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Currently writing some 40k fanfic. I need to know if, according to established canon, the Imperium possesses "mundane" measures (such as technologies, construction materials, etc.) that can block or at least weaken psychic attacks from the outside.

For context, a bunch of criminals are having a secret meeting in a place that they believe to be secure from psykers, in order to discuss a mysterious psyker who's been targeting them. These people are not the sort who would rely on holy relics or faith in the Emperor to protect them: they're much more pragmatic types.

If it's pure psychic attacks, you can have barriers emplaced around your mind to defend against psychic intrusion. We saw that in Eisenhorn.

Yes. There's a whole field of technology in 40k that revolves around the manipulation of psykers and psychic effects. Plenty of higher-ups who fear psykers may go out of their way to track down examples of such technology. In addition, various exotic materials can blunt psychic powers, but they tend to be extremely rare and not great building material.

Tinfoil hats.

Null Rods - http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Null_Rod Fluff-wise they have a small AOE so that could count.

Gellar Field - http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Gellar_Field
Little debate over whether these simply enforce normal reality within its AOE or strengthen reality against Warp-based phenomena.

Blanks - http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Blank_(Psychic) Individuals with anti-psychic AOE's and who are highly sought after by basically everyone for these abilities.

Null Bay - http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Ships Used by the Black Ships of the Inquisition and Rogue Traders to contain Psykers and their Psychic outbursts. Stands to reason that you could make one protect from the outside rather than just the inside.

Wards - specific carved designs - are not just 'faith and holiness' but have a specific, predictable protective effect.

There are two mentioned types; Pentagrammic and Hexagrammic wards. One for daemons, one for psykers. Sadly I can't remember which is which....

Also in ravenger book.. They had chips issued to guard on one planet that acted as null chips against phycic intrusion

 jhe90 wrote:
Also in ravenger book.. They had chips issued to guard on one planet that acted as null chips against phycic intrusion

I also remember the opposite type of thing happening - in the 6th Chaos Daemon Codex iirc - a Governor has all of his staff tattooed with a symbol that his personal librarians had found in their records, a symbol they believed would protect them from Psychic/Warp shenanigans but which actually opened them all up to possession.

Null zones and wards

Bolt gun rounds, wards, various anti psyker shields and some sort of collar to put on psykens I think I read about in a Dark Heresy book

One thing I've been seeing is in The Beast Arises series a lot of the more secure areas on Terra are protected with a lining of silver. I know these rooms are psychically protected, but I'm not sure if the silver plays a huge role or it's just the inquisition being paranoid and using everything that has a possibility of helping.

Not something the average citizen will have access to, no. This is yet one more reason why psykers are feared and hated throughout the Imperium. There's nothing the average citizen can do to prevent one from tearing their innermost secrets out of their heads.

No mundane technology that some petty criminals would have access to no.
But buildings could be inscribed with wards and such to protect them. While this of course would normally be reserved for very important structures on which such protection makes sense, your criminals might have found some ancient, forgotten ruin that is so protected or something like that. Just be creative and you will find something.

I think for the scenario that you've described having one of the criminals be a Blank (or have them bring a kidnapped Blank with them) would be the best way to go.

You don't need any extra complication into how they acquired some super rare tech or anything like that so it would allow you to focus on the actual story without getting too bogged down in potentially unnecessary backstory details.

The problem with Blanks is that no one likes them. They are, without limiters, entirely unlikable by regular people. There's just something "wrong" about Blanks that drives others to commit violence and such against them.

 Psienesis wrote:
The problem with Blanks is that no one likes them. They are, without limiters, entirely unlikable by regular people. There's just something "wrong" about Blanks that drives others to commit violence and such against them.

I don't think it is always that bad. Others just regard them as being "off" in some way. Someone with psychic ability, definitely, but regular people less so.

Jurgen in the Ciaphas Cain books, for example, is not described as inspiring violence towards himself but rather just general disgust though some of that may be due to his overwhelming bodily odour. Of course it is entirely possible that that bodily odour is enhanced by his being a Blank such that it seems much worse for those around than it actually is.

The Cain novels also gloss over, re-write, or ignore several other aspects of the established setting.

Eisenhorn wanted to strangle Bequin on their first meeting.

Yes, but she was an extraordinarily "powerful" null.

He'd experienced other nulls before, but none quite like her. He grew to love her in time.

 chromedog wrote:
Yes, but she was an extraordinarily "powerful" null.

He'd experienced other nulls before, but none quite like her. He grew to love her in time.

Eisenhorn was also a Psyker wasn't he?

the Cain stories do note Psykers when they meet Jurgen dislike him over all. Also Jurgen is, to most people pretty unlikeable. Cain grows to like him over time. but as shown, Eisenhorn grew to love Bequin.

A Psyker fell in love with a blank? That's... bizarre.

remember that ever blackship is transporting a boat load of dangerous psykers around the galaxy and barring a few mishaps they get where theya re going in one piece so they must have pretty effective psyker suppresion systems.

As to whether that cascades down to a "man on the street" level I doubt it but certainly high profile people/organisations would have access to it (in whatever form), but at a low level? no probably not

Theft could help out.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:
A Psyker fell in love with a blank? That's... bizarre.

Twas a true Shakesperian tradegy though as he could never touch her.

A blank, that knows they are a blank and hasn't been forced into service one way or another, could just sell his/her services?

Blanks are prized by the Inquisition and other such organizations. Someone putting their shingle out to sell their services (assuming they are on a world where people even know what a blank is) is asking to get rounded up by the Arbites.

A blank would work, as stated a few times. Hell, it might add some character to a criminal gang; the leader drags his blank to important meetings, immediately becoming one of the most valuable people in the room, but his blank makes the others nervous; they become more amenable to any decisions that just get them out of there the quickest so they don't have to be near the thing, or they're temporarily blinded by a strange sense of loathing that means they're not paying the situation the attention they should. The gang leader not only has the leverage that comes with being the one providing psychic protection, but also comes out of nearly every meeting with some form of upper hand.

 Psienesis wrote:
The problem with Blanks is that no one likes them. They are, without limiters, entirely unlikable by regular people. There's just something "wrong" about Blanks that drives others to commit violence and such against them.

Have a blank in a cage specifically just for blocking psykers then? They don't need to be friends.

Most of these things are far from common or "mundane," especially blanks, who despite being fairly common in 40k fiction are supposed to be much rarer than psykers themselves.

Probably the most "mundane" protection against psykers are purity seals (scraps of paper or cloth covered in scriptural verses, usually written in blessed ink or the blood of saints or something to make them extra special to the faithful), which seem to provide people with some low level of protection against direct psychic attacks.

My theory is that this works a little like the Orks' gestalt psychic field. So many humans with negligible psychic ability believe in the power of purity seals that they develop their own minor psychic protective aura.

 fallinq wrote:
Most of these things are far from common or "mundane," especially blanks, who despite being fairly common in 40k fiction are supposed to be much rarer than psykers themselves.

You forget that 40k is fething huge. A blank being overlooked in the lower levels of some Hive World somewhere is far from unreasonable. It's not like anyone is suggesting a small army of them. Most stories are made up of a convenient assembly of unlikely things; a rare X, an anomalous Y, a strangely powerful Z. It would be no different here. In a universe as big as 40k, even 'rare' things can crop up commonly enough.

A single Blank on one of many, many, many Imperial worlds would not come close to being unbelievable. It's not like we're casually tossing an Alpha-Plus in.

 Avatar 720 wrote:

 fallinq wrote:
Most of these things are far from common or "mundane," especially blanks, who despite being fairly common in 40k fiction are supposed to be much rarer than psykers themselves.

You forget that 40k is fething huge. A blank being overlooked in the lower levels of some Hive World somewhere is far from unreasonable. It's not like anyone is suggesting a small army of them. Most stories are made up of a convenient assembly of unlikely things; a rare X, an anomalous Y, a strangely powerful Z. It would be no different here. In a universe as big as 40k, even 'rare' things can crop up commonly enough.

A single Blank on one of many, many, many Imperial worlds would not come close to being unbelievable. It's not like we're casually tossing an Alpha-Plus in.

Except that Blanks really are that rare. Rarer than psykers rare. There is that line to between "commonplace and boring" and "impossible and unrealistic". Not to mention that it wouldn't be THAT hard to find a blank - have the Governor's resident psyker do a scan every year/two years or so, and then picks up on where his mind is limited by the Blank. Otherwise, if we're just going to ignore the rarity of Blanks, what's to stop there being an Alpha-tier psyker? What's to stop one of the hive gangers being an ex-Ultramarine with a Tau wife? What's to stop them being accompanied by a Custodes? It's that line.

However, if OP is sure they don't want the mundane and more fluff-accurate method of purity seals or stolen relics from the local chapel, you could settle with a Blank - possibly a young child or baby who was born after the latest psyker sweep, and subsequently taken/abducted (depends whose child it is) into the gang. They wouldn't be old enough to be dependent and would literally be a plot device, but would fit better without necessarily having been undetected for many decades. As the next sweeping comes around, the gang leader realises they need to act quickly and make the most use out of their Blank before the next sweeping.

Just an idea you may like.

 Psienesis wrote:
Blanks are prized by the Inquisition and other such organizations. Someone putting their shingle out to sell their services (assuming they are on a world where people even know what a blank is) is asking to get rounded up by the Arbites.

It can take decades for the inquisition or authorities to even splice through the data to uncover quite a blatant daemonic cult that has been going on for decades itself, to the point by the time they get there it could have already been eradicated.

This setting isn't America with the CIA able to monitor all traffic for key words at all times to act within hours if need be, if that were the case there would be no heresy within the Imperium as the Inquisition would know at all times and be able to act immediately. It is totally plausible that there are blanks selling their services in the imperium, that's the great thing in the setting, the possibilities are almost endless.