Do we know why we have more psykers?

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

Is it just because sanguinius was a psyker and as such his geneseed turns more of his sons into psykers?

 

or is it because of genetic mutations from growing up on horribly irradiated homeworld?

 

possibly a combination of both of the above?

[TheArtilleryman]

I’d say the first reason. 

[Emperor Ming]

Is it even ether? 

 

Space marine numbers are so tiny compared to the human populace numbers, they could if they wanted to, draft any number of extra psyker recruits

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

2 hours ago, Emperor Ming said:

Is it even ether? 

 

Space marine numbers are so tiny compared to the human populace numbers, they could if they wanted to, draft any number of extra psyker recruits

Are psykers actually recruited for chapters, or does the process turn people with more of a latent potential into psykers?

[TheArtilleryman]

40 minutes ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

Are psykers actually recruited for chapters, or does the process turn people with more of a latent potential into psykers?

I don’t think they specifically look for them but that most chapters first and foremost just look for the best of the best recruits that manage to get through all their trials. Then any that demonstrate psychic potential during training are noted and get referred to the librarius for further training. Unless you’re the Grey Knights and actively recruit only psykers.

Edited January 25 by TheArtilleryman

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

16 minutes ago, TheArtilleryman said:

I don’t think they specifically look for them but that most chapters first and foremost just look for the best of the best recruits that manage to get through all their trials. Then any that demonstrate psychic potential during training are noted and get referred to the librarius for further training. Unless you’re the Grey Knights and actively recruit only psykers.

It’s a weird situation because you’d think most baseline humans that demonstrate psychic potential would be snatched up by the black ships.

[TheArtilleryman]

45 minutes ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

It’s a weird situation because you’d think most baseline humans that demonstrate psychic potential would be snatched up by the black ships.

Pure speculation but maybe it has something to do with the young age at which marines start the recruiting process.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

4 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Pure speculation but maybe it has something to do with the young age at which marines start the recruiting process.

Age playing a part didn’t even occur to me.

i always forget they’re like 15 by the time they’re done with the surgeries lol

[Brother Tyler]

All the codices have said is that the mutation that causes psychic potential is more common in the Blood Angels. This is likely due to the environment on Baal and the fact that mutations are common.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

16 hours ago, Brother Tyler said:

All the codices have said is that the mutation that causes psychic potential is more common in the Blood Angels. This is likely due to the environment on Baal and the fact that mutations are common.

I don’t recall any of our codexes saying anything about mutations in connection to our librarians, but I’ll take your word for it.

[Brother Tyler]

It's in the 8th edition Codex Adeptus Astartes: Blood Angels in the section on Librarians on page 32:

 

"The mutation that bestows psychic abilities - while still rare - is more common amongst Blood Angels than most other Space Marine Chapters..."

 

Upon re-reading my previous post, I realized that it might be easy to misinterpret my second sentence as a paraphrase of the (a) codex/codex supplement. That was my own conclusion, however, and is based on pairing the above quote (which isn't anything new - it is common knowledge that psychic ability is the result of a mutation) with other information that has appeared in various iterations of the Blood Angels rules/lore over multiple editions - a segment of the description of the planet Baal. Here's the sentence from the same book as my previous quote, this found on page 10:

 

"Over the course of the following centuries, the accumulated chemical and radioactive toxins that built up in the [Baalite] survivors' bodies led to them devolving into mutants... There were some who held on to their humanity and preserved a semblance of sane behaviour..."

 

And then there is the section on "The Creation of Angels" (as it's titled in the same book):

 

"Since the time of Sanguinius, the Blood Angels have recruited from among the tribes of the Blood on Baal Secundus and Baal Prime..."

 

Notably, the rulebooks have never mentioned that the Blood Angels recruited Librarians from outside Baal, Baal Prime, and Baal Secundus, so we must infer that those that become Librarians are inducted in the same way as other Blood Angels. And the environment of Baal has had an effect on the recruits (and presumably those on Baal Prime and Baal Secundus, too, though we don't know the degree to which they have been affected), with a higher incidence of mutations, including the possibility of mutations that aren't as obvious, like the psyker mutation.

[Karhedron]

What about later founding Chapters that use BA geneseed but do not recruit from Baal? Is it a property of the geneseed or the inhabitants of Baal?

[Cleon]

I couldn't even pretend to remember where I saw it or even if it was primary GW materials, but I'm sure I've seen somewhere that it's two fold - Sanguinius being Psychic makes the process of become a marine easier for psykers to survive and sometime activates latnent potential (same for the other psyker chapters) which combines with the Blood Angels recruitment process being able to take a and salvage a more mutated population to reflect a larger number of Librarians.

[Spagunk]

The flavor text for Horus Heresy even states that the BA geneseed is specifically adept at transmogrifying genetic deviancy into a more human form. This is from Book 8: Malevolence:
 

Quote

This grim fate was no accident, no arbitrary choice made by a distant general, for each of the Legions had been granted genetic tools to fit the roles for them by the Emperor, and the IXth was no exception. Where other Legions took only the best recruits, princes and champions among the conquered nations of Old Earth, and produced but few initiates, the IXth Legion took in the hordes of dispossessed and broken, and made of them an army of angels. Scarred by so many long generations mired in the rad-zones and sunken fortresses of Terra's poisoned wilds, these creatures were no longer entirely human, but horribly mutated beasts that the tyrants of Old Earth had driven out and hunted. Yet, from such base materials emerged a breed of Legiones Astartes uniformly tall and fair, their features sculpted in stern elegance.

The unique genetic template of the IXth Legion's as yet unknown sire seemed to favour the twisted and warped, though the pain it inflicted on those inducted into the Legion was more than most could bear. As those weakened by years of exposure to the most horrific rad-zones and poisons rarely survived such an ordeal, the number of recruits that endured to become Legiones Astartes of the IXth were few. Yet, unlike the other Legions, the IXth cast their net wide, they claimed entire tribes of wastelanders, prisoners of war and the long train of hopefuls that always followed in their wake. The bloody-handed Apothecaries plied their knives without rest to keep the Legion at fighting strength in even the most hellish war zones, and though the legend of the IXth languished, its ranks did not.

 

I take this to imply that the geneseed completely reconfigures even the most rad-affected people. I can only imagine that this will unlock latent potential more often in mutants or rather "near mutants" since they still look for people who are "human" to the Imperium's eyes. 

 

And Cawl's added processes probably helped with survivability given that one passage at the end of Devastation of Baal where the once rejected teen was accepted by the apothecary despite being rejected as an initiate previously. 

Edited January 27 by Spagunk