Metaphysics

The galaxy is largely secular and materialistic, compared to fantasy settings, but that doesn't mean there's no such thing as magic and superstition. Much of it is, of course, false or imagined, but in a big enough universe, strange things can happen.

Psionics

In the beginning, nobody had psionics. But after a few run-ins with the (mind flayers -- insert better name here), the Soleni got tired of being disadvantaged. With a combination of extreme bravery and foolishness, they managed to capture living specimens of the species, and reverse-engineered the secrets of psionics from there.

It is now understood that psionics is not magic, but a form of genetic engineering, by which the (mind flayers) have engineered an organ that connects the brain directly to hyperspace. The mechanism is necessarily complex, but much of it resides within hyperspace itself. The Psionic Studies Institute calls the mechanism "The Hive", as it connects the minds of the countless trillions of (mind flayers) and their thralls. To make use of this, the Soleni psions created a "shadow" hive, which piggybacks along the Hive, but hides its nature and intent from them...presumably. The call it The Shroud, although generally not in public--this whole story isn't something widely known.

Naturally, the (mind flayer)-inspired genetic modifications are not all that palatable to most. Only a select few have the right neurology to even attempt the modifications, and most who undergo them...fail. This has preventing the Soleni from adopting psionics en masse, but they have enough of them to be useful.

And since they do, other sentient races have had to reluctantly try to copy their feat, lest they fall behind in a metaphysical arms race. Notably, the Arcor refuse to do so, but then, they have their own mystical arts which they are happy to rely on in the presence of psychic Soleni spies.

Most psionic practitioners focus on the more "mundane" powers, such as:

But a few transcend these limitations, finding themselves able to manifest more visible powers such as:

Since the power source of psionics is Hyperspace itself, the amount of excess energy needed to accomplish "impossible" feats is quite abundant, and hyperspace conveniently forms the bridge to connect one's mind to distant physical objects or other minds. The real challenge is learning how to harness the mental discipline to think in higher dimensions, and thus to use the Shroud to manifest physical phenomena, all without losing one's mind to the maddening reality that is the Shroud itself.

The Spore

The Arcor do love trees. They spend astronomical amounts of resources to preserve natural environments, and have been known to fight bloody wars, willingly sacrificing millions of lives, to defend zero-population worlds. Worlds with life, but no sentients. Worlds whose resources aren't even being harnessed by the Arcor.

They say it's because they treasure Life in all its forms.

The truth is, a parasite has taken over their brains.

It's not their fault. While they had achieved immense mastery of biology and medicine on their homeworld of Solen before ever arriving on their new homeworld of Tyrol, the true dominant lifeform of Tyrol has been evolving its own mastery of genetics and biology for literally billions of years.

The Spore is a lifeform with no known point of comparison. It isn't a specific set of cells--it's not a plant, nor fungus, nor animal. It isn't a strand of DNA. Rather, it is a construct of genetic information that memetically inserts itself into other lifeforms' DNA, making itself an integral but subtle part of their host, influencing them to--well, mostly do what they would anyway: reproduce and spread.

The Spore evolved on some unknown, distant world, but thanks to some presumably sentient species on that world, it spread into space, and has infected countless worlds since. As a genetic meme, its existence was not even hypothesized for some time, so sentient races would happily settle infected worlds, only to become infected themselves. Once infected, there are fairly clear indicators, assuming one is familiar with the infected host's normal behavior.

When fully integrated, Sporelings (a somewhat problematic term, but it has stuck) lose their original identity, and identify as part of the Spore's race, or at least one of its previous host races. This is because the memetic strands record memories and pass them down through genetic material. There have been cases of settlers of a sentient species becoming infecting, and taking on the identity of a now long-dead species, resurrecting their knowledge and culture through the memory of the Spore.

It isn't all bad to be taken over by the Spore. Having access to ancient memories can grant a sentient being skills and knowledge without the need to learn or train. Of course, it isn't as simple as plugging kung fu into your brain. Most Sporeling cultures treat it as a mystical process, where one must earn the right to host the "spirits" of the past. "Shamans" will undergo rituals to take in ancient memories, taking on the persona--along with skills and knowledge--of some long-dead person.

As a consummate master of genetics, the Spore modifies its hosts to suit its needs. They are physically different from their original selves, and the mutations are not random: the Spore is aware of which traits best suit its needs. Compared to their original species, Sporelings tend to be physically superior, but also warlike, imperialist, impatient, impulsive, rapacious, and fecund. In other words, the Spore likes conquerors. It much prefers hosts who are likely to invade every planet they can find, and interbreed with whoever they find there, as this suits the needs of spreading the Spore as far as possible. Whatever societal weaknesses this causes are not a concern, for if one host civilization falls, it will likely do so after spreading the Spore to many new worlds.

The Dekori are the largest current race known to be infected with the Spore. Their rapacious conquests have been a constant source of conflict in recent times, and although they lack the technological sophistication to overpower the combined efforts of the Arcor and their allies, who have successfully seized all Dekori homeworlds and rendered them fleetless, they remain an abundant race, scattering throughout the galaxy with no need of central organization. They are eager to fight, and they're good at it, making them ideal mercenaries, bounty hunters, etc. Generally, Sporelings can only spread the Spore through reproduction, so having a Dekori on an uninfected world doesn't mean that whole world will now be infected--plants and fungi with the Spore are much better at that than animal hosts. Thus, the Arcor do not consider it morally defensible to exterminate the Dekori, nor to limit their freedom of movement, but they do keep a close eye on the Spore, and will take action to prevent it from claiming new worlds, especially those with sentient life on them.

Bold words from a people who are probably infected themselves.

You see, the Arcor are ruled by noble houses, each of which has a single tree that they claim connects them to their ancestors. All such trees are supposedly from Solen, and although making trees live for millennia is a believable ability for such masters of genetics, it certainly seems like the extremely verdant world of Tyrol would be a better spawning ground for such magnificent dendritic specimens than, say, the completely irradiated wasteland of Solen.

These nobles are stronger, smarter, and more "mystically pure" than their peasant counterparts, and they spend a lot of time in the vicinity of their tree. Everyone is born in the pools of water where the trees take root, and the dead are interred amidst the roots, to be drawn back into the tree in death. And thus, these nobles have access to the memories of their ancestors, including skills and knowledge they couldn't otherwise have access to.

Hmm. HMMMMMMM.

But yeah, they totally aren't infected. They just use their gigantic, super-powered armada to protect entire worlds with no sentient life on them...because they love trees.

What can it do

As mentioned, ordinary Sporelings enjoy physical superiority, particularly in traits that help them fight, survive, and procreate. The energy for this is not mystical--they have higher metabolic needs than normal, but otherwise use organic means to power themselves.

More disciplined minds can learn to invoke the "spirits" of their ancestors, i.e. harness the epigenetic memories of ancient skills and knowledge encoded by the Spore. Since their hosts are generally warlike, this often means even more skill-at-arms, but other such skills are possible. The Spore has infected countless species across time, and remembers bits and pieces of everything--some of its memories may even be of technologies long lost to the modern universe.

On Spore-infected worlds, Sporelings enjoy a high degree of connection with the other flora and fauna infected with the same parasite. Some can use this deliberately, influencing the actions of animals, or even motile plants and fungi. A Sporeling in the wild on their home planet is peerless as either predator or prey, with a near-perfect understanding of their environment, a blind sense of all lifeforms in their vicinity. If one enters a Sporeling forest, everyone in it will know within seconds.

Out of their element, in sterile space stations and starships, they are far less potent, and they generally don't prefer such environments. Sporelings serving long shifts on such quarters grow restless and uncontrollable even faster than usual. They thrive in natural environments, and when they have the means to do so, they make their ships and space stations as verdant as possible.

The Monolith

On the planet of Zorath, an otherwise barely hospitable desert world, there is a true oddity: a massive, 2 km tall monolith of black stone. Scientists have ruled out every natural origin for this phenomenon, leaving alien intelligence as the likeliest source, despite evidence that it has been in the same position for billions of years. The stone itself has refused all efforts to study its composition, as it seems to have the ability to affect any physical force in its vicinity, making EM, gravitic, and even nuclear force scanners unable to penetrate its exterior.

Naturally, people have come to worship the monolith, as evidence of some sort of god, or at least god-like aliens. At any given time, many millions of pilgrims are planetside, conducting what is to them a compulsory religious pilgrimmage to visit and worship at the monolith. An entire industry has popped up around this pilgrimmage, offering transit, hospitality, and life support needs for pilgrims. A government has emerged to ensure safe and orderly conduct around the artifact, and to manage the immense traffic it generates.

It might just be a curiousity...if not for the fact that it makes choices.

The goal of every pilgrim is to touch the monolith. In doing so, the vast majority experience--well, who can say what subjectively, but objectively, nothing. However, amidst the countless millions of attempts are many credible tales of diseases cured, of visions of future life paths made manifest by abrupt changes, and even several "chosen ones", who retain metaphysical abilities after contact, spreading "miracles" to other believers. Frustratingly, none have yet submitted to sufficient scientific study to determine what, if anything, can explain their transformation.

etc tbd

The Void

The Grey Ooze

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