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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 and his advisory council.

The organization also has a militant arm known as the Sisters of Silence.

The Adeptus Astra Telepathica trains the majority of Imperial psykers, which become known as Sanctioned Psykers.

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 (referred to as primary psykers) are 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 discovered psykers form the second ranking of psykers. They are trained for service as Astropaths (i.e. astro-telepaths). Astropaths are psykers specialised at 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.

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 given over to the Adeptus Astronomica, a smaller organization in which the psychic recruits continue their training.

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 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 - 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.

Sisters of Silence

Main article: Sisters of Silence

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

Sources