Proneutron
SOC-13
You KNOW that is how it would go.
OTU Only: What is your take on the Zhodani?
- Thread starter mike wightman
- Start date
You KNOW that is how it would go.
5.5% of the population are Noble. There are 3 Nobles to every 8 Intendents. In the 50,000 person base group of Consular society, that's 2,800 Nobles and 7,500 Intendants, or 10,300. That's around 20% of the population total.
The average Intendent is Psi 9+. Nobles may be lower since they're not selected at age of testing like Intendents, but if they have it they've been trained from birth to use it.
Practically speaking I think your average Zho Psion is able to do brief parlor tricks with psychic powers, maybe do some emotional reading and flick psi-switches. More specialized ones can do some of the more esoteric things.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
I'd tend to agree with some of that, but it's more likely they operate much like the Anubian Trade Coalition in the Hinterworlds but for different reasons. The Anubians (this in part canon, in part MTU, since the canon stuff is pretty minimal) use psionics to do two things primarily and focus their training and efforts accordingly.
The first is to give those in power an edge over the general population and in trade with their neighbors. That is, they use it to get wealthy, and stay in power.
The second is they use these to keep control over the bulk of their population. Here it's the reverse. Use them to gain power and retain wealth.
So, something like the Minority Report thought crime isn't particularly high on their "To do" list. They don't really care about petty crime among the peasants. Instead, they focus only on those with intent to try and wrest power from the leadership.
They could use a psionic person to gather evidence from someone who has been arrested for crime, but they're not going out and actively hunting down people thinking about doing a crime. Too much trouble, not enough psionic's around to do that.
Instead, they use a myth that there are psionic's everywhere that are watching the population to instill fear that is really the case, even when it isn't.
What they do is "big picture" stuff with psionics. They use them to gain a trade advantage over others. In trading with the Imperium or non-Anubians they would have a trusted psionic or two along to read the customer and take advantage of them. If they could, they might even try to plant thoughts in the customer's mind to buy more or accept a rapaciously low price on a multi-million or -billion credit trade deal.
For them, the "parlor tricks" would be the more physical ones like teleport, or telekinesis. These have little value to people wanting to do big trade, make money, or retain a powerful political position. No telekinetic person is going to be able to do much to a riotous mob of commoners intent on taking out the leadership. There's simply too many to deal with.
Such psionics would be given positions within society where they could be useful, get paid enough to be happy, and stay out of trouble with the ruling class. It's the clairvoyant and telepathic that make the big bucks so-to-speak. They give the leadership a big edge over the opposition.
I'd think the Zhodani play the same game, only they are much fairer to their population as a whole. Sure, the commoners are kept in check, but they are given more freedom than the Anubians give where the population is really in serfdom and slavery. I'd think a lot of the psionic stories are exaggerated myths encouraged by the leadership mixed with regular but isolated examples of truth mixed in and spread by the equivalent of the MSM.
Another I have the Anubians do is based on their law levels and populations on worlds / systems. Here, the Anubians have worlds where the population is mostly or entirely free citizens without much government oversight. These worlds are populated mainly by older Anubians who served the government, military, or other important institutions well and have now retired. There's a smaller serf / slave population on them that is mainly there to do the grunt work and dirty jobs the retirees don't want to do.
Access to such worlds is limited and outsiders are discouraged, often by force--think a standing patrol ship or three in orbit. That way the population can live out their golden years in peace and be kept in check at the same time.
If the Zhodani have a higher percentage of psionic persons in their society, I'd think they'd do a bit more with them. But you still have to consider what skills are useful to the government and which are not. The physical ones I mentioned earlier would still have limited applicability compared to those that give an edge to knowing what your customer / opponent / enemy is thinking ahead of time or the ability to shape their thoughts to some degree.
It'd still be a case of the nobility wanting to retain wealth and power using the Intendants as their tool to do so. Rule by propaganda, fear, and institutional inertia would be the means rather than a true thought police monitoring everyone's mind. Why bother when the populace thinks that is the case. It would almost be a religious faith instilled in the population from birth that you have to maintain pure thoughts or bad things will happen, and there are enough cases publicized regularly to maintain that appearance.
For Imperials, they get the propaganda and media version filtered through several layers of retelling, sort of like that old game "telephone" where you whisper in the next person's ear what the last person told you. For Imperials, the version they get is one of evil Zhodani exercising mind control and other horrors on you if you get near them. Most would be unwilling to find out for themselves if it were true.
Well, that's my thoughts on them.
That is, of course, massively at odds with the most basic canon information about the Zhodani. Just sayin'.
I chose "Good guys, the evil empire is all Imperial propaganda". Although the canon Imperial propaganda is really mild compared to what some people out-of universe project into the Zhodani.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
The way I resolve that is the Zhodani are presented from a Third Imperium POV as that's the majority of the game's focus. That they aren't is a hidden surprise players can discover if they have to deal extensively with them.
You misunderstand.
The viewpoints presented in the Library Data supplement, the Imperial Encyclopedia et al. are "Imperial Propaganda". In the latter work, that much is even made clear in the referee's notes.
But the anti-Zhodani sentiments presented in these in-Universe Imperial sources pale in comparison to the rabid Zhodanophobia, coupled with an astounding ignorance of canon sources, exhibited by a considerable portion of the player base.
For me, in any event, that indicates that the Zhodani are at the core a well-written alien culture. Triggering such strongly felt, often entirely irrational responses is no mean feat.
The viewpoints presented in the Library Data supplement, the Imperial Encyclopedia et al. are "Imperial Propaganda". In the latter work, that much is even made clear in the referee's notes.
But the anti-Zhodani sentiments presented in these in-Universe Imperial sources pale in comparison to the rabid Zhodanophobia, coupled with an astounding ignorance of canon sources, exhibited by a considerable portion of the player base.
For me, in any event, that indicates that the Zhodani are at the core a well-written alien culture. Triggering such strongly felt, often entirely irrational responses is no mean feat.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
The Zhodani make wonderful nemesis, showing up at random causing significant complications with whatever the group is planning. They cause customs inspectors to search ships finding the hidden holds or illegal weapons. Dropping wanted papers on the local law enforcement desk with the crews faces making things very uncomfortable. Incriminating evidence showing up where it shouldn’t.
How do you explain your wallet being left in the bank vault broken into before you made planet fall? Where are the friends who broke you out of jail just in time for the looting of the civil defense armory? Why did you think it was a good idea to burn a hole through the Governors head? How could you have no memory of any of these offensives? The Zhodani agent made you do it? The Zhodani are our friends, their embassy always contributes generously to the Police and Fireman’s Beneficent Widows Fund. All of this going on while trying to complete a patron’s contract and make your monthly ship payment. Tickle a mind here and there and choosing a Zhodani agent’s contract becomes easy, no matter how illegal.
How do you explain your wallet being left in the bank vault broken into before you made planet fall? Where are the friends who broke you out of jail just in time for the looting of the civil defense armory? Why did you think it was a good idea to burn a hole through the Governors head? How could you have no memory of any of these offensives? The Zhodani agent made you do it? The Zhodani are our friends, their embassy always contributes generously to the Police and Fireman’s Beneficent Widows Fund. All of this going on while trying to complete a patron’s contract and make your monthly ship payment. Tickle a mind here and there and choosing a Zhodani agent’s contract becomes easy, no matter how illegal.
I eventually got to the point of thinking that they aren't an EEEEEEEVIL!!! Empire, but they are a benevolent authoritarian state. So most of what they do has more of an eye to the good of the state before the good of the individual, with most nobles and almost all of the intendants trying to actually do their job and *try to* take care of the proles.
But in the end, it's still a state-oriented state.
Oh, and the nobles and intendants who aren't trying to do their jobs are the ones who are both some sort of sociopath, but also have figured out how to hide it...
But in the end, it's still a state-oriented state.
Oh, and the nobles and intendants who aren't trying to do their jobs are the ones who are both some sort of sociopath, but also have figured out how to hide it...
AtlanticFriend
SOC-12
This poll reminds me of an old April's Fools Challenge issue, with a "WHo's up/Who's down" feature. The Zhodani were on the up and up, going from "creepy guys who can read your mind", to "creepy guys who can see the future".
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