123ABIR123: Thank you.

Inquisition77: Your opinion met a large consensus.

drubengene: Thank you, I also think my first chapter is a good introduction to the dark future of Warhammer 40k.

ZE GOD HAND: I'm not very interested in a "large audience", I write for my pleasure and for the pleasure of the reader not for fueling my ego.

A crossover between Saga of Tanya the Evil and Warhammer 40k can only be classified as 'horror'... thinks of this: Tanya in charge of a guardsman unit with her signature twisted smile... in a world without a law of war and beside her a psychopathic Imperial Commissar yelling: "Kill all mutants, heretics, and Xenos!"... It's absolutely terrifying! A promise of full madness without any sort of restraint!

Not so fast. No meeting with the Emperor was scheduled for this chapter. Tanya is only 7 years old and will firstly face the Adeptus Astra Telepathica and the inquisition, and then follow her training as Psyker before meeting the Emperor.

I admit, however, that the meeting with the Emperor is probably the passage that may cause me the most problem with lore and fans... Of all that I have written and of all that I am about to write, it is probably the best thing to get me a bombardment of rotten fruit.

Imperial Stormtrooper: Everyone seems to think that the Emperor will like Tanya, I think I'll go along with that opinion.

Grocamol: Thank you.

MSala: Thank you, I hope you like this chapter.

Boyzilla: Thank you, let us hope above all that the God-Emperor does not decide to use Tanya as the ultimate weapon to defeat the heretics, the mutants, and the Xenos... Oops, I think that's exactly what's going to the Emperor's obsessions, there's probably no room for anything else in his head.

Cat Eyes In The Night: I'm not like this, when I start something I finish it... at least when I have support.

Jctherebel: Thank you.

Thanks also to all the other commentators I didn't answer directly.

Author's note: The Quadrivir of the Obsidian Keep are non-canon characters created by the author, but they are based on famous men and women from the history of humanity. Do you recognize them? What do you mean... I chose four examples of the very worst of that humanity has to offer? Me? You're sure? Oh, bad luck for poor little Tanya. * Evil laughter*

You will have noticed - of course- that this second chapter was written a few days after the first. It was above all a way to respond to the enthusiastic welcome of the readers. Nevertheless, I write several other FanFiction, and even this new story is my actual priority, I do not stop writing my other stories. Therefore, future updates will be slower.

Update of 10/28/2021: correction of some spelling errors and correction of an anachronism that two reviewers reported to me.

Chapter 2

Obsidian Keep

Terra was the capital of the Imperial of Mankind.

A place no doubt impressive, so many things were told, so many legends often contradictory. Unfortunately, the prisoner sitting in the back of the shuttle was not there for tourism. As the ship descended towards what had been the North of India, Tanya Degurechaff discovered through the window a yellowish and brown world, damaged by unbridled industrial production and an eternity of internal wars, before being definitively assassinated by Horus the Heresiarch when his fleet had bombed Terra from orbit, ten millennia earlier.

The Himalayan massif was no longer visible. The mountains had been covered by a succession of Gothic buildings decorated with gold and covered with statues. The shuttle bypassed the Sanctum Imperialis, erected in the place of what had once been Mount Everest, flying over the Avenue of Sacrifice, an immense suspended road flanked by a procession of statues. The bridge-shaped avenue was as straight as a sword and ended at the entrance to the titanic gold pyramid of the imperial palace.
All around the avenue were huge Gothic skyscrapers similar to cathedral spires. The walls were adorned with statues and sparkling lights. The luxury was incredible. There were more precious materials used in the exterior decoration of one of these palaces than many supposedly rich planets could produce in a year.

The shuttle eventually approaches one of these spires. It had the same Gothic appearance as the other skyscrapers but its black color made it much more sinister. At least the other buildings sparkled with gold and bronze, while their windows were covered with stained-glass windows. But the aptly named Obsidian Keep was just a prison. The only decoration on the walls was the emblem of Adeptus Astra Telepathica: a capital I superimposed on an open eye. Here were formed the Astropaths and the Sanctioned Psykers of the Imperium.

As soon as the shuttle landed on a terrace, Tanya was pushed into the long corridors of the building by four Sisters of Battle. She was taken without a word to a cell. Once the Gellar Field was activated, Tanya found herself alone again.

Her gaze lingered on the room. There was a real bed, a narrow closet, a work table with a computer keyboard, and several ogival window-shaped screens. Next, the reincarnate salaryman can see empty shelves. Tanya pushed the door at the end of the room and discovered a toilet, a shower, and a sink.

Compared to her previous life, the place looked like nothing but a prison cell... but it was luxurious compared to the orphanage.

Tanya rebuked a smile.

It was not a big thing, but it was already the first step towards a better life, sheltered from vicissitudes.

Intrigued, the little girl approached the computer... no mouse, no buttons to turn on or off. Some screens broadcast texts that paraded vertically... prayers. So what did she expect? Of course, it could only be prayers! The Adeptus Astra Telepathica was a state institution in a theocracy.

Tanya typed a few words on the keyboard, she saw them appear on the central screen but without any other result. Since her reincarnation, she had never seen a computer and it was very different from those that the Salaryman had used in her previous life.

Tanya Degurechaff had a twisted smile. Well, finding out how this device worked would make her busy. She was bored during the whole trip, having nothing to do but watch the patrols of Battle Sisters or... pray (yuck!).

Several days passed before the case of 'Tanya Degurechaff' moved up the entire administrative apparatus and finally reached the leaders, literally at the top of the Obsidian Keep.

The summit of the Obsidian Keep was occupied by a vast hall in the shape of an arena. Rows of benches were filled with monks in red robes, while four pillars on the edge of the pit were filled with sorts of platforms occupied by high carved cathedra (bishop's throne), surrounded by screens, computer keyboards, and various means of communication.

The first of these cathedrae was occupied by an elderly and obese woman but nevertheless dressed in armor, the Matriarch Elena Petrovna Blavatsky, Knight-Commander of the Silent Sisterhood, was the representative of her Order of Psyker but also of the recruitment body of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica know as the Departmento Investigates or, in Low Gothic, League of Blackships.

The second cathedra was occupied by an old Psyker with a black dress and shaved head. His face was bony and his sunken eyes were marked by lack of sleep, fasting, and self-mortifications. His forehead was adorned with a sort of crown of thorns, a bionic apparatus that amplified his Psyker abilities. In his hand, he pressed a long staff braided with cables and crowned by an Imperial Aquila covered with electric lightning. He was Master Allor Allora, responsible for the Scholastica Psykana, the training body of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica.

The third cathedra was occupied by Abbess Valeria Vitrix of the Adeptas Sororitas, a mature woman wearing heavily adorned gold armor. Half her face had been destroyed and a glowing cybernetic camera replaced her lost eyeball.

As for the last cathedra, the one who sat there wore a red dress under a plastron decorated in a macabre way, as well as a black coat with green epaulets. He was wearing a red mitre decorated with a golden skull and he held in his hand a large staff crowned by a skull surrounded by lightning. This rather frightening outfit did not correspond to the rickety physique of this little man with a bald head and a sickly weasel's face. Is name was Heinrich Kramer Institoris, Grand Inquisitor.

These four characters known as Quadrivir represented the collegial authority ruling the Adeptus Astra Telepathica... However they were not equal, the supreme authority was Heinrich Kramer Institoris. Abbess Vitrix commanded only the Battle Sisters in charge of the defense of the recruiting ships and the real estate of the order, as for Allora and Blavatsky their authority did not exceed the limits of their own departments.

After sending out some routine business, Heinrich Kramer Institoris pressed a button:

"All right, bring in this Tanya Degurechaff."

Dressed in the grey dress that was the uniform of the Psykers novices, Tanya walked surrounded by four Battle Sisters. The five girls followed a long corridor plunged into darkness and echoed rumors of a choir singing the praises of the God-Emperor in High Gothic.

In front of them was a servo-skull, a small flying robot with the appearance of a skull that was also a mobile torch. The fire that burned in a twisted metal receptacle resembling a crown was the only source of light if one forgot the lighted candles around the icons and statues that lined up along the walls.
Intrigued, Tanya looked around. During her previous life, she had developed a keen interest in history, particularly military history. And this long corridor was a sort of museum gallery. The paintings alternated with the statues and something even libraries housing a few dozen old incunabula, huge books with leather covers reinforced by metal frames.

Yet one could not forget that the Obsidian Keep was not just a monastery. It was mainly a training center for astropathy and other Psykers disciplines. Between the works of art appeared command panels, and the corridor was regularly blocked by Gellar Fields. With so many novices Psykers gathering in the same place, such a precaution was probably necessary. But the presence of light bolter turrets in the ceiling was probably only paranoid.

Finally, they reached their goal, the arena where the Quadrivir sat.

Heinrich Kramer Institoris leaned forward:

"So this is the heretic!"

The announcement instantly froze Tanya's heart. But before the Grand Inquisitor could say anything more, Blavatsky had straightened herself out:

"Heinrich, that's what we need to figure out. Don't go back to convicting people at the start of a trial! There's a procedure to follow."

The sickly weasel cast a furious look at the fat woman:

"I am an Inquisitor, I have ALL the rights. And if I say that Tanya Degurechaff is a heretic, I am right."

There was a brief moment of silence, and then a strange sound... a sort of gurgling... rose before ending with a wild laugh. Tanya turned to Master Allor Allora. The Psyker grotesquely contorted himself in his cathedra, holding his jaw with one hand, the other lying on his head:

"Ah... ehehe... ihi... Heretic... burn the heretic... for the God-Emperor... ahahah... heheh... purify... purify..."
The other three Quadrivir gave him a slightly irritated look, then forgot him... they were used to Psyker's dementia attacks.

Blavatsky and Kramer argued like schoolchildren for a few minutes. Finally, to have peace, the Grand Inquisitor agreed to respect the procedure and to condemn Tanya only at the end of the trial.
In a bad mood, Heinrich Kramer Institoris pulled the files of heretic Tanya Degurechaff... pious and hard-working, pooh! ... Everyone could pretend and a whole life to praise the God-Emperor could not compensate for a single second of doubt.

He straightened himself up:

"I have studied the trial documents and I propose that we put Tanya Degurechaff faith to the test. This is the simplest way to determine her guilt."

Behind him the choir of the monks began to sing in High Gothic:

"Innocentia non est. Gradus tantum culpae."

The other three Quadrivir agreed. Kramer smiled. He continued:

"I propose that we chain the heretic... Tanya Degurechaff" he corrected "and that we throw her in a pool. If she comes up, it's proof that she's a witch. If she drowns, she's not a witch."

Abbess Valeria Vitrix replied:

"There is nothing like a fire to purify heretics."

Allora began to moan and wring again, his eyes burning with fever:

"Ahah... ehehe... hiii... burns the heretic... purify the galaxy..."

"Let's get the pyre ready," Kramer agreed.

"And if Tanya Degurechaff drowns," replied Blavatsky.

It took more than that to upset the Grand Inquisitor:

"We'll find another heretic. I've never wasted a good pyre."

The reincarnate salaryman opened wide horrified eyes, shocked by the absurdity of the situation. Tanya had fallen into a den of psychotic freaks! They didn't care if she was guilty or innocent. They only fought over whether to burn her alive before or after she was drowned!

Krammer opened his mouth to order the Sisters of Battle to take away the heretic... err the defendant Tanya Degurechaff... to her trial, but a sudden commotion was heard. The members of the Adeptas Sororitas who defended the main entrance were stunned and then knelt down.

Nine men appeared, and it was they who caused this fuss, a mixture of surprise, childish joy, and a secret terror. The men are clad in golden auramite-alloy-reinforced power-armor. Eight of the men in armor had helmets with a plume of red horsehair that hid their face and held a powered-spear in hand. Apparently, they were the ninth man's escort. The ninth man has the face uncovered, but a halo of gold and steel was part of his armor. A purple cape enveloped his shoulders and fell back to his heels.

Without anyone thinking of stopping them, the men crossed the arena and stopped near Tanya, amazed... and forced to kneel by the Battle Sisters who surrounded her.

The leader of the newcomers turned to Heinrich Kramer Institoris:

"Do you recognize me, Grand Inquisitor?"

The man on the cathedra was white as a hospital sheet, surprised and confused:

"You... you are... the captain-general of the Legio Custodes."

There was a murmur among the monks. Most of them had not recognized the armor... they were so rarely seen outside the Imperial Palace! But these men were members of the Adeptus Custodes, the bodyguards of the God-Emperor, members of an army corps even more sacred than the Adeptus Astartes. The members of the Adeptus Custodes fulfilled the most important duty of the entire Imperium of Man to protect the sacred body of the Immortal God-Emperor. They enjoyed the privilege of remaining in the infinite bliss of His Sublime Presence. Even more, they were elected to receive the Holy Blood of the Emperor and thus to know immortality.

Constantin Valdor only glanced at the Quadrivir before taking an interest in Tanya. The legendary warrior watched her for long seconds. Then, the captain-general's interest disappeared, and he turned to Kramer:

"I'm here on orders from the Emperor-God."

Rolling out a phylactery of parchment, the captain-general began to declare:

"Terra, Capitol of the Imperium of Man, 997.M41 (1)

Me, the God-Emperor of the Mankind, hereby edict declares that the Psyker Tanya Degurechaff of Armageddon must be immediately integrated at the Scholastica Psykana. It is my hope that the so-called Tanya Degurechaff will receive the best instruction and the best teachers. It is in the best interests of mankind that Degurechaff may receive my Soul-Bound within a year. Failure is not allowed.
Any negligence or refusal to obey this order will be followed immediately by the worst penalties.

By the hand of my secretary, Brother Claudius Sisterius from the Adeptus Mechanicus, and by my seal.

The Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind."

A stupefied silence had fallen down over the assembly.

Once again winding the phylactery of parchment, the captain-general turned around and left without uttering an additional word. When he had left the arena, all eyes turned to Tanya.

A hubbub of confused conversations was heard.

Who was she to have the God-Emperor dedicate some of his precious moments to her? The God-Emperor was the most powerful Psyker in human history, said to be omniscient and able to see the future. His mind was so powerful that it served as a beacon for the Astropaths throughout the galaxy... what had he see so special about this seven-year-old girl?

Kramer was the first to recover from the shock:

"Praised be the Emperor!"

And the choir of the monks began to sing:

"Non nobis, non nobis, Deus Imperator, sed sua ta da gloriam."

It was way too much for Tanya.

At one moment she was promised a horrible death and the next moment this band of lunatics looked at her as if she were some kind of saint...

This world was completely fucked up!

The next day, Tanya joined the Scholastica Psykana.

The remaining students were mostly children aged 7 to 12. Most adults, except soldiers who had shown great loyalty before discovering their gifts, had been classified as heretics and burned. What, in the Imperium of Man, seemed to be the answer to all the questions...

Children, therefore, were the bulk of the students. And the reason they were preferred was very simple. At this age, the mind was still very malleable and could easily be indoctrinated.

As for the method, it had nothing new.

The legendary legislator Lycurgus, creator of Spartan institutions, already used similar methods.

Divided into three age groups, the children were exposed to suffering and heavy physical and mental exertion.
Individually, the children were pushed to take the lead of their group and thus to show that they were better Psykers than their classmates.

Collectively, the children had to work together to enable their group to be better rated by the teachers.
Children were never left alone and unattended. Teachers followed them around, punishing the slightest slip-up. The discipline was rigorous and the children were encouraged to brutalize the worst-performing students and to denounce their peers. All individuality was banished to the benefit of the group spirit.

They received very strict training to ensure that their gifts flourished. The best were rewarded, the worst received corporal punishment or even deprivation of food or sleep. The time that the students did not spend developing their psionics gifts was spent praying, practicing challenging physical training or learning the story of the Imperium of Man... Where of course the sacrifices made over generations were praised, in particular, that of the Emperor welded for ten thousand years to his throne of suffering.

Of course, any psychoanalyst would have pushed horror cries by discovering this education obviously not very adapted to child psychology.

But the teachers did not worry about the damage that the personality of future Psykers could suffer. They were only interested in the loyalty and competence of their victims. Loyalty to the God-Emperor was of course the most important point.

The teachers probed the mind of each student at least once a month in search of seditious thoughts, secret revolts. Woe to the student who faked his piety or hid rebellious ideas. Corporal punishments punished minor mistakes as in others cases... the culprits were never seen again.
No one knew what was happening to them and it was forbidden to ask the question.
As the teachers said, "Fear is loyalty."

The case of Tanya Degurechaff was particular.

Despite all their efforts, none of the teachers could read more than her superficial thoughts, not being able to probe her memory or her subconscious.

Of course, this peculiarity would have been enough to classify her as 'heretic' who... finally you must have grasped how the Imperium worked, she would have ended in a great bonfire. Nevertheless, the God-Emperor had demanded that Tanya become a Psyker and be led to the golden throne within a year. Then the Psykers obeyed, sometimes looking at Tanya with a mixture of distrust and... devotion that made the little girl uncomfortable.

After all the reincarnate salaryman was the first person not to understand why the Emperor had such demands.

The learning of Psyker abilities was - after devotion to the God-Emperor- the main thing taught to children.
We could divide the doctrines taught to children between Astropathy and... all the other disciplines.

Astropaths (short for "astro-telepath") serve throughout all the Imperium's many governmental divisions and make up a communication network designed to transmit and receive psychic messages through interstellar space.

The Astropaths were therefore a vital element of the political structure of the Imperium. Without their existence, it became impossible to communicate at long distances. Communications would be limited to couriers traveling through the galaxy. Messages would take months or even years to arrive at their destination. In practice, each sector of the Imperium of Man would be defended only by local forces, with reinforcements arriving long after the battle. Needless to say, the Imperium would disintegrate in a few generations without the help of the Astropaths.
Besides Telepathy, the other disciplines were: Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, and Telekinesis.

Biomancers specialize in manipulating biological energy and processes with the power of their minds. They are masters of the flesh, learning to shape and influence their own physical forms, or the flesh of their allies or their enemies alike, according to their will.

Diviners seek to discern the hidden past of the galaxy and know the course of events yet to come. Diviners can look into the twisting strands of the Immaterium in search of the answers they seek, and sometimes even influence the outcome of fate itself.

A pyromancer is a master of fire and flame, a Psyker who is able to create searing infernos out of thin air. Pyromancy is one of the most spectacular and destructive forms of psychic ability, and those who face a pyromancer in combat are often reduced to a pile of charred bones.

Telekines are able to manipulate the matter with the power of their minds, translating sheer mental power into physical force. These Psykers can slash their foes with psychic energy, erect invisible force shields to protect themselves, and even rend apart the fabric of reality.

Of course, these were only the main disciplines of the Psykers, other rarer ones existed and were practiced by some subgroups of Psykers within the Imperium.

Some Psykers specialize in only one discipline, honing a few powers to the exclusion of all others. Others manifest a much broader range of psychic disciplines and abilities - in such cases, the Psyker will be able to generate powers from several psychic disciplines.

From the first day in the Scholastica Psykana, Tanya's abilities had been tested.
She had minor abilities in Telepathy, Biomancy, and Divination, and major abilities in Pyromancy and Telekinesis.
But Tanya's most amazing ability was her resistance to the abilities of the other Psionics. Normally only Pariahs (2), individuals completely devoid of any psionics ability had this faculty called null-psionic.
Her teachers were amazed by her results and speculated that the God-Emperor must have perceived that the little girl was extraordinary, perhaps even a whole new Psyker class, which explains the Emperor's interest.

Normally, it would take four to six years to train a Psyker.

But the maturity of Tanya Degurechaff and the presence of the best teachers made it possible for them to succeed in keeping up with the deadlines imposed on them by the Emperor.

One year to the day after her arrival on Terra, Tanya was to be presented at the Emperor of the Mankind.

(1) The exact dating of the events of the end of the 41st millennium and the beginning of the 42nd millennium is canonically uncertain because of the temporal fluctuation caused by the opening of the Eye of Terror. For the rest of this FanFic, the dates reflect my opinion, and nothing else.

(2) The Imperium's view of the Psykers is completely incoherent. Psykers are generally viewed with distrust or even hatred. Imperial propaganda portrays them as heretics, or easy to corrupt beings. And the Inquisition tells horrible fables often of pure inventions, but nevertheless taught to all: planet completely destroyed by a single Psyker lacking proper training, etc. But, at the same time, the God-Emperor is the most powerful human Psyker of all time, it is the very origin of its power and of its legend. The Imperium credo insists that it is the psionic power of the Emperor that protects humanity from Chaos corruption. The contradiction is enormous, is it not? And if the most gifted Psykers are often seen with hatred at the same time, people totally devoid of psionic powers are seen as sub-humans, literal outcasts, left behind by the evolution of the species.

The Imperium seems incapable of deciding once and for all whether the Psykers are "good" or "bad".

That said, the contradiction has never bothered the leaders of the Empire. The slogan of the leaders of the Imperium has always been: do what I say, not what I do.

Tanya is right, this world is completely fucked up!