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Is it true that 10000 pyhkers are sacraficed per day to keep the Emperor alive?
If you have any more info on this besides the answer please post it.

Yes their souls are used to power the astronomicon.

They are all gathered from planets as payment to the imperium and then given to the emperor.

Yes, but they do it with correct spelling.

Specifically - the Golden Throne keeps the big E alive (er, not dead... whatever - it's not completely clear how alive he is).

The Golden Throne is also the source of the Astronomicon. Again, the Astronomicon is generated by the big E's psychic might, but powered by a choir of mortal psykers - tens of thousands of them, maybe hundreds of thousands.

Their life-energy powers it and around ten thousand of them die every day, to be replaced by fresh ones.

'Sacrifice' implies stone alters and funky-looking daggers - which isn't exactly right.

All these thousands of psykers are plugged into the machine which rapidly kills them by draining their life force. It can take minutes or months to die, depending on the power of the psyker.

I think they mostly use weak psykers. Powerful ones are trained to use their powers and used by the military and the govenment. The most powerful pskers picked up by the black ships become the Grey Knights

I wish they let the poor god just die so he can become a Star god holy crap.

I'd need to dig out my copy of DH to get the precise quote, but there are ten thousand psykers in the choir that powers the Astronomicon and roughly one thousand die a day, only to be replaced fairly quickly. Some weaker psykers only last a day or two and others several weeks, but they are all burning their very soulstuff to provide the power.

4M2A wrote:I think they mostly use weak psykers. Powerful ones are trained to use their powers and used by the military and the govenment. The most powerful pskers picked up by the black ships become the Grey Knights

Weak and weak willed psykers.

Those psykers who prove that they do not have the iron will necessary to constantly confront the dangers of the warp every moment of every day are not allowed to go free, no matter how powerful they are.

Psykers that are somewhat weak, yet very strong willed, can be used for the Imperium, as psykers can grow in power as time goes on and they gain experience and training. But psykers who are weak willed yet strong of power can never be allowed to go free, as they are a danger to themselves as well as the Imperium as a whole.

As stated. All psykers deemed not of any use pretty much get sent to power the golden throne. Those showing the promise of being able to effectively/safely use their talents for imperial gain end up as astropaths or generally go to any imperial organization that is involved with psykers. Such as the inquisition to become retinue members and sometimes inquisitors themselves. Space marine librarians come from recruits from their territories that show psychic potential. But even recruits from the astartes found unable to use their talents can be shipped to terra to be sacrificed if they cant control their talents.

If a psyker that went to the golden throne to be killed was chaos, could he potentially screw up the golden throne and kill the emporer?

I can just see alpha legion doing that...

Extremely unlikely, given their time aboard the black ships, and the presence of plenty of other controlling factors. If it was that easy, Chaos would have done it long ago.

Well, the thing is is that the golden throne is powered by human souls. They don't even need to use psykers. The only reason that they do is that psyker souls burn far more strongly than do regular people. That and said high-grade fuel is a renewable resource that is becoming more plentiful over time.

4M2A wrote:I think they mostly use weak psykers. Powerful ones are trained to use their powers and used by the military and the govenment. The most powerful pskers picked up by the black ships become the Grey Knights

Strong psykers that cannot control their powers will likely be sent to Terra as well...

As Melissa said, even weak Psykers have a use in the Imperium: They tend to become Astropaths.

Personally I'd gladly give my life to sustain the Astronomican and our immortal God-Emperor! After all, after experiencing the holiest and most incredible experiences of a lifetime: Stepping on Holy Terra herself and being in the presence of Him, I would have no further reason to live...

BTW I work on the Black Ships... all though to all you common folk we are know as "Starbucks" However I toil day in and day out to make sure I sacrifice my daily quota to the Immortal Emperor and his Golden Throne...

None of my co-workers suspect that I am truly a follower of the Word...

(I hate my job... )

My understanding is that the astronomicon and the sacrifice of psykers to the Emperor are two different things. Serving to power the astronomicon is eventually lethal, as stated earlier, and the Emperor also directly consumes psykers to maintain his mortal existence.

I don't recall astropaths being described as "weak" psykers. They may not have the force of will to serve as a psyker in, say, the inquisition, but my understanding is that they're otherwise "normal" psykers. They undergo a ritual where the big E imparts the astropath with some of his power. This essentially makes them invulnerable to possession but causes other problems, including blindness. Apparently astrotelapathy is in and of itself stressful to the psyker.

It is also important to differentiate between raw power and the willpower of a psyker. A psyker could be weak, but have enormous strength of will, or a psyker could be an alpha yet have essentially no real resistance to Chaos. Needless to say the latter is a prime target of the inquisition, especially if they're dangerous psychopaths.

Indeed. And the former is a valuable tool of the Inquisition. A psyker of indomitable will is extremely useful even if his/her powers are minor at best.