Editing Psyker (section)

==Types of Psyker==
The different races of the setting perceive psykers in different ways. 

===Imperium===
The [[Imperium of Man]] regards most psykers as extremely dangerous, because these are people with scary powers, and the influence of the Warp tends not to let them stay sane for very long, but hey, wizards are real, cool{{BLAM|HERESY! '''BLAM'''}}. There is also the threat of [[Chaos]] possessing them and summoning daemons...or having the daemons just eat them. Thus, the [[Inquisition]] hunts them down so they can either be sacrificed to feed the [[Empra]] or sanctioned and made to serve the Imperium (under an inquisitor's watchful eye). 

Such psykers appear as a unit in the Dawn of War games and like to scream incomprehensible one-liners so mind-numbingly loud that they may very well actually make your head explode. [[Space Marines]] make their psykers into [[Librarian]]s: in addition to psychic support on the battlefield, they compile records in the Librarium, assist in battlefield communications, and test their brothers for Chaotic contamination. [[Imperial Guard]] Sanctioned Psykers combine psychic powers with Standard Issue Balls of Steel that every Imperial Guard member is issued upon conscription along with a lasgun. In addition, they have a nasty reputation for being BLAMMED by Commissars. 

"Rogue Psykers" is the official designation for any psyker who hasn't been collared by the Imperium yet and are often hated by more puritan worlds, in extreme cases routinely being hunted down and killed. On most worlds being sanctioned (assuming you survive and don't mind the side effects) gives an air of authority and orthodoxy to an otherwise hated thing; people still hate you, but instead of treating you like a particularly verbose bit of dung, now you're hated the way tax collectors are hated. Many in the Imperium outside of the rabble view sanctioned psykers in an ethereal light, considering them sages or wizards (as in wise men/Gandalf), perhaps because their powers grant them a very different perspective and insight into pretty much anything. 

Astropaths are beyond such venom, partly because they are less prone to possession and mostly because they are a planet's only way of communicating with the greater Imperium. Also being soul-bound to the Emperor himself probably makes them seem like prophets or oracles in some way to the average citizen.  People still feel uneasy around them, but even [[Black Templars]] have to cope with them and make nice faces. However, the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] <s>was</s> is a psyker, so the next time some idiot tells you that Psykers are heresy, use this little fact on their fa--{{BLAM}} {{BLAM|BLASPHEMY!}}. Well, actually not, since for an average citizen of the Imperium the Emperor is God, so His wielding godly powers in the [[Great_Crusade|glory days]] before His ascension is actually the core tenet of the Imperial Cult and proof of his divinity. Not so for mere mortal psykers, who are rightly considered unholy and corruptible as opposed to a literal god who obviously can do things like that easy peasy, which he did demonstrate that he could. Oh, you mortally wounded me through my favored [[Primarch|lab rat]]? Let me just erase your collective avatar out of existence in one shot.

Humanity, being the stars of the show, have arguably the greatest psychic potential overall (because of course they do, which is really damn bad in this setting), but with barely any control over it (fire and lightning yay!), possibly evolving (which could take countless centuries or even millennia to take place, even if they can survive it) into a fully psychic race which the Emperor himself has said may very well equal or even possibly surpass even the Eldar at their peak, although with the loss of the Webway project even the Emperor admits that this path is pretty much now closed to humanity. Most likely he meant a gradual ascension instead of the Oh Shit happening now as the energies of the Webway logically would nourish psychic potential slowly whereas otherwise human potential is spastic and often results in daemonic possession or outright invasion. No wonder his ideal humans are emotionless and autistic (no, seriously, the Custodes are arguably genuinely autistic) as that is safest for a psychic species, especially to not go the way of the Eldar. Becoming a psychic race doesn't suddenly make you god-tier, it just makes you psychic; the Eldar are a full-blown psychic race and they aren't exactly doing brilliantly. To be fair, they’re not even trying to capitalize on their psychic potential most of the time, especially the ways psychic power could easily connect to the aspects of Khaine their warriors emulate. On the other-hand, that’s probably exactly why they don’t do that.

*Like all of his interactions with others, anything that the Emperor says should be treated as a possible falsehood (he's a bit of a compulsive liar and manipulator, but even when he’s honest, his power actively causes people to hear things in ways that make sense to them, even if what they hear isn’t close to what he said). His whole speech to Ra about humanity's possible psychic might may well have been just what the Emperor wanted Ra to hear in order to prepare him to make his sacrifice at the end of the book.  But we do know that the lore has loooong held the Emperor’s belief humanity will become like him.  AKA “New Man”.  Even Rogue Trader had the Inquisition’s true purpose be to guide humanity’s ascension into a fully psychic species.

On the bright side, the Psychic Awakening has shown that faith serves as a great focus for controlling psychic might and affecting the Warp in a positive way through that focus of belief and spiritual strength.  Bet the Eldar are foaming at the mouth that man’s much mocked fanaticism actually acts as anti-Chaos space magic.

Ironically, humanity’s strong connection to Chaos as the species that caused the gods to awaken might be the cause of our destined rise as a powerfully psychic species.  Which is, uh, not a good sign if true.

Humanity has managed to produce some of the strongest Psykers in the history of the Galaxy but most didn't come into being through natural means:

*[[The Emperor]] is obviously the first that springs to mind as he is unquestionably the strongest mortal psyker that has yet been seen, unless you count the [[Old Ones]] (Emps could be an Old One masquerading as a human, but is probably way beyond an Old One seeing as he beat the shit out of one of the most powerful C'tan by a whole lot). The question is however: is he even human? There are many theories surrounding the Emperor's origins and his exact nature. Was he born or is he a construct from the Dark Age of Technology that believes itself to be human? Is he the Warp-manifested core of humanity's past, present, and future manifested in Man's time of greatest need and tumultuous Warp?  If we take the whole Shaman origin as fact, then his psychic might is due to the large number of psychic beings merging their minds into one, which is certainly not the norm (strangely something similar happened to [[Ephrael Stern]]). Even if we assume he's a single entity that [[Perpetual|happens to be immortal]], there is the whole deal with the Chaos gods which may or may not have boosted his already considerable power (and yes, it is stated that he needed a ship to get there, but didn't need one to get back). The Emperor is clear proof that, whatever he might be, the most powerful psyker in existence has indisputably allied itself with humanity.
*[[Magnus]] is a Primarch and should in no way be considered entirely human. He, like all his kind, are artificial beings created through Warp shenanigans and advanced bio-engineering. There is nothing natural about him or his psychic might. Above and beyond even high-grade transhumans, a Primarch is a literal demigod perfected through soul and gene engineering. This translates to Psychic ability as well.
*[[Malcador]] is the only truly natural (depending upon what happens with his backstory once it is finally revealed) human standout amongst the big names. He may play second fiddle to the likes of the abominations that are the Emperor{{BLAM}} {{BLAM|BLASPHEMY!}} and Magnus, but he is still the strongest "human" psyker on the list. Natural humans are never going to be able to compete with the gods of the Warp, but a race of potential Malcadors doesn't sound too shabby, does it?  But only if we have his skill and control...  so we're fucked.

Human psykers (with occasional exceptions, like Space Marine Librarians) tend to be one-trick ponies; if they are telepathic, then that is what they can do - it is very unlikely that they will have any skill in something like telekinesis, pyromancy, or divination. If this was an RPG, then they would be the guys who put all their experience into learning one or two skills until they have maxed them out, but end up having nothing left to spend on anything else. Yes, they can create a very powerful fireball, but that's all they can do. If anyone is capable of "omnimancy" then they are usually so powerful they can brute force powers from all disciplines, or are engaging in rituals and sorceries - which is technically cheating, and stupidly dangerous to even masters of the art.  That said, human psyker squads form a sort of network of power through which they can do stuff far beyond what any one of them is capable of.  So, a species-wide version of this would be pretty lit (or the easiest conquest Chaos has ever had).  On the bright side, the Empyric Engineers will probably be allowed back into the Imperium and prove incredibly useful.  There is also biomancy to consider.  Imagine the Imperium being able to use biomancy to uplift the human body beyond biological limitations?  But, their fanatical obsession with the divine human form preventing them from doing anything evil with it. Uh. By Imperial standards.

====Squats/Kin====
The [[Squat]]s that grow very old are called "living ancestors". They are extremely rare, and develop psychic powers by communing with the spirits of their predecessors. And you could put them in an egg-shaped terminator armor, then onto a trike, with a bolt-firing cavalry lan-{{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Squats are ''heresy''!}}<span style='color:maroon;font-size:110%'>''' *FFSSSHHHHHOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!* Oi! What did ye just call us?</span> {{BLAM|Uh... Nothing! Nothing at all!}}

Due to their ancestors' genetic modifications to protect themselves and their toys from being [[Chaos|daemon chow]], most Squats have souls nearly as dim as the Tau, and  thus, little to no Psyker potential. However, as the Votann's data banks can only be accessed by Psykers, they created specialized cloneskeins that allow the Kin born from them to tap into the Immaterium in a more controlled and safer manner. These psykers are known as the [[Grimnyr]] and act as the Votann's eyes and mouths. They also have a thing for cosplaying wizards.

====Ogryns====
The [[Ogryn]] were initially thought by the Imperium to be too stupid to develop psychic powers, but were proved wrong sometime after the Great Rift by Cassia, who demonstrated psychic powers in battle by saving a Commissar. She ended up being recruited by Inquisitor Falx, and displayed other unique effects that were considered impossible to do by Ogryn: namely, being able to read and write on a basic level. Falx also believes (with a fair amount of supporting evidence) that other Ogryn are beginning to pop up with similar abilities, likely a result of the Rift itself.  Fortunately for the Ogryn, their legendary devotion to the Emperor and love for their fellow, normal humans will probably be a major benefit to them in this situation. In several ways.

===Forces of Chaos===
[[Chaos]] tends to have...varied opinions on psykers.
*[[Daemon]]s are made out of the stuff of the Warp, and using psychic powers is shaping and throwing out a little bit of the Warp, so a daemon using psychic powers is the rough equivalent of [[Rip and tear|taking a severed limb or some bones and throwing it]] as a viable attack. While that sounds pretty fucking metal, [[Khorne]] thinks that pulling this bullshit is a sign that you're not manly enough to get into the thick of it and handle the situation on your own, an opinion shared by his daemons and mortal followers. Not only do they not use psychic powers, but they actively hate any pussified deadbeat who uses them, and even get toys that fuck with anybody trying to use those powers. However, it should be said that (deeply confused) Khornate traitor librarians exist - Khorne's opinion of them doesn't stop them from idolizing him.  They just don't receive his favor, obviously (Unless your name is [[Sindri Myr|SSSSSSIIIINDDDRRRIIII]]). Any psyker who wishes to serve him swears off their powers except for utilitarian uses like telepathy or stopping other psykers from cheating. Having a cheat code and not using it makes you more honorable, not less.
*On the other end of the spectrum, [[Tzeentch]], being the god of magic, is hugely into psychic powers, and he likes making new ones that do all kinds of mix-and-match effects, though only the best are actually rolled out. That's the official line. He's actually a closeted pyro, and a lot of his powers are burny or... do weird shit. Being the patron of psykers, if people get Tzeentch's attention because they're scholars or [[Just As Planned|David Xanatos]], they'll eventually develop psychic power whether they like it or not. Due to higher exposure to Warp energy via psychic powers and serving the god of change, Tzeentch's minions, and more often, ''their'' minions have the highest rates of mutation and turning into [[Chaos Spawn|Chao--er, tentacly gribblies]]. [[Ahzek Ahriman|Ahriman]], possibly the greatest of Tzeentch's servants barring Magnus himself, was so powerful a Psyker that he was able to defeat Ulthwe's most venerated Psyker, Kyaduras the Anchorite, with ease, and, in the same battle, also casually defeated [[Yvraine]], the Yncarne, and the Visarch. 
*In the middle, [[Nurgle]] likes any psykers that spread his gifts around, but doesn't really go out of his way to promote them in his followers either, probably on account of his direct opposition to Tzeentch. Needless to say, his powers all revolve around inflicting people with horrible diseases or boosting their endurance to unnatural levels. 
*Similarly, [[Slaanesh]] thinks Tzeentch is a [[Neckbeard|giant nerd]], whose overdevotion to his nerdy hobby of inventing new psychic powers will never get him laid. We think it says this because Tzeentch <s>refuses to sleep with it (it almost certainly likes his tentacles and crotch mouth)</s>  is afraid he might catch Warp chlamydia, and he's just not willing to give Nurgle that kind of [[Just as Planned|satisfaction]]. Slaaneshi psykers emphasize powers that make the [[Chaos|hurt feel good]], or have effects that look like the target might have [[Drug|snorted]] the psychic power off of a stripper's ass.

Being able to combine psychic powers, sorcery, and the favours of the Dark Gods easily makes the psychic followers of Chaos amongst the most powerful and dangerous individuals around. Such power [[Grimdark|comes at a price, of course]]. A Chaos corrupted or worshipping Psyker is significantly more to blow up into Daemons, both because they deal with them directly and thus increase the natural risk and/or because [[Troll|Tzeentch]] felt like a dick at the wrong time.

===Eldar===
====Craftworld====
The [[Eldar|Craftworld Eldar]] are a strongly psychically-attuned race. While the regular, off-the-street Eldar will restrain themselves from using any psychic powers beside basic telepathic communication and the ability to use their psychic technology out of fear of being mindraped by Slaaneshi daemons, they can join the [[Paths of the Eldar|Path of the Seer]] and train to better control their innate abilities. Eldar who go on this path with previous experience as Aspect Warriors become [[Warlock_(Eldar)| Warlocks]], while the most powerful seers can become [[Farseer]]s and leaders of their people. They're ridiculously powerful psykers because of that deep imprint in the Warp to draw power, combined with their Spehss Ehlvan minds and willpower. They just need to be fucking careful and avoid unwanted attention unless they like [[Slaanesh|tentacles]].  By "ridiculously powerful", the meaning is more "can do anything" rather than raw power.  Humans in the setting have the raw power, Eldar have the [[Promotions|flexibility]].  Like in almost everything else involving humans and Eldar.

The true capacity and depth of Eldar psychic abilities tend to be rather watered down or just ignored outright, due to the demands of the plot which is almost always told with the Imperium as the protagonist of the story. Within most stories the authors will tend to use the "M. Night Shyamalan" style of writing, which means having the Eldar Farseers getting a vision of events that are going to happen in the future and set out to stop it, only to discover that they either had it wrong the whole time, or they themselves brought about the very event that they wished to prevent; all the while the authors are hopping around shouting "WHAT A TWIST" at the top of their lungs.  Due to the vast focus put upon the forces of the Imperium it is not a surprise that there is such an abundance of named human Psykers running rampant across the galaxy, but remember that humans only produce an exceptional psychic individual once in a blue moon; those humans that prove themselves strong and stable enough to join the ranks of the Marines as Librarians are a rare breed but more than prove their worth over multiple centuries of service. Librarians are also really damn powerful by any standard.

By comparison, every Eldar citizen can, if they wish to, potentially become a Farseer, though no Farseer will ever manage to reach the same level of power as the likes of Magnus (it's not really a fair comparison as he really isn't [[Primarch|human]] and did not come into existence through natural means). Or a Warlock, which are the Eldar battle psykers. A Librarian will ''usually'' be more powerful as well, though not flexible in capabilities.  In a slightly darker turn of events, where the likes of [[Spiritseer]]s, who are able to commune with and manipulate the souls of the Eldar dead, the Ynnari actually amplify their existing powers through absorbing the souls of previous Eldar, which many Eldar among the Craftworlds consider to be horrifying. GW's "fuck what the Xenos are supposed to be able to do; the Imperium and Chaos are the stars of this setting" rule is seen many times in the story itself, with powerful Eldar Psykers like Eldrad very rarely performing impressive feats within the stories they are featured in, and you are just told that they are very powerful before they are inevitably defeated by the glorious human protagonist (Loyalist or otherwise). Eldar Farseers, in particular, suffer from the "Worf effect" more then most, despite often being heralded as great seers they have a terrible track record within the storyline itself, very rarely succeeding in any of their endeavors. Something Eldar tend to forget is that just because you foresaw something one moment doesn't mean the next moment it's still true.  The future constantly changes and while the Eldar like to talk about that, that doesn't stop them from acting on the assumption that the futures they see are set in stone (and then being proven wrong).  An important thing to keep in mind is that The Black Library writers love to add their very own super duper special human snowflake Psyker into the story because of the "Rule of Cool", with many in the lore being attributed with the ability to destroy Titans and armies. Farseers on the other hand are often shown being incapable of even defeating a single Space Marine let alone a tank, army or Titan, and Farseers are explicitly meant to be the most powerful Eldar Psykers in the galaxy. However, this could simply be either a way of keeping it so they don't win by default due to knowing exactly how a battle will go or (much more likely) [[derp|Black Library incompetence]] making it impossible to get a remotely [[awesome|accurate depiction of what their powers can do.]]  Or the more obvious possibility: Eldar Paths are extremely focused and a Farseer is ''not'' a battle psyker.  Even Eldar Warlocks (their battle psykers) are more akin to Primaris Psykers than the likes of Librarians.

The 8th edition codex seems to have made an attempt to address this situation. Whilst all Eldar walking upon the Witch Paths are capable of mastering many different psychic disciplines throughout their long lives, they tend to avoid developing their more destructive powers, instead focusing all their efforts on developing their more “helpful” and “creative” powers; for example, the Bonesingers use their powers to create and then craft Wraithbone. This goes well with the Craftworlder’s mindset when it comes to avoiding their darker, more destructive sides.  

Those who find it easier to master the more destructive disciplines tend to be those who have walked the Path of the Warrior and have already had their more violent impulses tested. These individuals will become Warlocks, and can make use of their more destructive powers upon the battlefield without putting those around them in danger as they already have their War Masks in place, to help focus them and to separate their warlike selves from their normal selves.  

Farseers will unfortunately still suck in any story that they are featured in, but they are not supposed to be just weapons, they are guides and advisers who help guide the blade, not swing it themselves. This, of course, doesn’t help the fact that they are still going to be treated like a bunch of redshirts that will inevitably fail at every single opportunity by the writers at GW.   

The Eldar make use of Rune Stones that act as conduits through which they can manipulate the psychic energies of a the Warp without actually having to interact with the Warp directly; though this does limit their overall psychic power level it provides them with a much safer and more controlled way to access the energies of the Warp. The Rune stones also act as psychic fuses, burning out and cutting the link to the Warp should an Eldar try to tap into too much power before they are ready. As they develop their control and skill the Eldar psykers will eventually be able to use a far greater number of stones, which allows them to tap into far greater pools of power.

Eldar tend to be the Swiss Army knife of psykers; being able to learn many different psychic disciplines. If this was an RPG then they would be the guys who spread their experience out over a wide range of powers and abilities. They don't tend to max out their powers, but instead end up with a much wider skill set to call upon.

====Harlequins====
[[Harlequin]]s are also psychic, which really comes out in their shows; although only the [[Shadowseer]] can use powers in a fight, other Harlequins enjoy the benefits of psychic senses and silent telepathic communication.

====Dark Eldar====
The [[Dark Eldar]], on the other hand, are psychically atrophied compared to their Craftworld bros due to centuries of largely abstaining from using their powers. They have to avoid using psychic powers due to [[Slaanesh]]'s "I own your soul" gig, their general lack of restraint (required for psykers to use their powers without instantly getting devoured alive by daemons), and the reasonable feared of becoming bait for [[Rip and tear|snusnu with a Daemonette]]. 

They ''can'' use psychic artifacts like all those crazy living swords and [[Haemonculi|Haemonculus]] toys, and the only psychic power they use is their infamous emotion-vampirism ability that can replenish their bodies and souls by inflicting copious amounts of pain and misery and soaking in all that torment. And kamehamehas, for [[Mandrake]]s. They do have extra fun torturing, killing and then weaponizing psykers though.

====Exodite====
While the psychic capabilities of Exodite Eldar are rarely elaborated upon (mostly because works that involve them typically have them being punching bags for enemy factions), it is likely that the Exodites still retain their psychic powers, as they are able to communicate with their animal allies (beasts of burden and war mounts) and influence the planet they're on into being living weapons by manipulating the flora.

Both of these would fall under the categories of telepathy and biomancy, respectively.

===Tau Empire=== 
The [[Tau]] race is incapable of producing psykers due to having almost no presence in the Warp. The good news for them is that they don't have to worry about [[Chaos|''Bad Things'']], such as any members of their species spontaneously turning inside out from the anus and summoning an army of monsters that will fuck, kill, and eat people(''not strictly in that order''). The bad news is that they have no way to natively develop psychically-based technology, so their FTL travel is glacial (albeit a good deal safer than an actual Warp jump) and their FTL communications options are limited to the Space Pony Express. It should be noted that some of their vassal races have psychic abilities, including their own Navigator analogues. It is known that they actually locate, isolate and study human (and probably other species') psykers, but as the Immaterium is too irrational and far beyond their science they have had little success in analyzing the reason behind Gue'La suddenly going crazy and <s>summoning</s> teleporting armies of homicidal <s>hellspawn</s> aliens out of thin air. Of course, following what happened to the Fourth Sphere Expansion, they now have little reason to stay ignorant of those things that come from nowhere...
*Funnily, the [[Kroot]] have psykers (they have a diverse diet) and understand a great deal about the Immaterium.  They even have some crude warp vessels, usually with purchased or stolen xeno tech in it.
*The Nicassar are another auxilia race that just happens to have psykers of their own, though their potency when compared to the big boys of the setting hasn't really been examined. Although for some reason BFG lore also established that they don’t even use FTL, they just piggyback on Tau ships. Before they met the Tau they would go into hibernation and travel at slower-than-light speeds between planets.

===Necrons===
The [[Necron]]s no longer have souls, so they have no presence in the Warp, and therefore can't manipulate it with their minds. And yet they have managed to conquer the Warp with technology. (Egyptian Skeleton Zombie Robots, Yeah!) They keep fucking up the Warp and psykers with the gloom prisms they mount on their spiders, pylons ([[Cadia|sounds familiar...]]), and even giant city-sized mechanisms that cut entire planets from the Warp. One in the ''Word Bearer'' novels even had this... thing, about the size of a resurrection orb, which blanketed an entire system in a "psychic black hole." Problem, daemons? 

Before the 5e fluff changes, they also had Pariahs, specialized soldiers made from Blanks that acted like [[Culexus]] assassins.

===Orks===
The [[Ork]]s are all passive psykers, or rather emanate their own gestalt "psykik" energy in the power of the WAAAGH!, though they're mostly unaware of this. A large number of Orks in one place will slightly alter reality to suit their wishes, turning jam-prone, dirty blunderbusses into [[Dakka|fully-automatic rifles of rape.]] [[Weirdboy|Weirdboyz]] are the only ones who can tap into it actively to manifest psychic powers, which have an amusing tendency to make Orks heads explode with absolutely no warning. As said above, the Orks draw psychic energy from each other, not from the [[Warp]], which makes them virtually immune to Chaotic influences(but not completely immune), although they do have a pretty serious presence in the Warp in the form of [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] (or maybe the other way round).

===Tyranids===
The [[Tyranid]]s are innate psykers and their collective power comes from the [[Hive Mind]], which is what the big bugs tap into to manifest psychic powers rather than the Warp, the same way a Weirdboy would tap into the WAAAGH!. Only a few bugs are capable of weaponizing the Hive Mind's psychic energy, the [[Zoanthrope]] being one such option for Tyranid psychic support. Few 'Nid species beyond the Zoanthrope are capable of firing [[Awesome|tank piercing mind-lasers]]; instead the other big bugs use their powers for buffs and a form of control called "synapse". Synapse is essentially the presence of the Tyranid Hive Mind being made manifest, allowing it to control and direct the lesser non-synaptic Tyranid creatures, as the non-synaptic creatures are essentially just soulless animals without any overarching will of their own beside their own instincts. In the presence of a synapse creature, such a being is then "ensouled" with the Hive Mind who acts through that creature's body. If the Hive Mind gets driven away from the horde through psychic shenanigans or the synapse bug gets killed, the synapse link collapses and the 'Nids turn feral, becoming essentially really dangerous wildlife. Before [[Genestealer|Genestealers]] got retconned into being Tyranids, [[Genestealer Magus|Genestealer Magi]] ''did'' use the power of the Warp to power their abilities and could dedicate themselves to Chaos. There's an image of a Khornate Magus in one of the Rogue Trader Chaos books, though that is nonsensical in itself given Khorne's views on psykers.