40K Lore: Psykers
Today, Loremasters, we talk one of the greatest resources and dangers in the Imperium…Psykers…
Psykers, and the powers they command, are a delicate matter to begin with. Much of their information is restricted… but here’s what we are permitted to know.
A psyker is a being who exhibits the ability to use psychic powers. Many races have these individuals, whereas other races are innately non-psychic and never produce psykers, like the C’tan and Necrons, which despise psykers so far as to engineer warriors that actively seek out and destroy them. Some races, like the Eldar, are inherently psychic. Psychic powers are most commonly drawn from the Warp, but Orks draw power from their collective Waaagh!.
Psychic powers can take many forms, from predicting enemy movements to projecting bolts of devastating psychic energy. Some can even aid troops towards more devastating attacks. Although the powers of Psykers are many and varied, they usually fall into one of several disciplines. The five most common are:
- Biomancy: Manipulation of biological energy and processes.
- Divination: Predicting the future.
- Pyromancy: Manipulation of fire.
- Telekinesis: Converting psychic energy into physical force.
- Telepathy: Contacting and controlling the minds of others.
Human Psykers
The earliest human psykers were powerful beings known as Shamans, but after their end and the creation of the Emperor, psykers would no longer remain known among humanity for millennia. First appearing in large numbers by the end of M22, Psykers represent humanity’s future: the ideal creature into which mankind will evolve, a more powerful, intelligent and capable life form. Psyker mutation is becoming increasingly common among humanity, presaging the emergence of a new, psychic race. This new race is still weak, its members lacking the mental strength needed to resist the dangers of the Warp. They are both a threat and a boon to the Imperium.
Left unchecked, psykers present a potential danger to entire worlds, and much of the Inquisition‘s role is focused on hunting them down. The Imperium ensures psykers are suppressed, tracked down and controlled; those strong enough will be recruited into Imperial service, fulfilling vital roles in the Imperium as Astropaths and Sanctioned Psykers. The weakest are doomed to serve humanity through service in the Adeptus Astronomica, or as nourishment for the Emperor of Mankind. The Imperium classifies its own Psykers based upon their level of psychic ability. Known as The Assignment, the levels given indicate the power of the Psyker. An Omnicron level Psyker may only have mild subconsciously activated psionic abilities while an Alpha-Plus level Psyker is capable of snapping a Titan in two.
Imperial Guard
The Imperial Guard‘s psychic units are the Primaris Psyker and the weaker Sanctioned Psyker. They are trained at the Adeptus Astra Telepathica‘s Scholastia Psykana for service on the battlefield.
The Inquisition
Inquisitors are invariably exceptional humans, and consequently many are potent psykers.
Space Marines
Space Marines also shun those with psychic powers, but they too make use of one unit, the Librarian. He is similarly trained, but also benefits from advanced equipment, such as the psychic hood. These advantages, coupled with his exceptional Space Marine physiology, make the Librarian more useful than the average Sanctioned Psyker.
The Librarian‘s powers are slightly more powerful, but still nothing compared to some other races’ powers.
Chaos Space Marines
Chaos Space Marine armies are similar in design to those of Space Marines, using Sorcerers instead of Librarians.
The Lost and the Damned
The forces of Chaos known collectively as the Lost and the Damned includes Rogue Psykers. Of questionable sanity and highly dangerous, Rogue Psykers are even more prone to possession by Daemons.
Eldar
The Eldar are a psychic race, and some of their most powerful units have strong psychic powers. Eldar who tread the Path of the Seer are Warlocks. Spiritseers are specialised Warlocks. Farseers are Eldar lost on the Path of the Seer.
Their powers are usually subtle, ranging from having visions of the future, detecting enemy movements, to fighting mental battles. However, a Farseer may be capable of using telekinetic power to hurl a battle tank into the air. One particular Craftworld, Ulthwé, may also group together its most powerful psychic units, making an expensive, but devastating unit.
Dark Eldar
The Dark Eldar are similar in nature to the Eldar, but have given up the use of psychic powers. They do use psychic objects, but any psyker found on Commorragh is usually treated with great caution and fear. Because of the nature of their city, the use of psychic powers is one of the few things forbidden in the city of Commorragh. Shadowseers are a notable exception to this rule.
Orks
Ork psykers are unique in that they draw their psychic power from other Orks instead of directly from the warp. A large mob of Orks tends to generate what has become known as a Waaagh! field, which is then absorbed by the Ork psykers known as Weirdboys. They have little control over this and too much of a build-up will likely explode the Ork’s head and devastate the surrounding area. A Weirdboy avoids combat, like most other fragile psykers, but can cast green flames capable of melting armour and killing the warriors inside. The powers of the Weirdboys are unpredictable and may have catastrophic results, but the gains from these units are often seen by the Warboss.
Tau
The Tau have not developed psychic abilities, possibly due to a chemical mixture in their brains that prevents access to the warp. Why they developed this is unknown, but it prevents the Tau Empire from being easily corrupted by the forces of Chaos. None of their units have psychic abilities.
At least two of the Tau’s allied races, the Kroot and the Nicassar, however, possess psychic powers. The Nicassar mainly use their psychic powers for the purpose of navigating their Dhows through the vast reaches of space, and also provide escort vessels for the Tau Space Fleet.[Needs Citation]
Kroot who have fed upon creatures with psychic power may develop powers of their own. These Kroot are referred to as Shamans by their kindreds, and are responsible for leading their fellow Kroot in their ancestor worshipping practises. The Kroot are also capable of Warp travel, although they only seem to be able to travel to planets with functioning ecosystems.
Necrons
The Necrons are innately non-psychic. Any psychic potential among the original Necrontyr race was destroyed when they exchanged their mortal bodies for metal forms.
During the C’tan’s war against the Old Ones, the Old Ones were able to turn the tide against the C’tan and the Necrons by engineering races of psychic warriors.
The C’tan feared the Warp, for they could not sense it or control it in any manner, and so they battled against it in many ways. They created the Pariah, a psychic abomination, making life for psykers difficult by disrupting their link to the Warp. They also destroyed or removed the ancient weapons known as Blackstone Fortress, which had been constructed by the Old Ones to release an immense psychic blast capable of destroying a C’tan utterly if they should ever rise again. Their most ambitious project is a ward designed to completely seal off the material universe from the Warp, which they were unable to complete before they went into stasis sixty million years past.
Tyranids
The Tyranid forces are highly interconnected and linked to each other using psychic powers. The Hive Tyrant acts as a node for the other forces on the ground. The Dominatrixes act as relays between the Norn-Queens and the other ground forces, helping to co-ordinate attacks from orbit.
They use the Warp to communicate and travel, spending a good deal of their time in the Warp, travelling between planets to find sustenance. Tyranids tend not to use their psychic powers offensively, except for the Zoanthropes and Neurothropes, whose psychic abilities are devastating.
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