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As known to the team by virtue of their training.

These are the two forces which have shaped human history for the past 122 years. In 1998, aberrants began appearing randomly within the population. Their powers derived from the Mazarin-Rashoud Node, a lump of mutant nerve tissue that spontaneously appeared in the brain, made possible by a very rare genetic sequence. The sudden growth of the node was discovered to damage the brain and lead to mental instability.

It was discovered that aberrants’ powers come from the manipulation of quantum forces – aberrants literally twist the basic forces of the universe to do what they do. Too late, it was learned that the process of using aberrant abilities is inescapably corrupting. In the course of disrupting the gravitic, electroweak, and strong nuclear forces to produce their powers, aberrants were also tainting the workings of their minds. This process led to the eventual widespread physical mutations and mental defects that characterize aberrants in the present.

Taint energy is not like light or gravity; it is not a strictly radiant energy or persistent force. Instead, taint energy behaves most like radioactive fallout. It tends to occupy specific locations, it decays over time if not regularly produced, and it can be shaped to achieve particularly effects, all of which are caused by manipulation of fundamental forces.

In 2049, the United Nations declares aberrants to be a threat to humanity and all nations proceed to work to destroy them. Millions are killed. The Chinese issue an ultimatum in 2061, threatening to turn Earth into a glowing glass ball if the aberrants don’t leave. They do.

The psions are revealed in 2106 in Australia during an aberrant attack. Since 2104, the orders had been developing at the guidance of 8 very powerful psions, called the proxies.

Psi, or noetic energy, operates differently than taint energy. Noetic force operates “below” the other fundamental forces, but is not entirely unlike them. Psionic force can be thought to operate similarly to gravity: certain sorts of things have a great effect on it, but no matter what, its effects propagate throughout all locations and effect everything. Gravity responds to mass specifically, whereas noetic energy resonates most strongly with consciousness.

The propagation of noetic energy is technically instantaneous, with the results of its “arrival” in a particular location occasionally taking time to manifest. For instance, the teleportation of a leviathan jump ship is instant, but its translation to and from the noetic medium can take a short amount of time.

The most important result of this property is that using noetic energy never, by itself, harms the mind. Whereas taint disrupts the structures that keep a mind intact, psi energy reinforces the integrity of the mind and, to a lesser extent, all forces. Since psi energy resonates most strongly with conscious minds, the deliberate use of psi energy can leave a “psi print” of the user in the vicinity.

It is this differences that causes taint and psionic energy to react violently with one another; their effects are entirely opposes. Taint rips up nuclear bonds and weakens gravity while psi continually reinforces existing connections. If focused properly, either energy can be used as a weapon against the other. Individuals sensitive to either force can be harmed by the presence of its opposite.

Learned since arrival on Al Sadima.

Psi energy can be manipulated not only by the mind but through technological means. The discovery of a network of satellites in the system’s orbit which linked to a transmitter tower showed that noetic energy can be harnessed for means as mundane as communication. The tower’s primary purpose, however, was for the piggy-backed transmission of taint energy from the planet’s natives.

The fact that this could occurred revealed that the relationship between taint and psi was more complicated than initially believed. Rather than simply negating or disrupting one another, the transmitter showers that taint energy can be interwoven with psi energy, corrupting it in a way. This allowed for the long-range delivery of taint energy from the natives into humans – essentially, taint was translated into the noetic medium and reconstructed at its destination, the minds of human beings. The result was widespread neuroses and psychoses. The principle design of the transmitter seems to have come from the collaboration of natives and Tarik Ottena.

Experimentation with the transmitter revealed more. Taint energy can not only be directly channeled into human minds, but also into nearly any kind of object. Recalibration allowed the taint energy to be redirected into the planet’s plant life.

At the site, the team found the rogue quantikinetic, Tarik Ottena. The order called Chitra Banu, AKA “chibs,” was destroyed by the other orders in 2109 after evidence was gathered that the QKs had been cooperating with aberrants. The chibs’ powers allowed them to manipulate taint with psi, essentially temporarily gaining abilities like that of aberrants. While Tarik seemed stable both before and after his adjustment, the chibs at large were said to have begun to develop mental forms of aberrant taint syndrome.

Aberrant tissues similar to that produced by the Mazarin-Rashoud Node were found in a number of people, the most prominent being Mario del la Garza. After Mario was caught, the tissue seemed to begin growing quickly; this eventually caused his death. It seemed that the tissue may was used for communication and/or control of the subjects. The tissue also seemed to produce a glass or crystal lattice structure when implanted in the brain. It acted as a small relay for radio communication.

Finally, taint was show to be deeply concentrated in six particular sites on the planet. Three of these sites, all sharing a continent with the human colonists had regularly radio chatter from the natives. The other three, one on the colonial continent and two on the northern frigid continent were quiet. Two of these have been investigated. There are no traces of native presence, but one northern site had corpses of U.S. military soldiers. All six sites feature megalith constructions in various stages of completion.

All sites are linked by a strange network of stones which seem to all simultaneously house an interwoven line of voices. These 3 voices tend to speak simple thoughts in a stream of consciousness fashion, using the same radio language as the natives. They in turn seemed to have been coordinated through a complex computer system that operated from New Houston; this system instructed the three on how to maintain and restore communication when disruptions or other problems occurred.

Each location featured large open caverns beneath the stone construction. It has been discovered that psi use directly beneath a site’s central stone causes wild disruptions to both communications and the local level of taint.

The site closest to the colonies and particularly close to New Houston is the only native settlement featuring complete constructions, according to recent telepathic and radio probes. It likewise has what Ottena describes as highly concentrated levels of taint, and its increasing. Approximately 300 natives are known to live just outside of the area, which spans some 200 meters.