Adeptus Astra Telepathica

Symbol of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica

The Adeptus Astra Telepathica is an organization of the Adeptus Terra, responsible for the recruitment and training of psykers into the service of the Imperium. The Adeptus Astra Telepathica trains the majority of Imperial psykers, which become known as Sanctioned Psykers.

Organization

The Adeptus Astra Telepathica is divided into a recruitment body (the League of Blackships) and a training body (the Scholastia Psykana). These two are united under the Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica and his advisory council of several hundred senior officials from the two divisions.

Before the end of the Horus Heresy, this division within the Imperium held the City of Sight as its headquarters where psykers were taken to its mindhalls for testing. Inside these iron clad halls, the psykers took their first steps in the soul binding ritual and further recruitment into the astropathic choirs.³

League of Blackships

Template:Lex-De The League of Blackships forms the recruiting division, consisting of a substantial fleet charged with collecting and transporting psykers.

The Blackships are feared transports filled with mournful psykers held in cavernous, psi-shielded holds to be taken back to Terra to feed the voracious psychic appetite of the Emperor. Only those with the strength of mind to withstand the constant soul-numbing despair that permeates the Blackship may crew it, so mentally traumatic is such duty.

The Blackship fleet travels constantly throughout the Imperium. Each Imperial world is visited every hundred years or so by a Blackship. When a Blackship nears a planet, its governor is instructed to prepare the customary levy - a tithe of psykers. Once the levy has been collected, the Blackship Captains make an initial evaluation of their cargo before proceeding to the next world in their circuit. When the ships are full they return to Terra and the psykers are transferred to the Scholastia Psykana before the ship leaves again to continue in their eternal search. It is common for Inquisitors to travel on board these ships, as this gives them a good opportunity to investigate a planet's potential for psychically-based corruption.

Scholastia Psykana

The Scholastia 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.

Most of the psyker recruits are drawn from the levy collected by the Blackships, others are handed over by the Inquisition, the Adeptus Arbites or through other 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, character and willingness to learn. The youngest are preferred by the Scholastia Psykana, as these are easiest to train and indoctrinate. It is invariably those recruited as children that are given further training to fill important positions in the Imperium (one well known example is the Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor).

Those deemed weak in character or psychic power, too dangerous or old are instead sacrificed to the Emperor, their souls leeched from their bodies to sustain the Father of Mankind.

The first ranking of pskyers (referred to as primary psykers) are those whose powers and strength of character are sufficient to resist possession and daemonic corruption under normal circumstances, and are chosen to serve the Imperium in the highest capacities. After receiving five years of basic training at the Scholastia, they are sent for further training and service in another Imperial organization depending on where their abilities are judged best suited. The very young may be indoctrinated into the Space Marines as Librarians; some may enter the Imperial Guard to begin their training as Primaris battle-psykers; the most talented may become Inquisitors or Grey Knights.

The majority of the discovered psykers form the second ranking of psykers. They are trained for service as Astropaths (i.e. astro-telepaths). Astropaths are psykers specialised in interstellar communication, being able to send and receive telepathic messages over vast distances. The Astropaths perform one of the vital tasks in the Imperium; psychic communications is the only practical means of communications in the galaxy-spanning Imperium.

Some primary and secondary ranking psykers are given over to the Adeptus Astronomica, a smaller organization in which the psychic recruits continue their training.

Sources

• Codex Imperialis (1993), by Rick Priestley, p. 36
• White Dwarf 140 (1991), Space Fleet, by Jervis Johnson, Andy Jones, Simon Forrest and Rick Priestley
• ³:The Voice by James Swallow