Navigator
From Lexicanum
Navigators are a very particular kind of mutant absolutely necessary to the Imperium's continued survival.
Contents |
Overview
Those with the Navigator Gene have a third eye, commonly called the Warp Eye, on their foreheads. This enables them to see or sense the currents of the Warp. In addition, they also can easily live up to four hundred years of age, and as they grow and gain more control over their powers, their physical appearance changes: The white and iris of the eye gradually disappears, leaving only a hardened black orb.
Due to the amount of time they spend in the corrupting presence of the warp and the Navigators' need to marry among their own family to preserve their powers, mutation or deformity is common. Although remarkably resistant to mutation, Navigators tend to possess certain extreme traits, such as tall and spindly bodies or immense obesity, scaly skin, webbed fingers, pale and almost translucent skin, bulbous facial features, large ears, or withered limbs. If a child is born extremely mutated they might be hidden away or even killed at birth.
Navigators are considered psykers, but never possess any psychic powers other than those afforded to them by the Third Eye.
Every Navigator is a member of the Navis Nobilite, a powerful organization of the Navigator Families. The Navis Nobilite is exempt to many Imperial laws, and even the Inquisition tends to be careful in the handling of individual Navigators. However Navigators guilty of treason or something equally serious are hunted down without mercy. Such affairs are many times dealt internally before the Inquisition has any reason to act.
Origins
The Navis Nobilite is so ancient their exact origins have been forgotten. It is known that their origins go back to the Dark Age of Technology, to a time of genetic experimentation when many kinds of mutants were engineered to fulfill roles envisaged by their creators.
The unique gene that leads to the development of the warp eye in Navigators is known as the Navigator Gene. The gene itself can only be preserved by intermarriage, as it is lost when a Navigator breeds with an ordinary human. This factor has led to the development of the closely-related Navigator families.
The Warp Eye
Navigators gain a variety of powers from their Third Eye, but by far the most vital one is the ability to steer spacecraft through the warp. The Warp Eye allows the Navigators to see the currents of the Warp, and using the psychic beacon of the Astronomican as a guide, they are able to direct the ship through the dangerous environment, allowing Imperial ships to make far longer and accurate jumps than otherwise possible. They are the only ones, man or machine, with the ability to do this. Because of this unique talent they collectively hold a vital and powerful position within the Imperium.
Of course, the unique ability of the Navigators has its limits also. Outside the range of the guiding light of the Astronomican the Navigators are far more limited in their ability to guide a ship through the Warp. During the Macharian Crusade the grand conquest almost ground to a halt as the sight of the Navigators failed, when they could sense only darkness around them. Furthermore, there are places the Navigators avoid at almost every cost. Navigators will shun the Eye of Terror for thousands of light years around it rather than risk a minor deviation in course which might take them into its boundaries. Most Navigators have personal experience of close encounters with Chaos near the Eye of Terror, and many more can recall the names of others who traveled too close to the Eye in a foolish attempt to cut days from their journey time only to vanish forever.
The eye has other powers too, although these are employed far more rarely and are the subject of some mystique. These powers develop with the Navigator's experience of the Warp, so that they are most developed of all in the Heirs Apparent. It is said that the eye of a Navigator has prophetic powers and that it can literally see into the future. Navigators are very reluctant to talk about their powers, and it may well be that only the Paternova, leader of all Navigators, understands the full potential of a Navigator's abilities.
Not least of the warp eye's powers is its deadly ability; any one meeting the warp eye's gaze will be agonizingly killed; due to this Navigators keep their third eye covered with a bandanna or something similar, causing many people to doubt that the "third eye" even exists.
Notes
The concept of Navigators in 40K is similar to the Guild Navigators of the Dune universe.
Sources
- Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
- http://www.specialist-games.com/assets/Navigators.pdf
- White Dwarf 140, by Jervis Johnson, Andy Jones, Simon Forrest, Rick Priestley
- Codex Imperialis
