League of Black Ships

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Targetdrone.gif This article is about the League of Black Ships. For other uses of Black Ship, see Black Ship (disambiguation).

"I knew their fate, they had been tested and found wanting, they were too vulnerable, too dangerous to live. Souls such as these I carry to the Emperor's table."

- Captain of a Black Ship[10]


League of Black Ships
Adeptus Astra Telepathica Symbol.jpg
Adeptus Astra Telepathica symbol
Parent Agency: Adeptus Astra Telepathica
Headquarters: Magdan Orbital Construct,
Sol System[2]
Leader: Mistress of the Black Fleet
Armed Forces:
Established: M30

The League of Black Ships (sometimes spelled Blackship)[16] is one of the two primary divisions of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, the other being the Scholastia Psykana.[1]

Overview

The Black Ships delivering their tithes.[11]

The League of Black Ships forms the recruiting division, consisting of a substantial fleet charged with the ceaseless collection and transportation of psykers from across the Galaxy to be brought to Terra.[1] Despite this, the Adeptus Astra Telepathica can only hope to gather a minuscule fraction of psykers born, at most. Since the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, the frequency of psyker births amongst humanity has only increased.[18] In addition, the Great Rift has impeded or blocked the routes to innumerable worlds, further compounding the buildup of rogue psykers on any given world.[22]

Independent of the Imperial Navy, they are the second-largest fleet in the galaxy. There are many thousands of Black Ships, but only the highest-ranking adepts in the Adeptus Astra Telepathica know the true scale of the fleet and the vast scope of its operations.[3b] The Black Fleet itself is based in the Magadan Orbital Construct in the Sol System.[2] They are not to be confused with the Black Ships of the Inquisition.[1]

Reporting directly to the Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, the Black Ships are feared transports filled with mournful psykers held in cavernous, psi-shielded holds to be taken back to Terra to feed the voracious psychic appetite of the Emperor. Black Ships are technologically advanced vessels covered in anti-psychic wards and constructed from a psychically resistant ebony metal.[4] Both hexagrammic and pentagrammic wards are used extensively on their ships.[14] The Black Ships themselves are overseen by a member of the Chamber Astra of the Sisters of Silence, under the Mistress of the Black Fleet.[5][6]

The Black Ship fleet travels constantly throughout the Imperium. Each Imperial world is visited every hundred years or so by a Black Ship. When a Black Ship nears a planet, its governor is instructed to prepare the customary levy - a tithe of psykers.[19] The psykers on a world could be collected by a number of forces such as Inquisitorial Stormtroopers,[20] local Enforcers[21] or Adeptus Administratum forces, such as probators of the Adeptus Arbites, and placed in a holding facility of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. A Sanctum Psykana is a well defended, ancient monastery-prison protected by great Geller-field engines where those with psychic talents are held until they are ferried to Holy Terra via a Black Ship.[12] In the Era Indomitus, overabundance and late or absent tithe vessels have lead to prisoner overflow. Subsequently Planetary Governors might choose to make use of mundane prisons to hold the abundance of rogue psykers.[22]

Once the levy has been collected, the Black Ship's captain makes an initial evaluation of their cargo before proceeding to the next world in their circuit.[1][19] The Tainted Psykers touched by Chaos, Daemonically possessed, or otherwise considered too dangerously powerful or corrupt are killed outright. This is the Black Ship Captain's responsibility.[23] When the ship is full it returns to Terra and the psykers are transferred to the Scholastica Psykana before the ship leaves again to continue in its eternal search.[1][19] Should a world be declared abandoned by the Administratum, however, the Black Ships will stop visiting it.[7] It is common for Inquisitors to travel on board these ships, as this gives them a good opportunity to investigate a planet's potential for psychically-based corruption.[1]

Due to the Great Rift's creation, the supply chain of the League of Black Ships has recently been severely interrupted and Imperial worlds that have been cut off from having their Imperial Tithes taken by the Black Ships are now forced to implement their own restraints upon their populations of untrained psykers.[3a]

Crew

"I counted twenty thousand souls bound for service. Men, women and children. Young and old. The sick and the sound. I sensed their pain and felt their chains as if bound about my own body. But the decision was not mine to take, to separate those who would live from those who must die. I am a guardian of the Adeptus. Souls such as these I carry to the Emperor’s table.”

- from the confession of a unknown Adept [15][Note 1]


The Black Ship known as Norn's Ghost.[13]

Due to their complicated mission, Black Ships maintain a crew several times higher than similar-sized vessels of the Imperial Navy.[4] Only those with the strength of mind to withstand the constant soul-numbing despair that permeates the Black Ship may crew it, so mentally traumatic is such duty.[1] The most vital crew of the Black Ships are the Sisters of Silence, who are well-suited to combat any psychic threat they encounter.[4] However, the majority of the crew are standard humans,[4] and the captains and other senior officers of the Black Ships are senior adepts of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. As for the rest of the ships' crews, they are indentured workers drafted from a number of Imperial worlds situated relatively close to Terra. The Astra Telepathica have ancient contracts with these worlds, ensuring a steady flow of suitable recruits in return for exemption from Imperial Tithes. The mortal crews of Black Ships are well-trained and equipped with highly secretive exotic anti-psyker weaponry.[4]

Black Ship anchored in orbit of Ystrad.[10]

All crews that serve aboard the Black Ship fleet are rigorously tested and scrutinised for any latent psychic abilities or sensitivities and are regularly mind-scrubbed to purge any taint or infection. All crew is chosen for a lack of psychic ability, with the Sisters of Silence being full blanks, while the rest are at least below Sigma grade on the Imperial Assignment, though those below Tau grade are preferred.[6] The Navigator Houses of Granicus, MacPherson, and Ptolemy work exclusively for the Astra Telepathica and are the only Navigators allowed to work aboard the Black Ships. Generally, few other Imperial agents, besides Inquisitors, are permitted aboard these dread vessels, but occasionally Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, or higher-ranking members of the Adeptus Terra may be accommodated at the discretion of the Black Ship's captain.[3b]

Known Black Ships

Trivia

TriviaScrollTrans.png

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

Notes

For a thousand days the great barge of the Adeptus Astronomica sailed towards Earth. In the thirteen holds, each as cavernous as a temple nave, our human cargo sent up a great wailing and moaning. There were over two thousand souls bound for service: Men, women and children; young and old; the sick and the sound. Only the children did not know. But I am a psyker like them, and I know their pain. I felt the chains as if they were upon my own limbs. I know their fate, they had been tested and found wanting, they were too vulnerable, too dangerous to live. I am a guardian of the Adeptus Astronomica. Souls such as these I carry to the Emperor's table. [17][24]


See also

Sources


Modern Imperial Organizations
Adeptus Terra Adeptus Administratum (Adeptus Astartes • Departmento Munitorum • Astra Militarum • Ordo Tempestus • Imperial Fleet • Imperial Navy • Merchant Fleet • Praeses Mercatura • Navis Nobilite • Officio Assassinorum • Estate Imperium • Templars Psykologis • Officio Sabatorum • Officio Medicae • Officio Agricultae • Officio Logisticarum • Departmento Exacta • Astra Cartographica • Logis Strategos • Departmento Colonia • Departmento Processium • Departmento of Final Consideration • Departmento Contagio • Departmento Gradio • Questio Logisticus • Rogue Traders • Imperial Commanders) • Adeptus Astra Telepathica (Sisters of Silence • League of Black Ships • Scholastica Psykana) • Adeptus Astronomica • Adeptus Arbites • Adeptus Custodes • Questor Imperialis (House Guard) • Adeptus Fidicius • Synopticon • Officio Communicatus • Officio Propagandum
Adeptus Mechanicus Cult Mechanicus • Collegia Titanica • Legiones Skitarii • Questor Mechanicus (House Guard) • Centurio Ordinatus • Ordo Reductor • Legio Cybernetica • Auxilia Myrmidon • Prefecture Magisterium • Basilikon Astra • Divisio Linguistica • Explorator • Sect Missionarius Mechanicus • Collegiate Extremis • Astynomia • Adnector Concillium • Auxilia Technologica Astartes
Adeptus Ministorum Holy Synod • Adepta Sororitas (Sisters of Battle) • Schola Progenium • Missionarius Galaxia • Creed Temporal • Frateris Militia
Inquisition Ordo Malleus • Ordo Hereticus • Ordo Xenos • Ordos Minoris
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