Teacher of the cursed: A Warhammer 40k Psyker School Quest.
- Thread starter Mayto
- Start date
No.
*shovels some more crackers into his mouth*
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well it's not just a meme vote, being in peak physical health will have many benefits both for us and any students we put through the same process. They will have a better survival rate due to being able to deal with the rigors of the battlefield and military life. They will also have a better mental state due to an increased physical health which should help their stability at least a small amount.
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
- Location
- At Home
Mayto said that even without either option we'd be at the fitness of an office worker that actually uses the gym membership they bought for a New Year's resolution.
- Location
- Denton, Texas
Lol Muscle Magic for the Win. We are not just a telekinetic Alpha(minus) but we are jacked as shit while being from terra. So we immediately covered some deficiencies but now we are kinda not recognizable as a frail wizard anymore
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
- Location
- At Home
Kai isn't from Terra, though. Like the overwhelming bulk of Sanctioned Psykers, he was brought there for training.
That argument is bullshit for two reasons;
*Every single choice in that vote was equally beneficial and provided something that fulfills the exact same purposes (helping us survive and teach students) in different ways, except maybe the Tarot. There were no trap choices there, as far as any of us questors can tell. I can rationalize the fuck out of all those options (except Tarot) and if I gave sufficient shits to try I'm confident I could do it better, but when all options are equally rhetorically-fuckable there's no objective reason to try and spin it that hard.
Hence, my statement about not being inherently opposed.
*Anybody who cares to can scroll back through the last few pages and see the memes right there.
Do I need to copy paste the memes into this post to remind you, or are you capable of scrolling through thread pages yourself?
Last edited:
Stop trying to put words in my mouth - I never said the swole vote was "just memes".
- Location
- Europe
The memes mattered with a difference of just two votes.
Saying that the winning plan was just a meme choice is wrong, but so is not considering the memes as an important part behind the results.
And I think this would have been the results of a further discussion.
Saying that the winning plan was just a meme choice is wrong, but so is not considering the memes as an important part behind the results.
And I think this would have been the results of a further discussion.
- Location
- My house, probably
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Is not getting salty really that difficult? It's just one vote and Mayto won't give us trap options this early, if ever. Like sure, I get it, I voted for the runner-up, but I don't think this is something to get worked up over. Besides, we can always work on mental wards, blank resistance, tarot readings, and all the other things later in the quest.
Nicholas Brooks
Redeemer and Destroyer
- Location
- United States
Except that they're still considered to be humans. Just mutated in both a useful and dangerous way. Ironically, it'd be much worse for internal logic if they were not considered human since then you are constantly sending some kind of alien or daemon into the Emperor's presence as nourishment.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Vote has been closed for awhile.
williams1996
Alba gu bràth
- Location
- Scotland
my bad never noticed
ok swole/built different stuff aside. It is astonishingly beneficial to be fit and to be soldier peak fit more so. Mental health/physical health and social health all are improved by being fit and while I cannot say for certain it makes sense to me that being fit would also make us better at controlling our powers due to them being affected by levels of fatigue or strain the body can handle. So yeah good for us to get that.
Biomancy same line. Up our physicality=mentality=able to handle our powers better. This is I believe is the best avenue for power that also actually won't cause our head to explode.
Biomancy same line. Up our physicality=mentality=able to handle our powers better. This is I believe is the best avenue for power that also actually won't cause our head to explode.
Why? Would I suddenly start agreeing with those posters?
- Location
- Europe
Honestly, I don't like the shouting of "salt" everytime a vote end and some discussions start.
It makes it nearly impossible to talk about how we are supposed to make better plans and improve from errors. The opposite of the closest equivalent to quests, ironically. Instead, that work gets eventually pushed near exclusively on the shoulders of some know planners of the quest, if we are lucky.
Though, as we are still in the character generation chapters, every retrospective on the votes chosen should wait the end of this phase.
- Location
- My house, probably
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I get that, hell I would normally agree, but something about immediately complaining about "meme votes" the instant one's preferred options doesn't win a vote seems just a tad salty to me.
Sector creation
- Location
- Netherlands
[X]Plan: Barbarian Wizard
-[X] Used Biomancy to prepare your lungs for a return to Terra
-[X] Intense physical therapy and training
During the six month journey to Terra, you ferociously exercised under the watchful eyes of the Black Sentinels, working on your physique. Most of that time passed in a drugged haze as the Magos Biologis administered injections that gave you all the energy you needed to exercise to your limit.
You gain the trait:
Excellent Physique:
While you are not a wall of muscle, you are tall, lean, and very fit. Your training has primarily been for endurance and genuine strength. You can easily match a professional soldier in fitness.
You'd never done Biomancy before, but you are happy to say that you made some decent progress in shaping your body with your psychic power. You tightened up your muscles, healed your lungs, and even found out how to increase the rate at which you burn fat.
You gain the trait:
Biomantic Upkeep:
Thanks to your use of biomancy your muscles do not weaken, minor injuries can be healed quickly, and you're always in excellent health.
With your physique improved, even your limited biomancy is enough to keep you at that peak, with minimal effort needed to maintain a body that blunts would need to dedicate all their time to.
The Voyage of the Gifted entered Sol at the Neptunian Mandeville Point, and was immediately met with three demands for identification, followed by a dozen ships targeting you with their lance batteries. Battlefleet Sol was as pro-active as ever, and you nodded in approval at the efficient way in which they destroyed another ship that failed to transmit the right clearance codes. Once the clearance codes were received, a priority trajectory to Terra was plotted in by the savants of Battlefleet Sol.
At any one second, the massive cogitators of Mars and Battlefleet Sol's defensive stations coordinated and calculated which orbits were the fastest from any planet in the system to Holy Terra or Mars. These lanes were for usage by the Adeptus Terra alone, and even then, they were distributed according to priority. When you arrived, you were out of position to immediately move into one of these priority lanes, and so the automated systems ensured that there would be no ships in your way.
The Inner Planets of Sol were so cramped that parts of it were organized like roads, with ships following strict flight plans and moving in each other's engine wakes with just enough distance to only scorch the paint. A million battle stations, inhabited by hereditary voidborn families guarded the inner planets, ensuring each ship moved in accordance with their flight paths.
Hundreds of ships were ordered to slow down or adjust their heading as part of the automated systems guiding Voyage onto a priority transfer orbit reserved for official Adeptus Terra Business. In later days, you learned that this disrupted the flight path of a food delivery by a bulk cargo hauler, leading to a bloody food riot that killed fifty thousand people.
From orbit, Terra was a featureless grey ball with a handful of hive spires sticking out through the thick layers of smog. The weather was particularly bad this season, and not even the Imperial Palace could be seen from orbit. At least, to those without soulsight.
For those with it. The City of Sight burned like a pillar of psychic fire from the millions of Psykers currently training within its walls, and the Hollow Mountain in its centre, the location from which the Adeptus Astronomicon ensured that the psychic beacon operated at optimal efficiency.
As your shuttle descended, you got a close look at the Hollow Mountain and thought that one of the greatest theological debates regarding the Emperor was the matter of the Astronomicon.
All imperial citizens who received an Adeptus Terra approved education learned that the Emperor powered and controlled the celestial beacon that enabled mankind to travel the stars unopposed. He guided the light from His Throne, as he guided His people through the trials and tribulations of a tumultuous galaxy.
But. Official Ministorum orthodoxy also stated that the Emperor had only ascended to the Golden Throne after defeating the Arch-Devil Horus and banishing the eight devils of the outer darkness.
If that was the case, then when had the Astronomican been built? Had it been constructed before the Great Heresy War, and powered itself? Had He guided it from afar? Or had he called it into existence when he ascended? If it had only been guided by the Emperor after his ascension, then how had the Master of Mankind and his nine sons travelled the galaxy to wage war upon the Xenos and liberate mankind?
It was something you had pondered for many long nights during your education, debating fellow acolytes regarding the history of Terra.
Through the shuttle's windows, you could see a great rift carved into the earth leading to the Imperial Palace itself. The rift was a thousand kilometres wide, and many times as deep. In it ran a massive cable made from a world's worth of psi-conductive fibre. And that was just the visible cabling. Fortresses the size of mountains were built along the length of the cable, each guarded by a garrison of a hundred thousand Palatine Sentinels that traced their descent to families which had served on Terra since the Great Heresy War.
Deep below the hive strata of Terra, power generators the size of hive spires had been constructed, powering the systems that regulated the flow of psychic energy from the Throne. Massive psychic amplifier stations had been built along the length of the many cables, each channelling energy from the Golden Throne through capacitors that contained enough psychic energy to make living within two hundred kilometres of them a death sentence.
Once the Hollow Mountain had been an actual mountain, but precious little of the ancient rock was visible now. Massive hive spires of psi-active machinery rise around the hollow mountain like a massive clawed hand, each humming with psychic energy as they modulated the signal. An army of a million Tech Priests and Psyker-Artisans worked on the Hollow Mountain itself at any one time, continually adding additional generators and conducting repairs upon components that had long ago begun to fail.
Reactors with coils the size of imperial battlestations stuck out of the ground, multiples of each feeding power into the Hollow Mountain. Even with the best technology available, oceans of reactor fuel and cooling liquid were landed every day at a hundred landing platforms around the Hollow Mountain, ensuring that each generator and their backup was always topped off.
Hives that matched forge worlds in industrial output were connected to the flow of detritus and used reactor fluid and pollution created by the Hollow Mountain, processing everything into new goods and recycling the fluids, until all that remained was a stream of smoke which had been filtered of all usable elements.
The automated guns of the outer Imperial Palace tracked the shuttle as it passed overhead, and multiple sets of clearance codes had to be transmitted just to approach the City of Sight. Built within the outer reaches of the continent-sized palace, the City of Sight had been the home of the Imperium's finest Psykers since Terran Reunification. There were workshops here which dated back to the city's founding, still run by extended families that reliably produced Psyker-Artisans who crafted the finest psi-implants and focus-weaponry in the Imperium.
Like all of Terra, the City of Sight was built on, inside, and on top of the ancient city that had once stood here. It was truly a city in its own right, with its own internally controlled affairs and a permanent population that provided the Telepathica with menial labour. Your head thrummed as you looked down on a crowd composed of thousands of epsilon-grade Psykers fitted with blockers and moving away from the morning refectory to their classes. There were a myriad of campuses, each training those Sanctioned Psykers who achieved full stability during training or following service as Wyrdvanes.
The shuttle headed for a landing pad outside the Obsidian Keep, the inner citadel of the City of Sight from which the Master of the Astra Telepathica and their advisors organised their vital duties. You had passed two decades of service as a Primaris Psyker and made it out with your mental stability intact, so you could expect great things in your future. Perhaps you might be granted control of a campus in the city? The shuttle set itself down outside the section of the Obsidian Keep reserved for the Telekines.
Terra's atmosphere was as foul as ever as you walked down the landing platform towards the massive stone door. In the City of Sight, it had a permanent tinge of ozone from the energies being manifested, and ash from the crematoriums processing Psykers who were consumed by their powers.
Each of the five Disciplines had their own section of the Keep, ruled by a 'Primaris Ultimatum Psykana', the greatest mortal practitioner of their specific discipline. These all had a large following of Primaris Psykers that had transitioned to teaching and managerial roles. To enter the halls of one of the Primaris Ultimatum required a Primaris Psyker of their discipline to open the way.
The entrance to the Pyromancers Quarter was a raging inferno which had to be doused. The Biomancers closed off their sections through hallways filled with toxins that had to be continually cleansed as a person passed. The Diviners had to divine which entrance would not be filled with poison gas. The Telepaths had to modify the minds of servitor turrets to avoid being gunned down.
The Telekines used a Rock. Two squads of Black Sentinels stood on each side of a doorway, the front rank held their lances, while the rear held hellguns. They guarded a massive stone slab set in rails that ran to the side. Five metres tall, five metres wide, and a metre thick, without a single piston or pneumatic in sight. To enter, one needed a Telekine to lift the rock, pass beneath, and then gently set the rock down.
Dropping the rock traditionally resulted in merciless mockery
You lifted the slab and passed through the hallway.
Upon entering, you were immediately beset by a small pack of servants that guided you towards a private chamber set aside for you. They replaced your worn clothes, provided maintenance for your cybernetics, and thoroughly cleaned you.
Your Name is Kai Zestus, and you are a Beta-Grade Imperially Sanctioned Telekine.
This makes you an incredibly rare and valuable individual. One of the rare Psykers with your grade that has not been driven mad.
As you look in the mirror, the last of the servants departing now that you've been made presentable, you take a moment to reflect on just who you are and what you have become.
Your life has always been difficult, growing up in the impoverished lower levels of an Imperial Hive World, living off petty crime and street violence.
You flinch as you remember the faces of your brothers that died when your power awakened. The memories are almost out of reach, like valuables kept behind a pane of glass. The post-traumatic stress disorder you'd developed from the experience has long since been excised with hypno-therapy and psycho-indoctrination. All that remains is the memory and lingering sadness.
Your life should have ended there, lynched by an angry crowd like so many of your kind.
But look at you now.
You were saved by a good man that went out of his way to rescue you, and who put you on a path towards greatness.
Once you wore ragged clothes, now you are clad in fine black robes, spun of silk grown in the botanical gardens of the City of Sight, woven with blessed silver thread that dampen your psychic aura. Your Psi-Focus has been cleansed and restored, now looking like an elegant silver skin on the back of your head, connected to the psi-active weave in your nervous system, and connected to your spine by a ponytail of cables, wrapped in silver wire. Some of your hair is starting to come back, and you might extend your scalp back over the entire top of the Focus, and undergo a hair growth procedure.
In the mirror stands a true Psyker Lord of the Astra Telepathica. A human with the rank and authority of minor nobles. One who wields the power to crush a regiment of foes. You smile as you adjust the scruff of your robes. If you rise through the ranks, you might even be granted your own fief and a noble title.
You are concerned, yes. But you're ready for what is to come.
The man across from you reaches for another serving of dried tea leaves from the small stasis container and adds it to the large bowl he is preparing. The leaves are from Chogoris, home of the legendary White Scars Space Marines, and were transported using the most reliable stasis fields the Imperium could still produce.
The room is somewhat small and sparsely decorated, more like an office than a meeting room of one of the most influential men in the Imperium. Then again, most of the decorations are made of real wood. As is the contents of the fireplace. Burning real wood on Terra is an incredible display of wealth. Although the scent from the burning wood does put you at ease, and you wonder if there's psionic affects.
His every motion is precise. The man is tall and lean, his skin having the grey pallor of one who has breathed in too much of Terra's poisoned atmosphere. Delicate augmentics are threaded beneath a scalp of flowing grey hair. There is still some strength in his vulpine features. The man's eyes are cybernetics, but so fine you could only recognize them through the lack of psychic energy that flowed through that part of his body.
He is a Delta Telepath. But his power has been sharpened to perfection, trained to a point that he's able to be one of the most effective diplomats in the Imperium. "I listened to the reports regarding your extrication myself, Adept." Magna Zahn Uldo, Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica says with a smile. He pours you a cup of tea and offers it to you. "I am satisfied that we managed to extract you from that fool."
You know little about the Master, besides that he awakened later in life and had already received comprehensive diplomatic training. The man had convinced the five Primaris Ultimatum that he'd be an excellent compromise candidate, and had somehow gotten away with it. He was the weakest Psyker to ever hold the position, but easily one of the most influential.
"Thank you, Master." You say, accepting the cup and taking a sip. The taste is close to divine and it is the finest tea you've ever had the privilege of enjoying. "But I would be lying if I said I had expected to learn that you'd organised my release. I did not think I-"
"Was that Important?" He adds, daintily sipping from his tea. He adds a powder from a stasis-shielded silver container to his drink. He chuckles. "Do you know how many stable Beta-Grade Primaris Psykers the Astra Telepathica has available?"
"Hundreds?" You hazard a guess.
"Not enough." He snaps. "Most Beta-Grade Psykers are mental wrecks that need to be soul-bound just to become stable enough 'we can take off their bomb collars. There's perhaps three dozen Psykers with your power and discipline in the entire Imperium. And that fool of an Inquisitor was letting you rot away in a cell, without actually asking for our permission to recruit you."
You take a deep breath. "I do not like to think of how rare I am." You wonder how much of what you're saying is psycho-indoctrinated humility and how much is genuine. Probably most of it.
"Well you should not. You are a valuable asset that I burned a good deal of political favour extracting. You are a Psyker Lord, and you should act accordingly." He takes another sip. "Which is why I wanted to give you your new assignment. But first. Seeing as you've been away from the Telepathica for so long, I'd like to know if you've heard of the recent problems with the Black Ships."
"Psyker Blooms in Obscurus, correct?" You'd overheard the crew mentioning something going down in Segmentum Obscurus. "Any but the strongest Psykers are being culled to make enough space aboard the ships."
"More Psykers are born each year, and the Throne and the Beacon constantly require more Psykers. The Black Ships find their holds filled to capacity halfway through their journey, and need to skip planets or cull their holds to ensure that they can transport the best Psykers." He answers.
"And your solution will involve me." You deduce.
He nods. "It has taken me most of my career, and that of three of my predecessors, but we have finally passed legislation among the High Lords to allow the establishment of new training fortresses throughout the Imperium to take Psykers from the Black Ships which are ready for immediate training, and to expand the astropathic networks. And I want you to lead a Fortress."
Your invitation now makes a lot more sense. You are just one of many interviewees the Master is conducting to find suitable Lord Prefectors for the new fortresses. Just another professional meeting to ensure the right candidate is picked. You smile wholeheartedly at the recognition you'll gain by becoming the Lord Prefector of an Astra Telepathica fortress. "I would be honoured to become a teacher for my fellow Psykers. Who will be joining my administrative, diplomatic, and economic staff?"
The Master of the Astra Telepathica nods at your eagerness and resolve. "All in due time. You'll remain in the Obsidian Keep and together with my own staff and representatives of the Administratum and Mechanicus oversee what sort of world would be best suited for you. I have dossiers for you that list worthy additions and a retired Lord Prefector will be joining you for the first two decades."
"This will not be an extension of an existing fortress then, but a new construction. Does that mean the fortress will include a fief?"
Uldo nods. "You have performed excellent service for the Imperium, and it is time that you are recognized as a Psyker Lord of the Astra Telepathica. I will assign you to the Scholastica Psykana division, and see you recognized as a noble."
You resist the urge to clench your fist in triumph. The Astra Telepathica is merciless when it comes to training its Psykers, and the demands are high, but now that you're in the higher echelons, you might as well be nobility.
Uldo chuckles, and you quickly examine your mental wards. No intrusion, as far as you can determine. Did he manage to get through them?
"One matter we need to decide upon, Lord Psyker." Magna Zahn Uldo asks you. "Do you want to operate a secret fortress stricken from the records, or would you rather operate openly?"
"Openly?"
"We could establish your 'Scholam Psykana' openly. It would make it easier to ensure a steady supply of applicants. You'd be marked on the maps and anyone wishing to contact you could do so quite easily. It would be easier to give you a whole underdeveloped world, but some Hive Worlds might allow your presence."
"But we'd be a big target."
This will be one plan vote.
Choose one.
[] A secret fortress:
Your Scholam Psykana will be located in a star system that is kept off the maps and guarded by a small flotilla to intercept civilian ships who break the blockade.
Pros:
You will be nearly impossible to find by anyone who does not know of your location or has tracked you down.
Your system begins as a colony, and the entire population is bound to the service of the Scholastica.
Cons:
Your only source of Psykers will be Black Ships or contracts you made to pick up other Psykers.
No existing planetary industry or infrastructure to use.
Increased cost and difficulty to import raw materials.
Note: Pick this for a game about developing a super-secret Psyker school, developing your world/slaves, managing relations with the Imperium and intrigue to keep yourself hidden.
You can have a publicly known fortress. This means that anyone who needs you for whatever reason, will be able to contact you openly through astropathic channels.
[] A planetary fief:
Your Scholam Psykana will be located on an inhabited Imperial world up to a Civilized World level of development, and you will take the planet as a fiefdom. You will rule the planet as part of your Psykana fortress, although you can delegate development however you see fit.
Pros:
The entire planet is under your political control.
You can tap into the local industry and resources for the good of the Scholam.
Existing political groups and factions will only be there at your leisure. You do not need to share a planet with hostile entities.
Alongside the Black Ships, you will automatically recruit the planet's own psychic population.
Cons:
The locals will not like being ruled by Psykers and you will need to manage their needs. Or crush them into submission.
A civil war or too much chaotic influence on the planet will reflect poorly on the Telepathica.
Note: Pick this for a game about developing a Psyker school, managing relations with the Imperium, and a side focus on planetary development.
[] A fortress on an established world:
Your Scholam Psykana will be located on a heavily populated imperial world, and your fiefdom will extend only onto the fortress itself.
Pros:
A Hive World will be heavily defended and have a large army that you can put between yourself and invaders.
Access to planetary industry, resources, and infrastructure. Located upon trade routes.
Options to arrange for an additional influx of Psykers from the planetary power blocs.
Alongside the Black Ships, you will automatically recruit the planet's own psychic population.
Cons:
You will need to involve yourself in Imperial Highborn politics.
You do not rule the planet, merely a fief upon it. Anti-Psyker political blocs will make moves against you.
Spectacular failure will lead to the PDF and populace attempting to drive you off the planet.
Hive worlds are cesspits of misery and have a high chance of developing insurgencies and chaos cults.
Note: Pick this for a game about developing a Psyker school, managing relations with the Imperium, and a side focus on dealing with planetary diplomacy.
For sector creation you will start with 20 points.
Some choices will give you points back, some will cost points.
Distribute how you see fit.
[]Sector Name: (No memes or references)
Sector settling: When was the sector settled?
Pick one
[]The Dark Age of Technology:
This sector was founded at the start of the Dark Age of Technology. Humanity is spread throughout this sector on every planet that can hold them, and there is at least a minor space-based presence in each system.
The sector is heavily populated. Almost anywhere humans can live is inhabited. Many terraformed worlds.
Access to technology in the sector is as good as you can find in the Imperium.
Thriving voidborn population centres. Spaceflight is available to the middle class.
Costs 8
[]The Great Crusade:
The sector was founded during the Great Crusade. Humanity is spread throughout this sector on every planet that can hold them.
The sector is heavily populated.
Access to technology in the sector is as good as you can find in the Imperium.
Thriving voidborn population centres. Spaceflight is available to the middle class.
Costs 6
[]Age of the Imperium:
The sector was founded during the time of the Imperium's uncontested hegemony over the galaxy during the first four millennia of its existence.
The sector is heavily populated.
Access to technology in the sector is as good as you can find in the Imperium.
Wild disparity between technological progression on most worlds.
Some voidborn population centres.
Costs 0
(Only available if The Dark Age of Technology was picked.)
Suffering during the Age of Strife: What is the history of the sector during the Age of Strife?
(Pick as many as you want)
[]Nuked to the stone age:
Most of the sector was destroyed during the Dark Age of Technology, reducing humanity to small enclaves and most of the worlds to feudal or feral worlds.
All archeotech has long since been looted.
Only voidborn populations held onto their technology
There are many feral and feudal worlds in the sector.
Costs: -6
[]Under an alien yoke:
Like most human worlds, the sector was enslaved by an alien empire whose name is still used as a curse.
Psi-active Xenos relics abound, the remnants of an ancient occupation.
Costs: 2
[]Remnants of a Dark Age:
The sector still proudly tells the tales of their heroic ancestors who protected enclaves of humanity during the Age of Strife.
Very strong military traditions
Reliable access to the best technology the Imperium can still produce.
Cost: 2
[] The Knights stood tall!:
There were multiple Knight Worlds in the sector that held on during Old Night and managed to survive.
There are Knight Worlds in the sector:
Cost: 2
(Only available if The Dark Age of Technology or The Great Crusade was picked.)
The Great Crusade: When the Great Crusade reached your sector, the fate of humanity there changed forever
(Pick as many as you want)
[] Built on the ruins of an alien empire:
Nearly the entirety of the sector was built on the ruin of a massive xenos civilization that stood in the way of the Great Crusade. They were destroyed, and humanity spread across their worlds. Most worlds, if you dig deep enough, have Xenos ruins.
Abundance of xeno-artefacts if you know where to dig.
Costs: 2
[] Footsteps of a Primarch:
This sector was liberated by one of the blessed Primarchs. Those worlds on which they set foot have since been made shrine worlds.
The Ecclesiarchy has a strong presence in the sector.
Costs: 2
[] This world is sacred for He set foot there:
One of the worlds in the sector is able to prove The God Emperor of Mankind set foot there during the crusade. This Shrine world is visited by billions of pilgrims each year.
The Sisters of Battle and the Inquisition both have a sizable presence in the sector.
Costs: 6
[] Remnants of an ancient threat:
The Xenos empire in this sector was particularly malevolent, and has left behind dangerous artefacts, some automated defences, and other horrors.
Costs: -6
Age of the Imperium: After the Imperium's founding, the sector developed under its watchful eye.
(Pick as many as you want)
[] Comprehensive naval construction:
The sector's battlefleet is supported by large shipyards which are both able to support the sector fleet, and export hulls to other sectors. Their creation is the pride of the Battlefleet and the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The Sector has a thriving naval construction industry.
Costs: 2
[] Abundant civilian shipping:
The shipyards of the sector produce many cargo ships for use by the trading cartels and merchant consortiums of the sector. Many of these are small haulcraft for making interplanetary hops, although inter system cargo vessels are also produced.
The Sector has a thriving civilian shipping and trading industry.
Costs: 2
[] Ave Omnissiah:
One of the star systems in the sector is completely under the domain of the Adeptus Mechanicus and has been turned into a hub of material production:
The sector contains a system with three Forge Worlds.
Costs: 2
[]Inquisitorial Fortress, Ordo Xenos:
This Ordos maintains a fortress somewhere in the sector from which a whole conclave of them operates.
Costs: 2
[]Inquisitorial Fortress, Ordo Malleus:
This Ordos maintains a fortress somewhere in the sector from which a whole conclave of them operates.
Costs: 2
[]Inquisitorial Fortress, Ordo Hereticus:
This Ordos maintains a fortress somewhere in the sector from which a whole conclave of them operates.
Costs: 2
[]The Deathwatch:
The Deathwatch maintains a watch station in this sector for dealing with the alien threat. (You must pick an active xenos threat to be able to pick this)
Costs: 2
[] The Steel Line:
Imperial Knights settled a string of worlds around the border of the sector, protecting against Xenos Encroachment and making up in numbers what they lack in larger knight patterns
Worlds along the sector's borders are protected by Knight Worlds.
Costs: 2
These are mutually exclusive options
[]No Knights:
There are no Knight Worlds in the sector:
Costs: -2
[] Ave Titanica:
The God-Machines of Mars can be found within the sector:
The sector has a forge world with a titan legion.
Costs: 4
[] Elite Imperial guard formations:
Certain worlds in this sector have proven their martial Prowess time and time again and the regiments coming for them have great reputations and are widely sought after:
The sector has some elite guard Formations
Costs: 4
These are mutually exclusive options
[] Mediocre Guardsmen:
The sector's imperial guard are generally seen as only useful for padding out numbers or providing cannon fodder:
Costs: -2
[] Abundant Agri-Worlds:
The Administratum has, just two centuries ago, organized the settlement and construction of ten Agri-Worlds within the sector. These hyper-industrialized farm planets ensure the sector has an abundance of food
The sector has a large food surplus
Costs: 4
These are mutually exclusive options
[] Food insecurity:
The loss of two Agri-Worlds to unidentified xenos raiders has caused famine to sweep much of the sector:
Costs -2
[] Abundant Mining-Worlds:
The Administratum has, just two centuries ago, organized the settlement and construction of ten Mining-Worlds within the sector. These hyper-industrialised Mining planets ensure the sector has an abundance of Minerals and resources.
The sector has a large mineral surplus
Costs: 4
These are mutually exclusive options
[] Material shortages:
Many of the most important mines in the sector ran dry in short succession and this has destabilized the sector's economy:
Costs: -2
[] 'Squats':
According to the Administratum, many of the industrial and mining worlds in the sector have a population of short nomadic abhumans with a knack for technology that regularly lend out their services as miners and mercenaries. So far they've proven very reliable:
'Squats' are not an unusual sight on the mining worlds of the sector.
Costs: 2
[] Fortress Worlds:
Each of the stable warp routes entering the system has a fortress world in it, has a small standing fleet, and significant orbital defenses:
Costs: 4
[] Quarantine worlds:
A string of worlds in the sector has been declared off-limits by the Inquisition.
Costs: -2
[] Adeptus Astartes Recruitment Worlds:
A chapter of the Adeptus Astartes operating as a fleet has taken it upon themselves to see to the defence of the sector, actively recruiting from whomever in the sector can provide suitable aspirants:
Costs: 4
[] Death world:
The sector is home to a ferocious death world riddled with animals almost as horrific as Catachan.
Unfortunately for the sector's citizens sentenced to penal labour, the planet also contains deposits of psi-active crystals
Costs: 2
[] Navigator Houses:
The Sector has a presence from three navigator houses that are very prolific for their kind.
Navigators are abundant in the sector, greatly boosting sector trade.
Costs: 2
[] Ogryns:
One of the worlds in the sector is a feral world dominated by an abhuman species known as Ogryns. Their intelligence is... unimpressive but properly trained they may make good bodyguards
Costs: 2
[] A venerable Rogue Trader:
An ancient Rogue Trader dynasty exists in the heart of the sector, twelve worlds all controlled by the rogue trader to create a little sector inside of a sector. They actively accumulate power, and do not get along with the sector as a whole.
A rogue trader owns two whole subsectors and everything in it, and does not play along.
Costs: -4
[] An up and coming rogue trader:
After the death of the last trader, a distant relative serving as a sergeant in the Imperial Guard suddenly inherited an ancient warrant, a ship, and a series of commercial holdings across the sector, thanks to a very convoluted system of inheritance. They are currently preparing for an expedition into uncharted space.
Costs: 2
Sector Leadership: How is the sector run?
Pick one:
[] A heavy-handed sector government:
The sector is ruled by an absolute autocrat from a single family which has an absolute stranglehold over power. Whenever it can, it will attempt to subordinate planets in the sector to its will.
The sector government is incredibly authoritarian, but also very capable of bringing the sector's power to bear against enemies.
Costs: -6
[] A very light sector Government:
Unlike many sectors, this sector government has historically been a very light one, which does not actively involve itself in planetary matters. Ancient Precedent and documents drafted during the founding of the modern imperial sector, upheld by the sector's courts, have so far reduced the Sector Governor to one which is involved in military affairs, trade beyond the sector, and serving as mediator between factions.
There is disunity in the sector, as the factions that make up the imperium are largely allowed to conduct their own affairs so long it does not complicate military matters.
Costs: 0
[] The sector governor has to listen to a democratic assembly:
Three millennia ago, the Sector Governor brought together an assembly of merchants, intellectuals, priests, and representatives from all the major planets. Their assistance in organising the sector economy has led to a sector economy that punches far above its weight.
This Sector Parliament is largely an advisory body, but it reserves the rights to veto military appointments and can even impeach the Governor, although this has only happened to the man who followed up the founder of the assembly. He was promptly convicted of treason and shot.
The sector government is slower, but there's less chance of revolt, and it is unusually well informed and capable on economic matters.
Costs: 4
The Abominable Xenos Threat: The Alien is the oldest enemy of mankind, and must always be opposed.
[] Purified of Xenos Filth:
The Imperium has recently finished a xenocidal campaign against a minor alien race before they were able to spread from their star system. The people of the sector are in high spirits.
The sector's armies and fleets have high morale
Costs: 2
[]The Frontiers are not secure:
Drukhari, Aeldari Corsairs, Orks, a myriad of other xenos, and even many human pirates, regularly enter the sector in search of soft targets to hit:
The sector has a serious problem with alien piracy.
Costs: -4
[] The opportunistic Demiurge:
According to the Sector Ministorum, the foul species named the Demiurge has been identified as operating in the sector, mining imperial worlds and selling their services as mercenaries.
A demiurge fleet operates somewhere in the sector.
Costs: -2
[] Active Front: Xenos:
The sector frontier is engulfed in a long bitter war against a minor xenos race that has survived multiple crusades and even conquered imperial worlds at times, currently holding three. This war has gone on for centuries now, possibly even millenia, and the xenos show no sign of buckling. Attempts by the Adeptus Astartes to break the deadlock have resulted in abject failure, as no force that broke into the enemy rear has returned.
Currently the front has stagnated into naval actions and long sieges of planetary fortresses.
Your Psykers will be deployed to this front.
Costs: -4
[] A Craftworld
Going by the amount of Eldar Corsairs troubling the sector, there is a Craftworld somewhere in the sector, although nobody has been able to find it and live to tell the tale.
Costs: -4
[] Xenos Infiltration:
There are markets on the frontier worlds of the sector where a species of blue-skinned xenos will openly trade with humans. They sell advanced technology and even some weapons that match anything the Imperial Guard fields. They are gathering a disturbing amount of influence, and the taint of the alien is growing.
Costs: -4
[] A Greenskin presence:
There's feral orks on multiple worlds in the sector, the remnants of an ancient Waaagh!!!
Costs: -6
These actions are mutually exclusive
[] Orkoid Empire on the border:
The sector borders an orkoid empire of twenty worlds that has survived multiple Imperial crusades. Many worlds along the border have routine outbreaks of feral orks that need to be culled before they develop technology. Currently in remission after the Deathwatch assassinated the warboss last year.
Costs: -10
The Detestable Mutant Threat: Twisted perversions of the human form. They can not be allowed to Prosper.
[] Abhuman labour force:
The Beastmen are that species of abhumans who look closer to beasts than man, but were spared due to their genetic stability.
Most worlds in the sector have populations of beastmen that are used as a labour force, with many industries dependent on them.
Every industrial world in the sector has a population of beastmen.
Costs: -4
[] League of Votann:
According to the Sector Adeptus Arbites, A group of abhumans that refuses to recognize the primacy of the Imperium has a presence somewhere in the sector. They offer their services as miners and mercenaries, threatening the livelihoods of true Imperial citizens. They must be eradicated or brought into the Imperium.
A League of Votann Fleet operates somewhere in the sector.
Costs: - 2
[] Active Front: Mutant War
Four worlds have recently emerged from a warpstorm, their populations consumed by rampant mutation. Led by the Ordo Malleus, the Imperial Guard is currently fighting to cleanse these worlds of their infestation.
Your Psykers will be deployed to this front.
Costs: -6
[] Mysterious mutants:
Several worlds in the sector have been tormented by the appearance of mutants with bony ridges on their foreheads, additional arms, and an aversion to sunlight. Nobody quite knows what they are.
Costs: -2
The Vile Heretic Threat: Recidivism and heresy are, as always, great threats to humanity.
[] Active Front: Heretics:
The sector is cursed with a warpstorm from which the forces of the archenemy regularly emerge to attack the sector. No threat has emerged in some time, and the Battlefleet is growing apprehensive about when the enemy will strike next.
Your Psykers will be deployed to this front.
Costs: -8
[] Old Rebellion:
In times past, a rebellion wracked this sector. Though its name has been excised for history, the stain still affects the sector to this day, being lower in priority for imperial reinforcements and facing higher tithes to make amends for their rebellion.
Costs: -4
[] Active cults:
Multiple Chaos Cults that are active across the sector have resisted any attempt to root them out. They're well led, financed, and disturbingly effective.
Costs: -2
Sector Geography: What is the layout of your sector?
[] Stable Warp Currents:
The sector's warp currents are very stable. Travel is quick and reliable:
Costs: 6
[] Unstable warp currents:
Without a skilled navigator, it is hard to navigate this sector. Excellent if you want to find an out of the way place to hunker down.
Costs: -6
[] Inactive Warp Gate
Officially a human creation. This gateway has been identified as being part of a pair, with the other half being on the edge of the Segmentum Solar. As the Astra Telepathica, you can take control of the gate:
Costs: 6
[] Warp chokepoints:
There are only a few stable warp-routes fleets can use to get into the sector, funnelling invasions through narrow chokepoints:
Costs: 6
12 hour Moratorium.
-[X] Used Biomancy to prepare your lungs for a return to Terra
-[X] Intense physical therapy and training
During the six month journey to Terra, you ferociously exercised under the watchful eyes of the Black Sentinels, working on your physique. Most of that time passed in a drugged haze as the Magos Biologis administered injections that gave you all the energy you needed to exercise to your limit.
You gain the trait:
Excellent Physique:
While you are not a wall of muscle, you are tall, lean, and very fit. Your training has primarily been for endurance and genuine strength. You can easily match a professional soldier in fitness.
You'd never done Biomancy before, but you are happy to say that you made some decent progress in shaping your body with your psychic power. You tightened up your muscles, healed your lungs, and even found out how to increase the rate at which you burn fat.
You gain the trait:
Biomantic Upkeep:
Thanks to your use of biomancy your muscles do not weaken, minor injuries can be healed quickly, and you're always in excellent health.
With your physique improved, even your limited biomancy is enough to keep you at that peak, with minimal effort needed to maintain a body that blunts would need to dedicate all their time to.
The Voyage of the Gifted entered Sol at the Neptunian Mandeville Point, and was immediately met with three demands for identification, followed by a dozen ships targeting you with their lance batteries. Battlefleet Sol was as pro-active as ever, and you nodded in approval at the efficient way in which they destroyed another ship that failed to transmit the right clearance codes. Once the clearance codes were received, a priority trajectory to Terra was plotted in by the savants of Battlefleet Sol.
At any one second, the massive cogitators of Mars and Battlefleet Sol's defensive stations coordinated and calculated which orbits were the fastest from any planet in the system to Holy Terra or Mars. These lanes were for usage by the Adeptus Terra alone, and even then, they were distributed according to priority. When you arrived, you were out of position to immediately move into one of these priority lanes, and so the automated systems ensured that there would be no ships in your way.
The Inner Planets of Sol were so cramped that parts of it were organized like roads, with ships following strict flight plans and moving in each other's engine wakes with just enough distance to only scorch the paint. A million battle stations, inhabited by hereditary voidborn families guarded the inner planets, ensuring each ship moved in accordance with their flight paths.
Hundreds of ships were ordered to slow down or adjust their heading as part of the automated systems guiding Voyage onto a priority transfer orbit reserved for official Adeptus Terra Business. In later days, you learned that this disrupted the flight path of a food delivery by a bulk cargo hauler, leading to a bloody food riot that killed fifty thousand people.
From orbit, Terra was a featureless grey ball with a handful of hive spires sticking out through the thick layers of smog. The weather was particularly bad this season, and not even the Imperial Palace could be seen from orbit. At least, to those without soulsight.
For those with it. The City of Sight burned like a pillar of psychic fire from the millions of Psykers currently training within its walls, and the Hollow Mountain in its centre, the location from which the Adeptus Astronomicon ensured that the psychic beacon operated at optimal efficiency.
As your shuttle descended, you got a close look at the Hollow Mountain and thought that one of the greatest theological debates regarding the Emperor was the matter of the Astronomicon.
All imperial citizens who received an Adeptus Terra approved education learned that the Emperor powered and controlled the celestial beacon that enabled mankind to travel the stars unopposed. He guided the light from His Throne, as he guided His people through the trials and tribulations of a tumultuous galaxy.
But. Official Ministorum orthodoxy also stated that the Emperor had only ascended to the Golden Throne after defeating the Arch-Devil Horus and banishing the eight devils of the outer darkness.
If that was the case, then when had the Astronomican been built? Had it been constructed before the Great Heresy War, and powered itself? Had He guided it from afar? Or had he called it into existence when he ascended? If it had only been guided by the Emperor after his ascension, then how had the Master of Mankind and his nine sons travelled the galaxy to wage war upon the Xenos and liberate mankind?
It was something you had pondered for many long nights during your education, debating fellow acolytes regarding the history of Terra.
Through the shuttle's windows, you could see a great rift carved into the earth leading to the Imperial Palace itself. The rift was a thousand kilometres wide, and many times as deep. In it ran a massive cable made from a world's worth of psi-conductive fibre. And that was just the visible cabling. Fortresses the size of mountains were built along the length of the cable, each guarded by a garrison of a hundred thousand Palatine Sentinels that traced their descent to families which had served on Terra since the Great Heresy War.
Deep below the hive strata of Terra, power generators the size of hive spires had been constructed, powering the systems that regulated the flow of psychic energy from the Throne. Massive psychic amplifier stations had been built along the length of the many cables, each channelling energy from the Golden Throne through capacitors that contained enough psychic energy to make living within two hundred kilometres of them a death sentence.
Once the Hollow Mountain had been an actual mountain, but precious little of the ancient rock was visible now. Massive hive spires of psi-active machinery rise around the hollow mountain like a massive clawed hand, each humming with psychic energy as they modulated the signal. An army of a million Tech Priests and Psyker-Artisans worked on the Hollow Mountain itself at any one time, continually adding additional generators and conducting repairs upon components that had long ago begun to fail.
Reactors with coils the size of imperial battlestations stuck out of the ground, multiples of each feeding power into the Hollow Mountain. Even with the best technology available, oceans of reactor fuel and cooling liquid were landed every day at a hundred landing platforms around the Hollow Mountain, ensuring that each generator and their backup was always topped off.
Hives that matched forge worlds in industrial output were connected to the flow of detritus and used reactor fluid and pollution created by the Hollow Mountain, processing everything into new goods and recycling the fluids, until all that remained was a stream of smoke which had been filtered of all usable elements.
The automated guns of the outer Imperial Palace tracked the shuttle as it passed overhead, and multiple sets of clearance codes had to be transmitted just to approach the City of Sight. Built within the outer reaches of the continent-sized palace, the City of Sight had been the home of the Imperium's finest Psykers since Terran Reunification. There were workshops here which dated back to the city's founding, still run by extended families that reliably produced Psyker-Artisans who crafted the finest psi-implants and focus-weaponry in the Imperium.
Like all of Terra, the City of Sight was built on, inside, and on top of the ancient city that had once stood here. It was truly a city in its own right, with its own internally controlled affairs and a permanent population that provided the Telepathica with menial labour. Your head thrummed as you looked down on a crowd composed of thousands of epsilon-grade Psykers fitted with blockers and moving away from the morning refectory to their classes. There were a myriad of campuses, each training those Sanctioned Psykers who achieved full stability during training or following service as Wyrdvanes.
The shuttle headed for a landing pad outside the Obsidian Keep, the inner citadel of the City of Sight from which the Master of the Astra Telepathica and their advisors organised their vital duties. You had passed two decades of service as a Primaris Psyker and made it out with your mental stability intact, so you could expect great things in your future. Perhaps you might be granted control of a campus in the city? The shuttle set itself down outside the section of the Obsidian Keep reserved for the Telekines.
Terra's atmosphere was as foul as ever as you walked down the landing platform towards the massive stone door. In the City of Sight, it had a permanent tinge of ozone from the energies being manifested, and ash from the crematoriums processing Psykers who were consumed by their powers.
Each of the five Disciplines had their own section of the Keep, ruled by a 'Primaris Ultimatum Psykana', the greatest mortal practitioner of their specific discipline. These all had a large following of Primaris Psykers that had transitioned to teaching and managerial roles. To enter the halls of one of the Primaris Ultimatum required a Primaris Psyker of their discipline to open the way.
The entrance to the Pyromancers Quarter was a raging inferno which had to be doused. The Biomancers closed off their sections through hallways filled with toxins that had to be continually cleansed as a person passed. The Diviners had to divine which entrance would not be filled with poison gas. The Telepaths had to modify the minds of servitor turrets to avoid being gunned down.
The Telekines used a Rock. Two squads of Black Sentinels stood on each side of a doorway, the front rank held their lances, while the rear held hellguns. They guarded a massive stone slab set in rails that ran to the side. Five metres tall, five metres wide, and a metre thick, without a single piston or pneumatic in sight. To enter, one needed a Telekine to lift the rock, pass beneath, and then gently set the rock down.
Dropping the rock traditionally resulted in merciless mockery
You lifted the slab and passed through the hallway.
Upon entering, you were immediately beset by a small pack of servants that guided you towards a private chamber set aside for you. They replaced your worn clothes, provided maintenance for your cybernetics, and thoroughly cleaned you.
Your Name is Kai Zestus, and you are a Beta-Grade Imperially Sanctioned Telekine.
This makes you an incredibly rare and valuable individual. One of the rare Psykers with your grade that has not been driven mad.
As you look in the mirror, the last of the servants departing now that you've been made presentable, you take a moment to reflect on just who you are and what you have become.
Your life has always been difficult, growing up in the impoverished lower levels of an Imperial Hive World, living off petty crime and street violence.
You flinch as you remember the faces of your brothers that died when your power awakened. The memories are almost out of reach, like valuables kept behind a pane of glass. The post-traumatic stress disorder you'd developed from the experience has long since been excised with hypno-therapy and psycho-indoctrination. All that remains is the memory and lingering sadness.
Your life should have ended there, lynched by an angry crowd like so many of your kind.
But look at you now.
You were saved by a good man that went out of his way to rescue you, and who put you on a path towards greatness.
Once you wore ragged clothes, now you are clad in fine black robes, spun of silk grown in the botanical gardens of the City of Sight, woven with blessed silver thread that dampen your psychic aura. Your Psi-Focus has been cleansed and restored, now looking like an elegant silver skin on the back of your head, connected to the psi-active weave in your nervous system, and connected to your spine by a ponytail of cables, wrapped in silver wire. Some of your hair is starting to come back, and you might extend your scalp back over the entire top of the Focus, and undergo a hair growth procedure.
In the mirror stands a true Psyker Lord of the Astra Telepathica. A human with the rank and authority of minor nobles. One who wields the power to crush a regiment of foes. You smile as you adjust the scruff of your robes. If you rise through the ranks, you might even be granted your own fief and a noble title.
You are concerned, yes. But you're ready for what is to come.
The man across from you reaches for another serving of dried tea leaves from the small stasis container and adds it to the large bowl he is preparing. The leaves are from Chogoris, home of the legendary White Scars Space Marines, and were transported using the most reliable stasis fields the Imperium could still produce.
The room is somewhat small and sparsely decorated, more like an office than a meeting room of one of the most influential men in the Imperium. Then again, most of the decorations are made of real wood. As is the contents of the fireplace. Burning real wood on Terra is an incredible display of wealth. Although the scent from the burning wood does put you at ease, and you wonder if there's psionic affects.
His every motion is precise. The man is tall and lean, his skin having the grey pallor of one who has breathed in too much of Terra's poisoned atmosphere. Delicate augmentics are threaded beneath a scalp of flowing grey hair. There is still some strength in his vulpine features. The man's eyes are cybernetics, but so fine you could only recognize them through the lack of psychic energy that flowed through that part of his body.
He is a Delta Telepath. But his power has been sharpened to perfection, trained to a point that he's able to be one of the most effective diplomats in the Imperium. "I listened to the reports regarding your extrication myself, Adept." Magna Zahn Uldo, Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica says with a smile. He pours you a cup of tea and offers it to you. "I am satisfied that we managed to extract you from that fool."
You know little about the Master, besides that he awakened later in life and had already received comprehensive diplomatic training. The man had convinced the five Primaris Ultimatum that he'd be an excellent compromise candidate, and had somehow gotten away with it. He was the weakest Psyker to ever hold the position, but easily one of the most influential.
"Thank you, Master." You say, accepting the cup and taking a sip. The taste is close to divine and it is the finest tea you've ever had the privilege of enjoying. "But I would be lying if I said I had expected to learn that you'd organised my release. I did not think I-"
"Was that Important?" He adds, daintily sipping from his tea. He adds a powder from a stasis-shielded silver container to his drink. He chuckles. "Do you know how many stable Beta-Grade Primaris Psykers the Astra Telepathica has available?"
"Hundreds?" You hazard a guess.
"Not enough." He snaps. "Most Beta-Grade Psykers are mental wrecks that need to be soul-bound just to become stable enough 'we can take off their bomb collars. There's perhaps three dozen Psykers with your power and discipline in the entire Imperium. And that fool of an Inquisitor was letting you rot away in a cell, without actually asking for our permission to recruit you."
You take a deep breath. "I do not like to think of how rare I am." You wonder how much of what you're saying is psycho-indoctrinated humility and how much is genuine. Probably most of it.
"Well you should not. You are a valuable asset that I burned a good deal of political favour extracting. You are a Psyker Lord, and you should act accordingly." He takes another sip. "Which is why I wanted to give you your new assignment. But first. Seeing as you've been away from the Telepathica for so long, I'd like to know if you've heard of the recent problems with the Black Ships."
"Psyker Blooms in Obscurus, correct?" You'd overheard the crew mentioning something going down in Segmentum Obscurus. "Any but the strongest Psykers are being culled to make enough space aboard the ships."
"More Psykers are born each year, and the Throne and the Beacon constantly require more Psykers. The Black Ships find their holds filled to capacity halfway through their journey, and need to skip planets or cull their holds to ensure that they can transport the best Psykers." He answers.
"And your solution will involve me." You deduce.
He nods. "It has taken me most of my career, and that of three of my predecessors, but we have finally passed legislation among the High Lords to allow the establishment of new training fortresses throughout the Imperium to take Psykers from the Black Ships which are ready for immediate training, and to expand the astropathic networks. And I want you to lead a Fortress."
Your invitation now makes a lot more sense. You are just one of many interviewees the Master is conducting to find suitable Lord Prefectors for the new fortresses. Just another professional meeting to ensure the right candidate is picked. You smile wholeheartedly at the recognition you'll gain by becoming the Lord Prefector of an Astra Telepathica fortress. "I would be honoured to become a teacher for my fellow Psykers. Who will be joining my administrative, diplomatic, and economic staff?"
The Master of the Astra Telepathica nods at your eagerness and resolve. "All in due time. You'll remain in the Obsidian Keep and together with my own staff and representatives of the Administratum and Mechanicus oversee what sort of world would be best suited for you. I have dossiers for you that list worthy additions and a retired Lord Prefector will be joining you for the first two decades."
"This will not be an extension of an existing fortress then, but a new construction. Does that mean the fortress will include a fief?"
Uldo nods. "You have performed excellent service for the Imperium, and it is time that you are recognized as a Psyker Lord of the Astra Telepathica. I will assign you to the Scholastica Psykana division, and see you recognized as a noble."
You resist the urge to clench your fist in triumph. The Astra Telepathica is merciless when it comes to training its Psykers, and the demands are high, but now that you're in the higher echelons, you might as well be nobility.
Uldo chuckles, and you quickly examine your mental wards. No intrusion, as far as you can determine. Did he manage to get through them?
"One matter we need to decide upon, Lord Psyker." Magna Zahn Uldo asks you. "Do you want to operate a secret fortress stricken from the records, or would you rather operate openly?"
"Openly?"
"We could establish your 'Scholam Psykana' openly. It would make it easier to ensure a steady supply of applicants. You'd be marked on the maps and anyone wishing to contact you could do so quite easily. It would be easier to give you a whole underdeveloped world, but some Hive Worlds might allow your presence."
"But we'd be a big target."
This will be one plan vote.
Choose one.
[] A secret fortress:
Your Scholam Psykana will be located in a star system that is kept off the maps and guarded by a small flotilla to intercept civilian ships who break the blockade.
Pros:
You will be nearly impossible to find by anyone who does not know of your location or has tracked you down.
Your system begins as a colony, and the entire population is bound to the service of the Scholastica.
Cons:
Your only source of Psykers will be Black Ships or contracts you made to pick up other Psykers.
No existing planetary industry or infrastructure to use.
Increased cost and difficulty to import raw materials.
Note: Pick this for a game about developing a super-secret Psyker school, developing your world/slaves, managing relations with the Imperium and intrigue to keep yourself hidden.
You can have a publicly known fortress. This means that anyone who needs you for whatever reason, will be able to contact you openly through astropathic channels.
[] A planetary fief:
Your Scholam Psykana will be located on an inhabited Imperial world up to a Civilized World level of development, and you will take the planet as a fiefdom. You will rule the planet as part of your Psykana fortress, although you can delegate development however you see fit.
Pros:
The entire planet is under your political control.
You can tap into the local industry and resources for the good of the Scholam.
Existing political groups and factions will only be there at your leisure. You do not need to share a planet with hostile entities.
Alongside the Black Ships, you will automatically recruit the planet's own psychic population.
Cons:
The locals will not like being ruled by Psykers and you will need to manage their needs. Or crush them into submission.
A civil war or too much chaotic influence on the planet will reflect poorly on the Telepathica.
Note: Pick this for a game about developing a Psyker school, managing relations with the Imperium, and a side focus on planetary development.
[] A fortress on an established world:
Your Scholam Psykana will be located on a heavily populated imperial world, and your fiefdom will extend only onto the fortress itself.
Pros:
A Hive World will be heavily defended and have a large army that you can put between yourself and invaders.
Access to planetary industry, resources, and infrastructure. Located upon trade routes.
Options to arrange for an additional influx of Psykers from the planetary power blocs.
Alongside the Black Ships, you will automatically recruit the planet's own psychic population.
Cons:
You will need to involve yourself in Imperial Highborn politics.
You do not rule the planet, merely a fief upon it. Anti-Psyker political blocs will make moves against you.
Spectacular failure will lead to the PDF and populace attempting to drive you off the planet.
Hive worlds are cesspits of misery and have a high chance of developing insurgencies and chaos cults.
Note: Pick this for a game about developing a Psyker school, managing relations with the Imperium, and a side focus on dealing with planetary diplomacy.
For sector creation you will start with 20 points.
Some choices will give you points back, some will cost points.
Distribute how you see fit.
[]Sector Name: (No memes or references)
Sector settling: When was the sector settled?
Pick one
[]The Dark Age of Technology:
This sector was founded at the start of the Dark Age of Technology. Humanity is spread throughout this sector on every planet that can hold them, and there is at least a minor space-based presence in each system.
The sector is heavily populated. Almost anywhere humans can live is inhabited. Many terraformed worlds.
Access to technology in the sector is as good as you can find in the Imperium.
Thriving voidborn population centres. Spaceflight is available to the middle class.
Costs 8
[]The Great Crusade:
The sector was founded during the Great Crusade. Humanity is spread throughout this sector on every planet that can hold them.
The sector is heavily populated.
Access to technology in the sector is as good as you can find in the Imperium.
Thriving voidborn population centres. Spaceflight is available to the middle class.
Costs 6
[]Age of the Imperium:
The sector was founded during the time of the Imperium's uncontested hegemony over the galaxy during the first four millennia of its existence.
The sector is heavily populated.
Access to technology in the sector is as good as you can find in the Imperium.
Wild disparity between technological progression on most worlds.
Some voidborn population centres.
Costs 0
(Only available if The Dark Age of Technology was picked.)
Suffering during the Age of Strife: What is the history of the sector during the Age of Strife?
(Pick as many as you want)
[]Nuked to the stone age:
Most of the sector was destroyed during the Dark Age of Technology, reducing humanity to small enclaves and most of the worlds to feudal or feral worlds.
All archeotech has long since been looted.
Only voidborn populations held onto their technology
There are many feral and feudal worlds in the sector.
Costs: -6
[]Under an alien yoke:
Like most human worlds, the sector was enslaved by an alien empire whose name is still used as a curse.
Psi-active Xenos relics abound, the remnants of an ancient occupation.
Costs: 2
[]Remnants of a Dark Age:
The sector still proudly tells the tales of their heroic ancestors who protected enclaves of humanity during the Age of Strife.
Very strong military traditions
Reliable access to the best technology the Imperium can still produce.
Cost: 2
[] The Knights stood tall!:
There were multiple Knight Worlds in the sector that held on during Old Night and managed to survive.
There are Knight Worlds in the sector:
Cost: 2
(Only available if The Dark Age of Technology or The Great Crusade was picked.)
The Great Crusade: When the Great Crusade reached your sector, the fate of humanity there changed forever
(Pick as many as you want)
[] Built on the ruins of an alien empire:
Nearly the entirety of the sector was built on the ruin of a massive xenos civilization that stood in the way of the Great Crusade. They were destroyed, and humanity spread across their worlds. Most worlds, if you dig deep enough, have Xenos ruins.
Abundance of xeno-artefacts if you know where to dig.
Costs: 2
[] Footsteps of a Primarch:
This sector was liberated by one of the blessed Primarchs. Those worlds on which they set foot have since been made shrine worlds.
The Ecclesiarchy has a strong presence in the sector.
Costs: 2
[] This world is sacred for He set foot there:
One of the worlds in the sector is able to prove The God Emperor of Mankind set foot there during the crusade. This Shrine world is visited by billions of pilgrims each year.
The Sisters of Battle and the Inquisition both have a sizable presence in the sector.
Costs: 6
[] Remnants of an ancient threat:
The Xenos empire in this sector was particularly malevolent, and has left behind dangerous artefacts, some automated defences, and other horrors.
Costs: -6
Age of the Imperium: After the Imperium's founding, the sector developed under its watchful eye.
(Pick as many as you want)
[] Comprehensive naval construction:
The sector's battlefleet is supported by large shipyards which are both able to support the sector fleet, and export hulls to other sectors. Their creation is the pride of the Battlefleet and the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The Sector has a thriving naval construction industry.
Costs: 2
[] Abundant civilian shipping:
The shipyards of the sector produce many cargo ships for use by the trading cartels and merchant consortiums of the sector. Many of these are small haulcraft for making interplanetary hops, although inter system cargo vessels are also produced.
The Sector has a thriving civilian shipping and trading industry.
Costs: 2
[] Ave Omnissiah:
One of the star systems in the sector is completely under the domain of the Adeptus Mechanicus and has been turned into a hub of material production:
The sector contains a system with three Forge Worlds.
Costs: 2
[]Inquisitorial Fortress, Ordo Xenos:
This Ordos maintains a fortress somewhere in the sector from which a whole conclave of them operates.
Costs: 2
[]Inquisitorial Fortress, Ordo Malleus:
This Ordos maintains a fortress somewhere in the sector from which a whole conclave of them operates.
Costs: 2
[]Inquisitorial Fortress, Ordo Hereticus:
This Ordos maintains a fortress somewhere in the sector from which a whole conclave of them operates.
Costs: 2
[]The Deathwatch:
The Deathwatch maintains a watch station in this sector for dealing with the alien threat. (You must pick an active xenos threat to be able to pick this)
Costs: 2
[] The Steel Line:
Imperial Knights settled a string of worlds around the border of the sector, protecting against Xenos Encroachment and making up in numbers what they lack in larger knight patterns
Worlds along the sector's borders are protected by Knight Worlds.
Costs: 2
These are mutually exclusive options
[]No Knights:
There are no Knight Worlds in the sector:
Costs: -2
[] Ave Titanica:
The God-Machines of Mars can be found within the sector:
The sector has a forge world with a titan legion.
Costs: 4
[] Elite Imperial guard formations:
Certain worlds in this sector have proven their martial Prowess time and time again and the regiments coming for them have great reputations and are widely sought after:
The sector has some elite guard Formations
Costs: 4
These are mutually exclusive options
[] Mediocre Guardsmen:
The sector's imperial guard are generally seen as only useful for padding out numbers or providing cannon fodder:
Costs: -2
[] Abundant Agri-Worlds:
The Administratum has, just two centuries ago, organized the settlement and construction of ten Agri-Worlds within the sector. These hyper-industrialized farm planets ensure the sector has an abundance of food
The sector has a large food surplus
Costs: 4
These are mutually exclusive options
[] Food insecurity:
The loss of two Agri-Worlds to unidentified xenos raiders has caused famine to sweep much of the sector:
Costs -2
[] Abundant Mining-Worlds:
The Administratum has, just two centuries ago, organized the settlement and construction of ten Mining-Worlds within the sector. These hyper-industrialised Mining planets ensure the sector has an abundance of Minerals and resources.
The sector has a large mineral surplus
Costs: 4
These are mutually exclusive options
[] Material shortages:
Many of the most important mines in the sector ran dry in short succession and this has destabilized the sector's economy:
Costs: -2
[] 'Squats':
According to the Administratum, many of the industrial and mining worlds in the sector have a population of short nomadic abhumans with a knack for technology that regularly lend out their services as miners and mercenaries. So far they've proven very reliable:
'Squats' are not an unusual sight on the mining worlds of the sector.
Costs: 2
[] Fortress Worlds:
Each of the stable warp routes entering the system has a fortress world in it, has a small standing fleet, and significant orbital defenses:
Costs: 4
[] Quarantine worlds:
A string of worlds in the sector has been declared off-limits by the Inquisition.
Costs: -2
[] Adeptus Astartes Recruitment Worlds:
A chapter of the Adeptus Astartes operating as a fleet has taken it upon themselves to see to the defence of the sector, actively recruiting from whomever in the sector can provide suitable aspirants:
Costs: 4
[] Death world:
The sector is home to a ferocious death world riddled with animals almost as horrific as Catachan.
Unfortunately for the sector's citizens sentenced to penal labour, the planet also contains deposits of psi-active crystals
Costs: 2
[] Navigator Houses:
The Sector has a presence from three navigator houses that are very prolific for their kind.
Navigators are abundant in the sector, greatly boosting sector trade.
Costs: 2
[] Ogryns:
One of the worlds in the sector is a feral world dominated by an abhuman species known as Ogryns. Their intelligence is... unimpressive but properly trained they may make good bodyguards
Costs: 2
[] A venerable Rogue Trader:
An ancient Rogue Trader dynasty exists in the heart of the sector, twelve worlds all controlled by the rogue trader to create a little sector inside of a sector. They actively accumulate power, and do not get along with the sector as a whole.
A rogue trader owns two whole subsectors and everything in it, and does not play along.
Costs: -4
[] An up and coming rogue trader:
After the death of the last trader, a distant relative serving as a sergeant in the Imperial Guard suddenly inherited an ancient warrant, a ship, and a series of commercial holdings across the sector, thanks to a very convoluted system of inheritance. They are currently preparing for an expedition into uncharted space.
Costs: 2
Sector Leadership: How is the sector run?
Pick one:
[] A heavy-handed sector government:
The sector is ruled by an absolute autocrat from a single family which has an absolute stranglehold over power. Whenever it can, it will attempt to subordinate planets in the sector to its will.
The sector government is incredibly authoritarian, but also very capable of bringing the sector's power to bear against enemies.
Costs: -6
[] A very light sector Government:
Unlike many sectors, this sector government has historically been a very light one, which does not actively involve itself in planetary matters. Ancient Precedent and documents drafted during the founding of the modern imperial sector, upheld by the sector's courts, have so far reduced the Sector Governor to one which is involved in military affairs, trade beyond the sector, and serving as mediator between factions.
There is disunity in the sector, as the factions that make up the imperium are largely allowed to conduct their own affairs so long it does not complicate military matters.
Costs: 0
[] The sector governor has to listen to a democratic assembly:
Three millennia ago, the Sector Governor brought together an assembly of merchants, intellectuals, priests, and representatives from all the major planets. Their assistance in organising the sector economy has led to a sector economy that punches far above its weight.
This Sector Parliament is largely an advisory body, but it reserves the rights to veto military appointments and can even impeach the Governor, although this has only happened to the man who followed up the founder of the assembly. He was promptly convicted of treason and shot.
The sector government is slower, but there's less chance of revolt, and it is unusually well informed and capable on economic matters.
Costs: 4
The Abominable Xenos Threat: The Alien is the oldest enemy of mankind, and must always be opposed.
[] Purified of Xenos Filth:
The Imperium has recently finished a xenocidal campaign against a minor alien race before they were able to spread from their star system. The people of the sector are in high spirits.
The sector's armies and fleets have high morale
Costs: 2
[]The Frontiers are not secure:
Drukhari, Aeldari Corsairs, Orks, a myriad of other xenos, and even many human pirates, regularly enter the sector in search of soft targets to hit:
The sector has a serious problem with alien piracy.
Costs: -4
[] The opportunistic Demiurge:
According to the Sector Ministorum, the foul species named the Demiurge has been identified as operating in the sector, mining imperial worlds and selling their services as mercenaries.
A demiurge fleet operates somewhere in the sector.
Costs: -2
[] Active Front: Xenos:
The sector frontier is engulfed in a long bitter war against a minor xenos race that has survived multiple crusades and even conquered imperial worlds at times, currently holding three. This war has gone on for centuries now, possibly even millenia, and the xenos show no sign of buckling. Attempts by the Adeptus Astartes to break the deadlock have resulted in abject failure, as no force that broke into the enemy rear has returned.
Currently the front has stagnated into naval actions and long sieges of planetary fortresses.
Your Psykers will be deployed to this front.
Costs: -4
[] A Craftworld
Going by the amount of Eldar Corsairs troubling the sector, there is a Craftworld somewhere in the sector, although nobody has been able to find it and live to tell the tale.
Costs: -4
[] Xenos Infiltration:
There are markets on the frontier worlds of the sector where a species of blue-skinned xenos will openly trade with humans. They sell advanced technology and even some weapons that match anything the Imperial Guard fields. They are gathering a disturbing amount of influence, and the taint of the alien is growing.
Costs: -4
[] A Greenskin presence:
There's feral orks on multiple worlds in the sector, the remnants of an ancient Waaagh!!!
Costs: -6
These actions are mutually exclusive
[] Orkoid Empire on the border:
The sector borders an orkoid empire of twenty worlds that has survived multiple Imperial crusades. Many worlds along the border have routine outbreaks of feral orks that need to be culled before they develop technology. Currently in remission after the Deathwatch assassinated the warboss last year.
Costs: -10
The Detestable Mutant Threat: Twisted perversions of the human form. They can not be allowed to Prosper.
[] Abhuman labour force:
The Beastmen are that species of abhumans who look closer to beasts than man, but were spared due to their genetic stability.
Most worlds in the sector have populations of beastmen that are used as a labour force, with many industries dependent on them.
Every industrial world in the sector has a population of beastmen.
Costs: -4
[] League of Votann:
According to the Sector Adeptus Arbites, A group of abhumans that refuses to recognize the primacy of the Imperium has a presence somewhere in the sector. They offer their services as miners and mercenaries, threatening the livelihoods of true Imperial citizens. They must be eradicated or brought into the Imperium.
A League of Votann Fleet operates somewhere in the sector.
Costs: - 2
[] Active Front: Mutant War
Four worlds have recently emerged from a warpstorm, their populations consumed by rampant mutation. Led by the Ordo Malleus, the Imperial Guard is currently fighting to cleanse these worlds of their infestation.
Your Psykers will be deployed to this front.
Costs: -6
[] Mysterious mutants:
Several worlds in the sector have been tormented by the appearance of mutants with bony ridges on their foreheads, additional arms, and an aversion to sunlight. Nobody quite knows what they are.
Costs: -2
The Vile Heretic Threat: Recidivism and heresy are, as always, great threats to humanity.
[] Active Front: Heretics:
The sector is cursed with a warpstorm from which the forces of the archenemy regularly emerge to attack the sector. No threat has emerged in some time, and the Battlefleet is growing apprehensive about when the enemy will strike next.
Your Psykers will be deployed to this front.
Costs: -8
[] Old Rebellion:
In times past, a rebellion wracked this sector. Though its name has been excised for history, the stain still affects the sector to this day, being lower in priority for imperial reinforcements and facing higher tithes to make amends for their rebellion.
Costs: -4
[] Active cults:
Multiple Chaos Cults that are active across the sector have resisted any attempt to root them out. They're well led, financed, and disturbingly effective.
Costs: -2
Sector Geography: What is the layout of your sector?
[] Stable Warp Currents:
The sector's warp currents are very stable. Travel is quick and reliable:
Costs: 6
[] Unstable warp currents:
Without a skilled navigator, it is hard to navigate this sector. Excellent if you want to find an out of the way place to hunker down.
Costs: -6
[] Inactive Warp Gate
Officially a human creation. This gateway has been identified as being part of a pair, with the other half being on the edge of the Segmentum Solar. As the Astra Telepathica, you can take control of the gate:
Costs: 6
[] Warp chokepoints:
There are only a few stable warp-routes fleets can use to get into the sector, funnelling invasions through narrow chokepoints:
Costs: 6
12 hour Moratorium.
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