“Man, I have this cool sci-fi setting with spaceships, laser swords, pirates, zappy ray guns, and a gal that can hurl fireball.”
“What?”
“Yeah, fireballs. She controls fire and stuff….”
“But this is science fiction, not fantasy. She sounds like wizard.”
“She is not.”
“Kinda is.”
“She is a pyromancer.”
“Still sounds like magic.”
“Not if she is a psychic.”
“Oh.”
So you want to put some magic in your sci-fi, eh? I mean you could, that is what science fantasy is all about it. But you want it to sound like it is something else, something sci-fi-ish maybe? Then say that Humans Are Psychic in the Future. You can throw in a few pseudo-scientific explanations such as:
- Humans are evolving into a new species and that leads to psionic potential.
- Some humans always had the ability, but we lacked the technology to detect it.
- Breakthroughs in genetic engineering or cybernetics have led to the creation of psionics.
- Exposure to strange materials, new environments, or even extra-dimensional spaces transformed humans into psychics.
Whatever explanation you come up with will lead to the introduction of ma-, I mean, psionics into your world. After that, it is entirely up to you.
