BangBangTequila said:

Don't forget people who don't want to*, or can't, hide that they are a psyker, but at the same time don't want to be taken away by a Black Ship.

*If they hide, that means they can't use their powers. For example, a psyker with healing capabilities and a seriously injured loved one would have three choices: Let the loved one die, be forced to leave the loved one, or fake the sanctioning mark so they can stay.

I am certain that Eisenhorn uses the lack of an indentifiable brand in the flesh of a cadaver's ankle to prove that the ankle in question did not belong to an alpha level psyker.

The mark was on the ankle and was a burned brand if i recall correctly. That individual was marked, and was part of a display of the power of the Navy/Imperium in triumph. I would assume that if even the most dangerous criminals are marked by the Inquisition in such a discreet manner, than it's agents would be marked likewise.

Although the idea of an electric tat would be pretty neat to.

L.

Ok, thanks for all the ideas, for now this is what we reached with the two players:

- one rolled dyed skin, which we interpreted as being covered with tattoos. He's also got the irradiance background, so I think he'd look quite cool if we can get him a nice concept art. The idea is that the brand is part of these tattoos, which may or may not be a form of "ward" tattooed on him

- the other player I think has something like a brand, but due to her dark skin color it is practically invisible most of the time. It has, however, been reinforced/illuminated with pigments visible in UV light and other methods relatively easy to have for the proper authorities.

It is a bit weird how the psykers are almost twice the age of everyone else, though - 47 and 49 Terran years.

Hi:

I believe it's because of the sanctioning process - it ages you.

L

LETE said:

As far as I'm aware, it's the time that Sanctioning takes, plus the time spent getting to and from Terra.

I thougth that gazing into His Face (& viceversa) was the cause.

L

LETE said:

That only happens with Astropaths. Even then, character age doesn't describe how the character looks, but how old he is, so a 20-year-old subjected to an effect that ages him the equivalent of 15 years is still only 20.

Hi:

About being aged by His Gaze: I thought that the fluff stated this somewhere...

L

Actually, does it say anywhere that the Emperor personally gazes at every sanctionite? I thought Terra is just where the sanctioning ends, and very few (i.e. those with Irradience) can even get a glimpse of the Throne, probably through their Mind's Eye.

From the general fluff written in the various 40K rule books and DH books, Sanctioning of psykers does not have to take place on Terra at all and the blackships will drop of psykers at Scholastia Psykana Temples as they travel around the Imperium, the only psykers that have to end up at Terra are the ones that will be sould bound to the Emperor and those that get fed to the Emperor to keep him alive.

Banjulhu said:

Thing is, those who will be Soul-Bound and those who will be Sacrificed make up the overwhelming majority of all psykers the Black Ships carry... Sanctioned Psykers beyond those are a tiny minority by comparison, so I don't see why it's so great a burden to have them be transported to Terra along with all the other Psykers... it'd be like a non-stop international flight making a short stop to let one person off along the way.

Yeah, but if there's a use for Sanctioned Psykers on the world you stop by to take in new unsanctioned Psykers...It's not a stop to let people off on a planet, it's a programmed stop where coincidentally one person gets off.

Stormast said:

Why would a Blackship have already-Sanctioned Psykers on it, beyond the few who work there? The purpose of a The League of Blackships is to gather up all the psykers so that they can be slain (the "too dangerous to be allowed to live"), sanctioned (the rare "potent and stable"), soul-bound ("potent, but not quite stable enough to be left alone") or sacrificed (everyone else), as appropriate to the situation.

It's not a case of "we've got a fairly stable, potent psyker lying around here in one of the vaults, and this world needs one for some inexplicable reason... lets just let him off here by himself..."

As I understand it, the Scholastica Psykana (the organisation responsible for the training and monitoring of all non-Astropath Sanctioned Psykers) doesn't work like that. Organisations request psykers, not individuals (unless said individual is an Inquisitor or similar). The Imperial Guard within a given region needs two dozen Pyromancers, while the Adeptus Arbites need a couple of telepaths or diviners to serve alongside their Detectives, and so forth. The psykers are Sanctioned on Terra, and then shipped out (not on the Blackships - Psykers who'll serve the Imperium get their memories of their time on a Blackship wiped because it's so sanity-breakingly awful on them for a psyker... so you don't finish Sanctioning a guy and then put him straight back on the mind-wreckingly dreadful ship) to various Scholastica Psykana facilities across the Imperium for further training and then assignment.

In every game I have ever played, the Sanctioning brand is form of ID and Caste recognition. It's always obvious (the face, hand or neck) but can still be hidden with simple makeup or such.

Some argue that it is up to the player to decide. This would imply that as the player of the character, the brand will somehow "go" with the character(i.e. big dramatic chest, subtle trampstamp etc). This I disagree with EXTENSIVELY. The sanctioning brand is meant to be used to tell EVERYONE just what he/she is. Be it an Arbite to a lowly merchant. Psykers are the witches of 40k, hated, reviled and otherwise disdained by the masses. There's is not a life of subtlety, and often the starting point of accusation when things go badly.

That being said, I still think that some flesh coloured makeup or that is perfectly allowed for missions that require subtlety. And it adds another element of danger. Say its raining, or he gets hit on the brand smearing the cover? *cue dramatic "Law and Order" scene change music*

This is my view on it. Everyone sees the 40k universe differently. Hope this helps.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Wouldn't it only be mind-wrecking in the cages for the psykers on their way to Terra ?

Sanctioned psykers working (I remember reading somewhere that there are psykers working on a black ships crew) or travelling on the ship are bound to have more reasonable living conditions.

Personally I expect that, once it is known where a specific psyker is heading, they are put on whichever ship is heading in that direction. So most of them probably go out on ships other than the black ships.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Well I had understood from a certain number of other discussions that Sanctioning could be done somewhere else as on Terra, and especially that it could be done on a Black Ship. So you Sanction psykers and sometimes just drop them off before reaching Terra, just because it's convenient.

And that would made much more sense on the logistics point of view (which was the angle of the aforementionned discussion).

Stormast said:

Seldom is the Imperium convenient or efficient. That should be the first consideration. Beyond that, Imperial Psykers in all parts of the Imperium are monitored for their entire lives, so just dropping one off on a random planet en-route back to Terra seems like a really, really easy way to lose track of a psyker...

Beyond that, I don't know of any source that claims you can be fully Sanctioned on a Blackship, or indeed that it's done anywhere but Terra. It seems a given that all psykers that the Imperium finds will go to Terra... and the ones that are useful are the ones who come back.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Hi:

That's what I thought so too. Read it somwhere in the DH corebook... Maybe under Psykers?

L

Stormast said:

That right there is the exact reason why such wouldn't happen.

On any question or issue regarding the Imperium of Man, if you ever find your self thinking that particular answer or solution makes an incredible amount of sense or is logistically sound (or even involves the positive use of terms "sense" and "logistics"), then it is most certainly not the correct answer to the question or issue. If, instead, your answer infers a logistical nightmare and you end up wondering how the hell anything at all gets done in less then a century if at all, then you'll be on the right track!

Stormast said:

Sending all psykers does have a few things in its favour:

- It simplifies the logistics of recruiting Grey Knights. All they need to do is have someone watch any pskyers as they come off a Black Ship and then take any potential recruits. Which also helps keep the secret, as there is only one place where young male psykers will dissappear from, making it much eaiser to keep a secret.

- By having the sanctioning process in one place, they can have lots of people checking they psykers and each other for potential problems (corruption, etc). Spread the sanctioners out across the Black Ships, and the watching each other part is greatly weakened.

I am also pretty sure that, at least in the DH core book, it states that the sanctioning process is done on Terra. As for what Graver said about the Imperium being very efficient; it's funny, and not entirely untrue. The Imperium loves control more than efficiency, by bringing all of the psychers to the one place with enough resources and power to contain them they can make sure to sort, sanction and send out without any worry about them causing a problem. If this means that it takes 20 years to sanction one psycher, so be it, the ship that brought that one in has 5000 other unstable ones to feed to the emperor and enough Space Marines and IG and members of the Inquisition to contain and control 5000 unstable minds that day, or hour.

As far as the brand itself, I've had players do different things, one had a large burned brand on the back of his bald head, another had an electoo on her right arm, and I let one carry a set of documents, kinda like a passport. All of these have benefits and problems and can make things easy or hard on the psycher. There is enough information to argue either direction, physical marking or item/documents. In the idea of having fun with the game its up to the GM what to allow and how he sees the universe since he is the one that is basically creating the environment for the players.

Another thought for location of the brand could be somewhere on the scalp. The sanctionate could be shaved bald and branded during his trials. By the time he arrives at his destination, the brand is covered by hair. Add that there is some type of addtional ientifier, whether psychic imprint or similar to rf id, the psyker is better able to be covert.

Given that 40k is a blend of hi-tech "wizardry" and low-tech barbarism, I'd say it can be anything...

BUT, sorry for this ppl who play psychers, in WH40K beeing a psycher is to be subjected to deeply ingraned "Racism" from almost everybody. And I feel any mark should have this in mind, the imperium is branding a potential gate to the warp it should be an issue.

Ofc it's all BS as imperium functions on psychic power, but there it is... most countries that depended on slave labor also ended up with big race issues so I guess it makes "sense".

Isidro