Espers

Espers in the Unlimited/Alternative universes are people that have the abilities to sense the inner thoughts of others. They are a major component in two of the Alternative Plans.

History

Esper artificial wombs.

Most known espers were created in Alternative III, the Soviet Union-led Alternative Plan to artificially create espers in a breeding program. These espers were intended to communicate with the BETA in an attempt to understand them; the F-14AN3 Mindseeker is a specialized unit with sensors calibrated to improve the espers' abilities in an attempt to allow them to pick up any BETA mind processes in the vicinity. Most, if not all of the espers who participated in Operation Swaraj, the offensive against the Bhopal Hive, perished.

Sixth generation Espers at least, like Trista Sestina, are the result of eugenics, genetic engineering, and artificial womb technology.

Despite the failure of Alternative III, the remaining espers are still important to the war effort against the BETA in various other ways. This is shown through the Soviet Union's continued use of Espers in both TSF R&D development and the continued expansion of the Total Eclipse plan under Jerzy Sandek. One esper was also requested by the new Alternative IV research team and they were considered integral to the plan's success.

The Polnoye Zatmeniye Plan has espers as a major component to the Plan.

Generations

Barchenowa

A previous generation of Espers, this generation was the last esper group to largely participate in Alternative-III combat operations. They are easily recognizable in comparison to the newest Sestina generation by their general age and appearance as matured young adult women in their twenties.

The key difference between the previous generations including the Barchenowa versus the latest Sestina is in their reliance on medical prescriptions to both maintain mental stability and keep their bodies from literally failing. The Barchenowa are also known to largely have inferior mind-reading capabilities in comparison to the newest espers and are often incapable of picking up on more sensitive thoughts and emotions a member of the Sestina generation could easily read.

Most likely due to flaws in the eugenics and birthing process, the Barchenowa espers are required to constantly take medications at least every three days, lest they die. The esper adjustment tanks are also key to their mental stability and treatment and, unlike the Sestina generation, to survive they must receive occasional submersion into the pods in order to remain healthy. Even with medication, the Barchenowa generation are known to suffer from occasional memory loss, headaches and migraines, and are more susceptible to collapse from stress or overuse of their powers.

With the Alternative III plan now over, the Barchenowa espers have had their primary directive changed often, going wherever Soviet High Command require them. Due in part to their high maintenance, the Barchenowa espers are often used in experimental missions that are considered high-risk. This included the research involving the Esper Control Pods, which required the "volunteers" to have their limbs amputated and be permanently placed within the device until death.

One such volunteer for this program was Martika Barchenowa, sister to Cryska Barchenowa.

Members

Cryska Barchenowa, 331st SACDC.

Martica Barchenowa, 331st SACDC.

Two unnamed Barchenowa Espers, SACDC.

Sestina

The Sestina are the latest and perhaps the last generation of ESPers to be made, created on the tail end of Alternative-III's chronological operations. They are characterized by still being fairly young, varying from early to mid adolescence and often possess very childlike qualities from their sheltered upbringing.

The Sestina are set apart from previous generations by their unparalleled psychic abilities and, as described by other espers, having "special" powers otherwise unattainable. Even among the generation, however, some girls stood out for their innate abilities including: Inia Sestina, who was made part of the Soviet Army Central Development Corps for esper-related TSF development and Trista Sestina, perhaps the most talented of them all, was assigned to the United Nations Alternative IV plan.

In contrast to previous generations, the Sestina do not require medication to function normally. They can still benefit from occasional internment in the adjustment tanks to fix abnormalities or recover from mental stress, but otherwise can live like a normal human.

Since they were not ready before the end of Alternative III, the hundreds of Sestina created have since been used in a variety of both Soviet and UN-led operations and are still considered very useful despite their original purpose being deprecated. Some are used as pilots whereas others are maintained as support personnel due to their special mind-reading abilities.

Members

Trista Sestina, UN Alternative IV Force.

Inia Sestina, 331st SACDC.

Abilities

Esper abilities are split into two primary types; Reading and Projection.

Reading

The ability of an esper to perceive the thoughts of others as a mental image represented by colors. A core ability of all espers, Reading is intended to allow the espers to perceive what the leaders of Alternative III hoped were the wordless language of the BETA.

However, the ability to Read differs from esper to esper, and an esper's proficiency at intepreting the presented mental images correctly depends on the esper's own social experiences.

In Muv-Luv Alternative Chronicles Resurrection, it is revealed that a material known as hyper ceramic can shield a person's thoughts from an esper's reading ability.

The headgear found on all Alternative III espers are limiters designed to control the reading ability and prevent the Esper from being overwhelmed by too many thoughts at once. It also can act as a way to prevent the Esper from reading certain people, to ensure they cannot access sensitive information or disobey their superiors.

Without said limiter, the range and the strength of their powers increase but at great physiological cost from mental strain.

Projection

The second primary ability of an esper is Projection. By projecting the thoughts of humankind in the same color-based imagery as the espers were designed to percieve thoughts, it was hoped that Projection combined with Reading would allow humans to communicate with the BETA.

This ability can also be used on normal humans and other espers, although it is much harder for the former to understand the thoughts sent into their minds.

Prafka

Prafka is a phenomenon that is used to drastically increase the piloting ability of an Esper in a TSF.

For further details, see the Prafka page.

Limiters

Limiters are used to control the reading ability of Espers both to protect them from mental strain and to stop them from reading the thoughts of selected individuals. Microchips called Buffwhite devices a thought wave transmission device each about 20 microns in size are embedded in them. They can create out-of-phase thought waves that that cancel out thought waves of selected people making the Esper unable to read their thoughts.

Other ESPers

• 00 Unit

Trivia

• All known Alternative III espers have violet-silver eyes and silver hair.
• A derogatory term used to describe the Espers was "Witches", coined by some of the Soviet pilots that flew the F-14AN3 TSFs during Alternative III out of their distrust and fear concerning the undocumented and largely rumored powers of the Espers at the time.
• Some Soviet espers have been known to develop a fear of water due mostly to their manufactured upbringing in fluid-filled artificial wombs and their forced placement in adjustment tanks filled with water.
• The actual names of Espers seem to be derived from what generation they come from, and their number in that generation.
  • For example, Yashiro Kasumi's true name is Trista Sestina which means she is part of the sixth generation of espers created for Alternative III, hence the surname "Sestina" meaning sixth; in particular, Trista indicates she is the three-hundredth of the sixth generation.
    • Sestina in English describes a six stanza form of poetry.
• There are no known male Espers, but the capacity for them to exist is there.
  • A circulated translation of the Total Eclipse visual novel adaptation has described the original espers as well as the later generations all being derived from Jerzy Sandek's sister's DNA, which for all intents and purposes means they are clones.