By Bruce Baugh
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The Aberrant era ended with the actions of Chinese leaders, and in many ways the Trinity era was born (and continues to be born) in Asia. This is a place where the future is constantly taking form, even as fresh challenges loom.
The Ministry of Psionic Affairs is unique among the psi orders in having great responsibilities beyond its boundaries, and actually being in the service of an entity more powerful than itself. Orgotek must deal with the FSA, but has tremendous power of its own, and Norça practically is the pan-national government of Sudamerica. The Ministry, on the other hand, is just what its name says: one ministry among several in the Chinese government.
The rest of the world regards telepaths with a mixture of fear and suspicion, and they're not wrong to do so. Telepathy can change people, deep inside, in ways that even vitakinetics and biokinetics are hard-pressed to match. It's one thing for one's body to change, quite another to suddenly love what one has hated or to forget what one has remembered...or to remember something that didn't happen. The Ministry must work constantly to show that its members do not abuse their trust, but remain bound by scrupulous ethics and constant surveillance and punishment of infractions. Even so, few people ever feel really at ease around a telepath.
Questions of identity loom large for telepaths, and now more than ever at the upper reaches of the order. Their proxy is physically dead, but lingers on as a discrete consciousness. This makes usually abstract philosophical questions very practical and urgent, as well as requiring the order (and those few outside who know the truth) to decide how to proceed now. Change must happen, and it's only a question of what form that change will take.
There's no single Asian culture. While some values are found in many societies, like the desirability of social hierarchy and the importance of family ties, they can take on wildly different forms. China's Neo-Confucian social structure is not like the Christian dictatorship of Korea or the crumbling hierarchies of Nippon, and while order and family remain important in Funan and Siam, they express themselves much less rigidly.
It is not an altogether happy time for Asia. Nippon's slow decline continues, exacerbated by problems that its leaders cannot reveal either to their own citizens or to the world at large for fear of popular reaction. The world is almost certainly not ready to hear that the island nation harbored hundreds of novas after the Exodus, and came to rely on them so much that they became the de facto government. Now they're gone, and the available substitutes cannot truly take their place. Meanwhile, on the western fringe of Asia, Ukraine and Russia goad themselves and each other into a frenzy for war, while independence movements flair along China's northern border and ever stranger aberrants gather in the jungles to China's south.
All of these crises remain open to resolution, and in many cases the forces involved are balanced so precisely that a handful of dedicated individuals can make a tremendous difference. This is, then, a time of opportunity as well as of challenge.
Asia Ascendant is arranged into the following sections:
Chapter One: The Ministry of Psionic Affairs explains how the Ministry came to be, what it does, and why. You'll see the truth behind widespread stereotypes, and a fresh perspective on the social obligations of psions.
Chapter Two: Telepathy presents some of the ongoing philosophical debates associated with Telepathy, then an extensive discussion of new techniques, including a treatment of "mindscapes" — mental landscapes offering fresh frontiers for roleplaying. Finally, learn the full story of the recent psionic disruptions and the mysterious Process 418.
Chapter Three: Asia covers the history and current affairs of the world's most populous region. China, Nippon and all their neighbors are here, with coverage of how they're governed, what their people do, and opportunities for characters both native to the region and from outside it.
Chapter Four: Roleplaying addresses practical issues: good resources for help in coming up with good character concepts, social concerns to keep in mind, and the nitty-gritty of life in a highly bureaucratic society (with rules as well as narrative description).
Chapter Five: Dramatis Personae documents Proxy Rebecca Bue Li's life, death, and continuing concerns, some of her important advisors, and key players in the life of Asian society. Templates provide examples of Ministry and other Asian characters, including beneficiaries of cutting-edge secret Nihonjin technology.
Appendix: Nihonjin Technology presents major new hardtech for players and Storytellers to use, and rules for creating and playing Nippon's artificially created supermen.
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