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Emperor's Tarot

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The Emperor's Tarot (aka Imperial Tarot) is a pack of seventy-eight psychoactive liquid-crystal wafers that are linked to the thoughts of the Emperor. The Tarot, commonly believed to have been designed by the Emperor himself, is used throughout the Imperium as a form of divination.

There are major arcana trumps and four suits of lesser arcanoi[12]: Discordia, Adeptio, Creatio and Mandatio.[10a] Discordia is the suit of strife, but can also signify authority. These cards contain enemies of the Imperium, xenos and warp entities. Adeptio is the suit of vigorous work, heroes, servants and great deeds. Creatio is the suit of fertility. Mandatio is the suit of government, stability, wealth and leadership.[10a][13] Many different decks have been produced over time and sometimes these decks use different names for some cards or entire suits. The suits called Executeria (Arcana of the unknown, exploration, future and mind)[13] and Concordia[7] are two examples. Other decks even use some major arcans as parts of a suit.[13]

Practice

The cards are laid up-side down and then turned. As they are turned they are read and interpreted by the reader. The second and fourth cards drawn are signifiers, bringing clarity to the ones preceding them. When drawn upside down, the meaning of the card changes dramatically; the complete opposite to the non-inverse version of the card.[1]

Sanctioned Psykers that specialize in the reading of the Emperor's Tarot are known as Theomancers.[4]

Known Cards

Known cards are:

  • High Priest[8b] - An unknown deck uses this card as The High Priest of Mandatio[13]
  • Emperor / The God-Emperor[1][8a][12] - An unknown deck uses this card as The Emperor of Mandatio[13]
  • The Harlequin (of Discordia)[8a][13]
  • The Kraken (of Discordia)[13]
  • The Savage (of Discordia)[13]
  • The Warlock[13]
  • The Mutant[13]
  • The Heretic[13]
  • Inquisitor (of Mandatio)[8a][10a]
  • The Judge (of Mandatio)[13]
  • The Assassin (of Adeptio)[11a][13]
  • The Space Marine / Astarte (of Adeptio)[10a][13]
  • The Warrior (of Adeptio)[13]
  • The Commander (of Adeptio)[13]
  • Squat (of Creatio)[10a]
  • Navigator (of Creatio)[10a]
  • The Daemon (Major Arcana)[8a] / The Fiend[14] - An unknown deck uses this card as The Daemon of Discordia[13]
  • The Hulk (Major Arcana)[8a] - An unknown deck uses this card as The Hulk of Executeria[13]
  • Warped Renegade[8b] / Chaos Renegade (of Discordia)[10a]
  • Galaxy (Major Arcana)[8b]
  • Star (Major Arcana)[8b]
  • Knight (of Mandatio)[8a]
  • The Preacher[13]
  • The Chaplain[13]
  • Sword / The Blade[14]
  • Emperor's Throne[15a] / The Throne
  • Eye of Horus[15a] / The Traitor[9a][13]
  • The Great Hoste[15a]
  • The Shattered World[15a] / Shatter'd World[7]
  • Galactic Lens[15a]
  • The Great Eye[1]
  • The Despoiler[1]
  • Jackal[2a]
  • Lost Child[2a]
  • The Ragged Fool[5]
  • The Magus (of Executeria)[2b][13]
  • The Astropath (of Executeria)[13]
  • The Fabricator (of Executeria)[13]
  • The Labyrinthine Path[5]
  • The Moon[5][12]
  • The Martyr[5][12]
  • The Monster[5][12]
  • The Lightning Tower[5][12]
  • Guilliman's Wrath[6]
  • The Blind Seer[6]
  • The Nova[6]
  • The Lords of Terra[6]
  • The Young Warrior[6]
  • The Fortress of Faith[6]
  • The Dishonoured Scion[6]
  • The Dark King[5][12]
  • The Lord of Swords[1]
  • The Supplicant[1]
  • The Executioner[1]
  • The Silver Door[6]
  • The Crone[6]
  • The Pilgrim[5]
  • Death[7][12][14]
  • Illumination[7]
  • The Familia Humana[7]
  • The Justicar[7]
  • The Mond Primitif[7]
  • Battleship[7]
  • Rogue Trader[7]
  • Aquila[7]
  • Knight of Concordia[7]
  • The Magos[7]
  • The Angel Primarch[9a] / The Steadfast Angel[7]
  • The Guardsman[7]
  • The Lantern[7]
  • Revelation[7]
  • The Warp[9a]
  • The Falling Star[9a]
  • The Starship - it has a subform called The Pilgrim Vessel.[9b]
  • The Fallen Citadel[9b]
  • The Abyss[14]

Horus' deck

When Horus and the Emperor engaged in battle against one another at the climax of the Siege of Terra aboard the Vengeful Spirit, their clash was both physical and metaphysical. It included a psychic duel of tarot cards, many of which Horus remarked were specifically created by him with the help of the Gods of Chaos.[7]

New cards played by Horus included:[7]

  • Eight of Pentacles
  • Occulted Orphan
  • The Revenger
  • Exterminatus
  • Neverness
  • Dreadful Sagittary

The God-Emperor

  • A Body, browned with age and blackened in death, sits locked within a great throne of gold, steel and brass. The corpse's mouth is open, projecting a silent scream that echoes through the unseen layers of the universe. Before the howling cadaver, a legion of angels kneels, crying violet tears.
  • When drawn from the deck, this card speaks of warp travel, of discovery, of hope in the cold depths of space.
  • When drawn upside down, it foretells of the warp's malign touch infecting the servants of the Imperium. A hopeless war. Death from the far reaches of space.

The Great Eye

  • An eye. The Eye. A wound in reality, an open scar in space where the bruise-purple and blood-red eye of Chaos leers into the galaxy. The stars die around the Eye: some fading into cold blackness, others bursting in white hot torment. The Eye stares dully, little emotion beyond distant hate. But the nebula flares, tendrils spreading across space. The Eye has opened.
  • To draw this card is to foretell of war against Chaos.

The Despoiler

  • The galaxy burns. A figure stands in ancient armor, wreathed in a billion screaming souls that encircle him like mist. In its right gauntlet, Holy Terra blackens and crumbles. A demigod's blood drips from the talons. In the dim reaches of the vision, almost an afterthought, a distant howling light fades into darkness and silence. The figure smiles for the first time in ten thousand years.
  • When drawn, the Despoiler card is the bane of life, the truest indicator of the coming loss and unavoidable bloodshed for the Imperium of Man.
  • Inversed, A rival for the Despoiler. Someone destine to stand against the Archenemy's machinations.


Interpretations

  • The combination of the Eye of Horus with the Great Hoste, the Shattered World above the Emperor's Throne inversed, and the Galactic Lens inversed is known to be a very bad one. It signifies the gathering of the powers of Chaos and the death of worlds.[15a]

Other Uses

Tarot is a card game, with rules similar to poker, popular on many Imperial worlds. Known cards include The Emperor, The Primarch and The Inquisitor.[3]

Notes

Linguistically speaking, Concordia is the opposite of Discordia. Since Discordia contains enemies of the Imperium, while Adeptio contains benevolent figures for the Imperium, it's possible to assume that Concordia is an alternative name for Adeptio.

Sources