Magic is probably the biggest challenge with worldbuilding I’ve always had. I do like supernatural and mystic stuff, but I just really don’t care for magic spells. I always knew that I wanted to have a mystical element in Iridium Moons, but always kept that off for later. Early on in the development of the setting, when I wanted to stick to realistic physics, demographics, and economy unless necessary for a Space Opera, I had the idea that people could be trained to have a greatly heightened sense of intuition by subconsciously processing information in parallel to logical reasoning. That seems physically and biologically possible. That idea was very much inspired by the mentats from Dune.
I’ve been diving into Traveller for the last three weeks, and that game does come with a default optional system for psionic powers. It’s very generic (like everything in Traveller) and basic, and from what I’ve been reading across the internet, most people never use it in their campaigns. Even though they does exist in the official setting, psionics are super illegal in the main empire as it is very strongly associated with their main rivals as their signature power. So illegal and hidden underground, that it could just as well not exist in most campaigns, and just way more trouble than it’s worth by painting a big target on your back. I can understand that. It’s not really interesting or inspiring as written, and the most popular setting makes it even more unattractive to characters.
But last week, James Maliszewski wrote about the big impact that spiritism and Theosophy had on Pulp Fantasy. Which reminded me of the very similar story of how psychic powers became a default element of sci-fi in the 50s to 70s. Some very prominent writers and a very influential magazine editor had really high hopes in the big breakthrough in parapsychology research being just around the corner and gave it a big presence in many of the popular stories of the time. I made the deliberate choice to step away from realism and tilt fully over to straight up space fantasy and to go for a very retro-futuristic aesthetic. I think classic psychic powers are pretty much a must for that.
My still early idea for Iridium Moons is that the psionic field is a regular element of the physics of the universe and always has been, but it is usually only interacting very weakly with the electromagnetic field that controls electricity, magnetism, radiation, and atomic bonds. So weakly that it’s an almost invisible phenomenon in everyday life, and that almost no creatures have ever naturally evolved to gain any traces of psionic powers.
However, a rare mineral called midorin, that only forms naturally on planets inhospitable to life, does significantly amplify interactions between the electromagnetic and psionic fields. Midorin is a soft and brittle, pale green mineral similar to soapstone or asbestos. Many reports of mines on remote planets being haunted and miners having uncannily accurate dreams and hallucinations were traced back to traces of midorin in the rock. Near high concentrations of midorin, the mere presence of people can cause anomalous physical changes in the environment as their brain activity disturbs the psionic field, which amplified by the midorin affects electromagnetic phenomenons.
Miners working in midorin-rich rock were the first people to display signs of real telepathic abilities, that only had been considered as archaic superstition and fraud for centuries. These abilities were connected to particles of midorin dust they had breathed in and made their way into their brain. This led to the development of the synthetic drug midorinol that can be injected into a person’s brain and then be subjected to radiation that causes it to form networks of microscopic midorin crystals inside the the brain’s neural pathways. These midorin filaments then serve as an amplifying antenna between the brain’s neurons and the psionic field. Disturbances in the psionic field can stimulate reactions in neurons, making it possible to sense psionic phenomenons and activity. And in reverse, electrical activity in the brain can produce psionic waves.
Over time it became clear that only a limited number of people possess specific brain structures that make it possible to learn to use this psionic sense to manifest useful powers. And of course, with a procedure as this, there is always a considerable risk of causing significant brain damage to the subject. While midorinol is quite expensive, psionic researchers are always looking for volunteers (or other subjects) who are physiologically suited to attempt the procedure, to study the process of developing psionic powers. They will often cover the entire costs, and in some cases even pay people for agreeing to undergoing the procedure, as long as the subject agrees to be studied while undergoing training, typically for a four year period.
Psionic powers in Iridium Moons cover the aspects of telepathy, clairvoyance, and awareness (which is actually body control). Teleportation is definitely out, and I am currently leaning strongly towards excluding telekinesis as well. That still leaves quite a broad range of potential powers that characters can learn. Psionic characters are quite rare in society, but many organization manage to recruit small numbers of them into their ranks. Compared to many other magic systems, telepathic powers in Traveller are quite limited in what they can do, and psions can only use them for a few short moments before they become too exhausted to continue. Midorin compounds mixed into building materials make them opaque to psionic powers like a Faraday Cage interrupts electromagnetic signals. This makes it fairly easy to shield small spaces from psionic intrusion. Shielding individual people is also possible, but carrying psionic disrupting objects on the body for prolonged periods is disorienting and uncomfortable, as it scrambles the natural very subtle influence the psionic field has on all brains at all times. Alternatively, midorin-based drugs can suppress any psionic abilities in a person for several hours, and it is widely accepted that certain high security areas can only be entered by known psions if they take an injection. This is also commonly done for the apprehending and arresting of psions, but keeping them drugged long term without holding them in a shielded area instead is widely seen as abusive treatment of prisoners.