My groups Explorator character took the unnatural origin that gives you a roll on the mutation table, and she got psionics. How would the Adeptus Mechanicus feel about/handle this?

Damnyankee

Nothing that a full lobotomy and replacement with a cogitator-brain can't cure.

Depends on faction. There are those that remember what happened on Mars...

Simple problem with an equally simple solution: Don't tell the Adeptus Mechanicus about your psionic abilities.

Once she/he got the Machine Trait, no more problem. with this trait, she will be immune to mind-influencing psychic effect : I'd rule that she will be no longer able to use her powers. Have you ever seen a robot using psychic powers in 40k ? I don't think I do ( and Eldar shenanigans do not count : their guardians are made of sculpted warp stuff).

I recall there being a similar case in one of the books, released at the same time as Dark Heresy. Scourge the heretic i believe it was called.

SPOILER:

If my memory serves there's a couple in the book, whose son displayed psychic talents, but they didn't report it. Instead, they kept it secret and then he joined the admech. I believe he gets possessed and proceeds to **** alot of **** up, necessitating the interference of the inquisition. Of course, I could be mistaken, but I'm sure there's someone else on these forums who remember the book more accurately than me.

Fortinbras said:

Amen.

The admech do not tolerate psychers except as brains in jars to be experimented upon. The flesh is weak is their motto after all...

Nearyn said:

You are correct. I believe he was to be operated on to reduce his psy ability (partial lobotomy) but either A) it didnt happer or B) it didnt work.

I'd think that Psychic AdMech is how a lot of Warp-powered Heritek comes about, And once the Ghost is in the Machine, I dunno if a mere lobotomy would drive it out.

So much tech-heresy.

I would allow it as a GM only if the player was going to eventually go down a pretty radical/heretical path. Could make for some very interesting roleplay. Perhaps there is a secret sect of psychic mechanicus, like a cult within a cult? Not official canon for sure, but I think it could totally fit if done right.

My guess is the character would be very interested in Malifica .

-------SPOILER ALERT FOR THE Eisenhorn TRILOGY--------

Machines can have Psyker powers. In the Eisenhorn trilogy in the third book, the consciousness of an extremely powerful (Alpha or Alpha+) psyker is put into a 100% machine body (even his brain is destroyed).

Ahh

more 40k shenanigans.

All BL publications are only canon with themselves, so any one BL book may contradict another. Which is pretty much an argument that makes all BL books noncanon for me, heck 40k is the universe of retconning.

Tactical Space are the first or last specialty a Space Marine must train. Depending on the Codex you hold in your hands. No the newer one has the less logical explanation.

Im firmyl in the camp of. Nothing a full lobotomy cant solve. If not, there are scores of hereteks in the Koronus expanse, it can surely handle another one.

If the player in question wants to play a more traditional Explorator, i suggest rerolling, or giving him "The flesh is weak1" instead of the mutation. His mutation would be probably lost as well with the first "The flesh is weak" anyway.

Did i mention that "The flesh is weak"?

First off, there is mention somewhere that the AdMech are able to create devices to enhance and boost psychic powers. So clearly, the AdMech have advanced knowledge of the area. This makes sense in light of the millenia working on all aspects of the Imperium, including the Adeptus Astra Telepathica.

Also, Malifica is forbidden science, but this doesn't mean the AdMech themselves aren't studying it at a very high, very secure level.

The real reason I think the AdMech strike people as anti-psyker is that they are very much a "status quo" kind of group. Maintaining and preserving are far more important to the vast majority of Tech-Priests than innovating or progressing. This is somewhat of an anti-thesis to the destructive chaos of the warp. But that's not actually the same thing as wanting to drill a hole in the skull of every Psyker (though I'm sure some would love to do just that...to every imperial citizen...to eliminate that pesky human element).

Its a pretty safe assumption that at the level of the average player character in DH (which is not that far removed from teh average imperial citizen), psychic powers in a TP is likely to result in removal of said character as a playable option if it is discovered. Either through the aforementioned lobotomy or being re-assigned as a test subject to one of the ultra-secure facilities studying the warp and its effects. But that doesn't mean psychic Tech-Priests...possibly even sanctioned ones...don't exist somewhere. Even if their primary function is to use sanctioned malifica or psychic tools against the Dark Mechanicus or other threats.

RT Explorators are far more likely to keep the secret of their "otherness" since they generally have less to do with other AdMech, and are already viewed as a bit on the wierd side.

That said, Perils of the Warp could have some truly nasty effects on a Tech-Priest's systems, although with the very relaxed attitude towards self-repair and maintenance it can be easily downplayed or adjusted to suit your play level.

SPOILER ALERT FOR QUOTES..................

WhiteLycan said:

Actually, he isn't shown using any psychic powers after he gets his robot body, so it could have had something to do with his 'stone' form.

Alternatively, it might have been entirely to due with his conciousness/soul being transferred in to it, and he never had any previously.

Blood Pact said:

He was never a psyker in any way, shape or form. He was an arch-heretic, but not a psyker.

Not sure where you've got that from WhiteLycan, but it's wrong.

A Tech Priest can become a psyker because that is more interesting than a Tech Priest not becoming a psyker.

This a is a terribly good question. Do Admech worlds provide psykers to the Black Ships? If not, what do they do with them. If they are lobotomized, does that really eliminate their psychic ability or just their conscious use of psychic powers? The AdMech maintain Psi-Titans allow with the technology for the psychic hood. While undoubtedly these are great relics and almost no one has the skill to build new ones, undoubtedly there is at least a few Magos with the knowledge of empyreal technology. Note that Gellar fields also fall under empyreal technology. There is some discussion of the in the Radical's Handbook as well if I remember correctly.

Attila-IV said:

Ahh that is the only correct roleplayers answer.

Problem is the universe of 40k as a neutral vessel on this forum might feel vastly different to this idea. Being a Psyker has normally been associated with certain parts of the brain in popular literature. Even 40k has done no contradiction to that.

We also know that the concept of a soul is relatively important to the underlying stream of 40k mythology if you look beyond the pop culture and pulp/trash aspects of the BL literature. Henceforth even part robots like extremely old Magos can have souls or at least a working independent intelligence/mind.

So looking at that the Adpetus Mechanics can feel disinclined towards the psionic. If it is tied to the body and flesh and thus considered a weakness. The psychic hood and the geller field are both pieces of technologythat ward off the empyrean.

If it is tied into the mind and can be used by soul, the Adeptus Mechanicus might feel that psionics are something that one can use as a tool.

Problem is that either the forge world populations are either extremely low on mutations that point towards the psionic, or that psionics are shunned after all, since it is really hard to find a reference to a psionic techpriest. And there should be a reason for that.

Application of Occam's razor says that psionics are simply tied to the flesh and thus shunned because it MUST be a weak form.

Retconning by some BL/40k author can still change that pirce of knowledge. And where 40k authors are concerned, 200 can win against 1000 applying tactics employed by children. (put the guys with shields forward hur hur, im a genius)

MILLANDSON said:

So him having the ability to knock Eisenhorn unconscious with his mind when Eisenhorn first finds him in the dungeon of the Glaw estate isn't considered being a psyker? I wish I wasn't a Psyker. And don't forget the psychic frost that covered the walls and floor of the room on Tobia's ship when they brought him on board and plugged him up. And several other examples that I can't recall, spread out through the trilogy.

Yes, and once he got his robot body, he never used his psychic powers again.

So what the hell happened? It's more reasonable to assume that he was never a psyker at all, living or 'rock'. And that the powers were entirely due to the hereteknical machinery that sustains his conciousness.

If I remember correctly most of the personal psy stuff (force swords, psychic hoods, etc.) are jointly made by Mechanicus and Psykana. It needs psykers And tech-priests to built this kind of equipment.

Know, can a tech-priest have psychic power ? Why not, as long as there is enough "soul" in him. Does the Mechanicus accept psykers ? No. So he or she would probably have to hide it.

Blood Pact said:

So you're saying that pure machinery was what psychically assaulted Eisenhorn. That just sounds... dumb. And there was no machinery sustaining his consciousness. The only thing the machinery did was allow him to talk. Without the machinery he was just a consciousness in a crystal ball. The crystal ball was then put into a machine body crafted by Magos Bure.

Just realized something. You claim that it was the machinery that psychically knocked out Eisenhorn. Well that right there proves my point. Machines can be psykers. Thank you.

To the OP: Bottom line is yes, AdMech can be Psykers, imo. Think about it. Psyker is a GENE, AdMech is a RELIGION (more or less, I'm not gonna argue semantics). Saying that a Psyker can't be an AdMech is like saying a black guy can't be a Christian. Just makes sense.

WhiteLycan said:

I think you're taking everything for granted.

What we're dealing with here is a copy of Pontius Glaw's mind, or even his actual soul, stored in a large crystal laced with circuitry. This sphere, when on its plinth in the Glaw estate, or its 'casket', has massive psychic power at its disposal. This same sphere, when placed within the machine body crafted by Magos Bure, is not shown using any kind of psychic power.

This is what we know, everything else from there is extrapolation and guesswork, on both sides.

I think it was the machinery because we know that there is technolodgy that uses the Warp, created by both humans and xenos. Some of it is relatively stable, like the big hammer in Into the Storm which creates microscopic warp portals on impact, and some of it is like the stuff in the Radical's Handbook. Hardcore 'heretek' that is as dangerous as it is powerful.

It's very much frowned upon by the Mechanicus, and research in to it is not allowed. It's also not particularly easy to get your hands on. Some you find it pure tech, while others will seem to be half sorcerous.

It's hardly just any machine that can harness the Warp.