Those with the ability to use the energy from the Void are called Psykers.
There are multiple levels of Psychic ability. People move through each level as they gain power within the System.
- Non-psyker Everyone starts here.
- Awakened Aware of their Gate but do not yet have access to the Psychic attribute.
- Psychically Sensitive Have unlocked the Psychic attribute.
- Psyker Have done at least one Delve. Have one or more psychic powers, generally from a single Path.
- Battlefield Psyker Psykers that also have a class related to psychic abilities.
In addition, Wielders have the ability to use a limited number of psychic powers before they're aware of their Gate. They move through the levels as normal, but can always use their inherent power.
The Psychic attribute is related to four other attributes: Vitality, Focus, Perception and Resolve. When the sum of those attributes reaches 30, the Psychic attribute and its associated energy pool (likely named Psyfocus) are unlocked in the System interface.
There is a formal ranking system for Psykers. From weakest to strongest, the ranks are:
- Phi — A pre-Awakening Wielder. e.g. Thea in Arc 0
- Omi — A post-Awakening Wielder. e.g. Thea at the end of Arc 1
- Lambda — A psychically sensitive person; someone who has unlocked their psychic stat but has not Delved. e.g. Zachary.
- Iota — A full Psyker who has one Path and has Delved within that path.
- Theta — Powerful enough to act primarily as a Psyker in a battle. Still one Path. May have a Psyker class.
- Zeta — At least two Paths. Has a Minor Capstone Power. Will have a Psyker class. e.g. Yiue
- Epsilon — At this rank or higher, the Inquisitors of Terra check for the potential of reaching Alpha rank.
- Delta
- Gamma
- Beta
- Alpha — Can delete ships. Psykers of this power level or higher are not known to exist in universe.
- Omega — Can delete continents.
Psykers are described in military reports by their Inheritance, known Paths, and power rank.
¶ The Gate
The Gate is the connection within everyone between the Void and the normal world. To a Psyker, it appears as a twelve-bladed iris that they can open and close by degrees, controlling the flow of power from the Void into the Psyker. If the Gate is fully closed, then no power is transferred and the Psyker must rely entirely on their current reserves. When the Gate is open, then the Psyker's reserves regenerate in proportion to amount it is open. Other Psykers can detect this flow of energy, and the greater the flow the easier it is to detect.
¶ Psychic Overload
If the Gate opens too far, it becomes impossible for the Psyker to close it. Instead, the Gate expands in a runaway event called a Psychic Overload, flooding the area around them with the presence of the Void. The soul of the Psyker is unable to contain such an event and is destroyed, permanently killing them.
¶ Awakening
Awakening refers to the moment at which a Psyker becomes aware of their Gate. Such awareness is a prerequisite for active control over the Gate. When the psyker's mind becomes aware of their Gate, it instinctively opens it and continues to do so until either it understands the Gate or a Psychic Overload occurs. The risk of Psychic Overload makes Awakening extremely dangerous, with a mortality rate of 10-15%.
The Awakening occurs at some point before the Psychic attribute is unlocked by the System. The exact timing depends on the distribution of attributes. Specifically, those with high Perception are better able to perceive the Gate, while those with high Resolve have a larger Gate that is easier to perceive.
¶ Nulls
Nulls have a special kind of Gate. For most people, energy flows from the Void, through the Gate, and into the person. For Nulls, the transfer happens in the opposite direction, transferring power into the Void. The flow of energy into the Void is perceivable by anyone near them as a pulling on their Soul. For unawakened individuals, this presents as an uncomfortable feeling just from being near the Null. For Psykers, it is far more dangerous: when a Psyker and a Null are close enough to each other, the flow of energy from the Psyker to the Null will forcibly trigger a Psychic Overload in the Psyker.
The interaction between Psykers and Nulls is sometimes desirable. When a Psyker experiences a Psychic Overload, the energy from the Void can flow into a nearby Null. This prevents the damage from expanding as it is redirected to the Void, protecting others in the Material Realm. For this purpose, Nulls are stationed near areas where Psykers are likely to Awaken in order to limit the damage should they fail to constrain their Gate. In an offensive capacity, the presence of a Null may be used to deliberately trigger an overload in an especially dangerous enemy Psyker.
¶ Inheritances
All people have exactly one Inheritance, whether or not they are Psykers. By applying their Inheritance to a Psychic Power, Psykers greatly increase the effect of the Power and the Power is modified to behave according to an aspect associated with that Inheritance. Psychic Powers are not required to have the Psyker's Inheritance applied.
Each Inheritance is associated with a colour. When a psyker's aura is examined, its colour matches their Inheritance. In addition, visual manifestations of a Power affected by an Inheritance are coloured by the Power.
¶ The Psychic Star
The Psychic Star is a convenient tool that compactly represents the Inheritances.
Each Inheritance is represented as a point of the star, coloured with its associated colour. Inheritances are arranged such that each one is on the opposite side of the star from its Polarity. There appears to have been some effort to match the order of points in the star to the order a Psyker would encounter each Inheritance in a Delve, though a strict match in order is impossible.
| Name | Colour | Position | Frequency | Polarity | Aspect | Delve order | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perditio | Crimson Red | 12 o'clock | 13.23% | Creatio | Destruction | 1st | |
| Discordia | Dark Green | 1 o'clock | 7.49% | Concordia | Discord, strife and dissension | 2nd | |
| Mutatio | Iridescent Green | 2 o'clock | 5.12% | Permaneo | Chaos and change | 3rd | |
| Aurae | Radiant Gold | 3 o'clock | 16.67% | Nihilus | Aura, presence and energy | 4th | |
| Fames | Deep Amber | 4 o'clock | 5.86% | Comedo | Hunger | 6th | |
| Obscuritas | Deep Purple | 5 o'clock | 9.86% | Veritas | Concealing the truth | 10th | |
| Creatio | Night Blue | 6 o'clock | 3.25% | Perditio | Creation | 12th | |
| Concordia | Cerulean Blue | 7 o'clock | 8.49% | Discordia | Conformity, natural order, and reparation | 5th | |
| Permaneo | Steel Grey | 8 o'clock | 9.12% | Mutatio | Persistence, unchanging ways, and stability | 8th | |
| Nihilus | Abyss Black | 9 o'clock | 7.22% | Aurae | Nothingness, absence | 9th | |
| Comedo | Molten Orange | 10 o'clock | 7.66% | Fames | Consumption and greed | 7th | |
| Veritas | Luminous White | 11 o'clock | 5.90% | Obscuritas | Truth | 11th | |
| Aurae | Radiant Gold | 3 o'clock | 16.67% | Nihilus | Aura, presence and energy | 4th | |
| Comedo | Molten Orange | 10 o'clock | 7.66% | Fames | Consumption and greed | 7th | |
| Concordia | Cerulean Blue | 7 o'clock | 8.49% | Discordia | Conformity, natural order, and reparation | 5th | |
| Creatio | Night Blue | 6 o'clock | 3.25% | Perditio | Creation | 12th | |
| Discordia | Dark Green | 1 o'clock | 7.49% | Concordia | Discord, strife and dissension | 2nd | |
| Fames | Deep Amber | 4 o'clock | 5.86% | Comedo | Hunger | 6th | |
| Mutatio | Iridescent Green | 2 o'clock | 5.12% | Permaneo | Chaos and change | 3rd | |
| Nihilus | Abyss Black | 9 o'clock | 7.22% | Aurae | Nothingness, absence | 9th | |
| Obscuritas | Deep Purple | 5 o'clock | 9.86% | Veritas | Concealing the truth | 10th | |
| Perditio | Crimson Red | 12 o'clock | 13.23% | Creatio | Destruction | 1st | |
| Permaneo | Steel Grey | 8 o'clock | 9.12% | Mutatio | Persistence, unchanging ways, and stability | 8th | |
| Veritas | Luminous White | 11 o'clock | 5.90% | Obscuritas | Truth | 11th | |
| Perditio | Crimson Red | 12 o'clock | 13.23% | Creatio | Destruction | 1st | |
| Discordia | Dark Green | 1 o'clock | 7.49% | Concordia | Discord, strife and dissension | 2nd | |
| Mutatio | Iridescent Green | 2 o'clock | 5.12% | Permaneo | Chaos and change | 3rd | |
| Aurae | Radiant Gold | 3 o'clock | 16.67% | Nihilus | Aura, presence and energy | 4th | |
| Concordia | Cerulean Blue | 7 o'clock | 8.49% | Discordia | Conformity, natural order, and reparation | 5th | |
| Fames | Deep Amber | 4 o'clock | 5.86% | Comedo | Hunger | 6th | |
| Comedo | Molten Orange | 10 o'clock | 7.66% | Fames | Consumption and greed | 7th | |
| Permaneo | Steel Grey | 8 o'clock | 9.12% | Mutatio | Persistence, unchanging ways, and stability | 8th | |
| Nihilus | Abyss Black | 9 o'clock | 7.22% | Aurae | Nothingness, absence | 9th | |
| Obscuritas | Deep Purple | 5 o'clock | 9.86% | Veritas | Concealing the truth | 10th | |
| Veritas | Luminous White | 11 o'clock | 5.90% | Obscuritas | Truth | 11th | |
| Creatio | Night Blue | 6 o'clock | 3.25% | Perditio | Creation | 12th | |
The frequencies in the table above do not add up to 100%. The remaining 0.13% are Voidborn, people whose Gates open completely at their Awakening, turning them into creatures of the Void that wish to annihilate everything.
¶ Polarities
Every Inheritance has a Polarity: a second Inheritance that has a concept fundamentally opposed to it. Creation is opposed with destruction, stasis with change, and so on. In the Inheritance star, an Inheritance and its Polarity are placed on opposite sides.
This opposition in concept also translates into a direct conflict when the powers linked to each Inheritance come in contact with each other. The result of such contact depends on the relative strength put into the two Powers. If they are significantly different, the stronger of the two will overpower the other, negating it and absorbing the power to become stronger. If the two Powers are within 10-15% of each other in total energy, then the two Powers cancel out. This is called Voiding.
Concordia is notable in that in addition to being the Polarity of Discordia, it is also effective at cancelling every other Power. In addition, when used to cancel another Power, it always reduces the energy of the other Power by the amount of energy put into the Concorida Power. Thus a Concordia psyker can act effectively against a stronger psyker, even if they're unable to fully counter their opponent.
¶ Paths
Paths represent a collection of related Powers beyond the basic Powers available to everyone. Runepriest Vedun describes them as similar in nature to ability trees in video games. While Psykers start with only one path, they can add more. Paths appear to be classified as to whether they're material or immaterial, as these words have been repeatedly used to describe paths.
¶ Path Themes
- Air
- Divination
- Fire
- Gravity
- Illusions
- Precognition
- Stealth
¶ Delves
After Awakening, a Psyker progresses in psychic power by Delving. Other than the order of the Delves, this is yet to be explained in the story.
¶ Powers
There are three types of Powers: Physical, Transient, and Metaphysical. Physical Powers directly affect the physical world, Metaphysical Powers affect intangible concepts like knowledge and perception, and Transient Powers are a mixture of the two concepts.
¶ Known Psykers
Most higher tier Integrated people have a good chance of being Psychically Sensitive due to pretty much everyone needing to increase at least one of the attributes linked to unlocking the Psychic attribute (Vitality for Heavies and not dying; Perception for Scouts or tracking fast opponents; Focus for Abilities having a Focus cost). So while the following characters have been specifically identified as Psykers, it's probable that everyone of Major rank and higher could be included.
- Lieutenant Yiue Alcantar — Battlefield Psyker
- Feldis
- Myka Kendal
- Recruit Thea McKay — Awakened Wielder
- Major Zephyr Quinn
- Runepriest Anrake Vedun — Battlefield Psyker
- Zachary Cal Vemun — Psychically Sensitive
- Witchglass — Battlefield Psyker
- Runepriest Cetirin Zamir — Battlefield Psyker