Reader FAQs: Growing Up PsiCorp
It’s been a little over three weeks since The Stars Within launched, and I’m amazed and humbled to have readers around the world following Kerelle (and signing up for her next adventure!).
I’ve also gotten a number of questions about the world of Gift of the Stars. While there are some I can’t answer yet, others I’m happy to expound upon! As we come up on the release date for The Stars Unbound, I wanted to take a few minutes to answer some FAQs on a particularly popular topic: what’s it like growing up in the PsiCorp, anyway?
Q: What’s a typical age for being taken into the PsiCorp?
There’s two parts to this answer - when psionic powers start to develop, and when a young psionic comes to the attention of the multigalactics.
To answer the first part, the age range considered “normal” for psionic powers to start to manifest is between 4 and 9. There might be exceptions here and there, but generally if it hasn’t happened by age 10, it isn’t going to. Nalea alludes to this when she mentions how silly it was for SysTech to re-test her and her older brother after Galhen was taken - not only is there zero evidence that psionics run in families, but she and Balheren were both in their early teens. If they had somehow developed psionics at that age, it would have been a medical phenomenon.
Which brings us to the second part - when a psionic kid gets on the PsiCorp radar. Since there’s no way to know which kids are likely to develop powers, SysTech and the other multigalactic corporations take the efficiency approach: they go through the schools. Roughly once a year, corporate inspectors will visit and test every kid in first through fifth grade for signs of psionics. For the overwhelming majority of kids, this is just a weird thing that happens annually. For kids like Galhen, it’s the end of life as they know it.
Some young psionics, of course, get picked up outside of the school testing. Flashier powers like pyrokinesis and telekinesis can be pretty hard to keep under wraps. “Lit something on fire by accident, family got a visit from SysTech three days later” is a fairly common story among PsiCorp pyrokinetics.
Q: How is it legal for SysTech and the other multigalactics to kidnap psionic children?
Firstly, SysTech’s legal team would like to object to your use of the “k-word.” Systems Technology Corporation certainly does not engage in any kind of practices like kidnapping. The company exercises its right to acquire physical custody of psionically talented individuals within its designated territories. See? Totally different.
The serious answer is, it’s legal because these very large, very rich, very influential multigalactic corporate entities have spent a lot of money and effort keeping it that way. And as we see on Elekar, in some parts of the galaxy the line between private enterprise and government can be very blurry.
That’s all I’ll say on this for now, except that this issue isn’t going away for Kerelle and the other psionics anytime soon.
Q: What’s the actual environment like for PsiCorp kids?
When they’re first recruited, young psionics are brought to live at a care center that functions a lot like live-in elementary school. Aside from the whole kidnapping acquiring-physical-custody thing, the overall experience isn’t that different from mundane kids, with a focus on basic education and socialization. The underlying goal of that education, however, is to raise kids who feel like they belong in the PsiCorp.
Young psionics stay at the care centers until their early teens. Around when mundanes would start secondary school, the psionics transfer to the PsiCorp Academy. There are actually several of these scattered across SysTech bases, with difference specializations. Kerelle and Galhen met, for instance, because they were both in the Tallimau Academy advanced program for double-class-3 psionic teens.
I once described the PsiCorp Academy to a friend as “Hogwarts, if it were run by Mark Zuckerburg.” It’s where PsiCorp training gets serious about teaching students how to use their powers, and it’s a bit like going to magic school…but magic school where the ultimate point is to make money for other people.
That’s not to say it’s all a drag - just like regular school, there’s plenty of activities and outings to make it engaging. The point of all that, however, isn’t enrichment. SysTech’s goal isn’t just a superpowered labor force; it’s a superpowered labor force that wants to be there. The PsiCorp is positioned as something they were chosen for because of how special they are, not something they were forced into.
If SysTech’s childhood educators do a good job on the indoctrination, then the collars never need to be more than jewelry. That’s also why the PsiCorp have access to things like those no-limit corporate cards that Kerelle and Mila flash around.
Q: Do all those sweet PsiCorp perks apply to trainees, too?
Not directly. Academy students get rewarded with gifts and luxury trips to give them a taste for the expensive life, but the company credit cards are only issued to full PsiCorp agents.
Q: What happens when you graduate from the Academy?
You’re officially an agent of the Psionic Corps! You’re issued your rank and your card, and assigned to wherever the company thinks you can provide the most value. For powerful telekinetics like Kerelle this usually means the Security Force; for others, depending on their gifts, it could mean communications, industrial support, or even espionage.
Regeneratives like Galhen are unique here: they have a mandatory requirement to do at least two years in residency at a SysTech hospital near their home base. Some stay on at hospitals afterward for the majority of their careers. Others, like Galhen, are transferred to the field or other assignments once their residency period is up.
Got a burning question for the next FAQ? Let me know at lena@lenaalisonknight.com.