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As per some of the older fluff to speak on the matter, a bunch of Shamans commited to suicide to be reborn fused intot he entity of the Emperor. But how do these shamans differ from psykers (if that has ever been made explicit...)

Or do all those sacrifices for the astronomicon actually serve as god emperor fuel for a big ol' warp God-Emperor?

The shamans were pyskers. The terms are interchangeable.

None...psykers and shamans alike can reincarnate, but the first psykers, as in the really first Human psykers with centuries or even millennia of wisdom and experience at the time decided to reincarnate as one godlike being - the Emperor, as they foresaw the eventual 'awakening' of the Chaos Powers, which would all but render reincarnation impossible. More psykers were born afterwards, and like the Shamans, they too could reincarnate, but after the Powers awakened, reincarnation proved all but impossible (not sure why Eldar souls were unaffected until the Fall - either their 'gods' protected them, or the Powers considered them as too lowly). After the old man's 'ascension', it would seem that the souls of Human psykers get absorbed into his 'oversoul' after death, even of those not directly sacrificed to the Golden Throne.

 Tadashi wrote:
not sure why Eldar souls were unaffected until the Fall - either their 'gods' protected them, or the Powers considered them as too lowly

It is the other way around. Eldar do not care about the cruder powers; their society was not ruled even in part by tzeentch et al. They did not have to worry about their families dying of starvation or disease, and unlike non-psychic humans, they could all reincarnate. So they were not too affected by nurgle or his crowd.

Any dead human is subsumed by the Emperor, if his humors are dominated by martyrdom and duty. Most of them do not have selfless determination to improve the race, so they just die like anyone else.

These Shamans sound quite powerful and knowing about what they were doing, does any one know what exactly were their abilities?

The Shamens were just what psykers were called on Earth back then. They were powerful because they had full realization of their abilities and could fully reincarnate while maintaining their past memories(after a short period of forgetfullness)

They probably weren't any more powerful then a Beta class psyker is today, and there was almost certaintly some variation.

All we know is that they could communicate with each other. Hence how they organized their mass suicide to create the Emperor.

I have a feeling, if one subscribes to the Shaman fluff that is, that these first even though numbering in the hundreds (?) were individuals of enormous power. The fact that these individuals could sacrifice themselves with an eye toward reincarnation in order to make a superbeing puts them well beyond the powers of any psyker existing today. The largest use of psykers at the present time in 40k is the astronomicon where literally billions of psykers are sacrificed on a near constant basis... and nothing has happened... yet.

The Shaman have never been suitable explained. They were either all abnormally powerful, had a member who WAS abnormally powerful to start the 'rite', or the purity of the warp and psychic powers at the time permitted such things. I just don't have a clue.

Uhlan wrote:
I have a feeling, if one subscribes to the Shaman fluff that is, that these first even though numbering in the hundreds (?) were individuals of enormous power. The fact that these individuals could sacrifice themselves with an eye toward reincarnation in order to make a superbeing puts them well beyond the powers of any psyker existing today. The largest use of psykers at the present time in 40k is the astronomicon where literally billions of psykers are sacrificed on a near constant basis... and nothing has happened... yet.

The Shaman have never been suitable explained. They were either all abnormally powerful, had a member who WAS abnormally powerful to start the 'rite', or the purity of the warp and psychic powers at the time permitted such things. I just don't have a clue.

My thought exactly, I've became interested after reading this thread. However I just can't find any info on them.
However they do seem to have been incredibly skilled and knowing of their abilities, if not possessing the amount of power of some of the most powerful psykers in the current setting.

Also @Gray Templar - ShamAn not shamEn, I get all irritated and gak when some one writes/says it that way. There is no such thing as a shamEn.

It is entirely possible that the other perpetuals in the HH series are reincarnated shamans from the same age of time as the Emperor ... however if that were true it would blow the whole reason for making the Emperor in the first place..... i.e. to stop the risk of reincarnation being stopped by the Chaos powers.

pelicaniforce wrote:

 Tadashi wrote:
not sure why Eldar souls were unaffected until the Fall - either their 'gods' protected them, or the Powers considered them as too lowly

It is the other way around. Eldar do not care about the cruder powers; their society was not ruled even in part by tzeentch et al. They did not have to worry about their families dying of starvation or disease, and unlike non-psychic humans, they could all reincarnate. So they were not too affected by nurgle or his crowd.

They could all reincarnate because all Eldar are psykers...and I'm pretty sure Khorne had some influence over the Eldar. The Path of the Warriror mentions Kaela Mensha Khaine as a 'child' of both Khorne and Slaanesh...furthermore, they know the Powers as the Dark Gods, and while they did not actually worship them, even then they probably knew and feared their power.

That would be kinda hard, seeing as how the Eldar Gods all predate the Chaos Gods. Khaine was shattered into his current form by Slannesh.

 Grey Templar wrote:
That would be kinda hard, seeing as how the Eldar Gods all predate the Chaos Gods. Khaine was shattered into his current form by Slannesh.

Not necessarily...Khorne as we know him awakened in the Middle Ages, but his true form as the embodiment of violence was probably around already by the time of the War in Heaven.

 Tadashi wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
That would be kinda hard, seeing as how the Eldar Gods all predate the Chaos Gods. Khaine was shattered into his current form by Slannesh.

Not necessarily...Khorne as we know him awakened in the Middle Ages, but his true form as the embodiment of violence was probably around already by the time of the War in Heaven.

But the Eldar empire was in its height long before mankind had even evolved. Khaine predates the Chaos Gods.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Tadashi wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
That would be kinda hard, seeing as how the Eldar Gods all predate the Chaos Gods. Khaine was shattered into his current form by Slannesh.

Not necessarily...Khorne as we know him awakened in the Middle Ages, but his true form as the embodiment of violence was probably around already by the time of the War in Heaven.

But the Eldar empire was in its height long before mankind had even evolved. Khaine predates the Chaos Gods.

Don't look at me...that's what Gav Thorpe wrote. But then again...time is meaningless in the Warp. 'Gods' have always existed and have never existed at the same time.

I would not take the word of people that work at GW. Not even the fluff writers, especially the fluff writers, can keep the fluff straight.

 Grey Templar wrote:
I would not take the word of people that work at GW. Not even the fluff writers, especially the fluff writers, can keep the fluff straight.

Do we really have a choice?

Yeah, let them write the stuff then read it yourself. You'll make better sense of it then they can.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Yeah, let them write the stuff then read it yourself. You'll make better sense of it then they can.

In other words...interpret as you wish?

Pretty much. Within reason of course.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Pretty much. Within reason of course.

Naturally.