ESPers
ESPers are remarkable human beings who have come to possess preternatural, psychic powers. Two general categories of ESPers are considered to exist: those who have awakened their powers naturally, and those who have been artificially imbued with such psychic potential through top-secret operations. However, hybrid cases of ESPers do exist, wherein naturally present abilities have become enhanced by special procedures to yield the pinnacle of psychic power. The existence of ESPers is often kept secret by the powers that be, with their potential being often used as the trump card of these organizations.
Emergence of psychic potential within an ESPer can occur in one of two ways: through natural or artificial means. There are multiple paths within each way that can lead one to harboring such powers. Some naturally-imbued ESPers discover their latent powers during moments of intense emotion and stress, their powers bursting forth as a response to overwhelming circumstances. Others have simply always harbored these supernatural gifts within them, with these “naturally gifted” individuals being detained and subjected to experimentation with cybernetic modifications to further, artificially boost their powers. In the terms of fully artificial ESPers, psychic powers are conferred through rigorous and secretive genetic and cybernetic modifications. These transformations come at a price, sacrificing the subject's mental stability and paving the path for depersonalization.
ESPers possess a cornucopia of abilities, with each capable of reshaping and influencing the world around them. The most prominent abilities among them include telepathy, precognition, and telekinesis. Telepathy varies in its manifestation, ranging from mere mind-reading to sensing the proximity of other beings through their noo-presences; some forms of telepathy even allow the establishment of telepathic communication, which can lead to the phenomenon of psychic understanding. At the highest level, ESPers can attain a state of super-empathy, allowing them to grasp and comprehend the thoughts and emotions of others with astonishing clarity.
Precognition, another formidable power, grants ESPers glimpses of future possibilities. Some ESPers possess heightened intuition, enabling them to make instinctive choices and anticipate forthcoming events. The most gifted precogs can peer into the tapestry of time, witnessing potential outcomes and altering the course of events before they even unfold. Their visions, however, are not infallible, and the future remains a malleable entity shaped by the choices of individuals.
Telekinesis, the ability to manipulate the physical world through the power of the mind, stands as one of the most versatile and potentially devastating powers of ESPers—and the one that nations wish to express the most in their own individuals. Its scope ranges from the subtle manipulation of an object with a mere thought to explosive displays of destruction, either directly upon an object or as a result of collision. Such a fearsome display is what is striven for most in ESPer integration with mobile fencers, as it allows a force multiplier unlike anything seen in the conventional field of military engineering.
As remarkable as their powers may be, ESPers are not invincible, nor as god-like in power as some myths may assign. It seems true that there exists no measured limit or cap to psychic power itself; however, those who recklessly push beyond their own individual limits often find themselves “burned out”, their powers overwhelming and ultimately consuming their mind in the process.
While the label of “ESPers” is intended for humans, a unique parallel exists within the depths of the oceans of Plateia. Deep-sea megafauna, endowed with evolved telekinetic abilities, utilize this power to support their immense bodies in the otherwise inhospitable depths. These enigmatic creatures possess secondary nervous organs, intricately intertwined with the neural circuitry of their primary brains. These pericerebral organs, known as psychic organs, are industrially harvested (and, in rarer cases, lab-grown through cloned DNA) to be integrated into the psychic warfare systems of ESPer-driven mobile fencers, such as the Coalition's Dragoon Bennu. The process of synchronization between an ESPer and the psychic organ is dangerous, however, due to the imbalance of psychic potentiality between the human brain and such an organ. Artificially-created ESPers have never been able to integrated with mobile fencers that use these organs, for reasons unknown—only naturally gifted ESPers have had any degree of success.
Secrecy
The government and corporate approach to maintaining secrecy about ESP, in the midst of the Solar War, involves a multitude of information control protocols as a result of the nigh-incomprehensible social and cultural impacts that such a revelation would otherwise cause. Chiefly, control on the existence of espers is conducted through strict classification procedures; this is done on an individual-by-individual basis for practically all organizations that operate with such knowledge, with dispersal of information being controlled by the highest of culpable authorities.
As espers see more and more fielding on the battlefield, however, disinformation campaigns become a tool to prevent public perceptions from skewing too far into belief in such. This includes disparagement of particular individuals, undermining their credibility through legitimate or fabricated means.
To both control the narrative and seek more of these potent individuals for their own control, nations and corporations in the know regarding ESP have also begun large-scale campaigns to search for potential espers through the subversion of medical, psychological, and educational institutions by means of operatives with objectives of isolating and, over time, recruiting or even capturing these individuals.
The tenability of deploying espers specifically for the capture and control of ones in the wild has been weighed by the various blocs, but the potential of catastrophic failure in these operations by collateral damage has rendered these suggestions largely moot.
Sociocultural implications
The sociocultural implications of ESP and psychic phenomena run deep within the foundations of human society. The susceptibility of the mind to invasion (even if passive in nature) from an exterior force has led to the consensus from those who know of its existence that such a phenomenon is a grave threat to any and all forms of individuality, both on a political and personal level.
The innate nature of ESP and other psychic phenomena, with its current inability to be understood by conventional science in any way except for basal measurement of its effects and association with neurological structures, lends itself as a sort of proof of the supernatural. Even if ultimately obeying some form of scientific reasoning that humans have not yet come to unveil, ESP has nevertheless led to an increase in spiritual and religious affirmation or conversions from those who see it as a sign of divine involvement with base biology. Ardent irreligious folk see it differently: as a sort of signal towards an apical height of evolution, since such phenomena were originally observed in titanic marine organisms.
It is anticipated that, if the widespread public become aware of ESP, that it will lead to a massive, radical shift in politics and attitudes, the likes of which never before seen; this is as a result of not only the technological possibilities that it offers, but the sheer power that it offers the possessive individual, in addition to being a grave threat to the notions of individualism. This, in turn, will naturally evolve to normal humans perceiving espers as an existential danger, and not just as a military tool—rather, as an infiltrator that can break down thousands of years of human society and identity if left unfettered.
Post-war public knowledge
From the late period of the Solar War into the postwar era, the fallout caused by the existence of ESP becoming public knowledge reverberated across human civilization. The existence of espers alone caused a multitude of shockwaves across society, affecting realms such as religion and spirituality to common conventions of science, politics, and even stretching into socioeconomics. However, their pre-defined usage as weapons and intelligence gatherers during the war by the different warring factions had underlined the fact that they could also serve as direct threats to both military and civilian populations. The most interesting effect of this event, however, may be the emergence of cults around ESP and psychic phenomena, which holds major political implications for the future.
Although the natural instances of espers were recorded as being exceedingly low, both before and during the war, the fact that their mere existence was now reality to the general public caused an uproar; the fact that humans existed who naturally wielded “supernatural” power instantaneously created conflict in both the realms of science and religion. In the former realm, all sorts of theories emerged to explain how this was possible; if it was a natural consequence of neurological evolution, if it was evidence of alien intervention in the natural progression of Plateian life, or if ESP and psychic phenomena indeed opened a path to things that could not be explained by conventional science. From religious and spiritual circles, immediate theological disputes erupted in almost every known sect - if this was the power of good or of evil being chief in the arguments made. Overall, many irreligious began to doubt their positions to a certain degree, and those who were already religious were attempting to explain such phenomena in line with their faith and dogma.
Politically and philosphically, all orientations were alarmed by their existence. The fact that “superhumans” existing was now no longer a sci-fi fantasy, but instead reality, spelled grave fate to the notions of personal liberty, freedom, and equity. Mind-reading was seen as violatory to the innate nature of the individual, and coercion through mental infiltration was antithetical to the precepts of any democratic ideology. Authoritarians saw the emergence of espers as a threat to the old order; the more radical and unorthodox of both orientations saw ESP as a tool to reach their ideal utopia, which would in turn lead to the formation of the first underground psychic cults.
With knowledge of ESP and psychic phenomena spreading rapidly through information quarantines and physical cordons, all blocs saw degeneration in stability across the home fronts. Riots, witch hunts, and other acts of violence would be perpetrated as a result of perceptions of the basis of human society up to that point being invalidated; for some people saw espers as direct threat to their identity as human beings, while others saw the old order as now being antiquated and unnecessary in the face of a new platform of power and control. The underground cults that would rise in the wake of this revelation sought to utilize the existence of ESP for their own ultimate means…
Although psychic phenomena was the most ground-shattering yet to be revealed to humanity for practically all of known human history, it did not spell the immediate end to the powers that be. Espers were exceedingly rare in any natural incident rate, which meant that they held no real control beyond their direct means. Baseline humans would still be the absolute majority no matter what, and there was no government that would allow the subversion of thousands of years of human history by what was seen as a novel problem. Thus, governments assured that this phenomenon would be controlled; even so, since espers had already seen weaponization during the Solar War, these promises would not be seen in high regard.