Description:
There is no psychic power more threatening and disturbing to normal humanity than that of telepathy. The prospect of having one’s innermost thoughts and secrets pried out by imperceptible means is deeply troubling to most men and women, and telepaths are often given a wide berth by others simply for fear of what private thoughts they might sift out.
Some worlds that are otherwise accepting of psychic powers go so far as to ban known telepaths and forbid the teaching of the discipline within their territory. Even those few that do, however, can rarely resist the urge to maintain some “government-approved” telepathic training program for candidates selected for their political trustworthiness or powerful backers. The benefits of having an imperceptible mental spy are too great for most states to forgo.
Most worlds do not ban telepaths. On these planets, the sheer rarity of psychic powers and the limited chance that any one individual might be unlawfully scanned outweigh any fear of unchecked telepathic intrusion. Telepathic testimony is almost never accepted in a court of law, however, outside of the most psychic-centered societies.
Almost all worlds forbid the uninvited use of telepathic powers on another person. The crime is very difficult to prove, but usually comes with harsh penalties. Open admission of an illicit scan is generally considered proof, so PC telepaths are advised to be discreet.
Telepathic shielding devices and substances do exist in very limited amounts. Even during the height of the Mandate, such resources were never abundant. Nowadays, only heads of state and similar elite personages might expect to shelter behind psionics-proof walls or have devices to alert them to telepathic tampering. Even then, many worlds will simply lack the pretech artifacts to erect such protection, even for their most important members.
Using and Detecting Telepathy
Telepathy operates at a very basic level of mental contact, and is not impeded by a lack of shared languages. While the basic forms of telepathy only function on intelligent creatures, aliens or transhumans with human-like cognition can be affected. VIs, True AIs, and other non-biological intelligences are not normally subject to Telepathy techniques.
Telepathy is a subtle ability, and targets of its technique will not normally be aware of it. Only those with metapsionic expertise or Telepathy-0 skill or greater can tell when they’ve been targeted by Telepathy. Others may suspect this influence, particularly if they’re aware of the existence of psychics and have just done something utterly inexplicable to their own reasoning. Certain extremely rare TL5 devices can also alert a target to the presence of telepathic tampering.