Kainan Wolfe
Shadow of War
BLACKWATCH PSI CORPS
- Intent: To provide a special communications and interrogation unit to the EE
- Image Credit: Killzone: Shadow Fall (Picture, Header elements) BadRobots (Concept artist for the game, scroll down for image, left collumn), Myself (Headers, Psi Corps logo)
- Role: Special Communications and Interrogation Specialists
- Links: Blackwatch Death Squads, Camp 9
- Unit Name: Blackwatch Psi Corps
- Affiliation: Eternal Empire
- Classification: Infantry, Communications & Interrogation Specialists
- Equipment:
- Sk-UL Armor
- Military Comlink
- KC-77N Hybrid Pistol
- Lucius-pattern Bayonet
- PA-1N Enhanced Interrogation Device - Description: Easily recognized by the uniform trench coats that they wear over their Sk-UL armor, emblazoned with the all-seeing-eye emblem of their unit, Psi Corps operatives are a special branch of Blackwatch, the Shrouded Republic's espionage and secret police organization.
Chosen from a pool of Force-sensitive individuals who show an aptitude for mental abilities, but who's other talents are too weak for admission into the Wardens of the Shroud, the Psi Corps are a special interrogation and communications unit that are embedded amongst the various regular branches of the military, intelligence and occasionally, law enforcement as well.
Undergoing a grueling training and indoctrination regime, Psi Corps operatives are brainwashed into fanatical loyalty towards the state and are taught to use their talents for communication, investigation and interrogation, allowing them to serve as a biological communications network of sorts, which can relay information back and forth between individual operatives, bypassing electronic communications jamming altogether.
Additionally, Psi Corps operatives excel at the task of interrogation, making use of a combination of torture, psychological coercion, manipulation and their mentalist abilities in order to extract information from captives, although this comes with a double-edged sword, as a Force User that is skilled enough in mentalist skills, can easily turn their own abilities against them.
Because of their specific abilities and the training regime they undergo, Psi Corps operatives are mentally unstable and often suffer from various mental illnesses, leaving them extremely vulnerable to mental and psychological attacks that exploit these weaknesses, attacks which can potentially push their minds past the breaking point and leave them in an irrecoverable vegetative state.
Additionally, as Force sensitives, their abilities can be completely neutralized by Ysalamiri, Void Stones, or other Force negation methods and because of their focus on mental abilities and light armament, they are ill-suited for combat and will fare very poorly against almost all opponents, requiring them to be provided with adequate protection at all times, while deployed.
Aloof and mysterious, Psi Corps operatives are a much feared component of the Shrouded Republic's apparatus of repression and often their very mention is enough to intimidate civilians into compliance, something that the state is aware of and fully exploits for propaganda purposes.
- Unit Size: Small
- Deployment: Rare
- Unit Experience: Elite - Psi Corps operatives are highly experienced and well-trained agents, well-versed in various enhanced interrogation techniques and telepathic communications. New recruits undergo an extremely lengthy and grueling conditioning and training regime, which develops their skills and also instills into them the fanatical loyalty to the state, which is a requirement, given the function that these operatives perform
- Combat Function: On the battlefield, or amongst the ships of the Eternal Navy, the operatives of the Psi Corps branch of Blackwatch serve as a method of secure communications, which are extremely difficult to jam and nearly impossible to intercept, since they use telepathy to relay messages, rather than conventional technological means. This makes them an extremely effective and powerful asset, as it allows Imperial commanders to bypass enemy electronic warfare and maintain at least some level of cohesion, under most circumstances
- Telepathy (Knight): Psi Corps operatives are trained to use telepathy for communication, effectively turning them into biological comlinks that bypass electronic jamming and can also use their skills to interrogate captives that are under duress, the effectiveness depending on the captive's level of stress, as well as their willpower and this type of interrogation can not be performed from a distance greater than one meter
- Force Fear (Apprentice): Trained to extract information from captives, Psi Corps operatives make use of Force Fear to interrogate their prisoners
- Psychometry (Apprentice): Often serving as investigators and interrogators, Psi Corps operatives are trained to use Psychometry to pick up clues about the objects they are investigating (the interrogated character's writer decides which information is revealed)
- Mentally Unstable: Due to the specific training and indoctrination that Psi Corps operatives undergo, they are mentally unstable and should a skilled Force User with superior mentalist abilities use their skills against them, they could be easily pushed over the edge and left in a irrecoverable vegetative state
- Combat: Psi Corps operatives are interrogators, investigators and communications specialists, not front-line soldiers. Lightly armed, these operatives fare extremely poorly in combat and are very vulnerable if left unprotected
- Insane: Because of their training and specific abilities, Psi Corps operatives often suffer from various mental illnesses that can be exploited against them
- Numbers: Due to the specific requirements of the Psi Corps, potential recruits are hard to find. Additionally, not all recruits survive their training with enough of their minds intact to leave them functional individuals, thus Psi Corps operatives are very rare and only ever deployed in extremely small numbers
- Force Negation: Relying on their Force sensitivity for their abilities, Psi Corps operatives can be completely neutralized by Ysalamiri, Void Stones and other Force negation methods
Created soon after the Eternal Empire's founding in the wake of the collapse of the Ancient Eye to serve as a special communications and interrogation unit for the Blackwatch secret police, the Psi Corps have gained a much-feared reputation, the horrible rumors circulating about them being the only source of public information on the unit, since any and all official reports surrounding their activity, are highly classified and closely guarded secrets.
It is unclear exactly when the Psi Corps program began, as the training of new operatives reportedly takes well over half a decade, possibly more, but sightings and rumors about them began circulating even before the Siege of Copero. Since the beginning of the successful crusades against the Jen'ari, Psi Corps operatives are confirmed to have been part of every major deployment of forces by the Eternal Empire and may have also played a role in the events surrounding the destruction of the dissident faction led by [member="Kay Larr"], which was attempting to usurp the Eternal Throne from Darth Tacitus' grasp.
Following the souring of relations between the Eternal Empire and the Confederacy of Independent Systems in the wake of the Confederate-Mandalorian Wars, Psi Corps once again faded from public view, no doubt resuming their peacetime role as interrogators, some speculation regarding their activities circulating amongst conspiracy theorists, ranging from logical, to outright absurd.
It is rumored that a significant number of them are deployed at Camp 9, the Eternal Empire's biggest detention facility and one of the most feared prisons in the entire galaxy, due to the extreme brutality with which its inmates are being treated. However, given that Camp 9's personnel records are classified, it is unknown if this rumor is true, although it is likely, given the facility's nature and their role within the Imperial government.
[spoiler="Changelog November 29, 2019]
- Updated affiliations
- Overhauled submission to bring it in line with the latest template
- Added KC-77N pistol
- Added Lucius-pattern bayonet
