Psyker Knights?

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

Is there any reason at all a psyker can't be born to a Knight House and rise to become a fully-fledged Knight? Would they be killed at birth? Would they be trained carefully and taught to use their powers in conjunction with their Knight armor (best-case scenario)? Would they just be scooped up by a Black Ship and burned to fuel the fire that is the Emperor?

[Black Knight]

I think most of the Knight worlds survived because they hunted and killed any Psykers when they came into their powers. These are feudal worlds that would of seen them as witches. Remember apart from Taranis, command thrones condition the user into a feudal mindset. 

 

Currently if a psyker is found, even if they were a high lord they would be taken away by the Black Ships to either be trained or fed to the Golden Throne.

[Brother Tyler]

I don't know of any definitive lore for or against how the Knight Households treat any (potential) psykers. However, a niche force within the Imperium is the Divisio Telepathica Psi-Titans. We don't know much (anything?) about them except that they participated in the first version of the Thirteenth Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler (they may have been retconned out in the Fall of Cadia version). This force allows the possibility of psykers from Imperial Knight households being used, either within the Knight households (some psi-knight that GW hasn't given us/told us about yet) or as part of the Divisio Telepathica (perhaps the Knight Households turn their psykers over to the Adeptus Mechanicus for the Divisio Telepathica).

[Stray]

Psionics might be something we'll see in Codex: Chaos Knights. I wouldn't hold my breath, but given we know Knights can be, and are at times, Daemon possessed, it stands to reason it would be a possibility.

 

Otherwise, I'd echo what Brother Tyler said regarding the Ordo Sinister Titans. (I believe there were some very limited rules for a Titan Psi Weapon in one of the FW publications?) Nothing in lore confirms or denies a Psi-Knight though, and the Ordo Sinister is almost never deployed. We know there are something like 20-25 Warlord titans in the group, they're considered 'Forbidden Weapons', so ONLY the Emperor or the High Lords of Terra can deploy them (not even a Primarch has enough authority in lore), making them just about the most mysterious and rarely seen things in the Imperiums arsenal.

[MajorNese]

Short clarification for the Ordo Sinister psi-titans:

Yes, there are psykers in them, but as ammunition, not as pilots. Their caskets are effectively shells, once a shot uses up (kills) the psyker, it is ejected and the next one slotted in. In the heresy short story, the titan was piloted by a pariah and didn't even have a machine spirit (might be prudent, with all the warp energy), everything was operated by the princeps directly (though there were support servitors/moderatii IIRC).

[hermanista]

Schrodinger's Psi-knight, both exists and doesnt exist until someone - probably FW decide to does and makes a model of it.

 

Inevitable itll become a mainstain in most knight armies at that point due to our downside vs psionics.

 

You could do some really cool things with it rules wise though if/when it does happen

[Stray]

To give people an idea (there are rules for the entire Psi-Titan in 30k - can't say I recalled that), the Psi-Weapon itself the, 'Sinistramanus Tenebrae' is an (7th edition rules): Apocalyptic Mega Blast Template, pinning, cover ignoring, concussive, Vortex, Fleshbane, Poison, Strength D weapon... with a 120" range :P

 

...and then it can still pack a Mori Quake Cannon, Apoc launchers, and all the other fun Warlord stuff. Before we even get to it's special rules and Psychic powers...

 

So Psi-Knights? Yeah, I'm on board :P

[Gederas]

To give people an idea (there are rules for the entire Psi-Titan in 30k - can't say I recalled that), the Psi-Weapon itself the, 'Sinistramanus Tenebrae' is an (7th edition rules): Apocalyptic Mega Blast Template, pinning, cover ignoring, concussive, Vortex, Fleshbane, Poison, Strength D weapon... with a 120" range

 

...and then it can still pack a Mori Quake Cannon, Apoc launchers, and all the other fun Warlord stuff. Before we even get to it's special rules and Psychic powers...

 

So Psi-Knights? Yeah, I'm on board

And don't forget: The inner circle of the Sinistramanus Tenebrae is a Vortex

 

And then, should you SOMEHOW manage to kill it, the thing explodes on a 4+, becoming a a 36 INCH DESTROYER BLAST.

[Shinespider]

Obviously Hermanista's read is ultimately the most accurate - Psi-Knights do not exist, unless GW suddenly decides that they do, in which case they do.

 

My personal read on it would be that the process of binding with the Throne Mechanicum is a very sacred, very delicate process that permanently changes the character of both the pilot and the machine. Your Knight Suits are incredibly precious things, sacred to your house - sticking a mutant into one would be viewed by most houses as an unthinkable transgression. The process of binding a mutant to the throne would permanently taint it. 

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

The idea was mostly a fluff question, buuuuut having a psyker Knight in crunch (say, the Knight Aberrant for an example name) would be great. Maybe it could take a unique force weapon, maybe a giant Force Sword which is a straight better Reaper Chainsword? Maybe a new Discipline which allows Knights Aberrant to buff allied Knights, with offensive spells which deal bonus damage to TITANIC models?

 

Could even be a new kind of Knight House with a new keyword, like QUESTOR TELEPATHICA? Obviously, if psyker Knights happened, Renegades would get an option like Inquisitors do where the user gets to choose psyker or nah.

[Slasher956]

I think they will (eventually) release psyker knights to counter balance (but be different to) knights possessed by greater demons

[noigrim]

Why not? There are psy warlords

[Lord Lorne Walkier]

I bet the "Green" Knight turns out to be a Psyker...

[Ezr91aeL]

Anyway I think that, being Knight houses noble dinasties, it's improbable that a psyker born in those families are used as simple "Empra's food". It's more probable they gets carried to Terra, sanctioned and trained to become hi-ranking members of the Scholastica Psykana.

[Lord Lorne Walkier]

I think some new chaos Knights are psykers.

[Stray]

I think some new chaos Knights are psykers.

 

Indeed so.

 

The aren't very good at it (smite only), but it's a start :)

[Mushkilla]

I guess with smite you could potentially clear that one model that's making a character un- targetable when you only have one knight left?

 

Pretty niche. Having a deny is nice though.

[Stray]

I guess with smite you could potentially clear that one model that's making a character un- targetable when you only have one knight left?

 

Pretty niche. Having a deny is nice though.

 

Yeah, absolutely. Don't get me wrong, I think the Pyrothrone is my favourite relic in the book. Having something to do in the psychic phase is great. It's certainly been very carefully added though.

 

It's easy to see why. Give a Knight one power from the basic Chaos discipline, now you have a Rampager under warp time, or that can cast Death Hex (kinda makes the Khornate relic a little obsolete doesn't it?). You'd need a 'Psychic Knight' discipline I think for balance reasons, and I guess that's not worth doing for one relic.

 

Maybe next edition the concept will be expanded?

 

It remains a universal truth though... Psy Knights are goddamn cool!

[Mushkilla]

It remains a universal truth though... Psy Knights are goddamn cool!

That's for sure. In some ways I see infernal knights as Sorcerers/mage-knights/bloodmages. You effectively have three powerful psychic powers, you can cast one a turn, and they can't be denied. The effect is fixed only the cost in blood is variable. Or the effect is variable and the cost is fixed. :)

[Stray]

 

It remains a universal truth though... Psy Knights are goddamn cool!

That's for sure. In some ways I see infernal knights as Sorcerers/mage-knights/bloodmages. You effectively have three powerful psychic powers, you can cast one a turn, and they can't be denied. The effect is fixed only the cost in blood is variable. Or the effect is variable and the cost is fixed.

 

 

True enough. Mechanically it's very much the same as a Psionic that skips the denial mechanic.

 

The Dark Mechanicum certainly seem to have 'stuff' going on in this respect. Your average Hellwright seems quite capable of pointing a finger at a vehicle he/she doesn't like, and having nastiness occur to it. Definitely there is some untapped potential there for both sides of the Mechanicum coin.

[Brother Tyler]

The Ordo Sinister of the Great Crusade/Age of Darkness era isn't necessarily the same as the Divisio Telepathica Psi-Titans, though. There are 9,000 years between the Age of Darkness and the current era, and a lot has changed. The Mechanicum reforged itself as the Adeptus Mechanicus in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, making a wide range of changes. The Legio Titanicus was reformed into the Collegia Titanica, with the titan legions further divided into multiple divisios, among which, apparently, is the Divisio Telepathica. So we can't say with any certainty that what held true for the Great Crusade era Ordo Sinister holds true for the modern Divisio Telepathica.

 

The 6th edition Codex: Imperial Knights says the following:

 

THE AGE OF STRIFE

Tragically, the Age of Technology was doomed to fall and devolve into a shadow of its former glory. Around M22, Mankinds vast galactic empire began to suffer a pandemic of terrible wars and massive invasions, caused, at least in part, by the emergence of the first human psykers and the widespread use of quasi-sentient machines. By M25, ferocious Warp storms had largely isolated the widespread human colonies, and the era that came to be known as the Age of Strife had well and truly begun.

 

Although swathes of Knight worlds fell to this storm of death and destruction, some survived, aided considerably by the innate conservatism and resistance to change of the knightly houses. Where other planets welcomed psykers into their midst, and revelled in the luxurious lifestyle that advanced thinking machines could provide, the knight houses had largely shunned both, preferring to stick with the traditions and technology of the past...

The 7th edition Codex: Imperial Knights reinforces the previous lore with the following:

 

A high proportion of the Knight worlds withstood the cataclysm [the onset of the Age of Strife]. The Knights themselves offered matchless protection, but the innate conservatism of their leaders had also insulated those planets. The draconian rule of their masters meant new technology had been eschewed, and psykers persecuted...

The current Codex: Imperial Knights continues to reinforce the earlier lore with the following:

 

The Knight worlds had burned their psykers as witches...

The lack of further information about psykers among the Knight households implies that the innate conservatism and draconian rule continue to this day. In all likelihood, Knight world inhabitants that exhibit psyker potential are killed outright, turned into servitors, or given up to either the Black Ships or the Adeptus Mechanicus (and those that are fortunate enough to suffer either of the latter two fates might be speculated to be potential members of the Divisio Telepathica, if the Adeptus Mechanicus recruits for that divisio through such methods). The treatment of psykers might vary from house to house, Knight world to Knight world, depending upon the culture and personalities of the leaders (and perhaps a range of other factors too broad to list here).

 

In all likelihood, there are probably nobles of Knight houses that are latent psykers. The fates of such individuals might vary with a wide range of variables, from being killed upon demonstrating their powers to being turned over to the Adeptus Mechanicus/Black Ships to falling to Chaos. Mankind is evolving and the psyker mutation is becoming more and more common, so it's highly likely that extant Knight houses are having to deal with this problem within their ranks on occasion.

 

And GW has demonstrated a willingness to expand upon the lore, so we might see a potential for psyker Knights in the future. These might be an expansion to the basic Imperial Knights forces, or they might be a rare niche option (comparable to how the Grey Knights are a niche specialized force among the Adeptus Astartes).