Psyker - Psyker Levels

Psyker Levels

There are different grades regarding the power of a psyker:

• Alpha Plus
• Alpha
• Beta
• Gamma
• Delta
• Epsilon

This list continues all the way down the Greek alphabet.

The power the top four grades represents is immense. A high Delta level can read the minds of a good sized town simultaneously, or crush a man to death against a wall in seconds. High grade psykers are extremely powerful, and not to be taken lightly. Beta level is the highest a human can go and still be considered sane.

An Alpha Plus, however, is a being of grotesque power. They are described in the 4th edition Rulebook as being able to "turn a man inside-out with a glance", "snap a Battle Titan in half with a flick of the wrist", and "a muttered syllable can turn an army upon itself in a frenzy of bloodlust". They are capable of destroying entire worlds - sometimes unintentionally.

There is some controversy as to whether this description should be taken as an objective description of the Alpha Plus Level of psychic mastery, or if it is intended to be read as Imperial propaganda, and just being the exaggerated view of the generally anti-psychic authorities of the 40K world. In Dan Abnett's works, where the term first appeared, the Alpha Level psyker Esarhaddon (also the name of the King of Assyria between 681-669 BC) is powerful and able to control hundreds of Imperial citizens as puppets against the protagonists, but he is not described as being powerful enough to destroy a battle Titan, and is eventually subdued (Many works of fiction show that psykers seem to specialise in certain areas of psychic ability, so it is possible that Esarhaddon specialised in mind control or mental manipulation). Abnett's works (specifically the Eisenhorn trilogy) also refer to characters having a "PQ" rating. It is unknown how this relates to a psyker's power.

Nevertheless, few Alpha or Αlpha Plus psykers can be controlled safely, or even at all. Because more powerful psykers attract proportionally more interest from warp-bound daemons, many are driven insane, tainted by Chaos, or even become possessed (examples include the Apex Twins, who were responsible for murdering scores of Imperial Regiments). They are one of the biggest threats the Inquisition has to face, and are the reason that the Ordo Hereticus was formed. Most are executed, as the threat they pose is simply too great to deal with or control in any large degree.

An example of a Beta level psyker is Sergeant Agun Soric, an Imperial Guardsman from the Gaunt's Ghosts series of novels by Dan Abnett. He is able to detect blood poisoning in a fellow trooper, but his most prominent power is his ability to write messages to himself, which are contained in a brass message shell. Even after throwing the shell away, he would soon find it wriggling in his pocket, containing a message written in his own handwriting. At first the messages contained advice or warnings, but soon began to include criticism as he began to realize what he was, and the danger he posed as an untrained psyker. He is eventually discovered and taken by the Inquisition's Black Ships. His ultimate fate remained unknown for several novels until Only in Death, where he is discovered by Commissar Viktor Hark, who shoots him to spare him the misery of living any more.

As one goes down the scale, the individual's psychic presence decreases steadily until his mind has no presence in the Warp whatsoever, and is considered soulless. Some "blanks" in fact have the opposite effect: their brains actively push the Warp away, disrupting psychic phenomena within their vicinity. Their aura of anti-psychic energy provokes instinctive revulsion in individuals with souls, especially psykers. These creatures are very rare, but some institutions such as the Inquisition and the Officio Assassinorium make use of them to counter psykers.

In Ian Watson's novel Space Marine, an individual's psychic profile is represented by a decimal value, presumably from 0 to 1, instead of using the Greek alphabet system.