One division of Star Law that very few talk about is the super secret Psi-Corps -established in 108 fy. Star Law, challenged by a new breed of crime – Psionic Crime – was forced to delve into the dark and mysterious realm of Psionics. The prevalence of Psionics in the underworld was limited until recently. In the modern Frontier, more and more psi talented beings have arisen to power and Star Law had to build something to combat that.
It started with the crime gang known as the Phantoms – a group of psionically talented mentalists using their powers of suggestion to get what they wanted. People would report being robbed but not know who, when or why it happened. Medical analysis of these victims indicated elevated neuron activity in the brain that would indicated psionic manipulation. The research that came out of this lead to a stronger understanding of psionics and it’s effects on the sentient brain.
The leader of the Phantoms was the most illusive and cunning. While is gang was disrupted considerably when the Star Law used their psi talented agents against it, the leader was a much harder target to obtain. To this day, this leader – a sentient known as the Specter – has not been apprehended.
The fear of someone like Specter using their abilities for more than petty theft like terrorism, lead to the development of Psi-Corps. The first division leader was a non-Psi scientist with in Star Law who was one of the leading theorists of Psi ability – Algrenon Cordwell. He formed a team to develop a system to test psi recruits and their loyalty. There was still considerable mistrust of Psis and their abilities to control minds. Cordwell formed a simple scale system to measure the abilities of the recruits.
| Psi Rating | Title | Cordwell Scale Definition |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | Latent Ability | Lowest rating on the Psi Scale, barely registers as telepathic. Abilities rarely extend beyond detecting and blocking low level scans as well as basic psionic empathic reading. |
| P2 | Minor Empathic | Very low rating on the Psi Scale, with slightly stronger empathic abilities and limited lie detection. |
| P3 | Empathic | Low rated Empathy ability with mild ability to detect deception and ulterior motives in a sentient being. |
| P4 | Minor Telepath | Fairly strong empathic abilities and some low level telepathy abilities including short messaging. |
| P5 | Commercial Telepaths | Hired through DICE, these agents are commonly used to do background interviews, corporate negotiations and some minor diplomatic missions. |
| P6 | Investigator | Lowest level of agent, Investigators usually are strong in a single ability like Telepathy, Time Read, or Empathy but have no kinetic abilities. |
| P7 | Interrogator | Lower level agent with string mental abilities like Investigators but also some kinetic abilities like Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis or Cryokinesis. |
| P8 | Agent | Higher Level Psi with a number of abilities that allow for a variety of uses. |
| P9 | Senior Agent | A step above agent with a variety of skills that are slightly more powerful than the Agent. The most power Psi that is legally allowed position within the UPF |
| P10 | Ultra-Psi | Ultra-Psi individuals are the reason for the Psi-Corps in the first place. They have gotten so powerful that they may be mentally unstable. They commonly suffer for various psychoses including euphoria, megalomania and dissociative complexes. |
| P11+ | Ancient or Alien Psi | P11 or more have rarely been encountered. |
Psi-Corps Departments
There are three main Departments within Psi-Corps – DICE, R&D and Zeta-Psi. Each have it’s own function with regards to the Psi-Corps Mandate and are tightly monitored by the Star Law High Committee and Internal Affairs. Mistrust of Psis still exists within as well as outside Star Law and to give them legal authority has not been a popular decision for some.
Domestic Intelligence & Civilian Enforcement (DICE)
This is the primary enforcement arm within the Frontiers that deals with all Psi-Crimes on UPF controlled worlds. They are basically structured like Star Law but they don’t work alone. They are usually attached to a Ranger Squad with a higher ranking non-Psi Ranger in charge.
| Psi-Corps DICE rank | XP needed | Daily pay (Cr) |
|---|---|---|
| Deputy | (graduate) | 50 |
| Lieutenant | 25 | 75 |
| Lt Commander | 50 | 100 |
| Commander | 100 | 125 |
| Captain | 150 | 150 |
| Major | 250 | 200 |
| Colonel | 300 | 250 |
| General | 350 | 300 |
Research & Development of Psi Sciences
This is the primary departments that does the research and development behind the enforcement methods and tools Psi-Corps must use to do it’s job.
Department Zeta-Psi
The most secret and feared department, Zeta-Psi is a large department that is tasked with hunting down ancient psi technology, researching alien psi sciences and finding previously unknown sources of psi-power.