February 2024
The Aetherians, of course, are the race most greatly associated with telepathic abilities in Broken Dimensions. However, not only are there variations amongst Aetherians regarding telepathy (range, comprehension, projection, etc.), but there are also other races and groups with telepathic abilities within the Broken Dimensions Universe.
Recommended reference material: The gods, Comprehensive Timeline (revised), The magic system
INTRODUCTION
Firstly, the definition of "psychic" as given by Wikipedia is "a person who claims to use extrasensory perception to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, such as [telekinesis] or teleportation."
Teleportation and telekinesis in Broken Dimensions are already proven to be possible—there is a whole magic subclass dedicated to teleportation, and telekinesis (or the ability to move things with one's mind) is possible through multiple magic types (combat magic, void magic, element manipulation, gyromanipulation: orange and blue shades of magic). Clairvoyance (or psychic prediction or advanced perception) is most closely compared to the ability to see the future, which in Broken Dimensions is a skill possed only by Ialu, her prophets, and Xellarian and his prophets (later on Altairis, the second Time God, is also able to see the future and deep into the past). So all of these things have pre-established concepts related to them, which narrows the discussion topic down to telepathy, or the reading of minds.
WHO HAS TELEPATHY IN BROKEN DIMENSIONS?
The Aetherians, to recap, are the group most associated with telepathy in Broken Dimensions. When the gods created the Aetherian people, they created a race capable of nonverbal exchange of thought. Originally, this made them the race most closely associated with the gods. Most (if not all) of the gods of Broken Dimensions can communicate telepathically with each other and with mortal beings. The Aetherian peoples were also created to be highly intelligent, natural at teleportation, self-sufficient people; this is due to the environment they were created to exist within. Prior to Crisis 8, Aetheria was an unstable world of cosmic debris, god magic, and voidmatter, and extreme wits, hardiness, and survival instincts were needed to stay alive throughout most of its regions.
Telepathy was also an adaptive trait to use in survival in Aetheria. Creatures of the Void, such as niojeks, Void Raptors, and other void-dwelling serpents, have existed since the start of the universe, and they will eat anything. However, they are mostly blind when exposed to light, such as that provided by a dimensional "Core" in a miasmic voidworld like Aetheria, where they rely primarily on echolocation, their senses of smell, and exceptional hearing. Aetherian tech evolved to confuse Void serpent echolocation, and the use of telepathy to mitigate sound in those dangerous encounters frequently saved lives in the early centuries.
Other groups innately capable of telepathic communication include the entire godly pantheon, some Adreonians, few Tartaruns, and all Feldsparian Cats. Some groups have proven able to learn telepathic communication as well, including those who learn control magic—namely Hell's Aisles psykojics, members of the Mindbreakers' Guild, and the Godhunter Guild.
Mindbreakers (or control magic users in general) typically learn to read minds early in the learning process. Being able to sift through memories, active thoughts, emotions, and internal monologues is crucial to control magic, which deeply relies on the subjugation of the mind. As a result, some mindbreakers are better at telepathy than others. Some are able to convert conscious thought in one language into their own mother tongue, others are not. Some can influence thought effortlessly, others are better with memories manipulation and using brute force to maintain control. All practice a significantly more dangerous form of telepathy than innate users. Their form of telepathy is a weapon.
SKILL RANGE AND TYPE
ORDER OF DISCUSSION
Aetherians
Adreonians
Tartaruns
Feldsparian Cats
Mindbreakers
AETHERIANS
While Aetherians were originally capable of complete, intelligible, two-way communication amongst one another, the scope of that ability has changed significantly over time. By Era 10, there are Aetherians who cannot read minds at all, but are exceptional projectors (meaning: they can broadcast their thoughts in an intelligible enough way that it either masks their inability to read those of others or communicates efficiently enough to get their point across to others and thus eliminating the need for telepathic communication).
There are also Aetherians who can read minds, but with great difficulty insomuch that it may be considered a processing disorder or disability—think auditory processing disorder meets dyslexia in a telepathic state. And, of course, there are Aetherians who can still read and communicate across thought waves entirely fluently. The latter is still the majority, but no longer overwhelmingly. The stats likely meter out to 10% telepathically illiterate (with the potential for projecting skills), 10% inadequate processing efficiency, 20% near-fluency, and 60% complete fluency.
This change in ability over time is partially due to evolution across 17,000 years, and partially due to the intermixing of genetic data with the Tartaruns, Shades, and other races who were locked in the Aetherian quadrant following Crisis 7.
It is notable that a requirement to be on the Imperial Council post-Crisis 9 (following the rise of the NEA) is that candidates be fully telepathically literate and capable of communicating telepathically alone.
ADREONIANS
Even before the Aetherians entered the interdimensional court, there were certain Shades who had the ability to read minds. Most of them were healers and shamanic prophets, warriors, or educators.
Shamans in the context of Adreonian culture would have been people who conversed with the gods through dreams (primarily Ialu, Morsanna, Meyaa, Eiro, and Maikoa). If not for the mage or priest guilds (and in fact before they existed), shamans (who had another name in the old Adreonian dialect) would be the only intermediaries to/the only people to have direct contact with the gods. And, additionally, veryone who was dedicated at an Adreonian temple was a shaman, and not every shaman had dreams or divine connection, but all shamans had some degree of telepathy. Most were only capable of skimming surface thoughts, gauging what an individual felt in the moment. A few more skilled Adreonian shamans, whether they were prophets, warriors, or purely academics, were capable of communicating with others via telepathy, even at great distances. Still, they were nowhere near the innate efficiency of Aetherian telepathy.
TARTARUNS
While it should be noted that all Tartaruns are in some way aura-senstive (meaning they can either see, feel, or understand a person's mood and occasional thoughts, and project their own, by way of personal auratic communication), few Tartaruns are capable of mind reading or telepathic communication. Those that are almost exclusively possess Ialuan, Archdaimen, or Ceretsi heritage.
Ialuan telepaths work primarily in dreamwalking, a form of telepathic communication that can only happen when two or more given parties are asleep, including the one performing the dreamwalk. Coincidentally, these dreamwalkers are also usually prophetic, and possess clairvoyance as servants (witting or unwitting) of Ialu herself. They are often able to predict minor events in the near future, or consult with Ialu in dreams to revive memories of the past. They also tend to be better at reading emotions than non-dreamwalkers.
Herrenic telepathy is, but contrast, purely surface-level influence. The primary Archdaimen traits are power and envy of power (and occasionally megalomania). In the old days, when they were called the Amads and Lor Amas was in control, the most powerful Archdaimens kept their power and sated their greed by influencing others into giving up their own power and possessions—sometimes even their life. They were capable of skimming an individuals thoughts and desires and were often raised to be exceptional manipulators. They used blackmail, force, and just plain wealth to goad people into giving up what they themselves needed or desired.
When the Amad rulers were overthrown in Era 6 and the Archdaimen name was claimed to replace them, this practice of manipulation was put to a stop. The trait was "bred out," so to speak, after a few generations of mixed marriages and families. However, vestiges of this power remain in many Tartaruns, and only serves to amplify their empathic reading abilities. (This is, in fact, why many Tartaruns are able to read, see, and understand the auras of others.)
Finally, Ceretsi telepathic abilities serve to amplify their charmspeaking capabilities. Ceretsi charmspeak is a form of magic-enhanced persuasion innate to many Ceretsi with varying levels of skill. The original intent was for them to be able to sweet talk anyone into a false sense of security before overpowering them or blackmailing them for their carnal desires. However, many Ceretsi—especially Regalian servants in the era of rebellion, weaponized their charmspeak in a different way. See, the Ceretsi form of telepathy allows the individual to perceive the deep, private desires of others and to skim surface level thoughts—similar to the Archdaimen ability to see what others have that they want. Therefore, Regalian servants during the rebellion era were able to exploit their masters' secrets and desires, outing them as villains to the public, or exposing their intent to act hypocritically/against their word.
After the races of Tartarus were free from their creators and subjugators, the Ceretsi quietly stopping using their abilities—except for certain high-ranking officials, like those in the Aviligne family. However, Ceretsi surface-level telepathy and charmspeak is still a prominent trait in E-10 Tartarus. Rumor has it that powerful charmspeakers can give an order and those who hear it cannot help but obey, even if the order is deadly...
FELDSPARIAN CATS
The world of Feldspar is a dimension off-shoot of Darekaeii and Tartarus. Like Tartarus (and like Svarenheil, the predecessor of Adreoni and later Darekaeii), Feldspar is a cavernous dimension. However, it is much more technologically self-sufficient than either world could ever hope to be thanks to the acute, unique power sourcing of the Core power-draw complex. This, along with one other thing, is what make Feldspar so unique. The second unique point? Feldspar is almost exclusively run by Cats. Not "cats" with a lowercase "c," but "Cats" with an uppercase "C."
Feldsparian Cats are an evolved race of felines that possess enhanced telekinetic, psychometric, and telepathic abilities—meaning they can read and move things with their minds and can see the recent history and makeup of an item or person by touch. They are the only non-humanoid race to operate on a humanoid-level of intelligence (and beyond). They come in all shapes, sizes, and species, but all are capable of the same high-level psychic abilities. Most also possess at least one psychic crystal, which enhances their abilities and aids in perception and empathy.
This is why Cats run Feldspar. They know best, they can operate in a highly-efficient commune, and they're more than trustworthy (...usually). Their innate abilities are on par with that of the pure-blood Aetherians of old, and some even possess the ability to dreamwalk like blessed Tartarun Ialuans.
( You do not want to cross a Cat. )
MINDBREAKERS
As mentioned above, mindbreakers must learn to read minds by using control magic (although, it should be noted, that not all control magic users are mindbreakers. The difference is in how the magic is used, and users who are not mindbreakers are a... moral gray area). They can sift through memories, active thoughts, emotions, and internal monologues and pick out crucial information in a matter of seconds. Some can translate languages almost without thinking, some can force others into submission through sheer force of will or by implementing fear. However, all mindbreakers are capable of shattering someone's psyche.
The sheer amount of willpower needed to learn control magic means that telepathy learned by using it is often... brutal. A "bull in a china shop" kind of deal. Nature telepaths slip into the mind easily and often feel like they're meant to be there. It's okay to share a mind with them temporarily, because it's casual. Friendly, even. When a mindbreaker enters your mind, though, it's as if someone broke into your home and rifled through all your things without asking, then cornered you and demanded you follow you orders. In an instant, they can know everything about you, everything you love, everything that scares you. After that, they can shatter you without even trying, and it will be a brutal end.
There are different classes of mindbreaker. Phantasma, for example, is often stuck in a category of his own. Phantasma is a former student of Nathan Shasear's an immortal whose life can be traced back to post-Desertion Era 6, after the second dispersal of the pantheon Guilds. He learned the earliest form of control magic, which focused on memory repair and dissolution, and from it created his own sadistic version. He created the first hive mind, which exists and grows even in Era 10, millennia later. He holds over a billion people under his control by Era 10, using golems and hosts to disperse himself throughout the quadrant of small worlds and voidspace he claimed for himself. He is known for destroying people with a single thought, should they aggravate him.
The Order of Torjic'an can also be traced back to the early days of Era 6. It's leader and founder, Corsak Therion, was another student of Shasear's, albeit one who learned through fear and out of necessity. Therion was a test subject in the final days of Phantasma's associate with Shasear, and was dealt several fatal blows when Phantasma defected. The result was a fear-induced, near-innate ability to use control make and bend others to his will. He created the Order to standardize, research, and develop control magic further into a weapon, and teaches others how to inflict control and pain onto their enemies.
Red Death (Blaire Clayton) took the Order's ideas about control magic, combined them with Phantasma's use of it, and developed something worse: a form of control magic that corrodes everything but the user, resulting in walking corpses, soul-possessed artillery, and withering environments. He too belongs in his own category.
Another class of mindbreakers are the psykojics: the purveyors and top servants of Hell's Aisles. The term literally means “mind-majic user,” a translation that carries a double meaning: “magic user” and “one who uses minds.” They are more commonly known as contract demons due to the nature of their existance: taking out contracts to bring funding, souls, and power to Hell's Aisles and its leader, Porphyrius Rex (who is, of course, another of Shasear's misguided students.
Psykojics originate from a plane reality called the Aurekos, or “the plane of eaten light” (or “the plane of gold and light,” depending on the translation). They are primarily beings of light and energy, which is why they need to possess a host in order to act outside of Hell's Aisle—hence the contracts. They are known for being sadistic and going back on their word using loopholes in their self-written contracts.
Other non-affiliated mindbreakers vary in skill level. Some members of the Second (or "New") Aetherian Empire's Imperial Council are self-taught, and are exceptionally skilled. Aetherian Mindbreakers usually are, since they can operate with much more dexterity than other learned telepaths. However, not all non-affiliated mindbreakers are so capable. Others who learn out of fear, having been exposed to and abused by control magic for extended periods of time, are often unwieldy telepaths who can do more harm to themselves than others due to improper practice.
* * This article is subject to revision at a later date.* *
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