Good day everyone! Zak here from Cape Town, South Africa with another Warhammer 40,000 lore post.
In today's post I want to reveal to you Librarians. We have been covering the Warp and the Chaos Gods. In the past we spoke of Space Marine Captains and Chaplains, but without knowning what the Warp is or what the threat Chaos poses to humanity and any mortals, it would be difficult indeed to explain what a psyker is.
What is a psyker: This is a person whose souls brighter within the darkness of the Warp. A single human soul is like a candle flame, a psyker might be like a small brazier flame or as a massive bonfire depending on their power and potential!
Psykers left unchecked in the population of the 41st millenium invariably become the target for Chaos. Daemons and other Warp entities can see a psyker easier than a regular human. They are attracted to the power like months to a flame.
An unguided psyker could be a tool used to rip open a tear in realspace for Chaos entities to come pouring out of, or as someone that can be possessed. A trained psyker is able to keep themselves safe from the warp entities to a large degree, yet there is always a risk.
So why not kill them all? Because being able to be a stable psyker means that you can tap in to the destructive and powerful energies of the Warp and use that as a weapon!
A Librarian is a Space Marine with that ability. They undergo rigorous training and become leaders in the Chapter. They do not train alongside other Space Marines and are often picked out during their change into Space Marines and sometimes during their time fighting as a Scout.
The Librarium takes over the rest of their training. A Space Marine's mind is more focussed and reliable than regular mortal psykers. But they do still often come out as strange individuals.
When you read about a force of Space Marines led by a Librarian with nobody else involved like a Chaplain or Captain then I start suspecting something is strange. While they are far less likely to fall to Chaos and Possession... the chances of corruption is never zero and is always higher than other regular people/Space Marines.
Their connection to the Warp leads some of them to have visions, gain the ability of premonition or 6th senses. It can also lead to them hearing voices. These voices may be the souls of long-dead Librarians or it might be a lie and the voice is that of a Daemon.
That said, the Librarian is able to outright defend his Battle Brothers from psychic attack using his Iron Hood to put up a ward barrier. With his Force Sword (Could also be a Force Stave, Force Axe, etc) the Librarian can channel his mind through the weapon to either instantly kill a massive and power foe or to vanquish and obliterate a Daemon!
There are some crazy powerful special characters that are Librarians within the Chapters, we will get to individuals in due time!
That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this short but powerful introduction to the sparkly protectors that shoot magic bolts at the enemies of the Emperor! Until next time...
