Sanctioned Psyker

"What can a man know of the Universe who knows not his own mind?"

- Book of the Astronomicon

Sanctioned Psykers are those human Psykers who play an ordained role as servants of the Imperium, for they have the willpower to control their abilities and not become a danger to others. Their exact role depends on the psychic powers they manifest and their strength of character and will. The Scholastica Psykana, the training division of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, is a vast teaching institution devoted to the training of young psykers, who are taught how to develop and control their powers to serve the Imperium. Most of the psyker recruits are drawn from the levy collected by the Black Ships, others are handed over by the Inquisition, the Adeptus Arbites or through other Imperial channels. The future of each psyker depends on his abilities and character. Initial evaluation divides the levy into several groups depending on their innate psychic power, individual character and willingness to learn.

The youngest psykers are preferred by the Scholastica Psykana, as these frightened boys and girls are the easiest to train and indoctrinate. Such psykers are soul-bound to the Emperor, a psychic ritual that hardens their minds and souls against possession by the daemonic entities of the Warp. It is invariably those psykers recruited as children who are given further training to fill important positions in the Imperium as Sanctioned Psykers. Astropaths are the most common sanctioned psykers in the Imperium, having escaped the cruel fate that awaits those without the strength of mind to control their powers, or the will and determination to survive the Imperium's strict training regimes.

History
No one knows when the first human psykers appeared; that information has been lost to the ravages of time, but one thing is certain, their emergence changed the fate of mankind forever. Psykers are both the greatest boon and curse that has afflicted humanity. The Emperor Himself is the most powerful psyker the human race has ever seen. Even ten thousand years after the Emperor was inducted into His sarcophagus, psykers continue to fuel the Imperium. Each day, innumerable souls are shipped to Terra in the Black Ships of the Inquisition. Once there they have the honour of becoming one with the Emperor's Golden Throne, thus allowing His light to spread across the galaxy that the Imperium may endure. Despite the benefits they bring to the Imperium, an undiscovered or unsanctioned psyker can place entire populations and planets in danger. Psykers' essences glow brightly in the warp, like bait on a line, and they draw malignant entities to that glow. Psykers weak in mind or untrained in protective arts can be easily tainted, and in the worst cases possessed by Daemonic entities and used as a gateway between realspace and the warp.

To be a sanctioned and approved psyker within the Imperium is to be part of a select few. The vast majority of psykers in the Imperium are deemed too unstable to train and too weak to resist the corruption the warp can spew into their unprotected minds. These hapless souls are rounded up on the great Black Ships of the Inquisition and taken to Holy Terra itself. There, they are sacrificed in unimaginable numbers, either to power the Astronomicon, the beacon that guides the Imperium's ships through the warp, or to sustain the continued existence of the God-Emperor. The Scholastica Psykana serves as the training organisation for the psykers of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. The supreme task of the Scholastica Psykana is to ensure that Mankind is protected from psykers who would misuse their gifts. Therefore, all psykers are collected by the infamous Black Ships of the Inquisition and rigourously tested upon Holy Terra to cull the most dangerously weak-willed, mad, and otherwise unsuitable from the rest. Those who survive this testing are separated according to the needs of the Adeptus Terra. Some psykers are destined to be given to the Adeptus Astronomica and consumed by the luminous power of the Astronomican, the beacon that shines in the Warp and allows Navigators to find a path through the Immaterium. More powerful psykers undergo the ritual of Soul Binding, their eyes burned out as they join the ranks of the Astropaths whose psychic communications hold the Imperium together. From amongst the stronger psykers, a rare few are selected as suitable for advanced battle-training, and are conditioned to use their bizarre abilities to smite the Emperor's foes in the fires of war.

The Sins of the Psyker
A common and often problematic issue for the Adeptus Ministorum and the precepts of the Imperial Creed is the question of psykers. There exists at the heart of Imperial doctrine a contradiction with regards to those blessed with the psyker's gift or cursed by its touch, depending on one’s standpoint. Every year, more and more psykers are born or come into their powers, and the danger they pose to humanity cannot be understated. Psykers draw the denizens of the warp to them like blood spilled in the ocean draws sharks, and those who are weak or unprotected by the rite of Soul Binding to the Emperor, can unleash fearsome devastation upon their communities. Some might be consumed by evil impulses and simultaneously find themselves gifted with the power to kill with merely a glance. Others might find their minds turned into gateways to the infernal regions of the Empyrean, through which entire legions of daemons may vomit forth. Psykers therefore are often said to represent the single most dangerous peril to the very soul of mankind.

At the same time, the Imperium could not exist without psykers. Without Astropaths, the scattered worlds of the galaxy-spanning empire could only communicate at the slowest of speeds. Without Navigators, only sub-light travel would be possible, and without the sacrifi ce of millions of psykers every year, the blessed light of the Astronomican would not be able to guide them through the benighted depths of the warp. In addition, the many arms of the Imperium's military use psykers as potent battlefield weapons, including the Librarians of the Adeptus Astartes and the Psykers Primaris of the Imperial Guard. Furthermore, although most would not think of Him as such, the Emperor Himself was the most powerful psyker to have ever lived.

Many of the teachings of the Imperial Creed preach against psykers, who are often referred to and condemned as witches. In truth, although most amongst the faithful feel a deep unease in the presence of Astropaths and other "sanctioned" psykers, reality dictates that psykers are part of the grand plan the Emperor has laid out for humanity. It is the psyker who is not sanctioned, who hides amongst the faithful and uses his powers for ill who is the true target of the Ministorum's ire, and few sermons pass without the congregation being called upon to be ever vigilant for such a threat within their own ranks.

Known Sanctioned Psykers

 * Astropaths -
 * Navigators -
 * Primaris Psyker -
 * Psyker Battle Squads - Psyker Battle Squads are usually made up of psykers that have yet to complete their training. However, sometimes more experience is needed, and a Primaris Psyker will be ordered to combine his power with that of a group of Sanctioned Psykers. The fusion of their psychic might allows them to unleash devastatingly effective attacks, and can even alter the fabric of time itself.