| abstract
| - The Space Marine Librarians are amongst the most potent of Mankind's psykers. The Stormseers of the White Scars perform the same functions for their Chapter as the psychic warriors of other Astartes Chapters. Since the time before their Chapter's Founding, when they were the shamans who first named Jaghatai Khan the Great Khan of the nomadic tribes of Chogoris, the Stormseers have been called upon to continue to induct Neophytes and newly elevated Khans of their Chapter. Every ten summers, the Stormseers venture down into the steppes to observe the tribes and their battles, picking only the best and bravest warriors and returning them to their fortress-monastery of Quan Zhou to become Aspirants of the Chapter. The constant warring ensures that the people remain strong, though the White Scars have to be vigilant that such feuds are not retained as Aspirants become Neophytes and Neophytes transition into Initiates. Another manner in which Aspirants are chosen is by way of the tradition of youngsters entering the mountains to pay homage at the tomb of a fallen White Scar. The pyre-tombs of fallen White Scars in the Khum Karta (which means "The Mountains that Scrape the Stars") are places of great pilgrimage for the young tribal warriors, and those that survive the journey through one of these dangerous valleys are considered especially courageous. Such pilgrimages are perilous in the extreme, and simply surviving one is a great deed in itself that may, if the pilgrim is deemed worthy, grant a place in the ranks of the Aspirants. When a Great Khan is lost on the field of battle, it is the Stormseers who are called upon to decide who his successor will be to lead the Chapter. The Storm Seers will then retreat to the caves of the steep peaks of the Khum Katra Mountains of Chogoris. There, Brotherhood Khans (company Captains) present themselves to be tested and scrutinised by the Storm Seers. The trials used by the Storm Seers to discover who the next Great Khan will be are unknown. Few candidates survive the arduous process, and those that do never speak of the trials they endured to become the new Great Khan of the Chapter. At some point in his life, every White Scar must face and master the full implications of his own power. The wildness within, when combined with the potency granted by the Space Marines’ genetically enhanced physiology, is a fearsome weapon indeed, and one that can be as harmful to the subject as to his enemies. Each time he draws upon his ferocity in the heat of battle, the White Scar takes a step closer to the precipice, beyond which lies the damnation of bloodlust and killing for the sheer pleasure of it. Worse, the line is invisible until almost crossed, and so the Battle-Brother must exercise prodigious willpower not to exceed it inadvertently. While the vast majority recognise the line when it finally becomes visible and in so doing gain unprecedented mastery of themselves, some do not. Of these, the White Scars never speak, and their names are hewn from the tablets for all time. It is one of the tasks of the Stormseers to guide their Battle-Brothers in this journey, whatever its destination. The other responsibilities of the Stormseer include teaching White Scars Aspirants the core beliefs of their Chapter. They firmly believe it is the manifest duty of the White Scars to destroy the enemies of the Imperium, awaiting the day that that Emperor will rise again, signalling the return of their lost Primarch and the beginning of the next Great Crusade to unify all of humanity. The Stormseers believe that their powers are connected to the animistic spirits of the land and the air, and that as long as these natural forces fight beside them, the White Scars will always be victorious. These elemental, animistic beliefs and the highly stylized Force Staff used by Stormseers tie these warrior-mystics to their shamanistic past on the steppes of Chogoris.
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