The world of Mind’s Edge is a post catastrophe setting where human civilization has fractured into distinct, adversarial sectors. The “universe” is defined by this great division, and the “mythology” is rooted in the traumatic event that caused it.
The primary historical event defining the world is an unnamed war or catastrophe that led to massive contamination, specifically focused on a geographical region.
The Cause: While the specifics of the conflict are left somewhat vague, the effects point to the use of weapons that resulted in widespread radiation and genetic mutation.
The Dividing Line: This event created the foundational, defining split in the world: the infected sector (contaminated) and the clean sector (uncontaminated). This historical trauma is the origin story, or genesis, for the entire world’s current social and political structure.
The known world of Mind’s Edge is essentially two separate societies that coexist but do not cooperate.
Setting: Described as a contaminated and lawless region, specifically encompassing New England. This is the origin and home of the radios.
The Radios: This population carries the genetic markers of the catastrophe, physical deformations (tumors) and the defining psychic abilities.
Mythology: To the clean sector, the radios are mythical boogeymen, creatures of chaos, danger, and genetic impurity. Their powers are a sign of their “deformity,” not their evolution.
Reality: Within the sector, the radios have established their own self sufficient, if brutal, social structure, where psychic ability is a natural, necessary element of survival.
Setting: The rest of the uninfected world, attempting to maintain a semblance of the pre-war societal structure.
The Worlders: This is the term used by those in the infected sector for the people outside, the “normal” population.
Mythology: The clean sector views itself as the sole repository of order, safety, and purity. Their mythology is built on the necessity of isolation and control, the idea that the infected sector and its inhabitants must be contained or destroyed to ensure the survival of humanity. This is enforced by powerful entities like the Digitech corporation.
The core mythology of the Mind’s Edge universe is centered on the nature and control of psychic power.
The Psychic Ability: The abilities possessed by some radios are their defining characteristic. This power is the central driver of the plot and the greatest source of fear and conflict.
Mind Shock: This specific power is a mythical weapon, a debilitating psychic attack that can temporarily immobilize victims or kill them. It represents the ultimate fear the clean sector holds: a power they cannot defend against with conventional technology.
The Blocker: The blocker headband used by Edge is a technological artifact designed to neutralize the defining characteristic of the radios.
Mythology: The blocker represents the clean sctor’s belief in the supremacy of technology and its ability to solve any biological or moral threat. It is the physical manifestation of their desire to maintain control over an uncontrollable phenomenon.
The entire “universe” is therefore a political and social construct, built not on physical boundaries alone, but on a deep seated mythology of purity, fear, and the perceived moral danger of the evolved human mind.
