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The Psy are a subgroup of humans that have various psychic powers that range from minimal to off the scale powerful. See Psy Designations for their range of abilities.

General[]

Since Silence began, Psy children were usually fertilized in a petri dish and checked for possible genetic flaws - similar to designer babies. Following on from this, it is not unlikely for two high Gradient ranking individuals to have a child so their child can be high Gradient or even a Cardinal. However, this also means that spontaneous abilities no longer manifest like they once did and continue to do so in the Forgotten.

Interestingly enough, though the Psy have completely separated from intermarrying with humans and changelings as they did before Silence, they have completely obscured race as we consider it, interbreeding regardless of national or ethnic origins. However, the Psy have isolated themselves according to their own definition of race, refusing to interbreed with changelings or humans, although that's no longer strictly true since the fall of Silence.

Physiology[]

The Psy have lighter, weaker bones than human or changelings, and are thus more fragile. A changeling can absorb 5 time as much punishment as a Psy. One suggestion given for why they are physically weak is because their minds and abilities are their greatest weapons.

Psy react poorly to alcohol and other drugs, so most avoid them, including anesthetics; the only exception being jax. It has to do with how they process energy.[1] Most Psy are trained to shut down or inhibit their pain receptors in case of medical emergencies.

Biofeedback[]

All Psy require "feedback" from background energy in a psychic network or they will die in seconds, so all Psy have at least a telepathic gradient of 1, which is considered the minimum for survival. The more minds there are in a psychic network, the greater the biofeedback multiplies.[2]

Childbirth[]

While giving birth, Psy are unable to neutralize their pain and since drugs have adverse affects on them, a strong telepath eases the mother into near unconsciousness and then takes over the mind of the baby during labour. It doesn't harm the baby as the telepaths are trained to handle developing minds.[3]

Eyes[]

Except for Cardinals, their eyes are usually no different from human and changeling eyes unless they're expending large amounts of power or experiencing strong emotions; at these times, their eyes will go completely black without schlera nor iris. They will also go black right before death and then turn grey.[4]

Overall Relations[]

Until the disintegration of the Council, the Psy maintained power in major metropolitan areas by eliminating competition from the other races.

Changelings[]

They once viewed changelings as little more than animals who had no communications with other packs.[5] Prior to 2079, the interests of changelings and Psy rarely intersected in any major way.[6]

Humans[]

The Psy are probably the worst when it comes to underestimating humans, thinking of them as worker drones who never posed a threat to Psy power.[5] They would steal ideas and innovations and use mind control when it suited their purposes. This came back to bite them in the butt when the Human Alliance began to violently push back against Psy dominance.

History[]

Pre-Silence[]

There's a theory that the first Psy were humans with a highly developed sense of intuition.[7]

Long before the advent of Silence, the Psy craved touch more than the other races as they were living more and more on the psychic plane. They feared what they were becoming and so they used touch to anchor them back to reality.[8]

Prior to 2069, powerful Psy often couldn't control their gifts, succumbing to madness or losing control in devastating ways. To counteract this, it was proposed that they condition all emotion out of themselves through what was called the Silence Protocol.

This of course caused some protestors but they were quickly wiped out, as well as those early graduates who were considered "defective."[9] A few escaped into a changeling packs and a handful began the Forgotten.

Silence[]

Life during Silence was hard, cruel, deadly, painful and dreadfully cold, not at all good except for the fact that it stopped several people from becoming insane. Silence had taken away all their emotions and with it, their morals, making them power-hungry and non-regretful. It allowed psychopaths to wander free, torturing and killing anybody they wanted to without fear of retribution. It was a horrible time in history but without it, Sascha Duncan would never have met Lucas Hunter and Hawke Snow would have never met Sienna Lauren.

Since Silence began, Psy children are usually fertilized in a petri dish and checked for possible genetic flaws - similar to designer babies. Following on from this, it is not unlikely for two high Gradient ranking individuals to have a child so their child can be high Gradient or even a Cardinal. Children also grew up without their parents love and were forced to do brutal things and taught to fear rehabilitation because your mind would become like a vegetable if you had to be rehabilitated. If you were in the Arrow Squad, you were also put through torture.

It was also hard on the E's especially. When Silence first came into play, they had to be basically wiped from existence, forced to the edge when their species became non emotional and had no need for them anymore. Many E's died of grief and pain, never being able to survive without emotion as it was ingrained in their very designation, very being. But it is also E's that have to save everyone in the end because the PsyNet simply cannot survive without them.

Post-Silence[]

By 2082, the deleterious effects outweighed any benefits and the Silence mandate was revoked, allowing the Psy to choose whether or not to maintain Silence or to remove the conditioning. Many chose a middle path, such as in the case of Judd Lauren and his lethal Tk-C ability where his power will effectively shut off unless he deliberately disables the tripwire he set in place.[4]

Amplification Effect[]

Psy often have more than one designation. When a Psy has two midlevel powers, they can create an amplification effect, usually only on one of their abilities. This boosts that power out of the normal range for that Psy for a limited duration. This effect typically drains their strength faster than normal use does. Since the effect can be unpredictable and often leaves them weakened afterwards, they can often hide this ability.[10]

Black Keys[]

Some Psy are capable of placing Black Keys, which are effectively tiny bombs implanted in the mind, set to trigger an aneurysm under certain circumstances, such as removing programming[11] or dismantling Silence Protocols.[12]

Cardinals[]

Cardinals are off the gradient charts, meaning that they are incredibly powerful that literally cannot be quantified. They're very rare, numbering perhaps 5,000 at most out of millions and millions of Psy.[13]

Despite their power, they're typically too cerebral to bother with politics.[14] They have pure black eyes with stars in them, which is their most telling feature unless they wear special eye contacts, and each pair of eyes is unique.[15]

Typically, a Cardinal's development is a steady progression without much fluctuation in their control.[16]

In very rare, exceptional cases, a Psy is a dual cardinal. Kaleb Krychek is the only known dual cardinal, powerful enough to cause earthquakes without draining himself, Krychek can also use the Amplification Effect to increase his Tk power.

Other known Cardinals include: Sascha Duncan, Sienna Lauren, Faith NightStar and Kaleb Krychek.

Flame-Out[]

When a Psy expends a large amount of energy, called a flame-out, their eyes go completely black. If they over-extend themselves, their mental star on their psychic network will flash red, signalling that all but their most basic shields will soon fail, leaving them vulnerable. They'll be unable to use any abilities for 24 hours and for subdesignation Tk-C includes a virtual coma for that time period.[17] News of a flame-out tends to spread pretty quickly.[18]

Gradient[]

The gradient scale is how the strength of Psy abilities are measured. These powers are measured on a Gradient from 0 - 9.9 though sometimes they are off the charts, which is when they are called Cardinals. 9.9 is rare because most make the .1 jump to Cardinal.[19]

Mind Control & Programming[]

Some Psy are capable of controlling the minds of others, however, it's a specialized skill that not everyone who's capable has. Mind control means the Psy has to have a direct link to the victim, which drains energy. Programming, on the other hand, is somewhat similar to hypnosis where the Psy programs a set of behaviours and orders into the victim. The latter is usually sealed with some sort of password to allow the controller access, but not all Psy have that access without the password.[11]

If performed on children, the programming can damage young minds and even kill.

Factions[]

Arrows[]

Their Leader is Aden Kai with the second in command being Vasic. They include some of the most dangerous men and women Psy in the world, the only place where others understand the scariness of their powers' nature. Those who aren't in the Arrow Squad but incredibly powerful are those who belong to the Mercant or NightStar clans. Those who are still highly dangerous or powerful are connected to the Arrow Squad in some way: Kaleb basically owns them, Stefan is classified as one but was thought to be too unstable to be in the Squad and Ming LeBon tried to control them, causing them to go to Kaleb.

They are the dark, secret assassins of the Psy because every race needs someone to eliminate criminals.

Council[]

The Council that ruled the Psy and oversaw the PsyNet slowly disintegrated from its own corruption and infighting, aided by their enemies from both within and without the race. It was originally comprised of seven Councilors that changed twice after two councilors were killed. They treated humans as puppets to be controlled and changelings as nothing more than animals, not even their own people were safe from their whims.

Empathic Collective[]

Families and Clans[]

Families, particularly the powerful ones, form their own political blocs.

PsyClan NightStar[]

Head: Anthony Kyriakus[]

This clan is famous for its foreseers, having the most in all of the world. Not only do they have the most powerful forseers in the world, they also include B (Backsight) Psy and Ps-Psy (Psychometry). Members include Faith NightStar, Juniper, Carina, and Tanique Gray.

PsyClan PacificRose[]

This clan includes Sione, the only F-Psy who could rival Faith at times in accuracy.

Duncan Family[]

Head: Nikita Duncan[]

Under her tutelage and her mother's, Reina Duncan, it is now one of the most influential in the net. Nikita is the mother of Sascha Duncan who is mated to Lucas Hunter which is why the Duncan family now has very close ties to DarkRiver. They are also incredibly powerful in the business world.

Marshall Family[]

Head: Pax Marshall[]

They changed their last name to Marshall because of the former councilor, Marshall Hyde.

Mercant Family[]

Head: Ena Mercant[]

Known for their business endeavors, this shadow family sticks to themselves though if they give their full trust in you, you better be prepared for it. Nobody messes with them as even the Arrows know that if the Mercants want a body to stay buried, it will stay buried. They are classified as a Shadow power. Ena's protegee is Silver Mercant, former aid to Kaleb Krychek and now head of the largest humanitarian and rescue organization in the world, EmNet. She's mated to the alpha of the bear clan StoneWater, Valentin Nikolaev.

Liu Family[]

Head: Jen Liu[]

Lauren Family[]

This family defected from the net when they all were slated for rehabilitation. No one knew that they actually survived the SnowDancer wolves and lived hidden in their territory until recently. They are a high gradient cardinal level family with Sienna, Kristine, and Toby all being Cardinals, Judd being a high gradient Psy in three designations. Although not as powerful as his niblings nor martial like Judd, Walker's

A very powerful family who only wanted to be a family and safe.

References[]

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