Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

== Psykers and How the Imperium Treats Them ==

The Rhetor Imperia didn't mean to build an army. They were teachers, after all. But, as the saying goes, spare the rod, get killed and eaten by daemons spilling forth from the mind of the child...

The threat of Chaos is still there, and still insidious. For those poor souls 'gifted' with psionic powers, a moment's carelessness could lead to their very soul being torn asunder, and their very flesh rendered into a portal for daemons to slip into the materium to sow terror. The only reprieve is that it is rare for psykers to manifest their abilities before the onset of puberty (But it is still horrifyingly possible for prodigies to manifest earlier). Because this is the Nobledark Imperium, generally speaking lynch mobs and witch hunts are frowned upon. Not that that doesn't happen, but it doesn't have state sponsorship. The Emperor generally prefers murder as a last resort, and done with a degree of professionalism.

Instead, the issue of psykers is approached more humanely, with agents attempting to identify potentials as young as possible to minimize their chances of causing damage to the Imperium. The approach to this problem was two fold- first, corral all possible problem children into facilities for inspection and safe sequestration until the black ships arise, and secondly, educate the populace (Responsibly) about these dangers, and what to do in case such happens.

In the name of efficiency, these two functions have been combined into one institution. From birth, all children of the Imperium are supposed to be offered a place in the Schola Vulgus to better themselves and learn proper moral values and skills to serve the Imperium better. The courses range from basic arithmetic to diagnosing warp corruption, from samples of Imperial literature to learning Xenos languages.

Black Ships are less hellish. They perform a service to the Imperium and everyone knows it. With the population knowledgeable about the basics of Chaos and the hazards of the Warp few if any psykers resist invitation to the Black Ships. They know that they are going to Earth to be made safe one way or the other and there is little to fear.

Because there is still a mass immigration/pilgrimage of Psykers to Old Earth the rejects who decide to stay and their descendants have started to build up somewhat in the population. Psychic talent and training is one of Old Earth's exports. Was 2nd to Prospero before the 4th Black Crusade and Rubric of Ahriman. Much of Prospero's psychic population ended up on Old Earth because they wanted to be among their own kind.

Some of the Craftworlds and planet dwelling Eldar Enclaves also offer basic making your shit safe training as it is in their interest to do so.

Psyker-heavy worlds like Old Earth and (formerly) Prospero also have dampening crystals that help young, uncontrolled psykers calm their minds and learn to control their powers without exploding into daemons. Problem is the crystals have to be made by growing them in a low-intensity psychic field over a period of several years (nearly 30 if you want a good one), and so are only really used on worlds that have a significant proportion of psykers. On top of that, the good crystals are the about the size of a large statue or a small building, so they're not really portable and the Imperium can't just stick one on every psyker and be done with it.