Psyguard

No more nightmares, no more fears, no more terror, no more leers...

— psyguard wearer

Psyguards are a Vexuan invention that hook into an individual's brain through their ears, allowing the psyguard access to their thoughts. They are considered a protective item, as they connect with the wearer's psyche and block unwanted thoughts from reaching the conscious mind.

Vexuan Augmentations by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Powered by of psychic energy and a connection to Vexua's integrated maginetworks, psyguards are functional only within Vexua's areas of influence. This is somewhat intentional; Vexua, as a nation, is highly isolationist. Knowing that one's fears and hatreds will return outside of the country's borders is a strong motivator for inhabitants to remain within their home, within Vexua's strict rules and endless bounty of joys.
Not enough news travels beyond Vexua's towering walls to explain details of the inner workings of the psyguards, nor the full details of their invention; the details listed within this document are largely educated assumptions based on second-hand accounts, and rare fragments of showboating from Vexua's ambassadors and androids.
Only one psyguard has been discovered outside of Vexua's exclusion zone when it washed into a town in Laminaeles, in the Luari Ocean. Its damaged, rusting state did not prevent researchers from determining some of its functions, and it is now displayed in Arcayah's Museum of Vexuan Artifacts.

Construction

I'd love to be able to speak to the people who invented these - it's quite fascinating, but extremely ethically doubtful...

— scholar

Creating the psyguards alone would have been a major challenge, but as they are allegedly worn throughout Vexua, configurability and adaptability would be a major challenge in their construction. Anatomy can differ strongly between species; though elves, humans, and dwarves look similar in many ways, these three species are from very different origins and don't share as much anatomy as one might expect - brains are especially different.
The fragmented psyguard stored in Arcayah seems to have been made for human ears, with indications of parts able to be swapped out for other species - such as to adapt to pointed elven ears, or to deal with webbed undine gills.
To configure them to an individual, an external tool seems to be needed. A small hole present on the psyguard's underside indicates an area where some form of connection can be made with another machine, presumably allowing the upload of different configurations to target specific thoughts, feelings, or memories, as the individual wishes.

Connected by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

A Vexuan ambassador laughed when asked about this process, declaring that it "was a trivial process that we manage ourselves"; unfortunately, she gave no further indication on how this process worked.

History

I heard some of them choose to erase entire chapters of their life. Someone dies? They get erased, save for a vague concept of what was once there. It's so bizarre.

— disgusted scholar

Psyguards are a relatively new development in Vexua's technological repertoire. Prior to their existence, inhabitants with extreme mental challenges presenting thoughts that could not be quelled would often instead opt for surgeries or intense regimens of drug therapy to suppress their traitorous, harmful thoughts, according to current understanding of Vexua's society.
As far as is currently known, the past millennia of Vexua has not tolerated mental illness: unlike other nations, it has always been considered a flaw to be fixed.

Mental Connections by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

The invention of psyguards is likely tied to the recent appearance of psychic magic in mortals. Attempting something similar with arcane or divine was more than likely impossible; other nations had attempted similar, albeit less advanced, magics in spellcraft, and seen no strong progress outside of spells that suppressed wills entirely.
Like those spells, psyguards seem to be a form of enchantment magic that likely adopts abjuration principles in order to block thoughts. Veilmynde, as mentioned in the sidebar, is similar.
Their use allows Vexuan society to erase negative events and to manage their own resistance to the Vexuan regime, if any exists. Psyguards are entirely voluntary in use according to the nation's ambassadors, and only the wearer can appropriately set their configurations. Given the questionable ethics of psyguards - if it is even possible for an item that alters mental functionality to this degree to be considered ethical at all - this statement's truth is questioned often.

A common assumption within external research circles aware of their existence is that social pressure encourages Vexuan folk to wear the psyguards even if they would not choose to do so, and when worn, the item likely comes with pre-defined thoughts it eliminates to maintain the 'peaceful' population. Whether these presumptions are true or not, the question remains: is it ethical to allow individuals this level of control over what they feel and think?

Psyguard by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Item type

Electronic / Cybernetic

Creation Date

Mid-5000s

Related Technologies

• Psychic Magic

Owning Organization

Vexua

Weight

2 grams

Base Price

Unknown

Psychic Links

Psychic magic is so key to the likely workings of psyguards because it is drawn from the mind, unlike other forms of magic. This allows it far greater access to one's mind, and a far easier time of manipulating what it sees.
In the rest of Istralar, psychic mages are unfortunately targeted by some unknown force, and are killed before they can make much progress. It is not known if this same issue has stymied Vexua's psychic investigations.
With that said, mages in Shiar have developed the technique of Veilmynde, which functions extremely similarly to psyguards, albeit with significantly more risk involved.
It is not known which came first out of the two inventions; most likely, it was simultaneous.