The System Agnostic Mentalics EngineTM (Post 2 of 3): The Core Concepts

For this second installment of my 3-part entry on the System Agnostic Mentalics Engine^TM, I wanted to present the basic concepts upon which the mentalics rules were based.

At the time I wrote my mentalic abilities system, the HiBRiD^TM game mechanics I had been working on had not been finalized yet; indeed, I had not yet even settled on a central underlying mechanic for the game! Still wishing to move forward with my new insights from my academic studies despite this, I decided that rather than basing my mentalics system on the mechanics of any specific game system that might change multiple times before it was complete, I should change my approach.

For this new approach, as I previously posted, I chose to design the system in terms of a single overriding concept: “What would physically be necessary for mentalic abilities to exist in our own world, given the current molecular model of the neurophysiological basis for brain function?” To answer this question, I came up with a series of four questions that would need to be answered.

The Core Concepts

The first question I needed to answer was “What types of abilities would exist?”? To answer it, I turned to the neurophysiological and anatomical basis for psychological behaviors modeled on the fact that specific physical structures and areas of the brain mapped to specific psychological, sensory, and motor functions. I grouped these functions into simple broad categories to make them easier for players to understand. Any abilities traditionally thought of as “mental powers” that did not relate to these functions (such as telekinesis or teleportation) were excluded, while any abilities involving the interpreting or interacting with these functions in the minds of others were referred to as mentalic abilities. Any individuals with mentalic abilities would be referred to as mentalists.

The second question I needed to answer was, “How would a mentalist detect a target’s mental processes?” To answer this question, I modeled the ability to do so on that of the other human senses. Similar to the manner in which eyes are sensitive to differences in the wavelengths of light and skin receptors are sensitive to differing degrees of thermal energy, mentalic characters would need to possess receptors that specifically detect the patterns of electrical energy differentials that exist only in the presence of an organized neural mass that characterizes a brain and discern them from other electromagnetic phenomenon in the environment. Then, in a manner similar to all of the other five senses, the detected energy pattern would be interpreted by a particular area of the mentalist’s brain as a three dimensional “mentalic image” of all of these billions of interwoven and interconnected neurons into a sort of web that would outline and define the overall shape of the brain. As a result, a mentalist would truly would have a “Sixth Sense” based on this interpreted three-dimensional mentalic image of all of the detected brain’s electrical potentials and differentials. 

The third question I needed to answer was, “How would a mentalist discern one individual function from another within the overall mentalic image they perceive?” To answer this question, I adopted current neurobiological theory that postulates that each function of the mind is created when a neural impulse travels a specific and unique path of neurons (or sets of such paths) throughout the vast neural web that makes up the brain. Each of these paths is referred to as a neural trace, or more simply a trace. Once a character perceives a target’s full mentalic image, the mentalist mentally overlays the image onto their own mentalic pattern, and then, using their own brain as a point of reference, maps the neurons in the perceived “mentalic image” to those in their own neural net. Once this mapping is complete, specific mentalic traces in the target may be easily interpreted. To reflect this process, I coined the term synchronization or establishing a sync. The process would take only fractions of a millisecond, however, it would require active concentration on the part of the mentalist to consciously interpret.

The final question I needed to answer was, “How would a mentalist physically interact with the neural traces of a target in a remote location?” To answer this question, I turned to the concept of quantum entanglement and a unique characteristic of cellular biology. Once a sync is established, the mentalist would simply need to choose the desired neural trace in three-dimensional space within the mentalic image to depolarize (activate) in the target and then induce the quantum entanglements required in the neurons of the target’s mind that correspond to that desired trace. The energy required to initiate the quantum entanglement would be obtained from the energy generating structures already present in the mentalist’s cells: the mitochondria. In normal folks, these structures are actually very leaky and very wasteful however in mentalists, they would need to be virtually leak proof, allowing for the massive buildup of energy required. Additionally, the mentalists would possess organelles that allowed for the transduction of energy to set up the quantum interaction.

With the answers to these questions answered resolved in my mind, I finally felt I had enough of a scientific foundation to sit down and design the game system. Now with over 10 years of practical playtesting, I offer it here for free, stripped of as many system-dependent mechanics as possible for use in your own home game.