Psionic Education

When a Traveller obtains the PSI characteristic they must select one of the pre-Career options below, failing to do so will invariably kill the psychic - as they will have no way of keeping the metadimensional energies from destoying their body and mind.
Note that every one of these pre-Career options will reduce the psionic's SOC characteristic. This is reflective of how psionics are viewed and often at-least somewhat ostracised by interstellar society. If taking multiple pre-Career options from this page, for example taking if your Traveller is raised from youth to be psionic but also wants to attend a psychic academy during adulthood, do not reduce SOC again unless part of a graduation benefit.

Youth Prodigy

Psionic sensitivity often manifests during childhood, in which case the budding psychic's abilities can be carefully nurtured - by academy or private mentor - alongside their regular education. It is the ideal scenario according to many, the psychic can be raised from adolescence to be a responsible and obedient psionics-user - the perfect psychic citizen. But for such children, the stigma and separation that comes from their abilities marks them much earlier - they are often kept separate from other pupils their age, and tend to grow up noticeably more reserved and sensible than their more free-spirited peers.
By the time they reach adulthood, youth prodigies will be fully trained to utilise their psionic disciplines alongside the rest of their lives. From there, many enter into an adult psionics programme to further their education, but some launch immediately into their careers - psionics-based or no.
Note: If the child's abilities manifested and there was no psionic training made available, then they are in trouble - and surviving until adulthood is unlikely. See the 'Wild Talent' pre-Career option below.

Entry: Automatic, but must be taken before any other Career or pre-Career options. Does not consume any terms, Travellers will still be 18 after 'graduation'.
Testing: The young psion is tested for their initial disciplines. Roll at least eight times on the table in the Psionics article.
Skills: None
Graduation: Automatic. If EDU 10+, graduate with Honours.
Graduation Benefits:

• Reduce SOC by 1/3rd, or by 1 if graduating with Honours.
• Gain Conditioning 0, or Conditioning (Control) 1 if graduating with Honours.
• If taught at an Academy, gain EDU+1, or EDU+2 if graduating with Honours.
• If taught by a mentor, gain a Contact (their mentor) or an Ally if graduating with Honours.

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Psychic Academy

Most established post-Scream societies have developed some kind of formalised psionic training, normally comprising a ruler-sponsored institution where the MES-diagnosed may live, study, receive training, and then graduate - ideally into an approved career path. Entry will normally be free to any student, as having at least some control of the psionic population is preferable to the few surviving psychics being both completely independent and possibly resentful of a society that left them to torch. Such institutions, whether academic, technological, or military focused, tend to be either physically or socially isolated from the wider sector, which can often leave a Traveller lacking in some necessary skills when venturing out to begin a career in the real world.
It is unlikely that a psionic community will be among the upper echelons of society, but they will still have a strict hierarchy of their own. Rules and order are paramount for the teaching of such potentially-dangerous individuals, and a rebellious psychic is likely to be disciplined, shunned, expelled, arrested, or even executed depending on the world's opinion of those touched by MES.
Fortunately, most academies are keen to also be a home for their students, a safe haven from the scorn and dangers present outside its controlled walls. Many graduates even choose to remain within their academies even after their education ends - and in fact such communities may not be keen to see their promising prospects leave at all.

Entry: Guaranteed if in possession of the PSI characteristic, available in almost all postech/pretech-level societies.
Testing: Before obtaining the skills below, the young psion is tested for their initial disciplines. Roll at least eight times on the table in the Psionics article.
Skills: Conditioning 0, and the skills below based on the focus of the academy.
Psionics: Science (Psionicology) 1, Medic 0, Any Talent 0
Learning: Culture 0, Science 0, Language 0, Art 0
Military: Athletics 0, Melee 0, Any Combat 0, Recon 0
Psitech: Science (Psitech) 1, Electronics 0, Mechanic 0
Reduce SOC by 1, unless SOC already reduced from a previous psionic pre-Career option.
Graduation: EDU 6+, DM+2 if PSI 7+. If 11+ is rolled, graduate with Honours.
Graduation Benefits:

• Increase PSI by +1.
• Advance any academy skill by one level.
• Gain a level in any talent possessed.
• Gain Science (Life Sciences / Psionicology).
• Honours graduates gain SOC +1, can advance another academy skill, and may advance one of their possessed talents by another level.
• Can automatically enlist in any Psion career relevant to to their academy. If they do not enlist, the Traveller gains a Rival who is unhappy they left the community, Honours graduates gain an Enemy instead.

Optional Route: The Dousing Course

Some people who manifest psionic abilities simply do not want them. Ignoring them completely is a big risk, but psychic academies are often equipped to offer a simple 'dousing course' instead of a full psionic education - a four week programme so-named because it teaches only enough for the psychic to avoid torching themselves. These psychics which deny their abilities, often known as 'resting' psychics, can go on to live a perfectly ordinary existence - though a monitored one, as even resting powers can suddenly re-emerge, sometimes to disasterous results.
Should a Traveller take this option, they do not gain any of the skills, talents or characteristics associated with the rest of the Psychic Academy pre-Career option, but they also avoid using up a Career/pre-Career term. Their PSI characteristic remains as originally rolled, but cannot be used - except by the Referee should a strange-enough stimuli call for it. Resting psychic Travellers are free to try and redevelop their psychic abilities in the future.
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Psionic Mentorship

Sometimes, a budding psychic is taken in by a private mentor or mentorship; someone with enough metapsionics skill to keep their ward safe, and the time, patience and drive with which to raise a protege in their image - instead of shipping them off to the local academy. These pupils often become part of their mentor's community, and are habitually taught real-life skills alongside their psionic tutelage - based on what their mentor finds valuable.
Private psionic mentoring is not illegal on most worlds, but it is often regulated. If the mentor is tutoring the Traveller legitimately, then regular checkups are made to ensure that the learning and ideas offered are acceptable. This is reportedly a safety measure, but it is also a way that worlds can clamp down on problematic tutors. Pupils tend to mirror their mentors in both ability and ideology - both of which can be dangerous in the hands of a new psychic of unknown-prowess.
Whilst it is common for a pupil to remain in their mentor's community after graduation, perhaps even picking up their mentor's mantle, those that leave tend to be on their own - bereft as they will be of the career opportunities and official qualifications that come from an academy graduate.

Entry: PSI 6+, DM+2 if INT OR END 8+
Testing: Before obtaining the skills below, the young psion is tested for their initial disciplines. Roll at least eight times on the table in the Psionics article.
Skills: Mentor's primary psychic talent at level 0, Any two skills from the background skill list (p9) at level 0, Survival 0 or Streetwise 0 depending the mentor's location, Art (Truth) 0
Increase INT or END by +1. Reduce SOC by D3, unless SOC already reduced from a previous psionic pre-Career option.
Additional: Gain a Rival (the mentor).
Graduation: PSI 7+, if PSI 10+ is rolled graduate with honours.
Graduation Benefits:

• Increase INT or END by +1.
• Gain Conditioning 1
• Increase any possessed talent by one level.
• Honours graduates gain a level in their mentor's primary talent.
• Increase the mentor Rival to Contact, or an Ally if an Honours graduate.
• If the Traveller chooses to remain within their mentor's community after graduation, they lose 1 INT but gain SOC+1 and Art (Truth) 1.
• If the Traveller chooses to leave their mentor's community after graduation, they gain INT+1 and a level in either Survival/Streetwise, but lose a further 1 point from SOC.

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Wild Talent

Most psychics, on first manifesting their abilities, must find a tutor fast. The energies newly-cascading through their brains are an immediate risk, and without being told how to channel them safely the psychic will usually die or go insane. Some psychics, however, are exceptional - either being talented or just lucky enough to avoid torching until they teach themselves how to control their abilities safely. Indeed, following the Scream such 'wild talents' were vital in resurrecting the recently culled practice of psionic tutelage - but it cost many lives and minds before such talents emerged.
This is not a path that any psychic would normally choose, it is extremely dangerous and legitimate psychic tutelage is almost always freely available on modern worlds, but it can sometimes be an isolated psionic's only option.
Those that do learn to control their own abilities, 'graduating' their own self-taught programme of psionic conditioning, will tend to go in one of two directions. Either they return to their ordinary lives, keeping their powers as a hidden edge to assist their otherwise-mundane existence. Or, they become psionic pioneers - using their unique learning to enrich their own abilities and to challenge the stringent thinking of academy graduates.

Entry: PSI 11+, DM+2 if INT OR END 8+. Must be taken before any other psion pre-Career option. Failing to qualify requires a 1D roll on the Torch table. Qualification can be reattempted at a DM+1 per attempt.
This pre-Career option must be taken either before or alongside any Career or Pre-Career term, based on when the Traveller's psionic abilities manifested. If taken before a term, i.e. during childhood, reduce SOC by D3 but do not age during this term. If taken alongside a term, i.e. during adulthood, suffer DM-3 to any tests to Advance or Graduate during that term.
Testing: Before obtaining the benefits below, the young psion tests for their initial disciplines. Roll at least eight times on the table in the Psionics article.
Skills: Conditioning (Control) 1
Increase PSI by +1
Increase INT or END by +1
Reduce SOC by 1.
Decide whether to register as a psychic with the local authorities. If you do, reduce SOC by 1 further but gain ability to enlist into any legitimate Psion Career. If not, cannot enlist into any legitimate Psion Careers next term, but gain Deception 0. Being an undeclared psionic carries various legal penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment to execution.
Take DM+1 to any future checks required to enlist or advance within a non-Psion career, OR advance another possessed talent by one level and take DM+1 to enlist for a Psion Career.
Graduation: Can only graduate if this pre-Career option is taken during adulthood. PSI 4+, DM+1 if INT OR END 8+. If PSI 8+ is rolled, graduate with honours.
Graduation Benefits:

• Increase INT or END by +2
• Increase any talent possessed by one level, or by two levels if graduating with 'Honours'.