Is Psitanium a limited resource? Will the Psychonauts ever run out of it? What would happen if they did? We know it can lose it’s psychic charge; can it be recharged or once it’s inert that’s it? Is there a way to make more of it, and if so, how? Psitanium got into the ecosystem of Whispering Rock which caused the animals to get psychic abilities; did the same thing happen to humans? Is psitanium in people’s blood like micro plastic, and this causes psychic abilities? Is this what mental cobwebs are? Is that why they are purple, because they are accumulated psitanium? Is this why Edgar and Boyd have slight psychic abilities; higher exposure? Is there psitanium things like chalk and paint, like lead back in the day? Is this how Edgar and Boyd got exposed? Does Psitanium accumulate in the brain? Can brains turn into psitanium or other psycho-active minerals? Is this why that psilirium in the rhombus looks like a brain, cause it is one? Do different brains turn into different colored minerals with time or circumstance? Is that why all the brains in Otto’s brain-frame are different colors? Are the psi challenge markers a form of psychic material? Is this why he wants to collect all those brains, to make more psitanium and other psycho-active minerals? Is that why all those supply chests with psitanium in them around the motherlobe form into a vaguely brain shape when put together, because they are? Psitanium can be used to give items psychic properties, like the jet the Pelican and those floating islands in the quarry; can the same be done for humans? Can you create an artificial psychic? Is this why is Otto be so obsessed with mining and gathering psitanium? Is he an artificial psychic, and psitanium is needed to maintain this power? In Psychonauts 2, we see his psi power come from his necklace; is this meant to give him psychic abilities? Or is it that his ability is weak and he needs artificial assistant to be on par with his peers? Can psitanium be harvested from people? What if that is a secret function of the brain tumblr, to extract psychic power/material from psychics? Is the one that exploded in Otto’s old lab trying to take ability from an extremely powerful psychic that caused a fatal malfunction? If so, is that the brain we see in the brain-frame that was killed in a brain tumblr accident? Who is this person? Can brains actually come back from being dead? Can brains die in this universe? Are the brains in the brain frame aware, or be made aware like Helmut’s? What happens when that happens?

…. Excuse me everyone, i think I just got possessed by the spirit of Boyd for a few minutes… it’s late, enough insane rambling, off to bed go i… *passes out*

Mindwarp (Psychonauts OC)

Entry 34. 2/16/2000

Mindwarp. Illusionist extraordinaire. Weapon of choice: A helmet powered by the smallest amount of psilirium, which she uses to distort and alter the minds of her enemies as well as manipulate innocent people into zombie-like obedience. Only a handful of Psychonaut agents- including myself, are capable of resisting her mind bending waves. Otherwise, her influence can be undone by music.

Mindwarp is a protege of Sandmind, the most prolific criminal to ever be taken down by the Psychonauts since the downfall of Maligula. Before the reign of Mindwarp, she was known as Betty Nott, a former mentee of Otto Mentallis. She showed promise under his tutelage, but ran away to avoid punishment after she tried to control the mind of her mentor with his own devices. Some few years after that, she joined Sandmind, who trained her further in the arts of Illusion and encouraged her work in mind-controlling devices. 

Her latest work; the mindwarp broadcast. Her helmet alone isn’t as powerful as she’d like it to be (I’m guessing too much psilirium  would be counterintuitive), so she has attempted to create an amplified version of her helmet’s power by hijacking public broadcasting systems and devices. Most recently, Agent Zanotto and I unearthed her temporary lair off the coast of Southern Oregon. We didn't find any psilirium at the scene, but we did find a personal laptop with coded messages to an outsider. Couldn’t be Sandmind, he’s in a coma and being heavily guarded in a max GPC in a remote location only known to the Psychonauts.

Mindwarp’s current status: Thwarted, but still at large for nearly a month.

-- Eggbeater

Headcanon that totally has nothing to do with anything at all I'm writing rn (this is a lie but spoilers):

In the Psychonauts universe, wishes made on shooting stars are a big risk. If it's a psitanium meteor, it does come true, in a manner that is usually explained by coincidence. However, if it's a psilirium meteor, it acts more like the monkey's paw, in that the wish will come true but in a very twisted manner.

For instance, if you wish to be a millionaire, a psitanium meteor will get you there through hard work, effort, and a lot of luck. A psilirium meteor will kill off your family with an unexplained sickness to get you that million through inheritance.

Or, at least... That's how the children's tale goes. Very few people really believe that, like stepping on cracks and walking under a ladder, but it's a common enough warning.

(Also: Feel free to reblog this with ideas about other wishes, I'd be excited to see y'all's thoughts on this!)

On a scale between zero and getting barfed on by goat puppets, nearly drowning in the gulch is a solid 8 for "felt gross"

Lilith Blaze Zanotto (Psychonauts Family Swap AU)

played some rhombus of ruin bfore the headset started to die :3 it was fun !!!!!! helped sasha and thennn uhh idk if it saved when i quit ghfbvb at the very least i know the puzzle now

Everyone returning from the Rhombus: It's the Psilirium poisoning. That's why Raz looks like that.

Hollis: What's with that dog?

To be fair when they left the lab it was day time

"I drink mostly monster energy or red-bull,I've been trying not to,but as you saw I am not..good at that"

"I once made something I dubbed 'Brain Stop Juice' it was made from psilirium, psitanium and energy drink. It kept me awake for like,four days straight on it's own and I felt awful and passed out for days after."

"I don't drink that anymore"

Day 5: Hostage / Kidnapping / Held at gunpoint

Characters: Truman Zanotto, Caligosto Loboto

Warnings: None

Summary: It's not the first time Truman's been in a dangerous situation, but it might be the first time he's unable to get himself out of one.

---~~~---

The first thing he became aware of was a foggy headache--the kind that made one feel like they should just go back to bed, or else wake up with a strong cup of coffee. The former sounded more appealing right now, so he tried to turn over to make himself more comfortable.

Only to find that he couldn't.

He also definitely wasn't under any sort of covers, nor was he lying on a bed.

Opening his eyes with a gasp, Truman's gaze darted around, trying to determine his surroundings. Before he could even figure out where he was, he tried to reach out a telepathic message to Lili to see if she was all right. Their mental connection wasn't always perfect, however--Lili often deliberately shut it off--and he half-expected the attempt to fail.

He did not, however, expect the sudden spike of nausea and dizziness at attempting telepathy, and groaned.

"Well, now! The patient awakes!" came an unfamiliar, ashy voice from directly behind his head. "You're a bit early for that..."

Truman craned his neck back to try to get a look at his abductor. His vision was fuzzy, and annoyingly there were two very bright lights directly behind him, one red and one green. It wasn't until those lights suddenly moved to shine directly over him that he realized that they weren't just lights--they were directly attached to the face of a person. Over his eyes, specifically--or, perhaps, they were his eyes. The man had blue skin, multiple facial scars, and an impossibly wide smile filled with yellow teeth. A bright green shower cap with floral patterns adorned his head.

While Truman knew he needed to be gathering any information he could possibly get out of this place, his immediate reaction was to recoil in horror. "Get away from me!"

"Pbbbt!" The man stuck his tongue out, inadvertently spitting in Truman's face. "That's no way to talk to your dentist!"

"Dentist?" He struggled to think past the fog in his head. Why did dentist sound familiar? And the silhouette of this man--he swore he'd seen it before, perhaps somewhere in the Psychonauts' files... Regardless, he shook his head, casting a look around the room. Focus, focus--he'd gotten out of worse before. He just had to gather some information. "Where am I?"

"My office!" the dentist said, stepping back and gesturing to the space around them with his prosthetic arm. "Amazing, isn't it?"

Truman blinked a few times to clear his vision, finally taking in the sight of the space around them--an observatory of some sort with a domed ceiling overhead, a large metal sphere suspended from the ceiling, and multiple people wearing hazmat suits wandering around. There was also something oddly familiar about this place, but he couldn't put a finger on it. "Strange place for an office," he remarked.

"Well, it's not like my old office, but it's a lot more spacious." The man twirled, tipping his head back as though to regard the space. He wore a long brown apron with a complicated bunch of straps in the back, and a long white coat beneath that. "Gets the job done, and has a lot of fascinating things to study out here!"

Something clicked in Truman's mind, and he leaned forward as much as his bonds allowed, not needing to feign his interest. "What sort of things do you study?"

The dentist hummed, turning his back. "Oh, some fascinating marine life, and some very fancy rocks..."

Right--psitanium or psilirium. Probably the latter, given the way it was blocking his powers and making him feel dizzy. Marine life, though... He ran through a few things in his mind, mentally going over a list of locations.

Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap.

Jolting out of his thoughts, Truman found his kidnapper suddenly leaning over him again, tapping his fingers--no, claws--against the arm of his chair.

"You're awfully quiet for someone who was, hm, taken far away from his home," the dentist remarked, his smile twitching and looking just a touch angrier.

Truman gave a nervous laugh. "Ah, I'm just thinking! Someone brilliant enough to be able to kidnap the Grand Head of the Psychonauts must be a talented individual! And you look quite... familiar."

A metallic shriek made him grit his teeth as the dentist's claws seized the arm of the chair, digging into it. "Come again?"

"I know you--you've got a file a mile long in our records," Truman said. "You've worked for some pretty famous clients, too, haven't you? The Noodler was one, as I recall. I had to deal with that mess you helped create. Quite the piece of work you managed to do."

"Yes, that one was an interesting client," the man--Dr. Loboto, Truman remembered the name--said, turning away for a moment. But his eyes, which were on telescoping loupes, suddenly snapped back over to Truman. "You're not going to get anything out of me about my current client, though!" He leaned in close enough for Truman to smell the peppermint toothpaste in his breath. "Doctor-patient confidentiality."

"Ah, yes, very important!" Truman let out another forced laugh. "Good... good to see you've a strong moral code."

"Morals?" Loboto echoed, then threw his head back with a wild laugh. "I haven't seen him in a while!" Idly he picked up a pair of pliers off of a nearby tray, turning the tool in his hand. "He had six decayed teeth in his upper jaw, last I saw him! Well, not anymore..."

"That's... fascinating." Shutting his eyes, Truman tried to remember something from this man's file. He always worked with someone, but had he done any kidnapping on his own? He couldn't recall it... But who could have gotten to him? Especially with all the security measures, both in the Motherlobe and in his own home! It would've had to be someone he knew. A traitor? A mole? But who?

Oleander showed problems sometimes, and Sasha had his issues, but neither of them, surely. But... what about...

He opened his eyes to find Loboto staring directly down into his face again. "Say," he said, before Loboto could speak, "you seem like you'd get along with someone I know. Have you ever heard of a Nick J--"

Loboto's hand grasped the front of his robes, yanking him upward, and his claws were at his throat.

Both arms were shaking. Sweat trickled down the side of the dentist's neck.

Loboto spoke through gritted teeth. "I think," he said, "we're done here."

His smile twisted into the angriest grin Truman had ever seen in his life.

"Goodbye!"

He dropped Truman heavily back onto the chair, and in one swift motion, covered his nose and mouth with a cloth. Truman fought as long as he could, but the last thing he saw before descending into unconsciousness was the permanent grin of the dentist shifting into something resembling a frown.

could psilirium in small doses be used as a recreational drug

HI....your future camper designs have been dancing around my silly brain all day today............I am so curious abt so many of them... can u tell me something abt Chloe...its design is just too awesome to me...

Ohhh I can say so many things about Chloe. It has so much going on

Sets these old doodles down on the table in front of you. I thought Chloe had great potential to be some sort of psychic mad-scientist, and I thought it would be really cool if she had a vigilante/anti-hero thing going on. i decided she’d grow to bond with Benny because his whole gimmick was being a mindless goon, and what’s a good mad scientist without a little henchman?

Chloe is a shutin by day, vigilante by night psychic who studies and experiments with psitanium regularly. It’s learned to utilize psitanium as a power-up for her abilities, since it’s actually not a particularly powerful psychic on its own. Its experiments have left it with. A few strange scars and shiny markings, but im sure that’s totally cool and not at all negatively impactful!

she doesn’t work with the psychonauts, nor does she work against them. It’s definitely a “stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours” scenario, but since Chloe does some very questionable work, she often finds that the psychonauts do Not Want to “stay out of her way.” They aren’t aware of her identity under the helmet, but her vigilante alter-ego has become increasingly infamous in the Motherlobe meeting rooms for being far too elusive and very tough to catch!

it’s recently begun attempting to take its work to the next level by experimenting with psilirium, which Benny does not approve of and he actively shuts himself out of the lab whenever Chloe decides to delve into those specific experiments. It’s tough for him, because he and Chloe have basically become inseparable since their camp years, but he knows where to draw the line between experimental and stupid, and he finds Chloe experimenting with psilirium to be very, very stupid.

A big preview of what's coming in PJ's future involving the Rhombus of Ruin, available to those who subscribe for Monthly donations to my Ko-Fi, only $3 a month.

My theory: What if Hands of Galochio were yellow in The Rhombus of Ruin because psilirium did get into Raz's head after all?

A List of Psitanium & Psilirium related tech

for my own reference

Psychonauts 2: How the machines make contact with [a person’s] mind [?]

“The secret is Psitanium. It’s a psychoreactive quartz-like mineral that respnds to and amplifies, psychic energy. It vibrates with the psychic waves, driving the machines." - Otto Mentallis

Devices that (most likely have) psitanium/some sort of psychic energy

Psi-cards & Psi-cores

Cobweb dusters

Merit badges & Pins

Otto’s inventions (Thought tuner, Otto-shot, Otto-matic, Hyperhyglaciator, Astralathe, his amulet, Otto-bon)

Brain Tumbler

Psycho-Portal

ThinkerPrints (could probably count the gates/doorways having this tech)

Floating security camera with eyeballs for detecting psychics

Floating Platforms and other fancy looking tech

The Pelican (psychonauts jet)

Devices psilirium-related

Psychoisolation chamber (especially the one by the motherlobe)

Rhombus of Ruin (the container Truman’s body was help up on, that huge meteorite of a chunk of psilirium at the bottom of RoR)

These are probably made out of some metallic material but it is possible that the Boole Hats and the Psi-lock (or whatever that restraint for psychic is called) have psilirium to dampen psychic powers.

About that meteor hc-

I feel like Gloria, more than anything, would wish for her star back in the acting world.

With a psitanium meteor, she’d get a part in a new musical that absolutely takes off.

With a psirilium meteor, she’d be involved in heavy controversy regarding another actor’s death (deja vu much?) and get tons of press- at the cost of it being pretty much inescapable and being mostly negative. But hey, at least she’s famous again!

(that into the woods reference was intentional, hehe)

Oh, totally! The whole squad would have some pretty messy wishes if things go wrong.

Fred: Wishes to be strong/good/smart/whatever enough for the others. Ends up overexerting himself and basically collapsing in the end.

Boyd: Wishes to know where his father is. Ends up either meeting his dad again... Or finding his stepdad and his bajillion step-siblings.

Loboto: Probably makes a completely random wish that is so weird that it can't really go wrong or right, just... Happening. Like wishing that he had a bunch of pudding in his fridge. (Though he might make a serious wish later on in the timeline for a second chance.)

I'm not entirely sure for Edgar, though. Most likely, he'd wish that his art could be enough to pay for them to be happy. Not sure how it'd go...

Hey Psitainum Creature(friendshape) Raz, since you've become embedded with Psitainum, does Psilirium affect you any differently? Are you resisted/immune now, or are its properties stronger on you?

"at Rhombus of Ruins" oops it got blended to the speech bubble

tell me about your daisy girlie i can tell you’re about to burst like a can of soup

i’m mostly curious on how psilirim would affect her, as well as non-psychics. or maybe she was originally a non psychic? i genuinely can’t tell from your post oopsies

but yesssss i love people working in psilirim beyond “makes brain hurt and cause delusions” or whatever rhombus of ruin did. idk i couldn’t play it without crashing because the vr headset i used was ass in a tin

if you’ve already answered something in the same vein ignore this oopsie…. i just immediately wanted to ask before scrolling ur blog

Sorry if this is all a mess, I’m not so good at organizing my thoughts!

I’ve actually tried to put some thought into psilirium, because it’s such a neat rock! But it’s basically just…Psitanium but worse? From what I could glean from the game. And other than ‘psilirium poisoning’ mentioned in the second game (bear with me I haven’t played either in like half a year) it was mostly ignored after Rhombus.

As for how it affects Daisy who yes, was born psychic! The first thing I focused on was its ‘magnetic’ effects when it comes to drawing people towards it. The commune she essentially takes over was formed far before Daisy had even considered running off. And it was formed due to the psilirium drawing people to the area! This quality gives Daisy somewhat of a charismatic edge with all that psilirium getup she’s got on. Call it a ‘magnetic attraction’ but people just seem to like the girl <3!

As for how it affects her psychics, I’m not sure how accurate the ‘fandom wiki’ is but it described psilirium as ‘distorting psychic energy.’ With the only other confirmed effects being “mania, hysteria, hallucinations, suppression of psychic abilities, and paranoia in psychics” (according to the wiki). I figure a handwaving of ‘distorting psychic energy’ is vague enough to let me add my own flair. Suppose it’s somewhat of a souped up version of psitanium the way I have been using it? But with the blatant psychological harm a bit more evident.

When Daisy first arrived psilirium had still been mostly undiscovered in the area, so she hadn’t had too much exposure to it. Some people (rarely) reported having strange hallucinations or unusual dreams, but it was mostly chalked up to the area just being a spiritual hotspot. Occasionally some weird glowing rocks would be found, but with no geologists or psychonauts to identify them, no one really knew what they were and kept them around mainly for their striking appearance. As more and more of the rocks were eventually discovered (or dug up), the effects began to compound.

With worsening mental health abound, as well as the decline of the hippie subculture as a whole into the 70s, many began to leave the commune. This left Daisy desperate, as I think I’ve mentioned before, and not in her right mind, she began to hypnotize the remaining members. Only a few at first but later the commune as a whole (though not on purpose). Those effected would begin subconsciously contributing their mental energy to Daisy, thus making her extremely resistant to the psiliriums negative effects.

That’s great! Because despite her resistance due to her now greatly increased mental energy, her mind was still heavily affected by those neat glowing rocks! She was left somewhat delirious, witnessing hallucinations as well as experiences delusions of grandeur at times. She began to order (like, it was more of a suggestion than an order, man, this is a commune not a dictatorship <3) the rocks be dug up more to aid them in their meditations and spiritual connections. Thus, the commune as a whole became a psilirium hotspot.

This meant Daisy, with her heavily fortified mental energy, was the only one to really be able to effectively use her psychics, with the psilirium’s repression of psychic abilities shown in RoR. Technology in the area bugs out too! So it really is a naturalist ‘utopia,’ at least in Daisy’s eyes.

So that’s! Yeah! Most of my thoughts I think? Idk! Heres also some somehow even less organized thoughts too that I can’t seem to place anywhere well:

There’s kinda just a general vague energy in the air around the commune due to the intense ‘radiation’ from all the unearthed stones

Daisy herself is like! Actually psycho-reactive at this point! Like! A walking hunk of psilirium…on a smaller scale of course. It kinda mixes with her actual psychic energy, making that ‘radiate’ as well. Basically with all that psilirium her hypnosis kinda has the effect of making a certain range of people around her more susceptible to suggestability by her! I wouldn’t call it full hypnosis though.

To add to that, she is constantly (and I do mean just like 100% of the time (except sleep I suppose?)) levitating! Part of the vague ‘radiation’ of her psychics. As well as her generally just being in a great mood thanks to weed and delirium!

The psilirium itself ‘warps’ and amplifies her psychics abilities a bit. It kinda ‘enhances’ them in the sense that there is sooo much psychic energy it’s just bursting to get out.

For example, she’s an Empath of sorts (an ability @spaloonbabooguuscooties came up with for her Franke in our ramblings) but, distorted in a way so that, while she can still somewhat feel what others are feeling, it’s more her forcing her own emotions onto them. Not fully but, they can certainly feel what she is feeling. In addition her ‘sensing’ of emotion isn’t just relegated to having to touch them either! Close enough, in tandem with her rudimentary telepathy, she can basically understand entirely what her ‘followers’ are thinking and feeling! Though it’s partially due to their obvious psychic connection.

Her hypnosis of course was effected, becoming a vague radiation of charisma and charm around her even when not using her own abilities.

Aside from just the constant, constant, use of it, her levitation wasn’t changed much.

Her herbophony hasn’t really changed much either, but some of the plants in the area have become psycho-radioactive as well, giving them a bit of a psychic edge. It allows her better communication with them as well as giving some plants psychic abilities for themselves.

Most of what psilirium has done to Daisy is make an unstable person more unstable and a psychic person more psychic. But in an obvious much worse, much faster, and much more overt way than psitanium. Or at least I hop im that’s how it comes across <3!