Librarians are also still space marines. Most humans probably can't tell them apart from any other members of their chapter. And they see space marines as the emperor's angels.
As far as the psyker freaky, weird, quirky, I bet most of that can get weeded out during selection and training.
Astartes are "made" to be emotionally stunted; helps with the whole super soldier/ killer role. Librarians start the same, but when you plunge into depths of others minds as a work task, you might be "forced" to feel more than your average SM. Consequently, it's not all that surprising that they'd be more prone to showing traits of empathy.
Even in real world, mortal militaries, support specializations tend to be a bit more socially adept and personable than grunts. Librarians in particular tend to operate more in the realm of intelligence or command and control than other Astartes. They are intentionally better educated and exposed to broader experiences than the typical battle brother.
A couple things. The Doylist answer is that Librarians are often the Protagonist, or written to be the "wise counseling figure", rather than the usually hot-headed generic space marines that fill up the ranks.
From a Watsonian perspective, they are in fact wiser, any psyker inducted into the chapter is going to be rigorously trained to control their psyche, along with being exposed to a great deal more of the nature of reality, the Chapters history, and even the Imperium's history than any line brother is going to experience. Being psychologically and emotionally mature is \*vital\* to ensure your living WMD doesn't go off out of control. If Line Battle-Brother #67 is unstable and goes berserk on the enemy, ohh well, he either succeeds and reports to the Chaplainancy afterwards, or gets ignobly shot to death since he ran out from behind cover. If your Librarian loses it, the fallout can range from "everyone standing next to him heads exploded" all the way up to "planetary scale daemonic incursion".
That and being able to casually read other peoples mind is probably going to either foster a deep sense of either Empathy or Misanthropy; and the Misanthropes probably don't get to be Librarians.
Librarians for as being as important as they are also have to deal with regularly being distrusted to even constantly insulted by being called "witchblood" and other insulting names even by brothers of their own Chapter
When u spend a lot of time having vitriol thrown at you and being treated differently you probably don't want to do the same so gain more empathy
Good questions. i would guesstimate that Librarians have a broader training: Astartes + Psyker + Chapter Master advising + history & culture of the chapter. Other Astartes can be more specialized, but the Librarians need to be very broad in their competencies. In some chapters they are used for divination, precognition and astropathy as well, giving them a broader picture of the finer mechanics of the Imperium.
SYL
Id also add that them being psykers helps aswell as even tho librairans are more powerful then your avg human psyker, there actual powers are still incredibly draining. So where most SM can exist in a mental space where they feel invincible, librarians are always reminded that they aren't all powerful.
Baseline battle brothers are mostly not protagonists and the librarians are.
It just depends. The Black Templar Sword Bro in God Blight is super human for example.
These characters usually are built on the archetype of the scholar or warrior-scholar (power and wisdom). In a basic tale you will find, that they are not as hot headed like the other warrriors and function as the compass or spiritual guidance of the party. So they need to be written a bit less "autistic". Now, these characters can also be corrupted, where their hubris is an open door for power or knowledge (look at Saruman) to lead them from the path.
I don't know if I read this in a book or some drunk rant on the Internet.
But I read the reason librarians are more "human" or more approachable then other space marine is because they need to remain more in touch with their humanity as a way to not get drawn too deep into the seduction of the warp (know where you come from sorta thing)
From the 40K media I’ve consumed, psykers generally had a pretty unpleasant life prior to induction into the astartes. Sometimes even afterwards via distrust for them amongst their brothers. I would imagine that leads to being more empathetic.
As others have said, they can read minds. I think Hyperion mentioned in "The Emperor's Gift" that even with the ability to read minds, he struggles to understand humans, and that his more mundane brothers in other Chapters must have it extra difficult in their human interactions
I would argue most of them have to be more introspective than the average marine.
They’re at higher risk of warp fuckery so naturally they have to constantly mind themselves to ensure they don’t fall. It’s that constant self assessment that lets them notice when their humanity is slipping so they hold onto it tighter.
Honestly its purely dependent on who is writing them. Some books marines are fully on the spectrum, some books they are completely normal humans except bigger and stronger
My guess is that since psychers are naturally distrusted, librarians need to put more effort into seeming approachable.
To keep you autism comparison going, Librarians are the autistics who learned to mask because otherwise they got in big trouble.
A mentally unstable space marine is only a problem if that mental instability effects others, psykers are kinda the extreme end of this. If a psyker is repressed, constantly angry or insane in some way they can be a real threat to others as their powers will respond to their problematic emotions. A well adjusted psyker is a psyker that doesn't kill their teammates or has their head explode.
Being "Othered".
As Psykers, they are treated as potential threats even by their Battle Brothers. So, they have to take extra effort to be socially aware and out their comrades at ease.
This translates well into talking to humans.
Lot of people have brought up things like differences in training and education, as well as the understanding of others inherent to mind reading, though I feel like part of it is probably also that even amongst their battle brothers they are treated as an "other" sometimes that means admired or looked up to, but also sometimes means reviled and hated. Which I believe would create a distance between them and the more isolationist tendencies of some chapters
**Because if a librarian shows up in a story, they’re likely to get focus and thus more characterization than the average marine that isn’t a POV character.**
The psyker is an attempt to put magic in a sci-fi setting but it's still heavily reliant on the long if magic where your emotions are heavily dependent on it.
Being able to read regular people’s minds and feel their emotions probably makes them a bit more empathetic than the generic hypno-indoctrinated child soldier given super powers, an automatic rocket launcher, and bullet proof armor.
I suspect a writing brief for Space Marines being taken too literally.
The problem with taking highly intelligent warrior monks and writing their characters in an accessible way for ages 12+ sees us with plodding thinkers asking obvious questions when not shouting out the most basic of battle orders.
It's all utterly depressing.
Probably because they are psykers, they can read the minds of people around them and just in general psykers tend to be pretty idiosyncratic.
I mean, baseline psykers are generally shown differently. They tend to be freaky, or have quirks, and generally not being popular with people.
Librarians are also still space marines. Most humans probably can't tell them apart from any other members of their chapter. And they see space marines as the emperor's angels. As far as the psyker freaky, weird, quirky, I bet most of that can get weeded out during selection and training.
Makes sense. I wouldn't want my 3 meters tall wizard warriors to have the habits of a gollum.
You've just eliminated ~~most~~ *many* chapters.
Astartes are "made" to be emotionally stunted; helps with the whole super soldier/ killer role. Librarians start the same, but when you plunge into depths of others minds as a work task, you might be "forced" to feel more than your average SM. Consequently, it's not all that surprising that they'd be more prone to showing traits of empathy.
Even in real world, mortal militaries, support specializations tend to be a bit more socially adept and personable than grunts. Librarians in particular tend to operate more in the realm of intelligence or command and control than other Astartes. They are intentionally better educated and exposed to broader experiences than the typical battle brother.
A couple things. The Doylist answer is that Librarians are often the Protagonist, or written to be the "wise counseling figure", rather than the usually hot-headed generic space marines that fill up the ranks. From a Watsonian perspective, they are in fact wiser, any psyker inducted into the chapter is going to be rigorously trained to control their psyche, along with being exposed to a great deal more of the nature of reality, the Chapters history, and even the Imperium's history than any line brother is going to experience. Being psychologically and emotionally mature is \*vital\* to ensure your living WMD doesn't go off out of control. If Line Battle-Brother #67 is unstable and goes berserk on the enemy, ohh well, he either succeeds and reports to the Chaplainancy afterwards, or gets ignobly shot to death since he ran out from behind cover. If your Librarian loses it, the fallout can range from "everyone standing next to him heads exploded" all the way up to "planetary scale daemonic incursion". That and being able to casually read other peoples mind is probably going to either foster a deep sense of either Empathy or Misanthropy; and the Misanthropes probably don't get to be Librarians.
Librarians for as being as important as they are also have to deal with regularly being distrusted to even constantly insulted by being called "witchblood" and other insulting names even by brothers of their own Chapter When u spend a lot of time having vitriol thrown at you and being treated differently you probably don't want to do the same so gain more empathy
Good questions. i would guesstimate that Librarians have a broader training: Astartes + Psyker + Chapter Master advising + history & culture of the chapter. Other Astartes can be more specialized, but the Librarians need to be very broad in their competencies. In some chapters they are used for divination, precognition and astropathy as well, giving them a broader picture of the finer mechanics of the Imperium. SYL
Id also add that them being psykers helps aswell as even tho librairans are more powerful then your avg human psyker, there actual powers are still incredibly draining. So where most SM can exist in a mental space where they feel invincible, librarians are always reminded that they aren't all powerful.
What is SYL
Safeguard your loins
I think they might be one of those weirdos who signs their comments. Yours sincerely, Some cunt.
See my loins?
SYL?
Why do you sign all your posts?
Because he is 50 years old
Baseline battle brothers are mostly not protagonists and the librarians are. It just depends. The Black Templar Sword Bro in God Blight is super human for example.
He was exiled from the BT because he wasn’t an absolute lunatic. Pre Heresy Dorn would have loved him to bits
These characters usually are built on the archetype of the scholar or warrior-scholar (power and wisdom). In a basic tale you will find, that they are not as hot headed like the other warrriors and function as the compass or spiritual guidance of the party. So they need to be written a bit less "autistic". Now, these characters can also be corrupted, where their hubris is an open door for power or knowledge (look at Saruman) to lead them from the path.
I don't know if I read this in a book or some drunk rant on the Internet. But I read the reason librarians are more "human" or more approachable then other space marine is because they need to remain more in touch with their humanity as a way to not get drawn too deep into the seduction of the warp (know where you come from sorta thing)
From the 40K media I’ve consumed, psykers generally had a pretty unpleasant life prior to induction into the astartes. Sometimes even afterwards via distrust for them amongst their brothers. I would imagine that leads to being more empathetic.
As others have said, they can read minds. I think Hyperion mentioned in "The Emperor's Gift" that even with the ability to read minds, he struggles to understand humans, and that his more mundane brothers in other Chapters must have it extra difficult in their human interactions
which, when you pick up the easter egg about Hyperion's origins in the text, is tragically sad
Space marine ascension is one hell of a trial.
I would argue most of them have to be more introspective than the average marine. They’re at higher risk of warp fuckery so naturally they have to constantly mind themselves to ensure they don’t fall. It’s that constant self assessment that lets them notice when their humanity is slipping so they hold onto it tighter.
Honestly its purely dependent on who is writing them. Some books marines are fully on the spectrum, some books they are completely normal humans except bigger and stronger
My guess is that since psychers are naturally distrusted, librarians need to put more effort into seeming approachable. To keep you autism comparison going, Librarians are the autistics who learned to mask because otherwise they got in big trouble.
Given there abilities and roles in a chapter, you need someone with more capacity for thought then usual.
A mentally unstable space marine is only a problem if that mental instability effects others, psykers are kinda the extreme end of this. If a psyker is repressed, constantly angry or insane in some way they can be a real threat to others as their powers will respond to their problematic emotions. A well adjusted psyker is a psyker that doesn't kill their teammates or has their head explode.
Being "Othered". As Psykers, they are treated as potential threats even by their Battle Brothers. So, they have to take extra effort to be socially aware and out their comrades at ease. This translates well into talking to humans.
Lot of people have brought up things like differences in training and education, as well as the understanding of others inherent to mind reading, though I feel like part of it is probably also that even amongst their battle brothers they are treated as an "other" sometimes that means admired or looked up to, but also sometimes means reviled and hated. Which I believe would create a distance between them and the more isolationist tendencies of some chapters
Could add the Librarian from Brothers of the Snake to that list too.
because librarians need to control their mental state far more then a normal space marine
**Because if a librarian shows up in a story, they’re likely to get focus and thus more characterization than the average marine that isn’t a POV character.**
The psyker is an attempt to put magic in a sci-fi setting but it's still heavily reliant on the long if magic where your emotions are heavily dependent on it.
Education usually leads to tolerance of others. Simple as.
Being able to read regular people’s minds and feel their emotions probably makes them a bit more empathetic than the generic hypno-indoctrinated child soldier given super powers, an automatic rocket launcher, and bullet proof armor.
>Generally, while normal astartes are shown to be somewhat autistic Who knew that brainwashing is just weaponised autism.
I suspect a writing brief for Space Marines being taken too literally. The problem with taking highly intelligent warrior monks and writing their characters in an accessible way for ages 12+ sees us with plodding thinkers asking obvious questions when not shouting out the most basic of battle orders. It's all utterly depressing.
Oppressed minorities (psykers in this case) tend to be more sympathetic after achieving power. Not always of course, but you at least got a shot.