Rune Priests: A Theory

[Siege40k]

So, after reading all the books up to and including Fear to Tread I was brought to a theory.

 

The Space Wolves, ever the axe-men of the Emperor, were allowed to keep their Librarians aka Rune Priests for two reasons.

1) If other chapters were to go Traitor, the Wolves would have an upper hand in their battles against their former brothers

2) The Emperor, in all his wisdom, was the greatest contingency planner ever. He thought, hey, if things go to barney, at least the Rout will be good to go!

 

The Wolves repeatedly use the excuse that they use shamanism or some other 'all-father' given power that is different from Warp-Majicks. However, I believe that White Scars Librarians (at least according to current information) were Storm Seers (not sure how accurate that is). Assuming similar tribal elements and powers gained from weather and geomancy not the warp, then why did they eschew the use of Librarians as well. In fact, outside of the Imperial Fists, Ultramarines, Iron Warriors (and I'm sure arguments can be made for those legions as well) couldn't all the other Legions claim that their Librarians were tribal type shamans who used their Emperor-derived talents for Justice?

 

I am curious about the motivations behind the Rout keeping their psykers (and then believing in a pagan justification for them) that both contradicts the Imperial Truth and the Council of Nikea....maybe I'm tired and retail has fried my brain but I find this a bit fishy is all!

 

Thoughts?

[Blacksad]

in Fenrisian culture wyrdmaking is considered vile and dangerous and extermination worthy. "psykers" get hunted down and killed.

 

it stands to reason that in such a cultural background those that are gifted will eighter hide it, or give a swing to it, and explain their skills differently.

 

that's also why Space Wolf Psyker powers are all based on natural events. They "don't use warppower, they commune with nature, and get help from the spirits of the world"

 

 

the above statements are MY opinion.

[MadDoc]

My personal take on the issue is that the Space Wolves are either hypocrits, or deluding/lying to themselves (which would be a form of hypocrisy in and of itself).

 

I don't mean that as a black mark against the Wolves either, quite the contrary, I view it as a nice little dark wrinkle to an overtly loyal Legion.

[Blacksad]

obviously, but DA's aren't allowed to state such facts. ;)

[DarkChaplain]

I think it has something to do with the "Librarius departments formed within the Thousand Sons, Blood Angels and White Scars to train them"

"Such was the success of these early experiments that Magnus pushed for his program to be expanded, allowing other Legions to benefit from his research."

 

The Wolves didn't adapt the Librarius for all I know, but no matter how the Dark Angels, Blood Angels or White Scars called their Librarians at the end of the day, they were based on the foundation set by the Thousand Sons and Magnus.

 

I'm by no means a Space Wolves expert, but I'd assume that Librarians were much more offensive and focused on psychic combat roles, while the Rune Priests always seemed a bit more defensive to me. Warding in a sense, shielding from Maleficarum rather than turning it against their foes. I simply think that the roles of the Librarians and Priests were quite different.

[Týr]

I think you can call The Rout hypocrits because the "Rune Priests" are psykers no matter how you look at it. But I think it's true that they have nothing to do with the Librarius, and were a force of autodidact psykers.

 

One of the main reasons for the edict of Nikea was "sorcery". The line between being a psyker and a "sorcerer" was blurred. The members of the Librarius probably started to use powers that were not theirs, but borrowed power from the immaterium to become stronger. Just like the Thousand Sons did. They handled power that they did not "own" and therefore it was a potential danger for themselves and other if they were to lose control.

The "Rune Priests" on the other hand maintained that they were psykers that learned to tame the powers they were born with, and had in their minds all the time.

[Morollan]

This is something that has been bothering me for a long time. It's been a while since I read A Thousand Sons but I remember thinking at the time that the Space Wolves were incredibly hypocritical and I couldn't believe that the Emperor allowed them to continue using their Psykers but forbade every other Legion from doing so.

[Hfran Morkai]

Original material concerning the Edict of Nikea banned sorcery, which is different to standard psychic ability. However later material specifically mentions pyskers.

 

Or maybe they are hypocrites, knowingly or unknowingly. They didn't personally believe that Rune Priests abilities were akin to those of Librarians, so perhaps ignorant as well? Fact of the matter is they got the job done whether they were granted special permissions or not.

[Lord_Caerolion]

I think you can call The Rout hypocrits because the "Rune Priests" are psykers no matter how you look at it. But I think it's true that they have nothing to do with the Librarius, and were a force of autodidact psykers.

 

One of the main reasons for the edict of Nikea was "sorcery". The line between being a psyker and a "sorcerer" was blurred. The members of the Librarius probably started to use powers that were not theirs, but borrowed power from the immaterium to become stronger. Just like the Thousand Sons did. They handled power that they did not "own" and therefore it was a potential danger for themselves and other if they were to lose control.

The "Rune Priests" on the other hand maintained that they were psykers that learned to tame the powers they were born with, and had in their minds all the time.

 

Except the new background bans psykers in the Legions outright. Not just the Librarius, but that no Astartes shall ever again utilise psychic ability. It can't be that "the Wolves used nature spirits, and that made it ok", because that's exactly what the Storm Seers of the White Scars believe, but they had the honesty to accept that it's the same thing in the end.

[Arachnid99]

Yeah I think it's just the Wolves being hypocritical and Big E looking the other way. Though actually do we ever see a Rune Priest use his powers in front of a non-Wolf between Nikea and the Assault on Prospero? I don't remember but if we don't maybe the Wolves simply did what every other Legion did, put their hand up and promise to never use psykers again and then drop that restriction the first time things got tough?

[Hfran Morkai]

Oh, another theory that's been thrown up before is that the whole Council of Nikea was conducted as a ruse for Magnus, to get him and his Legion desisting in sorcery/psychic research. So the entire thing could've been an act, highly unlikely but like a lot of things in the Heresy, mysterious enough to let people make their own mind up.

[Lord_Caerolion]

So, it's a ruse designed purely for Magnus' sake, yet they went to the extremes of having every other Legion (other than the Wolves) disband their psyker formations, and formed the Chaplain program to make sure the Legions were following the orders? Sorry, I don't buy that even for a second.

[pingo]

Yep: the Edict of Nikea is referred to in other books as a restriction imposed on other legions too. There seems to be little to suggest it was a ruse.

 

The Wolves just don't see runes, talismans, Rune Priests, and so forth as sorcery. They are hypocritical about it, though they do seem to genuinely believe there is a difference. Maybe there is a difference we are not aware of, or perhaps it is just left open intentionally.

[Hfran Morkai]

So, it's a ruse designed purely for Magnus' sake, yet they went to the extremes of having every other Legion (other than the Wolves) disband their psyker formations, and formed the Chaplain program to make sure the Legions were following the orders? Sorry, I don't buy that even for a second.

 

But did every other Legion disband the Librarium?

[Lord_Caerolion]

From what we've been told, yes they did. We're certain the Dark Angels, Raven Guard, Death Guard and Ultramarines did, and the Chaplain program got brought in to ensure that the Legions followed its rulings. The Emperors proclaimation reads as if to apply to every Legion as well, as it makes no use of specific legions in the decree. It's certainly not just the Thousand Sons that the ruling applied to.

[Hfran Morkai]

hmm

 

Bizarrely I'm not trying to defend the Wolves, just trying to get the full picture. So thanks for pointing out certain Legions did disband the Librarium, I've only read up to the Dropsite massacre in the Heresy books (and then A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns) so don't have all the details. Would like to point out its not my theory, just one that popped up.

 

I believe the Wolves (my beloved Wolves at that) are definitely hypocrites in their actions, as well as ignorant in the fact that their Rune Priest are psykers and therefore ignorant of their hypocrisy.

 

Or another one, (bear with me, I can't remember if there was use of a Psyker between the Council and Prospero and my books are in storage), maybe the Emperor resanctioned the use of Rune Priests (and perhaps other psykers) when the Wolves were sent to bring the Thousand Sons to justice?

 

I still reckon ignorance and hypocrisy though, definitely seems fairly Wolfy.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Whether it was willing ignorance or not, the fact remains that the Wolves were hypocrites about it. In fact, it was Othere Wyrdmake, a Rune Priest, who spoke against pskyers at the Council!

 

 

Edit: Damn you, autocorrect!

[Morollan]

Whether it was willing ignorance or not, the fact remains that the Wolves were hypocrites about it. In fact, it was Othere Wyrdmake, a Time Priest, who spoke against pskyers at the Council!

 

Yeah, I thought it was a psyker but it's been a long time since I read it so wasn't sure. Struck me as incredibly hypocritical at the time though.

[Baluc]

Whether it was willing ignorance or not, the fact remains that the Wolves were hypocrites about it. In fact, it was Othere Wyrdmake, a Time Priest, who spoke against pskyers at the Council!

 

Yeah, I thought it was a psyker but it's been a long time since I read it so wasn't sure. Struck me as incredibly hypocritical at the time though.

 

 

Personally I see as a failure of both sides of the coin.

 

The Thousand sons proudly proclaimed to suprass just psyker abilities, but when pressed to defend it as natural abilites go on the offensive and say the wolves are doing exatly the same things. The Thousand sons definately go beyond psyker abilities, summoning warp entities to bulster their powers.

 

Even then nobody stepped in, I think a major turning point was when the Thousand Son left their position to go raid a library. And then attacked the wolves when they wen't to do what they were tasked with defeating the enemy.

 

The Wolves are a product of their culture, Fenris doesn't leave room for doubt you have to be certain of everything, anything that isn't proven or natural (Thin ice breaking, a bad winter, etc) is dangerous, maleficarium. Even psykers themselves can be accepted up to a point Fenrisian culture includes them, the village gothi. The Wolves keep Gothi themselves.The Thousand Sons had by their own admission gone beyond this, taking and using powers that weren't their own, summoning warp entities (daemons)turning themselves into maleficarium.

 

As to the Wolves, they draw a a line between psykers and sorcerers. Tra's Gothi says something to the effect that ofcourse we need some mastery of the warp. But only what we can control, only what we can be certain off and even then their is risk and danger. The Sons seem heedless of this danger seeing themselves the masters of the universe.

[Captain Idaho]

Thousand Sons were products of their culture. They are raised to believe knowledge is power and all knowledge can be mastered.

 

The Thousand Sons deserved to die, they broke the Emperor's edict despite the most fearsome of threats from the Emperor in person, but they also ruined his plans and set the Loyalist side back (i.e. he couldn't direct his forces due to his busy defence of Terra). The Sons of Fenris? They deserved to be punished, publically, since they also broke the Emperor's edict. However, they didn't almost destroy Terra and set back the loyalists forever.

 

To say the Space Wolves are justified is wrong. They are hypocrits at worst, naive fools at best. They are also lucky the Heresy occurred, because the Custodes would have reported them to the Emperor and then they would have been censored too.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

It goes down to the basic nature of both Russ and the Space Wolves. They are pragmatic and know that they are the guys who will have to do the dirty jobs with no questions asked or answered. Such a mentality breeds contingincies and the best defence against pyskers is psykers so the rune priests are kept on board because the Wolves win and if they need a psyker to win then they will use a psyker to do it.

 

At the end of the day the Wolves are there to win and they will do anything and everyting to win.

 

In the 41st Millenium they tend to be more honourable and noble, having evolved and absorbed more and more of the Fenrisian culture. The Wolves of the great crusade where a different stripe of beast entirely and more akin to the Grey Knights than the Wolves of 10 millenia in thhe future.

[Leonaides]

From what we've been told, yes they did. We're certain the Dark Angels, Raven Guard, Death Guard and Ultramarines did, and the Chaplain program got brought in to ensure that the Legions followed its rulings. The Emperors proclaimation reads as if to apply to every Legion as well, as it makes no use of specific legions in the decree. It's certainly not just the Thousand Sons that the ruling applied to.

It also applied to the Blood Angels (Ref: Fear to Tread). Sanguinius, Magnus and Khan being the ones who had suggested the creation of Librarius departments in all the legions apparently.

[Baluc]

Thousand Sons were products of their culture. They are raised to believe knowledge is power and all knowledge can be mastered.

 

The Thousand Sons deserved to die, they broke the Emperor's edict despite the most fearsome of threats from the Emperor in person, but they also ruined his plans and set the Loyalist side back (i.e. he couldn't direct his forces due to his busy defence of Terra). The Sons of Fenris? They deserved to be punished, publically, since they also broke the Emperor's edict. However, they didn't almost destroy Terra and set back the loyalists forever.

 

To say the Space Wolves are justified is wrong. They are hypocrits at worst, naive fools at best. They are also lucky the Heresy occurred, because the Custodes would have reported them to the Emperor and then they would have been censored too.

 

That culture didn't also include summon "bound" daemons. The final battle of Prospero burns is somewhat ironic, as the consequences of ignoring the edict, are what finally cause the loss of control, that the wolves feared. Losing control of their tutelaries (sp), rampant mutation, etc.

 

I wasn't trying to justify the wolves actions, mearly set the scene for their attitude. Hypocrits for sure, but I don't think anyone could call the Wolves naive, I think they more than anyone has the required respect for the "unknown" aka the warp. If they were naive they wouldn't even have Rune Priest, they accept it as a neccessary evil, its only the Rune Priest themselves that make distintions and even they know that "sorcery" is just a breath away. That more than anything is why I feel if they were given an exception it was warranted. You read their aversion to it, the anti-magic is ingrained in their society pre-astartes. Just as the Sons obsession with isoteric knowledge pushed them to extremes, the opposite attitute let the wolves face down.

[Chaplain ChonkE]

Agreed Baluc. Blessed is the mind too small for self-doubt.

 

The Wolves arent naive as a child but willfully ignorant. Space Wolves BELIEVE that their powers are gifts from the fury of Fenris. They BELIEVE in ghosts, spirits, daemons and otherworldly phenomena. They believe in Heaven and Hell. They accept this as an everyday aspect of their culture and life as both Fenrisians and Marines. There is no flexibility in this belief because it is part of what makes them Fenrisian to the core. This belief helps shield them from the Warp with the talismans and tails and teeth which ward them from evil magicks. Some might call their actions heathen or hypocritical but the Wolves armor themselves in their ignorance and are better protected from the Warp because of it. Drawing water from a stream isnt particularly dangerous even if there is a risk of being dragged in by the current. It is much safer than wading into the stream attempting to dam it, make it your own tributary and finding too late the undertow was unbelievably strong and too much for you to handle. The Wolves never tried to dam the river of the Warp; they know their place in the World Storm and their hypocrisy and culture keeps them safer than most.

[MadDoc]

That more than anything is why I feel if they were given an exception it was warranted.

Except that there is no mention of them ever being given any such exception. The Emperor's Edict was crystal clear, the Wolves appear to have chosen to play a game of semantics and chose to keep their Rune Priests because they were never part of a Librarius Department (they obvious also chose to miss/ignore the part of the Edict that specifically forbade any member of the Legions (including the Primarchs) from employing psychic abilities).

 

Edit - Willful ignorance is the right of it.