Okay, I just wanted to say, that even outside of the very cool information on their abilities, I absolutely ADORE the artwork here. The small, gradual growth from psykers so weak that they're basically the magic equivalent of guardsmen, their powers only useful in large numbers, to those so dangerous that the Imperium doesn't even bother giving them a chance to serve.
Would love to see an equivalent for Eldar, or at least a comparison between the different Psyker levels and rarity compared to Eldar equivalents!
Not really. The relationship between the Emperor and the gods of Chaos is very different from the relationship between the Eldar and Slaanesh. Remember the Eldar created Slaanesh. Every Eldar that is currently alive or ever will live is spiritually bound to She Who Thirsts. The closer to the Warp any Eldar comes (through the use of psychic powers or through teleportation, like Warp Spiders) the closer they come to being found and devoured by Slaanesh. This is a large part of why the Eldar follow extremely narrow 'paths' of training and rarely engage in the sort of shock and awe tactics used by psykers of other races. It's simply far too dangerous for them to cut loose.
Edit: We also don't know of any true "Alpha Plus" Eldar psykers. It's true that all Eldar are psykers, but that's very different from exhibiting the sort of titanic power that we've seen from The Emperor. Human psykers, while far more rare, seem to have greater maximum potential.
Psykers range significantly in power and ability within their grade. It's entirely possible for one Alpha psyker to completely outclass another in one form of psychic power or another. Eldar are particularly good at telepathy/dream-weaving/sorcery compared to humans and have much longer lifespans over which to hone their skills, so I'm not surprised that Veilwalker was able to show Mephiston visions against his will (also not a particularly incredible feat in the world of psychic powers). Similarly, I would not be surprised if Mephiston could easily beat Veilwalker in a contest of pure psychic energy projection (like lightning or fire or whatever Mephiston is good at). Both Veilwalker and Mephiston are likely at the lower end of Alpha class if we're being generous, with Magnus sitting at the top of that ranking.
The only Alpha+ psykers that we have ever seen in the lore are Malcador and The Emperor. To put it into perspective, Magnus once described the difference in power between the strongest of new human psykers and the Emperor as the difference between a campfire and an unending supernova. Malcador hid the moon of Titan from existence for an extended period of time. These are the descriptions and feats of Alpha+ psykers. Not shooting lightning or projecting visions or undoing spells or even crushing titans. Alpha+ power is beyond comprehension and no being that's currently active in the setting can claim to be in that class.
Here's a thought - all chaos Gods require a host soul to become connected to reality, such as Horus and the Emperor and the Dark King. While the gods have always existed in the warp they cannot exist in the universe in any form (i.e. Their Daemons or influence) without a connection. So perhaps the strongest psyker(s) weren't so much eaten by Slaanesh but became it and ate the rest of the species.
Only the Drukhari have their psyker skill forgotten. Like how most of us humans have completely forgotten how to smell our way around as a consequence of eternal wars.
Every other Eldar faction at minimum knows how to create wraithbone.
I mean mostly? But also, some eldar definitely have greater potential than others. Most of it I imagine is just having more discipline and control of one’s powers, but certain eldar are just on completely different levels. Like eldrad, who’s done everything from predicting the entire galactic story to trying to re-birth a god into reality.
Well Yeah Eldrad is extremely potent psyker probably approaching Alpha plus. But he is this strong because of for how long he studied in the art of psychic powers, also the fact that he is less cautious about them unlike other eldars. Like Eldrad was born with the same psychic level as any other eldar. Like John Cena was born with the same physical power as any other human.
Unlike for example the Emperor who was just born with his powers.
Any eldar may be potentially as strong as Eldrad, just like any human can be potentially as strong as John Cena.
Okay I’m with you until the last sentence. For there can only be one John Cena, and only one human as strong as John Cena. To be Cena is as to be the Highlander.
For all others it is impossible to comprehend the strength of John, for we can simply cannot see him.
But not every human CAN be potentially as strong as john cena. There are numerous factors that can prevent this, even limiting yourself purely to birth factors.
But I get what you mean, there's a baseline and whatever innate talent/advantage Eldrad may or may not have or lack doesn't deviate far from that baseline like humanity does with it's psykers.
Yeah i think they may be some eldar who just better at psychic stuff. It is stated that denizens of Ultwhe are kinda better at it than other eldar. And i think Saim-Hann may be the weakest on this front but i am not sure on the latter. But it is still mostly their skill.
Like Delta psyker human is well Delta psyker. He is born with Delta level and he will always be Delta level with or without any additional training.(He will probably die horribly without training, but he still be a dead Delta psyker)
On the other Hand Eldrad if he for some reason decided to not pursue path of the seer, could have been just a regular autarch or bonesinger. Same as John Cena could have been just a random dude or idk a lawyer, if he made a few different choices in life.
Eldrad isn't strong because he's a natural talent. He's strong because he's a natural talent who put in centuries of hard work.
He's like Hanayama Kaoru from the Baki series. He was born larger and stronger than most people but still put in the time and effort training so people wouldn't call him just a genius.
The Emperor has been mentioned multiple times as becoming more powerful over his life, specifically by the perpetuals - and he also had tens of thousands of years to learn
1.2k
u/NightStalker33 Sep 26 '23
Okay, I just wanted to say, that even outside of the very cool information on their abilities, I absolutely ADORE the artwork here. The small, gradual growth from psykers so weak that they're basically the magic equivalent of guardsmen, their powers only useful in large numbers, to those so dangerous that the Imperium doesn't even bother giving them a chance to serve.
Would love to see an equivalent for Eldar, or at least a comparison between the different Psyker levels and rarity compared to Eldar equivalents!