Full Excerpt: Psychic 101 Notes - Desmond Reimart

PROF.: Lt. Korven.

Looks tired. Probably gives this lecture like 500 times a year or something.

OPENS WITH: " What is a Psyker, fundamentally? "

Says everyone  gives a different answer. Says the right answer doesn't actually matter for our purposes. What matters is what  they do, and how to survive  being near one. (great opener; I, too, would love to survive one day.)

The basics:

Psyker = person with the capacity to channel Void energy through their Soul → reshape reality on a small scale (because why wouldn’t they)

All Psykers share three things: an Inheritance  (the lens), one or more Paths  (where Powers come from), and a Gate  (the channel between them and the Void)

Notes  that the Gate is something everyone has, but only Psykers can actively influence or even perceive inside themselves (“more on this later”?)

The Gate is what they open to recover Psyfocus. Closed Gate = safe, no Psyfocus recovery. Open Gate = dangerous-ish, Psyfocus recovers.

Every Psyker that has Delved (“more on this during the actual Psychic 101 Class in the future”?! Then why mention it now?!) eventually dies (?!) because of the Gate.

How does that affect her? Can it be prevented?  not relevant rn

Psychic Awakening:  First major event in every Psyker's life. Triggered involuntarily, when Attributes—primarily Resolve and Perception—reach a certain threshold. Happens when the brain detects the Gate for the first time (what the fuck does that mean?)

He says it's dangerous   HE SAYS IT'S DANGEROUS . Like extremely so!

Most Psykers either close their Gate in time or get blown apart by their own first Power. ( Bit fucking late to tell us now, isn't it?!)

Apparently Awakening = "ultra-charged" version of whatever their first combo is. Whatever happens inside the Awakening only becomes real if they fail to close the Gate.

→ Is that what happened with Thea?  Yes obviously, you dumbass

Inheritances (Prof lists 12 — breakdown in the lecture notes from the Prof)

Polarity pairs—opposing Inheritances cancel each other at equal energy, otherwise cannibalize to empower. Asked for clarification, whether you can fight a Perditio  with a Creatio  Psyker → Korven nodded and said "if you can find one, sure"

So which one is she again?

Paths (only covered a handful):

Pyrokinesis (fire—classic Battlefield Psyker choice)

Telekinesis (move things w/ mind)

Hemomancy (blood—kind of gross; perfect for the Medic)

Short-Term Precognition (definitely Thea)

Telepathy (Corvus?)

Barrier (the defensive one)

He says there are like fifty more, "we'll cover relevant ones as needed"

WIELDERS . Separate breakdown, Pre-Awakened Psykers. Get their Inheritance + One General Power + One Path Power early. Fuel through Focus , not  Psyfocus, until Psychic Attribute is unlocked. Baseline 4.00+ Resolve.

That's why she has so much Resolve!

He says most Wielders are nothing special, except for the potential to Focus Overdraw really easily and die early—it’s more of a debuff than any actual advantage for most.

The lucky ones, however, with combat-relevant combos hit very hard  early but level off fairly quickly. "By T1 Prime the designation is mostly forgotten."

→ Sure. Tell that to the fucking freaks that she keeps murdering in the hundreds…

FIGHTING WITH PSYKERS ON YOUR TEAM:

Treat them like high-power weapons. Dangerous to everyone including friendlies . With proper management = no risk.

Their Psyfocus regen is internal—can't help them with it directly

Focus can substitute for Psyfocus  ← important

→ Bring Focus Boosters from now on. Stock up! (For her?).  

They are NOT regular Marines. Do NOT treat them like regular Marines. They will not move where you expect, they will not see what you see, they will see what you don't.

If they go down and you feel something weird, see something weird or hear something weird → DO NOT touch them,  likely mid-Gate-collapse. Wait for the Auxiliary medic or a Null!

Q from someone in row 3: "How do you know if a Psyker on your team is losing control?"
A: "You don't, really. Unless they warn you ahead of time. That's the problem, really."

Cool. Great. Love that.

Q from someone in row 7: “What’s a Null?” (Great question!)
A: “Something like an anti-Psyker. Extremely rare individuals, even more so than Wielders. Emanate a really uncanny aura, even just standing next to them—very powerful dislike is automatic. You almost certainly never encounter one.”

Expecting at least two or three of these in the next Assessments, then.

Korven called me up.  Asked me to describe Alpha Squad's encounter ratio with Psykers. Stats apparently outrageous . Whole  hall went quiet. I kept it brief—the Assessment thing, the Runepriest in the corridor—only described that that  one vaguely, pretended that it had been the Battlefield Ace from the Assessment, but figured it was good intel for the others—didn’t mention the Runepriest. Korven thanked me. Half the room stared at me when I sat back down.

Whatever.

FIGHTING AGAINST PSYKERS: (Finally!)

#1 RULE  — RESOLVE.   Resolve Resolve Resolve.  

(If that ain't the fucking truth, after yesterday… And the Assessment… And just in general. Damn , I need some Resolve…)

Resolve = Soul-toughness. Determines how much Psyker BS you can absorb before it stops working. Every point of Resolve is drastically more useful at defense than offense. A Resolve of around 4-5 will effectively make you 10-50x harder to affect for your average Psyker than having a Resolve of 2-3. (what the fuck, that’s huge?)

Above a certain threshold, it functions as a passive sphere of protection around you???

Trained Psykers can SHAPE their Resolve into more directed protection → cover other people

→ IS THAT  WHAT SHE WAS DOING WITH THE RUNEPRIEST?  Has to be!

#2 RULE  — Have a Psyker on your team.  

(Check.)

A high-Resolve Psyker buffers everyone  nearby. Their sphere overlaps yours. You get protection that would normally cost you Attribute points. → Another reason to keep her alive at all times…  and stocked with Focus Boosters?

#3 RULE  — NULL SERUM

Combat stim. Several tiers of strength—T1 is what Marines like us would ever see

Acts as a temporary Resolve booster

Side effects: Tanks your Stamina & Focus recovery, makes Allbright System Abilities harder to call up clean

Only deployed when engagement with a Psyker is imminent and unavoidable

Normally only Aces or Elite Squads carry it. Or if a sector is known Psyker-infested.

→ Alpha Squad should be getting some, right???  Considering our actual encounter rate vs. what the lecture says is "average"? We should have crates of the damn stuff!

Should I ask Corvus  → Ask Corvus about this!

Closing comment from Korven:   "Most of you will go your entire careers without engaging a Psyker. Statistically, the only one you will ever stand next to is the one assigned to your own Faction. Please plan accordingly."

→ Yeah no offense Lieutenant but I think Alpha Squad is gonna engage with more Psykers in our first six months than most companies see in five years… Just something in my gut telling me.

Don't write that down

[Excerpt from, "Notes taken during initial Psychic 101 Lecture," Desmond Reimart, PFC 943]