The Psijics seem to have a power a step above magic. From what i gather they can bend and shape reality with their minds. It would be cool if they had more of a presence in the story as i am highly interested in their clandestine ways. Can anyone shed more light on the Psijics or your thoughts on who and what they are....open floor

They seem like fine chaps. A little too held up on trying to be mysterious. But we all fancied such nonsense at some time in our lives.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/guide-psijic-order

dang it! can't get to it right now, im at work and the firewall is blocking the link. but i bet its got some good info. i've read a few things here and there about them but i still want to more. you guys think betheseda would be interested in creating a psijic xpansion pack since they mention quite often in the game?

Well the Psijics were masters of Mysticism, which is no longer technically a school in Skyrim. I got a vibe in Skyrim that they (the devs) were trying to retain that feeling that the Psijics were masters of a type of magic few people knew about....

Too much of a Deus Ex Machina for my tastes. Oh hi, we're immortal, invincible, know everything before it happens and are playing with you as a pawn. We can stop time as easily as you can scratch your ass.

Lazy game mechanic.

hmmm....interesting *puffs on smoking pipe*

They're definitely an interesting order, but their portrayal in Skyrim was...erm...not very well thought out.

I tried killing one for his robe.. my sword phased through him.

I cried that day.

LOL, yea the robes are to die for

So the Psijic Order, who appears like 2 times in the game... is a lazy game MECHANIC? What?

Perhaps Game Mechanic is not a good term to use. Fair enough.

But yes, it is a lazy "tool" to use a Deus Ex Machina in a game plot. And the Psijic order is a Deus Ex Machina, make no mistake.

"God in the Machine: a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object."

Fits, no?

A deus ex machina is generally undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. The reasons for this are that it does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic and is often so unlikely that it challenges suspension of disbelief, allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though perhaps more palatable, ending. Like the PC becoming Arch Mage after being in the mage guild for like a week.

The Psijics in Skyrim didn't really solve any problems though...they were just kind of there.

Did you play the Mage Guild quest? In my game they greatly assisted, so much that I think it's implied the world would have ended if they didn't intervene.

When? I completed and took over the mages guild. All they did was show up and say "Something bad is about to happen and you can prevent it from getting worse." Other than advice and pointing you in the right directions they don't do anything....then they compliment you and pat you on the head when you're the Archmage.

I agree as far as uber-powerful mystical orders go....They came off as trying to hard to be lofty and mysterious to me.

And as for their time stop ability, you get a weaker version of that with your Dragon Shouts so I don't fault the mystical order for having a sustainable spell with the same effect.

yea they didnt do much of anything. which is y i wish they would could out with some sort of expansion pack where you have to go to the island they live on or whatever. it would be cool to interact with them on that level

They removed the eye of magnus for safe keeping to stop it from destroying the world... pretty big deal.

Right....they waited for YOU to do all the foot work to gather what was needed and stop it from actually destroying the world...and then took the disabled superweapon off to the only place in the world where EVERYONE could probably activate it and use it to cause the apocalypse.....They did nothing but wait for you to fix the problem and then hide it so if anyone is going to cause the end of the world it will be them. ANYONE can move a big inactive rock

I am happy to play this game only for murdering and knowing a little more about the story.

You mean like the appearance of a new Dragonborn right after Alduin appears?

I saw one of them hanging out in the inn in Winterhold. Bug? I dunno, point is what are a secretive bunch of guys doing walking around in those crazy, colorful robes? Don't exactly blend in.

Uh, the PC was alive long before Alduin showed up. You didn't suddenly "become" Dragonborn. You always were.

And another trait of a deus ex machina is that it leaves the question why it didn't intervene earlier.

In this case - Why didn't they teleport the eye away in the moment it was found? If they have the authority to appoint an amateur spellcaster to be the headmaster of a mage college, why didn't they just show up and demand the eye before it could cause trouble?

Of course all of this could have been an ingenious plot of the Psijics to get their hands on the eye, without causing too much trouble (for them). The incompetent archmage will keep the college busy for years to come, and nobody thinks twice about another missing Thalmor in Skyrim. Enough stuff for an expansion (or mod).

Psijics? I wished my archmage could actually use Staff of Magnus to dispel their time stopping technique (since that staff is so f****ing powerfull in Lore when it comes to disrupting magic) and keep the Eye for myself. Just need to relocate it under the College and use its power to set up few powerfull barriers so no "Ancano's" will be able to get their hands on it without my permission.

But oh well, it's just a Skyrim.

P.S. Nope, not for the world domination. But for further study.