Necroes

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@BCTheEntity I'll say it one more time;
Psychic energy doesn't matter. Telepathy matters.

@Sophrus No, they wouldn't be. Any psyker with a brain knows better than to waist the time. If they wanted to pull off a covert attack, they would cloak their presence in the warp. They're eldar, they know they glow psyker, and they're still considered masters of stealth and surprise. Piss-ant astropaths wouldn't be able to find them if they didn't want to be found.
If the eldar weren't trying to be sneaky about getting on board, then you wouldn't need an astropath to tell you they had. You'd be able to tell by the giant wraith ship that just rammed your hull.

We were protected by the fact that no one should be crazy enough to try and pull off what we are. However, we're protagonists, so the plot is on our side. The plot is still on our side, we'll just have a harder fight of it because they're going to spot the foreign psyker. No, they're not going to respond with full-scale counter boarding action. More likely, they'll suspect one of the penal legion has somehow been corrupted by chaos. Criminals turning out to be cultists does just happen.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Klomster

Quote: "Every starship that plies the Warp routes of the Imperium and beyond has at least one, and most likely an entire cabal of Navigators to guide it safely through the Immaterium."

Emphasis mine

Also of note, the list of powers that astropath choirs can pull off are amazing feats. When working together, they are not to be underestimated.

@BCTheEntity Again, the problem isn't that he used a psyker power. The ship is in combat, against eldar. The astropaths aren't going to be scanning the ship for psykers. Any psyker just being on board, without even casting a spell, could be spotted by an astropath looking for one if the psyker doesn't know how to mask himself. What's hiding us is that they have no reason to be looking, or they didn't.
The problem is that he's using telepathy. The core purpose of astropaths is to look for telepathic signals and powers at all times. They spend years in training to do exactly that, and then gain more years of experience doing it every day for the rest of their lives.
They Will identify him as not being another astropath. Astropaths all undergo the 'soul binding' ritual, that leaves them completely purified. That's how they identify each other in the warp; because nothing else in the warp reads like they do.
Then, once he's been spotted, the astropath will turn his attention to finding him, and do so within minutes.

So, yea... pretty boned.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

Wait... how'd Urgrugg bugger up anything? I haven't posted since the last time you said anything. Nothing has changed. Lucius's little toady is the only one who's done anything to alert the ship beyond what punching open a metal door with a fist wrapped in metal would do.

Also; no offense, JB, but if you didn't foresee the use of psyker powers by one of the three separate psykers in this group during hostile boarding action, well... I mean, you had to have seen this coming. Expecting psykers armed with literally nothing else not to use warp powers in battle is like expecting a space marine not to use a bolter.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Klomster Actually, every warp-capable ship in the Imperium has its own, individual navigator, if not more. And astropaths, while not all especially powerful, are all trained and sanctioned psykers. They would have far more experience than Lucius's toady, and as you kindly pointed out, there would be an entire choir of them. Given they would all be actively looking for telepathic signals, they'd be almost guaranteed to spot him. And, yes, they can tell specifically if he's another astropath that's doing it, so they know he's not imperial.

The problem isn't that he's a psyker. The problem is he's using telepathy on an imperial vessel, and has no idea what he's looking for, or how to do it so he doesn't get caught. Because astropaths undergo a ritual that allows them to sink up enough that they can communicate between literally any two points in the imperium, they know their own from random amateurs. Given this is the imperium, they'll know if any other telepaths are supposed to be on the boat, and will mark him as an unsanctioned psyker. And, everyone knows what the imperium does to unsanctioned psykers that have the smell of chaos to them...

Poor lil' dude's gonna catch a bolter shell to the head, and that's if he's lucky. If they capture him and an ordo hereticus catches wind of him, he'll only wish that was the case.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

There's a difference between using a psychic attack, which just uses warp energy, and sending out a telepathic homing beacon. Yes, a psyker can notice another psyker using warp energy. However, it's generally not something you can do through multiple layers of hull without actively looking for it. Chances are, the two head psykers on board would be so focused on the battle they're in they wouldn't just be randomly scanning the ship for other warp users, seemingly without cause.

But, a foreign, chaos-tainted, and far less experienced psyker actively scanning the minds of others on the crew over an extended period of time? Astropaths are masters of telepathy, and they would be actively looking for telepathic assault from enemy agents. That is, almost literally, their job description.

So, yea, far more likely the glowing beacon is going to get picked up on enemy radar than the single, random blip among a background of bigger blips.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

Speaking of the psyker... looks like our cover is blown. If the navigator doesn't spot the psychic beacon on his ship, the astropath will. Then it's only a matter of time before the captain is informed.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Sophrus No, I belched plasma at the person who opened 1 cell door. The net result opened three more. So, technically, I've freed more of you than the tech marine. If anything, the fact that I belched plasma and killed an armed commissar would only make it less likely that the large group of untrained, unarmed, presumably very selfish criminals would be eager to throw away their lives to be the first half dozen of men that die trying to fight an armed, magic ork. You know, orks. The things that regularly engage and kill space marines with meat cleavers.

And I don't know who this 'we' you're talking about is. Until recently, Urgrugg was the one trying to consolidate the group into one force. Sure, it was for personal gain, but he still wanted them to be allies.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Wraithblade6 I don't mind how you handled it. An interesting decision, to be sure. I do find it kind of odd that he forgot the volley of bolter fire that gunned him down, though. Or is he repressing the fact that it was the Imperium that the ork saved him from?

@Sophrus You're free to attack if you like, but there is something you should keep in mind. As soon as your boys round the corner, they'll see the commissar assigned to them dead. Seems to me like the kind of thing that would cause a bunch of criminals to mutiny, not gang up on an ork that only might be too winded to kill the first five or six that get to him.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Necroes Would that warp-plasma not have just killed Xeph as well?

@Jbcool

Very likely, yes. Though, technically speaking, it's possible he could have dodged out of the way. I didn't explicitly state that it hit Xeph, or described what happened to him because of it. So, if Wraith still wants his character killed off, this would be the time. Otherwise, it's up to him to depict how a space marine dodged the equivalent of a flame thrower that turned the corner and fired, while wearing heavily damaged tech-marine armor and having just gone through surgery minutes before, all in a hallway with closed and locked doors that's human-sized.

I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm only implying it very heavily. Though, I am somewhat interested to see how he dodges it if he decides to go that way.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

From forces of the Imperium, at that.