The Scream

Content Warning

Contains discussion of mass death and destruction, intense pain, and physical harm to the brain.

In 2665, a faster-than-light psychic emanation erupted from a point close to the heart of the galaxy. It spread across all known systems in minutes and left incalculable destruction in its wake. It shattered communities, decimated populations, and isolated planets as all means of interstellar travel were nullified in an instant.

Cause

The true cause of the Scream is unknown. No existing documents refer to similar events, no lab has breached true faster-than-light travel, and no psionics testing has devised anything resembling the effects of the Scream. The prevailing theory, despite the lack of concrete evidence, is that the instigating event occurred in and traveled through metadimensional space. This would explain why it only affected people and objects tied to metadimensional energies through psionics.
Religious groups have filled in the blanks scientific theory has left in its wake. Though there are hundreds of recognized religions in the sector, and thousands of sects within each, the two primary ones are sects of the Church of the Great Mother. Both groups believe the Scream relates to the Great Mother.

The Scream must have been a cry for help from the Mother, and it's up to us to figure out how to help Her.

The Scream must have been punishment from the Mother, and She won't return until psionics are eradicated.

Effects

Hundreds of documents exist that describe the immediate effects of the Scream. However, the only first-hand accounts are from non-psions. No psion who experienced it lived to explain what the sensation was like to them, so those details can only be ascertained second-hand, through archived security footage that captured the moment or through descriptions from non-psionic survivors.
The estimated death toll is in the trillions, not just for the psions immediately killed, but those killed by feral psions, psitech failures, and colony collapse as supply lines disappeared and support systems couldn't be maintained.

Audio

Psions across the galaxy clutched their heads and blocked their ears in unison, as if subject to an ear-piercing screech. No recordings or first-hand accounts capture any such sound, outside of the screams of pain from those suffering.

Visuals

The Scream itself would only register to metapsions or similarly-enhanced equipment. All others only saw psitech suddenly malfunction, overload, or crumble under the surge of metadimensional energy.

Physical Effects

It's theorized the scream opened every MES channel in psions' brains for a surge of metadimensional energy that was too powerful for the human brain to handle. It killed many psions near-instantly, leaving portions of their brains liquified. Others turned "feral" and attacked anyone around them.

Long term

Long term effects of the Scream are still felt across the sector. Knowledge on safe usage of psionics and creation of psitech has still not been regained after its destruction. The fate of the Earth has yet to be determined, though many treat this as a matter of archaeological interest only. The larger concern is the tens of thousands of human colonies that existed pre-Scream, of which the Protectorate has only found a dozen.

This is a placeholder for a future article block about the Silence

Many cultures developed a deep fear of psionics, especially those that previously had a high psionic population. These cultures destroyed any material relating to psionics, contributing to the current lack of information.

Psitech remains unachievable. Existing psitech locations that were easy to get to have already been picked clean of anything they offer, leaving the worst places to pirates and other questionables like the Syndicate.

Means of inter-stellar travel has been recreated, but passing information between systems can take days and ships can take weeks. This sector is just a fraction of the thousands of human colonies that once existed.

The Scream and the Silence have been over long enough that most don't think about it anymore. Some fringe members of society even insist it never happened at all. Yet those that do think about it, who ponder its true cause and wonder if clues might linger in metadimensional space, all share a single question none want to bring to life:
Could the Scream happen again?

This is an expansion on the concept of the Scream as depicted within the Stars Without Number rulebook. I claim no ownership of the concept, only this specific interpretation and how it has affected this setting.

— Rin

Information

Date of event

2665 June 25

Estimated duration

7 minutes

Death toll

unknown trillions

Lead to

The Silence, a period of interplanetary isolation

Cause

Undetermined

Frequency

Unknown

Type

Metaphysical, Psychic

Further Reading

Timeline of the History of Space