So my question is how the entire Imperium can be staffed with Astropaths. Since even if there is only one Astropath for every major planet, and maybe one fo more important ships that would put the number in the multimillions. Though it seems most planets have more then one Astropath, and even Imperial Guard Regiments have them, as represented in the new IG modles. So I am wondering how so many Astropaths can be trained, since as I understand it, all Astropaths have to be trained and soul bound to the Emperor on Terra. Does the soul binding mean they actually see the Emperor, or are they just like in a room in his vast palace and that is good enought? Any thoughts?

wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Astropath

That should help

the way that i go by is the same as one of the fluff books that i have read. It said there was a Alpha level Psyker per billion humans. Now take one hive world like Scintilla, That means that it has produced 25 Alpha level psykers (I know its a rough generalization). Now there are numerous levels going down from the top Alpha-class. Now figure that there are at least a million worlds in the Imperium. I say there are more then enough Psykers reaching Terra for their 'Education' everyday that its easy to see that they can be the backbone of our interstellar communcations.

oh btw .... http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/The Assignment ... Is a list of the Psyker Power Levels according to Fluff/canon

bit of fluff in the rulebook states that Aastropath are brought "into the very depth of the Emperor's Palace in processions of a hundred at a time"

So it seems like they do see the Emperor, but not one at a time.

AdabrBrcol said:

No, it does not. It says there is one either Delta or Gamma level psyker per billion human births.

Beta and Alpha level psykers are rarer still.

There are enough Astropaths because strong-willed Zeta / Epsilons are fairly common and once soul-bound to the Emperor, they can serve in Astropathic choirs. Individuals strong enough to serve a far roaming Rogue Trader would, however, tend to come from the rarer Delta / Gamma stock. Doubtless a few Betas as well. I can only imagine an Alpha class Astropath serving on the largest Imperial Battleships, Adeptus Astartes strike teams, exceedingly successful Rogue Traders, etc.

TS Luikart said:

Thanks for the correction. Can you identify which book that came from? I was going on memory alone.

But the problem I see is that even if you are able to have 100 Astropaths go threw the process of soul binding at once, you would never get the numbers needed to fill the Imperium. Do people agree on this, or do you think its possible?

InquisitorGray said:

Do we know how long the process takes? because without that information the number of Astropaths getting bound at a time is kind of irrelevant.

Charax said:

Precisely. For all we know it could be a process taking only fifteen minutes. And if you take 100 people at a time and run this 24/7 (I hardly suspect the Emperor needs sleep. If Space Marines can go for days by resting one half of their brain at a time then surely the same systems and even more advanced still would be incorporated into the golden throne), then even with the expected losses you will still have cranked out quite a lot of Astropaths each day.

InquisitorGray said:

- Astropaths are led before the Emperor , where he reshapes their very minds a hundred at a time. The psykers are knelt before the Emperor and must endure several hours of agony as the Emperor reshapes their minds, mingling a tiny fraction of his immeasurable power with their own.

- The throne was built at one end of a vast hall big enough to house up to six fully equipped Space Marine Companies.

It would be reasonable to assume that more Astropaths would be led in before the previous have finished since the room is so massive. 100 people in a room capable of holding 600 is a bit wasteful...

So you could potentially generate thousands of Astropaths per day (less losses).

AdabrBrcol said:

2nd Edition Dark Millenium Fluff.

From what I understood any Alpha-level psykers that were captured by the Black Ships were just sacrificed to feed the Emperor. I pretty sure either the black ships get them, people kill them as a witch, or they die while bringing over a demon from the Warp.

Not neccesarily. Strength of psy is different from strength of will, so an Alpha is no more likely to be able to resit possesion (or other unfortunate manifestations) than any other psyker; yet they are alot tastier (from their strength) than normal psykers, so daemons are more likely to go for them. Therefore, the Black Ships take no chances at all with even higher than normal vigilance and the slightest risk means termination (or Emperor fodder). Alpha psykers also have a distressing tendency to be insane which is related to their strength, as they can see (and do) further into the Immaterium that is wise, particularly to the untrained (as Strength isn't skill). It has been hypothesised (though not proven) by many in the Holy Inquisition that no human is capable of exhibiting Alpha level powers without going insane (not neccessarily corrupted) and should be terminated on sight (from a safe distance, they can be depressingly diffucult to terminate). There's never really been a large enough pool of powerful psykers to test this upon (and by definition this would be insanely dangerous) though, so the theory remains just that, with all evidence being anecdotal (besides those who come to the Inquistions attention bearing a higher than normal distribution of the insane and the corrupt than any given population pool).