Sanctioned Psyker

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"I’m Sanctioned, you imbecile. Try and shoot me; you might manage to raise the gun before your brain runs out of your ears."

— Yvette Wachlitz, Sanctioned Psyker of the 349th Gilead Gravediggers[21]


Imperial Psyker serving in the Astra Militarum.[12]

Sanctioned Psykers are psykers tested by the Adeptus Astra Telepathica.[11b] These psykers are forged into instruments of the Emperor's will and have learned unparalleled discipline during their harsh training by the Scholastia Psykana.[21]

Overview

"They have their uses, surely, but they can never be trusted. Their continued presence is a threat to our very souls, and no matter how useful they are, I fear just by associating with them, we are already damned."

- Unnamed Imperial Guard officer[8e]


Sanctioned psyker[21]

Sanctioned Psykers are to be respected as invaluable tools of the Imperium, but remain largely feared and kept at a distance if not outright reviled. Imperial citizens are indoctrinated to fear and hate the psyker, whether they are a sanctioned servant of the Throne or a warp-dabbling witch.[21] Imperials are taught to abhor the witch and many sanctioned psykers struggle to overcome their own self-loathing, reviled by what they are.[7f]

Psykers without training are unbound and unprotected. They often lack any form of training and guidance to control their power and safeguard their minds, making them a danger to themselves and those around them.[11]

According to Imperial Law, all psykers must undergo the testing and sanctioning process. While the majority do so, the remaining unsanctioned psykers must be hunted down and detained or simply culled, often being burned on the pyre in the latter cases for witches. These duties fall under the Ordo Hereticus of the Inquisition. Most psykers need not be hunted, as they are typically scooped up by Black Ships while they are still small children whose easily recognizable powers are still crude and immature.[15a] Most psychic powers begin to emerge between 10 and 20 years of age, but in some cases they might appear earlier (e.g. in infancy) or later while middle-aged.[16] Those unsanctioned psykers who somehow hid from the Black Ships or had their powers emerge later in life are deemed rogues and fugitives from Imperial Law.[11b] They must choose whether to live a life on the run or submit themselves to the Black Ships.[15a]

Millions of psykers are collected each day across the Imperium and brought to Terra. The sanctioning process tests for power levels, control, strength of will, willingness to learn, and other factors to decide their fate. When this initial testing process is over, the psyker will either be subject to harsh training and possibly survive to live a life in service to the Imperium or die as a sacrifice. The majority of the millions of psykers collected aboard the Black Ships are found wanting during testing and shipped to Terra as sacrifices.[11b] These shortcomings could be due to the individual being too weak of will, simply lacking a useful degree of psychic potential, or other reasons.[11c]

Training

"I’ve seen things... you wouldn’t want to believe."

- Interrogator Albin Thrace, newly returned from sanctioning[15a]


Sanctioned Psyker[8e]
Main article: Scholastia Psykana

Psykers recieve their official testing, training, tutelage, and conditioning from the Scholastia Psykana. This training can take place on Terra or on any of the other hidden and secret Scholastia Psykana facilities throughout the Galaxy. Many die during their stays at these, not just to the perils of the warp during training, but also to the hands of their teachers, their infamously cruel Black Sentinel jailers, and even at the hands of other prisoner-students.[22]

Regardless of their life prior to the Scholastia Psykana, the majority spend time aboard a Black vessels where their minds are meticulously scanned and psionic levels measured. Those whose psychic power is too low to be useful or who are found lacking the power of will to properly master their abilities are usually sent to "worship" at the Golden Throne,[12] although in at least one case - Mortanna Shroud - a psyker whose power was too low to be useful (in fact, too low to usually be taken in by a Black Ship) was sanctioned. The worst memories of a psyker's time aboard a Black Ship are erased after they prove themselves worthy to continue their service to the Imperium.[13] The minority of psykers that show potential will move on to begin their grueling training of the Scholastia Psykana.[12] Sometimes the psykers are trained by the Scholastia aboard the Black Ship. Other times the psykers taken to the Scholastia Psykana on Terra to be tested or trained.[15a] Once the Rite of Sactioning is complete they are officially recognised as a sanctioned psyker.[8d]

Although psykers are held in suspicion, sanctioned psykers are always in demand.[11] Scholastia Psykana graduates can find employment in a variety of different vocations.[10][12] Most are trained as astropaths, while a minority are sent to find work elsewhere. Some find employ on the frontlines with the Astra Militarum; others serve in cushy roles as an advisor to a planetary governor or perhaps as a novelty pet messenger for idle nobility.[11][12] Others still might fill one of many positions in the Inquisition, sometimes serving their interests working within the Scholastia Psykana itself.[12]

Astra Militarum Psyker striking a Leman Russ Battle Tank.[8c]

They are able to use their psychic abilities to aid the commander in his decisions by predicting or sensing enemy movements, or more directly in combat, psychically attacking the enemy or protecting allies. Commissars are always ready to execute a psyker in danger of daemonic possession. Throughout the Imperium, psykers are justifiably feared for the danger they present, and held in a regard comparable to that of aliens and mutants. Certain slang has grown up between psykers and non-psykers. Freak, Brain, Witch, Spark Head and Bolt Magnet are all terms for a sanctioned psyker, whereas Blunt is what a non-psyker is to a psyker. Fellow psykers will often refer to each other as Sibling due to the harrowing experiences that is their training on the Black Ships to become sanctioned.[7] All this is done to condition disciplined psykers for a life in service to the Imperium using their psychic powers.[10][11b][12][15b]

Sanctioned Psykers, also classified as Mystics, are often used by Inquisitors as their Inquisitorial Henchmen for their psychic powers.[2]

Psykers in the Imperial Guard

"The Imperium might be fools, but when it comes to their psykers, only the most resilient minds make it to the battlefield."


Glavia Aerand, Primaris psyker[17]

Sanctioned psykers are trained as both warriors and advisors. Depending on their specialization, they might divine the movements of enemy troops, or simply rain destruction on their foes. Psykers often serve as advisors to the officer corps of the Imperial Guard. Some might divine the Emperor's Tarot to aid in matters of strategy, planning battles and winning wars.[8e]

The Scholastica Psykana assigns their psykers to various regiments. The psyker themself is typically born far from where the Astra Militarum Regiment they are assigned to is recruited from. Alongside the de facto ostracism or outright persecution faced in Imperial society, most psykers are loners and outcasts amongst the men and women of the regiment they fight alongside.[8e] Some regiments rotate battle-psykers regularly to prevent Guardsman from forming strong attrachments to them, in the same way one might with a particularly reliable lasgun.[20]

Commissars are trained to recognize the signs of daemonic possession and stand ready to execute a psyker at the first signs of possession.[8e]

Primaris Psyker

Main article: Primaris Psyker

As some of the most powerful psykers in the Imperium, Primaris Psykers can be found fighting on many battlefields. Despite their esoteric might, they take up a plethora of roles throughout other Imperial organisations, most notably on Terra. Those on the battlefield might be assigned to a high-ranking officer or lead entire regiments themselves.[1a]

Psyker Battle Squads

Psyker auxiliaries in a battle against Orks.[8a]

Sanctioned Psykers are most often divided into Psyker Battle Squads, consisting of groups of individuals who are barely able to control their awesome power. Ever-vigilant overseer psykers accompany these more amateurish squad members into battle, helping them attune to each other so that the squad functions as a cohesive psychic unit. When one psyker starts a sentence another may finish it, several members of the unit chorusing and echoing the words in unison. In battle, they pool their energies to release a psychic blast far greater than the sum of their individual parts. The sonorous chanting of a psyker battle squad continuously rises as they draw ever deeper into the powers of the warp, eventually releasing a surge of psychic energy that can create deadly thunderstorms to engulf the psykers' foe or send out energy that ruptures organs or rips bodies apart.[1b]

These groups are psychically linked to one another and often act with a single consciousness. They can exhibit strange behaviour, such as eerily finishing each other's sentences.[1b]

Wyrdvane Psykers

Wyrdvane Psykers are Imperial Psykers of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica's Scholastica Psykana that are not able to control their powers. Some have not yet completed the grueling training to become a Primaris Psyker. Others will never achieve that goal, introverted beyond rescue by the horrors of their own minds. As individuals, such psykers are unpredictable and unsafe. Yet working in concert, these deadly mutants can be a valuable asset. Attuned to one another, Wyrdvane Psykers draw strength from communion. Squads of Wyrdvanes link their thoughts to strengthen each other's powers.[4]

Other Variants

Space Marine Librarians

Main article: Librarian

Librarians are sanctioned psykers amongst the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes. These individuals are sometimes chosen from amongst the pools of Scholastica Psykana initiates.[19]

Known Sanctioned Psykers

Sanctioned Psyker reading the Emperor's Tarot.[18]

Known Wyrdvane Psykers

Notable Groups

Miniatures

  • Primaris Psyker, 2nd Edition

  • Sanctioned Psykers, 2nd Edition

  • Sanctioned Psykers, 3rd Edition

See also

Sources

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Imperial Guard Infantry
Command Company Command Squad • Platoon Command Squad • Scion Command Squad • Tank Commander • Regimental Advisors • Commissar • Primaris Psyker • Tech-priest Enginseer • Priest • Ogryn Bodyguard
Specialists Master of Ordnance • Breacher • Scout • Medic • Vox-Operator • Weapons Specialist • Sharpshooter • Operator
Troops Infantry Squad • Heavy Weapons Team • Special Weapons Squad • Armoured Fist Squad • Veteran Squad (Spectre Squad) • Engineer Squad • Scions Squad (Kasrkin) • Canids • Penal Legion Troopers • Ogryn Squad • Ratling Squad • Psyker Battle Squad • Rough Rider Squad • Field Ordnance Battery • Jump Trooper • H-Grade Combat Servitor • Cyber-Altered Task • Servo-Sentry


Forces of the Inquisition
Inquisitors Lord Inquisitor • Ordo Xenos Inquisitor • Ordo Malleus Inquisitor • Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor • Ordo Minoris Inquisitor
Acolytes Interrogator
Assassin Death Cult • Callidus • Culexus • Eversor • Ordo Sicarius Initiate • Vanus • Venenum • Vindicare
Chiurgeon Excoriator • Sister Hospitaller • Torturer
Desperado Bounty Hunter • Scum
Familiar Cherubim • Psyber-Eagle • Servo-Skull
Hierophants/Fanatics Banisher • Crusader • Drill Abbot • Enlightener • Hexorcist • Oblationist • Priest • Questkeeper • Redemptionist
Mystic Astropath • Daemonhost • Diviner • Navigator • Sanctioned Psyker • Warp-Seer
Sage Autosavant • Lexmechanic • Malefic Scholar • Reclaimator • Sister Dialogous • Servitor • Tech-Priest
Seeker Arbitrator • Cult-Stalker • Enforcer • Judge • Mortiurge
Warrior Chrono-Gladiator • Crusader • Imperial Guard Veteran/Death World Veteran • Inquisitorial Stormtrooper • Inquisitorial Pyroclast • Penal Legionnaire • Pistoleer • Tempestus Scion • Combat-Servitor • Gun-Servitor
Other Retinue Arco-Flagellant • Mutant • Penitent • Rogue Trader • Space Marine • Xenos
Ordo Militants Deathwatch • Grey Knights • Sisters of Battle
Vehicles Chimera • Land Raider • Land Raider Crusader • Land Raider Redeemer • Razorback • Rhino • Valkyrie
Fleet Inquisitorial Black Ship

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