When Did librarians come back?

[yhta]

for me russ and the wolf think that is better break few rules to make the job done and because they belive that they are the emperor executioners. they have the right to use psykers.

 

And that is the thing with the wolfs:they always breaks the rule or defied authority and almost all find them awsome or cool because the way the imperiun is. now we are show that sometimes. break the rules is no the awsome thing to do. because they are breaking the rules that they are enforcing to others. so i looks like "we have to break the rules. is the only way to save the emperor" a way to think that magnus had when he made that spell

[Grimtooth]

It hurts the ego of so many other SM players to hear that rune priests and SW for that matter are special little snowflakes and were not covered by the edict, but that is how the retcon has been laid out.

 

If you read Prospero Burns, the chapter right before the narrative of the events at Nikea, Malcador himself details exactly what the Council entails and is meant to address. If you don't want to read it all, Malcador addresses it as the, "LIBRARIAN CRISIS". The chapter following starts out describing exactly what the Librarian Crisis was and how the entire Librarius program was chiefly designed and founded by Magnus.

 

Hence, the Council of Nikea was meant to address the LIBRARIAN CRISIS and the edict passed by the Emperor banned librarians and disbanded the Librarius program. At no time were rune priests ever librarians nor were they ever part of Magnus' Librarius program, therefore no part of Edict of Nikea pertain to them or their roles in the VI Legion.

 

As has be written so far, the informal reintroduction of librarians appears to be across several legions as deemed necessary as more and more conflicts arose between the loyalists and traitors.

[Raven Angel]

From what I remember of both books there really isn't much story between Nikea and the assault on Prospero. So we don't really see if the Wolves disbanded the Rune Priests. From what I remember of the wider fluff the Emperor sent Russ to bring Magnus back to Terra for judgment. Horus dumped his Custodians and Sisters of Silence on Russ with a message that convinced Russ that Magnus was too dangerous to let near the Emperor and he and his sons must be destroyed. Either way I figure that Big E gave Russ the "bye any means" sanction when he sent him after Magnus. Rune Priest would have been a necessity to capture a psyker Primarch that didn't want to give up.

[KarkassBC]

Hence, the Council of Nikea was meant to address the LIBRARIAN CRISIS and the edict passed by the Emperor banned librarians and disbanded the Librarius program. At no time were rune priests ever librarians nor were they ever part of Magnus' Librarius program, therefore no part of Edict of Nikea pertain to them or their roles in the VI Legion.

 

As has be written so far, the informal reintroduction of librarians appears to be across several legions as deemed necessary as more and more conflicts arose between the loyalists and traitors.

 

For the first part I completely disagree. Giving a thing a different name doesn't change it. Nikae banned the use of psychic powers from the Space Marine. The words of the Emperor are "But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will that no Legion will maintain a Librarius department. All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.”

 

If Nikae banned only the Librarius detachment, the simple solution would be to give a different name.

 

The difference is given in the second part of the ruling with the ban of the use of psychic powers by Space Marines.

 

For the second part of your words, during Nikea, 12 Chief librarians spoke in favour of the Thousand Sons Librarium project, so it's easy to think those 12 Legions considered in a favourable way the reintroduction of the librarians during the Horus Heresy period (In Know no Fear, the Ultramarines Primarch said the Ruling of Nikae was a very dangerous error...)

[Grimtooth]

Hence, the Council of Nikea was meant to address the LIBRARIAN CRISIS and the edict passed by the Emperor banned librarians and disbanded the Librarius program. At no time were rune priests ever librarians nor were they ever part of Magnus' Librarius program, therefore no part of Edict of Nikea pertain to them or their roles in the VI Legion.

 

As has be written so far, the informal reintroduction of librarians appears to be across several legions as deemed necessary as more and more conflicts arose between the loyalists and traitors.

 

For the first part I completely disagree. Giving a thing a different name doesn't change it. Nikae banned the use of psychic powers from the Space Marine. The words of the Emperor are "But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will that no Legion will maintain a Librarius department. All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.”

 

If Nikae banned only the Librarius detachment, the simple solution would be to give a different name.

 

The difference is given in the second part of the ruling with the ban of the use of psychic powers by Space Marines.

 

For the second part of your words, during Nikea, 12 Chief librarians spoke in favour of the Thousand Sons Librarium project, so it's easy to think those 12 Legions considered in a favourable way the reintroduction of the librarians during the Horus Heresy period (In Know no Fear, the Ultramarines Primarch said the Ruling of Nikae was a very dangerous error...)

 

Read Prospero Burns and what Malcador says is the entire reason for the gathering at Nikea. Then read what the Emperor banned in his edit. The retcon specifically targets the Librarius program and those associated with its teachings, ie, Magnus and his Thousand Sons who served as instructors. It isn't a matter of saying something by a different name. The testimony of Morticon as well as the others was to link his Legions use of sorcerous powers to the teachings spread across the Librarius program. By showing that Magnus and his Legion had delved too deep, the members against him at the council then said that the Librarius program was thus tainted in turn. Tainted fruit from the poisonous tree so to speak.

 

As I said, we have no formal lifting of the Edict, in Fear to Tread or any book so far. Each instance has been during a time of great necessity when facing the traitor Legions. Barring a formal lifting of the edict, it just appears so far that librarians were being allowed to use their powers as a matter of survival against the traitor Legions, which might later serve as the founding for finally lifting the edict.

[MadDoc]

If Nikae banned only the Librarius detachment, the simple solution would be to give a different name.

That would solve nothing and simply make the others Legion guilty of the same hypocrisy as the Vlka Fenryka.

[Anaraion]

To some extent I think the simple explanation that Abnett got it a bit wrong in Prospero Burns is the best and easiest explanation. Now that is an easy statement for me to make but we all know the 40k universe has so much fluff and much of it contradictory. So lets start with the what happened in the original version of events at Nikea and see if some common sense and sifting of the fluff will help. I quote...

 

Index Astartes wrote:

 

"There were those amongst the Imperial court suspicious of the Thousand Sons' methods. Paramount amongst them was Mortarion, sepulchral lord of the Death Guard who knew too well from his own dark past that sorcerous power never came without a price. Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, for whom any battle fought through sleight of hand and clever deceit was by definition dishonourable also lent his voice to the critics of the Thousand Sons. The schism grew so great that it threatened the very foundations of the new order, and so the Emperor of Man himself decreed a council to resolve the issue for all time.

 

The mightiest proponents of both sides convened on the planet Nikaea to debate, with the Emperor himself enthroned above the dais as arbiter, in an ancient amphitheatre that seated tens of thousands. There, beneath the glittering starlight, the witch hunters presented their case. They recited a litany of human misery inflicted upon the Emperor's own subjects by sorcerers enslaved by Chaotic monstrosities; of mutants unable to control what they had become, and despots who turned their psychic gifts to dark and selfish purpose. To speak against these charges came Magnus himself. He climbed the dais in silence, his own visage seeming to confirm everything the witch hunters asserted.

 

But when he began to speak, it was clear none of his accusers could match the charisma or presence of a Space Marines Primarch and least of all this particular Primarch's certainty of conviction. Magnus told the assembled throng that no knowledge was tainted of itself, and no pursuit of knowledge ever wrong so long as the seeker of that truth was master of what he learned. And, Magnus decreed with finality, there were no secrets the Thousand Sons had not mastered, no ways too labyrinthine for them to know. When he stepped from the dais, the council was divided more sharply than ever: the witch hunters had made their case collectively with great impact, but with insufficient power to blunt the persuasiveness of the Primarch of the Thousand Sons. The assemblage openly wondered if even the Emperor could decide against one of his own sons.

 

The tension had reached the palpable knife-edge of violence when a contingent of Space Marine Librarians approached the dais. The Emperor acknowledged them with a nod and all fell silent, for visible amongst the librarians were the chiefs of some of the greatest Legions in the Imperium. These mystic warriors formed a semicircle about the podium to indicate they spoke with one voice, but it was a young Epistolary who stepped forward to deliver their words. Though his identity has been lost to history, he is said to have spoken with a passion that bordered on ferocity, and offered to the assembled council a third alternative. A psyker, he proposed, like an athlete, was a gifted individual whose native talent must be carefully nurtured. Psykers were not evil in themselves. Sorcery was a knowledge that had to be sought, even bargained for, and neither man nor paragon could be certain they had the best of such bargains. The other Librarians united around him, and proposed that the education of human psykers to best serve Mankind be made an Imperial priority. The conduct of sorcery would be outlawed forevermore as an unforgivable heresy against Mankind.

 

The compromise presented by the Librarians offered both factions something, and appeared to be what the Emperor himself had been waiting for. The Emperor ruled it law without allowing any rebuttal, and the Edicts of Nikaea stand to this millennium as Imperial policy regarding human psychic mutation. But it was not the decision favoured by Magnus. The Grimoire Hereticus records the fateful face-to-face confrontation between father and son when the Emperor himself barred Magnus's attempt to storm from the hall in protest. He bade Magnus cease the practice of sorcery and incantation, and the pursuit of all knowledge related to magic. It is said the cyclopean Primarch's face appeared brittle as aged stone as he received his father's command. Brittle enough to crack, but the Primarch of the Thousand Sons bent his shoulder and pledged himself and his Legion to obey. Neither Emperor nor Primarch knew that this moment would be the last time they would meet, and that events had been set in motion that would climax in treachery, bloodshed and pain."

 

Read the bold part again...

 

This makes everything work in the 40k Universe. This is why we have librarians and sorcerers and rogue psykers (like the Thousand sons those hunted in the Shira Calpurnia stories) clearly fall foul of the Emperor's edict.

 

Also for those that hold their Prospero Burns tightly lets see what was said between Amon and Aun Helwinter on page 350...

 

"What I especially admire" said the Thousand Sons Equerry, "is your hypocrisy. You hound us and harass us over our so-called sorcery, yet you do not shrink from using it, shaman."

 

"There is a vast gulf between what I employ for the good of the Rout and what you practise, warlock," Helwinteer replied "and the chief part of that gulf is control."

 

And this exchange agains seems to reinforce the belief that psychic powers is not the question or the issue, but how they are used is the key.

 

Ultimately this being 40k many people will argue and denounce whatever sect their view runs contrary to as debates rage on which fluff is the most important fluff. For me, having been around this game for over 20 years, I have seen new fluff come in and completely change what clearly was fine before (female space marine models anyone... ;)?). Ultimately I can not make sense of it all. I just try and find the fluff that explains the biggest chunk and thus I have offered the following. Hope it helps... /bow.

[KarkassBC]

Read Prospero Burns and what Malcador says is the entire reason for the gathering at Nikea. Then read what the Emperor banned in his edit. The retcon specifically targets the Librarius program and those associated with its teachings, ie, Magnus and his Thousand Sons who served as instructors. It isn't a matter of saying something by a different name. The testimony of Morticon as well as the others was to link his Legions use of sorcerous powers to the teachings spread across the Librarius program. By showing that Magnus and his Legion had delved too deep, the members against him at the council then said that the Librarius program was thus tainted in turn. Tainted fruit from the poisonous tree so to speak.

 

As I said, we have no formal lifting of the Edict, in Fear to Tread or any book so far. Each instance has been during a time of great necessity when facing the traitor Legions. Barring a formal lifting of the edict, it just appears so far that librarians were being allowed to use their powers as a matter of survival against the traitor Legions, which might later serve as the founding for finally lifting the edict.

 

Sorry to disagree again.

 

1. Mortarion told about his personal knowledge on his homeworld. He saw sorcerers not Thousand Sons. He simply warned the possible results of the growing use of sorcery not speaking about some faults by the Librarian or the Thousand Sons. His testimony was about a possible future.

With an open ruling and not a Conclave already started with the final outcome, every advocate could easily disrupt the previous witness with a simple comparison of a man seeing a killer with a gun and asking the judge to remove guns from the policeman because he could one day used it against him.

 

2. No one told that TS had delved too deep. They worried about a possible future. A member of White Scars (possibly a Shaman) spoke in favour of the Librarius program. The only difference was he spoke as a Librarian Chief Master and not calling himself First Shaman of the Unseen Winds (aka..the Warp...).

 

3. Many Primarchs accepted the decision of Nikae not because was right but only because it come from the Emperor. So they have clearly in their mind the advantages of using psychic powers. When they found themselves in a situation where the use of psychic powers was useful they reversed immediately the Nikea Ruling, even closing the mouth of their soldiers (or cutting the heads for the Lion and Brother Nemiel...).

Until now from the loyalist side (because from the traitors there was no problem at all with psychic powers) the Rule was reversed by Dark Angels, Blood Angels and Ultramarines. I wait for the White Scar book to read the same.

 

4. Malcador himself during the Horus Heresy created the Grey Knights, and they used a lot pf psychic powers... even him reversed the Emperor decision...

 

5. Reading Prospero Burn the Rule of Nikea was a masterpiece of the Chaos Gods to reduce the defences of the Imperium against the perils and powers of the Warp.

 

What I said is the ruling was against the use of psychic power by Space Marines not really the units in which they acted. So calling with another name the same power don't change it. (People fear the nuclear power... oh, maybe we can call Uranium Fission Processing Power Plant to solve the problem...)

 

The Space Wolves, as the Traitor Legions (maybe even the Worlds Eaters), thought they were different and not obliged to follow the Emperor decision.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Ahh, this old debate again... I just can't be bothered going through this song and dance for yet another time. I was going to post up a lengthy argument but... I just can't be bothered.

[The 13th Goat]

Can anyone point me in the direction of the story wher ethe Dark Angels redeploy Librarians? Think I missed that one....

[Kol Saresk]

Actually not all of the Primarchs reversed the Edict. The Wolves did it because by the looks of it, they never obeyed the Edict. According to Deliverance Lost, the Alpha Legion never listened either. In the same book, we actually see a Raven Guard ex-Librarian who refused to use his powers, except to open the gene-vault and by the end of the book, stopped using his powers.

 

At this point in time, we are only seeing five Legions actually use Librarians, and those are the Space Wolves*, Thousand Sons*, the Alpha Legion**, the Word Bearers*** and the Dark Angels on Caliban who are teaching Luther sorcery and banishing daemons****. The fact that it is just the Dark Angels on Caliban, who were sent back at a time when the Librarians still had a job, suggests either Caliban never received word of the Edict, or there is information management going on so no one on Caliban hears of it.

 

 

Sources cited:

*A Thousand Sons, Prospero Burns

**Deliverance Lost

***Battle for the Abyss

****Fallen Angels

[KarkassBC]

Can anyone point me in the direction of the story wher ethe Dark Angels redeploy Librarians? Think I missed that one....

 

In the book The primarchs. During a strange warp anomaly created by the desctruction of a Night Lords ship.

The Dark Angels vessel was attacked by warp entities and Lion El Jonson ordered a counter attack with Navigators and ex-Librarian in the front.

 

The decision was extremely clear..."Tell the Librarians they are relieved of their Nikaean Oaths" (page 265).

[Nova_Dew]

But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will that no Legion will maintain a Librarius department. All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.

 

Thing to ask is if the Big E held a distinction between Sorcery and Psychic power ie. is Sorcery power gained through knowledge and bargaining and Psykers using only natural ability?

 

as for the quote if it was to ban all Pskers it would say some thing along the lines of "But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will that no Legion will maintain a Psychic department. All their warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers"

 

The Big E banned the Librarius department and its members from using their powers not the use of Psykers by the legions or they would have no navigators either since they were in service to the legions

[Kol Saresk]

But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will that no Legion will maintain a Librarius department. All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.

 

I believe the very quote you presented says no, he does not hold a distinction between sorcery and psychic use in the retcon unless He, Malcador, an astropath or a Navigator is the one using the power.

 

And there is also a reasonable explanation for why these exclusions from the Edict existed.

 

The Emperor was a hypocrite who believed his power to be pure and untainted.

 

Malcador was the vassal of the Emperor and at least on one occasion, served as a vessel for the Emperor's power. So since Malcador can handle even a little of Emperor's power even if it is just for a little while, Malcador must also be "pure" in the same sense the Emperor uses the word.

 

Astropaths are sanctioned psykers who are bound to the Emperor's powers with the Soulbinding.

 

Navigators only have Warp Sight. Their mutations are usually slow and I'm willing to bet they usually don't live long enough to be considered a "mutant" by whatever standards the Imperium uses to judge when exactly they cross the line from Navigator to Mutant. They are not that much of a threat unless they live to turn mutant or decide to fly the ship into the depths of the warp so it can be destroyed.

[KarkassBC]

Sincerely reading the Nikaea Ruling there is no ban on psychic use. The ban is only for Astartes.

 

Probably the idea of the Emperor is that a rogue psyker can easily be caught. It's a human plus a bonus.

 

But the problem is bigger if the rogue psyker is also one of the superhuman Astartes, capable of killing a lot of Imperial soldiers even without sorcery.

 

An entire Company or worse (maybe an entire legion) of Rogue Psykers couldn't be handled at all by the Witch Seekers.

 

So the Emperor denied the use of psychic powers for the Space Marines and the Nikaea Ruling must deny the use even to the Space Wolves Rune Priests (they use psychic powers).

 

At the end, the Legions formally disbanded the Librarian project but some allowed the use of psychic powers in many occasions.

[Kol Saresk]

Sincerely reading the Nikaea Ruling there is no ban on psychic use. The ban is only for Astartes.

 

Probably the idea of the Emperor is that a rogue psyker can easily be caught. It's a human plus a bonus.

 

But the problem is bigger if the rogue psyker is also one of the superhuman Astartes, capable of killing a lot of Imperial soldiers even without sorcery.

 

An entire Company or worse (maybe an entire legion) of Rogue Psykers couldn't be handled at all by the Witch Seekers.

 

So the Emperor denied the use of psychic powers for the Space Marines and the Nikaea Ruling must deny the use even to the Space Wolves Rune Priests (they use psychic powers).

 

At the end, the Legions formally disbanded the Librarian project but some allowed the use of psychic powers in many occasions.

Yeah. I'm not exactly sure where the disagreement came from. The Edict banned all psykers within the Astartes. It didn't ban any other psykers. It wasn't because of the fear of rogue psykers so much as the fear of exactly what happened to the Thousand Sons, posthuman superwarriors who could also use psyker abilities using the warp to enhance and give them even more power to the point that they became servants of Chaos. Rogue Psykers don't really seem to be a problem in the Astartes. The closest thing I've ever heard to a rogue psyker is Da'kir from the Tome of Fire series by Nick Kyme.

 

As far as psykers in the pre-Heresy Imperium, I've never heard of a sanctioned psyker outside of the Astropaths and Navigators. It seems the sole purpose of the Pre-Heresy Blackships was to pick up all psykers they encountered and return them to Terra. Either they became Astropaths, or they became fuel for the Astronomicon. And I'm willing to bet that's been going on since the Emperor came up with the Soul binding ritual before the Imperium was truly born.

[Anaraion]

I love how we all just focus on the fluff we want and ignore anything counter... :).

[Kol Saresk]

I'm just confused at this point. Something happened, I know it did. I just don't know what.

[Nova_Dew]

I love how we all just focus on the fluff we want and ignore anything counter... :tu:.

 

Yep that it seems.... like the whole Nikiea thing was as much politics as policing any ones actions, Mort's hate of Sorcery, Russ deciding to take the Big E's Word as is and seeing anything even slightly to do with Intelligence Gathering as dishonourable (The Big E said Libarous not Rune Priests.. wonna argue?) As for the fear of Chaos only a few knew about it and that includes only 1 or 2 Primarchs, The Sons thought they were helpful aliens and nothing more

[Kol Saresk]

I love how we all just focus on the fluff we want and ignore anything counter... :).

(The Big E said Libarous not Rune Priests.. wonna argue?)

Yes. Especially since the primary purpose of a Rune Priest is a type of intelligence gathering done through the use of runes to divine the most likely course of action. And the fact that as pointed out, not all Rune Priests are psykers which would mean that they are just as much sorcerers as the Thousand Sons. And since the Big E said "No Psychic Powers", Rune Priests were included in that as well since divining is a psychic power. Ergo, Rune Priests got the boot too. Russ is just as big a hypocrite as the very brother he attempted, and failed, to kill.

 

And true, the Primarchs were relatively unaware of Chaos, but the Emperor is a different story. And since he was the one who made the verdict while going on about "delving too deep in the warp", it is safe to surmise that he was worried about the Librarians and the Primarchs falling to Chaos by overusing their psychic powers, the very fear every Librarian in modern 40k has to face.

[Grimtooth]

Kol, I am sorry, but how can you read what was the purpose of the Council of Nikae (addressing the LIBRARIAN CRISIS), then read what the Emperor bans in the edict (LIBRARIANS and the LIBRARIUS), and then still insist it applied to rune priests.

 

You do know that Magnus was chiefly responsible for introducing librarians into the ranks correct?

 

You do know that his Thousand Sons were sent as instructors to the other Legions Librarius programs correct?

 

You do know that Magnus' vision for humanity was going to be founded on the introduction of Librarisu program and was ongoing with his choice of remembrancers that had latent psychic powers under training of Thousand Sons correct?

 

You do know that the Council of Nikea is also known as The Trial of Magnus the Red?

 

The testimony given, including Mort was to link the actions of sorcerous enemies to the actions of Magnus and the Thousand Sons. As such they were able to link the teachings taught by Magnus and the Thousand Sons to the Librarius program. That is why despite the librarian from the White Scars giving his little speech about psychic powers being not much different then a bolter, the Emperor specifically rebukes that train of thought.

 

The only place you will find the actual ban onpsychi powers comes from Collected Visions IIRC. It used to be all psychic powers, with even the primarchs being told not to use any. However the retcon has focused specifically on Magnus, the Thousand Sons. And by extension of his (Magnus) involvement in the Librarius program, the Librarisns.

[MadDoc]

With all due respect Brother Ramses, that is a load of utter (and blatantly biased) tosh.

 

The simple fact of the matter is that by keeping their Rune Priests (Librarians by another name, even if the Wolves never had a Librarius) the Vlka Fenryka are hypocrits.

 

If it was as simple as only Librarians and the Librarius Departments of the Legions being banned, then explain why the White Scars didn't simply disband their Librarius and keep their Stormseers? Which, applying your above logic and the "example" set by the Wolves of Fenris, would be all above board since they're not actually "Librarians" but rather "Stormseers". The fact that the Stormseers also follow a similar Shamanic tradition to the Rune Priests would also happen to have reinforced their position if they had chosen to do so.

 

Edit - The Edict of Nikaea banned the use of psychic powers within the Legionnes Astartes including the use of Primarch's own considerable psychic gifts/potential, the archaic wording may have specified the abolishing of the Librarius Departments in those Legions which had them and relegating their Librarians back to line duty, but by express mentioning that members of the Legionnes Astartes should not henceforth use their psychic gifts/abilities the intent is made quite clear.

[Nova_Dew]

With all due respect Brother Ramses, that is a load of utter (and blatantly biased) tosh.

 

The simple fact of the matter is that by keeping their Rune Priests (Librarians by another name, even if the Wolves never had a Librarius) the Vlka Fenryka are hypocrits.

 

If it was as simple as only Librarians and the Librarius Departments of the Legions being banned, then explain why the White Scars didn't simply disband their Librarius and keep their Stormseers? Which, applying your above logic and the "example" set by the Wolves of Fenris, would be all above board since they're not actually "Librarians" but rather "Stormseers". The fact that the Stormseers also follow a similar Shamanic tradition to the Rune Priests would also happen to have reinforced their position if they had chosen to do so.

 

 

Do you know that the White Scars did disband the Stormseers?

[Kol Saresk]

But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will that no Legion will maintain a Librarius department. All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.

 

That exact quote is on page 355 of A Thousand Sons. Here is the exact paragraph it came from. It is the last paragraph on page 355.

 

'I see now that I have allowed my sons to delve too profoundly into matters I should never have permitted the them to know even existed. Let it be known that no one shall suffer censure, for this conclave is to serve Unity, not discord. But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will thst no Legion will maintain a Librarius department. All of its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ psychic powers.

 

Now here is what we know. Magnus is the only Primarch to actively use his psychic powers on a regular basis. And yet the Emperor says "Sons" in the plural form, suggesting that he already knows that more than one Primarch relies on the warp for something other than travel. We know that the Lion used a couple of Librarians in conjunction with a "warp bomb" to banish a daemon back to the warp, back when daemons were warp xenos and the Edict of Nikea hadn't happened yet. Leman Russ relies on Rune Priests to use their Runes to divine(pick) courses of action that would best benefit them or to avoid costly mistakes altogether. These same Rune Priests are also pointed out as being able to warp-walk with the best of the Thousand Sons, fight the daemons within the warp using an astral projection and call forth lightning, blizzards and all that fun stuff. Not to mention they are affected by the Sisters of Silence as well. They all show the traits of being psykers.

 

Originally, the original Edict of Nikea targeted Sorcery, not psychic powers and disbanded all Librarius that used sorcery as taught to them by the Thousand Sons. That is not the case anymore. The retcon targets all Astartes who use any psychic powers, whether it be sorcery or actual psychic powers. And to clarify, sorcery is simply the use of fetishes, tokens, charms, wards, prayers, pacts and sacrifices to call forth power that the user normally would not have. This ranges from incantations to tossing of the bones to reading entrails to blood magick. You do not have to be a psyker to use sorcery. Psyker powers range from telepathy to telekinesis to farseeing to terrorsight to pyrokinesis and other similar powers that do not require a medium to be used and require that the user must be a psyker. Rune Priests, as pointed out by The Faceless Man back on page 1 Rune Priests at the time of the Heresy, fit into both categories because all Rune Priests cast the Runes, but not all Rune Priests were psykers. Meaning that even the original Edict being a ban on sorcery would affect them as well. But since the retcon is a ban on sorcery and psychic powers, all psychic powers, even the Rune Priests were banned as they were considered the Wolves' version of the Librarius program, just as Wolf Priests are their versions of Chaplains and Iron Priests are their versions of Techmarines.

 

And as MadDoc pointed out, even the Stormseers were banned. Whether or not they actually obeyed the Edict, will be answered when the White Scars are spotlighted in the Heresy series. But as it stands, only five Legions are using psykers to a heavy extent at the time of the Heresy. Four of those groups are Traitors. Two are Loyalists. No, your math isn't wrong and neither is mine. If you notice, the wording changes from "Legions" to groups. I made this split because right now, there are two different groups of Dark Angels using psykers. One is the Lion's contingent(the Loyalists), and the other is the Librarians on Caliban with Luther, who is also being taught sorcery by the current Cypher(the Traitors).

 

So since the retcon targets not just the Librarians, but also sorcery and psychic powers amongst all Astartes, that means even the Rune Priests were banned as well.

[MadDoc]

Do you know that the White Scars did disband the Stormseers?

Given what we know so far they appear to have ceased using their psychic gifts after the Edict (unlike the Rune Priests).

 

When my copy of Brotherhood of the Storm arrives I'll hopefully be able to give a definitive answer to that though. Either way ignoring the ban of using psychic powers by playing at semantics is hypocrisy, and if the Scars kept their Stormseers active as pyskers they would be just as guilty of it as the Wolves.

 

Though I suspect that it will be shown that they have indeed followed the Edict, but in all likelihood will be shown doing what several other Legions have been shown doing thus far, i.e. reinstating/reactivating their Librarians in extremis.