I've been looking asround the forums and I saw that pretty much any post relating to psioncs at one point has this argment of whether it should be spiritualist exclusive or not, and what the spiritualist/materialist ethics mean in general.
To start things off here are the discriptions from the stellaris wiki:
Spiritualism: There are those think it behooves us to remember how tiny we are, how pointless our lives in this vast uncaring universe... What nonsense! The only truth we can ever know is that of our own existence. The universe - in all its apparent glory - is but a dream we all happen to share.
Materialism: As we reach for the stars, we must put away childish things; gods, spirits and other phantasms of the brain. Reality is cruel and unforgiving, yet we must steel ourselves and secure the survival of our race through the unflinching pursuit of science and technology.
Giving those a quick read, here the idea I get about the both of them:
Spiritualism =/= religion. Yes the spiritualist goverment types are religious, but you don't need to pick them. besides the term religion can be pretty much anything so It really doesn't matter all that much. It seems to me that Spiritualist pops simply believe in something more that matter, some greater meaning in the universe that what can be touched and measured. This can mean a lot of different things, but psionic abilities are certainly among them. A spiritualist pop propably has a more open mind concerning spiritual matters. They can call psioncs a "blessing" a "gift" or whatever, but due to their beliefs they have a easier time wrapping their head around the concept of spirits and power of the mind.
Materialist pops are seemingly focused on the scintific understanding of the world, but they make a few exceptions, things they just don't believe in. Gods, spirits and "phantasms of the mind" all have no place in a materialist empire in a meaningfull capacity. I just don't see a materialist empire ordering their best scientists to research phantasms of the mind (Psioncs) to commune with spirits (The shroud) in order to become gods (immortal Psions). The should idea of psioncs seems entirely our of character for a materialist empire. But what if the other empire gives unquestionable evidence for psioncs? Well then that still doesn't mean YOU can be psionic. Psioncs is not a law of nature it defies the laws of nature, you can't make it work with technical know-how. I imagine it takes a specific mindset in order to be psionic and what the limitation tells us is that materialists simply don't have that mindset.
The neutrals are a lot more tricky because there is nothing to go on in terms of what would make sense. But we can consider this a game balace issue. We can either make ethics meaningless by giving everythins to everyone or we can lock features to specific ethos to make them actually mean somethings in terms of how your people develop. I like the second option more. I think locking things to ethos, while limiting options, makes your initial decision matter. You have to consider a lot mroe than just modifiers. If we picked the first option we would have Psionic Synth pop Gene Warrior Xeno Cavalry. While that is a awesome image, it would get boring pretty quickly. Locking things to ethics adds character to a empire, it gives them a clear goal, a ambition that fits their character.
I WANT to have my synthetic empire protect the galaxy against fanatic purifier psichics who summon doom from the shroud. Or a xenophobe empire protecting the purity of their species by unlocking the potential that lies within their own genes as they denouce eveything alien in the galaxy. Or a cult of powerfull Psions who aim to subjugate the galaxy by making deals with the Shroud, eventually becoming its puppets. But I DON'T want to be all of them at once.
Sorry that this was a bit of an essay, feel free to post your opinions on the situation
To start things off here are the discriptions from the stellaris wiki:
Spiritualism: There are those think it behooves us to remember how tiny we are, how pointless our lives in this vast uncaring universe... What nonsense! The only truth we can ever know is that of our own existence. The universe - in all its apparent glory - is but a dream we all happen to share.
Materialism: As we reach for the stars, we must put away childish things; gods, spirits and other phantasms of the brain. Reality is cruel and unforgiving, yet we must steel ourselves and secure the survival of our race through the unflinching pursuit of science and technology.
Giving those a quick read, here the idea I get about the both of them:
Spiritualism =/= religion. Yes the spiritualist goverment types are religious, but you don't need to pick them. besides the term religion can be pretty much anything so It really doesn't matter all that much. It seems to me that Spiritualist pops simply believe in something more that matter, some greater meaning in the universe that what can be touched and measured. This can mean a lot of different things, but psionic abilities are certainly among them. A spiritualist pop propably has a more open mind concerning spiritual matters. They can call psioncs a "blessing" a "gift" or whatever, but due to their beliefs they have a easier time wrapping their head around the concept of spirits and power of the mind.
Materialist pops are seemingly focused on the scintific understanding of the world, but they make a few exceptions, things they just don't believe in. Gods, spirits and "phantasms of the mind" all have no place in a materialist empire in a meaningfull capacity. I just don't see a materialist empire ordering their best scientists to research phantasms of the mind (Psioncs) to commune with spirits (The shroud) in order to become gods (immortal Psions). The should idea of psioncs seems entirely our of character for a materialist empire. But what if the other empire gives unquestionable evidence for psioncs? Well then that still doesn't mean YOU can be psionic. Psioncs is not a law of nature it defies the laws of nature, you can't make it work with technical know-how. I imagine it takes a specific mindset in order to be psionic and what the limitation tells us is that materialists simply don't have that mindset.
The neutrals are a lot more tricky because there is nothing to go on in terms of what would make sense. But we can consider this a game balace issue. We can either make ethics meaningless by giving everythins to everyone or we can lock features to specific ethos to make them actually mean somethings in terms of how your people develop. I like the second option more. I think locking things to ethos, while limiting options, makes your initial decision matter. You have to consider a lot mroe than just modifiers. If we picked the first option we would have Psionic Synth pop Gene Warrior Xeno Cavalry. While that is a awesome image, it would get boring pretty quickly. Locking things to ethics adds character to a empire, it gives them a clear goal, a ambition that fits their character.
I WANT to have my synthetic empire protect the galaxy against fanatic purifier psichics who summon doom from the shroud. Or a xenophobe empire protecting the purity of their species by unlocking the potential that lies within their own genes as they denouce eveything alien in the galaxy. Or a cult of powerfull Psions who aim to subjugate the galaxy by making deals with the Shroud, eventually becoming its puppets. But I DON'T want to be all of them at once.
Sorry that this was a bit of an essay, feel free to post your opinions on the situation