Coridan Mental Process:
In short, think multi-directional creative problem solving, multiple intelligences, pseudo-Vulcan mental techniques and Dianetics (the science...not the religion lol), all rolled into one.
In an individual born Coridanian, and trained from birth, it's a very stable combination. In a naturalized citizen, such as Travis, it's a little more complicated. They only get about a year of full-time training and then additional regular sessions to progress slowly and keep things stable. Also, since they start out much older, it usually doesn't take quite as well. Still makes for a very innovative, fast processing and diversified mental process, but nothing coming close to someone born Coridanian.
So how is The Process supposed to work?
When someone joins Coridan as a citizen they are immediately indoctrinated into group for initial training. The form of that team depends entirely on the age at which training is began. For those entering training after their 18th year, and going into the Coridan Corps, the team takes the form of their Unit. These individuals remain a Unit through their full initial training in The Process. Regardless of the form of their grouping, training progresses similarly.
They are first stepped through a clearing process. This consists of intensive retro-hypnotic sessions and work with specialized Vulcan mind-melders. The purpose of this is to help the individual associate with anything from their past which might impede the process to follow. By associating with, accepting, and then releasing those mental engrams, the individual’s mind is then free of any obstacles to the initial step in the process.
Initial Training involves learning to compartmentalize the brain. This is done first with memory, then with active thought processes. As the initiates learn to compartmentalize memory, they are further instructed on accessing those separated memories concurrently. These concurrent accesses are the seeds for creating the concurrent mental processes fully developed later.
Once these basics structures are in place, the initiates move on to a more formal stage or training. They are assigned a series of Proctors, who lead them through the next stage.
Each Proctor is considered a master in some specific subject area: science, art, philosophy, history, mathematics, leadership, etc. Each Proctors guide the initiates through the development of an additional concurrent mental process which specializes in the areas of the Proctor.
These new concurrent mental processes are very similar to a new personality residing in the initiates mind. However, they are not allowed to self-identify and must remain as only an aspect of the whole. In cases where a process self-identifies and looses it’s connection to the whole, psychosis usually quickly follows...though through careful monitoring, this rarely occurs.
One of the side effects of this process is that the original personality, slowly looses prominence. As the initiates work through the series of Proctors, that original personality eventually falls into the recesses of the mind. It is at this stage, usually after the creation of just four or five concurrent processes for Naturalized Coridanians, that the initiates are considered ready for the application of a fail-safe process.
The Fail-Safe concurrent process is nearly Vulcan in its logic and outlook. Its primary purpose to is to maintain order and cohesion among the various mental processes, or “personalities”, setting the stage for the return of the initiate’s original personality.
In the final stage, after the Fail-Safe has prepared the mind, the initiate is assigned to a Master Proctor. The Master Proctor is always of royal Coridanian blood and hold places of high-honor among the people. In some quarters, they are refereed as spiritual leaders.
The Master Proctor works with the initiate to bring their own original personality back to the forefront of the mind. This is typically a difficult and delicate task. Not only must the personalty come to terms with the many voices and thoughts sharing its mind, it must also learn to cooperate with the other personalities as a cohesive team. Since this original personality is a fully formed self, and not a flat single-dimensional process like those of the other personalities, it is much more difficult for it to allow itself open to allow integration of the other processes. However, failure to do so results in psychosis , again this is a rare occurrence.
Once the original personalty has accepted the new reality of its mind, it is trained to use the other processes concurrently as best dictated by any given situation. It also learns to work directly with the Fail-Safe outside the other processes, creating another level of stability. At the completion of this stage, the original personally is referred to as the Overseer.
In its new role, it is the personality generally presented to the outside world, but nearly all of its thoughts, decisions and actions, are colored and influenced by the perspectives and knowledge of the other processes.
Once fully developed, the Coridan mind as compared to a standard humanoid mind, is like a single processor computer compared to a multi-processor computer. However, even more so, each of the additional processors is specifically designed to process a particular type of data or activity. This makes for a highly efficient, effective and extremely innovative mind. It allows a single Coridan to act with the mental diversity which would normally require small well chosen team of individuals.
After their completion of the initiate program, Coridanians then go on to train in protective psi techniques. These are required both for the safety of the Coridan mind and the telepath.
Due to the complex nature and integration of the Coridan mind, a telepath delving much past the very surface thoughts will experience a confusing buzz of thoughts. Delving deeper will lead to severe mental stress for the Coridan mind as the various processes detect the presence of another. While this is dangerous for the Coridan, it is even more so for the telepath. As the confusion of the multiple processes can spill over into their own mind, but not be constrained by training. In most cases the intrusion can be stopped by the Fail-Safe which simply rejects and then ejects the mental energies of the other being. If the Fail-Safe is bypassed however, psychosis for both parties is likely.
Though most telepaths would simple stop a scan before this occurred due to their own discomfort and warnings by the Fail-Safe, malicious attach cannot be ruled out. To protect against this possibility, formal defensive psi training takes place.
This defensive training consists simply of the detection of mental intrusion and its active expulsion by turning the telepathic energies back on the sender.
Quirks of the Coridan mind and Coridans in general:
Coridanians tend to be highly eclectic.
To outsiders, they may also seem indecisive, while they are in fact excellent problem solvers, the process by which they make these decisions can truly seem indecisive and confused.
Once a Coridan does make a decision, they are very stubborn in its application...with the weight of several agreeing minds being it...though they may themselves quickly decide on another course of action should circumstances change.
Forming long-term relationships is easy for them on many levels, but any romance or intimacy in these relationships is usually brief. Couples may become involved and separated many times over the years, while maintaining close friendships the entire time. It is not uncommon for multiple partners to be in brief romances concurrently. This is often highly disturbing to outsiders.
Many traditional sayings refer to trees and vast forests of ancient Coridan, and the tails once sported by the Coridan race. For example, the term “low brancher” refers to someone of low social status, or diminished mental or physical capacity, because in ancient times the these less-thans were relegated to the lower branches of Coridan’s massive trees where they were easy prey for ravenous carnivores.
The favorite Coridan dessert is the Csid. Small translucent disks colored in one of the hundreds of flavors in which they are available. The subtle tones and tastes intermingled in a Csid rivals that of the most delicate of Earth’s wines.
Initiates of the same Unit, or Initiate Group, share life long ties. Because they were proctored by the same series of Proctors, their personalities, though unique due to their Overseer Processes, are often very much in sync otherwise. Making them at least as close a twin siblings found in other societies. They can often be found finishing each other’s thoughts, or carrying on conversations in what appears to be broken half sentences and subtle body language.
