Why do Psi-Stalkers work for the CS?

[darthauthor]

Why do Psi-Stalkers work for the CS?

I know they don't ALL work for the CS.
I know the CS wants them for work because they are so good at hunting magical and supernatural baddies.

It is just that the more I read about their personality and drives the less I think I understand about how the CS recruited and kept them.

They are natural born hunters.
Kind of ultra maculine too.

I don't think they would like being told what to do.

I think they like doing what they do. IF they respect someone, it is someone kind of bad azz or the order is smart. Maybe like a situation with a Shifter who summons a being and orders them to do something they like to do and would do anyway.

Really it is the WHOLE psi-stalkers are 2nd class citizens attitude the would ruffle my feathers if I were a Psi-stalker. Like, I'm a psy-stalker. The CS sgt /officer reprimanding me is a normal person. I'm feeling like I'm a wolf. I don't take orders or insults from sheep. If I'm 2nd to anyone it is a more powerful Psi-Stalker.

If they are going to take an order from anyone it would be from someone whose prowess at hunting and fighting they respect. Someone who was their physical superior that could beat them up easily. The average CS SGT or Officer, even with high P.S., P.P. and P.E. is still human is not the equal or better of psi-stalker.

These guys are strong and strong willed. They don't get afraid or intimidated like a ordinary human. They have powers like a major psychic. Don't need to eat or drink except for how they feed like a vampire.

So what's in it for them that they take orders and hold themselves back (discipline) from being their own boss or running free. Why take serve the CS and take orders from them?

What am I missing?

[Nekira Sudacne]

Why do Psi-Stalkers work for the CS?

I know they don't ALL work for the CS.
I know the CS wants them for work because they are so good at hunting magical and supernatural baddies.

It is just that the more I read about their personality and drives the less I think I understand about how the CS recruited and kept them.

They are natural born hunters.
Kind of ultra maculine too.

I don't think they would like being told what to do.
I think they doing what they do.
If they are going to take an order from anyone it would be from someone whose prowess at hunting and fighting they respect. Someone who was their physical superior that could beat them up easily. The average CS SGT or Officer, even with high P.S., P.P. and P.E. is still human is not the equal or better of psi-stalker.

These guys are strong and strong willed. They don't get afraid or intimidated like a ordinary human. They have powers like a major psychic. Don't need to eat or drink except for how they feed like a vampire.

So what's in it for them that they take orders and hold themselves back (discipline) from being their own boss or running free. Why take serve the CS and take orders from them?

What am I missing?

Honor. Prestige. Safety for their families. A stable salary in a post-apocalyptic nightmare world. Same thing most people want, really.

Remember the CS is the culturally dominant civilization in North America, to the point that people who don't have a chance in hell of actually getting in create large shanty towns outside the Mega-Cities just on the hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll be allowed in someday.

The CS doesn't have to do a lot of recruitment: people want to join so bad they turn away most people.

when 90% of people are riding the ragged edge of genuine desperation and starvation, the people who are hoarding all the food don't got to try too hard to find recruits. Sure they're hunters, but when you hunt dangerous prey, having the backing up the biggest military makes it a lot safer.

Basically, it's because most people are just most people. Freedom for safety is a trade people tend to line up to make, if there's a clear and genuine danger.

But also helps to recall that a lot of them don't even have to be recruited: they were just born in the CS and growing up with highly effective propaganda find service to be natural and desireable.

[Dustin Fireblade]

RUE seems clear -

Like the Dog Boys, the human mutants known as Psi-Stalkers have also won the growing respect and friendship of the human troops they
work with. Humans tend to regard Psi-Stalkers as savages and primitives compared to the "civilized" people of Chi-Town and the Coalition States. Consequently, they are often looked down upon and treated as second-class citizens. However, on the Tolkeen Front they have proven themselves to be cunning, wily and courageous warriors who look into the face of the enemy with a smile or snarl. Recognized as skilled Wilderness Scouts and fearless warriors, Psi-Stalkers have been elevated to the ranks of fellow soldier and equal (or close to it), at least when it comes to fighting. However, Psi-Stalkers are not nearly as appreciated nor loved as the Dog Boys

and later on says -

The Coalition's prejudice against nonhumans means that although Psi-Stalkers are accepted in human society as soldiers and enforcers, they can never achieve the same rank as true humans or find acceptance in polite society. That's okay by most Psi-Stalkers as they are natural hunters who don't seek any other position in society.

Their military counterparts accept them it sounds like to me, at least on the battlefield. The Psi-Stalker doesn't care what the civilians think, and as long as the CS provides all the weapons, gear, tools, training, paycheck, 3 hots and a cot, and most importantly TARGETS, it's all good.

[Curbludgeon]

One wonders to what degree creature comforts have an impact here. For Psi-Stalkers not seeing active combat their on-site PPE feed stock is probably something easily stored but not really hunted, like rats. I'm thinking VR hunting scenarios might see some amount of use.

[Lyze]

For Psi-Stalkers not seeing active combat their on-site PPE feed stock is probably something easily stored but not really hunted, like rats.

They won't have to worry about prey. Old Chicago isn't but an hour away by hovercycle, the magic zone butts up to their eastern flank not much further. Being that Psi-Stalkers can sate themselves for a week on one good meal, it probably isn't all that unfeasible that they just spend a lot of time in the field. Which suits them just fine and probably the CS as well.

I believe somewhere it says that most psi-stalkers tend to live outside the big fortress cites anyways. The small, numerous and often overlooked towns, villages and forts would probably be more their speed. I'm sure that many do live primarily in places like Chi-Town proper, doing sweeps in the burbs and the lower levels of the city probably meet their needs.

[Grazzik]

I could imagine ghettos or "Stalkertown" neighborhoods in every city. Places that may really be run by their own social code... albeit with the proper invisible oversight of the authorities.

In rural areas they are likely hailed as heroes or protectors, even if not always invited into "polite society". In very small communities, they may be the real power behind a puppet, enjoying privilege both hidden or open (even maybe officially sanctioned within limits).

Like the Romans, where the trusted "barbarian" was an underclass on the fringe used to protect Rome against the hostile hordes. Except as the trusted "barbarian" became a citizen and in time more Roman than Romans, power shifted from Rome to the provinces. In 300 or 400 PA, the same may be said of Psistalkers.

Shouldn't be surprising... no human society/culture has ever been as simplistically stratified and homogeneous as the books make the CS out to be. In reality, CS society likely varies wildly from village to village, or block to block within cities, with like minded people gathering to share unique identities - the only common element is the jackbooted authority of the Prosek regime. More than likely a visitor would see / hear twisted vestiges of the diversity that existed before the cataclysm. The CS has only been around for a few generations after all, and who knows what survived or emerged from the Dark Ages...

[Shorty Lickens]

Same reason anybody in history does something evil, the controlling party makes it worth their while.
Post Apocalypse Rift is violent and uncertain. The CS is the only real civilization that many of them know. Also within that great empire they are given loads of privilege and a certain amount of esteem. A safe place to live and good salary really help.

Go back and look at all the groups of poor or lower middle class humans that performed god awful acts for years. the common factor is somebody offered them things they never had before. Good German boys looking to "be somebody" were find blindly serving the Fuhrer all the way up to gassing millions of jews. They were also brainwashed to be mindlessly patriotic, which is MUCH EASIER to do when you take good care of people, at least they feel cared for.
Remember that Arcade scene in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Those boys were all lost and worried. The Shredder gave them a home.

By the way, Donald Trump intends to do the same. He's running America into the ground to make the populace weak and scared. Then he'll come along and offer some sort of organization to help them. All they have to do it serve him blindly. Not the least of which will be shooting immigrants and liberals.

Warning: We have another section of the forums if you want to discuss politics. The game related forums are not to be used for such.

[glitterboy2098]

I suspect that before Lonestar was found, giving access to dogbiys, the CS relied on psistalkers as their magic and psionic detection force. It might well have been a program they'd started before the CS formed, during their first war with the FoM

[Marcethus]

I suspect that before Lonestar was found, giving access to dogbiys, the CS relied on psistalkers as their magic and psionic detection force. It might well have been a program they'd started before the CS formed, during their first war with the FoM

I can see this being the case. Because LS was discovered/found in 88 PA IIRC. Which is a good case for why the CS treats them better than dog-boys plus the affinity for working with dog-boys made them a natural leader role for the Dog-boys which the CS would have needed to dedicate personnel to that that they may not have had.

[Grazzik]

I suspect that before Lonestar was found, giving access to dogbiys, the CS relied on psistalkers as their magic and psionic detection force. It might well have been a program they'd started before the CS formed, during their first war with the FoM

I can see this being the case. Because LS was discovered/found in 88 PA IIRC. Which is a good case for why the CS treats them better than dog-boys plus the affinity for working with dog-boys made them a natural leader role for the Dog-boys which the CS would have needed to dedicate personnel to that that they may not have had.

Could be that Psistalkers are the mutant result of a subgroup of NEMA Demon and Witch Hunters (CE main pg 46). Over time they embraced the hunt for prey too literally during the Dark Ages post Cataclysm. Probably a lot of crazy stuff happened in that 200 years pre-PA.

Perhaps they were a panicked Lonestar (or other lab) experiment gone wrong in the early days as magic fused with the fancy machines during a ley line storm... research that, if found, could be used to tailor the Psistalker mutation.

Or instead it was the result of early misuse of magic... a curse on a nomad tribe who desperately turned to a crazed dbee mage... or do we really know what happened to D-Shifters?

Personal favorite - the story in RUE is a myth as they are really an abandoned/escaped human-variant minion race sent by a AI through a rift, only to lose their heritage, forget where they are from, and get wrapped into human civilization before the emergence of the CS. The rift the came through was in N America and that's why they don't seem to be prominent elsewhere.

The CS just used a resource that was plentiful and available. Particularly since, in the early days, the CS tolerated magic.

[Marcethus]

I prefer to rely on available lore. IIRC it says that it's a mutation that has no known specified origin. I like it that way. It's an evolution due to the situation that occurred during the cataclysm and resulted in a tribe(s) of hunters that developed the ability to feed off of the SN and Creatures of Magic that were a threat.

I also recall that Psi-Stalkers developed during the Dark Ages and before the CS fully formed.