Vell-os

Autumn Petal being projected from a Javelin.

The Vell-os are a race of telepaths. They left Earth long ago to flee persecution, which is stated to have been from the Spanish Inquisition. They are variously described as originating both from subcontinental India and middle America. If both origins are accepted, it can be explained from the fact that telepaths would be able to contact each other across the globe.

They created a highly advanced society on the world of Vellos after passing several other planets such as Xyon and Goliath. They evolved their own biology with genetic engineering, implanting a nanite organ that enhanced their longevity. Thus, the Vell-os are the only offshoot of the human race that is observably different from a baseline human. The Vell-os also have a telepathic hivemind with a generational memory. Events that took place a thousand years earlier can be recalled.

This spacefaring civilization joined the Colonial Council as members, but became disillusioned after that government became stagnant and corrupt. After the Council attacked the Polaris expedition which the Vell-os sponsored, the telepaths intervened and became embroiled in a half century long war with the Council. During this war, the Vell-os destroyed many Leviathans, likely starving worlds and creating the need for the Pegasus. The Vell-os eventually surrendered not because they were defeated in battle, but out of a distaste for bloodshed. In retaliation for their former defiance, their worlds were razed into lifelessness. The war leaders of the Vell-os were known as the Krypt-tokh, and they sacrificed themselves to protect the planet Korell.

The Vell-os have been subjugated with an anti-psionic enslavement device invented by the Colonial Council. This device, implanted in the cervical spine, creates compulsions to obey when installed in a telepath. While a sufficiently advanced telepath can bypass the compulsions created by this device by separating their 'mind' from their brain and then using their abilities to suppress its function, a backup system would detect this and destroy the nanite organ of that Vell-os, killing them. The Vell-os are unable to assist anyone who seeks their freedom. This is a result of a standing order set by the Sol representative to the Colonial Council in the year 558NC.

The Vell-os slaves were instrumental in defending Earth from the Aurorans during the galaxys dark age. Common Federation knowledge is that the Vell-os were released from bondage and now serve the Federation willingly, but this is a fabrication manufactured by Frandall, the former head of Federation Intelligence. The reality was that the Vell-os were too useful not to keep as tools. The Aurorans and Polaris do not believe this lie, with the Empire placing terms that any treaty drafted between the two nations would have to involve the release of slaves. Meanwhile, the Polaris attribute their continued independence to Vell-os intervention and view it as a debt that remains unpaid.

The Vell-os' leash has been passed to the Bureau of Internal Investigation, the successor to Federation Intelligence. The Vell-os are required to report every telepath they encounter so they can either be fitted with an enslavement device or destroyed. If they do not indicate that the telepath can be captured to the Bureau, the Federation Navy is likely to be ordered to destroy them. This disgusting organization has even enslaved non-telepaths by implanting bombs in the same place and using torture and mental conditioning to achieve similar compulsions.

Their telepathic ships and weapons have proven to be very effective for military use defending the Federation. The Vell-os form a floating reserve that can reinforce the Federation's borders whenever needed. This is seen in reinforcement fleets at Sol and Tichel. Were the Vell-os to be indisposed, the Federation Navy would have to reserve every spare ship to achieve similar ends. This would dramatically reduce the Bureau's imperial ambitions.

In the Federation's legal system, the Vell-os are responsible for using their mind-reading powers to ascertain guilt in court cases. At present, the Bureau has usurped the process by determining the outcome in advance. The Vell-os are also very effective at locating individuals such as Rebels and Mu'hari spies.

There have been Auroran reports that the Vell-os' hivemind was supplanted with an artificial hivemind created by the Federation, but these are dubious.

Directives given to Vell-os by the Bureau

1. Obey orders from Bureau personnel, prioritizing orders from higher ranking members.
2. Report those who harbour ill-intent towards the Bureau.
3. Resist all attempts to free you.
4. Report unenslaved telepaths.
5. Wear your hair long to hide the enslavement device.

These directives are not perfect. For rule #3, Llyrell was able to teach and guide a person who he thought had the future potential to free him.

Another directive could be inferred: that Vell-os cannot fight and kill each other. Otherwise mercy killings might occur, depriving the Bureau of useful tools. This is supported by the fact that the Telepathic Strength ranks prevent Vell-os from automatically attacking the pilot.

Timeline

~1800 NC (circa 980 AD) - Several powerful telepathic humans, led by an Indian prince named Vell-os, leave Earth using psi powers.

230 NC - The first encounter between the Vell-os and the Colonial Council.

242 NC - The Vell-os become members of the Colonial Council.

420 NC - Even though the rest of the Colonial Council refuses to fund Kerell Polaris's expedition to the galactic north-east, the Vell-os provide support for him.

552 NC - The Vell-os withdraw from the Colonial Council in protest of a declaration of war against the Polaris.

553 NC - A group of Vell-os stops a military fleet sent by the Colonial Council into Polaran space.

555 NC - The Colonial Council attacks the Vell-os in an attempt to force them into becoming members of the Council again.

605 NC - The Vell-os surrender to the Colonial Council in order to prevent more bloodshed. All Vell-os are enslaved by the Council. Krypt is created.

Vell-os Psionic Starships

Vell-os ships are unique in that they are psychic creations, perfectly formed for efficient hyperspace travel.

• Vell-os Dart: Fighter
• Vell-os Arrow: Gunboat
• Vell-os Javelin: Cruiser

Vell-os ships have powerful shields but nearly no armour. This is a result of the suppression of their nanite organ by the anti-psionic enslavement device. If they were free, they would be able to form ships with much stronger armour.

Hails

• One day we will go beyond the veil.
• We wait for the man who will precipitate our destiny.
• We watch and we wait, forever waiting.
• Who are you? What is it you dream for?
• Have you heard the prophecy?
• The veil, it hangs before us just out of reach, and just beyond our understanding.
• So many have gone though the veil. We can feel them, just out of reach.
• Human minds are so insulated from the universe, you cannot feel its spirit.
• We can feel the call to move beyond the veil.
• What is it you wish to be? What is your life about?

Commentary

The Vell-os are a reversal of typical telepathy tropes. Usually, the entity with telepathic superpowers exerts mind control over others. Here it is the opposite where the telepaths are the ones being mind controlled. In this way, they are similar to the Psi-Corps from Babylon 5, including their important role in the Federation's legal system or the Biotics from Mass Effect, who are controlled and indoctrinated by the human military.

The Vell-os could be uncharitably described as an invocation of the Magical Native American trope.