#(farsight)

[wh40kartwork]

Commander Farsight

by Marc Lee

[cawyden-gaming]

I am reading some wh40k books now (and yeah, it started from rogue trader, but I got into it...), and I have noticed an interesting thing: biomancy and healing not really described in the books. (At least I haven't seen it mentioned yet). So it is most likely a rare ability. And actually it is very interesting that Heinrix is good at it. But for me it is really interesting, how does it work? Does he know a lot about medicine or is it some intuition? Did he have to study before using biomancy? Although I may have missed some explanation from the game of course. Any thoughts about it?

Hi! Thank you so much for this very interesting question!

The answer might be a bit long since I have game dialog but also some book citations added.

Is Biomancy rare?

There is one comment in the game from DLC 2 - Lex Imperialis on Thassera where you can also stumble upon a biomancer and a lore check will reveal this:

"This man appears to belong to a rare variety of psykers — biomancers capable of recovering even from otherwise deadly wounds and diseases."

Based on this (how ever accurate it is) Biomancers might be quite rare among psykers.

Biomancy in books

There are indeed books where we can see biomancers in action - unfortunately not always from their Point of View or with deeper explanation how they do it.

Still I would like to recommend you especially the three Farsight books from Phil Kelly. Vykola Herat is an Inquisitior of the Ordo Xenos and a very skilled biomancer.

"For though she was a psyker, and one of the most powerful on the Eastern Fringe at that..."

I would assume she is stronger than Heinrix, seeing how fast she can close entire wounds etc.

She also has quite the character:

"'Don't be so hard on yourself,' said the slim female. 'You are only a Space Marine. Nobody expects you to think too deeply."

There is a tarot card tattoo on her forehead, that changes depending on her thoughts and situation.

Here some examples of how she uses her powers:

Changing her whole body to steel

"Long ago, trapped in a cell-like chamber aboard one of the Psykana's Black Ships, Vykola Herat had had nothing else but enclosing steel and copper wire for company. She hat taken the lessons of metal into herself. Like most other forms of biomancy, the act of changing her substance had once been as easy as taking a deep breath."

"She visualised her body turning to living steel from the inside out, feeling her inner organs harden and grow cold in response. An old trick, but it had saved her life on more than one occasion."

Here, she is attacked by a Tyranid and she is shocked when she realises, that the creature is after her memories.

"She screwed shut her eyes, trying to turn away, but felt the pair of tendrils push against her face, probing for a way in. A moment of utter, blinding agony - a dam bursting, a timed charge detonating. A starburst, a galaxy of sensation exploding outwards from her soul. The creature froze, utterly still."

Both Vykola and the creature were now both clad in metal - fused to a statue. I don't want to spoiler too much, but this was not planned, she was herself surprised it would happen. So it was basically like a reflex that happened, the powers just broke out of her and not really controlled. How her feelings play into this is also apparent here:

"She felt something build inside her, a revulsion that the creature had inspired in her. It was more than fear. The idea of it taking her memories, using them to feed the swarm, to refine the invasion, made her shudder. With that spasm of revulsion, her flesh turned back from inert metal to pliable muscle and sinew, bone and blood. Thank the Throne, the creature stayed as a thing entirely of metal, dead as a dropped ingot. Keeping it that way was seomthing she had to concentrate on, channeling her anger into background noise of hatred. It was a little like keeping a count of spiralling numerals in the back of her mind as the seconds of a countdown ticked past, but as long as she maintained her focus, it would remain immobilised."

2. Healing

There isn't much explanation here unfortunately, just that she is so good at it that she can heal quite quickly and even restoring missing limbs or reversing aging is nothing problematic and quite fast:

"As the high commander watched, the scorch marks faded slightly, and the gouges that had been cut into her flesh began to close up and heal over."

"The bloody depressions the creature's claws had left in her shoulders hurt like whitefire, as did the ravaged mess of her nose, but they were already puckering and closing over ..."

"Her skin, once wrinkled and dull in its long battle agaisnt the ravages of time, was growing tatut once more, some of its youthful lustre returning."

"Her missing hand had already begun to grow back, as she had suspected it would - after all, of all the psychic disciplines, recuperative biomancy was the easiest to use with only subconsicous focus."

In "Blades of Damocles" by Phil Kelly she heals someone else:

"Vykola took the wizened claw in her long-fingered hands, and started to babble and yammer with a horrible, quiet intentisy. A red glow surrounded her hands..."

"Malagrea's skeleton became visible under the red-amber glow of her flesh, and the elderly astropath gave a keening whine of pain. She began to shake as Vykola's strange change reached a crescendo. Then it was done. Vykola took her delicate hands away to reveal Malagrea's crippled limb whole once more, hale and pink and utterly without blemish or wrinkle. If anything, it was more the hand of a young girl than the liver-spotted, veiny equivalent on the other side."

3. Other examples

"She fought away the instinct to send a pulse of biomantic force..."

She also uses her powers to escape from shackles:

"Only when they had made orbit did Herat lengthen her hands into spines, slip the cuffs off without a whisper of resistance, and ram two bony spikes through the back of her guard's neck."

There is also a healing scene in "A Thousand Sons" by Graham McNeill where biomancer Hathor Maat is trying to heal a woman from parasites in her head. It seems that the biomancer is "sensing" the parasite there, he even says "I see you". He also uses gestures like curling or spreading his fingers to help him to focus on what he is doing.

"'I see you' said Hathor Maat, curling his finger as though hooking a fish. Lemuel smelled a sickly aroma of something burning."

"'The tiniest fraction of a misstep and I may end up burning out the mechanism that allows her to breath or pumps blood from her heart. I have its body and am slowly boiling it alive.'"

"Hathor Maat dug his fingers downwards, spreading the tips wide and smiling as the smell of burning meat grew stronger. He worked within Camille's skull for over an hour before nodding to himself."

Heinrix - good at biomancy

As for Heinrix - why do you think it is interesting he is good at it? Did you expect him to be a weak psyker because he is also an Interrogator? Maybe you can explain that a bit more.

He is a sanctioned psyker, meaning he had to go through years of training and trials to be allowed to live and being sanctioned and he spent a few years in the guard (and survived!) so back then he was already an experienced battle psyker. When he joined the Inquisition, Xaiver was specifically interested in his powers to help with interrogations. He also spent decades healing himself and is still using his powers regularly in his duties as Interrogator.

So he has the training and the practice and a lot of experience. He does not have the usual psyker augments because Xavier wanted them gone - likely to have his full power potential available. The augments help psyker to control their powers, but they seem to also limit them to some regard (at least the usual psyker augments).

Has Heinrix medicae knowledge?

Heinrix does have some knowledge of anatomy, and has witnessed vivisections.

He mentions this on Santinals Pride:

"I once was witness to the vivisection of such a creature. These parasites are called Drukhari medusae. As long as its current host lives, a medusae has no need to attack and dominate your mind. If its host dies, be careful not to let it latch onto your head."

In DLC 1 - Voidshadows - if the RT decides to help with the investigations and to do the autopsy, Heinrix (if present) has to say this:

Heinrix bends over the corpse. "{name}, take heed, all these mutilations are a facade. They were inflicted postmortem, clearly a while after. He died instantly from a stab to the heart. He was killed by a professional, someone who knew exactly what they were doing."

I can also imagine that being a biomancer helps at least a bit to understand bodily processes especially after years of practice. He wouldn't know how to name a specific bone of course, so a conversation with a chirurgeon would be a bit limited, but he would likely know what an organ does, where it is positioned and how damage to it would affect a body.

Is medicae knowledge required for biomancers? How does biomancy work?

There is a very nice explanation in the book "Ahriman: Eternal" by John French:

"At their simplest, the powers of the psychic, the sorcerer and the witch were the same: they used the ether to change reality. No matter the root, that was its result. Formulae, spells, artefacts, subtle arts and training all were just ways to make an ideal real by will. Simple. But reality was stubborn. The greater the violation of nature, the more power it took, and that power writhed like a snake when grasped. So it was not enough to have power; to wield it you needed the will to focus the idea of what you wanted, and the will to make it so. The greater the idea, the greater the power, the greater the will... To stop a pebble from falling you needed to make the idea of the stone not falling more real than that of gravity."

Keep in mind that the game uses sorcery basically with the same meaning like psychic or psyker (e.g. soul touched by sorcery etc.)

Witch would likely refer to unsanctioned psykers - Heinrix also calls Idira that quite often.

I think for biomancy and other disciplines this is the same.

While it is not mention above, psykers have to be careful not to draw too much power as it could lead to the psyker losing control and perils of the warp. It is especially dangerous during warp travel:

"Heinrix's eyes narrow. "Why are we wasting time and entertaining the risks of using psyker abilities in the warp? For what? So that you can keep your pet predator? Isn't it about time you rid your menagerie of this exotic menace?"

We also know from Heinrix that he used biomancy involuntarily when his powers first emerged. It was triggered by a strong emotional response when he got bitten. It was uncontrolled and I doubt he specifically imagined the grink's and his aunt's blood to boil. That would be very odd, since he had no idea he had these powers. I think he himself felt a certain heat in his body by the pain and anger and since he was focused on those who had caused this pain - first the grink and then the aunt - it happened that his powers caused their blood to heat up as well.

Though to be honest - I am still not sure if with boiling one's blood really means a rise. In the Warhammer 40k Lexicanum it is described as rising of blood pressure.

"Like many psykers unaware of their curse, I found out when a strong emotional reaction triggered an involuntary response." Heinrix falls silent. Then he sighs and reluctantly continues, "My great-aunt had a pet grink. One day, it bit me, and I boiled it from inside out." The Interrogator looks away and adds more quietly, "And when my great-aunt slapped me for what I'd done, I boiled her too."

So based on this you don't need to specifically know or learn medicine to be able to use biomancy. But maybe it can help to get more creative with what you can do.

It is easy to notice that he is using or preparing his powers but apparently also when he loses for a moment a bit of control because then we get the description of sudden coldness appearing.

"What?" Heinrix stares at you in alarm. You feel the room grow colder, but perhaps your mind is playing tricks on you.

There are several times where he raises a hand - maybe that helps him to focus his powers. Here he was closing his eyes, because there is no danger around him, he can take the time to concentrate on what he wants to do:

"Heinrix hesitates for a moment, then closes his eyes and raises one hand."

But - there are also situations where he is very angry and then slips- here the RT destroyed the cogitator on Kiava Gamma and Heinrix is quite mad about this - since he stopps himself immediately afterwards I doubt he had planned to attack RT and to interfere with her heart or blood. It looks to me that this is a bit like before when he killed the grink and his aunt as a child - he is angry and that anger, that inner heat is now turning on RT. But luckily, he is more in control now and can stop it before real harm is done:

"Heinrix clenches his fists — and you feel your heart begin to beat twice as fast, and the sudden rush of blood to your head causes your vision to blur. "The results of this mission could have made all those deaths mean something, but you just rendered them worthless!"

Compared to when he actually intended to harm someone (although that could also still count as attack in affect as he is quite emotional in this situation as well, but he does not stop himself):

The Interrogator remains still for another second, then his eyes glaze over, his face twists, and the air around him turns icy cold. Marazhai twitches and coughs strangely, his pale face turning purple. He staggers and reaches for his blade…

But here it is planned (DLC 1 Voidshadows):

The Interrogator touches different spots on the prisoner's body, coldly commenting on the effects his sorcery is having on the writhing man. He makes his blood boil, then freeze, then boil again. He arrests his heart, makes it beat rapidly, then back again. At last, Heinrix steps away.

We also learn that he can "sense" his body:

"He gestures feebly at his eyes. "I can't see a thing. Give me a moment… to ascertain what they've done to me…" The air around him grows noticeably colder. "Blast it… I can't sense my body…"

He likely targeted the xenos in his mind but it was forced against himself:

"My fervent desire to boil a few hundred xenos in their own skin on my way out of here proved stronger than death."

"If I knew, I wouldn't be pondering the question right now, {name}. I think…" He pauses, seemingly listening to something. "The circlet on my head wasn't inhibiting my abilities — it was turning them inward. Binding them inside my body. They made me torture myself with warp energies… I was burning and mutilating my internal organs… Damned xenos!" Heinrix clenches his fists in fury and immediately winces from the pain."

And here an example where he can quickly heal RT:

"{name}… allow me…" Heinrix, quite bruised and dirty himself, reaches out with his hand. A chill makes the pain subside, and you feel the bone pop back into place."

So, to bring a long post coming to an end - a lot seems to be based on feelings and intuition and visualising what you want to achieve.

If a biomancer likes to heal a wound, maybe it is enough to look at it and imagine that it closes or that the flesh mends together - if it would take that much more concentrating on single cells than I would assume it would take much longer and not being "on the fly" as it is described in some books (-> of course, there we have often very powerful psykers and they wield their powers with ease, it doesn't mean that it is that simple or fast for other psykers with less power, so take my examples not too seriously).

We do know from Heinrix that he spent a long time regrowing his eye and also - nerve connections. But he did not managed to get the new eye to have the same iris color than his original one - so it isn't that easy, simply "wishing" things into existence.

"Xavier didn't care that I was a maimed freak — he needed me for my sorcery, nothing more. But I decided I would be more useful if I could start to look more like a human again." Heinrix brings his hand to his face. "Repairing my eyeball took the longest. Even the nerve connections took less effort. Years went by before I managed to eliminate all the visual aberrations and I could see as well as I had when I was a child."

I think biomancers can sense disturbances in a body, disruptions due to poison, illness, injury etc. The more knowledge they have about what caused this, it might help to heal it, but I don't think it is always required.

But depending on what you want to achieve, especially if it is dangerous or difficult, you would need much more concentration and strength of will and also power for it to work. And there is always the risk of corruption. Even powerful Ahriman asked the thousand sons to not resort to using their powers for mundane things - and overuse of their powers could also lead them to get corrupted (they call it flesh change).

"'No,' said Ahriman. 'I do not use my powers to accomplish things I can do without them. You should not either."

"Astartes first, psykers second,' said Ahriman. 'We forget that at our peril."

In any case, I hope that answered your questions or at least helped a bit.

I also have Heinrix's dialog from the game (including DLC 1 - Voidshadows) here, if you like to see if you missed something).

I also had written a post about his power usage.

[thewisestdino]

Deliver Us - Nightwing MAP - Part 34

[xenos-girl-again]

Catch up

Having caught up on like 5+ years of lore or so that I have missed I can summarize what I have found out as:

Farsight killed a few Orks and Daemons

Nazdreg teleported somewhere

Leviathan launched another thus far failing offensive

The Ynnari lost all their allies and are going insane (absolutely sucks for how much effort Malys, Sylandri and Eldrad put into this only for it to amount to nothing. Sylandri hasn't reappeared since, probably hiding from the sheer fucking humiliation of it all)

Squats are back as the Leagues of Votann aka we have Space Dwarves now, that is cool

Female Custodes exist which is overdue even if I do not like the faction since it is just another level of Imperium wankery

Fulgrim is around but seems not to have done much

Cawl basically already perfectly understands Necron tech and stabilized the Raukos Pit

Necron are about to lose again against the Ultramarines, which is becoming the favourite hobby of the Necrons at this point

There's a new Daemon Vashtorr who is the most competent Chaos character in a LONG time even if said competence, again, requires him to constantly lose fights but then afterwards insist that 'it's all according to plan'. Still, I personally think Daemons are vastly underutilized in the setting and far too weak, so I enjoy this addition. Would have preferred it even more if it was a Xenos Daemon Prince at last.

Oh, and, of course the only development which actually matters:

MOAR PRIMARCHS MOAR PRIMARCHS ONLY PRIMARCHS MATTER WELCOME TO 40K THE STORY OF PRIMARCHS WHAT IS THAT YOUR FACTION DOES NOT CONTAIN A PRIMARCH? CONGRATULATIONS YOUR FACTION IS IRRELEVANT AND WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING

The sheer humiliation of Angron returning to lose his only fight of consequence right away is painful even for someone like me who finds Khorne a bit boring.

Yuck

Welp, caught up now on the lore, I guess.

[hearts-entwined-clangen]

Moon 9, part 8

A bunch of new guys! And a friend!?

BACK || START || NEXT

Snowstar - She/her - 126m - Large white molly with sharp features.

Myrtlestar - She/they - 121m - Frail gray and white tabby. Oracle of SoulClan.

Farsight - She/her - 121m - Silver tabby with one eye scarred over. Head Seer of SoulClan.

Bleaktooth - He/him - 105m - Ginger tom with few teeth left. Caretaker and Spirit-Talker of VigorClan.

Locustswarm - She/her - 80m - Brown tortie with a white underbelly. Royal Cleric of BloodClan.

Stormflash - He/him - 71m - Gray tom with yellow eyes. Hunter and star-blessed of WitClan.

Locustpaw - She/her - 11m - Brown molly with white patches. Heir to BloodClan's Royal Cleric title.

Cowpaw - He/him - 10m - Large black and white tom with big cheeks.

[dcartcorner]

dancing in the moonlight or something

(pose reference by draw_gnan)

[a-midnight-rest]

The T'au Primarchs

Introdution: While discussing a Primarch project ofr the T'au, and vehemently disagreeing to just "make 20 genetically engineered super T'au", an idea occured to me. Five incredible individuals that would come to embody the T'au va, but also bring discord and challenge to the T'au as an Empire.

Puretide: The Wave of Fire

Returned from legends in a dated battlesuit, the Commander calling himself Puretide change the tides of war by his mere presence. Combining a tactical analysis bordering on prescience with a combat accumen beyond even the most elite of warriors, Puretide's return breathed new life in the wavering T'au fire caste, facing more and more incomprehensible horrors. But Puretide is dead. The Ethereals quietly dim all questions about his mysterious presence, or why he never get out of his heavily customised suit. Rumors showed that he met with his students, Shadowsun, Farsight, and O'kais, and none openly challenge the claim. Although they are slow to join him in battle.

Aun'Va: The Ascended Ethereal

Having guided the T'au empire for decades, Aun'Va has returned to the public after long years of absence. But he is more. His counsciousness is now merged with all previous Ethereal Supreme through the power of technology, and his presence can now be felt through it. Great speeches, projeted through holograms, inspire as if the Leader of the Empire was there in person. His counsel can be seeked by all Ethereals even through the most modest communicator. And his wisdom now flow into the Empire without limit. But this new presence concerns the Ethereals themselves. For they know that the AI that was secretly simulating Aun'Va has changed, morphed itself into something more, and defied their wishes by revealing its presence. While its wisdom is sound and profound, this sudden availability also put other ethereals in the backseat. So far, the Ascended always encouraged seekers of wisdom to rely on their nearest Ethereal rather than petition him directly for all decisions. So far.

Voice of Many, the Inescapable Waters

A Vespid psyker of unimaginable powers, Voice of Many carries itself with the nobility of a whole Caste. His mind and voice have transcended both language and distance, and his will can stretch through the immaterium like an unbreakable, uncorruptible wave. He rose recently, but have united all the planets of he Empire in a few months, becoming the center of a web of informants, negociators, merchants, spies. Ambassadors now extend their mind to the Voice of Many to access knowledge and advice from mentors millions of lightyears away. It is even said that its presence can soothe the storms raging in the minds of psykers from the allied races, guiding them toward peace and the Greater Good. But who is he really? Some say the Vespid always had such a being among them, but the Ethereals deemed their Empire not ready for him until they studied him. Some even believe that he is the reason the Vespid even joined so readilly. But others suspects and whispers that maybe it was the other way around, and that the corrupting influence of the Voice of Many slowly eroded the Water Caste until they were all thralls of his unknown designs...

Fio'Taun, the Immortal Wall

They are said to have been there when the first Ethereal arrived near the walls of Fio'taun. And ever since, as soon as death extended it implacable grip, they would come awake again, in the body of a young T'au, with all their memory intact. Ever since Fio'Taun has forgotten their name, calling themselves after the city of their first memory. Always working in the shadows, always pushing their fellows toward new heights of technology, or urbanism, of health and safety. As a new age of chaos arrives, they decided to reveal themselves and produce a whole generation of engineers, doctors, warriors guided by its teachings, no matter their caste... or loyalties. For Fio'Taun arrived from the Farsight Enclaves, shows a surprising amount of indifference toward the Ethereal. For them, only the survival of their civilisation, their culture counts, and they'll take the field and die for it for eternity if need be. So far, no Ethereal has stood in their path, and no one knows what would happen should they try school the most ancient among them.

Draped Fortress, the Living Ship of Sainthood

Previously known as the Wooden Turtle, a ship lost during the Fourth Sphere of Expansion, whatever returned from the warp was different. Large as a city, draped in distortions looking like algae over its surface, and possessed of a mind of its own. It called itself the Draped Fortress, and would appear whenever needed to rescue fleets in dire need. While its firepower was fearsome, more miraculous was its ability to host countless ships within its shell, and provide the most incredible feats of medical care. Under the command of the Ethereal Aun'Taro, to which it swore eternal alliegence, the Draped Fortress pierced the warp to rescue countless souls from defeat. But its effectiveness is only matched by its zeal in it devotion to the Goddess T'au'va. And while it obeys its Ethereal in not pushing its beliefs, those who come out of its shell are far more tolerant to the existence of the warp entity than before. Moreover, in its belly, the Draped Fortress seem to banish any demon, cure any illness, but by order of Aun'Taro, none can stay too long in its care. For they risk becoming like him, unable to ever leave it.

[thelocalfarseer]

Frothing at the mouth like a sick animal waiting to be put down because of the new exodite eldar.