Psionics

An ability that only very few individuals or factions can tap into. 

Psionics can appear to many as a form of magic, and one can perform a wide variety of miracles with it. For example, detecting objects at superluminal distance or speed, influence the souls of other beings, manipulate matter and many more. Psionics can be more versatile than machines in many ways, but often require the user to be extremely focused which is difficult to perform on the battlefield. Very bright flashes, explosions and screaming can easily inhibit focus. Beings with larger brains, e.g. Matrioshka Brains or Troznux will often become more capable of utilising psionics as they have far more brainpower. As such, these large beings may not need to focus so closely and might be able to achieve a greater effect.

It is currently not known to any major faction in the galaxy cluster how it works, but some troznux have evolved the ability to use it in their biology, for example to detect predators or prey. These species are under study by the HSA in order to determine how to utilise psionics for themselves, similar to the Phelke and their STP. Matrioshka brains have proven particularly useful for this, given their massive computational output and incredible psionic power. It is known, however, that only sentient beings can use it. Psionics are effectively a law of physics and are universal, which allows one to interfere with the fabric of spacetime (general relativity) or to read it to locate objects on it. 

In the future, it may become possible to build a psionic matrioshka brain that can superluminally sense objects across galaxies. Such a tool would be able to detect objects at immense ranges. If a faction uses a similar concept to build a penrose sphere around a supermassive black hole, they could obtain full intel on the entire galaxy cluster...

No one in the universe understands the true cause of psionics, but it it caused by the various Archo - Forms that ravage the universe. The particularly powerful archo-form in the Fortrais Galaxy Cluster meant that Fortrais has a more significant psionic attunement that its people can tap into more easily. It is possible to borrow an extremely small amount of power from this archo-form, even tapping into the Anomaly. Every being that uses psionics goes through this entire process unknowingly, which conceals the existence of this archo-form. Only an extremely powerful and hyperintelligent being which is strong enough to be perceived by the archo-form would be able to communicate with it, breaking the mysterious shroud that prevents 'ordinary' users from seeing or sensing the archo-form.

It is thus understandable that so few people know that psionics even exists, let alone using it.

Although use of psionics can connect one to the ultimate most powerful beings in the universe, in a way, use of it does not guarantee victory. Such a person can only borrow an extremely small amount of power, so many factions can withstand attacks from the accuilax.

Although psionics is a universal ability, one needs training to make use of it properly. The path of learning psionics can be long and difficult depending on the faction (for factions like the accuilax it is easier). The HF attempts to discover the secrets of psionics through the scientific method, which is not likely to work efficiently.