Astropath
From Lexicanum
An Astropath (short for "astro-telepath") is a specially-trained psychic servant of the Imperium. They form the Imperium's vast interstellar communications network, and are vital for keeping the widely scattered worlds comprising the Imperium connected. They are capable of sending and receiving psychic messages across interstellar space. The messages travel through the warp, and are faster than light, but not instantaneous.
Astropaths belong to the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, but by their nature can be found in almost every Imperial organization and throughout the Imperium, whether it is on an Imperial world or a spacecraft, research station, outpost, etc. As the most important Imperial psykers, they also account for the vast majority (over 90%) of psykers in Imperial service.1 They are distinguished by their green robes, and their sunken and empty eye sockets.
Astropaths receive their training at the Adeptus Astra Telepathica; they are selected from the second ranking of the psykers collected by the Imperium's Blackships, from those psykers whose powers are considerable, but whose mental strength is insufficient to resist the danger of daemonic possession. They must undergo a special process known as the soul-binding ritual, which shapes their powers as well as enabling them to withstand the attentions of predatory warp entities.
Before they receive the soul-binding they receive basic psychic training which prepares them for the process; they also learn to read the Emperor's Tarot, how to cast horoscopes, and the practices of cheiromancy and augury of all kinds.
Only the Emperor is powerful enough to perform the soul-binding. Astropaths are led before the Emperor, where he reshapes their very minds a hundred at a time. The psykers are knelt before the Emperor and must endure several hours of agony as the Emperor reshapes their minds, mingling a tiny fraction of his immeasurable power with their own. The Emperor's mind is so powerful that some do not survive the traumatic ritual despite years of preparatory training, and not all who survive retain their sanity. All have their personalities altered to some extent.
Those who survive are almost invariably blinded; some may also lack other senses, such as touch, smell or hearing. However, the loss of their physical senses is generally made up by their increased psychic senses. The process gives the Astropath some measure of resistance against daemonic possession, and the ability for which they were chosen, to send and receive psychic messages.
Related articles
Sources
- 1:Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
- Codex Imperialis (1993), by Rick Priestley, pp. 36-37
- Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition Rulebook
- White Dwarf 140, Jervis Johnson, Andy Jones, Simon Forrest and Rick Priestley
