OOC II: DH The Purity of Sacrifice

[BananaPhone]

hey marcella, can we discuss milo becoming a psychic sensitive. i dont want to pick up nascent psyker,but something more like wyrd. basically milo would have an array of fun little tricks, like being able to project his voice, to being able to produce soft light, to being able to flash-blind people

My name is bananaphone hah.

But, being psychic in the WH40k universe is pretty perilous, particularly in the Imperium. The galaxy is divided between the materium (our world) and the immaterium, also known as The Warp, which is where Psykers draw their power form. It's like an alternate dimension of roiling psychic energy and chaos. It's where the Chaos Gods and their demonic legions live. Everything alive is like a pinprick of light in the Warp, but Psykers glow much more brightly, as they have a connection to the Warp that allows them to manipulate its energies and manifest them in the Materium. However, that's a two way street, as it also draws the notice of demons and other entities of the Warp that wait for any opportunity they can to use that two-way street to enter the Materium, where they'll promptly rip the Psyker to shreds, those around them and do their best to initiate a demonic invasion, potentially dooming a whole planet.

That's why people are terrified of Psykers, especially untrained and unsanctioned ones. They're an enormous risk not just to themsleves, but especially to those around them in their immediate vicinity and the planet/ship they're on as a whole. If they push themselves too hard, if they screw up, if they lose concentration or focus, and everyone around them could be doomed to not just a grotesque physical death, but damnation of the spirit. If Psykers didn't also offer such a host of benefits and abilities that are super useful (as Marc is now doing for the group with her Telepathy), maintaining the Golden Throne notwithstanding, they'd likely just be culled outright rather than take the risk.

That's why psykers are hunted relentlessly by the Inquisition, rounded up onto Black Ships and sent to Terra where they are evaluated by the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. Of those that arrive, only about 1% are both mentally strong and psychically gifted enough to avoid being culled to maintain the Golden Throne, and instead undergo a Sanctioning Ritual that is a traumatic experience that binds their soul to the Emperor to help further protect them against demonic possession. Of those 1%, most will become Astropaths, where they'll undergo a ritual that burns their eyes out. Of the remaining fraction, those go on to become Imperial Sanctioned Psykers (like Marcella), and undergo years and years and years of training and conditioning under the watchful eye of the Scholastia Psykana (which itself is an arm of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica). For those that do survive their training they can go on to join the Imperial Guard, become residential scholars in the Psykana's cathedrals, become paid retinue of Rogue Traders or Noble houses (probably the best gig to get), become middle managers in the Adeptus Administratum (probably the safest but most boring job to get, you're a psychic bureaucrat) and many more, with the rare few being recruited by the Inquisition (like Marcella). Yet even after all of this they're never fully trusted and are under a watchful eye, with those around them ready to put a bullet in the back of their head if they start exhibiting signs of possession. Now, they can go on to reach positions of greater autonomy and respect like becoming Primaris Psykers, or even Inquisitors themselves, but even then, constant mental exposure to the warp and its erosion and plenty of Sanctioned Psykers just eventually go crazy. I play Marc as relatively normal, if a bit eccentric, because she's only got 3 insanity points and has 55 willpower (which, by Dark Heresy standards, is crazy good for a human). But, I'm getting sidetracked.

I tell you all this because it's the setting we're in, and it lays out why, if Milo did develop Nascent Psyker or Wyrd...I don't want to tell you how to play your character, but chances are 99% he'll end up on a Black Ship and sent back to Terra for evaluation, where he'll most likely be culled for the Golden Throne. Marc won't be able to help him, hell she'd probably be the one to report him because she knows better than anyone in the group the threat of an unsactioned/trained psyker, plus she'd probably be branded a heretic if she didn't. The interrogator/inquisitor might be able to protect him for a bit, but they'd need a good reason and it would be a short term strategy at best, because if his nascent psyker/wyrdness is ever discovered (which is just one Psyniscience roll away), he's going to end up on a Black Ship one way or the other.

Page 90 of the Inquisitors Handbook goes into this in more detail. But yeah, sorry to be the bearer of bad news mate :(, I'm not trying to 'protect my niche' or tell you how to play your character, but in the WH40K universe, being a nascent psyker/wyrd is as good as signing your own death warrant. Unless you figure out something with Bennosuke and Milo disappears from play for half a decade and comes back a Sanctioned Psyker, I really don't see it working out well for him.

If he's wanting to pull little tricks like blinding people etc I think flash grenades are probably the safer option :P lol.