I would like to go on record as being a staunch supporter of the Psi Corps as an excellent faction in any story. They have style, elegance, and quiet deadliness that seems to be a perfect blend of corporate, government, and crime-lord styles.

I would also, though, like to point out that they are not a flat 'evil empire' as they are often portrayed. Most of the people in the Psi Corps are, if not happy, at least satisfied. They're easier to control that way. Even Bester had a love in the Psi Corps...

And they're not all evil in action either. Remember, suddenly manifesting psychic abilities just as your biology is pumping hormones into you is, at best, horribly disconcerting. Without training, you could easily go mad (and I have reason to believe that the UF universe is similar, considering Devlin's comments) or manifest sociopathic behaviors.

-Craig
PS: If anyone is truly desperate, I have the crappy fan-subs (not that the fan-subbing is crappy: just that the video quality is) of most of the latter parts of the Utena series. However, I am, most irritatingly, missing the last four or five. If someone would be so kind as to arrange for my possible reception and incorporation of these files, I would be forever grateful.

TRB

>I would also, though, like to point out that they are not a flat 'evil
>empire' as they are often portrayed. Most of the people in the Psi
>Corps are, if not happy, at least satisfied. They're easier to control
>that way. Even Bester had a love in the Psi Corps...

Yes, and even Blofield (or wossname) had a pet fluffy cat.

>And they're not all evil in action either. Remember, suddenly
>manifesting psychic abilities just as your biology is pumping hormones
>into you is, at best, horribly disconcerting. Without training, you
>could easily go mad (and I have reason to believe that the UF universe
>is similar, considering Devlin's comments) or manifest sociopathic
>behaviors.

Sociopathic behaviors like independence, good will to others, feelings of equality with other humans, etc.

There are good, decent PsiCorps officers. One story we've had about half complete for four or five years nowwould show that, if we ever decide to finish it. (No, you don't get to know anything else about it, forget it. It may not even happen.) However, the -purpose- of the PsiCorps is to eliminate any and all telepathically skilled humans who are not completely loyal -to- the Corps. Their methods are, at kindest, suspect, and their general actions and attitude towards non-Corps people do not encourage trust.

And you'll notice that nobody seriously questions why Earthdome responds to a purported fear of telepaths by giving a group of telepaths massive government power and authority and the ability to either assimilate or exterminate any other telepaths it finds...

Redneck (Corps is mudda, Corps is fadda, goin' ta Mars, I dun wanna)

Red wizard needs money badly...
www.wlpcomics.com
White Lightning Productions - don't tell the Pope

Yes, the Psi Corps might have been a good idea at first, but what the corps has become by the time we are introduced to it in B5, it has become a self sustaining monstrosity, in which you are either with them, or against them.

So, if your a Psi, your options are limited: Join, physcial incarceration, or chemical lobotomy. This does not sound like an organization with the best interests of others in mind. And once in, you're whole purpose in life is to be on the lookout for people like yourself who have refused to make one of the three authorized choices above. Oh, and let us not forget that the Shadows had probobly already infiltrated deep into the Psi Corps command structure by the time they're introduced as well.

Can people be happy in the Corps? Yes. Is the Corps evil? In my opinion.

Is there a reason for the Corps? Not in its present form. Rather, the Corps should have become a testing, education, and monitoring organization, with its enforcement powers limited to the use of psi powers in the commision of crimes, or other such unethical behavior.

In fact, though we never see it, this was probobly the original intent of the Psi Corps when it was originaly chartered, before it became twisited into the organization that we've all come to know from B5.
___________________

Vaughn doesn't know I exist. I guess this explains why the rest of reality keeps ignoring me as well. >_<

I'm desperate...
...but not desperate enough to cross the Atlantic again, given current events and the state of my wallet.

drakensisthered

So I simply said one of the great trite truths: "There is generally more than one side to a story." - Corwin, Roger Zelazny's 'Courts of Chaos'