Theomancer

"Though Mankind is at the brink of this great apotheosis, you must be ever vigilant for the stillborn harbingers of this change. Where you seek the pure and strong, there too will you find the impure and weak. But be ever vigilant, for even should you find one with the gift, only one in a thousand psykers will be strong enough to resist the perils of the Empyrean and be allowed to live."
–Admonitions on the Duty of the Witch Finder, Inquisitor Malich (Suppressed, M38)
Theomancy has its roots in the
disciplines of soothsaying
common amongst the Feral
worlds in the Calixis Sector. Ancient
practitioners of this art would use crude objects such as
chicken bones and dice in the hope of a glimpse of the
future. As the Ecclesiarchy's influence spread with the
Angevin Crusade, these practices were more and more
seen as counter to the Imperial Creed. Those who
attempted to use these skills were hunted down
as heretics. The practice was eventually replaced
by the reading of the Emperor's Tarot. The
Collegiate Exterminatus began training
psykers to aid Inquisitors with divination
from the Drusian Emperor's Tarot;
which includes the Shattered World, the
Chalice, and the Tyrant Star among its
portents. While the debate on what these
symbols represent is ongoing within the
Calixian Scholastica Psykana Divinatio, it
is generally accepted that the Shattered World
represents war when aligned normally and the
end of a war when inverted. The Chalice is seen
to represent life, but also death, or even the Calixis
Sector as a whole. The Tyrant Star is the card that
is most often debated within the Calixian sector.
Many scholars believe that it was never part of the
original design of the Tarot, but nonetheless it
appears in the current version.
Many Inquisitors employ Theomancers to
help them learn about the nature of upcoming
threats. When Artemis Thoth, a psyker in the
service of Inquisitor Lord Caidin, performed
a reading regarding the outcome of the
Tranch Insurrection, the seven portents he
received included signs that rendered
the diviner catatonic for nearly six
months. Upon his recovery he could
speak only to Lord Inquisitor Caidin. It is
unknown what transpired there, but a
cell of Caidin's most trusted Acolytes
was immediately dispatched to
locate Justicar Maligante and beg his
assistance on the world of Kulth.
The Tarot itself is a closely guarded mystery. It is impossible
to tell what the Emperor's Tarot actually is. Some have even
claimed that no such object actually exists and that the Psyker
is simply a charlatan. If that were true the frequency of their
correct predictions would, at least, be a statistical anomaly of
miraculous proportions.
So potent is the Theomancer's powers of prediction,
that there are some within the Ecclesiarchy who view their
powers as so heretical that there can be no true sanction of
the practice. Some go so far as to hire assassins to discreetly
deal with Theomancers.
==Alternate Career Rank==
A Theomancer is usually drawn from the ranks of the Calixis
Scholastica Psykana Divinatio. Using the skills learned during
the sanctioning process, combined with the formidable
schooling of the Inquisition, the Theomancer becomes a
potent weapon in the Calixian Ordo Malleus' arsenal. The
Theomancer is able to use his skills at Divination to augment
his combat skills in a much more fluid manner than the typical
Imperial Psyker. He can see glimpses of the future and choose
the correct path for his Inquisitor to follow.
Required Career: Imperial Psyker
Alternate Rank: Rank 4 or higher (2,000 XP)
Other Requirements: At least one Psychic Power from
the Divination Discipline.