I am looking at possible psychic technique selections for a mutant with Wyrdling. He can select two techniques from a single Discipline and does not get the basic technique of the discipline. So far so good.

Theosophany is from Into the Storm and is a quasi-religious set of powers based on shielding others from the Warp. Theosophany techniques are described as having ritual trappings, but I don't see that hard-coded into the write-ups for techniques themselves aside from those that refer to the Soul-Bond (which appear to be limited to Sanctioned Psykers, Inquisitors, and other psykers of the Imperium). Not all of the Theosophany techniques seem to have this limit, and my Wyrdling is looking at two that do not: Seal the Breach and Banishment.

This effectively creates a Wyrdling that is based around being anti-daemon and anti-psyker. Is there any reason that the Wyrdling could not (please avoid suggestions of 'should not') select those two powers?

Only thing I have to say on the matter is that's a super cool character concept. He's a devout rogue psyker; it's so wonderfully nonsensical! Would he allow himself to be Sanctioned?

I can see no reason whatsoever as to why you would be unable to take those powers.

Well as long as the character is strong in his faith to the emperor yes as he is manifesting his faith, if he ever loses that faith on the other hand things could be trickier. However that’s a GM and RP issue and could be an interesting side plot if they player wants to go that way, mechanically there is no issue with taking the powers.

As for the soul bound trait I believe it is only Astropaths who have it and only they can take those powers that need it, as they are specifically channelling the emperor rather than faith in the emperor, the rest of the powers are open to anyone who has enough faith.

Plushy said:

Well, not quite. She's not particularly devout at all - her powers developed as such for self-preservation in the face of warp exposure and (per her background) to help her family cast off a daemonic possession. She's not at all interested in trying to become Sanctioned, since she's a pessimist and fairly certain she'd become little more than a sacrifice to the Emperor.

angelis1974 said:

I guess my question got lost. I didn't see anything in the description of those two powers that say they require faith to operate. IOW, she wields the powers naturally and without the trappings of faith - much as other Wyrdlings might use Short Range Telepathy or Delude.

HappyDaze said:

Fgdsfg said:

Well, she wouldn't have to know the specifics. She might have just noticed/heard that for every hundred psykers that go to Terra, only one comes back, and come to her own conclusions. There are a fair number of psykers who run from the black ships, so people must have at least some misgivings about them.

exseraph said:

exseraph said:

Yeah… I'd say they have absolutely no right to know any of that.

It doesn't mean they don't have the common sense to understand that turning themselves in might be a bad thing, though.

Forbidden Lore skills are not that hard to come by.

If for you be in a table is the prerequisited for learning skill then yes no skill is hard to get.

If you work like RPG should you will see that finding someone capable of teach you forbidden lore is quite difficult, and even more if it must be a high placed Astropath that know the reality of the fact going on in the golden throne of Him on Terra.

Just try to think how many people are knowing such things, and then how many will risk his life for an unsanctionned psyker…

The answer is none, but in your world maybe Tom Grain, farmer from the agriworld of Food can teach forbidden lore: golden throne to his child during long winter nighjt.

And of course he will know that because it is passed in his familly from father to son since the day his ancestor was working on the bolt of the machinery of the golden throne itself 10 thousand years ago. And off course could have read and understand those blueprint adeptus mechanicus magos let behind them at each street corner.

The only way to know a bit of it is to have been on a blackship and 1- escape from it because malfunction, rebellion, riot, chaos raidzers,.. 2- Have been in a blackship made the trip to terra and survive.

Thebigjul said:

Or to be a Footfallen that has Peer (Astropaths) right from the start and began as a servant boy to the local Choir. Sometimes the least servant can overhear things he shouldn't, and when he later starts to manifest strange powers, well… It's time to get running.

I totaly agree with you, that's true, servants knows lot more than what their master think.

But in this case, I really doubt your caracter with psy rating and unsanctionned could even pass for a servant.

And I seriously doubt that close servant of the choir could move freely out of the sanctum. But after all why not.

It will be knowledge without understanding, miss interpretation and false conclusion made by untrained people but a bit of truth in a lot of misstake could be a begin.

Something like vampire hate garlic, sun and got completly crazy if you hide one of their socks, and they will die if you put a lemon on their mouth. Some are true, some aren't.

*sigh*… just because I know someone else will mention it…

spoilers..

spoilers

spoilers

There's actually a rather similar situation in the 3rd Arbites novel., with a rogue psyker hiding in an astropathic communication nexus, for many years apparently. Able to get away with it (apparently) because they're just not noticed among all the background psychic static (with laying pretty low and 'friends' covering for you too).

spoilers over…

On the other hand, aside from what they picked up themself, they know nothing of psykery or the great secrets of the universe, ala the Golden Throne, sacrificing psykers, etc., etc….

Which really don't seem like things psykers would ever talk about anyway. Who has conversations about basically having your brain plugged in to God? Anywhere. Let alone where the servants can overhear. Or talk about the Astronomicon or the sacrifices to the Throne (both groups are likely sequestered away from the talented psykers anyway). While it is an event that millions have in common, the Soul Binding comes off as a deeply personal experience, the kind of thing you don't talk about, because you just don't.

The Horus Heresy novel 'The Outcast Dead' features an Astropath protagonist. After becoming unable to function he is sent back to Terra to see if he can be salvaged by the experts there. It is mentioned many times that if the treatments are not successful he will end up in 'The Hollow Mountain'…

According to this novel the knowledge of how the Astronomicon is fueled is common amongst astropaths. Even if you are selected for Astropathic training a proportion fail the training and serve in the the hollow mountain. This threat serves to motivate the students. If even so, it probably isn't a something astropaths discuss with others.

Essentially the Black Ships and the Astronomicon can be likened to the holocost trains and the gas chambers. Some 'lucky' few are judged useful to the authorities and are given work - but they are hardly safe.

Fresnel said:

However, it's made apparent that while they 'know' what happens in the Hollow Mountain, they don't know the specifics of it, just that it is a place where failures and the weak are taken to die, useful to some greater purpose.

It doesn't actually say whether anyone knows this when they're just a student though. Or that it's used on the students as some form of motivational threat. The character in The Outcast Dead has been an Astropath for a long time, and is quite the powerful and respected one. They are the exception, not the rule.

And while it is an apt comparison… I ALWAYS hate seeing people compare what the Imperium does to the holocaust. Considering that every untrained psyker is at risk of causing as much damage as a nuclear detonation (trained ones only marginally less so).

There's no reason to believe that you couldn't have a somewhat irreverent group of Astropaths that trade taunts in their off time. Throwing barbs about how the other(s) really should have been sent to the Hollow Mountain. This is the kind of thing a servant might pick up on.

I agree. Even if you don't know the specifics of what the Imperium does to psykers, I think it could be pretty common knowledge that people who manifest pskyer powers are taken away. It would be difficult to obtain the forbidden lore that would let you know what actually happens, but their imagination can fill in the gaps.

Furthermore it's not just the official branches of government they have to worry about, but I think throughout the imperium people are somewhat distrusting of psykers in general. especially non-sactioned ones. I think many pskyers that somehow learned to manage their powers without being caught will have learned that it's often best kept a secret.

If I recall correctly "The Outcast Dead" does describe the slow burning away of the victim's soul. It was known that this was a fate vastly worse than death. Although the astronomicon ensures the survival of humanity, the scale of operation, coupled with the physical and spiritual torture dwarves any real world event.

What a priviledged few in the high echelons of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica know, and what every choir Astropath and rogue psyker know are two vastly different things.

Everyone knows that the Imperium has a dim view of psykers. There are Witchhunters by the score, not to mention the Inquisition, the Black Ships, and the general hostility of the populace. But that they send them to a big mountain where they scream away their soul to power the mighty beacon of the Astronomicon, is rather a bit less common knowledge.

The character in question was a good astropath, but he wasn't part of the leadership. He was a ship's astropath. From the circumstances of his survival you can infer that he didn't even lead a choir.

The character in question was an excellent Astropath. And you're forgetting that he knew absolutely nothing of the specifics until he was told them by the Astropath assisting his recover, who was very much a senior one.

And he was only being told to specifically encourage his case. It is a mistake to infer that such information is used as a goad on everyone who is training to be an Astropath.

***************************Spoiler outcast dead****************************

I want to add that thhe storie is taking place on earth, Holy Terra, near the palace and Storm Legion characters appear…

They are in the best place in the all Imperium to deal with such facts, and all psycker characters presented there are very potent, powerfull and their skill praised by their pears. Even the burn astropath was one if not the best of the students from the best astropath, himself… You know the story.