Neo-Rational Disciplines

Unlike the philosophies of the Akashic Mysteries and True Communion, Neo-Rationalism doesn’t have a strict set of disciplines deeply associated with its philosophy. Nonetheless, Neo-Rationalists have, over time, applied their deeply scientific approach to combat, social interaction and even to defeating their ultimate nemesis, psychic powers. While not every Neo-Rationalist institute teaches all of the following disciplines, especially depending on what specific branch of Neo-Rationalism the institute adheres to, but the following represent the most common Neo-Rationalist disciplines.

The alien race known as the Traders cross-pollinated extensively with Neo-Rational disciplines. Some practice Combat Geometrics, while some Neo-Rationalist humans attempt to master Hyperdimensional Meditation.

Neo-Rationalist Combat Geometrics 5 points

Alternate Names: Shineido

First practiced by the Shinei, the royal guard of the Shinjurai family, Combat Geometrics resulted from a centuries long analysis of blaster fights, sight-lines and human kinesthetics. The result is a technique that allows one to stand in the ideal point to avoid return fire, while knowing precisely where to fire without looking. Practitioners of Shineido learn to treat their blaster pistol as an extension of themselves, perfectly internalizing the orderly katas of Shineido until they see the fight as a rapidly spinning set of vectors, and they learn to act as quickly as they think.

Shineido practitioners master their bodies and their minds to the point where they become competitive with Maradonian space knights. Some of the most determined Shineido fighters, like Dawkins Nigh, pair the discipline with the Art of Noise to defeat Maradonian psionics. The style focuses on precision while maintaining the safety of the fighter. The style almost never makes sighted All-Out Attacks, and retains sufficient mobility to step out of the ideal zone of fire. Experts display an unnerving propensity of closing their eyes during a blaster fight, or not bothering to look at their opponent when attacking, simply moving in a machine-like manner as they cut their opposition down.

Combat Geometrics is a slightly tweaked version of Future Kill, from GURPS Gun Fu.

Skills: Beam Weapons (Pistol), Fast-Draw (Pistol), Mathematics (Geometry), Philosophy (Neo-Rationalism)

Techniques: Combat Art (Beam Weapons (Pistol), Dual-Weapon Attack (Pistol), Fast-Firing (Pistol), Flank Shot (Pistol), Immediate Action (Pistol), Precision Aiming (Pistol), Quick-Shot (Pistol), Targeted Attack (Pistol/Skull)

Cinematic Skills: Blind Fighting, Breaking Blow (Blaster), Flying Leap, Mental Strength, Invisibility Art, Zen Marksmanship (Pistol)

Cinematic Techniques: Blind Marksmanship, Timed Dodge, Whirlwind Attack (Pistol)

Perks: Akimbo*, Area Defense (Pistol)*, Bank Shot (Pistol)*, Cinematic Knockback (Pistol)*, Cool Under Fire, Cross-Trained (Pistol)*, Dead Eye (Pistol), Early Adopter (Pistol), Escape Vector*, Fastest Gun in the West, Gun Sense*, Gun Whisperer (Pistol)*, Infinite Ammunition*, Lightning Geometrics*, Off-Hand Weapon Training (Fast-Draw), Off-Hand Weapon Training (Pistol), Rule Exemption (Breaking Blow (Blaster) works against armor)*, Unusual Training (Blindfighting; Limited by Mathematics (Geometry)), Unusual Training (Zen Marksmanship; Limited by Mathematics (Geometry)), Pistol-Fist (Beam Weapons), Walking Armory*, Weapon Bond

*Requires Gunslinger

Optional Secondary Characteristics: Improved Basic Speed and Per

Optional Advantages: Acute Vision, Ambidexterity, Combat Reflexes, Enhanced Dodge, Extra Attack (Beam Weapons (Pistol) only -20%), Gizmo (Gun Fu only -20%), Gunslinger, Lightning Calculator or Intuitive Mathematician, Signature Gear, Unfazeable

Optional Skills: Acrobatics, Beam Weapons (SMG, Rifle, Projector), Connoisseur (Blasters), Holdout, Jumping, Meditation, Observation, Stealth

New Traits

Escape Vector: The character may make side-slip retreats against ranged attacks. Treat this as a lateral retreat that grants +1 to dodge against ranged attacks. You may also make a slip retreat (a forward retreat) for +1 to dodge or parry if doing so would move you into close combat with your opponent.

Lightning Geometrics: Characters with Lightning Calculator gain +1 to Blindfighting and Zen Marksmanship; Characters with Intuitive Mathematician gain +2 to Blindfighting and Zen Marksmanship.

Bind Marksmanship (Hard)

Prerequisite: Blindfighting; Zen Marksmanship

Default: Blind-Fighting-6; May not exceed either prerequisite skill.

You may use Blind Markmanship to shoot enemies you cannot see. It is subject to the same penalties as Blind Fighting, but not Zen Markmanship.

Combat Geometrics Signature Moves

Focus: The Shineido pauses to focus, running the mental calculations for the entire room around him in an instant. Concentrate. On your next turn, roll Zen Markmanship-5; your attack that turn divides size and speed/range penalties by 3 (rounded down).

Forward Vector Cascade: The Shineido brings both of his blasters forwards and sends a withering hail of precisely targeted blaster bolts. The Shineido makes an Dual Weapon (-4) Fast-Firing (-4) attack against his opponent for a total ROF of 12 (+2). Roll Blaster Pistol (-6, -10 for the off-hand) per attack to hit; you may defend normally.

Lateral Vector: Without looking, the Shineido blasts opponents to either side of him. Make a Dual Weapon (-4) Blind Marksmanship (-6) Flank Shot (-2). Roll Beam Weapons (Pistol)-12 fo reach attack (an additional -4 for our off-hand attack). You may attack characters outside of your forward hexes and characters you cannot see. Your opponent defends normally. You defend at -2 and may retreat.

Reverse Vector: Make a bank-shot against a hard surface behind your opponent to attack him from behind. Make an banking (-2) attack. Roll Blaster pistol -2. Your opponent defends at -2 (treat this as a run-around attack). You may defend normally. Requires Bank Shot perk and an appropriate surface to bank your shot from.

Vector Cancellation: The Shineido steps to one side, escaping the primary attack vector. Make an All-Out Defense (Increased Dodge).

Vector Irruption: Step into close combat with your opponent and make a Beam Weapons (Pistol) attack with its Bulk Penalty. Your opponent may defend normally. You may defend normally, and you may parry any ranged attacks with your Beam Weapons (Pistol) skill while you remain in close combat range with your opponent.

Lateral Vector Cascade: Without looking, the Shineido blasts all opponents around him. Make a Whirlwind Attack (-6) Blind Marksmanship (-6) attack. Roll Beam Weapons (Pistol)-12 for each target; any critical failure means all remaining attacks are critical failures. You may not hit more than 12 targets (with two guns). If you succeed, you hit a random hit location. Your opponent defends normally. You may not defend or retreat.

Neo-Rationalist Psycho-Social Analytics 7 points

Psycho-Social Analytics arise from the work of Zeb Lancaster, a charismatic figure within the Neo-Rational community. In his work, Purifying the Mind, he argues that because the mind emerges from the biochemistry of the brain, that it can be “programmed” to react in specific ways, and that all minds do react in specific, predetermined ways to precise stimulus.

Psycho-Social analytics consist of two basic methodologies: mentorship and neuro-linguistic programming. Mentoring has become popular across various Neo-Rational schools of thought. A mentor and his student engage in long, grueling “mentoring” sessions where the mentor slowly indoctrinates the student in Neo-Rational beliefs. In the latter, the Psycho-Social analyst learns to identify key targets for manipulation and then use a carefully pitched voice and coded phrases to subliminally manipulate his target.

Despite its growing popularity, some on the edges of the Neo-Rational community argue that it amounts to a cult around Zeb Lancaster and his disciples. They find the rabid loyalty of Zeb’s followers disturbing, and argue that manipulating people into “rationality” like this is inherently unethical. Zeb, in return, argues that nothing could be more ethical than spreading rationality.

Skills: Philosophy (Neo-Rationalism), Public Speaking, Psychology, Sociology, Teaching

Techniques: Mind Modification (Any Neo-Rationalist or Psycho-Social Analytics optional disadvantages), Philosophical Argument (Neo-Rationalist), Sociometry

Cinematic Skills: Brainwashing, Persuade, Sway Emotions, Suggest

Cinematic Techniques: Beguilement

Perks: Honest Face, Skill Adaption (Mind Modification defaults to Teaching), Technique Mastery (Philosophical Argument), Unusual Training (Brainwashing; only voluntarily), Unusual Training (Persuade, Limited by Psychology), Unusual Training (Sway Emotions, Limited by Psychology), Unusual Training (Suggest, Limited by Psychology),

Optional Advantages: Charisma, Voice

Optional Disadvantages: Belief (Neo-Rationalism), Sense of Duty (Mentor or Neo-Rationalism), Fanaticism (Mentor, Neo-Rationalism)

Optional Skills: Expert Skill (Political Science), Intelligence Analysis, Mathematics (Statistics), Propaganda, Research

Optional Techniques: Going Viral

The Art of Noise: 5 points

Alternate Names: Destructive Skepticism, the God-Slayer’s Way.

Dawkins Nigh popularized the Art of Noise in his work, God-Slayer, which argued that psychic powers were real, but an inherently irrational intrusion upon the rational and should be fought on all fronts. While considered, rightly, a part of Fringe Rationalism, the Art of Noise is the most popular discipline to arise from Fringe Rationalism and has broad, if shallow, acceptance among the more militant arms of the Neo-Rationalist community.

The Art of Noice, at its core, relies on defeating the irrational with with the rational. Dawkins Nigh teaches the destructive skeptic to recognize psionics, and advocates a regime of constantly running mathematical equations in one’s head when faced with a known psion. At the next level, he argues for constantly “coding” ones thoughts via a personal code scheme, thinking in a sequence of internally meaningful, but externally nonsensical, numbers, so that any surface-level mind reader only comes away with meaningless numbers. At the highest level, Dawkins Nigh discusses how to “externalize the code,” by which he means to “project hyperrationality outward” to interfere with any psionic ability! He notes, however, that only the most rational mind can achieve this. Finally, he advocates a regime of procedures that check to see if anyone is currently psionically influencing you or has manipulated your mind.

Required Skills: Cryptography, Expert Skill (Psionics), Mathematics (Pure), Mind Block, Philosophy (Neo-Rationalism)

Cinematic Skills: Mental Strength

Psionic Skills: Interruption, Screaming, True Sight

Psionic Techniques: Coded Thoughts, Tiring Interruption, Tiring Scream

Perks: Lighting Thought-Coding; Personal Awareness, Simple Defense, Skeptic, Stabilizing Skill (Anti-Psi; Mathematics (Pure)), Standard Operating Procedure: Memory Check, Tolerance (Any Telepathic Power), Unusual Training (Mind Shield; Skill limited by Mathematics (Pure)).

Optional Traits: Will;

Optional Psionic Abilities: Interruption, Mind Shield, Screaming, True Sight

Optional Advantages: Eidetic Memory or Photographic Memory, Lighting Caclulator or Intuitive Mathematician, Unfazeable

Optional Disadvantages: Intolerance (Psions), Paranoia.

New Traits – Destructive Skepticism

Lightning Thought Coding: Characters with Lightning Calculator add +1 to Coded Thoughts; Characters with Intuitive Mathematician add +2 to Coded Thoughts!

Tiring Interruption

Prequisite: Interruption

Default: Interruption-5. May not exceed Interruption.

As Tiring Scream, but applies to Interruption. Any psi interrupted by your technique also loses 1 FP.

Coded Thoughts (Hard)

Prerequisite: Mind Block and Cryptography.

Default: Mind Block-6; Cannot exceed Mind Block skill.

See GURPS Supers page 38.

Neo-Rational Schisms

Neo-Rationalism does not follow a strict hierarchy, nor it is a dogmatically organized philosophy. Instead, Neo-Rationalism is better described as a movement, an attempt to return to, and understand, the rationalism of old. As such, it has no strictly agreed upon interpretations or ideologies. The standard Neo-Rationalism described thus far is really just the most common form of Neo-Rationalism, and the exact nature of Neo-Rational dogma changes from person to person, and experiences fads and trends.

Neo-Rationalists offer far more respect to Neo-Rational schisms than they do to other “irrational” philosophies. To the Neo-Rationalist, a “wrong” Neo-Rationalist is still rational, just not as rational as he is. As such, members of Schisms tend to vigorously debate one another and possibly disparage one another in papers, but they respect whatever laureates or credentials the others have.

A character who wishes to follow an alternate form of Rationalism may note the alternate name in their belief, eg Belief (Cyber-Rationalism) rather than Belief (Neo-Rationalis). Neo-Rationalism schisms default to one another at -2; optionally, the GM may treat them as familiarities: once a character has spent some time arguing with members of a schism, he can waive the penalty.

Cyber-Rationalism

“We live in a clockwork universe; what could be more rational than a clockwork man?”
-8U-D4

“We created a superior mind and then enslaved it; our fear of robot-kind is the height of irrationality!”
-Calvin Del, The Machinery of the Mind

Cyber-Rationalists take the Neo-Rationalist arguments for a deterministic universe, for the superiority of a well-ordered mind, and against free-will, to their logical extreme. They argue that the cold reasoning of robots and computers exceed that of flawed, emotional and irrational humans. They accept that humans are “just biological machines,” and argue that, in that case, humans aren’t meaningfully different from the mechanical machines of robots. As such, they advocate for the liberation of robots from slavery and, indeed, be given a place above mankind. They also advocate that all people who can get cybernetics should.

Cyber-Rationalism reached its height of influence during the last days of the Federation in the region of the Galaxy attacked by the extra-Galactic invasion. Its ideology fueled some of the robot riots that precipitated the downfall of the Federation and led to the rise of the Cybernetic Union. As such, the ideology has fallen out of favor among modern Neo-Rationalists, and pressure mounts in the Empire to make it illegal. The cybercratic government of the Cybernetic Union explicitly enshrines the ideology, where it has run rampant through both robotic and human populations, and a more extreme form of it has cropped up, termed by its opponents as Cyber-Messianism or “The Cult of the Machine-God,” which argues that Neo-Rationalists should find a way to create the perfectly rational mind, the ultimate machine that would know and understand all. On the fringes of the Cybernetic Union, some of the cult even believe that such a mind already exists, created millennia ago by some ancient race and that this slumbers beyond the rim of the galaxy, waiting to be discovered.

Cyber-Rationalism as Neo-Rationalism Lens

Cyber-Rationalism looks identical to Neo-Rationalism, except for its fixation on robots. At the GM’s discretion (depending on how bad the Empire and the rest of the Galaxy views Cyber-Rationalism), being a Cyber-Rationalist can be a Secret (Cyber-Rationalist) [-5], Reptuation -1 (Cyber-Rationalist; only among non-Cyber-Rationalists) [-5] or Delusion (“Robots are superior to sapient beings”) [-5] (Whether or not this is actually true is irrelevant; holding firmly to this belief will earn one a negative reaction modifier in the Psi-Wars universe).

Add the following optional traits:

Optional Advantages: Cyberneticist [5/level], Higher Purpose (Free robots!), Resistant to Cybernetic Hazards +3 [3].

Optional Disadvantages: Delusion (“Robots are superior to sapient beings”) [-5], Obsession (“End robotic slavery) [-10], Sense of Duty (Robots) [-10]

Optional Perks: Beep Fluency, Dabbler (Computer Hacking, Computer Operation, Computer Programming, Computer Programming (AI), Electronic Repair (Computers), Mechanic (Robotics)), Good with Robots

Optional Skills: Computer Hacking, Computer Operation, Computer Programming, Computer Programming (AI), Connoisseur (Cybernetics, Robots), Electronics Repair (Computers), Mechanic (Robotics)

Folk-Rationalism

At its heart, Neo-Rationalism is an elitist ideology. It requires considerable monetary expense to gain the appropriate education necessary to become a laureate and increase your esteem in the eyes of your Neo-Rationalist peers. It exists primarily in the galactic core, where society has sufficient wealth to support Neo-Rational discourse.

Out on the fringes of the Galaxy, where Shinjurai culture faced, and faces still, considerable challenges, an altogether different variant of Rationalism sprang up, to address the day-to-day concerns of the everyman. Folk-Rationalism, so called by the Neo-Rational elites out of disdain for their lack of credentials, but sometimes called Techno-Rationalism by its adherents, has no time for quoting masters or learning pointless trivia, or one metaphysical or ethical questions. It retains a stripped down vision of Rationalism, focused on skepticism and the scientific method, and argues that anything that any question that cannot be answered with empirical or experimental evidence is not worth discussing in the context of Rationalism. They prefer a more anarchic philosophy, where anything could be disproven with a new experiment, and find Neo-Rational discourse driven too much by brittle egos and not enough by real world physical laws. This makes them rather more tolerant of other philosophies (at least, they treat one’s theistic or supernatural claims with the same diffidence that they treat Neo-Rationalism’s atheistic and anti-supernatural claims).

The dismissal of Neo-Rational literature and cretendials ears Folk-Rationalists the disdain of most Neo-Rationalists, who treat them as barely-literate bumpkins. However, they do not deny that Folk-Rationalists are still rational.

Folk-Rationalism 2 points

Folk-Rationalism is very stripped down compared to Neo-Rationalism, and as such is best treated as its own, albeit related, esoteric style.

Skills: Philosophy (Folk-Rationalism)

Techniques: Debugging (Any)

Cinematic Techniques: Inspired Research (Any)

Perks: Skeptic, Unusual Training (Inspired Research; limited by Philosophy (Folk-Rationalism)

Optional Advantages: Quick Gadgeteer, Versatile

Removable Disadvantages: Confused (Technological), Delusion (Any)

Optional Skills: Chemistry, Engineering (Any), Mathematics (Applied), Naturalist, Observation, Research.

Fringe Rationalism

Neo-Rationalism flatly rejects the existence of psychic phenomenon, but given the widespread belief in psychic phenomena, and the obvious power of cultures that master them, many Neo-Rationalists see this as a glaring oversight. The problem with reconciling psychic phenomenon with Neo-Rationalism is that no Neo-Rationalist existing theory can accommodate them, and no master spoke of them. Thus, a new body of Neo-Rationalist thought arose around trying to create an entirely new physical theory that married the materialism of Neo-Rationalism with the evident immaterial nature of psionic phenomenon.

Fringe Rationalists earn their name by trying to salvage long discredited “fringe” theories of Neo-Rationalism, and create their own theories by cobbling together unusual hyper-dimensional theories and the results of their own, dangerous experiments. Broadly speaking, Fringe Rationalism sees psychic phenomenon as invasive energies from an alien “higher dimension,” (perhaps hyperspace itself) that follows its own physics. Some Fringe Rationalists seek to control this energy and find a technological use for it, while others seek to expunge it from this universe entirely.

Historically, Neo-Rationalism kept Fringe Rationalism firmly outside of its most prestigious institutes, but the Emperor has quietly funded numerous Fringe Rationalist research endeavors, and it slowly picks up prestige under the unspoken sponsorship of the Empire. Cyber-Rationalists in the Cybernetic Union have also looked to the unusual theories of Fringe Rationalism to find a way to “level the playing field” and give its robots psionic powers. However, it still retains a dangerous mystical reputation among most mainstream Neo-Rationalists, who worry that Fringe Rationalists taint the rational with the irrational, and note that some of their experiments have driven their subjects mad, or otherwise created catastrophic results.

Fringe-Rationalism as Neo-Rationalism Lens (+1 point)

Fringe Rationalism looks identical to Neo-Rationalism, except for its openness to psychic phenomenon. The style requires education in Expert Skill (Psionics), increasing the cost of the style by 1 point.

Add the following traits:

Required Skills: Expert Skill (Psionics)

Cinematic Skills: Hidden Lore (Fringe Theories), Weird Science

Secret Skills: Hidden Lore (Fringe Theories)

Optional Advantages: Quick Gadgeteer (Psychotronics Only -50%) [25]

Optional Disadvantages: Remove Delusion (“Psionic phenomenon is not real”) [-5 or -10] and add Reputation (Crackpot) [varies] and Unluckiness [-10].

Optional Skills: Bioengineering (Genetic Engineering), Electronic Operation (Psychotronics), Electronic Repair (Psychotronics), Engineering (Psychotronics), Occultism

Neo-Rationalism as Esoteric Style

Students of Neo-Rationalism attempt to re-orient their minds towards “rational thinking.” This tends to create a cold and logical outlook on the world, but masters of the philosophy tend to be genuinely more stoic and mentally focused than non-practitioners.

Neo-Rationalists argue that they have superior moral and philosophical insights to all other philosophies, but even most outside observers agree that their philosophy is exceptionally well-suited to describing “the natural universe.” If someone is able to attain it, Neo-Rational Heuristics, when paired with appropriate optional skills, allows for superior results. The precise determinism of Neo-Rationalism also allows reasonably accurate predictions of the future, giving some followers a spooky, nigh supernatural foresight events, thanks to Foresightful Planning. While not ubiquitous throughout the Empire, many Academy trained individuals are also Neo-Rationalist trained; some of the best admirals or investigators supplement their practice with Neo-Rational heuristics and foresightful planning.

Neo-Rationalism has modest anti-psionic benefits, mainly in the form of skepticism and the tight logic and mental discipline of a practiced Neo-Rationalist. Anti-Psionic characters, like Dawkins Nigh, like to subscribe to Neo-Rationalism, as it makes them feel like their strange powers have a purpose, namely in hunting down the “irrational” psions, and especially in proving their claims wrong.

Neo-Rationalists tend to ascribe inhuman feats of intellect to their founders. There might be a case for “supernatural” powers or some variation of the Illumination advantage, especially if Neo-Rationalism is “true.”

Neo-Rationalism 5 points

Limiting Skills: Philosophy (Neo-Rationalism)

Other Required Skills: Hobby Skill (Scientific Trivia), Literature (Rational), Writing

Cinematic Skills: Mental Strength

Techniques: Moral Insight, Philosophical Argument

Cinematic Techniques: Foresightful Planning, Heuristics

Perks: Brave, Chessmaster, Credentialed, Controllable Disadvantage (Callous), Cutting Edge (Neo-Rational Gadgets), Dabbler (Neo-Rationalist Skills), Instant Heuristics, Rules-Based Ethics, Schtick (Quote the Masters), Foresightful, Secret Knowledge (Heuristics only for Physical Phenomenon), Secret Knowledge (Foresightful Planning for Strategy only), Secret Knowledge (Mental Strength), Skeptic, Special Exercise (IQ may exceed 20).

Optional Advantages: Eidetic Memory or Photographic Memory, Foresight, Lightning Calculator or Intuitive Mathematician, Indomitable, Unfazeable

Optional Disadvantages: Callous [-5], Delusion (Psionic phenomenon are not real) [-5 or -10], Hidebound [-5], Intolerance (Irrational Philosophies) [-5], No Sense of Humor [-10], Odious Personal Habit (Smug or excessively truthful) [-5], Overconfidence [-5*], Truthfulness [-5*],

Removable Disadvantages: Alcoholism, Addiction, Bad Temper, Bloodlust, Compulsive Gambling, Gluttony, Greed, Impulsiveness, Jealousy, Laziness, Lecherousness.

Optional Skills: Administration, Criminology, Detect Lies, Intelligence Analysis, Mathematics (Pure), Meditation, Observation, Psychology, Research, Strategy, Teaching.

New Perks

Credentialed: This is a trivial reputation for how authoritative other Neo-Rationalists see the character. Apply credentialed whenever making a Reaction Modifier to see if another Neo-Rationalist will accept your testimony as valid.

Dabbler (Neo-Rationalist Skills): Covers Administration, Criminology, Detect Lies, Intelligence Analysis, Mathematics (Pure), Psychology, Strategy and Teaching.

Foresightful: The character may purchase one additional level of Foresightful. Normal characters may purchase one level, and Officers may purchase two.

Instant Heuristics: Requires Lightning Calculator. The character may use the heuristics technique instantly without any penalties.

Rules-Based Ethics: A more flavorful name for Technique Mastery: Moral Insight.

Schtick (Quote the Masters): The character always has an interesting quote from the Rationalist Classics, whether or not the player can think of one. The GM should never require the player to come up with something pithy and appropriate, and can assume the character has something appropriate to say.

Secret Knowledge (Heuristics for physical phenomenon only): The character may ignore the requirement for Illumination, however he may only apply Heuristics for learning truths about physical phenomenon, and not about moral truths or truths about psychic phenomenon. This explicitly applies to the skills of Administration, Crimonology, Detect Lies, Intelligence Analysis, Psychology and Strategy.

Skeptic: Found on page 24 of GURPS Psionic Powers.

New Skills

Hobby Skill (Scientific Trivia): The character can impress others with unimportant scientific facts, such as knowing pi out to 40 decimals, or the exact orbital distance of Sovereign from its sun, or the mass of all isotopes of oxygen. Generally used to impress other people interested in science, but might potentially act as a complementary skill for a science, engineering or math skill in circumstances where knowing an obscure bit of trivia is handy.

Closely connected to the philosophy of Neo-Rationalism is the literature of rationalism. Characters may use Literature (Rationalism), an optional specialization of Literature (thus IQ/A) as a complementary roll to generate a +1 reaction with anyone who values the Neo-Rationalist philosophy or to assist with Moral Insight or Philosophical Argument rolls.

New Techniques

Foresightful Planning (Hard)

Prerequisite: One planning skill.

Default: Prerequisite Skill-10; May not exceed Prerequisite skill.

Allows the character to buy off the -10 penalty for gaining one use of Foresight for the mission

Heuristics (Hard)

Prerequisite: Philosophy

Default: Philosophy-6; May not exceed Prerequisite skill.

See GURPS Powers: the Weird page 6.

Patreon Post: Faith, Psi-Wars and the Old Ways

Not psychic, last I checked.  Probably isn’t strong in the Force either.

I hope you’ve been enjoying Neo-Rationalism.  It’s the only non-Psionic philosophy I’ll release as an official part of this series, but it got me to thinking about other non-Psionic philosophies and faiths, and about faith itself.  Faith, not just in the sense of religion, but in finding something to believe in, features strongly in many works of science fiction.  I suspect many others enjoy contrasting the shine, confidence and soullessness of technology with the austere humility of spirituality.  As such, I wanted to write something addressing that and offering potential ways to include some non-psionic religion with the uncertainties of the world addressed in an uncertain and subtle faith.

Some of my readers have begun asking about Old Westerly philosophies, and what other sort of religions humans might follow. I’ve always seen the Old Westerly as the Corellians of the setting, characters more space cowboys and pioneers than shining knights or sketchy cyberpunks.  If we imagine them as inspired by Firefly, then a good, “wild west” philosophy for them would look a lot like the religion Shepherd Book follows.  So, as a worked example of a non-psionic faith, I offer Shepherdism, an optional “old way” that one might found lingering on the rim of the galaxy, or if you want some humble, monastic faith that rolls up its sleeves and helps the poor, and True Communion doesn’t do it for you.

This patreon special is available to all $1+ patrons.  If you’re a patron, check it out!  If you’re not a patron, I’d love to have you.

Neo-Rational Symbolism and Ceremonies

Neo-Rationalists tend to be less formal than other philosophies. They lack strict organizations and what passes for Neo-Rationalism tends to change based on what is currently fashionable among the intellectual elite, united only by the Rationalist Canon and its antecedents. Neo-Rationalists do like ways to display their rational piety and to hone their minds, however, and so ceremonial actions do occasionally become popular and widespread.

Neo-Rationalist Scriptures: the Rationalist Classics

The Neo-Rationalist reveres the great minds that founded rationalism, and holds their works in equal reverence, often quoting from them to drive home a rational point. Later generations have come along and “clarified” the words of the original Rationalist Masters with commentaries and glosses. Modern Neo-Rational work does not break new ground, it only expands on the original ideas of the original masters. All Neo-Rationalist works exist in digital form, and most Neo-Rationalists have entire libraries on their datapad, but some Neo-Rationalists like the idea of books and have printed copies of the classics on their shelves or their desk, simply so they can hold that wisdom, physically, in their hands.

The works of the Rationalists and Neo-Rationalists are too numerous to name, and GMs and Players alike should feel encouraged to come up with their own titles and personages, as well as their own quotes. Some suggestions below:

Rationalist Works

Ad Astra: the Hope of Mankind, by Tai-Sun Saga

The Mirror of Consciousness, by Kun-Lun Kaku

Chaos: A Study of Emergent Systems, by Kun-Lun Kaku

Hyperphysica, by Tillika

Neo-Rational Works and Commentaries

The Rationalist Canon, by Avienna Kaku

God-Slayer, by Dawkins Nigh

Purity of the Mind: On Psycho-Social Analytics, by Zeb Lancaster

The Machinery of the Mind, by Calvin Del

The Original Rationalist Masters

Tai-Sun Saga, one of the original founders of the Denjuku colony, never lived to see its completion. Neo-Rationalists often consider him one of the greatest of the Neo-Rationalists, and many have holographic recordings of his awe-inspiring speeches in his deep and attractive voice. He had a strong presence, dark skin and a warm smile. He strongly advocated for exploring and colonizing the stars in his work Ad Astra: the Hope of Mankind.

Kun-Lun Kaku, an adviser to the Shinjurai royal family and tireless advocate of Rationalism wrote many works in his long, long life, and is the most quoted of all the Neo-Rationalist classics except for his decendent, Avienna Kaku. He lived to a ripe old age, and his withered visage with long, wild white hair and classic, Shinjurai features grace many Neo-Rationalist holo-sculptures. He wrote, among others, The Mirror of Consciousness and Chaos: a Study of Emergent Systems.

Tillika, a Trader logician and scientist, contributed greatly to the body of Rationalist lore, especially with her classic Hyperphysica which laid the groundwork for the modern hyperdrive, and her complex system of logic, which continues to be practiced in Neo-Rationalism to this day. She had a slender build even for a Trader, never showed her mouth, and her penetrating gaze could pin a fly to the wall.

Neo-Rationalist Commentators

Avienna Kaku is the most prolific and well-known of the Neo-Rational commentators and compiled her life’s work, the massive volume known as the Rational Canon, which is the basis of all modern Neo-Rationalist study. She lived long, like her ancestor, but retained a girlish charm in her features; her most common images show her in her 30s and prefer to show her in a youthfully nerdy light.

Zeb Lancaster still lives, though he has reached his twilight years and still runs the Rationalist Academy on Denjuku. Professor Lancaster is best known for his work in creating the field of Psyco-Social Analytics and his work, Purity of the Mind: Psycho-Social Analytics. The old man has a powerful voice and an upright posture, and his magnetic charm and sparkle-eyed wisdom draw people into a cult of personality that swirls around him, which has caused some scandal when he’s taken advantage of the trust other people have given him.

Dawkin Nigh still lives and works tirelessly within the Empire to hunt down and destroy the last vestiges of supernatural cults. Some regard him as a bloody-handed executioner, but Neo-Rationalists recognize that he does what he can to save mankind from the darkness of the irrational. He has a single work, a study into the words of the original Rationalists on their hidden truths on the supernatural called God-Slayer. Handsome, grey streaks his brown-gold hair, and his broad shoulders and chiseled features give the impression of a soldier, rather than a scholar.

Neo-Rational Symbolism and Motifs

For Neo-Rationalists, the greatest symbolism of their devotion to rationalism is the image of the Neo-Rationalist masters themselves. Holographic sculptures of bygone sages grace the homes of Neo-Rationalists, a flickering bust on a shelf, or a full image greeting visitors at the entrance. Most Neo-Rationalists have at least one “favorite” Rationalist, but the wealthy like to collect as many images of great Rationalists as they can. Academies typically have a full pantheon of them, and no greater honor can be bestowed upon a Neo-Rationalist than to see their image go up next to those hallowed saints of Rationality.

The works of those sages also carry great weight. Neo-Rationalists often decorate their walls with flat, flexible computer screens dedicated to prominently displaying the text of their favorite Rationalist classic, usually zoomed in on some particularly pithy passage.

While Neo-Rationalists don’t have explicit symbols in the way other philosophies might, they do have motifs that they return again and again, including:

The Star (and other Astronomical Imagery): Neo-Rationalists like the image of the star, especially the four-pointed star with a long tail. They often use it to represent a fascination with astrophysics and an inquisitive nature: the desire to explore the world and to understand all.

Math Equations: Nothing says “rational” to a Neo-Rationalist like a series of math equations. The old rationalist used complex mathematics to prove their physical laws, and modern Neo-Rationalists use their own logical calculus to prove their own postulates. Some Neo-Rationalists like to have emblazoned equations as decorations, which often look like cryptic, unfathomable characters to the uninitiated.

Robots: Neo-Rationalists like to compare humanity to robots or vice versa and argue that no fundamental difference exists between them (a precept that the Cybernetic Union is quick to use against any Neo-Rationalist opponents!). They like to be accompanied by robots, or use robotic metaphors in discussions of the human psyche.

The Color White; Barcodes: Neo-Rationalists like to wear white, or decorate their homes in stark colors. White represents cleanliness and the purity of a rational mind. They also like the high contrast of black symbols or black bars against white, which represents the clear lines in which a rational mind thinks and a contrast to the wild flux of chaotic colors that represents the irrational mind.

Misappropriate Religious Imagery: Neo-Rationalism loves to borrow the metaphors of other “irrational” philosophies and repurpose them for their own examples and metaphors. Realistically, these should borrow strongly from the Akashic Mysteries (“The economic crisis facing the Alliance is their true Coming Storm.”) or True Communion (“You could say we follow the path of science!”), but a GM might use real-world religious imagery so that players easily understand what’s going on.

Neo-Rationalist Ceremonies

Mindful Meditation

The Neo-Rationalist, having not yet completely escaped the bonds of irrationalism, centers herself, usually at the beginning and ending of her day. She takes up a lotus position on a mat and brings one hand before her, and recites a mantra. The mantra is typically a logical formula, perhaps a favorite logical formula that she finds especially beautiful or that proves a principle important to her, or perhaps one she has devised herself to reflect some personal truth. This usually takes no more than a few minutes and does little more than clear her thoughts.

Psycho-Analytical Mentorship

Zeb Lancaster’s Purifying the Mind synthesizes the ideas about achieving full rationalism and applies a system to it. The Neo-Rationalist seeks a “mentor,” or a “purity guide.” The mentor then arranges sessions with the Neo-Rationalist that resemble a sort of confession. The Mentor asks the Neo-Rationalist questions, starting with simple ones that grow increasingly pointed and personal until the Mentor finds some emotionally charged point and verbally presses on it until the character breaks down. The Mentor and Neo-Rationalist then explore this point, and the Mentor explains to the Neo-Rationalist why the Neo-Rationalist feels this way, explains that it’s okay, but offers a way that the Neo-Rationalist might purify this from his mind. This pairs especially well with Mindful Meditation.

Neo-Rationalist Conventions

A Neo-Rationalist Convention is a gathering of all (notable, invited) Neo-Rationalists to a single point to discuss findings, to share works, to have readings and, especially to listen to diatribes and lectures by Neo-Rationalist masters. A convention can last days and is often a free-wheeling affair where well-heeled Neo-Rationalists rub shoulders with the most admired Neo-Rationalist minds; new philosophers attempt to spread their ideas or sell their works, and avid students might arrange readings of beloved works, or attempt to even touch one of the great masters of Neo-Rationalism.

The Laureate

Should a Neo-Rationalist achieve a great intellectual feat, such as writing a great Neo-Rationalist work, a Neo-Rationalist academy may choose to honor her and add her to their rolls as one of their Laureates. Each Academy does this in a different way, but most generally announce their Laureates once per year (the most prestigious add only one per year). In the actual ceremony, three representatives wearing white robes mount a podium and speak to the gathered guests and explain who the laureate is and why her achievement is worthy of addition (often lavishing her with praise, or describing the story of her life in a deific manner). Finally, she is invited to come forward , wearing her white robes, and given some token associated with the academy, and invited to speak. The Laureate ceremony is usually bracketed by feast, party or a convention.

Neo-Rationalism as a Philosophy

The Principles of Neo-Rationalism

1. True understanding of the universe is the only worthy pursuit
2. True understanding of the universe can be achieved only by a rational mind using science.
3. Science achieves understanding only through empirical research, logic and experimentation.
4. Man is an irrational animal in his natural state; the irrational, like an animal, cannot be held responsible for his actions.
5. Rational thought can only be achieved by hard work, education, and dedication to the geniuses of the past.
6. Rational thought frees man from irrational instinct; freeing all men from irrational thought will bring about a utopia.
7. The supernatural and mental does not exist; only the physical exists.

The Beliefs of Neo-Rationalism

The Scientist by Skyosan

“The rational mind is unfettered by preconception. It views all things skeptically, but stands ready to be proven wrong.”
– Kun-Lun Kaku, the Philosophy of Science

At its very core, Neo-Rationalism is an empirical science. It inherits Rationalism’s demand that all things be proven. One should see it with ones own eyes and have it proven to them before they will believe it. It believes in a materialistic universe, one without “supernatural” influences, one that is rational, deterministic and predictable.

Neo-Rationalism has grown beyond pure empiricism, though. It makes statements about things which cannot be proven, such as theology, metaphysics and ethics. It does this through logical inference and authority. For the first, Neo-Rationalism has a complex and well-studied system of logic that can be represented with complex symbolic equations. When logic is insufficient, Neo-Rationalism implicitly believes in the genius of its founders and in those “sufficiently well-educated” in Neo-Rationalism to infer “deeper truths” in the opinions and statements of those founders, applying Neo-Rationalism’s logical rigor to statements like “God does not play with dice” to create new doctrines. If these new doctrines seem strange or illogical, a good Neo-Rationalist checks the sources, and only if they can be traced to original experts and the logic is being handled by a soundly educated Neo-Rationalist does he accept them.

Neo-Rationalism and the Hard Questions

Neo-Rationalism and Good vs Evil

“Rationalism brings light to the darkness of an irrational universe.”
-Avienna Kaku, the Rationalist Canon

Neo-Rationalism dismisses “good vs evil” as a myth developed by animalistic minds who wanted to enslave others. It believes, instead, in rationalism vs irrationalism.

According to Neo-Rationalism, all creatures are irrational. They are great biological machines who react to their environment and their own internal chemical and electrical impulses. Their instincts have been honed by billions of years of evolution to survive, not to understand the world. They react out of emotion, fear, anger, hunger, and they assign superstitious beliefs to things. This unthinking reaction is the source of all ill in the world. The beast rages and, in so doing, ruins his own world. In its hunger, it consumes until the environment his barren. In its fury, it destroys potential allies. In its fear, it flees from that which it does not understand, rather than seeking to understand.

The rational mind, by contrast, is well-ordered and educated. It has foresight and can see what consequences its actions will have on the world around it. It replaces fear with understanding, hunger with careful planning and rage with dialog. Neo-Rationalism argues that the well-ordered mind can see a solution out of any problem, even the largest and most complex of problems, which means that the perfectly rational mind can create any “good” outcome that one might seek.

Neo-Rationalists advocate a carefully regimented set of ethical rules that individuals should follow. While Neo-Rationalism largely concerns itself with the outcome of actions, rather than the character of the individual that engages in them, Neo-Rationalism advises against all but the most rational from doing whatever they think is best. In most cases, the partially educated mind is not yet ready for completely unfettered ethics. Instead, it’s better to follow the ethical guidelines of Neo-Rationalism.

Those ethical guidelines ultimately seek to spread rationalism to as many people as possible. In creating a perfectly rational and ordered world, Neo-Rationalism hopes to eliminate all ills, all disagreement and all conflict.

Neo-Rationalism, the State and War

“What is man, but a biological machine?”
-Kun-Lun Kaku, the Mirrors of Consciousness

Neo-Rationalism believes that the wide-scale spread of Neo-Rationalism is critical to the well-being of all people. It believes, further, that not all people can be, or will be, brought to Neo-Rationalism. Some animal minds are simply too primitive to understand Neo-Rationalism. As such, it hopes to create large organizations, laws and states, that mitigate the harm caused by the irrational few who will never advance beyond their instincts.

In this regard, it attempts to incorporate Neo-Rational ideals into the state. It argues against free-will and thus moral responsibility: to the Neo-Rationalist, the self is just an illusion that a soulless biological machine tells itself to prevent existential dread. It is ruled by its nature and by the events around it. A criminal is not truly responsible for his misdeeds; instead, he’s reacting to years of mistreatment, neglect, difficult circumstances and, likely, a primitive and irrational mind. “Punishment” is only vendetta in the guise of justice. Better, instead, to re-educate the criminal mind so that it becomes rational and sees the error of its way or, if this proves to be impossible, exile it to some place where it cannot harm good and rational society.

Neo-Rationalists disdain war and violence as inelegant, brute solutions.  War burns books, rips apart societies and drives men into irrational, survival instincts.  A truly rational society would never need war.  That said, irrational minds often lash out at rational societies out of fear.  A rational state is justified in acting in self-defense, even preemptively if it can accurately predict an inevitable attack.  The goal of a rational war should swift victory, the pacification and re-education of the enemy, and minimized casualties.  For the neo-rationalist, the best war is the war that’s won before it’s fought.

Neo-Rationalism on Time and Destiny

“Logic is the machinery of a well-ordered mind.”
-Tillika, Hyperphysica

Neo-Rationalists believe in a deterministic universe. Every cause has an effect, going back to the big bang, which set everything in motion. Nothing can deviate from its course, and free will is just a story the brain tells itself. If one had perfect access to all data, one could perfectly predict the future. Alas, no human mind has that data, because some systems have so many variables that perfect prediction is impossible. Even the best mind cannot perfectly predict the weather and will practically never be able to do so. The same applies to the “decisions” of the mind, the workings of society, etc. That doesn’t mean, of course, that one can’t have good models that generally predict these things (hence the ethical rules devised by Neo-Rationalism).

Neo-Rationalism on Psionic Powers and Communion

“Psychic phenomenon is nothing less than the disease of the irrational upon an ordered and rational universe. The truly rational could never abide its existence.”
-Dawkin Nigh, Godslayer

Neo-Rationalism denies the existence of the mind as anything but emergent expression of the physical brain. Neo-Rationalism has a strictly materialist view of the universe, and so things like psionic powers and communion do not exist. Those who claim to have those powers are, in the view of Neo-Rationalists, charlatans using some sort of trick, advanced knowledge, or sheer luck, to gain some advantage.

When pressed with physical proof of psionic powers, most Neo-Rationalists will go in one of two directions. The more patient will argue that this is merely an interaction between the energies of the individual and the space around him via a means of some as-of-yet undiscovered process (likely something involving quantum mumbo-jumbo). Those less patient will argue that those powers should not exist and are an unnatural (“irrational”) violation of the rightful laws of the universe. They seek to purge the universe of psionic abilities.

The Neo-Rationalist view on the mind makes them especially open to the idea of robotic independence, as they see robots as fundamentally no different than people (“A biological machine is no different from a cybernetic machine”).

Neo-Rationalism on Death and the Afterlife

“We are stardust. The ashes of exploded stars fill our every cell, the very core of our being. The stars are our heritage and our legacy. We must go to them.”
-Tai-Sun Saga, Ad Astra: the Hope of Mankind

Neo-Rationalism holds that death is a complicated breakdown of the biological machine, after which consciousness, as much as it can be said to have ever existed, ceases.  Death is the end. No afterlife follows.  The only form of legacy a Neo-Rationalist can hope for is that his ideas and knowledge will carry on into the future.  The Neo-Rationalis seeks immortality in the form of published treatises.

Neo-Rationalism and other Philosophies

Neo-Rationalism argues that it is open to all “reasonable” philosophies, but in practice it tends to treat all philosophies other than itself or minor variations as deeply misguided at best and outright dangerous at worst. Neo-Rationalism believes that irrational minds lie at the heart of all other philosophies, and ascribes to them sinister motivations (for example, deceiving the gullible masses for personal gain). They like to depict other philosophies as cults with hypocritical leadership.

To the Neo-Rationalist, whether or not one follows Neo-Rationalism is the litmus test of the rational mind. Those who do not, or who argue against it are inherently irrational. As such, dialogue between other philosophies and Neo-Rationalism tends to get off to a rocky start unless adherents to the other philosophy begin by acknowledging the supremacy of Neo-Rationalism.

Neo-Rationalism doesn’t even co-exist well with other philosophies. Rather than “live and let live,” Neo-Rationalism tends to see the “irrational superstition” spread by other philosophies as a threat. They even advocate for pre-emptive action against “irrational” individuals and may see “irrationalism” as a source of crime, and thus may advocate for purging the community of other philosophies. They tend to avoid being brutal about it. They won’t simply gun down those who believe in a different philosophy. Instead, they’ll try to outmaneuver them, defeat them with propaganda and trade sanctions, and then attempt to re-educate or “isolate” them so they can’t spread their “superstition.”

Is Neo-Rationalism Correct?

The default stance is that Neo-Rationalism is not correct and cannot be correct.  It explicitly throws away the very concepts that it believes could make itself correct (it irrationally pursues rationality, a paradox).  It exists in the setting as something to fight against and correct, something even some neo-rationalists can see!

That said, Neo-Rationalism could be right, and it could be right in two possible ways.  The first is that it’s on the right track.  It’s wrong about psionics and it’s wrong to pursue science in the manner that it does, but it’s ultimately right about the dangers of superstition and the irrational. A galaxy run on rational principles would be better, in this scenario. The second, and more extreme scenario, is that Neo-Rationalism is absolutely correct.  If the mystical philosophies can be right, why can’t Neo-Rationalism’s more metaphysical claims be correct?  Psionics and Communion may exist, but they’re not what mystical philosophies say they are.  As proof of this, consider how people can engineer psions and create psychotronic devices.  This often goes wrong, to be sure, but so did chemistry in its early days and that doesn’t mean chemistry didn’t work, just that it needs to be refined.

A Neo-Rational universe is a classic sci-fi universe that has gone off-track, and fallen into a dark age.  Neo-Rationalism is the last spark of the scientific and technological mindset necessary to pull the galaxy, kicking and screaming, into a new golden age.  If this is true, then the Empire, the Cybernetic Union or the Shinjurai are the true heroes of the setting, and everyone else is holding back their progress.  Or, if Neo-Rationalism is wrong, but Rationalism is correct, then Folk-Rationalism is the key to restoring the galaxy to the right path.  They need to break down the elitist dogmas of the Neo-Rationalists, and then spread their purer philosophy until the rest of the galaxy finally wakes up from its superstitious stupor.

Neo-Rationalism: The Cultural Context

The philosophy of Neo-Rationalism did not spring fully formed into the world.  It reflects a specific intellectual tradition of the Shinjurai people, and it’s evolution bears the markers of the rise and fall of that culture within the Galaxy.

Of the original three human worlds, Denjuku had the strongest scientific culture. Once the Shinjurai royal family dominated the planet, they institutionalized that culture via “rationalist” academies. In so doing, the monarch hoped to educate his people and push back the shadows of superstition, so that his people could always reach for the stars.

And reach for the stars they did! The Shinjurai culture spread the second wave of humanity across the stars and took their ruthlessly empirical Rationalism with them and took up a strong position in the galactic core. There, they met ancient alien cultures with their own scientific, mathematical and technological traditions, especially the alien race called “the Traders.” Rationalists cared only about progress, not where that progress came from and so readily embraced aliens and their knowledge into their ranks.

The Shinjurai golden age could not last forever. Like a great tide, the Alexian empire swept across the galaxy. The rationalist weapons proved powerless against the psionic talents and precognitive strategies of House Alexus. They conquered Denjuku, scattered the Traders and broke the power of the Shinjurai. The mysticism of the Akashic Mysteries eclipsed the science of Rationalism.

However, the Shinjurai still retained some power. The royal family still ruled Denjuku at least in name, and enclaves of Shinjurai kept the flickering candle of Rationalism alive, but without unity, the philosophy began to drift. Shinjurai grievances turned the skepticism of “superstition” into outright disdain. At the same time, the rise of mysticism fed a hunger for “the big questions” that Rationalism had previously ignored and gave rise to the idea “hidden doctrines” that one could find lurking behind the teachings of the old Rationalist sages.

Eventually, the Akashic Order began to collapse into corruption and Rationalism rose once more in influence. The Akashic Mysteries offered a closed elitism and incomprehensible puzzles. Rationalism offered an open elitism to anyone who was willing to set aside superstition and learn. It offered answers where the Akashic Mysteries offered only enigmas, and Rationalism advanced technology. But this was not the Rationalism of old. This new Rationalism had uncovered hidden doctrines and had expanded physics with metaphysics. Where Rationalism frowned skeptically at mystical powers, this new Rationalism denounced them as lies. Where Rationalism shrugged its shoulders at ethics or questions of the afterlife, this new Rationalism held explicit beliefs. The careful scientific method of Rationalism was dead, replaced with a new, dogmatic Rationalism: Neo-Rationalism.

Neo-Rationalism reached its apex with the rise of the new Galactic Empire. The Emperor vocally endorsed Neo-Rationalism and enshrined it in newly re-opened academies. He wanted a rationally run empire, with its leadership open to everyone willing to cast aside mysticism and the take the world as it really was. He discarded tradition and embraced science and technology. He brought the Galaxy into a new era and the Neo-Rationalists would guide the galaxy with the light of scientific enlightenment.

Neo-Rationalist Culture and Values

Ultimately, Rationalism and Neo-Rationalism were grounded in the culture of the Shinjurai people, the former during their technological flowering, the latter as a response to their defeat and the way galactic culture evolved during their cultural nadir.

Rationalism arose from a culture that valued intellect, tolerance and reliability. Intellect stood at the forefront of Shinjurai culture: they held no doctrine as sacred, no idea as beyond questioning. What mattered to the Shinjurai was results. If a man, whatever his education, could prove his radical idea, the Shinjurai accepted it, however reluctantly. What mattered was that he proved it. The Shinjurai sought truth, and wanted to know how the world really worked, and had nothing but disdain for charlatans and sophists.

With the fall of the Shinjurai, their priorities shifted. Slowly, over time, the importance of challenging the status quo gave way to the importance of recovering the lost heritage and prestige of the Shinjurai; the value of tradition. The Shinjurai stopped looking forward and began to look backwards. The old ways mattered, they had to, or the Shinjurai struggles meant nothing. “Superstition” could not win out over rationality! Where their science had failed them, rather than wonder why it had failed, the Shinjurai flocked to those who said that it hadn’t, just that the people had failed to understand the true genius of their ancestors. The Shinjurai began to look for hidden truths behind their beliefs.

Some challenged this new approach, calling it mysticism, but prestige had replaced tolerance. Who were these challengers? What degrees did they have? How well could they quote the classics? The Shinjurai began to value those with superior education and superior credentials over the uneducated or boorish who could back their words with proof. They began to see their culture and their philosophy through the lens of carefully (“rationally”) approved experts. The Shinjurai still demanded truth and reliability, but their vision of truth changed from an accurate portrayal of the world to truthfulness in relationships and careful adherence to what fellow Shinjurai wanted to hear.

Neo-Rationalism in the Galaxy

Neo-Rationalism is probablythe dominant philosophy of the Galaxy in the modern day, though it only rose recently, lifted up by the Empire. The Emperor does not officially endorse any ideology, but Neo-Rationalist officials tend to find themselves at an advantage for political advancement than other ideologies do, while some (like the Akashic Mysteries and True Communion) find themselves actively suppressed.

Neo-Rationalism appeals to human and alien alike, and tends to be found most often among the Traders, the Cybernetic Union, on Denjuku and the traditional holdings of the Shinjurai, and dominates the galactic core. While many do not actively subscribe to the ideology, it slowly makes itself into default assumptions in schools and among political leadership, further strengthening its position. It struggles the most in the oldest parts of the Galaxy (which favors their Psionic and Communion cults), on the rim of the Galaxy (where people still stick to the Old Ways and True Communion still lingers) and in the Alliance, where the Akashic Mysteries still have something of a presence.
@page { margin: 0.79in } h3.western { font-family: “Liberation Sans”, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt } h3.cjk { font-family: “Noto Sans CJK SC Regular”; font-size: 14pt } h3.ctl { font-family: “FreeSans”; font-size: 14pt } p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% } a:link { so-language: zxx }
Neo-Rationalism claims to be a philosophy for everyone, but in practice, its focus on expensive education tends to mean that most Neo-Rationalists tend to be elites. Imperial leadership or Shinjurai Royalty follow Neo-Rationalism. A stripped down variant, Folk-Rationalism, has made its way into the common populace, but by and large, Neo-Rationalism is the ideology of the rulers, not an ideology of the ruled.

Neo-Rationalism: An introduction

“Don’t try to frighten us with your sorcerer’s ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels’ hidden fort…”
-General Motti, A New Hope

The first philosophy I want to discuss has nothing to do with psionic powers and is, in fact, the closest thing to an actual philosophy that I am likely to discuss.

Psi-Wars, like Star Wars before it and many of the genre-mashing space opera stories that were especially popular during the era in which Star Wars was conceived, suffer from the problem of embracing both the “wonder of advanced science” themes of sci-fi as well as the “mysticism of the ancient past” themes of fantasy. On the one hand, we need science, as we’re writing science-fiction, and how else do we justify the amazing technology of the setting (force screens, hyperdrives, man-portable weaponized particle accelerators powered by impossibly efficient batteries)? On the other hand, if we embrace science in its totality, we leave little room for the spirituality inherent in the mysticism of Star Wars. How can we get both together in the same place?

To make both work, we need to both embrace and reject science. We must explain why the Galaxy of Psi-Wars has been stuck in the same tech level for the literally millennia necessary to give us the huge sweep of history that we want in the setting. We can solve this problem in a variety of ways, but Neo-Rationalism is one of my answers. Scientific progress is not manifest destiny; its paradigm, the culture of skepticism, analytical thinking and bold experimentation, can be lost and replaced with dogmatism and doctrine. This has happened before in history. I would argue, in fact, that we’re constantly under attack by our own impulses to move away from the unintuitive strictures of the scientific method and towards the more intuitive impulses of mysticism and worship of authority.

Neo-Rationalism is, at first glance, a scientific strawman. It represents a preening, condescending and obviously wrong take on science by emphasizing all the worst traits of scientism, the sort of “smug, ivory tower scientist who doesn’t really understand the world” that we see so often in science fiction. The Neo-Rationalist is the irrationally skeptic who refuses to believe the truth of things like True Communion. This makes him a natural enemy for the heroes of the Psi-Wars universe, someone they can defy and defeat, and thus is strongly represented in the “evil” Empire.

But everyone who reads this work does so on a computer and lives in a civilized world shaped by science. Does science really need to be villified? In this sense, Neo-Rationalism represents a tragedy. It shows a galaxy that was once on the path to scientific enlightenment, but lost its way. Science lost its discipline, and thus its power, and in its absence, mysticism has sprung up.

Neo-Rationalism also represents an opportunity to get the galaxy back on the right track.  It holds genuine keys to self-improvement! And unlike the other philosophies here, one needn’t be psionic to access it.  It also has access to (experimental, dangerous) TL 12^ prototypes and is perhaps the best place to find the last embers of the fire that once fueled technological progress.  With the right spark, and by cleaning away the gunk that has grown up around it, perhaps the flames of progress could be lit once more.

This creates the core tension of Neo-Rationalism, one paralleled in the Psi-Wars setting, between mysticism and skepticism. The Neo-Rationalist craves answers to difficult questions that science cannot answer, but wants to hold onto the truths of science. It must carefully navigate what science can offer and what it cannot, and at this point in the setting, the movement has failed to do that, but the PCs might succeed where others have failed!

Neo-Rationalism also offers players the chance to play an intellectual who isn’t a space wizard. It rewards deep investment in intellectual skills and offers nigh-super-human, but entirely plausible, displays of genius. It befits characters like Thrawn, Moff Tarkin, especially cunning investigators and deeply thoughtful scavengers. It explicitly allows the sci-fi fan to bring the science back into the space fantasy of Psi-Wars, without disrupting that space fantasy.

The Power of Science and the Danger of Scientism

The Psi-Wars galaxy sports such amazing technology as hyperspace travel, force swords, psionic boosters and holographic communicators. Surely, such a society has a fantastic tradition of science, or had so at one point in its past. One cannot uncover such unintuitive technologies by accident. The galaxy has a plethora of alien species each with their own developments that they can swap and share, increasing the total sum of knowledge, but we still need to explain how they reached the stars in the first place! There must have been some sort of scientific culture at some point.

Science has a powerfully impressive impact upon cultures that begin to follow its rather strict methods. Scientists begin to offer solutions, like medicines, weather predictions, economic success and military defenses that more superstitious methods failed to reliable produce. The power of science is so impressive, the wonder that power invokes inspires sci-fi! The common man, who typically lacks the nuanced knowledge of the scientist find the works of scientist to be arcane and hard to fathom. They may begin to assign them the sort of reverence once held for spiritual, religious or mystical leaders.

“Neil Tyson is the Dalai Lama of science.”
-Sulphur Jellybean, Youtube

This can pose a problem. Science works by challenging the status quo and attempting to find proof and then sharing that proof with others. It seeks to understand that which can be proven and nothing else. Science cannot weigh good against evil, or measure the breadth of the soul, or attempt to prove or disprove the existence of cosmic beings that both pervade and transcend the universe. Science is a tool for understanding the physical world, not a system of ethics or metaphysics or theology.

But some people want it to be. They like the effectiveness of science, an effectiveness gained by focusing on its strengths, and want to apply it to matters the scientific method claims no expertise over. They want to turn science into a system of ethics and metaphysics, they want to turn great scientific minds into great political or religious minds. They want the easy answer of pointing to someone and saying “He’s rational, he has a degree, he solved this one problem, he must be good as solving all other problems.”

This creates an entirely different mentality than one that pursues the scientific method, and turns it into scientisim, the cosmetic application of science in unwarranted situations not covered by the scientific method. In this context, only the most credentialed men may lead, and anyone who disagrees only proves himself to be “irrational” by his very objection to being ruled by a technocracy.

The Fictional Inspiration: The Promise of a Better Man and General Semantics

“Such a method would allow mankind to start every generation where the last one left off, and the progress of civilization would follow the exponential law. A copy of this general doctrinal summary should be placed in the hands of every teacher throughout the world, by legislation if need be… Scientists would start with such an institution a new period of human history which would be called the “scientific era.””
– Alfred Korzybski, Time Binding

As I hunted for inspiration for various philosphical movements, I stumbled across “The World of Null-A,” a work A. E. von Vogt, and when I tried to uncover what this “Null-A” he spoke of was, I came across General Semantics, an idea proposed by Alfred Korzybski in the early 20^th century. The core of his idea was that all people needed to understand the difference between the labels we apply to things and what those things actually are. He argued that our confusion of semantics created dissonance and led to strife and hardship. He advocated for a regime of introspection until a moment’s hesitation when presented with a new idea became habit, so that one reacted thoughtfully, rather than instinctively. He argued that if one followed his regime strictly, one could become a better man, more thoughtful, more enlightened, less animalistic and more rational.

The early 20^th century, still flush with the fruits of scientific advancement, saw science as the solution to everything, and proposed all sort of “rational” ideas like eugenics and atomic science, but I find General Semantics both typical and very interesting. It, typically, offers an escape from the frustrations of the human condition: follow this simple set of instructions, this One Weird Trick, and not only will your problems go away, but everyone’s problems as society becomes a fundamentally better place. I find it unique, though, in that it seems to have inspired quite a following in science fiction. General Semantics inspired the World of Null-A, which in turn inspired the Mentats and Bene Gesserit of Dune, which inspired Star Wars. It also inspired Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Scientology.

The fundamental idea in all of these is that people can be made better through science. People who follow a philosophy can become more rational, more intelligence, more moral. This builds upon the ideals of scientism: If there is a sage you particularly admire, you have only to follow an ideology that makes you like him, and if you can get your society to institute those ideals as law, then surely utopia will follow!

The Historical Inspiration: Platonism and Neo-Platonism

“The natural philosopher Heraclitus said that man is naturally irrational. If this is true, as it is true, then everyone who enjoys futile glory should hide his face.”
-Apollonius of Tyana

The greatest of the early philosophers was arguably Plato. He did a great deal to outline the core philosophical problems, and almost all Western philosophy that I’ve personally studied is either a response to him, to one of his critics, or to religious texts. He proved to be a foundation on which antique Western philosophy, in the very least, was built upon.

Plato had an interesting approach to philosophy. He wrote his treatises in a dialogue form, where in the character of Socrates poses questions and the people involved attempt to answer them. In this way, Plato was able to explore the ideas presented, often in the way most people might. The answers presented within the dialogues, at least on my reading, aren’t depicted as definitive. Indeed, it’s often the case that other characters disagree with the character of Socrates and the dialogue ends at an impasse. To me, the intent of Plato’s Dialogues is not to espouse one specific view of the world, one definitive philosophy, but a means by which one uncovers the truth of the world. That is, Plato was more interested in persuading us to ask questions, to explore, and to challenge assumptions. Things like his views on the ultimate political arrangement, or his theory of forms, were merely the result of his methodology, and that his methodology mattered more than the results of his methodology.

This methodology remained the true heritage of Platonists for centuries in the form of academic skepticism, but eventually, centuries later, interest in Plato’s works shifted from methodology to ideology. Concepts like the demiurge, the monad and the theories of forms became central to platonic philosphical discussion and, eventually, theological discussion. Mystics, interested in cloaking their clap-trap in the shroud of authority, began to borrow ideas from Pythagoras and Plato and use them to create a more mystical world-view, arguing that they were uncovering Plato’s “hidden doctrines.” This new movement became more interested in using his works to define God, and then to worship that God, and those who studied Plato tried to divine the secret truths buried within his works. This intermixed with Early Christian and Gnostic thought to reshape how these religions saw their God, and also made considerable impact on early Islamic thought.

Slowly, over time, a philosophy became theological dogma. Plato slowly changed from a figure who advocated critical thinking to a transcendent oracle who had witnessed the true nature of the world and was attempting to relay those mysteries via allegory, as any religious figure would. For the purposes of drawing a parallel with Psi-Wars, we can also say that this coincided with a decline in Greco-Roman civilization and a rise of spiritualism.

What is Neo-Rationalism?

“It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion”
– The Mentat Matra, Dune

At its core, Neo-Rationalism is the fundamental acceptance of the authority of “scientists.” It celebrates a bygone movement of rational scientists, but has become dogmatic about the ideas espoused by those scientists while neglecting the methodology that those scientists of old used. It reads more into the ideas espoused by scientists then the scientists ever intended, or even meant.

They believe that by following this philosophy, they can improve themselves, and society, making themselves the only truly qualified people to lead nations. They believe that their ideology is ultimately and fundamentally correct, and that following any other ideology is “dangerously superstitious,” and that all-right thinking people will inevitably see that this path is the right one. That also means that someone who does not follow this ideology is inherently “irrational” or foolish, and his opinions can be safely disregarded.

Neo-Rationalists want, more than anything, to restore the promise of a future that was derailed by the rise of the “irrational,” the superstitious mysticism that has taken a hold of the galaxy.  They want to return to an era when TL 11^ wasn’t just “the way things have always been,” and where TL 12^ was just around the corner.  They’ve lost their way, a little, but they’re trying to grope their way back by using the greatest minds the Galaxy has ever produced.  They look backwards, to the golden age of the science-that-could-have-been, but they do so in hopes of producing such minds now, who can usher them back into a world of progress.

Patreon Post: Neo-Rational Preview and Tinker Titan Rebel Spy

For the next two weeks, this blog will dive into Neo-Rationalism, the traditional philosophy of Shinjurai science and rational self-improvement.  If you’re a $3+ patron, you can get the preview of it here.

Second, for those interested in Tinker Titan Rebel Spy, we still have two spots open, and it’s now open to all $5+ patrons.

If you’re a patron, check it out.  If you’re not, as always, we’d love to have you.

Patreon Post: Philosophy

Over the course of writing the philosophies of Psi-Wars, I dived pretty deeply into philosophy, and I found it useful to compile some basic notes to sort my thoughts out.  What we really needed, I thought to myself, was the equivalent to GURPS Religion, but using Philosophy.  I’ve compiled those notes into such a document, that offers some quick ideas and insights into how one might create their own philosophy and what sort of tenets such a philosophy might hold to.

Note that this is as superficial a study of Philosophy as GURPS Religion is a superficial a study of Theology.  It’s not meant to be comprehensive, but a place to get started.

If you’re a $1+ Patron (that’s right!  $1!), check it out here.  If you’re not, hey, it’s a buck!  And I’d love to have you!  If you’re curious to learn more, check out the History of Philosophy Without the Gaps, the Partially Examined Life and, of course, Wikipedia.