A Brief History of the Psi Corps

The discovery of true telepaths triggered a global panic, as fear and hatred spread. Telepaths -- real or imagined -- were hunted, killed, tortured. Earth Alliance Senator Lee Crawford proposed the Metasensory Regulatory Authority; the signatory countries to this agreed to register their telepaths with the MRA. The MRA took telepaths in, trained them, lent their abilities to various government agencies and commercial interests, and provided them with a family of sorts, in a fenced compound near Geneva, Switzerland, future site of Earthdome.

Because not all countries were signatories to the MRA pact, telepaths frequently "escaped" to these countries, and rogues were common. It was not until 2156, when William Karges, a secret telepath part of the Secret Service, saved EA President Robinson's life, that the Earth Alliance agreed to universal, compulsory regulation of telepaths. Thus, the Psi Corps was born.

As a final note, the origin of telepathy was discovered by the first Psi Corps director, but it was ruthlessly hushed up. The Vorlons visited Earth between 2059-2062, and the first carriers of the telepath genes were implanted at this time.

Sources: Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps, supplemented by some kernels of truth from The Psi Corps and You, Babylon 5 comic book #11.

Sources

• Ep. "Episode Name": Information from a particular episode.
• DG: Information from Dark Genesis.
• JMS: Information from a JMS posting.
• RPG: Information from the Babylon Project RPG.

Telepathic Abilities

The standard "P" scale is used to rate all telepaths. Only one out of a thousand people display any hint of telepathic ability at all, and of those, only one of a thousand has it to any useful degree. The standard scale goes from 1 to 12; while the Psi Corps has an interest in developing telepaths whose abilities go beyond P12, including the development of telekinetics, telepaths that powerful are usually insane.

The higher the rating, the rarer it is. Since the earliest days of the Psi Corps (when it was just the MRA), attempts have been made to breed more powerful telepaths, through careful genetic matching. Genetic pairings, formalized through marriage, are extremely common amongst telepaths; even telepaths with P5 telepathic abilities are often asked to submit to these. The Psi Corps doesn't care if the subjects are willing; artificial insemination, or less savory means, may be used in that case. (DG; Ep. "A Race Through Dark Places")

Telepathy is like intelligence, in that there is no single gene for it, but rather, is scattered throughout the genetic material; the combination determines telepathic strength. There is usually a genetic marker, though, which can be tested for. Generally, the children of telepaths are also telepaths. The marker gene is passed on through the mother. Traditionally, the surnames of children are taken from the mother, rather than from the father. (DG)

The Psi Corps frequently raises children from birth; furthermore, if a child of mundane parents has a telepathic awakening, the Psi Corps takes the child and raises them from that point onwards. The multiple Psi Corps Academy locations provide a broad education in both telepathic abilities and more "normal" subjects. New students are usually paired with mentors, who are typically 15-20 years older than they are, who provide support and surrogate parenthood. After their education is completed, students typically complete a year of internship, to decide what branch of the Corps they'd like to spend their careers in. They were tested when they first joined the Corps for a preliminary P rating; when they are fully trained, they are re-tested for a "licensed" rating. (RPG; JMS)

P1 and P2 telepaths are too weak to be of much interest to the Corps. They're frequently content simply with registering them and keeping an eye on them; they may even be allowed to continue with their mundane lives. Telepaths at this level can tell when someone scans them, have rudimentary blocking abilities, and have some minor empathic abilities. P3 and P4 telepaths have somewhat stronger abilities; they are inducted into the Corps, where they serve in minor support roles.

A P5 to P7 telepath is capable of obtaining strong emotions, and some details, in brief bursts, from a scan; however, they're not always good at getting the big picture. (JMS)

Telepaths with a rating of P5 and above are able to become Commercial Telepaths, who monitor business transactions for veracity. They are able to hear the thoughts of others, including being able to perform in-depth scans and verify mindwipes; they have reasonable blocking abilities, as well. Typically, one side of a business transaction will hire a telepath to monitor the transaction; sometimes, both sides will agree to jointly hire a single telepath. A telepath is not obliged to state that his own employer is lying; however, silence is, of course, indicative of this. Commercial telepaths will only monitor legitimate transactions; the Corps reviews such transactions to make sure that the guidelines are followed. (RPG)

Telepaths of P8 rating or above can usually tell if someone has been telepathically forced to do something, if they scan them. (JMS) Administrators within the Corps are generally of at least this level of ability.

Telepaths with a rating of P10 and above can become Psi Corps trainers. They are capable of observing the mental actions of other telepaths, and can cut through blocks. They can invasively probe even unwilling telepaths. (Ep. "Mind War") Furthermore, this is the rating at which "mind-shredding" becomes possible. (Ep. "The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father.")

The most powerful telepaths are rated P12. All telepaths with this rating are automatically designated Psi Cops. (Ep. "Phoenix Rising") Though lesser telepaths are associated with the Psi Cops, as administrative functionaries and support personnel, only telepaths with at least a P10 rating can become field agents. (JMS) Psi Cops are highly trained, and checked out on all the latest military hardware, including Starfuries, since they sometimes have to go out on their own. (Ep. "Ship of Tears") There is an elite squadron of pilots attached to Psi Corps, called the Black Omega squadron; the squadron was Bester's idea, and performs special missions for the Corps. (Ep. "Epiphanies")

Abilties in Detail

The basic telepathic ability is the ability to hear thoughts. Telepaths of P5 rating and above are subject to a constant "background hum", which they are trained to block out, by reciting little rhymes and songs. This may not be sufficient to block out all thoughts; anything particularly loud ends up being inadvertently heard, especially by more powerful telepaths, no matter how hard the telepath is trying to block out the noise. (Ep. "The Paragon of Animals") This is useful as a sixth sense of danger, though; P12 telepaths may even get feelings of their life being in danger, even at a distance, with no visible signs of danger. (Ep. "A Race Through Dark Places"; Ep. "Dust to Dust")

Mundanes can be surface-scanned without them noticing, and powerful telepaths may be able to go somewhat deeper. However, a deep scan is painful, and always noticeable, even for a mundane. A surface scan picks up only obvious emotions and prominent thoughts; it is all a commercial telepath usually needs to verify a lie, though. Note that even mundanes can resist deep scans. It takes a P10 telepath to do strong scans, particularly if a person is resisting. (JMS)

It's also possible to use telepathic abilities to experience the world as someone else is experiencing it -- seeing, hearing, feeling, etc. as the target is. This is subject to the same restrictions as scans. Mundanes are normally incapable of detecting this.

Telepaths can mindspeak others, even mundanes. To converse mentally is more difficult, since the telepath must then read the reply off the target; it takes a P12 telepath to be able to smoothly and effortlessly conduct a mental conversation with a mundane. (JMS) Less powerful telepaths may have difficulty hearing mental communication, particularly mental communication aimed at a group of telepaths rather than at themselves; indeed, they might not be able to participate in group mental conversations at all. (DG)

Powerful telepaths can "follow" the trail of particularly strong thoughts, such as the uncontrolled mental scream of a mindquake. This is subject to the range limitations for that P level, of course. Their telepathic sense won't tell them exactly what turns to take in a maze of corridors, of course, but they can tell the general direction that it came from. (DG)

P12s may project the image of themselves into the mind of someone else, over long distances, including through obstacles, and carry on conversations that way. Less powerful telepaths can also do this, if they combine their efforts. The ability to implant thoughts in others' minds increases with P rating. Indeed, telepaths may force others to see things which are not really there, or cause them to believe things which they should otherwise logically believe are not true. (Ep. "A Race Through Dark Places"; Ep. "A Tragedy of Telepaths") A powerful telepath can project emotion, getting a target to feel fear, sadness, or the like -- the feeling seems entirely natural to the target, and even a hardened cynic might end up finding himself in tears. However, suggestions are just that -- actual mind control is extremely difficult, and even a P12 can't mind-control another P12. (DG)

A P12 can "fugue" a mundane, though this requires physical contact to initiate. A "fugue" causes the last thought in the mundane's head to repeat itself over and over -- a sort of state of waking unconsciousness. It only lasts a few seconds, and it leaves the telepath so drained that the effective strength of his blocks is severely reduced.

A P12 is capable of locking the muscles of others, even other telepaths. Only voluntary muscle control is affected -- this technique can't be used to stop a heart, for example. Several people can be affected at once, but only with total concentration and at the cost of a great deal of effort. (DG)

If a telepath surface scans another telepath, they can guess at the strength of his blocks, if he has any, and thus gain a rough estimate of his power level. The person being scanned will usually feel something, though they may not be able to tell the source. The "feel" of the thought can be recognized, though, if it is familiar, through previous contact. A powerful telepath, standing next to someone, including a mundane, can sense the "shape" of someone's mind, even through that person's blocks -- just a general impression of their layout, sort of the equivalent of physical appearance. (DG)

Certain mundanes have the equivalent of weak blocks -- nothing actually telepathic, but just a kind of order, a discipline. This makes surface scans, and the picking up of stray thoughts and emotions, in particular, more difficult. (DG)

A telepath may block others, including mundanes, from being scanned, though it can take several mid-power telepahs working together to block a single powerful telepath. There's a limit to what this can block, though; for example, even a P12 might not be able to block another P12 who is trying to sense whether or not a third party is lying, though the specifics of thought/emotion would be blocked. (DG; Ep. "Dust to Dust")

Telepaths working in conjunction may even be able to "silence" an entire crowded room, cutting out the background "noise" of thoughts that telepaths must constantly suppress hearing; however, a powerful telepath may focus and punch through the blocks of a single target within range, needing to overcome a little additional resistance but without having to break the blanket of silence entirely. Of course, this requires forcefully pushing through those blocks, and the target can resist. (DG)

A telepath can make themselves "invisible" to a mental sweep of the area (a "searching scan"). A P8 is able to cover himself; a P12 can cover several people. The amount of other mental "noise" needed for cover varies with the distance. A crowded room suffices; similarly, over the distances of miles, it doesn't matter if there are other people around. Even if the searcher knows what they're looking for, they might not be able to locate what they're looking for. This kind of block, however, requires near-total concentration. (DG)

A few, rare, individuals are telekinetic. This is not directly related to the P rating; all telepaths are tested for telekinetic abilities, generally by being asked to move a small object, such as a penny. Stable telekinetics are virtually non-existent; just about all of them eventually go insane.

Legal Status of Telepaths

Telepaths have a number of other restrictions on them. Telepathic evidence is not admissible in a court of law; while telepathic evidence can be used to obtain other evidence (to get a search warrant, for example), it is not directly admissible, even as circumstantial evidence. The one exception is a deathbed scan of a willing subject (or where the next of kin has given permission); even then, other evidence must be presented to back up the assertion. (RPG)

Telepaths who do not want to be part of Psi Corps can opt for the sleepers, a drug which suppresses telepathic abilities, thus allowing the telepath to live a mundane life. Typically given in doses sufficient to last a week, the sleepers are administered via injection by Psi Corps functionaries who visit the Sleeper on a regular basis. In the long term, the drug often causes physical weariness and mental depression; some Sleepers eventually become suicidal. Telepaths who refuse the legal options -- join the Corps or take the sleepers -- can be jailed, or deported to outer-world colonies that are effectively concentration camps. (DG; RPG)

The Psi Corps has an extremely active propaganda arm, and they take care to inculcate their own members with strong loyalty to the Corps. "The Corps is Mother. The Corps is Father." And the Psi Corps would like its members to believe that they are a family.

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