Psyker-Priest Thurge

Psyker-Priest Igor Malin Thurge is perhaps one of the most terrifying Imperial servants of the Golden Throne ever to be soul bound to the one who sets upon it. Thurge was both a Synod Ministra (a Cardinal of the Ecclesiarchy of an Imperial system) and an Alpha-grade psyker. In his time he: served as an adjunct psyker that served alongside the Tallarn Redeemers space marine chapter, worked as an accomplished bureaucrat of the Ecclesiarchy, aided the Inquisition, and was a proctor for the Order of the Black Moot before he was assigned the governorship of the world of Serovia.
==Early Life==
Igor was a man of contradictions. He was born to a high-class family on Urbis II but consorted with the lowest of the low. In his youth he was bright but shy, ambitious but reserved, dutiful but tested the rules. Already enamored with the Imperial Creed at a young age he was on course to join the Adeptus Ministorum with the promise of a fulfilling career thanks to his family’s wealth and power when calamity struck. Igor had to take The Assignment before he could join the Adeptus Ministorum and, as such, he received the test for his psychic aptitude earlier than most of his peers. What they found horrified them and he was forbidden from joining the church; Igor had rated Alpha on the test and it was likely that his talent even lay beyond that. As such it was all his parents could do was to get him transferred to the Adeptus Astra Telepathica to be trained as a Sanctioned Psyker or perhaps an Astropath.
==Igor the Astropath==
While they gladly accepted his family’s money, no one expected the young child to survive the horrors of the Black Ships he had to be transported on. While the experience broke him it also reshaped him into a harder, more stoic individually who kept his own council and became exceedingly driven.
Igor was a naturally gifted psyker and he controlled his tremendous powers better than anyone else in his generation (This talent caught the attention of the Inquisition who began keeping tabs on the child at this point). It was decided that Igor was to become an astropath and his mind was opened to the warp in the Soul Binding ritual where he suffused part of the Emperor’s own essence into his own being and became a burning torch of psychic power. Though his eyes burned out he shone brighter than any other civilian psyker had in centuries; his newly awakened power thought to be on par (in terms of raw power/potential) with the likes of Chief Librarian Tigurius or even Malcador the Sigillite. What he had in power he lacked in skill though and he was deployed far from the heart of the Imperium so that he could both train in peace and light the way for those in most need.
==Astropath Transcendent Thurge==
In his quasi-exile in the Koronus Expanse he was treated like royalty by the locals for his burning soul provided better navigation (and thus better travel and trade) to the unstable region. One among those who sought audiences with him was Confessor Nyimbo Ojukwu of Ile, a zealot and preacher from the Adeptus Ministorum who offered him council. Nyimbo and Igor became close friends and confidants and Igor eventually retained Nyimbo as his personal confessor as the psyker rose to prominence in Imperial society.
Igor, or “Astropath Transcendent Thurge” as he had become known, became a powerful political force within the Koronus Expanse and eventually became the Adeptus Astra Telepathica’s primary representative in the area. He facilitated his rise to power by leveraging his considerable influence on the region’s ability to trade and gained favor among the Rogue Traders who frequented the area. Thurge would provide better navigation to them, assign them the best astropaths to their service, or even the opposite in rare circumstances.
He always used his influence and power to benefit the church though. Even without his eyes he’d never lost sight of the Imperial Creed and his experience with the Emperor’s essence only brought him more under its sway.
==Thurge the Psyker-Priest==
After many years Thurge was able to use his considerable power to for his way into the Adeptus Ministorum. This was done with the help of Cardinal Nyimbo Ojukwu who Thurge had helped get into his position, and was rationalized by ordaining Thurge as an “adjunct priest”, a priest who was specially ordained to help with a specific task or in a particular area of study. Officially he was assigned as a specialist on anti-psychic dogmas as no one hated psykers more than he. This was likely true, Thurge was noted to have a deep-seated self-hated due to his powers and secretly resented them immensely. He always saw himself as a man of the Emperor whose true worth was only as a servant and a cleric and he saw his “curse” (as he put it) as his test.
==Thurge the Hero==
Thurge’s first official assignment was as an adjunct psyker that served alongside the Tallarn Redeemers space marine chapter. His particular brand of zeal was useful as he helped guide the troubled chapter in their eternal battle against Tzeentch’s minions and his fervor made him an excellent tool for the Inquisitor he was tasked to work with. While not a soldier by training Thurge took to the art of war like a fish to water. It is said by his biographers that Thurge’s greatest talent was not his tremendous psychic power or even his faith but instead his ability to learn and adapt to new disciplines. He commonly employed members of the Gray Cloaks in his retinue and mentored many of their greatest agents at this time in the psychic mysteries.
Thurge fought in the campaign known as “The Wine of War” where he battled a powerful sorcerer of Tzeentch named Katack the Blue in a psychic duel that is said to have split a moon in half. When Thurge emerged victorious he was hailed as a hero of the Imperium and held up as the standard to which all other psykers would be held.
==Brother of the Black Moot==
Thurge’s next assignment started as a short one and became a protracted endeavor once he saw what must be done. Thurge was assigned, initially, to advise the battle sisters of the Order of the Black Moot in some matters of psychic lore but, despite the presence of nulls, he became fascinated with the order. Thurge served as a proctor for the sisters on all matter of a psychic nature and even is thought to have help craft some of their powerful wards and artifacts that they use. He fought along side them, doing battle with many eldar, before he earned their trust. They say that he alone knew the secrets of their inner circles and what he knew could have brought them down in moments but he kept their sins secret for some reason.
==The Cardinal of the Golden Eye==
Now getting older Thurge slowed his military conquests. He had proven himself a mighty warrior but as his body grew frailer he dedicated himself to other pursuits. He spent many of his later years working for the church where he became a Deacon under Cardinal Nyimbo Ojukwu and served in many bureaucratic and scholarly roles. He even established a small circle of acolytes known as the “The Rasophores”. These psyker-priests, whose name meant “robe bearers”, worked on behalf of the Adeptus Ministorum. Officially they were scholars and aids only but they were trained in the art of both battle and prayer.
When Cardinal Ojukwu passed, Thurge was selected as the next Cardinal of the Serovia system and he was given the official title of Synod Ministra (a Cardinal of the Ecclesiarchy of an Imperial system) while unofficially he became known as the “Cardinal of the Golden Eye” or “The Emperor’s Eyes” for the golden rays of light that sometimes escaped through the covers of his burnt-out eye sockets. Many resented Cardinal Thurge’s appointment because he was a psyker and his appointment ripped the sector apart.
==The 4th Impaler's Crusade==
The civil war in the Serovia system became a flashpoint for many anti-psyker riots in the surrounding sector. While the Imperium cared little for their psyker population the rioting was unacceptable and order was enforced by the Imperial Guard, primarily composed of a few dozen of the Somnium regiments. The civil war reached a whole new level when the Black Orthodoxy chapter showed up and demanded Psyker-Priest Thurge’s head and Thurge’s old allies took exception to this. The so-called “4th Impaler's Crusade” saw the Black Orthodoxy do battle against the Tallarn Redeemers and the Order of the Black Moot who sought to defend Thurge from their impaling power-spears. The Imperium was divided on who they should back so mixed messages were sent and backing was given to no side in particular. The bloody civil war ended when Psyker-Priest Thurge took his own life by drinking poison after leading mass one last time. He did so in front of hundreds of thousands of his followers and many say he ascended to join with the Emperor.
==Saint Thurge==
The martyrdom of Psyker-Priest Thurge to end the civil war at the cost of his own life and supposed ascension after his death was enough to see him recognized as a saint. Psyker-Priest Igor Malin Thurge is the patron saint of psykers and is said to exemplify the sacrifice that all psykers must make in order to better the Imperium. He is said to help those who find themselves cursed, mutated, or afflicted with bad luck and try to overcome it with faith. He is also venerated by the Order of the Black Moot’s mysterious cult and relics of his are retained by the Tallarn Redeemers as holy artifacts.
Category:Adeptus Astra Telepathica
Category:Adeptus Ministorum
Category:Imperial Characters
Category:Imperium of Man