Starting from the Planetary Governor

The Psychic Cultivator’s Association is fragmented.

In name, the Psychic Cultivator’s Association is a powerful organization. They have the authority to manage all the Psychics within the Empire, organize psychic units, and provide all necessary spiritual energy support for various other Empire organizations, from the military to the Tribunal and then to civil institutions.

However, this was only realized when the Psychic Cultivator’s Association was first established; later, it became an empty promise.

For a long period, spiritual energy was considered a taboo within the Empire, unable to be controlled, and those who awakened their spiritual energy were severely persecuted, mainly handled by the Tribunal. Most Psychics would be imprisoned, or simply executed.

Later, the Imperial Chancellor, who followed The Emperor to establish the Human Empire and was known as the Eternal Life, believed that although spiritual energy was dangerous, it could still be mastered. He personally established the Psychic Cultivator’s Association to cultivate and dominate the Empire’s spiritual energy power.

During that phase, the Psychic Cultivator’s Association fulfilled its duties effectively, cultivating a large number of Psychics and deploying them to various units. The Tribunal’s Psychic Experts, the Star Realm Army’s Psychic Troops, the Navy’s navigators and Thinker clusters, and even the Think Tanks of the Starfighter Battle Group would communicate with the Empire’s Psychic Cultivator’s Association.

It was an age of unparalleled glory for the Psychic Cultivator’s Association.

The Psychic Cultivator’s Association controlled a large number of Psychic Academies, screening the population, training Psychics, and after training, all parties were eager for the Psychic Cultivator’s Association to send personnel. The Chief Grand Master answered directly to the Imperial Chancellor and was an important member of the Supreme Council, wielding the extraordinary power that mortals of the Empire could muster.

External Psychics, according to the Academy they hailed from, were ranked within the Psychic Cultivator’s Association and subjected to dual leadership by both the Association and their respective units. With one word from the Association’s Grand Master, the entire spiritual energy of a certain unit could be either withdrawn or added to.

Moreover, the Psychic Cultivator’s Association also had its own direct troops, primarily comprised of spiritual energy forces, but also included many specialized anti-spiritual energy units. Using spiritual energy to counter spiritual energy or assisting the Sect of Mechanics in developing anti-spiritual energy weapons, gear, and equipping elite soldiers to form legions.

Such a Psychic Cultivator’s Association was certainly worthy of a High Lord’s status.

But the good times didn’t last long. That Imperial Chancellor, supposedly the Eternal Life, perished in a great internal conflict after The Emperor’s ascension. Without his support, the Psychic Cultivator’s Association lost its fundamental political power.

Of course, this in itself wasn’t enough to cause such a plight.

But in the subsequent period, their basic foundation was continuously eroded.

The core problem lay in the dual leadership over Psychics.

In theory, every Psychic in any unit was to be governed by the Psychic Cultivator’s Association. However, first and foremost, the Tribunal disagreed.

We have so many confidential affairs within the Tribunal, many also related to various supernatural powers. Handling those affairs requires Psychics, but how could we allow the Psychic Cultivator’s Association to lead them? Wouldn’t that result in a breach of secrecy?

Moreover, these Psychics listen to Subspace whispers daily, and who knows when they might become corrupted, explode, or pose a great threat, so they must be under surveillance.

Lead by the Tribunal, the Psychic Cultivator’s Association faced ongoing challenges and suppression over many years.

Other Empire forces also had strong motives; they didn’t want their own teams of Psychics to be controlled by the Association.

After all, dual governance is never as comfortable as having a single line of command.

The Star Realm Army didn’t want their Psychic Troops suddenly reassigned by the Association; the Navy couldn’t accept navigators or Thinkers being removed from their ships, and such a mysterious place as the Assassin Court never allowed the Psychic Cultivator’s Association to interfere with their cultivated Psychic Assassins.

The Psychic Cultivator’s Association certainly wouldn’t relinquish its authority easily and engaged in a prolonged struggle with all parties, even continuing to the present day.

However, the outcome of these struggles is evidently less than satisfactory.

The primary reason is that the Psychic Cultivator’s Association is practically opposing everyone in this matter.

If it were only this, it would have merely lost a leg.

They still had a large number of Psychic Academies and if they could continue to control the cultivation and allocation of Psychics, they still retained substantial influence.

But even this was being continuously stripped away.

Everyone had use for Psychics and didn’t want to be throttled by the Association.

Cultivating Psychics isn’t some exclusive process; it doesn’t have to happen within the Psychic Academies. Previously, enforcing this was mainly for ease of control, with the Empire enacting related mandatory decrees.

Such administrative orders can be overturned and altered.

Everyone began independently cultivating specific Psychics according to their needs.

To this end, they constantly exploited loopholes in the past psychic systems.

As more loopholes were exploited, the rules themselves became riddled with holes.

Consequently, the financial budget for the Psychic Cultivator’s Association was reduced, Psychic Academies gradually couldn’t maintain as many schools and were forced to close one after another; all factions had their own dedicated psychic troops, anti-spiritual energy experts, and due to budget issues, the Association’s own direct troops also slowly withered away…