Psicohistory
Beneath the civilized and cooperative surface of the Federation lies a machinery of galaxy-scale social manipulation: Psychohistory, a discipline maintained and refined by the Hive over millennia.
Unlike other species, the Hive does not impose its will through fleets or economies. Its main tool is the redesign of civilizations.
They apply psychohistorical models based on cultural cycles, collective behavior, social genetics, and long-term prediction to guide —or divert— the evolution of entire cultures.
They do not hide it, but neither do they announce it.
In most cases, even the member worlds of the Federation are unaware of being influenced. There is no invasion, only adjustment. No imposition, only redirection.
Psychohistory operates on a scale of centuries: a philosophical doctrine spread here, an educational framework established there, an economic incentive on a key planet. Each intervention is a microaction with cumulative effects.
Its goal is not domination, but the prevention of collapse.
The Hive believes civilizations tend to self-destruct if not redesigned —and assumes the responsibility of correcting, stabilizing, or redirecting entire cultures if it prevents future catastrophes.
Psychohistory in the Game
In The Corporate Wars, psychohistory is not an institution nor an Alliegance. It is an invisible presence, a latent mechanic powered by a predictive AI specialized in cultural outcomes.
No one plays as it. No one negotiates with it. But its effects are everywhere.
Observant players may uncover strange patterns: rebellions that never erupted, reforms that happened without leaders, doctrines spreading without advocates.
Understanding psychohistory may offer critical strategic advantages. But it may also reveal an unsettling truth: many decisions we think of as ours —were never truly our own.
For Federation players, psychohistory acts as a guide, oracle, goal, or hidden adversary.
It is not a system to control —only one to detect.
And once detected, each Policy must decide whether to accept it, resist it... or harness it.
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