Aeon Student Guide: Telemetry (Patreon)

Telemetry, also referred to as “farsight,” is the psychic ability wherein a Ment is able to accurately visualize a distant location in real time. Telemetrists are exceptionally rare, to the point where percentage is considered statistically moot. Unity has only twenty-eight Telemetrist AMOs in its global employ.

The longest distance ever seen across by a Telemetrist was conducted by Hope Wiseman, formerly of UCRT, who was able to witness an incident occurring on the Amalfi Coast despite being stationed in Chicago at the time (a distance of almost 5,000 miles). The average Level 6 Telemetrist, however, has a brainrange of just under 30 miles. Resting brainrange is significantly shorter, and attempting to see at further distances takes a physical toll on Telemetrists that can even lead to a loss of consciousness or a stroke.

Unlike most other Ments, who historically faced persecution and often death, Telemetrists were frequently allowed to live due the military advantage of their reconnaissance. Many of history’s most famous generals had telemetric aides—albeit ones whose psychic agility was kept a closely-guarded secret due to common perception that Telemetrists couldn’t help but use their powers to maliciously spy on those around them. (Unfortunately, this prejudice persists even today, as evidenced by the viral meme “Brain Eyeball Is WATCHING U”.)

Notable exceptions to anti-Telemetrist paranoia can be found in many early thalassocratic civilizations. Many Aegean and Polynesian cultures valued Telemetrists as intrinsically skilled navigators, as well as relying heavily upon their farsight to locate the best places for fishing and to foresee approaching storms.

Nowadays, nautical compasses and sonar technology has largely replaced the role which Telemetrists formerly served at sea, and telemetric espionage was officially banned by the Geneva Correction of 1932 (although almost every government with a standing army has been found to still use Telemetric spies in a 2010 investigation conducted by Unity). For the most part, however, the majority Telemetrists today work in harmony with law enforcement agencies to locate missing and kidnapped persons.

As with Precogs, many higher-level Telemetrists find the stimuli of urban dwelling to be overwhelming. Although able to choose where they look (unlike Precogs, whose visions are uncontrollable), many Telemetrists nonetheless decide to live in smaller towns where they aren’t at risk of accidentally viewing anything traumatizing in their sleep (many Telemetrists are known to “dreamwalk”). Unfortunately, the migration of Telemetrists to low-population rural areas has on occasion backfired, with the most infamous example being The Roswell Scandal.

Telemetrists are all the more valuable to Unity due to their rarity, with telemetric AMOs frequently working in close cooperation with MIVs to scout a building prior to AMO team entry.