The Hidden Mind

Over the past several hundred years, the T'ka'an that have chosen to remain within the territories claimed by the New Terran Hegemony have had to come to terms with the imposed restrictions on their innate psionic capabilities. For most, this has simply meant compliance. For these, wearing the Psionic Dampener has become a way of life, with individuals removing it only while grooming. Many of these do not train their young in psionic disciplines; allowing their potential to wither from disuse. Others comply with the law, but offer some passive resistance by decorating their dampeners with symbols of bondage and oppression. These will sometimes attempt to exercise their abilities, but do so in secret more out of curiosity than rebelliousness.

But a small percentage of T'ka'an truly believe that the majority are forgetting their species history and potential by submitting to the mandates of the fearful Humans. These wish to, at the very least, preserve the psionic "gifts" which the T'ka'an were imbued with. These are the members of a loose association known as the Hidden Mind.

 

Offshoots

There are a few Teachers scattered throughout the Hegemony that are not happy with the non-defiance policies that the Hidden Mind adheres to. The most radical of these is a group that calls itself the Awakening Mind. These T'ka'an wish to exercise their skills in a way that says to Humans, "You may think that you made our psionics go away with these helmets, but you are wrong." They plan and carry out what some would consider to be practical jokes, never intending to be destructive or deadly.

Beliefs and Practices

The T'ka'an of the Hidden Mind believe that failing to embrace their psionic abilities is tantamount to denying their entire species heritage. Talents developed over millennia of evolution and advancement should not be thrown away because of what they perceive as an inevitably short-termed oppression by a species fearful of these abilities. They do not promote overt defiance, but they do believe that T'ka'an psionic skills should remain sharp so that they would be ready for the day when psionic dampeners become a thing of the past.

The Hidden Mind organizes underground education and training available to any T'ka'an - young or old - that wishes to develop their psionic talents to their fullest capacity. Its membership primarily consists of small local groups scattered across any world in the Hegemony where there is a nontrivial T'ka'an population. These groups have no formal connection with each other, but there is an informal communication network among groups. Groups are often "led" by a "Teacher of the Hidden Way" - usually the member with the most advanced and/or broadest range of refined psionic capability. The Teachers arrange meetings and oversee the psionic development of their local members. With few exceptions, Teachers do not promote any sort of active resistance to their "bondage"; they stress that the aim of the Hidden Mind is to simply be ready for the day when events unfold to permit the T'ka'an to throw away their helmets.

There is no hierarchical organization, and no official leader of the Hidden Mind. The Teachers do, however, have a clandestine communications network allowing them to keep in touch with one another. This network often relies on T'ka'an whose professions involve travel around a planet or across systems within the Hegemony, but it also includes a handful of Human "couriers" unhappy with the T'ka'an oppression. Even more extreme, however, is a very tiny, but growing group that calls itself the Defiant Mind. These T'ka'an see themselves as guerilla freedom fighters and are not afraid to cause injury, death, or destruction among the Humans they see as evil oppressors.

Place in Hegemony Society

When the first Hidden Mind groups started forming and meeting, the Human officials of the Hegemony didn't even notice. The groups were careful to keep their meetings hidden, and as they did not promote any sort of outward displays of their abilities where Humans could see, there was really nothing for the Hegemony legal authorities to investigate or act upon.

This changed with the rise of Awakening Mind factions. Now there were some affected Humans complaining to authorities, with legal investigations that sometimes resulted in identification of the group members and/or Teacher involved. These T'ka'an were harshly punished.

The rise of the Defiant Mind raised the stakes. Now with destruction of property and loss of life to account for, the full weight of the Hegemony's police investigatory abilities were brought to bear. Through paid informants, they learned of the Hidden Mind and its various offshoots. Today, the officials make no distinction among these varied groups; all are considered illegal and dangerous. After the roundups and "disappearings" of several groups of peaceful Hidden Minders, some other groups have disbanded in fear. But most have simply redoubled their security and secrecy, continuing to ensure that T'ka'an have an opportunity to hone their talents and teach their young as they await the day when secrecy will no longer be necessary.