Psi Corps
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In the fictional universe of Babylon 5, the Psi Corps was an agency of the Earth Alliance responsible for telepathic individuals. Telepaths, once discovered, are given a choice of joining the Corps, being sent to an internment camp or being forcibly drugged as long as they lived to suppress their telepathic abilities. These drugs often have a depressing effect, and Susan Ivanova's mother committed suicide because of them.
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Purpose and Operation
The origin and early history of the Psi Corps is elucidated in a series of books, by Gregory Keyes. Panic and persecution ensued after the confirmation of telepathic abilities in certain individuals by the well-known JAMA. The Psi Corps was created by the Earth Alliance to protect telepaths but also to identify and control them.
Teeptown, the Psi Corps headquarters, has hospitals, offices and a kind of boarding school where young "teeps" and "teeks" may avoid the persecution they would face among their "mundane" peers. This school is overseen by the monitors (usually called by their nickname, "grins") which appear in Susan Ivanova's nightmare about the corps and her mother.
Many telepaths were mistreated by the Psi Corps. The Corps tended to be heavy handed in its approach to dissident telepaths. Some telepaths did not want to become part of the Corps because they felt the Corps was evil, and were sent to internment camps. Others were forced into arranged marriages, and some females were even impregnated against their will in order to produce telepathically stronger children. They often ran away and became rogue telepaths, which Corps members called "blips".
The Psi Cops and Opposition to the Corps
"Psi Cops", officially a para-military body enforcing laws relating to telepaths, acted as judge, jury, and executioner. This was especially true when dealing with non-telepaths who had done violence against a member of the Psi Corps. For example, in one case they drove a non-telepath mad in revenge to the point the person had to be restrained or he would have ripped out his eyes. In another case, a man who murdered a Psi Cop was ejected from the ship he was a passenger on into hyperspace. While Psi Cops maintained to others that they wanted to bring rogue telepaths back home to the family, they were just as likely to kill a rogue telepath upon capturing them.
Doctor Stephen Franklin of Babylon 5 participated an underground railroad to help rogue telepaths escape from the Corps. Eventually, the telepaths who escaped provided assistance during the closing days of the Shadow War. Later on, President John Sheridan of the interstellar alliance allowed rogue telepaths to form a small colony on Babylon 5. The situation ended in violence when the Psi Cops attempted to take the rogue telepaths back to Earth.
After the colony on Babylon 5 was forced to leave after the death of its leader, Byron, Lyta Alexander began a crusade against the Psi Corps. Her actions led to a telepath war in which rogue telepaths and non telepaths fought the Psi Corps. The old Psi Corps was destroyed by this war. A new Psionic Monitoring Commission was built to replace the Psi Corps.
Once the Telepath War was over, the Psionic Monitoring Commission dedicated itself to hunting down those members of the corps who committed war crimes, such as Alfred Bester. He was eventually captured and sentenced to spending the rest of his life in prison with his abilities taken away by drugs. Many private schools were founded to educate telepaths; they met with mixed success. Telepaths were allowed a much wider range of options as far as their lives were concerned. Rather than having to join the Psi Corps, they were able to do almost anything they wanted. This included joining the Earth Alliance military and working for private organizations.
Notable quotes
- "The Corps is mother, the Corps is father."
- "The Psi Corps is your friend. Trust the Corps."
- "Mary had a little lamb..."
Notable Psi Corps Individuals
- Alfred Bester (namesake of science fiction author Alfred Bester) was a senior Psi Corps official, known as a "Psi Cop."
- Lyta Alexander
- Talia Winters
- Jason Ironheart
- Byron
Books about the Psi Corps
The Psi Corps Trilogy:
- Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps
- Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendant (Babylon 5)
- Final Reckoning: The Fate of Bester