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[Wafflesnake]

Kineticist could learn basic telepathy with the Frostwyrms, considering how at least from what I've seen, non-combat psionics shows up only once when speaking to Velika?

kineticists are explicitly and intentionally not telepathic. this will not change.

 

[Ketsueki]

kineticists are explicitly and intentionally not telepathic. this will not change.

Aww, but I've only recently given it a shot, usually I play with Tech, but man Kineticist feels....unfair with how easy things are with it.

 

[razor777]

What even is the lore for kineticists? Are they "jedi but not actually" or something else?

 

[Ketsueki]

What even is the lore for kineticists? Are they "jedi but not actually" or something else?

It was something about having a brain implant that helped your psionic abilities manifest.

 

[Revonero]

It was something about having a brain implant that helped your psionic abilities manifest.

Thought it was something akin to biotics in mass effect. They are born with the power, but need implants to actually use or control it. Still love the class though.

 

[TheShepard256]

The lore on psionics doesn't go into as much detail as I, a lore nerd, would like, but here's what we know as of when I'm writing this:

• Certain species naturally have psionic abilities, or at least the potential to manifest psionic abilities. Half of the currently-known ones (milodan, frostwyrms and lurelings) come from Uveto VII (the non-Uvetans being tarratch, vulpatra and sionach), and at least in the milodan's case, it's theorised that the use of savicite idols in certain mating rituals could be responsible for their psionics.
• Psionic abilities can also be induced artificially, as seen in some species (namely, slyveren and rodenians, though for the latter, it's not species-wide yet and their government denies it) and a Kineticist Steele.
• Actually using psionic abilities often requires some sort of psionic amplifier, especially for artificially-induced psionics or those from species with psionic potential who don't manifest those abilities naturally. This amplifier can be a body part, as with a slyveren's hood or vulpatra's fuzzy antenna-ball-thing, or a technological implant; it doesn't seem to matter too much which, as Synphia uses horn implants in place of her missing hood without any apparent negative or side effects.
• There are different types of psionic abilities, and an individual or species can have differing aptitudes for these types; for example, Steele is good at kinetic, thermal and chemical psionics (at least, based on the Kineticist's combat abilities) but with little mental manipulation potential, while Synphia has an aptitude for all forms, and any given naturally psionic species tends to have a very consistent psionic powerset between its members.
• There doesn't seem to be any major public concerns regarding psionics despite their potential danger.
• The term "psychic" is used in many places interchangeabley with the term "psionic".

There's a group of materials known as psionically-active minerals, presumably named as such due to being related to psionics, each with their own properties:

• The aforementioned savicite is crystalline, albeit forming a "fuzzy" outer layer when not polished, which induces sexual arousal on physical contact.
• Geddanium is a red ore which, due to its hardness, is incredibly difficult to mine but is used to make armour (both personal and ship-grade) and to make psionic amplifiers more robust. When used in piercings, it increases the Tease damage dealt to and received from scaly-type enemies.
• Kirkite is a crystal more commonly found away from the galactic core and Terra, whose abundance seems to be positively correlated with green-skinned dominant sapients; the reason for this is unknown.
• Picardine is a plain-looking crystal used in various intelligence-related things, including AI cores, intelligence-enhancing supplements and research; galotians with picardine cores are much more intelligent than those without.
• Satyrite is a gem, but isn't mentioned as having any unique properties other than its colourfulness.
• Lucinite is a recently-discovered metal ore that absorbs heat from its surroundings, even when melted at extreme temperatures.
• Adjite is a crystal which augments fluid production in organics, and can be treated to become gummy and edible; its effects are more pronounced when ingested.
• Urtanium is mainly prized as a gemstone by furry races; most scholars dismiss the idea of it having psionic properties as superstition. When used in piercings, it increases the Tease damage dealt to and received from furry-type enemies.

Now, for my speculation, I think:

• The biological mechanism behind psionics is similar if not identical to biotics from Mass Effect; nodules of psionically-active minerals embedded in the user's nervous system, which can be activated using specific signals from the brain to produce the psionic effect. Different minerals require different types of signals to activate, which is where the variability in psionic potential comes from, though species that evolved psionics (whether naturally or artificially) are biologically pre-programmed to more easily produce the signals necessary for their specific psionic powers.
• Since psionics can be induced artificially, including later in life (remember, Steele becoming a Kineticist is a job choice), it's possible for technology (including AIs) to be psionic; in fact, making hardlight weapons consumes psionically-active minerals, and hardlight strapons (presumably savicite-based; see below) can transmit pleasure sensations to the wearer, so hardlight is probably an example of psionic technology. This also prevents it from being proper magic in my eyes, as my definition of proper magic is that it can't be replicated technologically without a source of that magic.
• The dismissal of urtanium having psionic properties is incorrect, due to its effect on Tease damage vs furries.
• The crystals from a Phaedran behemoth's back are another type of psionically active mineral, since they can be used to make hardlight weapons.
• Savicite specifically interacts with electromagnetism; that's why it arouses on contact and Uvetan psionics all seem to involve mental manipulation in some way (the nervous system, including the brain, relies on electric signals). I used to think it was the only psionically active mineral that could produce hardlight, though the introduction of hardlight weapons proved that incorrect; I thought "hardlight" was quite literal, as in photons acting like regular matter - sort of like the inverse of a Bose-Einstein condensate - and photons are the carrier particle for electromagnetism.
• Geddanium specifically interacts with the strong nuclear force, increasing its radius to the degree where atoms bond to each other much more strongly than electromagnetism could ever accomplish; this is what gives it its durability.
• Both of the above combined imply there's other psionically active minerals for the other fundamental forces, the weak nuclear force and gravity; what the weak force one would do, I'm not sure, but the gravity one would definitely be responsible for the kinetic-based psionics.
• The backstory behind Steele becoming a Kineticist is as follows (copy-pasted from a post I made in the Discord almost two years ago):

The relative prevalence of psionics has significantly increased in recent centuries. In particular, there are rumours that the rodenians are genetically modifying themselves to be naturally psionic - which, combined with their government's general recalcitrance, leads to fears of war with a psionically potent species. Similarly, the slyveren are confirmed to have granted themselves natural psionics through genetic engineering, and they're also not particularly friendly with others, only fuelling those fears.
The greater UGC doesn't know how to effectively handle psykers on a large scale, making those fears particularly concerning. So, they decided to implement an initiative to study psionic abilities - how to gain them, how they work, and how to combat them on a large scale if the worst were to happen. However, this isn't purely military in nature - another of the goals is to make psionics a known quantity to the general public, so that they don't fear innocent psykers out of ignorance.
That's where Steele Tech comes in - as a purely civilian, high-profile and well-trusted company, their support of and active participation in psionic research helps reassure the general public that psionics are, indeed, nothing to be overly concerned about. Steele themself volunteered for psionic enhancement in their early-to-mid teens - the process had already been proven to be safe for adults to undergo, and the risks were deemed low enough for trialling the process on pubescent individuals to go ahead.
This batch of test subjects was comprised of civilians from all walks of life, and intended to be part of reassuring public safety - Victor convinced the higher-ups on the project that him consenting to his favourite child undergoing the procedure would enhance that reassurance, outweighing any accusations of nepotism. As such, Steele was selected, and took part in the studies part-time alongside their normal school.