40K Lore: The Untouchables
Today Loremasters we delve into those shrouded in whispers, secrecy, abject revulsion and fear – the Psychic Nulls.
Blanks, also known as untouchables, pariahs and psychic nulls, are an exceedingly rare type of human mutant that possesses no presence in the Warp. In fact, their brains actively blot it out, which disrupts psychic phenomena in their vicinity and renders them immune to psychic powers. Only humanity naturally produces blanks, though blanks have appeared in other races, such as the Eldar Solitaires.
Overview
The minds of most sentient beings have a connection to the Warp. This Warp signature is commonly called the soul. Psykers have especially strong connections to the Warp, and thus have very bright souls. On the other hand, blanks have no connection to the Warp whatsoever. On the contrary, their brains somehow push the Warp away from realspace.
The effect of this is that a blank dampens any psychic or Warp-related powers occurring within his aura’s area of influence. A psyker standing in the area will find his powers weakened if no completely nullified. The blank himself is immune to all direct psychic effects (although a psyker could attack a blank indirectly by, say, telekinetically throwing a boulder at him from a distance). They are completely immune to daemonic possession and corruption by Chaos. They cannot be detected by most psychic means. Blanks are also found to affect the Hive Mind communication between Tyranid organisms, such as genestealers, though to a much lesser degree than they affect warp entities such as daemons.
To any being with a soul, the presence of a blank provokes irrational feelings of unease and hostility. These feelings may be mild in regular people, but in psykers they are unbearably strong. Blanks have a difficult time getting along with people, so they tend to lead short, unhappy lives, often on the fringes of society.
Sisters of Silence
The Sisters of Silence were the military arm of the Astra Telepathica during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. The Sisters were unique in that they were a military force consisting entirely of blanks. Their current status as of M41 is unknown.
Culexus Assassins
The Culexus Temple recruits blanks and trains them to be assassins specialized in hunting psykers. They are fitted with special equipment that enhances their powers.
Inquisition
The Inquisition makes eager use of blanks, as they are the most potent kind of anti-psyker tool there is. They are very useful in the fight against witches and daemons. The blank is typically made to follow his master around like a tourist, protecting his master from witchcraft and sorcery with his mere proximity.
Eldar
The Eldar view human blanks as abominations to be slain at every opportunity. Interestingly, the Eldar have blanks of their own, known as the Solitaires. These Eldar have lost their souls through unspecified means. They lead solitary lives away from their Craftworld kin, but are known to associate with the Harlequins.
Necrons
Necron Pariahs are beings of soulless perfection and radiate a sense of terror and menace to all around them. They blot out the psychic emanations of others. They are sometimes referred to as blacksouls, psychic nulls and the soulless and have no presence in the warp.
Some rumours abound that Necron Pariahs were created from Culexus Assassins, and one piece of Eldar literature hints that, when humans had been mere ape-creatures, the ‘Devoured Ones’ (possibly the C’tan who were devoured during the great wars) had sown a terrible crop that they would then harvest.
Canon-Note: Necron Pariahs were first introduced in Codex: Necrons (3rd Edition) and as game units in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. However, they are not present nor mentioned in the two most recent Necron Codexes – for unknown reasons.
~ Knowledge is Power – guard it well.
