The Scholastica Psykana is a brutal foundry in which those blessed – or cursed – with psychic talents are taught how to serve the Imperium. Witchbringer, the new novel from Black Library, finds a former Cadian officer trained in her unnatural powers and sent straight back to the front lines. Will her new skills keep her and her former colleagues alive?
Warhammer 40,000 fans are in for a treat with Witchbringer, which delves into a little-seen aspect of the Astra Militarum. We sat down with editor William Moss to get the lowdown on the new novel – the Black Library debut of author Stephen B. Fisher.
“Witchbringer is a story about coming home”, says William, “only to find that home has changed... and so have you. Our protagonist, Glavia Aerand, was an officer in a Cadian regiment when the Great Rift turned her preternatural good luck into a full-blown psychic awakening.”
Aerand only survived the emergence of newfound abilities* thanks to the intervention of her regiment’s attached Primaris Psyker – and was promptly packed off to the Scholastica Psykana, the Imperium’s premier institute for training dangerous, untrustworthy mutant witches into dangerous, somewhat-more-trustworthy sanctioned psykers.
“After surviving the horrors of the Scholastica Psykana, what happens when you get assigned back to your original regiment?” William asks. “What happens when you find that the friends and comrades you once had now view you with terror and suspicion, even as you’re marching through hell together?”
Matters are only made worse by the battlefield Aerand finds herself on – the haunting world of Visage, where even the morning fog may be out to eat your soul. “Stephen does an amazing job at putting you in Aerand’s headspace in this brutal, boots-on-the-ground Astra Militarum novel.”**
Thanks, William! Witchbringer will be available to pre-order later in the year, so sign up for the Black Library newsletter to keep up to date with the latest releases.
* Want a taste of what happens when a trooper has a psychic awakening? Read the free short story The Weak and the Strong.
** Explore how other Astra Militarum regiments fight in the Black Library novels Catachan Devil and Krieg.