Mutants

Mutants
Throughout the Imperium of Man there are thousands of people who are deformed by mutation. These people are destined to become the outcasts and lower classes of society. They are shunned and are often hunted down and killed. Mutants will often be lured to cults and other secret organizations who plot to rebel against imperial rule and enslave those who oppressed and shunned them.

Life on most planets
On many planets, mutants are quickly abandoned by their parents and have to grow and learn how to take care of themselves. They are almost always the worst off people in imperial society. It is very rare to find a world that will tolerate them and not discriminate against them. Those worlds are a paradise for mutants compared to most worlds of the Imperium. Desperately seeking some form of acceptance, many mutants join rebellious cults. Most of these cults simply condemn the faults of imperial society but others worship chaos and plan rebellion. These cults easily corrupt mutants due to the discrimination they have suffered.

Hated by the common man
The hatred of mutants is rooted in the earliest days of the Horis Heresy. During the Emperor's crusades mutants were accepted and used as part of the imperial army, formed into there own squads or mixed with the ranks of the troops. However, after the Horus Heresy, they were outlawed for their part in the rebellion. The post-heresy association of many mutants with heretical and chaotic cults has cemented this hatred of them by the majority of the population of the Imperium.

Mutation beond the flesh
There are many types of mutations and some are mental rather than physical. Humanity is not naturally psychic and the ratio of physical to mental mutation is a thousand to one. Psychics are not left to live out there existance like most mutants but are taken to be trained by the scholastic psykana.The training of psychers by the Imperium allows them to be used in battle, as guides through the warp or to communicate between distant worlds. They are tested for aptitude and the dangerous or weak are killed immediately. The survivors are taken to the infamous black ships of the imperial fleet or assigned to Imperial Guard or Space Marine armies for use in battle. Some may even be accepted into the retinue of an Inquisitor.

Psychers often wield terrible powers; gazing into the future, shooting lightning out of there hands, controlling the actions of others and opening portals into the warp. Humanity needs Psychers to travel though the warp.The warp is inhabited by many horrible and powerful creatures such as the demons of the warp and the chaos gods that command them. Psykers are like lights in a dark cave to the demons who can very clearly see them when they use their power. Therefore, whenever they use their power they are at risk of warp attack or possession. A possessed psycher acts as a portal for demons into the material world.As more come through they open the gateway further. Untrained psykers have no hope of survival against such an attack.