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So I have this idea about writing a story about Aldrich, a young man growing up on an imperial world ruled by a small oligarchy of lords. As he grows into a young man the Imperium takes notice of his psychic abilities and puts him through sanctioning.

15 years later he returns to find a great amount of the planets population dead, including his entire family save his wife from the negligence of the ruling council due to some sickness or something or another.

His mind scarred by the sanctioning process and his family and way of life destroyed so the ruling class can live the high life.

As a man of great education and a diviner of great potential, he is appointed as the head adviser of the council of his planet.

You can see where this is going. Each member has some quality, be it cruelty or greed or perversions of the sexual kind, and he kills each in an ironic way related to their trait.

Kind of a "and then there were three" type of story. Using his wit, magical powers, and maybe even a bound daemon, he will get his revenge.

Thoughts or advice on starting to write this?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here is a start:
Revenge…by the Elizabethan era of ancient Terra, private revenge was taboo, condemned because in taking revenge, a man was usurping the role and prerogative of God. The nobleman, the monarch, the king, could, however, exact revenge because they did so in the name of God as an authorized agent of God. Emperor forgive me.

Could be interesting, although part of me thinks you could do it more justice if you left behind the 40k setting and made you or own. That's just preference, though, and there's definitely scope for it to work as 40k.

If you're looking for inspiration, head down to Dakka Fiction and check out a story called The Geomides Affair, by Ailaros. It's rather long, but even just the first few chapters should give you a feel for Imperial beaurocracy and politics.

The only issue I'm seeing in you or synopsis is that he would be allowed to return after sanctioning; in general, psykers are either attached to Imperial Guard or Inquisitorial units for military duty, or fail the tests and are used to feed the Golden Throne. Basically, you'd need a very good reason for him to be back on his home planet, and an even better one for why he is put in charge.

That's not at all to say it can't be done. It could be as simple as him deserting from the Guard and assuming a false identity, subsequently becoming lost in the files as just another number. He could be sent back there as part of an IG operation, and take a role in the peacekeeping, at which point he is recognised and given power in a futile attempt to appease him for the deaths.

Just some food for thought, and best of luck going forward with this. Do post what you come up with down in the Fiction forum for us to take a look at!

Thanks for the advice!

I seem to remember that the Adeptus Arabites make use of Psykers as interrogators. You could possibly use that as a shoe in that Your Psyker was sent back to his home planet to work as an Adeptus Arabite Psy-Interrogator, and from that position in the force he could access the files needed to patch together who was responsible in a kind of ''who-dun-it'' idea, then he sets in motion his revenge plan. It would also give you a chance to delve into the Arabites, who are a really fun and under-explored part of the imperium, because everyone is basically judge Dredd!

I'd look forward to reading it.

I like the majority of your outline, and I agree with Paradigm's points on being careful about how you bring the psyker back to his home planet and into a position of power. The only thing I don't like is where you want to go from there, the "revenge one guy at a time thing" has been done quite well recently in a few films (I' m thinking Kill Bill and Dead Man's Shoes straight off the bat).

I think you could take this somewhere else from your proposed setting and get good results. Good luck!