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The question is a bit down...

So I've got a little question that's come up. Does wrathbone artifacts cause any psyhic signs that a psyniscience test could pick up from a distance. The scenario in question is that there are a bunch of xenophile in possession of a wrathbone gauntlet and our psycher made a psyniscience test to search for any signals, would there be any signals for him to detect from this gauntlet?

Gurkhal said:

While I can't speak with certainty, it is my interpretation that wraithbone is a psychoactive plastic, therefore, it absorbs psychic energy, and melts, flexes, and gradually shapes to the will of the psyker working it, usually an Eldar Bonesinger. Therefore, while psy energy is focused into it, it's malleable, and when the energy ebbs, the wraithbone hardens, and becomes stable. In this way, Bonesingers can call the wraithbone to a spot from the warp, or the Webway (I guess I don't know where they store it), and shape it with their mind, alone. If an Eldar psyker isn't focusing into it, I'd deem that it has no signature of its own. At best, he might notice a hint of weakening strength, as a bit of his psy power is absorbed, but, not being Eldar (wraithbone seems to be attuned to Eldar psykers, like their gear in Rogue Trader), it wouldn't affect the item. If your xenos are not Eldar, they probably don't get too much out of the artifact, either, beyond carrying money (Eldar artifacts are practically priceless).

Again, this is mostly my opinion; I practically expect someone to pop up, just to tell me I am wrong, and in what ways.

actually Gurkhal, sounds about right to me....

But i would say that as a Gm you could cause the guantlet to at least appear to be clearly alien, then a psyniscience test could identify it as wraithbone....not quite sure what you want to try to acomplish with it though?? do you want your players to identify a psker or the material??

Thanks for the comment.

The main stuff I'm after is if the psyker would be able to sense the wraithbone an thus in advance get some info about its presence when they make psyniscience tests. So I think that I'll roll with that he can sense some small but unspecific distruption within the Warp from the item itself, due to its psyhic nature of the material.

In the RT-Adventure-set "Lure of the Expanse" the players stumble about some Eldar Remains.

In one case the explorers stumble about Wraithguards (first inactive and the active). These ARE made of Wraithbone and no Psinisciece-tests are ever mentioned.

"[...] Wraithbone emits a sympathetic psychic signal that Eldar can lock onto and use to control the object. Generally, Eldar buildings have a flowing form and lack any harsh angles. It is also used to make Eldar Runes."

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Wraithbone#.Tt06KPF5mK1

If a player speciffically states "I am trying to detect wraithbone with my psyniscience" and I know there is some within the character's range I would definately allow them a roll, perhaps modified by size, interviening terrain/materials, the last time the artefact was used, etc....

The same statement when I know an NPC psyker is three rooms down the hall and actively trying to activate the gauntlet would likewise result in a psyniscience roll, but in that circumstance probably with a nice bonus to the roll. Wraithbone is by all accounts incredibly efficient at channeling psychic energy, so when it is seeing active use it would be bright and shiny to warp-touched eyes if they should be gazing in the correct location.

I would describe a successful test using terms like crisp, clean, precise... Or perhaps a chaotic mix of brute psychic force with little radiant shards of crisp precision leaking out in the above example of a cultist psyker toying with it.

One of the Psyker characters in my game uses a wraithbone fragment as a psy-focus.

Hmm, I must have missed the part about wraithbone "having a signal", at least in its "raw" form. I was expecting it not to have any warp-signature of its own, rather I thought it would retain the one of its last "user" for a while. I was planning on having the PCs track a cult that was trying to use wraithbone to "modify" a psyker, or even create a material shell for a daemon.

from what i understand of wraithbone, it could be detected by psyniscience. Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor used it as a psychic tracking signal in the novels several times (i believe he put an imprint on it he would recognize). from reading the eldar and dark eldar codecies i gather that wraithbone has a warp signature in all of it's form, but you'd need to know it to recognize it. "raw" wraithbone might be a little harder to identify. by being a psycho-reactive material, i would think that it would definitely show up as something if a psyker went looking around, whether he'd recognize it is another matter.