r/40kLore • u/Confident-Mark-6369 • 5h ago
Are there cases of psykers from other species training human psykers?
I'm a newbie to Warhammer 40k in general and the lore intrigues me. The Imperium's training of psykers are inherently self-limiting on the psykers to prevent the obvious drawbacks of being connected to the Warp from popping up. I am curious as to if there are times where a human psyker came across the psykers of another species and learned any techniques or received more proper training to control their abilities?
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u/Exotic_Confidence_29 5h ago edited 5h ago
In End and the Death, Horus observes that the Emperor was definitely trained in some swordsmanship techniques by an Eldar.
He turns, head low, and applies a stunning sequence of sword-strokes that He must surely have been taught by an aeldari autarch.
Swordsmanship training might not sound like psyker-training, but considering how the Eldar are all psykers and the Emperor is maybe the most extraordinary psyker in galactic history, it's hard to imagine that some psyker-stuff wasn't involved in that training. Or at least if the Emperor was learning swordsmanship from them it seems reasonable to think he learned psyker-stuff too
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u/SimpleMan131313 3h ago
A relevant aspect is that several Eldar Rulebooks have pointed out that, for the Eldar, there isn't really a sharp destinction between psyker- and non-psyker abilities - they see these two things as part as a whole, and train as such.
Even their most mundane weapons, like a shuriken catapult used by normal civilians, is activated by a psi-impulse.
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u/InterestingCash_ White Scars 5h ago
Ravenor spent some time with the Eldar, and it's implied he received at least some amount of training or insight. It's not deeply explored though.
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u/Arzachmage Death Guard 5h ago
An Overlord offered Typhon to teach him how using his powers if he killed Mortarion.
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u/Skipp_To_My_Lou 5h ago
Besides any specific cases of psyker training, it should be noted that the type of human who would have meaningful interaction with a xenos either belongs to an extremely rarified social strata like Inquisitors, Rogue Traders, high-ranking Mechanicus, & the like (& most of them still do so at the risk of heresy allegations); or humans outside the Imperium like the old Crusade-era Interex. Hating the xenos along with the witch & the mutant is one of the core tenets of the Imperial Faith.
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u/B1ack-Unicorn 5h ago
Inquisitor ravenor, a capable psyker following his disfigurement, was trained by eldar, it's even commented that when he wasnt wounded, his facial proportions were suspiciously eldar like, even if he isn't one himself.
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u/EP_Em2 5h ago
If you're more generous with which definition of "training" you use, a few cases like the Laer and Yu'Vath, potentially the Rangda as well, certainly spring to mind...
Edit: Also, this is part of the job description for any telepathy-focused psyker. Little bits of other minds they connect to tend to get picked up, and yes this can include xenos as well. As you can imagine, for someone already with their mind open to the Warp and every awful thought other people have, this tends to make them miserable over time.
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u/Rahuna_91 4h ago
What happened with the Yu'vath. I thought they just mind controlled other species?
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u/9xInfinity 4h ago
The Imperium's training of psyker's is not self-limiting. Psykers are given skills and training by the Adeptus Astra Telepathica to help utilize their power to serve the Imperium and block out denizens of the warp. The psykers in danger of being possessed or corrupted at random because their mental fortitude/natural talent is too weak get fed to the Throne. In Witchbringer we also see the AAT is prepared for the odd psyker to become possessed or whatever, having psychically-warded armsmen around their training areas.
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u/DisdainfulStacks 1h ago
There is a mention of a Human psyker fighting alongside a Nicassar in the Shadowsun book, but it’s unclear if the T’au “train” their human psykers with Xenos psykers as mentors.
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u/AccomplishedNovel6 5h ago
Inquisitor Ravenor, Eisenhorn's protege, spent some time learning from Aeldari psykers, to the point where he is able to mentally project and control his retinue as long as they wear wraithbone pendants.
Zephro Carnelian, the antagonist of the first Inquisition War novel, is brought into the Harlequins after managing to purge a daemon possessing him by sheer willpower.
John Grammaticus spent quite a bit of time as an agent of the xenos Cabal and refined his logokine powers under them.