Psionics in the Ankaa's World
In the universe the Ankaa comes from, psionics are somewhat commonplace. All species can learn them, though it is an innate gift only present in certain people. The frequency of psionics varies by species -- some species, like the Starsailors, even have innate psionics present in all members. Types of psionic powers are as follows:
- Telepathy: The ability to send, receive and sense emotions and thoughts. One of the most basic powers.
- Mind Shield: Though all telepaths have natural mind shields, some are very skilled at it, able to deflect mental probes without the prober realizing it.
- Mental Illusions: A difficult power to master. The ability to project an illusion into someone else's mind and have them accept it as true.
- Telekinesis: The ability to lift, move and otherwise exert force to change the space around oneself.
- Teleportation: The ability to move oneself (or occasionally small objects) to another place without passing though the points in between. Though nearly all psis have this ability, it is very draining, and most do not use it often.
- Precognition: The ability to sense the future. Mostly this functions passively -- a psi will just get vague impressions.
- Psychometry: The ability to sense emotions associated with a place or object. Mostly this functions passively -- a psi will just get vague impressions.
Psionic powers usually appear at puberty, which is when training begins. Most psis are trained by a nearby psi, though a few will travel great distances to be trained by the best. Psi is common enough in most species, that all but the smallest colony will have at least one trained psi.
Besides all the normal jobs, many psis do exploration work, as their powers make them unusually adaptive and give them an edge in dealing with the unknown.Back |
