Psionic Jarhead

[ottarrus]

I have done a full character generation description for my Imperial Marine psionic INI officer as a pdf.
For some reason I cannot fathom, page two is a blank page. None of the text is missing however.
Enjoy and please tell me what you think.

 

[alex_greene]

That "lobotomy implant" thing would irritate me. If the ref told me that my character was going to have one of those, I'd tear up my character sheet and tell them to go wipe their heiny with it, then roll up another psion, without the loyalty implant.
And by "roll up," I just mean copy all the stats down to a new character sheet and ignore the whole going through five or six terms first.

 

[Varulv]

The loyalty implant might lead to an adventure trying to get it removed.

 

[ottarrus]

That "lobotomy implant" thing would irritate me. If the ref told me that my character was going to have one of those, I'd tear up my character sheet and tell them to go wipe their heiny with it, then roll up another psion, without the loyalty implant.
And by "roll up," I just mean copy all the stats down to a new character sheet and ignore the whole going through five or six terms first.

The loyalty implant might lead to an adventure trying to get it removed.

I'd talked about this in earlier discussions.
My logic was IF the Imperium was going to have 'authorized psions', the latent psionic paranoia would insist on measures to assure that psion's loyalty. They're an INI field agent and know quite a bit of the dirt on the dark side of the Imperial Sunburst, after all. Many other authors have talked about suicide implants in Traveller intelligence agents before and this isn't that much different.
The annual reset at a naval base give the INI a chance to debrief the psion and what they've seen and encountered. THAT is no different than an IISS Detached Duty Scout.
Last thing: the psion is told before they are trained as a psion about the implant and its consequences. They're also told that psionic training entails a full 20 year commitment to serve in the Imperial forces. The potential psion is given a free and informed choice: take the training and the detail to INI and everything that entails OR they can have a highly skilled lobotomy that renders them non-psionic. By 'highly skilled' I mean that the surgeon would have to 'not roll a 2' on the Medical check.

 

[alex_greene]

I'd talked about this in earlier discussions.
My logic was IF the Imperium was going to have 'authorized psions', the latent psionic paranoia would insist on measured to assure that psion's loyalty. They're an INI field agent and know quite a bit of the dirt on the dark side of the Imperial Sunburst, after all. Many other authors have talked about suicide implants in Traveller intelligence agents before and this isn't that much different.
The annual reset at a naval base give the INI a chance to debrief the psion and what they've seen and encountered. THAT is no different than an IISS Detached Duty Scout.
Last thing: the psion is told before they are trained as a psion about the implant and its consequences. They're also told that psionic training entails a full 20 year commitment to serve in the Imperial forces. The potential psion is given a free and informed choice: take the training and the detail to INI and everything that entails OR they can have a highly skilled lobotomy that renders them non-psionic. By 'highly skilled' I mean that the surgeon would have to 'not roll a 2' on the Medical check.

That's a slave's yoke. The slave would know that nothing stops their master from switching their brains off permanently the instant they cease to be of use to them.

 

[ottarrus]

That's a slave's yoke. The slave would know that nothing stops their master from switching their brains off permanently the instant they cease to be of use to them.

Well, I understand your point of view given our previous discussions. However I'm balancing out other opinions that advocated the murder of the psion after their term of service was up. There were people implying that someone who'd been trained at Station Wypoc or the Psi Institute on Terra was some kind of 'sanctioned psionic criminal'.

Because of the two viewpoints, I chose a middle path, one where the psion was mustered out honorably but was monitored for the rest of their life.

Let me also share a couple things that a lot of people don't know... People who become involved with professional intelligence gathering NEVER 'quit the business'. They may no longer work at the agency, they may be working a minimum wage job bagging groceries, but they're still remotely monitored for the rest of their lives. Their phones and emails are routinely tapped, their finances are occasionally examined by forensic accountants, and so on. Some, but not all, of the crap you saw in the Jason Bourne movies really happens and it happens without the target's knowledge most of the time.
This kind of monitoring is obviously difficult to do in Traveller setting, so the indoctrination at a military academy [you can almost hear the slogans: 'Emperor, Imperium, and Honor'] and the loyalty chip are the two fail-safes that allow the psion their own life after honorable service.

 

[chibiko]

If the psion is trained at an imperial psionics institute and then employed by the Imperium, why not just use Telepathy to implant a suggestion of loyalty?
It would be less crude (or detectable) than a cortex bomb, and exactly how the suggestion is worded could create a lot of leeway of action on the part of the psion, such as whether the suggestion is of loyalty to the Imperium or specifically to the emperor, or whether the suggestion is to obey orders or to act in the best interests of the state/emperor, etc.
As with a bomb in the head, there is also the possibility of adventure to remove the suggestion. There are also all kinds of possibilities if the suggestion didn't take.

 

[ottarrus]

That occurred to me and there are a couple reasons why I chose the loyalty chip over telepathic suggestion, etc.
1. Telepathic Suggestion can 'wear off'. The recipient can attempt to shrug off the Suggestion if presented with convincing evidence.
2. Because most Imperial citizens are indoctrinated to feel negatively about psionics, giving the candidate a free and informed choice make the Imperium appear to be fair dealer. And fairness increases loyalty.
3. Authorized psions are recruited young from Academy students... their youth already makes them suitable for indoctrination and the Academy environment reinforces that loyalty and patriotism.

Loyalty chips cannot be subverted and does not doubt. The timer is not susceptible to either oratory or rhetoric. The implant surgery is performed at TL 15 and it is difficult to find some back alley 'ripperdoc' with both the skills and the facilities to remove the chip without extraordinary danger to the patient. And again, all this is spelled out in detail to the candidate.

 

[Condottiere]

I'm told that no one quits the Kay Gee Bee, and that retired American generals need permission to travel overseas.

Apparently, retired Western military aviators are being called on the carpet for training Chinese ones.

The Harkonnens have heart plugs.

 

[Garran]

Loyalty chips cannot be subverted and does not doubt. The timer is not susceptible to either oratory or rhetoric. The implant surgery is performed at TL 15 and it is difficult to find some back alley 'ripperdoc' with both the skills and the facilities to remove the chip without extraordinary danger to the patient. And again, all this is spelled out in detail to the candidate.

That's what they're told, maybe, but it's a matter of when, not if, a rogue faction, criminal interest, or foreign power finds a way to trigger or subvert the implants. One mass-kill (or forced mass-defection) of your agents later, very possibly by someone who just disliked the idea of the program, and the Imperium would be rethinking that method.

Sure, methods like suggestion and plain old indoctrination can wear off or be deprogrammed, but that's true of any agent, psi or otherwise. Giving one class of agents an extra built-in vulnerability is only going to backfire.