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No, Nikea was specifically about Magnus. The whole point of Nikea was because Mortarion wanted to force Magnus to give up his powers and be resentful so that he would turn to Chaos.

We have the Emperor's exact words at Nikaea:

The Emperor wrote:Let it be known that no one shall suffer censure, for this conclave is to serve Unity, not discord. But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will that no Legion will maintain a Librarius department. All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.

A Thousand Sons, p. 355, my emphasis

The decree has no bearing on Rune Priests.

Shaman are way WAY different to psykers.

Just look at The Emperor. He's made of shaman and he's ok.

Psykers are bad. mm'kay

Nah, sorcerers are bad. At Nikaea, the Emperor conflated the legionary Libarius method (invented principally by Magnus) with sorcery.

Yeah, but that's exactly what we're saying. The Space Wolves were exempt because of their nonsense Fenris excuse. They outright say that they're not psykers and don't use Warp powers, they're just "much power many Fenris wow". This, for some reason, was good enough for The Emperor to believe.

Whatever the SW say about themselves, they were exempt from Nikaea because they did not maintain a Libarius department or have Librarians and NOT because of their beliefs about Fenris. As far as I know, no one but they themselves acknowledge their Fenris mythology.

So if another chapter called their Librarians 'happy magic friends' that would have been OK too?

Pretty much... supposedly.

It's not just a matter of what they were called.

The Librarians were trained to use their psychic powers according to a method devised by Jaghatai, Sanguinius, and most of all Magnus. This method is what the Emperor shut down at Nikaea.

A Rune Priest is not simply a SW Librarian.

Except it was! The Emperor was clear in saying something like "The Legions can never have any psykers, ever, apart from Astropaths and stuff". Space Wolves were exempt because they pretended their psykers weren't psykers.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
The Emperor was clear in saying something like "The Legions can never have any psykers, ever, apart from Astropaths and stuff".

No, that's not what he said. I posted exactly what he said already ITT.

So why didn't they just have psykers, but change the way they did stuff? He didn't say "Guys, tone it down". I really wish I had the book so I could quote-mine! DX

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
So why didn't they just have psykers, but change the way they did stuff?

Because change is very difficult and maybe even impossible. Think of telling a scientist to do science differently.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
I really wish I had the book so I could quote-mine

There is no passage in A Thousand Sons to back up that the Emperor banned SM from using psychic powers at Nikaea.

Even in what you quoted:

The Emperor wrote:But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes.

That's fairly clear. No more sorcery for any Astartes. Sorcery is just psychic power, which is backed up by the following:

The Emperor wrote:All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.

He doesn't say "no sorcery", he says "no psychic powers". Furthermore, the psychic powers of Rune Priests were hardly different to real Librarians, so it's not like "sorcery" has any actual meaning. The Space Wolves were hardly the only Legion to use psychic power in that manner and not actually study it much.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
Sorcery is just psychic power

Not according to the decree. The Emperor says he is banning sorcery with one sentence. In the next sentence he bans the Libarius Department. Therefore, the Emperor equated the Libarius Department with sorcery. We know there are other ways of using psychic power, such as Astropaths and Navigators used, which are not banned. Therefore, sorcery does not refer to psychic power generally but rather specifically to the legionary Librarius Department method of harnessing psychic power.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
which is backed up by the following:

The Emperor wrote:All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.

The important word is ITS, which explicitly refers to a Libarius Department.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
the psychic powers of Rune Priests were hardly different to real Librarians

According to you; not according to published material.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
The Space Wolves were hardly the only Legion to use psychic power in that manner and not actually study it much

Which other Legion had Rune Priests?

I have already explained why Rune Priests are not Libarians, you can re-read that post.

Big E knew/knows fine well the Space Doggies are psykers, and his edict was specifically aimed at the Librarius of every other Legion and not at the Wolves. It just maybe wasn't written in the best manner - a common flaw in GW writing.

Just typical of GW to be honest - Rules as written or rules as interpreted.

McNeill's novel is clear. I think the confusion comes from the earlier sources.

Could you find the bit where the Wolves explain that their power comes from Fenris? I mean, what prompts that?

IIRC its from Othere Wyrdmark having a debate with Ahriman or some other TS. I'm sure it has been quoted a thousand times on Dakka but not by me.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
Could you find the bit where the Wolves explain that their power comes from Fenris? I mean, what prompts that?

The "Power from Fenris" is to say that their power comes from the traditions on Fenris and not from Fenris itself. There are quotes from Prospero Burns that shows that the Rune Priest know they are psykers and that their power comes from the warp.

The better question is what the hell is going on with the "there are no wolves in fenris" bit.

But no more shall the threat of sorcery be allowed to taint the warriors of the Astartes. Henceforth, it is my will that no Legion will maintain a Librarius department. All its warriors and instructors must be returned to the battle companies and never again employ any psychic powers.

But if you don't have a Librarius it's ok to continue as normal.

I think that's the confusing part, where the Emperor blankets the whole of the Astartes, but then only those with a Librarius get affected.

Woe betide he who ignores my warning or breaks faith with me. He shall be my enemy, and I will visit such destruction upon him and all his followers that, until the end of all things, he shall rue the day he turned from my light

Seems pretty final as well, that's a warning to take heed of if ever I heard one.

The kicker is, it's hard to see how what Magnus did (using sorcery himself to break the hexagrammic wards of the palace) violates the decree.

 Wyzilla wrote:
The better question is what the hell is going on with the "there are no wolves in fenris" bit.

I thought it was because the wolves on Fenris weren't actually wolves, but in fact are mutated/devolved humans?

 Manchu wrote:
The kicker is, it's hard to see how what Magnus did (using sorcery himself to break the hexagrammic wards of the palace) violates the decree.

Unless it has something to do with his Librarius being used to send him to the Palace and him responsible for their actions as the Primarch?

True, and certainly a "letter of the law" style interpretation, which fits the theme of the judgment against Magnus being ambivalent.

Sorcery is inheritantly evil where the user (The Thousand Sons) don't know where to stop pushing themselves to further feats.

The Shaman from Fenris had BOUNDARIES and knew not to exceed them... not because they couldn't, but because they SHOULDN'T

That's a good point about boundaries. All that Fenris superstition did give SW a proper sense of respect regarding their power whereas Magnus was all about pushing it further and further. It's part of his one-eyedness. He only ever sees half of anything. When he looks to the past, it's without reference to the future, and vice versa. Similarly, he can only see the potential of magic but not its dangers. Perhaps the reverse explains why he could not save his sons.

As far back as at least 3rd Ed, SW Rune Priests were depicted as shamans and druids, rather than psykers.

They are as sorcerous as the Thousand Sons, they just have a better PR department.

No, not really. That is not what we read in the HH.