Psychic Awakening has had just as much of a lore push as factions getting new rules. Check out the latest on Magnus, Draigo, and the Emperor of Mankind!
There have been multiple series of short stories sprouting from the Psychic Awakening books. In essence, the overall theme is that living beings all across the universe are “waking up” and having the ability to cast psychic powers. With all of this taken into account, it’s changed the behavior of the Imperium, Xenos, and Chaos alike. Check out these stories and see what we mean.
An Entire Black Fleet Self Destructs
Jumping in, the black ship fleet, those ships that arrive at different planets and take on Psykers to keep Big E alive, had a mishap mid-transit. These ships were loaded with sensitive Psykers to be sacrificed to the Emperor to keep the Astronomicon going. However, the vox report shows extreme levels of warp energies…so much so that it couldn’t be contained.
A Sororitas led a force to a segment of the ship in an attempt to gain control. However, she was never heard or seen from again. As a last resort, the entire fleet detonated their engines and killed everyone on board. If this keeps happening across the galaxy, the Emperor’s “food supply” will be cut off and the light of the Astronomicon will fade…meaning… the death of the Emperor?
Blood Angels Lose Traffic of Black Ships
While the Psychic Awakening is going on across the galaxy, Black Ships haven’t been able to make planetfall on Baal’s system. With new Psykers unlocking their potential and no way for Blood Angels to offload the tithe, the threat grew immensely.
Blood Angels fought a war on two fronts, essentially having to pull Librarians off of the frontlines to interrogate and test all the new Psykers for weakness. While they had astronomical numbers of Psykers to process, Tyranids were still at the gates and were adapting…
Could This Short Story Hint at a New Tyranid Unit?
Tyranids, always adapting, noticed a severe weakness in the Blood Angels on the frontlines. There was hardly any psychic coverage, which led to the development of new Psychic strains of Tyranids spotted everywhere where there weren’t Librarians. Blood Angels really just can’t catch a break…
Psykers Have to Pay the Troll Toll
In a recent short story from Warhammer Community, a couple of Psykers heard rumors of hope for mutants like themselves. (They just discovered they had psychic powers). In short, they found a conclave of people who are also psychically sensitive. The leader of the group called “the savior” was missing an eye.
…he drew a long, golden-bladed dagger from his belt. He tapped it significantly against the side of his skull, next to where his right eye had been. ‘First, my friends, there is a toll. Proof of your devotion and your strength. We shall bear you to the realm of the Crimson King, but all must pay the ferryman.
He told the newly-gifted Psykers that they would have to pay a toll to see the Crimson King. The story basically ends there and you can bet that they had an eye removed in order to see the Crimson King for safe harbor. Sounds a lot like Magnus the Red doesn’t it?
On top of this, previews showing Grey Knights, Thousand Sons, and Dark Angels give clues on what the Crimson King is doing. It looks like Voldus has been having trouble breaking through the Psychic Maelstrom of the Sorcerer’s planet. He’s also calling for help on making sure Magnus isn’t hatching some evil plan.
Once again mentioning the Crimson “Mentor”, one sensitive Psyker looking for safety was caught by the Imperium and was found to have some kind of invitation. Of course, he was detained and waiting for a Black Ship to pick him up.
Magnus is Prank Calling the Grey Knights
Warhammer Community recently dropped a short story giving the clearest image yet of Magnus’ plans. A Grey Knight Prognosticar named Lushian is trying to gain insight on what will happen as part of the Ritual of the Damned and Magnus is just playing with his mind.
So how do we know Magnus is involved? We’ve got a description that fits the bill from the short story. However, as we mentioned that he was getting played by Magnus, the vision gives two polar opposite outcomes.
He saw throngs of people, gazing up in awe at a towering, winged warrior with skin of crimson. Tears of joy streamed down their faces as they fell to their knees, their hands clasped together as if in prayer. They beseeched and thanked and worshipped.
The image shifted again. He saw the same people, dead, in vast pits, dried blood encrusting their naked bodies, deep knife gashes in their necks. Expressions of incredible joy had changed to ones of terror. He then saw apocalyptic war, phalanxes of azure and gold warriors firing ensorcelled boltguns into fleeing civilians, and flocks of blade-winged Daemons terrorising the spires of Imperial conurbations.
As Lushian kept pushing in, he saw another vision of the total outcome of the events, which once again, shifted.
Then he saw the same knights dead, their bodies picked over by wretched mutants and evil sorcerers. He saw a warrior that could only be Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo, standing triumphant over the corpse of Magnus the Red, the Titansword buried to the hilt in the Daemon Primarch’s skull.
‘Adept, note the presence of the Supreme Grand Master,’ he said.
The vision warped. This time Draigo was impaled upon the Blade of Magnus, a hundred warriors in bloodstained silver armour cut to pieces and scattered around him.
Overall, the theme of the story showed some kind of massive battle taking place while the newly-awakened Imperial Psykers that came to the Crimson King were to be slaughtered as part of a sacrifice. We definitely recommend you read the full story for yourself.
Ultimately, we don’t know what will happen as Magnus was just putting thoughts into the Psyker’s mind and was not able to discern which was true.
At the end of the day, we have to see where GW takes the next three books into 2020. However, if the next books continue to add lore developments such as this, there will be plenty to digest for months to come.
What does a lack of Black Ships mean for the Emperor? Will we see a new Tyranid Psyker unit appear or was that just fluff? Will Magnus or Draigo be dying in the next lore expansion?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials:@RealmbrushPainting
Bio: Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4.
If you like what he writes and want to reach out or get your models painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
