Psionic Abilities

Numerous Star Trek episodes across all series used telepathy. Yet, in a sim, there is always the concern that telepathy will be over used. It could become a golden bullet solving almost any problem. This is a trap to be aware of, and avoided. Therefore, the use of telepathy must be situational.

Star Trek: Theurgy Telepathy Rules

1. Keep it in the background mostly. Mention it in sim the way you would mention any other sense. For instance: if your character is in a rose garden, you might mention the scent of flowers in your sim. Essentially Telepathy is just another sense.
2. No silver lining is without a disadvantage. Keep in mind the down-side of being a telepath serving among those who have little control over their minds and emotions. What is it like to be on the Theurgy with minds all crying out? Or if your character look into the mind of a killer, perhaps s/he cannot sleep for the next week, and end up in sickbay. Nothing is free.
3. Assume your character and culture has a taboo about freely entering the minds of others. This will give you a reason for not uncovering everybody’s secrets.
4. Remember alien minds are just that. Perhaps there is difficulty interpreting what a lizard people’s thoughts really mean. This gives you a chance to do highly symbolic simming.
5. If you have a Telepathic or Empathic character, s/he can
   1. Read another character's current thoughts
   2. Feel another character's current mood (angry, sad etc.)
   3. Do so at varying distances depending on the strength of their abilities, but not through monitors, obviously.
   4. Do the above with varying clarity depending on circumstances and vividness of thoughts and emotions. Example: Reading a person's thoughts while he is fishing and isn't thinking about anything in particular will not yield much at all.
   5. Only read thoughts and feel emotions that are made perfectly clear in another writer's post, and not read something that shouln't be there according to the writer. Being too presumptuous in this regard equals godmoding, so please... please don't overuse these abilities in writing telepaths.
6. If you have a Telepathic or Empathic character, s/he can't
   1. Read non-current thoughts or feelings. Think of a character's mind as a map, and as the character thinks, a spotlight is moving across that map. The telepath may only be able to read what the spotlight is shining on.
   2. Click some button and 'download' the entire family history of a character, or know all previous acquaintances in another person's memory.
   3. 'Download' all the knowledge of secret Starfleet Intelligence information from someone who happens to pass by. Unless, of course, the intelligence operative in question is explicitly trying to solve some secret puzzle in his head at that exact moment, where the telepath will be reading the fitting of those pieces of the puzzles and not the entire context and scope of the image.
   4. Do what touch-telepaths do, where the shows several times show Vulcans delving into minds and learning things as if they are accessing a library. The mind-meld is very different from reading current thoughts.

Various Forms of Telepathy

A variety of psionic abilities were found in numerous species throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

Telepathy

The most common of the psionic abilities, telepathy allowed individuals to influence and communicate through either unspoken words or detailed images. Most telepathic species (i.e. Aenar, Betazoids, Vulcans) communicate with unspoken words. Imagery communication is less common (i.e. Cairn), but not impossible to learn. Certain telepathic species can read and influence the minds of other non-telepathic species. How intense these mind readings were depend on the specific species, individuals, and training.

Empathy

Another common psionic trait, empathy allowed individuals to sense, interpret, and influence the emotions of others. Many telepathic species also had empathic abilities. Empathy is quite common in offspring produced of a telepathic and non-telepathic union (i.e. Betazoids, Napeans, Vulcans).

Touch Telepathy

A less common form, touch telepathy required physical contact. The most famous form of touch telepathy is the Vulcan Mind Meld. The mind meld is a bridge between thoughts, emotions, ideas, and sensations. Other species (i.e. Letheans, Elsarians) had evolved into touch telepaths. Further, the mind meld could be used to establish links between multiple, otherwise non-telepathic beings: In 2377, Tuvok performed an extended technique of the mind meld, the "Bridging of Minds", on Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine, forming a bond between the two individuals, who were otherwise unable to telepathically link. (VOY: "Unimatrix Zero")

Psychic bond

A psychic bond was a long held belief among Vulcans that thoughts, feelings and images could be shared with another after they mated. In December 2154, T'Pol told Charles Tucker III that, as a result of their becoming intimate a year previously, they shared a psychic bond which explained why they saw each other in daydreams they had. The bond also made Tucker immune to the effects of Orion slave girls Enterprise NX-01 was carrying on board at the time due to T'Pol's Vulcan physiology. (ENT: "Affliction", "Bound")

Psychometry

A rare ability amongst telepathic races (i.e. Betazoids, Vulcans), psychometry allowed individuals to explore or even interact with past memories. Certain races (i.e. Ullians) had a natural affinity for it, however, and could even manipulate the memories of others. Psychometry rituals and therapy techniques are used to help heal psychic traumas.

Psychoprojectivity

A much rarer form, psychoprojectivity had two distinct forms: mental and physical. Physical psychoprojectivity allowed races (i.e. Aenar, Halanans) to manifest solid objects and even individuals (much like a hologram) into the real world. Mental psychoprojectivity, depending on training, allowed certain races (i.e. Botha, Reman) to create elaborate mental hallucinations within an individual’s mind.

Psychic Resistance

Some species (i.e. Ferengi, Breen, Câroon) naturally evolved to resist the many forms of psionic senses.

Telepathic/Empathic Rating

Telepaths can read thoughts, empaths can read emotions. The only exceptions are when reading the minds of species with four lobed brains, most notably, the Ferengi, or when a Câroon's energy body act as a king of jamming field. The ability of a telepath or empath can be easily referenced using the following table:

Telepathic/Empathic Rating
0	No telepathic or empathic abilities
0+	Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
1	Same species, touch only
2	Same species, no contact required
3	Species with two lobed brain, touch only
4	Species with two lobed brain, no contact required
5	Any species, touch only
6	Any species, no contact required
Readability
NR	Non-readable entity; most likely four-lobed brain

When writing the reference, include a T before the number for a Telepath (T3) and an E for an Empath (E5). Use NR for non-readable individuals. For instance, Ferengi would be listed as T0 NR because they possess no telepathic abilities (T0) and are non-readable (NR) due to their four-lobed brains.

List of T/E Ratings for Telepathic/Empathic Species and Non-Readable Species

Species	Population %	Ability	Rating	Related Abilities
Betazoid	All	Telepathy Empathy	T4 E4	Psychometry Psychic Bond
Câroon	All	Energy Body	T0 NR	Psychic Resistance
Elsarian	All	Telepathy	T3	Psychometry Psychic Bond
Ferengi	All	4 lobes	T0 NR	Psychic Resistance
Vulcan	All	Telepathy	T3	Psychometry Psychic Bond

Disclaimer Notice

Some info, like the rating system, is used with permission of USS Wolff CO - granted Nov 1, 2016
Rules inspired by The Basic Rules of Telepathy & Empathy by Fleet Captain Hollis and Fleet Admiral Wolf at Starbase 118