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This will be the last time I put this up on the forums for discussion.

I'm going to start off with a few words of my own. First point is that I have not completely finished this fluff yet. If there are holes, don't complain about them until I have fully put down the fluff. The holes you see now may or may not be present in the future updates of this fluff. Secondly, if you do find a hole after I have finished these guys off, instead of pointing it out, make a suggestion as to what I should change it to. If you do not do this. your point will be ignored. I am relatively new to the fluff and haven't managed to procure myself a 6th ed rulebook, so I have made this race based on what I have managed to get so far. Thirdly, READ THIS POST. It is pivotal you do so. If I think you have simply skipped to the last page and posted something, I will simply refer you to this post. Fourthly, have an open mind. Trying to make a race whilst being a complete and utter stickler to the fluff is damn near impossible. I interpreted it in my own way. I have used loose ends in 40k fluff to my own advantage. Try to see what I've done with established canon and then rethink. If you will not have a flexible, reasonable mind, don't even bother posting. Finally, If I seem to become passive-aggressive towards any poster, please may someone notify me and I will take a little cooling off time. I am quite an unstable person and therefore I apologise beforehand if I offend you in any way.
By the way, I have began a story on the Lynx. Here is the link if nay of you are interested:
http://www.booksie.com/fan_fiction/novel/imaginatus/a-dark-day-indeed

Now that's done, shall we start? I'm going to go back to the point where the Lynx had become fully sentient, intelligent (if animalistic) creatures. To note now, their appearance has not changed much, if at all over the millions of years they have lived. So the first description I give you of their appearance will carry on throughout the fluff. Don't worry about imagining how their looks change.
Oh yeas, and try not to get OT. I want this to be a (mostly) formal and polite exchange of views Thank you.

So, we begin in the Ghoul Stars, just outside of the Ultima Segmentum. It is here the Lynx first evolved and grew, and is still the area of their home planet, [?]. The Lynx are a race of feline humanoids, with many of the characteristics it implies. The facial features are exactly like this (but of course, vary with each Lynx):

They stand slightly taller than the average man, and have a sleek and lithe body to allow for enhanced speed and agility when moving through dense forest. They are covered in a moderately thin layer of fur, but this varies depending what planet a Lynx is found on. For example, Lynx on hot, humid forested planet will have much thinner fur, and will come in a variety of colours. Ones from on Arctic planet, however, will have thick, white coats, much like that of a snow leopard or tiger. They have retained a long, prehensile tail that is used for surprisingly more tasks than you would believe. Padded feet allow for near silent movement, but their hands are like humans, able to hold objects without any trouble, but have razor (and by razor, I mean near mono-molecular razor) sharp claws tucked away inside the pads. Thus, a Lynx can never truly be disarmed.
The closest pic I could find to these guys was this:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ZkAju_Q4xNw/TBHEEH8n_8I/AAAAAAAACr8/JKqwVbAB1n8/fel6.jpg

Their home planet is named Veridyth (ver-id-ith). It is approximately 5 times the size of Terra, but has about twice the mass. About 65% of the planet's surface is water, and 32% land. The land mass consists of dense rainforest, and stretches all the way around the planet at the equator. The final 3% is crystal. Yes, crystal. I will go into detail about it later. And it is important to note this crystal didn't become visible until about 50,000 years ago. In the planet's early formations, nearly all of the land was concentrated around the poles, until tectonic shifting realigned the continents into the band that is present today.

Now that I have the basics set out, I'll start on the actual fluff.
430,000 B.C.
The Lynx originally were a race of feral hunters, scrounging for survival amongst the hundreds of other predators that stalked the jungle. Most of these Lynx lived in tribes, led by one Lynx stronger, smarter or just plain luckier than the other members of the tribe. Tradition dictated that any other Lynx wishing to take the place as leader, must best the current leader in a battle of wits, strength or, again, sheer dumb luck. Most common amongst these was the "suicide jump". Yes, this is exactly as it sounds. And some Lynx are brave, crazy or stupid enough to do it today. It involved both participants to jump off of a 50 to 200 metre cliff. They would freefall for a few seconds, before immediately unsheathing their claws and shoving them into the rock face mere inches away from their face. The one who ended up the closest to the bottom won. Or the one that still survived. If neither survived (which was, unsurprisingly, common) then the chieftain's first-born would step up to take the place. If the chieftain had no first-born, then a vote was made. During this time, little technological advancement was made; the most ancient weapons were stone spears and bow-and arrows. They lived in this Stone Age period for the best part of 300,000 years, and in this period no psykers existed within Lynx society.
Notable Events in this Time Period
- Lynx first become the most intelligent species on their planet.
- Tectonic plates have almost formed the "band" mentioned earlier.
- Low weapons tech first invented.
- The Lynx become "advanced" enough to form something resembling a society.
147,000 B.C.
Eventually, some tribes decided to band together and form small settlements that dotted the forests. Some villages were made high in the trees, amongst the wildlife the Lynx loved (and still love) and cared for, farming the odd collection of fruits, vegetables and animals that were actually edible. Others cut down a small swathe of forest and begun to exploit the planet's natural resources. Iron, coal, precious metals and gems such as silver and rubies were commonplace; and so began what the Lynx call the Dawn Age (well, it's actually the Dawn of the First Societies, but Dawn Age is easier to say). More "complicated" and lethal weapons were forged by ground-dwelling villagers, who traded these weapons for food from the forest villagers. Jewellery was first made by a Lynx blacksmith who was experimenting with silver in an attempt to make silver weaponry that wouldn't break. When smelting a small amount of silver one of the miners had found and traded to him for yet another pickaxe, a small glob of the stuff fell onto his wrist. The blacksmith immediately plunged his entire forearm into a bucket of freezing water. The silver went solid in seconds, forming a now permanent bracelet around his left wrist. Inspired by this, the blacksmith left weapons to the other, more bloodthirsty Lynx smiths and pursued a career in making the finest bracelets and rings available for purchase (which was pretty damn good, even for 16th century human silversmiths). Still no psykers have evolved (they have no psyker gene. No pariah gene either, for those who are wondering).
Notable Events in this Time Period
- First static villages established in around 143,500 B.C.
- Trading invented, allowing for a more stable society.
- Medieval age technology begins to emerge, about 130,000 years before humans get there (suckerz).
- Jewellery first invented.
52,500 B.C.
Almost no tribes remain after 400,000 years of advancement, those that do are struggling to survive against the more technologically advanced Lynx. Villages have become towns, and some have been blessed with enough fortune to become cities in their own right. Naturally, this doesn't come without consequence. Wars erupt over wealth, power or just in the name of their own religion. Although this doesn't help much to increase the already low population of the Lynx, weapons technology takes a large step forward. Black powder weapons and shortly afterwards fully automatic assault rifles are used. This age is known as (unimaginatively) as the Age of War. Near the end of this age the Lynx settle into a reign of peace (know as the Age of Tranquillity), led by the Larr'san Royal Family. The Lynx then begin a very small but steady increase in both population and technology, eventually reaching the use of weapons similar to that of the Imperium's Autoguns about 5,000 years before the Imperium does (about 3000 B.C.). A line of psykers emerge, but they are pathetic compared to modern Lynx or even human standards. Religion springs into existence in the early phases of this period, their main belief foretelling a goddess that would appear to them in all her glory and lead them into an age of enlightenment (those of you who have read any of my previous topics will know who this is).
Notable Events in this Time Period
- Large towns and cities grow from the older villages.
- Tribal life dies out about 49,700 B.C.
- Coinage is invented in about 49,500 B.C. Therefore, the invention of wealth.
- Early 1700's life adopted by the Lynx 50,000 years before humans.
- Wars erupt, provoking a huge increase in weapons technology to late 2000's standard.
- Larr'san family gifted with a psyker gene. First psykers in Lynx existence are instated as ruling family. All Lynx are pacified under their reign.
- Religion booms; the main religion is created which all Lynx immediately adhere to.

And that's pretty much the Lynx's history up to about 10,000 years ago. Now things start getting juicy.

So now the Lynx have achieved, base line, a stable, medium level technological age which they're quite content with. This section will now describe the Lynx's current status and recent history.

NOTE: MAJOR RE-HAUL OF THIS THREAD
I will be formatting this thread differently from now on. Every fortnight or so I will include an updated .pdf file that will be the Lynx Codex. Each one will have a download/viewing link, an edit rating and an edit sub-rating. Each update may or may not have a miscellaneous note underneath it. This is how it will be set out:
Update Version Number
PDF Link
Rating=Sub-rating
Notes

Ratings:
These will be on a scale of 1 to 5.
1 = Minor update. Very few changes applied. Normally just spell checking.
2 = Basic Update. Some changes applied, corrections made in spelling errors and fluff conflict.
3 = Update. Quite a few changes applied/re-write of a unit. More detailed fluff conflict correction.
4 = Major Update. A lot of changes/additions applied. Major fluff corrections.
5 = Emergency Update. Near-total re-write of several important areas of the codex to make them more accurate and less conflicting with established canon, or made a lot more user-friendly to read.
Sub-ratings:
A = Fluff update/correction
B = Unit edit
C = Rules re-write
D = Aesthetics

Version 0.0
Page 1
3=A

I think I'll reserve judgment for when its done. Look good though...its a big galaxy.

The suicide jump was my failed attempt at humour. But thx!

I got to admit, looks far better than the earlier versions...I will reserve judgement as well until we have something more concrete.

Also I could not help to notice:

a)

 Mynameisalie wrote:

... no psykers existed within Lynx society.
...But still, no psykers. None. At all.
...Yet again, no psykers. A line off psykers emerge, but they are pathetic compared to modern Lynx standards.

This. I do not like it to be honest; it brings a sense of aggression towards the reader, as if you are referring to someone in particular.
Also on the last part you are kind of contradicting the first sentence with the second.

Finally,
b)

 Mynameisalie wrote:

- Religion is established.
- Religion booms; the main religion is recreated which all Lynx immediately adhere to, out of choice this time.

Try to give more details to the people that have not read your previous fluff. I, for one, am not going to read through 50 posts to understand one; so give some more details for the people that haven't.

Also, all of your dates have B.C. which means what exactly? Before Computers? Before Christ? Before Cataclysm?

On the other side I like the points that you have under each time period summarizing the events.

Too many people bashed the old material, so the part about no psykers is just him getting hammy over it (no offence intended).

No offence taken.
And yes, the dates are Before Christ, I decided to do it in human time to give you guys a better image of how the Lynx fared against humanity as they evolved.
I'll correct that sentence, and the religion will be explained shortly. The one that was made 130,000 years ago is almost identical to the current one. With very few adjustments. For example, the prophecy actually did come true, but I'll keep the suspension as I develop them.

Dropping off some friendly advice. Ignore, borrow, plagiarize as you see fit.

Since this is 40k fanfluff you could always use the Imperial Dating System for dates. It would help keep it more consistent with canon and also help it blend better overall with 40k.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Dating_System

For events transpiring before M01 I believe the convention is to use negative numbers.

Also, 30,200 A.D would be M31. Slanesh was born in the late part of M29 or M30 and set off the fall of the Eldar so in M31 they were still running around trying not to get eaten. Also in the early part of M31 was the Horus Heresy. You really might want to bump your time up or back a few thousand years.

It's the warp. You could make your god Slanesh's good twin sister if you wanted. She popped out just a minute sooner and watched in dismay as her younger sister dressed like a slut and hung out with the bad boys.

Also conceivably make your god's little hide out an ancient Old One webway device. Something isolated or unique that does the same thing that you want but ties in to the 40k universe.

And I'm out of ideas. Note that I didn't claim they were any good just that they were ideas.

Good luck with the rest of your fluff.

Thank you for the advice.
I will take it into consideration and adjust the fluff accordingly.
Just a note: I decided to use human time in B.C. and A.D. as it allows readers to approximate what stage the Lynx were at in comparison to humanity. IIRC, human evolution is exactly the same as in real life up to the present (real) day, and I'm not very good at correlating "real" dating to imperial dating.

I think we should be at 012.M02 right now. Don't ask the month or day in Imperial Calendar, 'cuz I have no idea.

.M003
1st millenia was 0 A.D. to 999 A.D, remember?

Oops.

(humans suck compared to these guys).

Is this really necessary? I mean not only does it make it seem like you're just making this race to +1 everyone else but considering it took them almost 500,000 years to reach the same level humanity got to in 50,000 years it's also kinda dumb...

There's not really a lot here. It's a timeline of events but with so little detail it's hard to really criticise anything. You mention a religion but say nothing about the religion. You mention an entire age of wars but say nothing about them. You mention the entire race being unified but say nothing about it...

Wouldn't 300,000 year old records be a bit fuzzy?

Well if they can record a solitary blacksmith messing about with silver they can record a religion and an entire age of wars...

Wow, you're picky. Do I have to do all that detail? Just to please you?
Look, the reason why I left in the solitary blacksmith is that the Lynx's Psytrix Crystals (Previously Animatrix Crystals, will update) work far better when in contact with silver. Hence, they are always hung on silver pendants. The religion, I will update then, but the wars are really no that important in terms of where the Lynx are today. But if you really want me to...

You don't have to do it to please me.
You don't have top do anything.
The reason i have picked it out as a criticism is because without adding some kind of 'flavour' to it you may as well be writing the history of anything...
Claiming that it's not in detail because it's from so long ago sounds false when you have the record of a single Iron Age blacksmith cocking up while messing about with some silver. An event which probably wasn't witnessed by anyone else apart from any apprentices he had if he had any...
It's up to you to decide what event from the past impacts what but in many instances an entire age of war tends to influence a species somewhat...

You're right on that...
It's just when I was making these guys, well, I only really focused on their recent history. That's the more interesting stuff. The ancient history I pretty much made up on the spot.

Make some of their history influence their current situation somewhat...

Its certainly worlds better than the original fluff.

However, the part about creating another god in the warp and have it live in a planet that just so happens to be the home planet of your race is a little too much. It comes off as making your race sound uber super snowflake special. I strongly believe that in writing fan fiction you don't create something that effectively alters the universe in which we know so well. This means that creating a fifth chaos god (I know it isn't chaos, but it was born in the warp) is a little too much to ask the reader to accept. That and it really truly adds nothing to your fluff, it just feels like it there to make your race sound more awesome.

Drop the whole 'god living in your planet' thing, and it will sound a lot better. Keep the fluff simple and elegant. Make it subtle in its execution. Don't try and force it down your reader's throat.

Why does no-one read point 2?
Please, if you criticize, make a suggestion to patch it over. I must ask why is the 5th god a problem? She isn't even that powerful compared to the other 4. And she only has limited control over what happens in the Warp, or in realspace. All she can do is simple communication to and from the Lynx, via their Psytrix crystals. And causing the system's sun to live longer than it should. Think tiny energy unit that stores more power than it should do for it's size. I can make the Artaich more subtle, but she is the base for the race's religion, after all. If I remove her I will have to rewrite the entire race all over again.
Ok?

This. Again.

The moment somebody says anything, you start bashing them around.

Anyway, you want a chaos god. Good you can have it. BUT do not even make it comparable with the big 4. They are big for a reason. Make her a lesser god, make it more subtle. Tha'ts all what Blacksails is suggesting and I agree with him. Also, the whole finding the planet with the crystals etc...not so good imho. Try to have her battle her way in the Warp, to try and take refuge to the Webway and be beaten by the Laughing God and when that battle is over she retreats to the only safe place she can think of, the mid of a psyker. As a matter of fact make her break down into pieces each piece on a different psyker across the galaxy. She also gets hold of the mind of a Lynx. She then finds out about the crystals and THEN she decides to use them as a refuge.

It a bit improvised but I think you can further refine it if you want to use it.

Also, the whole extra dimension inside the crystals is too much imo, no suggestions there except maybe drop it.

Also, when you ask for C&C listen to the reader. Its the best possible way to begin with. Do not attack people, and do not get insulted by criticism; both Blacksails and Purplefood pointed to holes in your story; the religion being one that I pointed as well, from which I did not get any answer on the subject, as my post was ignored.

Bobakos wrote:
Finally,
b)

Mynameisalie wrote:

- Religion is established.
- Religion booms; the main religion is recreated which all Lynx immediately adhere to, out of choice this time.

In any case if you did not want our opinion, and you think everything is perfect, why are you even here in the first place?

And this is my advice with the best possible intends. If it reads a bit aggressive I apologize in advance.

Edited for spelling and syntax errors...

 Bobakos wrote:
This. Again.

The moment somebody says anything, you start bashing them around.

----------->Anyway, you want a chaos god. Good you can have it. BUT do not even make it comparable with the big 4. They are big for a reason. Make her a lesser god, make it more subtle. <--------- Tha'ts all what Blacksails is suggesting and I agree with him. Also, the whole finding the planet with the crystals etc...not so good imho. Try to have her battle her way in the Warp, to try and take refuge to the Webway and be beaten by the Laughing God and when that battle is over she retreats to the only safe place she can think of, the mid of a psyker. As a matter of fact make her break down into pieces each piece on a different psyker across the galaxy. She also gets hold of the mind of a Lynx. She then finds out about the crystals and THEN she decides to use them as a refuge.

It a bit improvised but I think you can further refine it if you want to use it.

Also, the whole extra dimension inside the crystals is too much imo, no suggestions there except maybe drop it.

Also, when you ask for C&C listen to the reader. Its the best possible way to begin with. Do not attack people, and do not get insulted by criticism; both Blacksails and Purplefood pointed to holes in your story; the religion being one that I pointed as well, from which I did not get any answer on the subject, as my post was ignored.

Bobakos wrote:
Finally,
b)

Mynameisalie wrote:

- Religion is established.
- Religion booms; the main religion is recreated which all Lynx immediately adhere to, out of choice this time.

In any case if you did not want our opinion, and you think everything is perfect, why are you even here in the first place?

And this is my advice with the best possible intends. If it reads a bit aggressive I apologize in advance.

Edited for spelling and syntax errors...

The bit in the arrows? Thank you. That's what I meant by point 2. The reason why I made the first paragraph a list of rules is to make sure this thread doesn't dissolve like in the past 3 attempts (no aggressiveness meant here, being honest).
About the crystals/dimension thing. It's not a separate dimension, it just behaves like one. It just seems to be almost like a safe haven, but still allows Warp Energy (not any entities) to leak in and out of it. This way, the Artaich can be safe inside the crystals, but still be able to manipulate realspace and the Warp in a limited way (realspace much easier).
About the religion... Yeah... Still working on the past version. I'll try to get it up asap.

Redesigning the layout of the OP a bit, to make it easier to read. It'll be in sections with each one portraying a different aspect of the Lynx.

 Mynameisalie wrote:
Why does no-one read point 2?
Please, if you criticize, make a suggestion to patch it over. I must ask why is the 5th god a problem? She isn't even that powerful compared to the other 4. And she only has limited control over what happens in the Warp, or in realspace. All she can do is simple communication to and from the Lynx, via their Psytrix crystals. And causing the system's sun to live longer than it should. Think tiny energy unit that stores more power than it should do for it's size. I can make the Artaich more subtle, but she is the base for the race's religion, after all. If I remove her I will have to rewrite the entire race all over again.
Ok?

I don't need to provide you with an alternative, that is not mandated in providing criticism.

My point is, you don't need to have that god, or even that religion. Unless it somehow starts playing some immensely huge and pivotal role in your race, its not needed. Again, think about what you're proposing. A fifth god is created (highly unlikely [also, god of what?] and really breaks with fluff), somehow finds your planet (out of untold billions, again, astronomically minimal odds), and can also somehow live inside the planet. It sounds exceedingly super special snowflake. Your race would be infinitely cooler without the need to have some kind of god back it up.

You can still have your religion if you need to, but it seems like you can keep the religion without needing. Also, think about how large your race is, compared to all the other races who have gods, and ask yourself if its actually reasonable to have a god for your population.

I truly honestly believe this fluff would be better without the god thing. Make your race a believable addition to the universe, not just some bit of fan-fiction you like because you really enjoy anthropomorphic lynxes with boltguns.

But it took me ages to write...
And they don't use boltguns...
And Bobakos gave me a decent way of making her believable; she's nowhere near as powerful as the big 4. I'll make it so other planets in the system have crystals as well...
And, not meaning to sound aggressive, but what do you mean by "reasonable to have a god for that population"? They have spread to other planets, y'know...
And the Artaich is the only reason they're psychic; she feeds them with energy, but conserves some for herself.

I think I could make the Goddess thing work; it just needs a lot of tweaking?

@Blacksails

I was under the impression that in the Warp there are other minor gods, I am pretty sure I read that somewhere...maybe I am wrong...

@Mynameisalie

If that is the case then I am afraid that the god concept does not work really good. If you want to have them as positive psykers etc and keep the crystals, make the crystals more psychic attuned or something, waking up psychic potentials or something similar. Of course that would mean that other races (i.e Imperium, Eldar) might want those crystals and as such hunt down the species.

Just a thought

 Bobakos wrote:

@Mynameisalie

If that is the case then I am afraid that the god concept does not work really good. If you want to have them as positive psykers etc and keep the crystals, make the crystals more psychic attuned or something, waking up psychic potentials or something similar. Of course that would mean that other races (i.e Imperium, Eldar) might want those crystals and as such hunt down the species.

Just a thought

Depending on how averse to thievery you are, you could just borrow the concept I read in a Raymond E Feist novel (its not unique to him probably, but its the only place I've read it). The magician character ends up on a planet where he can't manipulate magic for some reason (yet he is crazy powerful on his own). Then they find these crystals which grow from the ground, and they are basically magic condensed into an object, so while holding them, they can drain the power of the crystal and use it up to cast spells. Kind of, I haven't read it in ages, but thats the gist.

Perhaps a similar idea would work for your guys?

There are 'minor' gods in the sense that the Eldar, Orkz and Imperials have gods. They exist but can't really contend toe to toe with the chaos ones. Also remember that each of these gods are born from races that either so immensely vast, or so immensely psychic that is makes sense. Well, that and its official fluff. This race seems neither; too small to represent any portion of the galaxy, and too weak in psychic enery (a la Eldar) to create a god dedicated to them. There's just no real acceptable way to make this happen as a remotely serious fan fiction endeavour.

Not to sound rude, but I don't care that it took you ages to write. That has, quite literally, nothing to do with the quality of the work or how I should view it. The boltgun thing was a joke. I don't care how powerful your god is, my point is that it shouldn't exist. There's no reason for it to exist other than that you want it to exist to make your race seem super special awesome. Seriously, I want you to understand that. There's no reason to create a god just for your race to have something to worship. In fact, it would be infinitely cooler if your race didn't have a god, and had some sort of alternate worship.

I'm aware your race has spread to other planets, but we're talking such a minute amount of worlds (and small population) from a psychically less active race than the Eldar, and it just seems out of place they can somehow create a god for themselves.

You can make your race psychically attuned without having a god living in their magical crystal planet. It would be better for your fluff if they did just that, in fact.

And I truthfully don't think you can make a new god work. Not within the confines of the 40k universe, from my relatively strict perspective.

Mmmmm...
I could manage to condense the Goddess concept so she isn't born with Slaanesh. I'll give that a real good think over. But yes! That thing with the finding of the crystals works perfectly! It's just I worked really, really hard on that Goddess. About a month, actually. She is pivotal to the Lynx. She is the basis of the Lynx's religion, and her crystal is maintained by the priestesses (females govern the religion, and do a hell of a lot better than the males did). In turn, she provides protection from demons by the crystals each Lynx wears on a pendant. Any demon trying to corrupt a Lynx either had to wait until they are on another planet that has no Psytrix Crystal or try and get through the Artaich. She is effectively a mind shield and power generator for them. Without her, the Lynx race would be overcome by demons early instantly as their souls shine with a blinding light in the Warp.
As Lynx feel far stronger emotion (mentioned in the anatomy section), the positive emotion is more than enough to keep her conscious and thinking, but the negative emotion also feeds the other 4 gods as well, making them stronger in turn. So it's a 2 way thing.
Lastly, Bobakos, the mentioning of the psyker-finds-out-about-the-crystals thing? That really would work. I do think I could keep her in here, but like I said, with a lot of tweaking.
Please, I took so long on her to not include her in the race.

I have to agree with Blacksails, in that a god probably isn't the best option. But here is an alternative. The crystals are sentient, and when enough crystal is in the one place, it can form a powerful psychic sentience.

So your planet is all crystal, the sentience awoke, and convinced the Lynx to mine some of this crystal, and wear it around their necks. This unlocked their psychic powers, and when they spread across planets, they brought the crystal with them and began to grow it, and it spread along with them.

This does several things; 1) there is precedence for sentient elements that are psychic(ish) (see the second Eisenhorn book, the Lith. Your one isn't chaosy like the Lith, but it's still precedent)
2) adds (in my opinion) a really cool question to your fluff. Are the lynx doing this with the aid of the crystals for psychic-ness? Or is the crystal really the one doing it all, and the crystals around their necks are really a kind of psychic slave collar? Obviously you'd only represent one side in your fluff, and leave one or 2 hints at the other, similar to the Tau fluff (if you haven't read it, then do, it'll help you understand what I mean)
3) Explains psyker abilities, etc

This will allow; A powerful force behind your race for a religion to focus on, a reason all your guys are psychic, and a dark secret that they may or may not have, which is always good in my opinion!

What do you think?