Teruvars and PSI

Something that has been present throughout my development of the StarCluster game has been the presence in the setting of PSI. This was been vitally important in StarCluster 1E (2002), slightly less so in StarCluster 2E (2004), and has become less and less important since. In StarCluster 3E it was definitely de-emphasized, and in StarCluster 4E it will be entirely optional, with PSI skills being completely removed, replaced by using normal skills with PSI, as I did with Lowell Was Right!. My other games frequently become laboratories for new ideas which later become integrated into StarCluster.

What does this have to do with Teruvar? Game designer +Kyrinn S. Eis asked me on G+ if Teruvar had PSI. If so, they could co-habit the body of a Human or Jeshen, bestowing long healthy life in return for service as a representative. That is such a sweet idea! Still, the possibility of a being of Teruvar scale having PSI just scares me. What if they just casually decided to take over the people inside them as meat puppets? What if they got angry and decided to order a world to commit suicide? What if they just let go an angry bomb that worked like a massive EMP and wiped the minds of a world's entire population clean. How do you fight that kind of power?

Answer: You embrace it. PSI is optional in StarCluster 4, so let it be a similar choice on the group level. I can supply some ideas, but I won't make that final decision. Here are some interesting possibilities, and here are some frightening ones - you decide if you want this in your setting. StarCluster 4 is all about choices - the full game lets you choose setting, game mechanic, and virtually everything about the game. You select from the choices, and the pdf is generated with those choices. Turn and face the strange!