagging far behind the personal development of psychic training and abilities was psitechnology itself. Drawing from the same metadimensional energies but reliant on a psychic's trained ability to control it, psitech began to appear and revolutionize every discipline it was applied to. There is no single greater example of this than the fabled Jump Gates, which required a choir of master psychics to facilitate a shift of an object across light-years to another star system with a receiving choir.

Homo Psions augmented by psitech began to excel in jobs previously enjoyed by Homo Sapiens. Attempts to clone and replicate psychics were unsuccessful. Much as the training is reportedly customized for the psychic, apparently the DNA sequence resulting in Metadimensional Extroversion is unique to that person. Some religions offered this as proof that natural humans are the only ones with souls, while others postulated this was proof that Homo Psions were soulless as their natural gifts from God could not be passed directly on."The Psychic Authority was evidently a massive influence in the Galactic Empire through to its abrupt end. Bolstered by psitech and the millions of trained psychics throughout, the Authority maintained that its adepts be treated well. Mistreatment of a psychic often led to severe repercussions.  As with the end of the First Wave, however, it is unclear whether this depiction was common or the official history from the Authority."

The Silence
The sudden and absolute collapse of the nearby region of the Empire appears to be tied to the unexplainable and instantaneous torching of every psychic in our vicinity during the year 2665. Jump Gates collapsed or were destroyed; the remains of two such gates can be found in the Argus star system today. Psitech factories blazed out into miniature novae. The surviving psychics descended into madness on a scale not seen since Homo Psions first appeared. But coupled with their fully honed and trained psychic powers, this resulted in an exponentially greater level of destruction and death.

University records are unclear as to the nature of the event, and it is still unclear as to the absolute scale. At first it was thought this was a local phenomenon, but university records indicate a number of transgalactic fleets that crossed the sector and carried word that other sectors had suffered similar fates as centuries of psionic training and culture were lost in moments. If the entire Empire was affected, the casualties from the silence may easily be in the trillions, per surviving pre-Silence data records."Obviously the catastrophic crash of the nearby Jump Gates and their interstellar trade coupled with lethally encrazed psychics did not bode well for relations between Homo Sapiens and Homo Psions. Of the three fleets recorded by the University, only one was still actively seeking and training psyshics. One was killing them on sight.  And the third did not show a reaction either way to the matter.  Local reactions within the Kvenland Tau Sector spanned the same spectrum."

Sector Kvenland Tau
The response of the sector to the Silence, and maddened Homo Psions, can be loosely categorized by the grouping of star systems. Pre-Silence records at the Archives suggest that the frequency of psychics was, on average, 1:10000 in regards to the general population. During the Reemergence, the Archives has not been able to successfully compare against that number.
 * The Rimline . This group had the largest concentration of psychics prior to the Silence, but the devastation and reaction varied from world to world.
 * The Argus system was the key to the jumpgate network, and as such it hosted a majority of the psychics in sector. Consequently it had the highest concentration of surviving psychics after the Silence spread.  Most of them were off-planet and devastated the space stations and facilities.  The various ruins can still be examined and explored today.  This led to Argus developing planet-side shipyards and atmospheric-capable starships.  Generally Argus is indifferent to psychics today, and does not distinguish them from other skilled Homo Sapiens.
 * Most psychics on Rafa did not survive the Silence, and consequently its orbital shipyards were largely left intact before they were abandoned within a few years for the planet below. Local legends tell of Babushka, a woman psychic who survived the Silence and cared for the people despite being crazed.  General goodwill to psychics extends to this day, and the Rafan government and military command is thought to include a higher fraction of psychics than their population would otherwise suggest.
 * Neighboring Speio did not fare as well as Rafa. Several psychics survived, and had they fought each other then it may have been brief.  But a dozen reportedly banded together to rule the planet and enacted horrifying deeds for any town that dared oppose them.  Towns and vast portions of pre-Silence cities were wiped out, decimating the population and accelerating the world's technology decline to a low point of TL2. Psychics are often attacked on sight with no warning.
 *  The Spine . This group of systems had the fewest population and concentration of Homo Psions before the Silence and after.  Most of these worlds regressed to pre-electricity technologies and records did not survive to the Reemergence.  Most ship traffic transits for trade between the Cluster and the Rimline.
 *  The Cluster . This group had the second largest concentration of psychics.  Roa, Albano, Bikarregi and Yasmin were large and successful colonies before the Silence.  It isn't clear that psychics survived the Silence.  One of the transgalactic fleets helped found the Pimental Psionic Academy.  With the close proximity to Pimental, most of the Cluster worlds have a favorable or cordial relation with Homo Psions.
 * Pimental is the heart of Homo Psions in the sector today, but it was not even a colony world before the Silence. The University records are not clear, but it is thought that the transgalactic fleet of the Imago Dei established the academy before continuing on.  This young world is responsible for the safe training of psychics.  Students are taught that psionics are a talent that can be easily abused, and that the wellbeing of all humanity (and particularly psychics) depends on their responsible use.  The Academy maintains a close relationship with the Cobalt Alliance as a separate House.  Interestingly, House Kapoor has maintained a neutral stance to all of the interhouse conflicts within the Alliance and appears to follow much a philosophy and goals similar to those recorded for the pre-Silence Psychic Authority.  Psychics on this world often wear a particular style of wrapped headdress to denote their status, and this is the only world where a majority of the legitimate government is of Homo Psions.
 * The world of Roa was a growing colony before the Silence, and some Archive records suggest it was designated to become another jumpgate system. Visits to Roa since the Reemergence have been quite limited -- the first Argus merchant to reach it reported a devastating disease and the world has been quarantined for well over a hundred years.  Reports suggest the world regressed to pre-spaceflight and that most of the population had deceased.  It is worth mentioning that two of the transgalactic fleets that crossed our sector appear to have entered our sector from this system, although it is unclear whether the disease predated their arrival.
 * Albano was the most populated world in the sector until its recent catastrophe. Few psychics appeared to have survived the Silence, and the world regressed in technology without a large population crash due to its agriculture.  Argus traders, recognizing the mineral resources available on this world, facilitated the resurrection of a TL4 industrial base which eventually allowed Albano to build up the Cobalt Alliance.
 * The caverns and ruined domes of Minguet contain an interesting dynamic to the Cluster relationship with Homo Psions. Perhaps 20 years ago, a small faction proposed the "divine right" of Homo Psions to rule over humanity.  This faction ultimately took over the world government through a series of bloody terrorist acts and human-caused disasters.  These psychics in power rule absolutely with no checks on their actions, leading to reports of whimsical rulings and a terrified populace.  Consequently, the Pimental Academy and Cobalt Alliance have embargoed the world and aggressively curtail any similar ideological movements from spreading.  There is an ongoing debate within the Alliance as to how long to allow Minguet's people to suffer.  With the decimation of the Alliance army forces during the nuclear exchange on Albano, there is not likely to be a military option any time soon.
 * There are no Reemergence records from Bikarregi, Yasmin, and the other worlds on that side of the nebula which have been under the Maghreb pirates control during the Reemergence. Pre-Silence archives suggest that Yasmin was the Imperial administration center for the sector.