Imperium of Man - Mutants and Witches: The degeneration of the holy Human form is one of the Ecclesiarchy's greatest concerns. Environmental pollution, deliberate genetic alteration, stellar radiation, alien diets and simple evolutionary adaptation have wrought manifold changes upon the genome and body of Man across his vast stellar empire. Some of these mutants have a standard, stable, morphological type and are tolerated by the authorities -- notable among them being the Abhuman Ogryns and the ancient and noble Navigators. But to find whole worlds where the Human population has no eyes due to never-ending darkness, or unusually long legs because of millennia of nomadic living, is not unusual. Whether these aberrant populations are declared acceptable or not is the business of the Adeptus Terra.But mutation can also be a sign of the influence of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. Just as they twist and destroy the minds and souls of Man, so too do they toy with his flesh, bending it into profane shapes, gifting strange abilities and creating monsters for their perverse amusement. Where such mutation is present, it is rightly abhorred. Few are willing to tolerate such an aberation within their midst and fear of mutants runs through the populations of many worlds, even those where such things have happened but once in a hundred generations. Perhaps worse still is the constant fear of becoming a mutant oneself. Many folk pray that should this worst of all things occur, they will have the strength to end their own lives, before the mob or the Inquisition does it for them.Some poor fools are willing mutants, seeing the distortion of their flesh as a sign of favour from the Ruinous Powers. They seek out ways to gain more of these mutational "gifts," either by begging the Dark Gods for more of their touch or by doing their bidding in the hope of further reward. Others, more poignantly, claim innocence of any wrong doing or foul worship. Whatever the case, a mutant is a mutant and must be feared, hated and destroyed. This is but one of the many reasons Imperial citizens tend to be highly intolerant and many innocent men, upon finding themselves on a new world, have been murdered by a frenzied mob for merely appearing to be different.The related question of witchcraft also exercises the minds of a great many of the Emperor's servants. Indeed, one whole arm of the Inquisition -- the Ordo Hereticus -- has the finding and destruction of these dangerous beings as one of its primary activities, and several other organisations exist to contain, exploit and control these Human psychics. It is said by a heretical few that Mankind stands upon the brink of a great evolutionary change in the species, that every standard year the incidence of psykers rises and that one day the entirety of Mankind will become a new, psychic race much like the Eldar.True or not, the psykers of the Imperium are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they enable the continued existence of the Imperium -- the Astropaths, the Navigators, Imperial Sanctioned Psykers, the savant Primaris Psykers of the Astra Militarum, the Librarians of the Space Marines, even the Emperor Himself --these loyal, good and necessary servants of Mankind are psykers all. Yet they are few in number and for every mind that is strong enough to stand against the perils of the Warp, there are hundreds of others whose minor gifts, whether they seem a boon or a burden to the individual, are a clear danger to the worlds of Man. The employ of their talents can lead to intrusions into the physical universe by Warp entities or leave the individual open to manipulation by certain strains of perfidious xenos.By far the most dangerous are the "witches," those who revel in their abilities and seek to use them in a personal quest for power. Alone, they can wreak untold havoc, intentionally or unintentionally. It is for this reason that, of all the threats from within, the populace of the Imperium fears the witch most. It is a hidden danger that can spring up unbidden even inside a man's own family, and parents dread the birth of a witch child above all things. All psykers must be given over to the appropriate Imperial body or be purified by death. Those psykers that appear to have evaded the tithe-men of the Black Ships, by accident or design, are guilty until proven innocent and the cleansing flame is their only fate.