Psionic Magic

The power of the mind is a very potent one indeed, capable of great feats of excellence, but just as many - if not more - feats of heinous evil. It's regulated across the sector for a very good reason, and even here in the Bhailu Empire, we employ plentiful defensive metrics against its powers and regulate Psions closely. When a magic is capable of such great chaos as psionics are, one cannot afford to be lax.

— Tsuki Koike, Eleventh Radiant Empress of Bhailu

Psionic Magic is a rather old form of magic, initially devised by the Hysilens for far more benevolent purposes, it has since become one of the most dangerous forms of magic. As a practice, Psionic Magic is generally treated to large-scale acceptance, but is heavily regulated and controlled by governments and institutions across the world to prevent the use of its most dangerous aspects against government officials and VIPs.

History of Psionic Magic

The Hysilens and Raqise

The Hysilens' interest in Psionic Magic goes back very far in their legacy, with them wielding it from the early days of their society, albeit primarily as a benign magic for entertainment and practical jokes. As far as their records are concerned, they never particularly understood the thorough exacts of the art, most likely due to a lack of interest in it compared to their other forms of magic.
Following their ascension to godhood, the Raqise picked up the mantle of the magic-focused society from them, and for a time, their interest in Psionics were similar, but as time went on, the Raqise began to see far more... dark interests in their arcane experiments, and sought to uncover more heinous uses for psionic magic.

Early History

As such, most of the Raqise Confederacy's era is perpetuated by the gradual discovery of more advanced techniques, most notably - and infamously - the ability to influence and manipulate the mind. This power was used and abused at several times throughout history, most famously during the initial discovery of the techniques, which led to several high-profile cases of mental manipulation of officials and even outright attempts to mind control the Raqise Imperator.
These attempts failed, but the risks were made very evident, and restrictions were quickly put in place to the usage of the magic style across the Confederacy - although, they still studied it actively in secret. These restrictions remain in place, mostly intact, to this day.

Modern History

In the modern age, psionics are well regarded, but VERY firmly regulated across the world. The most 'free' regulatory body is generally that of the Bhailu Empire, but even they outlaw the use of mental manipulation on VIPs and officials, track all psions that reside in their lands, screen for their presence, and employ significant anti-Psion measures.

Psionic Shards

Psionic Shards are among the rarest type, and appear without much rhyme or reason, making Psions a rarity even in the most magic-user focused landscapes. They certainly exist, and Sirtan is known for them at least somewhat, but the shards and thus the casters are a massive rarity no matter where you go.

Uses of Psionic Magic

Psion by Alexander Trufanov

Illusionary Magic

The art of illusions was one of the first uses devised for psionic magic by the Hysilens in antiquity, generally for a mixture of actual useful cases, but also as simple party tricks and jokes. These early illusions - generally still taught to rookie Psions are very simple and basic in nature, but can still be useful in areas such as the entertainment industry.
Later, however, powerful ocular projections and merography began to arise, which allow for far more versatile and lifelike illusions. Understandably, these powerful magics quickly found purchase in a wide variety of fields, from espionage to assassination work, and everything in between.

Mental Manipulation & Telepathy

As the very nature of psionic magic might suggest, a Psion is also very capable of affecting the mind. The most important aspect of these abilities is that of Empathic Psionics, which allows a Psion to glean the emotional state of the target from their mind, allowing them to better read people around them. Many of these specialists also possess a limited form of telepathy, which allows them to communicate mentally with others, and at potentially large distances of many hundreds of miles.
In addition, however, a far more powerful advancement of the art allows skilled Psions to manipulate the mind, to sculpt it, change behavioural traits and the properties of the mind itself. While this can be quite beneficial - as it can allow for a easier time dealing with trauma, or it can be used to improve the mind - it also has a very well-deserved reputation for having very nefarious uses as well, which leads to many firm policing attempts on this specific version of the magic. Full-blown mind control is an extreme rarity, but has been known to manifest as an ability of these casters.
Generally speaking, these forms of magic are dangerous enough that governments and institutions everywhere have implemented defensive measures against them, often using Shielding Magic Antimagic.

Telekinesis

A Psion with a good ability to concentrate their mind on the environment can even use psionic magic to manipulate the world around them. In this use-case, telekinesis allows for the mind to manifest its power in the form of an additional psionic hand that can be used over long distances.
While the obvious uses of this ability include moving items around both vertically and laterally, it's also capable of quite fine control and as such, skilled Psions can even use it to pick locks or manipulate mechanical systems from afar, by giving the telekinesis itself tactile capabilities.

Vision Augmentation

Vision Augmentation is one of the most valuable parts of Psionic Magic, and concerns the expansion - and enhancement - of forms of vision. By and large, it's split into Enhanced and Augmented Spectroscopy, corresponding to enhancement and expansion respectively.
Enhanced Spectroscopy augmentations involve the caster strengthening pre-existing forms of vision on a target. Macroscopy, Microscopy and Telescopy - the ability to alter their visual focus for various light conditions, focus upon small objects, and focus upon far away objects, respectively - are all cornerstones of the art and allow any Psion to tailor the vision of themselves or their intended target.
Augmented Spectroscopy augmentations involve the expansion of vision to new breadths of the electromagnetic spectrum, which can also famously be used to overcome blindness. All of the traditional forms of electromagnetic radiation capable of reasonably being filtered by the eye with magical aides, namely: Gamma, X-Ray, Ultraviolet, the Visual Spectrum, and Infrared.

Mindwhisper by Zana Arnautovic