I'm hoping that Psion is more like GURPS Psionics/Powers in a Traveller format than T4's Psionics Institute. Something you can use for any kind of Sci-Fi game you want.
Psion
- Thread starter fiat_knox
- Start date
Fiat,
A remark is only "brutally" honest from our perspective. From the Zho's perspective the remark is simply honest, no brutality was implied in the remark because the Zhos have been taught from childhood not to think that way.
Sally can tell Mary her hairdo looks like a bird's nest with no rancor. Sally isn't telling Mary that to insult Mary, score social "points", or for anything else other than expressing an opinion. There are no ulterior motives behind Mary's remark "Your hairdo looks like a bird's nest", it's merely a neutrally valued statement of opinion.
If Mary believes Sally's remark to be brutal, there is something wrong with Mary because Zhodani don't talk that way.
This makes the Zhodani seem even weirder, doesn't it?
Yes, they are. However, we also need to keep in mind (no pun intended) the resources that would be required for perfectly enforcing behavioral codes 24/7 in every location across the Consulate. The Zhodani simply don't have the number of psions to do the job on such a vast basis and, if they attempted to do so, the effort would absorb all the resources they control.
Monitoring thus becomes more prevalent the higher you go in Zhodani society because that where the assets required for such scrutiny, psionically gifted human, will be more present. While the psionic nobles will all have the Shield skill, their actions will be more scrutinized than that of the proles and, when their actions warrant it, they'll be psionically investigated. The same will hold true for the intendents, perhaps even to a greater degree because they're trying to prove their worthiness to be accepted in the higher levels of society.
The proles on the other hand will be subject to random monitoring. The Zhodani equivalent of prowl cars will patrol prole neighborhoods and quarters "looking" for aberrations to correct. Whether someone's thoughts mean they'll be grabbed up for re-education will depend on many factors like work loads, depth of "feeling", and the contents of the thoughts themselves. A "prowl car" picking up the fleeting thought "I hate my wife" from a husband just told to take the garbage out for the fifth time will not respond to that aberration in the same manner they would to the thought "I'm going to kill my wife" coming from a husband pulling out the FGMP-15 he's had tucked under the mattress.
So, depending on the time, place, and the thoughts involved, you may very well be abel to "think your mind" within the Consulate.
That doesn't make them any less spooky however.
Regards,
Bill
Fiat Knox,
That's good to know. I was wondering how Mongoose was going to pull off their version of GURPS Infinite Worlds. They've repeatedly said they'll be using Traveller's rules for other settings.
Sadly, they'll be using Traveller's rules for other setting whether or not those rules actually fit other settings and whether or not the requirements of those other settings damage Traveller's rules. We've already seen this occur in Mercenary and should be ready for it occur again in other releases.
Excellent.
Which uses a very different FTL drive among many other things.
Which uses a very different FTL drive and powerguns among many other things. How long will it take after the release of Hammer's Slammers for someone ask why the Hammers don't use gravitics and why the Third Imperium doesn't have powerguns?
Dorothy could use jump drive to get home and the Tin Man could use a FGMP-15 on the Wicked Witch of the West.
Mongoose's heart was in the right place when they decided they use CT to produce a set of general purpose sci-fi RPG rules. Mongoose's head was somewhere else sadly, somewhere rather dark and oppressively stuffy.
Mongoose did none of the work necessary to transform CT into a generic set of sci-fi rules. Why they didn't do the work needed is a question we needn't discuss. All that matters is that the work wasn't done and because the work wasn't done, Mongoose will continue to damage both Traveller and the various setting they mindlessly shoehorn into Traveller.
Regards,
Bill
mbrinkhues
SOC-14 1K
If I don't like the OTU why should I buy MGT in the first place?
If I need/want a "Universal" System there are quite a few better systems out there (Hero 5th, GURPS 3e/4e, Fuzion...) that offer more freedom in Chargen, better rules-balances, more modern game systems...
Not to mention they are longer on the market with more bugs in the systems found and killed.
I think we're attached to FGMP-15s and Droyne.
I mean, we could have a TU where the strange quasi-reptilian avians are called Drayne and they have only three castes, but fundamentally they're the Droyne from the Traveller we all know and love.
The Zhodani view of the world is both very literal, and very blunt. They don't bother with subtle.
In the case of the bird's nest comment, it's not even likely to be a single person's view; the zhodani are used to the idea that any deception is wrong, so Sally is making a probably very literal comment about the shape of Mary's hair.
On the other hand, the AM is also pretty clear about testing modes; given the rules on Psionics, and even the worst case, using the "genetics" rules from T4 PE, about 1 in 20 (instead of the default 10/36 = 5/18) is a PSR9+, and 99%+ of those are found and trained, and about half of applicants (all of whom are psions) are accepted into the "Guardians of our Morality"... which means probably about 1% of the population are the thought police. Also, that means most nobles will be PSR7+...
keep in mind: current police rates are 0.01 to 0.4 percent of population.
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One person telling Zhdibria Tliaqrnad that her hair looks a mess would be hard enough.
A whole street full of strangers coming up to Zhdibria Tliaqrnad to make the exact same comment, namely "Your hair is a mess. Did you forget to wash it this morning or did you have an accident?" is likely to make her feel very upset, resulting in a swift visit from a passing Tvarchedle' operative ... whose first statement to poor old Zhdibria Tliaqrnad would be "Your hair is a mess. Did you forget to wash it this morning or did you have an accident?"
A whole street full of strangers coming up to Zhdibria Tliaqrnad to make the exact same comment, namely "Your hair is a mess. Did you forget to wash it this morning or did you have an accident?" is likely to make her feel very upset, resulting in a swift visit from a passing Tvarchedle' operative ... whose first statement to poor old Zhdibria Tliaqrnad would be "Your hair is a mess. Did you forget to wash it this morning or did you have an accident?"
One other thing... polite silence is part of all "highly honest" cultures. Strangers probably wouldn't say anything to Mary, or perhaps ask, "How are you today?"...
The Thought Police are simply going to see why she's a mess, without asking. And, if it's pathology rather than simple whim or a school play, see if they can help her.
The Thought Police are simply going to see why she's a mess, without asking. And, if it's pathology rather than simple whim or a school play, see if they can help her.
captainjack
SOC-13
Absolutely. Plus, remember that most of the population are not telepathic, and the ones that are have the right to mental privacy; so the honesty convention must be a strongly culturally reenforced value.
But there you come across the limitation of a human mind brought up in a world where we can take mental privacy for granted.
It could be considered polite, or at least politic, for a Zhodani citizen to offer aid to someone whom he or she perceives as being in some state of distress. To fail to do so, and to harbour the thought "I wonder if I could have helped that person with the bird's nest hairstyle in some way?" could be picked up by a passing Tavarchedle' agent.
It might be that a citizen whose hair is unkempt through some sort of mishap could face a variety of responses, from disgust to amusement to studied indifference; but all their reactions would be out in the open, for all the world to see.
And while some of it would be clearly humiliating, compounding the humiliation of the afflicted person who is at the centre of their amusement, none of it would be malicious or mocking - again, because that malice, along with the feeling of humiliation, would radiate outwards in all directions, and those Tavarchedle' agents would soon be on the scene (very soon, if they can 'port in).
It could be considered polite, or at least politic, for a Zhodani citizen to offer aid to someone whom he or she perceives as being in some state of distress. To fail to do so, and to harbour the thought "I wonder if I could have helped that person with the bird's nest hairstyle in some way?" could be picked up by a passing Tavarchedle' agent.
It might be that a citizen whose hair is unkempt through some sort of mishap could face a variety of responses, from disgust to amusement to studied indifference; but all their reactions would be out in the open, for all the world to see.
And while some of it would be clearly humiliating, compounding the humiliation of the afflicted person who is at the centre of their amusement, none of it would be malicious or mocking - again, because that malice, along with the feeling of humiliation, would radiate outwards in all directions, and those Tavarchedle' agents would soon be on the scene (very soon, if they can 'port in).
