By Peter Flanagan (rolandx@ix.netcom.com)
Catherine blinked as the cyborgs that had been hunting her looked at each other in confusion, then walked off the way they came. What the hell is going on here?
Relax, she heard in her mind. You've found friends.
Psychics tend to be clannish; the Black Suits (and don't call us Men in Black; the Hermetics made that name up) have been accused of being a 'hive-mind' and the Akashics seclude themselves in their temples, except for their respective warriors who are usually solitary. The Crafts are even more insular, shielding themselves from those who would destroy them. And not all Orphans join the Hollow Ones...
Psychic phenomena, while treated as a 'pseudo-science' by the scientific establishment, enjoys more credulity than any other form of 'magick' in our world, and in the World of Darkness as well. 900 numbers, psychic readers, and parapsychology are all alive and well, thanks to various forces. The New World Order is not the least of these, which maintains a precarious balance of belief and skepticism on the subject of psionics, allowing their agents to use coincidental Procedures with relative ease. This also allows the Akashics to perform many Do rotes coincidentally, but it is considered a fair trade-off, since the rotes in question are considered psi-friendly and do not threaten their control of the Gauntlet.
"Who are you?" Kate asked the man in the black trenchcoat. Odd clothing for such weather...
"Name's Jason," he replied with a smile. "I'm a Black Suit, a psychic warrior like yourself. The lady in front of the winged Winnebago's Min, an Akashic martial artist; next to her is our psychokinetic Marcus, a renegade Hermetic. The weirdo bolting the wings on the RV is Maria, our resident mad scientist. Inside are Walter, our resident crystal-powered seer, and Jeff, a biochemist. He can tell you more about the physical properties of our powers."
"Um, okay, but why are a bunch of different types like you working together?" Kate asked.
"Simple. We're trying to save the world."
"Oh..."
Psychics tend to be very dedicated or focused. A natural side effect of their paradigm, they must focus themselves to use their Spheres. Akashics throw themselves into personal Ascension, Black Suits strive to protect the Masses from Outer Lords, Crafts have personal goals, and Orphans fight with an almost fanatic fervor to live normal lives, if they don't take the goals of another group for their own.
Other Traditions tend towards psychic phenomenon, as well. Although the Hermetics have a long history of studying the 'Art' of magick, some modern Hermetics follow the psychic paradigm. They are often censured, and the more persistent or eloquent champions of self-enlightenment are outcast. Dreamspeakers are far more forgiving, but they are a very individualistic lot, and those who do not tend toward shamanism are seen by other Traditions almost as orphans in their own right.
Perhaps the most potent psychic potential resides in the Sons of Ether. Long since the champions of paradigma that the Technocracy has discarded, some of them have picked up the psychic phenomena and claimed it as their own, taking Doc Eon as their example. Sadly, most SoE Scientists regard their 'internal' bretheren as being selfish, using their Science for personal gain. But as the psychic Sons (Scions) of Ether gain influence, and attempt to forge a science of the mind that the Consensus itself can use, more of their fellows begin to see the value of their experiments.
Lastly, the Convention of the Progenitors occasionally dabbles in psychic phenomena, searching for a genetic explanation for telepathy and psychokinesis. It is rumored that one of their experiments was far more potent than anyone expected... (See the excellent Scanners: the Madness net supplement by Mark Janecka, available at better WoD netsites, for further details.)
Marauders who come from psychic paradigms rarely remain with their old ways; total madness and will-as-power don't mix often. Occasionally, a Marauder with an odd kink in her personal psychosis is able to maintain a psychic approach to her magick while viewing reality in a different way. These are among the most widely feared Marauders among the Technocracy, and tend to have high Tass rewards placed on them. Robert Davenport and Senorita Abraxas from The Book of Madness are excellent examples of such magi.
Even worse are the Fallen Psions, those who work for the Nephandi are masters of twisting minds. Fortunately, their bodies and minds no longer filter Paradox; instead, it sticks around. They tend to have the most hideous mutations both of mind and body.
"Okay, let me get this straight. I'm an Orphan, a mage, not a psychic."
"No, you are a psychic. You just happen to be an Enlightened one. This allows you to use your psychic powers to affect reality itself."
"Whoa..."
Min approached Kate gently. "Please forgive Jason. He tries not to talk down to people, and sometimes forgets that not everyone accepts great reality changes as evenly as he does."
"Huh. So how do we stay psychic and become mages at the same time?"
Min smiled. "We are part of reality. We use our power to alter ourselves."
"Ahhhh..." Kate smiled. A wrench floated over to where Maria was working, and the techie turned a bolt into place, sealing the wing into place.
Psychics have an odd relationship with Paradox. Akashics and the NWO are notorious for getting away with metaphysical murder without being vulgar; on the other hand their Quiets tend to be epic in scope when they hit. Their other Paradox effects tend to be somewhat predictable, if no less harsh. This comes from their skill in 'internalizing' their powers, making them more natural by using their own bodies and minds as foci. Needless to say, this has its dangers, but there are benefits as well.
Any psychic, no matter the specifics of their paradigm, loses their first focus at Arete 2, like any 'mystick' mage, and continues from there. They gain Paradox normally, save for the increased chance of coincidence. They can also create 'normal' coincidences, of course, and excel at psychokinetic 'accidents.' However, their Paradox backlashes tend to take the form of Quiets of varying sizes and 'traditional' psi difficulties, such as nosebleeds, headaches, oversensitive telepathy, and at higher ranks actual physical injury and handicaps. A five-point Paradox Flaw might be temporary paralysis (total) or a complete loss of control of the the character's psychokinetic powers. No further Paradox is incurred for this highly vulgar Backlash; the Technocracy attention it draws and the potential for massive disaster tend to be enough of a problem.
"So who are you guys? Are you, like, scouts for the psionic majors or something?" Kate looked at the assembled psis carefully.
"Something like that," the Progenitor, Jeff Lee, leaned forward. "We call ourselves Phoenix Covenant. We consist of semi-Enlightened psychics and full mages like ourselves. We're the majors, all right."
"We attempt to protect the Sleepers from those psychics who abuse their gifts and other, more monstrous beings." Walter Cloudrunner leaned back and clutched at the crystal dangling from his neck.
"Oh, and we try to teach people our psionic Science when we get the chance." Professor Cortez fiddled with one of her many helmets, seemingly oblivious to the many mild jolts of electricity that were striking her fingertips...unless they were coming from her fingers.
"Is there anyone else I should know about?" Kate asked.
"There are other organizations based on theories of reality," Marcus replied softly. "We are the most organized, unless you count the Technocracy, but we, unlike they, work with our fellow magi."
"One big happy family," Kate muttered. "Yeah, right."
Noble allies, but they need to center themselves.
Celestial Chorus: Arrogant, self-righteous bastards! What makes them better than the worst of Iteration X?
They Sing in a monotone, and take pride in being Prometheans.
Cult of Esctasy: The Akashics seclude themselves to attain Enlightenment; these children are just selfish and need to be spanked. Pleasure is good; hedonism is a waste of time and talent.
Get a life, kiddies! Blockheads.
Dreamspeakers: They could do so much if they just let go of their trappings. Some do let go...and do much, as we hoped.
They seek to aid Gaia, but have forgotten to honor Her.
Euthanatos: Not as bad as some of the others, but they rail against the Pogrom while carrying out one of their own. Hypocrites.
Like the Etherites, they have great potential. If only they would heed the Wheel.
Order of Hermes: Here's a concept for you: Democracy. Heard of it, maybe? Maybe not. Stay away from us, and we'll let you live.
A sad attempt to form a modern Art; they do not realize that we have known what they seek for millennia.
Sons of Ether: Wow! These guys are cool! Too bad so many of them have bad attitudes. They could change the world if they would just learn a little flexibility.
There is elegance to their paradigm, but they do not appreciate the advantages of Science. Well, most of them don't...
Verbena: Um...is there a point here?
We respect them. We'd respect them more if they returned the favor.
Virtual Adepts: Virtual reality has great potential; it may be, in fact, instrumental in saving the Tellurian. But it cannot replace the world; its foundations are in a world they are abandoning.
These guys are okay. They're not Elite, but then who is, besides us?
Hollow Ones: At least the Esctatics are trying to enjoy life! Who are these losers, and why do they bother?
Have fun, Don Quixote! I think I saw a windmill on 14th Street.
Iteration X: The ones that are stil human are noble defenders of our world. The rest are sociopaths.
Standard reality deviants. Reprogram, assimilate, or destroy.
New World Order: Not half as bad as the Trads would like to believe. That's still pretty bad, though. We help those on the freedom side of the Schism as best we can, and avoid the others.
They have great potential, and are a great danger. Use them, but do so with caution, as they are dangerous enemies. They know the Secret.
Progenitors: The most schizophrenic organization in the world. Half of them are caring, concerned physicians, and the rest are self-absorbed, soulless loonies who rival the Marauders. Scan before engaging.
What interesting subjects!
Syndicate: If you follow the Gray Code, shoot to kill. If you follow the Four-Color Code, ruin 'em. Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt!
Shoot on sight, and don't tell the New World Order that you saw one!
Void Engineers: Great allies, fun comrades, totally clueless when it comes to psi. Too bad; they've got great potential.
They appreciate the danger of the Things That Must Not Be, and they love a good adventure. Just keep an eye on them; they're a bit loony.
Marauders: Run away! Run away!
Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...Supermage!
Nephandi: See Syndicate, but more so. If you can muster up the stomach to kill anything, kill these guys.
Difficult to corrupt, but worth the risk...of someone else.
Kindred: Undead Syndicate members, basically. There are exceptions, but when in doubt, pyrokinesis is a psi's best friend.
Avoid these living flamethrowers like the sun!
Garou: Noble defenders of the Tellurian, but they have an unfortunate tendency to slice & dice first and ask questions later. They serve Phoenix? Hmm...interesting...
Wraiths: Sad, really. We could help them, but they live in constant fear of everything, themselves most of all.
Lucky bastards.
Fae: Alien psychics stranded on Earth too long, their odd Resonance makes for interesting times. Aid the benevolent ones, oppose their enemies, and take the nobles down a peg whenever you have a clear shot.
Commoners: Whee! Got Sidhe problems? Wind 'em up, watch 'em go, and poof! No more problems. Aren't Dreamers fun?
Sidhe: They resist both command and Naming. Avoid them at all costs.