Major Classes of Sanctified Psykers Serving the Imperium of Man
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Sanctioned Psykers | Lowest tier of Imperial psykers, drawn from the Black Ships. Heavily conditioned, psycho-indoctrinated, and used in battlefield or logistical roles. Often expendable. |
| Primaris Psykers | Elite Sanctioned Psykers within the Astra Militarum. Command potent Warp powers and are better equipped, better trained, and (slightly) more trusted than their lesser kin. |
| Astropaths | Psykers who have undergone the Soul Binding ritual, allowing them to transmit messages through the Warp across interstellar distances. Spiritually burned but revered. |
| Space Marine Librarians | Warrior-psykers of the Adeptus Astartes. Serve as battle-leaders, loremasters, and psychic juggernauts. Organized in strict hierarchies by rank (Lexicanium, Epistolary, etc.). |
| Custodes Shield-Captain Psykers (rare) | Extremely rare Custodians with psychic talent. While most rely solely on martial skill, these psykers wield Warp power with terrifying precision under absolute control. |
| Inquisitorial Psykers | Inquisitors or their acolytes with psychic ability. Unlike most psykers, they are not tightly restricted — they use their powers with wide discretion and authority. May be radical or self-taught. |
| Theomancers | Ecclesiarchal psykers whose powers are shaped entirely by faith and divine symbolism. They manifest miracles, divine wrath, or blessings through absolute belief in the God-Emperor. Their abilities are often indistinguishable from sanctioned psychic phenomena but are interpreted as divine acts, especially by the faithful. |
| Lobotomized Psykers | Psykers deemed too unstable or dangerous for conscious deployment are subjected to “Final Preparation” — surgical and psychic lobotomization. Stripped of will and identity, they are fused into Imperial infrastructure: used in astropathic choirs, to stabilize Gellar Fields during warp travel, or as psychic batteries for experimental psi-engines of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Though they no longer possess agency, their psychic potency remains a vital resource. |
Major Classes of Unsanctioned Psykers within the Imperium
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Lucky Ones | Individuals whose psychic abilities are weak, latent, or subconscious. Their powers typically manifest only during moments of extreme stress or emotion, often going unnoticed by routine psychic screening. While many remain unaware of their abilities, others are quietly protected or hidden by local communities. |
| Rogue Psykers | Imperial citizens whose psychic powers awakened after official screening. Some live in hiding, while others serve covertly in Imperial factions. Though not formally sanctioned, many remain loyal to the Imperium and attempt to control or limit their powers. |
| Renegade Psykers | Unregistered psykers who have fully embraced their abilities without Imperial oversight. They often act in their own interest, forming cabals, cults, or mercenary circles. Though not always aligned with Chaos, their actions and influence are frequently destabilizing or subversive. |
| Witches | Psykers who have fallen under the sway of the Warp or openly serve the Ruinous Powers. Whether through desperation, ambition, or seduction, they become conduits for daemonic influence and corruption. Hunted by the Inquisition, they pose the gravest threat to the Imperium and the soul alike. |
| Wild-Talents | Untrained psykers born in fringe worlds or Hive underlevels, often developing unpredictable or unique Warp interactions. Their abilities are unstable, dangerous, and often misunderstood — attracting daemons, warp phenomena, or unwanted attention. Few survive to become Renegade Psykers without guidance or containment. |
| Void-Woken | Individuals whose powers emerged during prolonged exposure to Warp storms, unnatural energies, or xenos technology. Their psychic resonance is uncommon or irregular, sometimes beyond even the Black Ships’ recognition protocols. Considered dangerously unpredictable and often wxwcuted on sight. |
| Unsane | The broken wrecks of minor psykers who obsessively mutter and recite the unintelligible whispers of the Warp they constantly hear — a stream of fragmented knowledge that drowns out all rational thought. Though widely dismissed as mad vagrants, their ritual-like gatherings around burning refuse heaps in ruined hive-blocks have drawn Inquisitorial surveillance and purges for millennia. Suspecting a greater Warp-borne conspiracy festering among their madness, waiting to be revealed. |
The Enemy: Major Classes of Inhuman Psykers
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Neverborn (Daemons) | Entities born directly from the Warp, shaped by the will of a Chaos God or undivided Chaos. Though not psykers in the conventional biological sense, their powers mimic and surpass psychic abilities, operating on pure immaterium principle. Each daemon is a self-aware fragment of divine will, capable of projection, possession, warping reality, or binding lesser minds. |
| Chaos Space Marine Sorcerers | Former Astartes who have embraced the Eightfold Path, mastering Warpcraft and daemonology,. Some serve Tzeentch, the god of change and knowledge, while others wield power in defiance of all. Their disciplines often blend psychic science with arcane ritualism, and many lead warbands or covens across the stars. Capable of immense Warp manipulation. |
| Eldar Warlocks | Psyker-aspects of Eldar who walk the Path of the Seer and master psychic warcraft through will and discipline. Warlocks are battle-psykers who weave their powers into aggressive or protective uses, tightly governed by rune-craft to avoid possession by Slaanesh. |
| Eldar Farseers | Among the most powerful mortal psykers in the galaxy. These seers use precognition, fate-weaving, and mental manipulation to guide entire Craftworlds. They rarely use brute psychic force, instead influencing events across decades or centuries through subtle projection and warp-anchored ritual. |
| Ork Weirdboyz | Orkish psykers whose power grows in direct relation to the number of nearby Orks, as they unconsciously channel the collective Waaagh! field. Their powers are raw, explosive, and chaotic, often as dangerous to allies as to enemies. They do not study the Warp — they are simply living conductors of it. |
| Rak’Gol Techno-Shamans | Psychically resonant xenos from deep space, combining Warp sensitivity with cybernetic augmentation. Their shaman-priests are believed to tap into the Warp through techno-organic ritual, enabling limited foresight, energy projection, and Warp-enhanced physical control. |
| Tyranid Zoanthropes | Genetically engineered synapse creatures bred specifically for focused psychic attack. They channel devastating Warp-lances and shields through their biomorph brains, acting as psychic artillery and battlefield control nodes. |
| Tyranid Neurothropes | An evolved variant of the Zoanthrope, specializing in psychic energy absorption and redistribution. They feed on the mental energy of other beings, growing more powerful with each consumed mind. Their projection is parasitic and inherently alien. |
| Genestealer Magus | The psychic priest-caste of a Genestealer Cult, gifted with mind control, telepathy, and Warp-sorcery. They serve both as spiritual leaders and strategic anchors, spreading the will of the Patriarch and drawing on latent Warp pathways to manipulate reality and infiltrate societies. |
| Grimnyr (Leagues of Votann) | The Grimnyr are psyker-priests of the Leagues of Votann. They channel Warp energy through ancient technological runes and cog-rituals, enabling precise, defensive, and support-oriented powers. Heavily protected by Ironkin attendants, Grimnyr avoid the spiritualist or mystical approaches of other psykers, instead treating Warp manipulation as a disciplined extension of logic and ancestral instruction. Their powers are often subtle but highly reliable. |
Combat Psykers – Standard level, drawn from Black Ships, heavily indoctrinated, used in the Astra Militarum and other roles.
- Primary disciples: Pyromancy, Biomancy or Telekinesis,
- Affinities: Fire, Healing, Particular substance
- Weakness: Unless affinity is involved power cannot be projected.
Inuntiles
- Primary disciples:
- Affinities:
- Weakness:
Primaris Psykers – Elite enlisted psykers in the Astra Militarum, possessing stronger Warp abilities and more trust.
- Primary disciples: Warplightning, Soul Ward
- Affinities: Battlefield
- Weakness:
Astropaths – Undergo the Soul Binding ritual to transmit thoughts across interstellar distances, revered yet spiritually taxed.
- Primary disciples: Astropathic Communion, Telepathy, Divinations or Soul Ward
- Affinities: Messages
- Weakness:
Space Marine Librarians – Warrior-psykers serving in the Adeptus Astartes, structured by ranks like Lexicanium or Epistolary.
- Primary disciples: Pyromancy, Biomancy, Telekinesis, Warplightning,
- Affinities: Daemons
- Weakness:
Grey Knights –
- Primary disciples:
- Affinities:
- Weakness:
Custodes Shield-Captain Psykers – Extremely rare psykers among the Adeptus Custodes wielding disciplined Warp powers.
- Primary disciples:
- Affinities:
- Weakness:
Inquisitorial Psykers – Employed by the Inquisition with significant autonomy and scope—often radical or self-taught.
- Primary disciples:
- Affinities:
- Weakness:
Theomancers – Ecclesiarchy-aligned, faith-driven psykers whose abilities are interpreted as divine miracles.
- Primary disciples: Divinations,
- Affinities: Emperor’s Tarot
- Weakness: Unable to learn Pyromancy, Biomancy, Telekinesis or warplightning Psychic Disciples
Lobotomized Psykers – Psykers deemed unstable and surgically removed of their agency; used in Gellar Fields and Psi-titans—and still potent sources of Warp energy.