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Hello!

I've only recently discovered Warhammer 40k, and (due to a lack of funds) most of my knowledge of the world comes from what I've found on the internet. However, there are some questions that I cannot find the answers to; because I find the universe created to be so interesting, I felt compelled to come here to ask if anyone knows the answer to these questions.

If someone has already asked them, I apologize for making you answer these questions again!




Throughout my searches online, I find repeated references to objects--from bolter rounds to Grey Knight power armor to Sisters of Battle promethium--being 'blessed'. What exactly makes objects blessed? My understanding is that sorcery is a more Chaos-touched form of the powers an ordinary psyker has, but how exactly do priests--who I guess are not typically psykers--make these ammunitions, armors, and other things special? And what is special about them that is so anathema to daemons from the Warp?



Closely related (I think) to my previous question, is one related to the Sisters of Battle and their Acts of Faith. I admit I first saw these in Soulstorm (which I have been led to believe is not a particularly good game), but as I looked into them more I saw that the standard Sisters of Battle army also could use these Acts of Faith (although quite different from the versions in the game, thankfully). I had assumed that these were simply human acts made possible through their religious fanaticism--however, some of them are simply beyond anything a mere human could accomplish. What are they? They aren't psyker abilities, I assume, but they certainly seem supernatural. Are these... miracles, for lack of a better word, unique only to the Sisters of Battle, or can the Adeptas Sororitas as a whole use them--perhaps a member of one of the Orders Hospitaller using them to cure an otherwise unsaveable patient who shows great faith? If they are unique to the Sisters of Battle (or even to the entirety of the Adeptas Sororitas), why is it that they would have access to them when there are countless numbers of other faithful who believe just as fully, both in the Ecclesiarchy and outside of it?



I read that the Space Marines, for the most part, recruited from a single planet or a small set of planets. Does that mean that someone born in a planet with no Space Marine presence has no chance of becoming one? Do the Adeptus Astartes accept candidates from someplace other than their home planet, if they show sufficient Space Marine-worthy spunk? From what I've seen, the primary reason for choosing Space Marines from the Feral and Death Worlds most of them recruit from is because they are tougher. However, wouldn't that make all the Space Marines who are recruited from other worlds sub-par? Also, if all the Marines are taken from these often low-tech (even by today's standards, at times) worlds, how would they train them to be Techmarines when many of the recruits fresh from their primitive home have never seen so much as a laspistol in their life?



How do Missionaries convert planets that have only recently joined the Imperium? If they intend to bring the poor, ignorant heathens into the fold, wouldn't the harshness of the Imperium as a whole scare them away from worshipping the God-Emperor with all their heart and soul? Do they just hide how cruel the Ecclesiarchy and the Imperium can be until they are believers, or do they just grab the Emperor's Word and force it down their throat until they pretend to believe so no one else will die?



Correct me if I'm wrong, but new Chaos Space Marines are typically created from slaves, captured people from Imperium worlds (which become slaves), and from the Chaos Cultists (who might as well be slaves). Why would these people be loyal to their Legion, or their Chaos God? Some, particularly the slaves born in the Daemon Worlds in the Eye of Terror, typically grow up worshiping the Chaos Gods, but why do the others serve? Is it fear of dying (and thus having their souls consumed by Chaos)? Do the daemons force loyalty into their minds? Or is it something else?



Most of the worlds in the Eye of Terror are home to daemons, Chaos Space Marines, and horrors beyond imagining. But is every world so? Is there any possibility that a planet, not charted by anyone (as numberless planets are), could exist with minimal influence from Chaos?



What exactly is a 'Living Saint'? From what I saw, some of them are people who were almost superhuman in achievements and faith, who were just so awesome they were made Saints without dying (or by almost dying). But I also read that some of the Living Saints actually did die, and were brought back 'by the Emperor'. But apart from the Astronomicon, the Emperor's will is mostly taken up battling the Chaos Gods, isn't it?



The Warp/Immaterium is shaped by the beliefs and emotions of the beings of the Materium. Which would mean that there must be many beings that aren't daemons of Chaos, which show only/primarily the negative aspects of humanity. Have these beings of the Warp shown themselves in any Warhammer 40k works? Or do they fight against Chaos in the Warp itself, rather than manifesting in the world? If such a being, definitively less manevolent than a daemon, were to attempt to possess a psyker (probably temporarily), would the psyker die like if the possessor was a daemon?



The Emperor's Tarot... it is a form of 'divination' throughout the Imperium. I suppose that most of these serve like normal Tarot predictions, with their validity being suspect. But what separates the prediction of a street charlatan from what an Inquisitor might see? Assuming the Emperor does make his will known through the Tarot, how do all the important higher-ups know if a deck speaks the Truth of the Emperor, of if it is just a random drawing? If it's only accurate part of the time, I imagine the people who direct the Imperium wouldn't put much faith in it, so to speak.



When do people begin to show their psychic potential?



Are Space Marine Librarians recruited from candidates from their world who happen to have psychic potential, or are they taken from the younger students in the Scholastia Psykana?



The Adeptus Mechanicus has a monopoly of technology, but what about learning throughout the Imperium? To what extent is education taken? Reading, writing, mathematics--all these are obviously available in any advanced planet. But how do people learn to be... say... doctors of medicine? Most knowledge is in the hands of the Adeptus Mechanicus, after all.



I know the Priesthood of Mars is, well, based on Mars, but how are new Techpriests recruited? They can't all be from Mars... there's only so much room on and in the planet for people, and there is so much more galaxy needing their tech. Do they only come from the Forge Worlds then, or can anyone apply to join? How hard is it to become one? If they are from Forge Worlds... everybody on Forge Worlds are basically workers in factories until they die--in that case, how would they choose someone as being able to learn to be a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus?



How common are psykers in any given population?



Space travel--it is largely done through the Warp, but how long does it take to get someplace with Warp-travel?



It took the Eldar thousands of years of devoted overindulgence and immoralities to create Slaanesh. Humankind has worshipped the Emperor of Mankind with slavish devotion and fanaticism for thousands of years. Has he actually become a Warp Entity at this point?



Are Space Marines physically capable of reproducing?



Inquisitors can have familiars, but I couldn't find information on most of them. What are Cherubim, or Psyber-eagles?



Slaanesh, empowered by his new birth, killed most of the Eldar deities. But wouldn't the Eldar's own faith and belief in these gods bring them back to 'existence', such as it was? In that case, why are they still, well, 'dead'?






I'm sorry to ask so many, but I'm insatiably curious. I might have more questions later, but these are all the ones I can think of right now.

Thank you!

I'll try and pick some of these up

dragonjek wrote:What exactly makes objects blessed?

It depends if it is blessed by the emperor or the machine god.

Humans in 40k have a very different understanding of technology than humans today. Even though their tech is more advanced, most of it is copied from STCs and hardly anyone really understands how it works. They think of it like magic.

As such basic maintenance procedures like cleaning and oiling have been ritualised. You perform all the rituals and the machine runs better. So blessed machines are really just machines that have been well cared for.

Blessings from the emperor are different, and are probably similar to something being blessed by god. Which may have some effect or no effect depending on if god really cares / (random chance)

I read that the Space Marines, for the most part, recruited from a single planet or a small set of planets. Does that mean that someone born in a planet with no Space Marine presence has no chance of becoming one? Do the Adeptus Astartes accept candidates from someplace other than their home planet, if they show sufficient Space Marine-worthy spunk? From what I've seen, the primary reason for choosing Space Marines from the Feral and Death Worlds most of them recruit from is because they are tougher. However, wouldn't that make all the Space Marines who are recruited from other worlds sub-par? Also, if all the Marines are taken from these often low-tech (even by today's standards, at times) worlds, how would they train them to be Techmarines when many of the recruits fresh from their primitive home have never seen so much as a laspistol in their life?

Some marine chapters have no home planet and would recruit from wherever they happen to be. I don't know how much difference the strength of the recruit really makes to the resulting marine. Probably very little since they are altered so much. Though tough recruits might have a better chance of surviving the transformation.

The Emperor's Tarot... it is a form of 'divination' throughout the Imperium. I suppose that most of these serve like normal Tarot predictions, with their validity being suspect. But what separates the prediction of a street charlatan from what an Inquisitor might see? Assuming the Emperor does make his will known through the Tarot, how do all the important higher-ups know if a deck speaks the Truth of the Emperor, of if it is just a random drawing? If it's only accurate part of the time, I imagine the people who direct the Imperium wouldn't put much faith in it, so to speak.

Not putting faith in the Tarot would be blasphemy, punishable by death, regardless of weather it makes sense or not.

Are Space Marine Librarians recruited from candidates from their world who happen to have psychic potential, or are they taken from the younger students in the Scholastia Psykana?

They would be recruited normally and be normal marines... probably not displaying psychic powers till much later in life, where upon they become librarians.

The Adeptus Mechanicus has a monopoly of technology, but what about learning throughout the Imperium? To what extent is education taken? Reading, writing, mathematics--all these are obviously available in any advanced planet. But how do people learn to be... say... doctors of medicine? Most knowledge is in the hands of the Adeptus Mechanicus, after all.

Again science and learning would be viewed with suspicion, like learning witch craft. That is why humans copy ancient STCs but don't really innovate much of their own.

Space travel--it is largely done through the Warp, but how long does it take to get someplace with Warp-travel?

It varies a lot, sometimes ships are lost for hundreds of years, sometimes they arrive before they even left. Depends on the weather.

It took the Eldar thousands of years of devoted overindulgence and immoralities to create Slaanesh. Humankind has worshipped the Emperor of Mankind with slavish devotion and fanaticism for thousands of years. Has he actually become a Warp Entity at this point?

The Emperor has always been a big presence in the warp.

Slaanesh, empowered by his new birth, killed most of the Eldar deities. But wouldn't the Eldar's own faith and belief in these gods bring them back to 'existence', such as it was? In that case, why are they still, well, 'dead'?

The Eldar are a dying race, only the god of war and destruction, and the laughing god remain because these are the most basic Eldar instincts and all they really have a heart for now. They also have to be very careful and rigid in their beliefs because Slaanesh will nearly always claim their souls when they die. That is why they have spirit stones and focus their belief on their two remaining gods.

Wow, here we go. From my point of view:

1) Blessed: Unclear, possibly containing the smallest sliver of the Emperor's tremendous psychic presence.
2) Ask Melissia or someone who plays SOB
3) Some chapters have no home planet, and are entirely fleet-based (ie Dark Angels), and recruit from worlds all over the Imperium. Others maintain Chapter keeps on various worlds, and likely recruit from there as well. Entirely depends on the culture of the Chapter. Marine recruitment standards are incredibly tough, and death worlds provide individuals already familiar with hardship and suffering, with only the strong surviving. These individuals arnt necessarily stronger (in a physical sense) than those from other worlds, just that death world recruits would have a higher success rate than recruits drawn from other worlds. Marine training takes years, and involves mental conditioning techniques unknown of today. Marine recruits are bright enough to survive the trials, which include mental challenges, so teaching them to field-strip a bolter isnt hard.
4) their technique depends on the world. Some that have been cut off from the imperium for thousands of years still worship the Imperial cut, but perhaps in a deviant way. In this case the missionaries may swing them gently to conform with canon. Feral worlds might just bow down when a bunch of space men come down in their rocket ships. The missionaires may also try and incorporate the traditional faith into the imperial cult (ie Grog the sun god is actually the emperor).
5) Again, depends on the legion. Many CSM are veterans of the Horus Heresy. Others are members of Chapters that turned renegade or traitor more recently. In terms of their loyalties to God or legion, depends entirely on the legion. World Eaters have loyalty to noone except Khorne, while Night Lords are typically chaos undivided.
6)Sure, but dollars to donuts is that its worthless. Honestly though, simply existing in the eye of terror tends to f*** things up.
7)Who knows? Amazingly gifted mortals? Psychic manifestations of the Emperor? Propaganda pieces?
8)I dont wanna type this much
9)" "
10) Anytime
11) Possibly both. Usually from your usual candidates.
12) There is always conflict in the imperium in regards to this. The Mechanicum usually gets quite butthurt in regards to innovation, innovation can be seen as sacriligious.
13) Same way as priests today. Anyone may elect to become a techpriest, and possibly admitted if they pass muster. Kinda like going to seminary.
14) Depends on the power of the psyker. Anywhere from Rare to once a generation on a planet of billions.
15) Depends on the distance. From days to months.
16) Arguably He is a warp entity already.
17) No. Space Marines were created to fight, not fornicate. Having marines capable of reproduction, falling in love, having kids, whatever, makes no sense. There are no examples in fluff of Marines having children. Slaaneshi marines are a diff story though...
18) Cherubim are servitors.
19) I like pie

You could also look here

http://www.lexicanum.com/

Here:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/306652.page

too...

Okay. First off, most of these are good questions, and many of them are fairly original. So, thanks for that. (And none of these are particularly stupid, so good going on that score as well.)

Okay, first off in relation to your question about blessed items: i agree with Smack that in most cases it just means a well cared for machine. However, in some cases, it means an item that has been specially prepared with items/ingredients/accessories that daemons and their ilk find abhorrent.

The whole 'Acts of Faith' question is a good one. I personally think that everyone (except blanks) have a limited psychic potential. The collective belief of the Imperial cult combines to achieve a 'psychic pool' if you will. The most willful and dedicated of the contributors to this pool can tap into it to achieve 'miracles.' The first of these would be Euphrates Keeler, if I am correct. If you are familiar with the old White Wolf systems, it's kind of like the True Faith merit. (In the Emperor.)

Space marine indoctrination would include training in all the basic tech they use. Keep in mind that Space Marine indoctrination includes sub-hypnotic instruction and brainwashing. And of course, when you brainwash someone, you are putting stuff in as well as removing stuff. So you could easily add instruction in the tech they will need to know about. While some Astartes chapters recruit from only a single world, others are space-faring chapters, 'hobo chapters', if you will. These chapters will recruit from any planet they need to. In addition, I would guess that Techmarine training includes a whole lot more of that 'sub-hypnotic instruction' that was mentioned above.

Fourth question, ah, I think it depends on the planet. A little of column A, a little of column B. It depends on who's doing the converting, who's being converted, what resources the planet has, how eager they are, and a whole host of other factors. I think the process can probably range from a religious hostile takeover, all the way to a peaceful, seamless transition.

On your fifth question, I am going to have to separate my opinion from what I think was intended. Intention from the game designers is that A) once you are a servant of Chaos you can't go back. The Imperium will kill you, so you might as well join up. B) Most of the Chaos folk are insane, or can be made insane by torture. After enough torture, it's always easier to join your torturers. C) A little of that Stockholm syndrome that writers love so much. Of course, personally I have always had trouble with the whole 'motivation of Chaos servants' thing. By that, of course, I mean that there isn't any.

As far as the Eye of Terror goes, I don't know for a fact, but I don't think that any planets inside are taint-free. It's more than just a region of space with a spooky name, it is a rip into the very fabric of our collective nightmares. Pretty sure Chaos taints every corner of it.

To the Living Saint question: wait a bit, Melissia will fill you in. If you ask her nice. My answer probably won't be as informed.

To the non-daemons in the warp question: I don't think so. At least not that I have ever heard of. My guess on this score would be that the Warp is our negative mental gubbins, and the twisted reflections of our positive ones.

The Emperor's Tarot, is, I think, just that: a Tarot deck. It doesn't mean a damn thing. A skilled reader can always give you a reading that will read as 'good advice,' but there is no mystical guiding force behind it. And no, I don't think the people with REAL influence do put much faith in it.

Psychic potential, is, I think, like the X-Gene. It shows up (usually) in mid to late teens, although it can show up earlier or much much later.

I think Librarians are just selected from the Marines who have psychic potential.

I think advanced training is pretty limited most of the time, but as always, it varies wildly across the Imperium. On some worlds you would have giant medical academies pumping out great doctors, and on some worlds you have apothecaries with leeches.

I think that the Mechanicus recruits from all across the galaxy, although I believe that all the recruits eventually wind up doing a stint on Mars (at least for a while), although that may not be the case.

Psyker density? No clue.

Space travel ETA: It varies. The warp isn't like a subway, it's more like hopping on one of those parachutes that people are standing in a circle flopping up and down. You will transverse to the other side more quickly than walking, but you are going to bounce all over the place, and the same journey might take longer one day than the next. Warp storms can delay trips, or even snatch whole ships away, only to deposit them light years away and thousands of years in the future from when they left. On the whole, its a very dangerous way to travel, but it's really the only option. (Unless you are an Eldar.)

Speaking of Eldar, they feel emotions more strongly than humans. Way more strongly. When they are sad, it's worse than all the depression at an emo concert. When they are in love, it's more potent than the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns. So their thousands of years of overindulgence, cruelty, and apathy made more of an impact than ours does. What's more, their negativity was not belief in a specific entity, whereas ours is. So, the Emperor becoming a chaos entity? I don't think so much. I personally think that psychic belief in him is building towards a head, which will eventually give him the oomph he needs to either die or get his ass off the Golden Throne.

Space Marine reproduction....this was your one mistake. Search through this section of the forums. There is a dozen threads on this very topic. Most of them juvenile, ridiculous, and rife with gay jokes. ((Short reiteration of my personal opinion: reproduce? no. Sex? Yes, but not without inflicting serious harm on the partner. Which wouldn't stop Chaos marines. Especially not Emperor's Children.))

Familiars? I don't know the specifics on that. I always thought they were little cyborg servitors. Machines with biological parts, designed to assist the Inquisitor in whatever capacity he needed. Although that is almost entirely conjecture on my part.

Not all of the Eldar gods are dead, and I think it takes all the belief of the remaining Eldar just to sustain those few. And unfortunately, as a psychic race, the Eldar probably (as a whole) had a pretty good idea of what happened to their gods, replacing their belief with hard data (the gods were dead). In addition, due to the preceding millenia of debauchery, I think their religious devoutness might have slipped a bit, allowing the Chaos gods the time they needed to kick some pointy-eared fanny.

Good questions though. Damn good questions. If I may, though, presenting all of them in such a huge list like this may hamstring you a bit, as responders will find it difficult to follow a single thread of conversation. In the future, you might get more information if you presented them in multiple, smaller posts, and grouped questions together by similarity. Not a criticism, I don't mind, just a piece of advice. Good luck, and welcome to Dakka!

Ok I will see what I can do.

1) Blessed can mean a myriad of things; Bolters and power Armor are considered holy, and anything created on a forge world has undergone a ritual form of manufacturing, then tested, and is therefore considered to have been "bleesd by the omnisiah(Machine God)" when you get into "Blessed Ammunition" of the Ordos Hereticus, and Ordos Malleus(Witch and Daemon hunters respectively) they are dipped into psychically attuned oils that cause significant damage to Psykers or Daemons. Further Blessed Items are generally infused with invocations of the Emporers Psychic Might(brought about by quiasi-arcane means)

2)Faith is a funny thing; Through faith even modern humans can perform some pretty miraculous feats. As such it could be from a human psychic gestalt that manifests itself in a physical(and pretty Miraculous) way. Also it could be that the Faith(and as such Psychic energy) placed in the super-psychic god-emperor of man could very well contact him, leading him to directly(albeit psychically) intervene on their behalf(the more supernatural effects of the various acts of faith)

3)All recruits are adolescent males, generally drawn from Death-worlds and/or warrior cultures(also generally fairly primitive cultures). this is because these environs are most conducive to both the survival of a candidates transformation into a space marine, and the general Warring monastic lifestyle of a space marine. That said there are several space-born and/or crusading chapters that recruit from any worlds they happen to stop by when needing to begin recruitment. As far as techmarine, and Apothecary training goes; Techmarines are aspirants that show a particular affinity or aptitude with technology/vehicles(even from a back-water planet that knows nothing but war and strife, when given the opportunity to study high-tech someone predisposed will jump at the chance) will be sent to mars for further training/indoctrination into the machine cult. Apothecaries are Veterans trained by the Chapter's Master apothecary.

4) New worlds are fairly rare these days; most are reclamation of worlds from either xenos or Chaos forces(and the imperial cult is a kitten compared to most of them); as for the original reclamations that was handled by the Emperor personally and in his presence few could argue. The Later parts of the Crusade to bring lost worlds back into the new imperium were handled by the Space marine legions(all before the horus heresy) and it is hard to argue with 8 foot tall supersoldiers falling out of the sky firing rapid-fire mini-rocket launchers and then killing the planetary ruler/ telling him that the planet is now a part of the imperium. As for missionaries bringing the Word of the emperor to lost planets; see the beginning of this paragraph.

5) Chaos uses basically the same techniques as loyalist space marines; indoctrination and hypno-therapy. Also Chaos bolsters there forces with Loyalist Space marines who turn traitor(for whatever reason). As far as the slaves that are converted, it is the promise of power that holds them loyal to the traitor legions. The once-slaves have been freed by their masters, and as if that weren't enough they were then altered into super-soldiers and told if they follow orders they could advance and one day either lead or wield even more fantastic power. Also they are generally given slaves of their own.

6)it is doubtful any world could exist taintless in the warp; effectively putting a taintless world into the warp would be like putting a piece of paper in a fire. The warp is filled with daemons and horrors(comprised of them basically) so unless some beneficial(possibly surviving eldar?) god was keeping such a world safe, it simply couldn't exist.

7)We do not know what the emperor is actually capable of; He is literally sitting on a giant doorway to the Webway, Keeping a psychic forcefield up around holy terra(only to hold back the warp), keeping the astronomicon beacon burning, and communicating to his disciples through the tarot, and infusing his will into new astropaths to allow them to communicate without the warp killing them(and possibly lending a direct hand to all the Sisters of battle utilizing acts of faith on a thousand battlefields a day). We have no idea what else he is capable of(and it could be anything).

8)Possession doesn't necessarily kill a psyker to begin with; When a Psyker attempts to use his powers it is not through possession that he may get hurt but through a daemons/the warp's resistance to his altering the materium. Mind readers rarely if ever get hurt through using their powers(this is why Astropaths have no worries about taking damage from functioning; although they are defensively bolstered by the emperor from possession). that said Positive emotions do manifest in the warp; but they are drowned out by the negative emotions.

9)it is all through the individual using the tarot. A street charlatan would usually just be flipping cards and saying what the cards mean(and may be reading through random chance, of course should the emperor need his message to be true, it will be) A psyker using the tarot(and most Inquisitors are psykers) is attempting to patch into the Emperor's psychic awareness to egt a correct reading on his will, and the emperor usually will then guide the psykers hands/the cards to produce an accurate reading.

10)Generally adolescence/ early adulthood. Near or just after puberty.

11)Librarians start as any other recruit; it is only during their training and the inspection by the chapters head librarian that they are then detected and selected for librarian training.

12)basic learning is up to the Planetary governors and is basically on a need-to-know basis. Higher learning is almost entirely the realm of the Ad mech. The adeptus Biologis is generally where doctors come from. Some higher learning can be found on individual worlds where the Planetary governor has sanctioned it.

13)mars; they all come from mars. Well not really come from mars; they can be born on any planet, but are then generally sent to mars for training. I suppose a magos may be able to train a young tech-aspirant in his travels but generally they are all sent to mars for training(Same with Space marines who are all sent to mars).

14)it is entirely random some populations will have very litle in the Way of Psykers and some will have a great many. this could also react polarly from generation to generation, i.e. an entire planet could have almost no psykers on it one gebneration and have a "psychic boon"the next generation, then in the third generation go back to almost none.

15) Warp travel can take anywhere from -1000 to 1000 years to complete your journey Distance from you to your destination makes no difference. Time inside the Warp is variable, as is the relation to time inside the warp; You could travel a year in the warp and be less than a light year away, or you could travel for 10 minutes and be halfway across the galaxy. It doesn't always occur this way, but it can. most warp travel is only a few days to a month or two(mostly for the sanity of those on board).

16)Yes, no, and maybe. there is "rumor" of a starchild in the warpand some radical inquisitors are looking for the offspring of the emperor to attemp to either bring him back to life, rebirth him, or just release him as a new warp entity.

17)Wholly incapable; they are purpose-built for battle and war, as such one of the side-effects/processes to space marine conversion is chemical castration. That said Slaanesh often "gifts" his devotees with one or both primary sexual organs, but that is just for pleasure not reproduction(they are still incapable).

18)cheribum are child-like servitors, and Psyber-eagles are just birds with cybernetic implants that allow them to psychically relay information back to the inquisitor.

19)When Slaanesh devoured the Eldar gods, every Eldar saw/felt it. it is very difficult to have a creational amount of faith in something you know full-well to be dead and eaten. the Bloody handed god is still around(I think one or two of the others are as well) and the Eldar are currently generating a new God: the God of the Dead(although he may need the death of every eldar remaining in order to be "born")

I am Kel! Kneel before my encyclopedic knowledge of crap what doesn't matter!

Seriously I didn't need to look any of that up, how sad for me.

Edits mine, numbered and edited your post so that there was just the questions left, to save space (hope you don't mind, there are just a lot of questions).

dragonjek wrote:1: What exactly makes objects blessed? And what is special about them that is so anathema to daemons from the Warp?
2: Soulstorm (which I have been led to believe is not a particularly good game)
3: What are [Acts of Faith]?
4: Does that mean that someone born in a planet with no Space Marine presence has no chance of becoming one?
5: How do Missionaries convert planets that have only recently joined the Imperium?
6: Why would these people be loyal to their Legion, or their Chaos God?
7a: Most of the worlds in the Eye of Terror are home to daemons, Chaos Space Marines, and horrors beyond imagining. But is every world so?
7b: Is there any possibility that a planet, not charted by anyone (as numberless planets are), could exist with minimal influence from Chaos?
8: What exactly is a 'Living Saint'?
9: Have these beings of the Warp shown themselves in any Warhammer 40k works?
10: But what separates the prediction of a street charlatan from what an Inquisitor might see?
11: When do people begin to show their psychic potential?
12: Are Space Marine Librarians recruited from candidates from their world who happen to have psychic potential, or are they taken from the younger students in the Scholastia Psykana?
13: The Adeptus Mechanicus has a monopoly of technology, but what about learning throughout the Imperium? To what extent is education taken?
14: how are new Techpriests recruited?
15: How common are psykers in any given population?
16: Space travel--it is largely done through the Warp, but how long does it take to get someplace with Warp-travel?
17: Has [the Emperor] actually become a Warp Entity at this point?
18: Are Space Marines physically capable of reproducing?
19: What are Cherubim, or Psyber-eagles?
20: But wouldn't the Eldar's own faith and belief in these gods bring them back to 'existence', such as it was?

1: Special chemical compounds known only by the Imperial Church, applied in methods known only to the Imperial Church and the Daemonhunters of the Inquisition. Aside from that, faith itself does the trick. Belief and willpower are as strong a weapon against daemons as a blessed sword.

2: Once patched, it was better than the other Dawn of War 1 games. Most people who still play DoW1 prefer mods, however, and most mods don't apply to Soulstorm for some Emperor-forsaken reason.

3: Acts of Faith aren't really ever elaborated on. The mystery behind them is kinda the point. Sisters of Battle are said to (to paraphrase C:WH) train in a style of martial arts that allows them to obtain preternatural skill and understanding in combat, so it could be an example of that-- but it's obviously more than just that. The Dark Heresy roleplaying game gives examples of Acts of Faith done by Sisters Hospitalier, miraculous levels of healing through skill and faith. In the end, I would say it is a combination of religious fanaticsm, luck, and a bit of blessing from the Emperor Himself. And no, they aren't psychic powers (that's very specifically stated).

4: It's possible, but extremely unlikely. The only example I can think of is Thaddeus from Dawn of War 2.

5: It depends on the missionary and the planet they're converting. But fear for one's soul has proven itself to be an effective religious tactic in areas where death might be lurking around the corner. Which is most worlds in 40k.

6: Because the legion grants them brotherhood, and the chaos gods grant them power in return for service.

7a: It is highly unlikely that any planet that has existed inside the Warp for well over ten thousand years (such as within the Eye of Terror) without being touched by it. Nigh-impossible-- but I wouldn't say that without "nigh".
7b: Plenty of planets in the galaxy are untouched by civilizations of any kind.

8: "Living Saint" is a title granted by the Ecclesiarchy, and nothing more. Still, it's a title that is almost never given to anyone, and those that are given to it are often touched by the Emperor's will. Most that could be declared a Living Saint are instead posthumously declared a saint (Sebastian Thor comes to mind-- wherever he went during the tumultuous Age of Apostasy, the warp was calmed by the Emperor, letting him travel with startling ease and speed) instead. IIRC, the Inquisition has to do a full investigation of the saint to be in order to see if they are completely free of taint and their miraculous powers aren't psychic (if indeed they have any-- Saint Sabbat didn't seem to).

9: Not all warp beings are negative, nor are all warp beings aligned with the chaos gods. Enslavers come to mind-- they're warp creatures that are not aligned to any chaos god, but they are nowhere near benign.

10: I have no clue. I do know that Inquisitors often employ psykers highly trained in divination however, so that might have something to do with it.

11: Depends on the person. Most, IIRC, as children or early teens. Some rare individuals don't begin showing it until later in life.

12: The former.

13: Depends on planet to planet. But not all learning is dependent on the Mechanicus-- the Schola Progenium is run by the Imperial Church, for example, and it grants very high levels of education to its students (Who often go on to become officers, Commissars, Stormtroopers, Sisters of all kinds, priests, scholars, and so on).

14: They find children with technical abilities and then take them from their parents (occasionally by force). Either that, or the person "finds religion" and becomes a techpriest by seeking them out.

15: Fairly rare, IIRC, though I don't know the exact quantities. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something like 1 in 1,000,000,000 (billion) or rarer, though I don't know for sure if that's accurate (they're common enough taht the Inquisition has a regular supply of them to send to the Golden Throne at any rate).

16: Varies. The Warp is not entirely a reliable place. Sometimes you'll arrive years after you should have. Other times you'll arrive exactly when you need to. And strangely, rarely you'll actually arrive before you left.

17: It is arguable, but I don't think so yet. He's still tied to his body AFAIK.

18: Not naturally. The amount of hormones, chemicals, and genetic implants they use would render them sterile (just the steroids alone would render them dysfunctional), nevermind talking about actual genetic ability to reproduce with humans. Chaos Space Marines might be able to, but only with mutations or psychic powers.

19: Little babies turned into floating cyborg servants. No, I am not making this up.

20: Unless they believed them all destroyed, yes?

Warp Travel is normally rather reliable and you'll often get delayed by a few days but not much.
It was stated once (Can't remember where) that under normal conditions it'll take a year to go from one end of the galaxy to the other.
Taking years or negative time is something like a 1 in 1000000 chance of happening.

As for Cherubim, they are vat-grown babies outfitted with servitor implants. Sometimes they'll be the dead children of important persons reanimated. They are mostly a psychological tool rather than useful but give one a knife and it'll still be able to wreak havoc. (or a feather duster to keep your house or church clean)
Robo-birds and dogs are small servitors grafted with animal brains as its computer used for spying, sleuthing and defence. The Arbites (Special Police) use robo-doggies every second day of the week like a cyborg Inspector Rex whilst Inquisitors and the such, like eagles because of their ability to fly.
Inquisitors are also psychically linked to their ones so it becomes essentially a part of their own body.

Thank you! I appreciate the help.

Although... for the Cherubim, I really should have known that already. This is Warhammer, after all... what else would you do with a baby other than turn it into a brain-dead zombie-cyborg?

dragonjek wrote:Thank you! I appreciate the help.

Although... for the Cherubim, I really should have known that already. This is Warhammer, after all... what else would you do with a baby other than turn it into a brain-dead zombie-cyborg?

eat it. Duh.