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Adeptus Astra Telepathica

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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. It 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.

The organization also has two known militant arms: the Templars Psykologis and the Sisters of Silence.

Only psykers who have received training from the Adeptus Astra Telepathica are sanctioned by the Imperium.

Scholastia Psykana

The Scholastia Psykana forms the training division of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. It is a school for psykers. Most of these psyker recruits are drawn from the levy collected by the Blackships, others are handed over by the Inquisition, the Arbites or through other channels. The psykers will usually receive training there for five years, before being sent for further training or service elsewhere. 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 and their willingness to serve the Emperor.

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).

The first ranking of pskyers - those whose powers and strength of character are sufficient to resist possession and daemonic corruption under normal circumstances are chosen to serve the Imperium in the highest capacities. The very young may be indoctrinated into the Space Marines as Librarians; the most talented may become Inquisitors or Grey Knights.

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 majority of the psykers that are discovered are trained for service as Astropaths (i.e. astrotelepaths). Astropaths are psykers specialised at interstellar communication, being able to send and receive telepathic messages over vast distances. The Astropaths form one of the cornerstones of the Imperium; without them, the constant flow of information back and forth through the Imperium that is necessary for its survival would be all but impossible.

The minority that are not given further training as Astropaths after the initial five year training at the Scholastia Psykana are given over to another part of the Imperium to fulfill other necessary roles wherever they are judged to be most useful; some are retained by the Adeptus Astra Telepathica for the Templars Psykologis division.

Normally, the most frighteningly powerful psykers are executed for the danger they present; some may instead be granted reprieve and sent to the Divisio Telepathica of the Adeptus Mechanicus, to provide the psychic energies for the exceptionally rare Psi-Titans.

Other powerful psykers are sent to the Inquisition for training as Inquisitors, a few are sent to the Officio Assassinorum to become Imperial Assassins.

League of Blackships

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 Black Ship 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 Black Ship nears a planet, its governor is instructed to prepare the customary levy - the "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.

Militant Arms

Templars Psykologis

The Templars Psykologis are one of the two known militant arms of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. Unlike the Sisters they are powerful psykers, trained to use their powers for a range of tasks in direct support of other organs of Imperial authority. They are primarily split into Disruption Squads and Auger Teams, the former to provide psychic in a combative capacity and the latter to provide passive intelligence gathering, both for when more conventional means are deemed insufficient or inappropriate.

Sisters of Silence

Main article: Sisters of Silence

The Sisters of Silence are the other known militant arm of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. However, rather than being psykers they are in fact Untouchables, and are used as specialised anti-psyker units.

Sources