Onyx Path’s Month of Nightmares features games, stories, and more to celebrate the spirit of Halloween. Count down the days with us by reading our excerpts, participating in the discussion, or by taking advantage of our special offers leading up to a haunted Halloween.
Bhurano’s Theory
— Quantakinetic Proxy S. K. Bhurano, Introductory Address at the first Noetic Conference, Olympus, 10.8.2109
If we look back on the early 20th century, we see that most scientists thought that the great discoveries in physics had already been made. Some questions still needed to be answered, but the fundamental physical laws of our universe were considered “determined.” Of course, we know this was wrong. As the tools of scientific inquiry became more precise and opened up new realms of investigation or offered new insights into established beliefs, scientists realized how little they really understood about nature.
The same can be said for us, 200 years later. We have learned to communicate across the globe, we have conquered diseases, we have created weapons capable of massive destruction and we have even walked among the stars. We are proud of our “understanding” of the universe, and our accomplishments are considered evidence of our knowledge. But we are as deluded as the arrogant 20th-century scientist, for all of our accomplishments mean nothing when new discoveries undermine everything we hold to be true. The discovery of psionic energy is just such a revelation.
Psi is not a “new” force. Just as electricity, magnetism, gravity and the forces between atoms have always affected the universe, so too has psi. Until the emergence of the psions, however, we simply didn’t have the tools to perceive and manipulate psionic energy.
Hypothesis and experimentation have always been the bases of scientific inquiry. With them, Newton established the laws of motion and gravitation. Maxwell unified electricity with four fundamental equations. Einstein set forth light’s constancy and objects’ relative motions with the theory of relativity. And now I propose the parameters by which psi functions.
As science progresses, it becomes ever more challenging to quantify new theories. To do so, we must create the tools by which to test them. It was much easier to prove theories about gravity than it was to verify that particles smaller than atoms exist. Whereas Newton proved his theories by dropping objects, subatomic particles were proved to exist with the invention of accelerators and electron microscopes.
The subquantum universe – “psion particles,” as the quanta are known – exists all around us, as do protons and quarks. It’s always been here, just as molecules and gravity have always been. However, we weren’t able to study and quantify this realm until now. With the proper tools at our disposal – nothing less than psi abilities themselves – we can finally explore this last, unifying force of nature.
With this statement, the Chitra Bhanu proxy not only lays out some exposition regarding the background of the original Trinity (and, of course, the upcoming Trinity Continuum: Æon), she delivers a thesis about the Trinity Continuum as a whole: psi is not a new force, it’s always been here. It’s a statement which ties into one we’ve been using a lot: every age has its heroes. Although the explosion of psions are new on the scene as of the Æon era, they’re not the first people to manipulate psi, not by far. Naturally-occurring psiads manifest from time to time, such as Adventure!’s mesmerists. The same goes for other kinds of Inspired as well. Although some kinds of Inspired might dominate the landscape in certain eras, they’re nearly all there to some degree.
I’m reminded of an old joke:
Teacher: Oxygen was discovered in 1774.
Student: What did people breathe before then?
Obviously, people breathed oxygen before its 1774 discovery; they were simply ignorant about it. Likewise, there are people who are aware of noetic abilities long prior to the discovery of psion particles, they simply lack a scientific language to explain it adequately.
We’re looking forward to showing you all the new permutations the Continuum affords us.
The original Trinity Rulebook PDF is on sale for 50% off TODAY ONLY!
Actually, oxygen was dramatically edited into continuity around 1931. #spoileralert
Telekinesis has to be un-nerfed. Telekinesis needs to be powerful in order to be credible
Finally some lifesigns from Trinity 2.0! Gimme more! Am waiting for the new 2123 setting desparately! 🙂
The chibs were one of the most interesting orders for me personally.