Hello, I'm wondering a bit what exactly and how necessary sanctioning is. It seems that Space Marine Librarians aren't sanctioned, at least not on Terra (even though there seems to be a bit of fluff that claims otherwise). Systems can be cut off from the Imperium for centuries. Is there really no way to declare Psykers born in that time as safe (well, as safe as living portals to hell can be)? Is sanctioning just a fraud to fuel the Golden Throne?

Well, Psyker births are generally rather rare. The obvious stopgap would just to be to execute those Psykers born in the intervening period.

I seem to recall reading that the Black Ships only visit every once and a while so many Imperial Worlds have to detain their nascent psykers for sometimes extended periods of time.

Sanctioning certainly isn't a fraud. If nothing else, Unsanctioned Psykers have a higher chance of phenomenon happening and nascent psykers always get it. That makes a disaster inevitable unless some sort of measures are taken to control the Psyker population.

Mjoellnir said:

Fundamentally, sanctioned psykers (including the far more numerous Astropaths) are a tiny minority of the number of psykers that appear each generation. A sanctioned psyker is the exception, the one in a million (not actual odds, but if one human in every million has some noticeable psychic ability, then a Hive World with 200 billion people and a population growth rate of 1% is still producing two thousand psykers a generation, so one in a million doesn't actually seem that rare by comparison across the entire Imperium) combination of innate power and high stability.

The majority of psykers deemed worth using by the Imperium become Astropaths, Soul Bound to the Emperor (which requires actually being on Terra) to protect them from the horrors of the Warp and trained to employ their powers to provide the Imperium with vital faster-than-light communication. A far smaller number amongst those psykers worth using are strong of mind and spirit enough to not require the Soul Binding and can be used in a wider variety of roles, such as battlefield support for Imperial Guard forces, or service to the Inquisition. Sanctioning covers those who're left over after executing those that're too dangerous to live and sacrificing to the Golden Throne those that are no good for anything else, the small fraction of useful, necessary psykers.

A world cut off from the Imperium cannot be reached by the Blackships. It cannot give up its psyker Tithe, nor can it replenish its Astropaths. That's not a good situation to be in at the best of times.

Astartes Chapters are a little different - long millennia of autonomy from the governing bodies of the Imperium and ancient traditions of their own often trump the way that the Adeptus Terra would prefer things to be done, though a portion of Astartes Librarians (depending on the Chapter) are selected from amongst the Sanctioned Psyker population on Terra rather than being drawn from their Chapter's homeworld or recruiting worlds (and all Librarians are meticulously tested and rigorously trained by older, wiser Librarians in order to weed out the weak or dangerous).

As an addendum to the above, normal Sanctioning requires a visit to Terra as well.

At least according to the Dark Heresy Core Rulebook. Which also talks of binding their souls to the Emperor, but from what I've read and I remember so far, N0-1_H3r3's assessment is the correct one and the RPG is again deviating a bit from GW canon here.

I'm not sure if this invalidates the Sanctioning-Terra-connection as well (as it appears in the same text), but I am not aware of anything explicit to the contrary. On the other hand, the only thing that Terra has that could not be replicated elsewhere is the Emperor...

Thanks for the replies!

numb3rc said:

Well, I did a quick search through my books about that, maybe too quick, but the "Sanctioned Psyker" Trait doesn't give you anything that reduces the chance of mishaps.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

That's something else I don't get. As far as I know Librarians are often responsible for the ftl communication, obviously without soul-binding.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

So theoretically you are fine if you have someone who can train new psykers and is willing to kill those who are unable to properly control themselves? I'm trying to figure out how it is on Astartes worlds that don't allow black ships to approach.

most astart world covern them self and also have those realy powerful libs too over see the psy training if needed. plus most of them are on feral or feudal world where most psyker are killed when found out. and only the strong one surfive (what they do between the ones that live and those not chosen too become space mariens is unclear but i would asume there some drive too find and coral them somehow

as far as general lore goes. all psyker must go too terra too see how usefull they are. most are given too sacrivice too the emperor. some are deamed strong enuf too be usefull ether as astropaths. or some agenty comes by when there being tested and finds them strong enuf too enter there service (the how of that changes probly on the where and who is doing the testing)

and yes space libs can do comunication aldo 99% of it is most likely done by there one group of astropaths (libs as far as i read to close psy com when in batlle)

SM libs test there own realy realy well even more then most other psykers (befor, durring and forever after there change into SM

As I recall, Rogue Trader gives a nice bonus on the phenomenon table roll to represent Unsanctioned psykers.

Mjoellnir said:

The Soul Binding isn't strictly necessary to perform Astrotelepathy - the main purpose of the Soul Binding is to protect psykers that otherwise can't defend themselves from possession and other horrors. Soul Bound psykers are, by and large, trained to serve as Astropaths because of their numbers - you need a lot of Astropaths to keep the Imperium running - rather than because of any specific quirk they possess. It should be remembered that Astropaths aren't exactly weak - indeed, it's necessary for them to be sufficiently potent to do their Throne-given task - they're just those who lacked the fortitude to defend themselves from daemonic intrusion, etc, which the Soul Binding fixes (at the cost of one or more of their senses)

Beyond that, the Astartes are naturally extremely resilient, their physiology capable of enduring stresses that would overwhelm less resilient creatures, so their capacity to wield psychic powers tends to be somewhat greater than a psyker of comparable power simply because a Librarian can withstand the rigours of using more taxing powers.

Mjoellnir said:

No. Theoretically, you're fine if you're a Space Marine Chapter or similarly independent organisation; Space Marine homeworlds (and Forge Worlds) are exempt from the Tithe, and consequently do not have to submit psykers to the Imperium (amongst other things). Just having someone to train the psykers is irrelevant if you don't have the authority or autonomy to shrug off the attention of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. And even then, Space Marine chapters still use Astropaths, the same as everyone else in the Imperium, so some contact with the Adeptus Astra Telepathica is necessary.

Not to mention that Space Marine Librarians are likely chosen from the cream of the crop. The very best and most powerful psykers that are gathered up in the generational culling performed by the Black Ships.

I remember another piece of fluff, from BFG I think, saying Librarians could fufill the role of Navigators too, though I'm not fool enough to think it's still a valid source to point at, it does throw some weight behind the simple idea that Librarians are chosen from among young Primaris psykers.

libs acting as navicators ? maybe! but ingame if someone tryed that it would be with heavy penaltys.

wasn`t there a sister something or maybe just a female priest in RT that guided one ship true the warp supostly useing her faith?

SM and too a lesser extent i think the mecanicus are the only ones that are excempted from most of the emipire rule and duty`s.

Logistically I dont see the need to process every psyker on terra as it would be grossly inefficient and the Imperium simply doesn't have the ships to do it. Some of course would go there like the Astropaths, but the average Imperial Psyker that the Imp Guard and other forces use to basically blow people up and stuff, can probably be processed, conditioned and educated at various facilities dedicated to that purpose. The fish that john west reject from those facilities you can just bundle into stasis field, stuck on bulk transportation to be sent off as fuel for the Astronomicon.

Some Black Library books shed a bit of light on matters such as these. The following is what I have picked up:

Concerning Downtime Between Black Ship Visits

Between Black Ship visits (which, given the rarity of them compared to other ships in the Imperium could be a generation or more for some worlds) most Psykers are (according to Scourge the Heretic ) held in psyk-warded facilities. These tend to be guarded until a Black Ship arrives to ship off the Psykers. If a planet isn't able to build such a facility, I would assume they'd attempt to pacify the Psyker (either put them in statis, or chemically induced coma, or execute them for safety). The later is less likely however, as they'd still need to pay their Psyker tithe (or have a **** good reason why the Psyker wasn't able to be restrained).

Concerning Astropaths

Astropaths definitely go to Terra for their soul-binding (and whilst there they are opened up to the power of the Emperor, during which time their eyes are burnt out). Blind gives an explanation of what an Astropath actually does: basically going into a trance into the warp to receive a projected message, then being pulled out of this trance by an attending Concordiast, upon which time they spew out their message. Astropathic choirs are used to enhance the power of a single Astropath so that he can remain anchored to the materium and not slip off into the warp. As such, I can't see why a normal Psyker couldn't do such an act, although they wouldn't have as great a psyk-sense (as they still retain their other senses) and would be more vulnerable to slipping off or being 'noticed' by something out there... So, it would be more dangerous as well as less effective.

Concerning the Problems with Unsanctioned Psykers

Whilst the rules of DH have no bonuses for Sanctioned Psykers, they do have significant penalties for Unsanctioned Psyker use (and Sorcery). This is basically done (at least in my opinion) so that players who play Psykers (the vast majority of those rules being used) don't ahve to be bogged down in extra rules, yet when the GM wants to use an Unsanctioned for a one off adventure he can just tack the penalty on.

Concerning the Where and What of Sanctioning

As far as I can tell, Sanctioning is usually done en route to Terra on board a Black Ship. The Psykers are tested - tortured, tempted etc etc - until they either crack or pull through. If they pull through they arrive on Terra and the strongest of them receive their Sanctioning (and an allowance to work, and then are usually assigned to a master (Guard or Inquisition usually)) whilst the vast majority (as has been said) are turned into Astropaths. If they fail in this testing period, they are confined and stored until they reach Terra to be put into the Soul Furnace of the Emperor's Astronomicon.

Hope that all helped.

Diel Ulricsson said:

This makes sense. When DH first came out, I did have some reservations about the idea of ALL sanctioning (or all aspects of sanctioning) taking place on Terra, as the Imperial Psyker career suggests. This seemed to me a logistical nightmare. I seem to recall that the original Rogue Trader had psykers amounting to perhaps 1% of the human population, which would mean that you're looking at trillions of psykers heading to Terra every year. The numbers would only make sense with tens of thousands of black ships arriving at Terra annually. Even for the Imperium, these numbers seemed too intense.

Even if 1% of 1% of these numbers were actually being trained on Terra, as opposed to feeding the Golden Throne, that would mean there would be no room on Terra for anyone other than sancitoned psykers and their teachers.

Your concept of sanctioning being a process which effectively goes on pretty much entirely on board the Black Ships, and which actually effecitvely ENDS at Terra, with Earth effectively then being used as a dumping ground for the weaker psykers and a transit hub for the stronger ones, makes more sense. Perhaps the better psykers with more potential never actually leave the black ships, and never set foot on Terra.

And if the Black Ships work cyclical routes, it would also explain why a lot of Calixian Sanctioned Pykers end up back in the Calixis Sector. An adolescent psyker is picked up from a Calixian world by a Black Ship which works the Calixis Sector-Terra route, trained on board, arrives at Terra, judged worthy of survival, and is then shipped back to Calixis with other sanctioned psykers and astropaths.

Lightbringer said:

Aye, that all seems reasonable.

Also, the level of necessity would come into it a little bit I would imagine. For instance:

The Black Ship arrives on a world in which an Inquisitor, or Arbites, or whoever are undergoing an investigation in which they need a Psyker's talents. There are few Psykers on the world, or those present are of poor quality/are to close to the investigation to be valuable/are the subject of the investigation and are therefore not fit to work along side it. However, one of the Psykers on board the Black Ship shows promise and has passed all his drills etc with flying colours so is allowed a fast-tracked Sanctioning and is turned into a proper Imperial Sanctioned Psyker in the service of whatever master on the world needs him.

Some Psykers however would need to return to Terra. It is my understanding that Astropaths cannot be Soul-Bound anywhere but Terra by the Light of Him On Earth... So... That is still a bit of a nightmare in terms of logistics.

Lightbringer said:

I'm not sure if that number is still accurate - 1 in 100 humans being a Psyker? Nascent, perhaps, simply carrying on the gene, but not Active. Though it may very well be one of those "numbers" things that sound nice when they get made up first, because nobody bothers to do the math in detail.

We know that a Black Ship only visits an Imperial world about once every 100 years. If 1% of a Hive's population is made up of Psykers and they all get put into stasis until the next ship arrives, ... umm. Our own Earth already gives birth to ~130 million children every year . Even if only a tenth of them survive, and only a tenth of those get detected, I don't see how they're supposed to fit onto the ship. Not to mention that this ship is going to visit a few other planets as well and not head straight back to Terra.

Furthermore, if Black Ships follow a route that has them visit a planet once per century, we can assume that they only visit Terra once every 100 years as well. Thus, the problem isn't so much the number of Psykers arriving on Terra, it's the number of Black Ships needed to carry them.* That said, I think they're just way more rare. They have to be for anything to make sense.

*: I recall a novel saying that it was extremely rare for more than one Black Ship to show up at a planet, and more than two being practically unheard of. Granted, that is just one BL author's interpretation, but it fits to all I've read so far.

The "1%" figure mentioned in Rogue Trader could be read in light of the psyker grades section of the "Inquisition" book. That presents a range of levels of psychic ability, with the majority of psykers fitting very much into the lower end of the scale. If 1% are psychic, mayby 75% of those are so weak that they barely register, 15% are only powerful enough to have the occasional precognitive dream or flash of telepathy, (and as such only good for feeding to the Emperor) and the remainder might just be good enough to make low grade astropaths. It's the true "one in a million" who make good sanctioned psykers.

Diel Ulricsson said:

I want suggest you to look Creatures Anathema, P.69.

No bonuses for sanctioned psykers, no penalties for unsanctioned.

Then it's really sad cause it's a well known trope of the universe that unsanctioned Psykers are a hell lot more dangerous than the others.

Although it could have been imperial propaganda all over again, but I really think that's not the case.

Well they're more dangerous, but not in a good way! They're dangerous in the way that lighting a match in a kerosene plant is more dangerous than lighting a match while standing next to a swimming pool. They're more a danger to those around them and themselves because they have less knowledge of the perils of the warp.

EDIT: Just a thought: wasn't there a career option in Radical's Handbook for an unsanctioned beastmaster type psyker? I don't have the book to hand, so I could be talking nonsense, though.

Lightbringer said:

Verminspeaker, Creatures Anathema, P.69.

Stormast said:

Well, you can still houserule the game to better conform to GW canon if you prefer it that way. This is not the only thing where the RPG deviates a little, after all.

I think Rogue Trader even does make a distinction between Sanctioned and Unsanctioned Psykers? I vaguely remember there was some talent/trait. It may have just been forgotten for DH.

Lynata said:

It's the table that determines the effects of choosing a power level (Fettered/Unfettered/Push) - Unsanctioned psykers and sorcerers have greater risk with the powers, but they can Push them further than Sanctioned ones.

One thing to remember, however, is that the reason that a Sanctioned Psyker (as opposed to an Astropath) is able to use his powers relatively safely is because he has an innate resistance to the dangers that confront Psykers. A renegade Psyker who, had be been collected by the Blackships would have become a Sanctioned Psyker in service to the Throne will inherently be far more stable and 'safe' with his powers than most psykers, even though he hasn't been Sanctioned.

Sanctioning is almost entirely just the process by which a stable, potent psyker is tested and determined to be useful to the Imperium and put into service, a distinction as much legal as metaphysical.

As for Psykers going to Terra for Sanctioning... I've never seen it as an issue. 99%+ of all Psykers rounded up by the Imperium (after removing those who're simply too dangerous to be left alive) are taken to Terra by necessity to become Astropaths, part of the Choir of the Astronomicon or Sacrifices. It's a relatively insignificant additional matter to take the tiny proportion of would-be Sanctioned Psykers (or Primary Psykers, to use the name given in the Codex Imperialis) as well (particularly as most of the more invasive testing is, IMO, performed within the Adeptus Astra Telepathica's fortress-palace on Terra itself, so you don't get categorised as "Astropath", "Primary Psyker", "Sacrifice" or "Astronomicon Fuel" until you've reached Terra anyway.

Logistically, the Black Ships themselves probably have other ships working for them to save effort. For instance, Hive Worlds require lots of everything to keep working, so probably act as hubs for the Black Ships. The worlds which send food, fuel and other supplies to the Hive Worlds likely send their psykers too, which will be picked up by the Black Ships en masse at certain planets, then taken to Earth.

Sure, the logistics are a nightmare here, but some suspension of disbelief is needed for the grim dark future of the 41st millennium.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

That's kind of what I hoped, because if they would somehow be modified by/with some ancient archaeotech it would be strange that Terra would be the only remaining place that has it. So the main reason they go to Terra is to feed the Throne, to create astropaths, and otherwise hand out Psi Corps membership cards so you don't get your head shot off if your eyes begin to glow.

Lynata said:

I think the biggest problem with 1% psykers theory is the absurd number of people and material needed to actually capture, contain and guard all those psykers. In our humble little earth the biggest jailors are USA (0,7% of the population is imprisoned at any moment) and Russia (0,6% of the population is imprisoned at any moment). Both of these countries have HUGE police forces, justice systems and justice department services which contribute to those numbers. If 1% of Imperial population would be psykers controlling all of them would simply require every enforcer, arbiter, security guard and PDF trooper of the world, leaving no time to handle any of the common crimes.