Psi Emote

[Folker]

Well, text in it's entirity is word based. Does this mean we should stop emoting and speak only?

[flurry]

If it wasn't linguistically based I don't see how you could way somebody with the following, "Hey, have you seen Lord Templar Mentalist since that senate meeting on Ocandra?". Names would be impossible to convey if actual words weren't transmitted over the link (amongst numerous other things). If it was only images / emotions the best you could do would be to transmit an image of their face. Abstract concepts like names just don't turn into images / emotions unless we suddenly start playing charades in our head... three syllables, alright.. *image of a group of men*, *image of thank you.. getting squashed*, *image of a group of written items* Aha! Mentalist!

This is a really interesting topic and I think Boggis makes a good point here.  In order for a psionic message like "You need to talk to a man named Amos" to make sense, there has to be more than pictures and emotions involved.   On the other hand, as far as most Zalanthans are concerned, "Amos" is a sound.  You're communicating what the person's name sounds like, but that doesn't depend on the language.   So if some basic sounds are possible to communicate over the Way (which seems as reasonable as simple images), that would explain being able to give names over the Way.

I tend to favor the idea that it's not really images or sounds or other sensory (in terms of the five senses) information, but something more basic.  Essentially like cutting out the "middle man" - it's not verbal or visial or tactile or anything like that, it is more direct, without the sensory interpretation that goes on in verbal communication.

However, that doesn't mean it's not linguistic.  Language can come in many forms: written, verbal, sign, etc.   It seems reasonable to me that there would be language (but evidently universal) at the psionic level.  Rather than written symbols, or verbal sounds, or hand signals, or facial expressions, it uses some other kind of psionic symbols or signals or whatever you want to call them.  It seems like it has to be linguistic, in order to communicate abstract concepts.

[spawnloser]

Language barrier isn't just about the words...and even though code doesn't represent this, I once played a character that got me yelled at by the Staff, henceforth referred to as Them, for using the Way to bypass language barriers.

See, it's about how you think...not just the words that those thoughts come up with, but the words are part of it.  Study language enough and certain sounds and combinations of sounds take root deep in our brain where we don't think, just react.  If, at the deepest roots of our cognitive process, things were different, not because of genetics, but because of how we were raised, things that would seem simple to someone else can easily become complex...and things that are complex to other people could become simple.

The Way goes back further into our characters linguistic centers further than actual speech, this much is obvious...but it doesn't go back all the way.  This has been established by Them (tm).  What this means is that you are communicating at a more primitive level, but probably not so far back that pictures can be transmitted.  Emotions, sure.  You can project a feeling...emote (root for emotion) that feeling...but a detailed picture of any sort?