Emperor's Tarot

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The Emperor's Tarot (aka Imperial Tarot) is a pack of seventy-eight psychoactive liquid-crystal wafers that are linked to the thoughts or prophetic visions of the Emperor.[24] The Tarot, commonly believed to have been designed by the Emperor himself, is used throughout the Imperium as a form of divination.

Overview

Through the ages, tarots as some have called them, are a collection of cards, pieces of wood or bone that have various depictions or paintings on them. The variety of images attempt to break up the skein of fate into a scatter of images revealing the inner truths of the universe. Unlike mundane tarots of the past, these psychoactive cards can do just that.[20] The cards are also known to change images, which can shift their interpretations and meanings. These instruments of divination are rare, and only a psyker with enough power and influence can obtained one.[24] The liquid cystal wafers of a new, unused deck are completely black and blank. The deck might also have a soft white glow. The cards are sometimes created from the psychically active substance known as lorelei, which is also used in the construction psychic hoods and force weapons. Lorelei can be made into near paper-thin wafers and can provide much stronger readings, but this also invites greater risk.[25a] Emperor's Tarot decks are normally held within psionically shielded dark boxes to protect the deck against similar contamination.[25b]

Casting the Emperor's Tarot is a perilous affair not to be taken lightly. Various forms of failure are much higher than any kind of success. The most benign failures can be misread cards or one that fall treacherously in some clouded vision of the future, leaving the one seeking guidance only more confused than before. At worst, this psionic invocation can draw unwanted attention in the warp, potentially even leading to daemonic possession. Even the trained psykers of the Scholastia Psykana will typically have three, or sometimes just two, psykers perform a reading to avoid potential perils of the warp. Only the truly desperate will try alone.[25a]

The Tarot was widespread throughout the days of the Great Crusade already, even though it was officially considered pure superstition.[5a] Malcador the Sigilite himself would use such crystal wafer tarots to scry the vagaries of fate.[20]

Design

The "classic" deck consists of 78 psychically-charged liquid-crystal wafers. However, each deck is unique, and their makeup varies across the galaxy.[10] In the Macharian Sector, many decks are said to have fleeting afterimages of Lord Solar that fade before recognition.[24] The images of the cards can be crafted by blinded artisans.[25a] There are major arcana trumps and four suits of lesser arcanoi:[12] Discordia, Adeptio, Creatio and Mandatio.[10]

Discordia is the suit of strife, but can also signify authority. These cards contain enemies of the Imperium, xenos and warp entities. Adeptio is the suit of vigorous work, heroes, servants and great deeds. Creatio is the suit of fertility. Mandatio is the suit of government, stability, wealth and leadership.[10][13]

Many different decks have been produced over time and sometimes these decks use different names for some cards or entire suits. The suits called Executeria (Arcana of the unknown, exploration, future and mind)[13] and Concordia[7] are two examples. Other decks even use some major arcans as parts of a suit.[13]

There are various versions when it comes to the specific artwork and to the materials used for making the cards. The materials range from simple plastic to high-end versions using liquid-crystal.[5a]

Practice

Sanctioned Psyker reading the Emperor's Tarot.[19]

To cast the Emperor's Tarot, an unused deck of blank crystal wafers is required. These are typically packaged in black cloth tied with silver string. The psyker much take care to not inadvertently touch the cards themselves prior, or risk corrupting the later casting.[25a] The cards are laid up-side down and then turned. As they are turned they are read and interpreted by the reader.[1]

Four cards are drawn, these are referred to as the four "cardinals" of a casting.[25a] However, five cards are drawn in some castings.[26] The fist card drawn is the preeminent cardinal in the subsequent castings.[25a] The second and fourth (or final) cards drawn are signifiers, bringing clarity to the ones preceding them. When drawn upside down, the meaning of the card changes dramatically; the complete opposite to the non-inverse version of the card.[1] The third card can be in opposition to the first. The final (typically fourth) cardinal flavours each of the other prior cards. In some instances, cards can rise unbidden from the deck to land atop the first set of cardinals cast, providing additional permutations and potentially adding more clarity or confusion to the reading. How and where this second set of cards land and reveal themselves influences the interpreted relation to the initial set.[25a]

Psyker's can experience warp-dream visions of the future or past, as set within the allegorical landscape evoked by the revealed imagery of the respective card being turned over. These visions feel just a real as reality.[9b][20]

Rituals involving the Emperor's Tarot are of questionable clarity unless conducted by a Sanctioned Psyker or individual purportedly blessed with divine visions - the distinction between the two is often unclear. Sometimes wealthy nobles might have these readings done, whether in earnest with a true psychoactive deck or as a theatrical escapade for the indolent. Even when done correctly, a reading is often open to multiple interpretations.[9] Sanctioned Psykers that specialize in the reading of the Emperor's Tarot are known as Theomancers.[4]

Rituals, which tend to simply be elaborate prayers, have incorporated the use of the Emperor's Tarot. Sanctioned Psykers of the Adeptus Ministorum or Witchhunters often use these rituals to seek out their heretical quarries. As an example, Hephestian Foresight is one such divining ritual used in the Gilead System.[9]

The Adeptus Ministorum has a dim view of witchcraft, sooth-saying included. However some divination practices of seers and soothsayers might be tolerated, if seen as a variant of permitted tools such as the Emperor's Tarot. Even if officially recognised, such as on Jotungarth, these local seers' practices might not be tolerated by every passing Witch Hunter, regardless of the number of Imperial Creed symbols worn about their clothes or adorning their skin.[23]

Other Uses

Tarot is sometimes used to refer to a mundane deck of playing cards or a card game, with rules similar to poker, popular on many Imperial worlds. Known cards include The Emperor, The Primarch and The Inquisitor.[3]

Known Cards

Known cards are:

  • The Abyss[14]
  • Acolyte[18]
  • The Angel Primarch[9a] / The Steadfast Angel[7]
  • Aquila[7]
  • The Assassin (of Adeptio)[11][13]
  • The Astropath (of Executeria)[13]
  • Battleship[7]
  • The Beast - Major arcana.[25a]
  • The Blind Seer[6][25a]
  • Buried Man - An unsparingly harsh omen of death behind and death to come.[25c]
  • The Candle[16][25a]
  • The Chaplain[13]
  • The Commander (of Adeptio)[13]
  • The Crone[6]
  • The Daemon (Major Arcana)[8a] / The Fiend[14] - An unknown deck uses this card as The Daemon of Discordia[13]
  • The Daemonblade[21]
  • The Dark King[5a][12][20]
  • Death[7][12][14] / Morte[26]
  • The Despoiler[1]
  • The Dishonoured Scion[6]
  • Emperor / The God-Emperor[1][8a][12] - An unknown deck uses this card as The Emperor of Mandatio[13]
  • Emperor's Throne[15] / The Throne
  • The Executioner[1][16]
  • Eye of Horus[15] / The Traitor[9a][13]
  • Faceless void - This can be read as an ignominious end.[26]
  • The Fallen Citadel[9b]
  • The Falling Star[9a]
  • The Fabricator (of Executeria)[13]
  • The Familia Humana[7]
  • The Forest at Midnight - The winter of the soul, fear and predators come from the dark[20]
  • The Fortress of Faith[6]
  • Galaxy (Major Arcana)[8b]
  • Galactic Lens[15]
  • The Great Hoste[15]
  • The Great Eye[1]
  • The Guardsman[7]
  • Guilliman's Wrath[6]
  • The Harlequin (of Discordia)[8a][13]
  • The Herald of Darkness[21]
  • The Heretic[13]
  • High Priest[8b][16][25a] - An unknown deck uses this card as The High Priest of Mandatio[13] Played upright it simply signifies the presence of the Ecclesiarchy or their involvement. Inverted, it signifies the corruption amongst the church, obscene cults, or members of the Emperor's church holding dark secrets.[25a]
  • The Hulk (Major Arcana)[8a] - An unknown deck uses this card as The Hulk of Executeria[13]
  • Illumination[7]
  • Inquisitor (of Mandatio)[8a][10]
  • Jackal[2a]
  • The Judge (of Mandatio)[13]
  • The Justicar[7]
  • Knight of Concordia[7]
  • The Knight of the Abyss[21]
  • Knight (of Mandatio)[8a]
  • The Kraken (of Discordia)[13]
  • The Labyrinthine Path[5a]
  • The Lantern[7]
  • The Lightning Tower[5a][12][16]
  • The Lord of Swords[1][16]
  • The Lords of Terra[6]
  • Lost Child[2a]
  • Machine[18]
  • The Magos[7]
  • The Magus (of Executeria)[2b][13]
  • The Martyr[5a][12]
  • The Moon[5a][12]
  • The Mond Primitif[7]
  • The Monster[5a][12]
  • The Mutant[13]
  • Navigator (of Creatio)[10]
  • The Nova[6]
  • The Preacher[13]
  • The Ragged Fool[5a][16]
  • Revelation[7]
  • Rogue Trader[7]
  • The Savage (of Discordia)[13]
  • The Shattered World[15] / Shatter'd World[7]
  • The Silver Door[6]
  • The Soldier - Foretells of war and blood.[25a]
  • The Space Marine / Astarte (of Adeptio)[10][13]
  • Spyndle - upon which crouches the witch, tormenting the fates of the righteous.[17]
  • Squat (of Creatio)[10]
  • Star (Major Arcana)[8b]
  • The Starship - it has a subform called The Pilgrim Vessel.[9b]
  • Sundering[26]
  • The Supplicant[1][16]
  • The Sword[14][25a] / The Blade[14]
  • The Warlock[13]
  • The Warp[9a]
  • Warped Renegade[8b] / Chaos Renegade (of Discordia)[10]
  • The Warrior (of Adeptio)[13]
  • The Witch - This could potentially refer to either a psyker or sorcerer.[25a]
  • The Young Warrior[6]

Interpretations

Combinations

  • The combination of the Eye of Horus with the Great Hoste, the Shattered World above the Emperor's Throne inversed, and the Galactic Lens inversed is known to be a very bad one. It signifies the gathering of the powers of Chaos and the death of worlds.[15]
  • The Daemonblade alongside the Herald of Darkness and the Knight of the Abyss signifies an imminent Chaos invasion, and the combination was drawn repeatedly before the invasion of Vigilus.[21]

The God-Emperor

  • A Body, browned with age and blackened in death, sits locked within a great throne of gold, steel and brass. The corpse's mouth is open, projecting a silent scream that echoes through the unseen layers of the universe. Before the howling cadaver, a legion of angels kneels, crying violet tears.
  • When drawn from the deck, this card speaks of warp travel, of discovery, of hope in the cold depths of space.
  • When drawn upside down, it foretells of the warp's malign touch infecting the servants of the Imperium. A hopeless war. Death from the far reaches of space.

The Great Eye

  • An eye. The Eye. A wound in reality, an open scar in space where the bruise-purple and blood-red eye of Chaos leers into the galaxy. The stars die around the Eye: some fading into cold blackness, others bursting in white hot torment. The Eye stares dully, little emotion beyond distant hate. But the nebula flares, tendrils spreading across space. The Eye has opened.
  • To draw this card is to foretell of war against Chaos.

The Despoiler

  • The galaxy burns. A figure stands in ancient armour, wreathed in a billion screaming souls that encircle him like mist. In its right gauntlet, Holy Terra blackens and crumbles. A demigod's blood drips from the talons. In the dim reaches of the vision, almost an afterthought, a distant howling light fades into darkness and silence. The figure smiles for the first time in ten thousand years.
  • When drawn, the Despoiler card is the bane of life, the truest indicator of the coming loss and unavoidable bloodshed for the Imperium of Man.
  • Inversed, A rival for the Despoiler. Someone destine to stand against the Archenemy's machinations.

Horus' deck

When Horus and the Emperor engaged in battle against one another at the climax of the Siege of Terra aboard the Vengeful Spirit, their clash was both physical and metaphysical. It included a psychic duel of tarot cards, many of which Horus remarked were specifically created by him with the help of the Gods of Chaos.[7]

New cards played by Horus included:[7]

  • Dreadful Sagittary
  • Eight of Pentacles
  • Exterminatus
  • Neverness
  • Occulted Orphan
  • The Revenger

Chaos Tarot

Main article: Chaos Tarot
Chaos Power Tarot Cards[22]

Also known as the Traitor's Tarot[17], A variation of the Imperial Tarot used by Chaos-affiliated forces.[17] The Chaos Tarot is used by Cult leaders to communicate with their patron Chaos Gods.[27]

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.

Linguistics of Concordia

  • Linguistically speaking, Concordia is the opposite of Discordia. Since Discordia contains enemies of the Imperium, while Adeptio contains benevolent figures for the Imperium, it's possible to assume that Concordia is an alternative name for Adeptio.

See also

Sources

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