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So I just got done reading Fear to Tread, No spoilers, but it got me thinking. Has their ever been an Astartes who was a psychic blank? Or is the pariah gene incapatible with those of a space marine? Do you think it would be possible?

As I understand it the Pariah gene is genetic, not synthetic.

This means the person would be born a Pariah and so would be one before becoming a Space Marine.
As such I think it is very likely that there could be a Space Marine Pariah.

Edit: Just thought, though, with all the rigorous probing and screening an Initiate goes through, the Pariah gene would be quickly discovered and the Initiate may be rejected depending on each Chapter's different view on Pariahs.

In Nemesis it's stated that the Culexues Temple did create artificial Pariahs, some with...less than ideal results.

But, yeah, I don't see any reason why there couldn't be a Space Marine Pariah. It causes others to be automatically inclined to dislike them, which could get in the way of battlefield cohesion, but there are plenty of unlikable Space Marine Chapters out there already.

Hell, the Exorcists whole schtick is that they get possessed by daemons, then exorcised, as neophytes to prevent them from being susceptible to psychic powers and corruption. Wouldn't it be simpler just to locate nulls than to locate people who can survive an exorcism?

Nulls are ultra rare and as you note, their very nature means that becoming part of a Astartes Chapter with their close bonds of brotherhood would be difficult - not however impossible. I think it is indeed possible there has been one or more Astartes that has been a Null.

Of course there is competion to snag any Pariahs that appear with both the Assassins and the Inquisition each tryng to ensure that they get the Pariahs. Not sure if the Necrons are also still after them after the fluff change of the recent codex.

Plus the Eldar consider them an anathama and I am sure the Dark Eldar would be interested in them - would a Archon with one in his possession be able to escape Slaanesh's thirst I wonder...........?

Pariahs being Space Marines is incredibly unlikely. Most pariahs don't even survive to adulthood in civilized planets, nevermind on Astartes planets-- no one likes them because of the pariah "aura" as it were.

Similarly, if one WAS found, it is unlikely that they wouldn't be sent to the Inquisition. Not impossible for there to be an Astartes blank. Just very, very unlikely.

its possable, but very unlikely.

The natural repulsion that being a blank causes would likely make them fail the training. They would fail to bond with any of their brothers and would never be able to fully function as a Marine.

Though it's very unlikely, I could see daemon fighting oriented chapters (exorcists for example) being interested in getting their hands on pariahs.

 King Pariah wrote:
Though it's very unlikely, I could see daemon fighting oriented chapters (exorcists for example) being interested in getting their hands on pariahs.

A good suggestion. The Grey Knights at the very least would be interested. I know the fluff mentions that most Neophytes they take on have some degree of Psychic potential so as to be trained to close their mind to the Warp, so it would probably be easier on them to acquire Blanks who don't require the extra training.

Also, never thought of this, but do Blanks effect other Blanks? And if so do you think the feeling would be intensified?

In the old exorcists fluff they talked about their space marines being psychic blanks!

Maybe just throw them in with the minotaur chapter since they are very close with the inquisition and maybe would make one a space marine to see how effective it'd be?

All space marine recruits would be examined by chapter librarians, at some point or another, for chaos taint. There is no chance that a blank could become a marine without it being known.

Grey Knights would NOT be interested in a Blank. They are an entire chapter chapter of Psykers. A blank would be the worst possable thing for them to have anywhere near themselves.

I could see the Exorcists looking for Blanks and trying to have one in every squad. To allow them to totally destroy daemons.

If it's possible that only having half the genetics of the Pariah gene makes one simply resistant to the warp this could be an explanation behind Titus' unusual ability to resist Nemeroth in the Space marine video game.

There has in the past been gradiants of Pariahs - however I think that mostly examples like Titus are simply strength of Will, Touched by the Emperor etc (and/or plot device).

There is the aforementioned Captain Titus, and the Primarch's may have been interested in the use of marines with null or antipsycher abilities. Mortarion hated psychers and could have promoted such marine pariahs before his fall.

Leman Russ had no problems hanging out with the sisters of silence, and the wolfen are fluff wise more resistant to psychic and chaos taint.

Black templars don't even have librarians, so they wouldn't even know if a neophyte was a null or not.

O'Raatol wrote:

 King Pariah wrote:
Though it's very unlikely, I could see daemon fighting oriented chapters (exorcists for example) being interested in getting their hands on pariahs.

A good suggestion. The Grey Knights at the very least would be interested. I know the fluff mentions that most Neophytes they take on have some degree of Psychic potential so as to be trained to close their mind to the Warp, so it would probably be easier on them to acquire Blanks who don't require the extra training.

Also, never thought of this, but do Blanks effect other Blanks? And if so do you think the feeling would be intensified?

As the Grey Knights are a chapter of psykers having a blank in their presence would be painful, it would be a very stupid idea. All Grey Knights are trained to shield themselves from the dangers of the warp but they are still need to be connected to it.

Tiarna Fuilteach wrote:In the old exorcists fluff they talked about their space marines being psychic blanks!

The Exorcists have never been decribed as blanks, they have always been described as 'illuminati' representing material beings who have been possessed and then repulsed a possession. this allows them to shield their soul (warp presence) from future attack.

OP: as said by others, it is very unlikely mostly because on most Chapter worlds a pariah would have his skull smashed in during childhood for being adhorrent.

I'd assume that - just like applicants born with the Psyker gene - a Blank would be found out during thorough examination by the Chapter's Apothecary at the latest. Marines need to ensure that a recruit's DNA is compatible with the geneseed, after all.

 Lynata wrote:
I'd assume that - just like applicants born with the Psyker gene - a Blank would be found out during thorough examination by the Chapter's Apothecary at the latest. Marines need to ensure that a recruit's DNA is compatible with the geneseed, after all.

That does raise a couple of questions. First, ofc - does the Pariah trait interfere with geneseed in the first place, so that an Apothecary actually has any reason to look for it?

And more importantly, is the Pariah so well known a condition that an Apothecary could identify it? Are the genetic markers on any checklist from any Imperial organisation? IIRC even an Inquisitor like Eisenhorn had to collect his blanks on his own.

Spetulhu wrote:
And more importantly, is the Pariah so well known a condition that an Apothecary could identify it?

If he could not identify it, along with the other Apothecaries in the Chapter, then I imagine it would be viewed as a mutation and we all know how well those are excepted on Imperial Worlds.

Also I like how everyone is saying that the GK wouldn't have a blank in their presence and yet they've had one as an option for their codex for three editions of the game, two editions of their codex.

Anyways onto the task at hand. Unthinkable? No. Impossible? No. Unlikely? Yes extremely so. Its possible that one could be, providing the gene doesn't prevent the surgeries to become a space marine, but the shear amount to overcome makes it highly unlikely. Not too mention the fact some chapters might not know what to do with one when they find it and just send it off to the Assassinorium, or wherever one goes for becoming an assassin of the temples. Personally I think it would be cool to see one, or a chapter cursed 13th most likely that tried to replicate the effect.

The Blank condition is not well known, but it's likely that most chapters have dealt with it or are educated on it so that they send the Blanks to the Inquisition, simply because of the longevity and general knowledge base of the Astartes.

Spetulhu wrote:That does raise a couple of questions. First, ofc - does the Pariah trait interfere with geneseed in the first place, so that an Apothecary actually has any reason to look for it? And more importantly, is the Pariah so well known a condition that an Apothecary could identify it? Are the genetic markers on any checklist from any Imperial organisation? IIRC even an Inquisitor like Eisenhorn had to collect his blanks on his own.

The Culexus Temple has to get its recruits from somewhere (whereby I assume that they'd have sent the necessary information to any Imperial Adepta engaged in genetic testing), and just like Psykers are found out during these trials I would assume the same would happen to Pariahs. Of course a Chapter could simply choose to keep him if they truly ever pull this ridiculously-low-chance joker of rare combinations, but given the importance of this trait for the wider Imperium, and that it does not have much value for the Astartes per se (as it is too special and does not "fit in" with their usual training and tactics), I'd say chances are they get shipped off to where they can do more and use their ability to the fullest.

Just one interpretation, mind you, and based solely of the few bits of info I read from GW.

I wonder how the Black Templars would handle finding one, if they would destroy it or keep it. Or even realize if they had one when recruiting. Does it take a psyker to comfirm a person with the pariah gene or could it simply be a chaplain trained to find them.

 EmperorsChampion wrote:
I wonder how the Black Templars would handle finding one, if they would destroy it or keep it. Or even realize if they had one when recruiting. Does it take a psyker to comfirm a person with the pariah gene or could it simply be a chaplain trained to find them.

Lol, the BT would probably be like, "Just being around this guy gives me the chills, he must be one badass mofo, let's recruit him!"

 EmperorsChampion wrote:
I wonder how the Black Templars would handle finding one, if they would destroy it or keep it. Or even realize if they had one when recruiting. Does it take a psyker to comfirm a person with the pariah gene or could it simply be a chaplain trained to find them.

I think you can identify Pariahs without psykers, although they are certaintly the best way.

They could just take one of their Astropaths and have him confirm it.


BTs might be interested in a Pariah, assuming they don't consider them to be abhorrent mutants.

Depending on how much you consider BL fluff correct - blanks are normally portrayed as something that the knowledge is very restricted about.

The Inquisiton looks for them for their own purposes but no one else seems to be aware due to their rareity

(which is of course why they turn up so often in the books )

 Grey Templar wrote:

 EmperorsChampion wrote:
I wonder how the Black Templars would handle finding one, if they would destroy it or keep it. Or even realize if they had one when recruiting. Does it take a psyker to comfirm a person with the pariah gene or could it simply be a chaplain trained to find them.

I think you can identify Pariahs without psykers, although they are certaintly the best way.

They could just take one of their Astropaths and have him confirm it.


BTs might be interested in a Pariah, assuming they don't consider them to be abhorrent mutants.

More than likely they'd either kill or ignore the Blanks, unless they managed to specifically identify them. And in that case, they'd probably send them to the Inquisition / officio assassinorum.

 Melissia wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 EmperorsChampion wrote:
I wonder how the Black Templars would handle finding one, if they would destroy it or keep it. Or even realize if they had one when recruiting. Does it take a psyker to comfirm a person with the pariah gene or could it simply be a chaplain trained to find them.

I think you can identify Pariahs without psykers, although they are certaintly the best way.

They could just take one of their Astropaths and have him confirm it.


BTs might be interested in a Pariah, assuming they don't consider them to be abhorrent mutants.

More than likely they'd either kill or ignore the Blanks, unless they managed to specifically identify them. And in that case, they'd probably send them to the Inquisition / officio assassinorum.

I think if they were the least bit interested in them, they might use them against psykers. But I think you are right, they would just kill them off. I doubt they would even bother sending them off to the Inquisition. And I also find it interesting you mentioned taking one of their Astropaths down, that is a pretty good idea and I could see that working unless the BT have other means of finding psykers,

Grey Templar wrote:Grey Knights would NOT be interested in a Blank. They are an entire chapter chapter of Psykers. A blank would be the worst possable thing for them to have anywhere near themselves.

I could see the Exorcists looking for Blanks and trying to have one in every squad. To allow them to totally destroy daemons.

Correct me if I am wrong but are PURIFERS blanks?

I swear in the codex it says they are blanks, I think in the new GK novel it even states are the main characters goes to the their fortress on titan he meets a blank who was definatly a space marine and he lost all his psychic powers and sense because he was a blank (heavily indicating his a BLANK)

Certaintly not.

They are simply so pure of soul and mind that their very touch causes daemons and impurities to be banished. They don't obliterate daemons like a Null would.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Certaintly not.

They are simply so pure of soul and mind that their very touch causes daemons and impurities to be banished. They don't obliterate daemons like a Null would.

your correct there, but my other satement still stand in the emprors gift, it clearly states that there was a blank on titan. I swear it said something about it, its when they go to the burial ground for the GKs.

Can someone please check this?