das and Lord Iggy, great to hear from you two again. Dune is definitely an inspiration. I was thinking the "telepathy" would basically act as sorcery or magic does in a fantasy-based environment. However, it would not be elemental-based, but rather a broad essence of something that lives within those who have the power to use it. It will be more like sorcery in that one has to be born with this ability- it cannot be learned. The telepathy would make communication between those with this ability extremely meaningful and easy, but it would also allow for some powerful "spells", such as moving things with the mind or creating forcefields or powerful energy storms. Entire armies could be crafted from those with simple telepathic abilities, while characters could exist that have great ability. Even though people are born with this ability, they can hone their skills more and more (much like leveling in a fantasy game).
The basic plot I had envisioned was that Earth colonized other systems through the use of the hypergate system. The hypergate system was powered by a certain resource (haven't figured the specifics of this out yet- but as you will read, they are not very necessary). The hypergate allowed for ships to move from system to system with such ease- basically jumping through wormholes- instead of faster-than-light-speed travel. Thus the Federation existed, which was a democracy including all of the colonies in other star-systems spread throughout the galaxy. The Federation needed muscle, and this muscle was the Agency. Unlike a conventional military force, the Agency reigned through espionage and scare tactics. As time went on, the Agency became more and more corrupt. They began ruling through terror and threats, and the Federation had a massive fleet ready to jump through hypergates at any chance to put down any threat of rebellion. While the Federation was still technically a democracy, there was no question that the Agency was behind most decisions the council made.
To solidify their power, the Agency's top officials decided to look into rumors of another civilization in space. Scholars ascertained that this civilization actually came from Earth hundreds of years ago, most-likely from the Indo-China region. As more information was discovered, it was revealed that these humans that fled Earth hundreds of years ago actually manifested space-travel through the use of telepathic powers. So, instead of flying metallic space-ships, their space-ships were actually outward manifestations of their superior mental abilities- including weapons. The highest power of these telepaths knew that a new land had to be discovered, where only those of their kind could live. Thus, they fled Earth in their mind-ships.
The Agency, upon discovering this, ravaged the galaxy to find the whereabouts of this telepathic order. Some of the telepaths had remained in human society, approaching ages of the thousands. They began to flee from the colonies and from Earth, but the Agency had used its hypergate system to create a series of traps with their massive fleet. Eventually, the Agency's genetic researchers used powerful technologies and torture methods to explore the telepaths brain (the telepaths were called the Devans).
The Agency found Deva, the planet of these telepaths. The telepaths were few in number and inhabited a single system with a single planet and several moons. The massive Federation fleet surrounded these areas. The fleet was too vast, and massive nuclear orbital bombardment destroyed much of this area. Only the most powerful Devans escaped, by permanently melding their mind into asteroid bodies and creating powerful star mind-ships that have never been seen since. The less experienced or less talented Devans were left either to death or torture.
The Agency, realizing that their scientists could contain Devans in special cells, used their genetic sciences to tap into the brains of Devans and effectively enslave them. This was especially possible with the younger ones, even whose power could be amazing- they were so young that they were easily manipulated. Eventually it came down to genetic engineering, and then entire Devan armies were being bred by the Federation. They were the ultimate army of control and oppression.
Yet, one Devan faked his brain-washing and worked from within the Agency to bring it down. And meanwhile, many systems were upset with the "democratic" Federation. A "terrorist" organization known as DEIWOS began organizing resistance and planting bombs. These at first failed miserably, and many died in many systems as a result. However, the Devan within the Agency discovered DEIWOS and gave them the codes and locations of all hypergates, as well as the codes and locations of all mining operations that were extracting the resource that powered the hypergates. With this information, DEIWOS launched a massive operation which destroyed all hypergates and made it so the resource that powered them no longer even existed. The Federation could now not even reach the other systems- the reign of the Agency was over as the Devan hero launched a massive mind war to pull many Devans out of enslavement. Other Devans went mad and killed many. Earth was completely destroyed.
Hundreds of years passed. It was a galactic dark ages. Ships could reach other systems, but it took lifetimes in some cases. The hypergate system was also the source of communication between systems (of course, ships could make it to other systems, but it took a lot of time- initially it took Earth/the Federation hundreds of years to create the hypergate system and settle other worlds). Very little intergalactic communication occurred until... faster-than-light-speed travel was discovered (not only discovered, but perfected- it had been discovered to an extent earlier, but it was not very effective). Ships could now move faster and go between systems again, though not nearly as quickly as the now-impossible hypergate system (therefore making it impossible for one single power to rule the galaxy again).
And that is where the NES would start. Basically, at the beginning of a galactic Renaissance after a long Dark Ages. Each player could be a single star-system. Each star-system will be completely independent. Or a player could, like in Sekai, be a character or a party of sorts, with a single space-craft and crew. Guilds might be present as well. But like I said, I want this one to stay rather simple.
Anyway, that's the gist so far.
I'm still doing a lot of fiction writing, and I've found myself enthralled with the idea of "magic" or at least "telepathic powers" in a space-opera setting (but no aliens, all humans). My writing has taken me through a lot of random places, such as humanity arranging itself into a large federation, and then breaking apart after an omnipresent plot to control telepathics and the galaxy is revealed (thus plunging the galaxy into a galactic Dark Ages). In my writing so far, I have organizations, galactic states, characters, starships, and (my favorite), details about telepathic or sorcerer powers... in a space setting. Maybe I'll come up with something sometime.
