Psion


 * For other uses of the word psion, see psion (disambiguation).

Psions, Homo sapiens mentis, are artificially-created forms of psychomorphs in the 22nd century. The media came up with the term after bastardizing the term for the psion, the particle representing psi as the fifth, unifying force (along with gravity's gravitons, electromagnetism's photons, the strong nuclear force's gluons and the weak nuclear force's bosons).

A latent, when found, is placed in their choice of eight Prometheus Chambers, or "tanks." The tank is a highly advanced form of biotech. A breathing apparatus is placed over the mouth and nose of the latent. The apparatus fills the lungs with a breathable liquid, while the rest of the chamber fills up with a different liquid.

The chamber slightly alters the latent on a genetic level, "triggering" them to noetic awareness. The latent is now a psion, and capable of accessing the full range of noetic ability.

However strong their potential might be, however, the Prometheus Chambers were designed by their creators to limit access to a single Aptitude. Each Chamber triggers latents to a different Aptitude.

The discovery of a method to break down this artificial location is of prime importance to several of the Psi Orders.

The first psions to be created thus were the eight proxies, each of which is an expert in their selected Aptitude. In game terms, it's possible they may be represented by having six dots in each Mode of their particular Aptitude. They can, at the very least, manifest multiple powers at a time, which is difficult for regular psions to accomplish.

Psions often claim they are a natural evolution of humanity, unlike the Aberrants. The implication is that Aberrants came from illicit manpulation of genetics, which is why the full human genome is restricted information in the 2120s. Most peopel accept this explanation at face value, despite the truth being (almost) the opposite.

However, the truth is that there is a single genetic sequence which psions and Aberrants share in common. This sequence is like a "switch" &mdash; it flips one way and someone becomes a psion. It flips the other way and the person becomes an Aberrant.

While latency testing most often catches people whose switches have already flipped towards a psi tendency, it sometimes will catch someone who hasn't flipped yet. These finds are especially precious, as not only do they add another psion to their ranks when dunked in a tank, but they deny the Aberrants a potential recruit as well.