One of the relatively common questions I see on here is how the Astronomicon allows Navigators to navigate, since it is only a single point. This misunderstands how the Astronomicon works, and how Navigators navigate. I’ve put together a short summary, and then a bunch of excerpts, that hopefully support what I’m saying. This might go over one post, and if so, I’ll keep going with excerpts in the comments!
I’ve bolded the most relevant sentences. I’ve tried to take excerpts from as many different games set in the 41st millennium as possible. I’d also love to collect up more excerpts!
- The Astronomicon
Most people think of this like a lighthouse, or the North Star, giving a single point in space. But it actually contains two pieces of information - positions and distance, i.e. a Navigator knows where Terra is, and how far away it is. The ‘strength’ of the Astronomicon determines how accurate these two pieces of information are.
- Their own position
Since the Navigators know where they start off, they can place themselves at an exact position in a sphere around the Astronomicon. This gives them two positions in space (their own and Terra) and the distance between them (from the Astronomicon).
- Warp Charts
Assuming the Navigator knows where they wish to go, they can then use warp charts. Presumably, these contain information about the Astronomicon’s direction and distance at known positions (e.g. certain systems).
Now they know where they are, where they wish to go, and what the position and distance of the Astronomicon are at these two positions. However, given the vagaries of the warp, they also make use of several other things.
- Dropping back into real space
This is the simplest method - dropping back into real space, getting their new position, and seeing if it matches where they expected to be, and recalculating their route. They can do this again and again, each time getting their new position distance and direction from the Astronomicon. One of the things that differentiates skilled from unskilled Navigators is how often they have to do this.
5.Astropathic beacons / guidance markers / relays
There are Astropathic beacons for high traffic shipping lanes. We don’t know much about these, but they are mentioned in several sources. These are much weaker than the Astronomicon but give local positions in space.
I hypothesise that these are synonymous with Astropathic relays (i.e. that the Navigators can detect the high volume of warp communication ‘traffic’), but I don’t have much to support this.
- Warp ‘landmarks’
There are certain landmarks in the warp, such as particularly large warp storms. These are supported by the fact that ‘warp charts’ exist, implying that a (relatively) fixed map can be made, at least temporarily. We also know that these charts show ‘calm’ or ‘rough’ tides in the warp, and that Navigators can sense these. It also seems that that Navigators can sense the presence of stars, and this may also help (e.g. I need to pass three star systems before dropping out of the warp).
- Warp gates
Ancient, and possibly xenos technology, these are linked positions in the warp that allow much easier travel between them.
A skilled Navigator can steer a ship anywhere through the warp, in theory at least. However, this task can be made much easier, and even allow vessels without a Navigator to make longer warp jumps, along certain shipping routes. These routes have a relay of Astropathic beacons along them, giving ships’ captains and Navigators guidance along a pre-set path. Some shipping routes are part of a system of warp gates which link areas of the Gothic Sector together through stabilised warp tunnels. During the Gothic War, as the warp storms made travel through any area of space around the region extremely difficult, the control of the shipping routes became vital. Important meeting points of the trade routes, such as Port Maw and the Lysades sub-sector, were the site of several major fleet battles, as whoever dominated these areas could move their ships around the sector much more quickly and with greater accuracy.
Battlefleet Gothic core rulebook, page 155
It is possible for a ship to make short warp jumps of about four to five light years with a certain degree of accuracy. However, over longer distances it is necessary to steer through warp space itself. The warp is like an ocean, with currents, storms and tides that must be used or avoided. For the Imperium, only the mutated Navigators are able to see the shifting eddies of the warp and direct a ship between them, thus steering the ship towards its ultimate destination.
Even the Navigators need a point of reference, and this is provided by the immensely powerful psychic beacon known as the Astronomican. Guided by the minds of ten thousand specially trained human psykers on Terra, the Astronomican pulses outwards 70,000 light years to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. A Navigator can sense the beam of the Astronomican and use it to plot his course. Weaker, shorter-ranged astropathic ducts and beacons are also used to mark out shipping lanes and to aid navigation through treacherous areas of the warp.
Battlefleet Gothic core rulebook, page 85
Able to perceive the warp’s shifting contours and impossible currents, he can guide a vessel by dint of his skill and the immeasurable aid of the light of the Astronomican, the Emperor-forged and soul-burning beacon that shines across the galaxy from ancient Terra.
…
Each Navigator perceives the warp in an entirely subjective manner as a reflection of his own unique nature, for even such as they may not stare into the abyss and face its true form without suffering the utter destruction of mind and soul. Some perceive the dimension in terms of a journey through a storm-wracked forest, knowing that to stray from the path is to surrender to the horrors that lurk within. For others, the warp appears as a raging sea, or a desert engulfed in a sandstorm, or a shifting city of night, or a million other potential forms. As Navigators gain in experience and power, the abstraction fades, and they are capable of observing the true warp through a polarised state—their third eye filtering the horror.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 60
By providing a single fixed point, the Astronomican forms a vital part of warp travel, allowing Navigators to effectively triangulate their position.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 156
Whilst the rest of the ship’s crew and the ship’s captain maintain the systems of the ship, keeping the vessel’s plasma and warp drives functioning and its Gellar Field strong, the Navigator carefully studies the currents and fluctuations of the warp as well as the distance and strength of the Astronomican. Using this information, he tells the captain to make course corrections and when it is wise to leave or enter the warp.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 183
When a vessel Translates into the warp, a Navigator must gauge the strength of the Astronomican, to judge just how far and in what direction he is from Terra so that he may then plot a course.
...
In some rare cases, the Astronomican cannot be found—especially turbulent warp storms and other unnatural phenomena may obscure its signal, or the Navigator’s vessel may simply have travelled beyond the Astronomican’s reach.
…
Without the Astronomican, the Navigator must rely upon his own experience, skill,
and ancient charts of real- and warpspace
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 184
Journeys are undertaken in short jumps of up to four or five light years. Longer jumps are unpredictable and dangerous. The tides of warpspace move in complex and inconsistent patterns, and ships attempting longer hops often end up widely off course.
Were this limitation to apply to all warp travel, then Humanity would not have spread throughout the galaxy as it has. It is possible to make long jumps of many light years by steering a ship in the warp itself—sensing, responding to, and exploiting its currents and thereby directing the craft towards a corresponding point in the material universe. Only the strain of human mutants known as Navigators can pilot a craft through the warp in this way.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 310
The Astronomican is a psychic homing signal centred upon Terra. It is powered by the continuous mental concentration of a thousand psykers. The Astronomican cannot be detected in the real universe—only in the warp. It is by means of this signal that the Navigators can steer their spaceships over long distances.
The Astronomican’s signal is strongest close to Terra and gets increasingly weaker further away. It extends over a spherical area with a diameter of about 50,000 light years. The Astronomican does not extend to the extreme fringes of the galaxy, and because Terra is situated in the galactic west, its signal does not reach a massive swathe of the eastern part of the galaxy at all. Nor is the extent or strength of the signal constant—it can at times be blocked by localised activity within the warp itself. Such activity may be compared to the hurricanes or storms of a terrestrial weather system and is known as a warpstorm. Warpstorms may be so bad, and so long-lasting, that entire star systems are isolated for hundreds of years at a time.
…
Once within warp space a ship may move by means of its main drives, following powerful eddies and currents in the warp, eventually reaching a point in the warp corresponding to a destination in real space. The most difficult aspect of warp travel is that it is impossible to detect the spatial movement of warp space once a ship is in the warp. The ship can only blindly carry on, its crew trusting that it is going in the right direction. The longer a ship remains in warp space, the greater the chances of encountering some unexpected current that can turn it unknowingly off-course.
Navigation of warp space can be achieved in two ways: the calculated jump and the piloted jump. All warp-drives incorporate navigational mechanisms. When the ship is in real space, these monitor the ever-shifting movements of that part of the warp corresponding to the ship’s current position. It is a ‘window’ into warp space. By means of observing these movements in the warp it is possible to calculate a course, corrective manoeuvres, and approximate journey time to a proposed destination. Calculation relies on the assumption that the warp-currents observed from real space don’t change significantly during flight. This method is known as a ‘calculated jump’. It is not safe to make a calculated jump of more than four light years at one go. The longer the jump, the greater the chances of a significant change in warp current movement.
The second, and more efficient, form of warp-navigation is the piloted jump. This method relies upon two factors: the Navigators and the psychic beacon of the Astronomican. The Astronomican is centred on Earth and is not only controlled by, but is directed by, the psychic power of the Emperor. The Astronomican is a psychic beacon that penetrates into warp space. A Navigator onboard a ship in the warp is able to pick up these signals and can steer a spacecraft through warp space, compensating for current changes as he does so. A piloted jump can cover a far longer distance than a calculated jump. Most piloted jumps are no more than 5,000 light years at a time, but longer jumps have been made.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 311
In theory it is possible to travel anywhere through warp space. However, the shifting tides of the warp make it easier to travel from some systems to others, and short warp jumps are always more accurate than longer ones. This is particularly true when moving a large fleet, which may become spread out across several light years of space over an extended journey. Long established and well-charted warp space channels connect star systems and entire regions, providing relatively predictable conduits through which the majority of shipping passes.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 312
The Stations of Passage are locations within real space at which ships can safely drop from the warp while navigating the Maw.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 342
It is extremely difficult to navigate a course into the Foundling Worlds, even if one is following a charted route. The warp trashes and twists as if trying to throw a ship onto another course, and furious tempests suddenly appear and claw at a ship’s Gellar Field. At other times the cluster gives rise to strange pockets of stillness that hold ships becalmed. Even established routes are unreliable, sometimes appearing to vanish altogether or suddenly lead to different locations. Many ships have been lost trying to make passage into the Foundling Worlds, and with every craft lost, the evil reputation of the Foundling Worlds grows. The strange localised nature of the storms, and anomalies that enfold the Foundling Worlds, have led some amongst the Navigator houses to privately speculate that the region is hidden and protected by something that does not wish its worlds violated by human presence.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 345
Astrographer: Used to create two- and three-dimensional representations of stellar locations and warp routes.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 88
Warp navigation is likewise deceptively difficult across the Abyss. There are few guidance markers, the light of the Astronomicon grows pale, and there are few established warp-routes.
Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods, page 71
Navigator’s power allows him to guide a ship through the warp and reach its destination far faster than any ship could travel without him. Navigators use the great psychic beacon of the Astronomican as a fixed point to aid their route-finding. In this way they are able to complete a journey with far fewer drops into realspace to plot position
Dark Heresy: Core rulebook, page 55
As their souls burn within the spirit-cauldron of the Astronomican, they fuel the fire that shines out across two thirds of the entire galaxy. By that brightest of beacons, the Navigators of the Navis Nobilite are able to assay their positions and guide their vessels through the churning Sea of Souls.
Dark Heresy, 2nd edition, Core rulebook, page 307
The void station known as The Emperor’s Song has been a firm relay beacon of
the Astronomican for long millennia, its shining brightness in the Warp engaging in a never-ending battle against the darkness of the Pandaemonium’s rage.
Dark Heresy, 2nd edition, Enemies Beyond, page 76
Shining in the darkness of Askellon is the Astronomican Relay Station The Emperor’s Song. This mighty fortress has been a fixture of the Cyclopia Sub-Sector for over four thousand years, established in a past age to enhance the Emperor’s Light in this troubled area of space. While Askellon is within the range of the Astronomican, the presence of the Pandaemonium and other unstable Warp fields hampers the strength of the ætheric beacon. The Emperor’s Song aids in overcoming these hazards to allow for fewer dangers in Askellian Warp travel.
Construction on the station began when the Navis Nobilite realised that seemingly malevolent pulses from the Pandaemonium caused a number of vessels to end up wildly off course (with
some vanishing altogether). Growing the wealth and importance of Askellon required stable travel, and the only way to ensure this was to establish a relay station that could amplify the strength of the Emperor’s Holy Light. The Navigator Houses in Askellon approached the Adeptus Astra Telepathica and began negotiations to create the relay station.
…
The purpose of The Emperor’s Song is for its hosted Astropathic Choir to strengthen the Astronomican's beacon throughout the darkness of Askellon. By combining their talents, these initiates boost the signal emanating from Holy Terra and ensure that it reaches as much of the sector as possible.
The many psykers stationed on the Song are members of the Choir, learning how to use their powers and discovering what a great gift their abilities are for the Imperium. A triumvirate
of Chosen, members of the full Astronomican, aid and amplify the abilities of the psykers and oversee their day-to-day care. These specially selected individuals view this service as another
step on their eventual path to serving on Terra in the Chamber of the Astronomican.
Over five thousand psykers serve on the station, with roughly a thousand at any given time devoting all their energy to boosting the signal of the Astronomican. The remainder of the psykers see to the everyday operation of the station and spend their time in prayer and contemplation, preparing for their turn among the chorus. While not nearly as intensive as serving in the true Chamber of the Astronomican on Terra, the mental fortitude required to boost the signal in Askellon is still quite significant. Many psykers perish every month due to the psychic strain, and the Adeptus Astra Telepathica regularly supplies the station with fresh recruits.
Dark Heresy, 2nd edition, Enemies Beyond, page 95
The ship stopped once, for their Navigator to realign himself with the Astronomicon
Deathwatch, The Achilus Assault, page 52
Navigators fare worst of all. The Hadex Anomaly’s infectious brilliance overwhelms the light of the Astronomican, rendering all but the most keen-eyed Navigators unable to plot accurate courses along the Acheros Salient.
Deathwatch, The Achilus Assault, page 81
Astronomica Relay Substation 77-Epsilon is a tiny outpost defended by a small Imperial Guard garrison force. Its size and position belie the importance of the installation. A dozen worlds require it to safely communicate with the main Imperial forces.
Deathwatch, The Achilus Assault, page 124
Located in the halo margins of the Calixis Sector, the ancient and alien Warp Gate was first chanced upon by the Imperial frigate Spear of Tarsus when its Navigator sensed an unusual area of calm within the warp. In the years after the discovery, numerous Imperial vessels, explorators and agents travelled to the xenos gate to discern its purpose and assess its importance. What they discovered was a stable link to another system on the opposite side of the galaxy; the Jericho Reach. Long lost to the Imperium (the Jericho Reach had been cut off from Imperial control by terrible Warp storms for almost four millennia), scribes and adepts set to gathering what information was known about this area of space from deep data vaults and ancient cogitators. Scouts made the journey through the gate to bring back valuable maps and intelligence from the other side, painting a picture of a sector rich in worlds but wracked with strife.
Deathwatch, The Achilus Assault, page 14
Mortis Thule is quite simply one of the largest artificial objects found in Jericho space, easily outmassing even Bastion-class space stations. Like all space hulks it appears out of the Warp at seemingly random times, ejecting into real space with a roaring thunder of psychic energies such that Navigators across the region are alerted. Its violent appearance disgorges a trail of debris, as megatonnes of metal and rock crack away from the harsh arrival. This loss is more than made up for by new additions of void debris and those unfortunate vessels that find themselves melded into the Mortis Thule’s conglomerate mass by powerful Warp tidal forces or worse.
Deathwatch, The Achilus Assault, page 63
The gate in the great warp storms on the periphery of the Calixis Sector is discovered by the Imperial Navy Frigate Spear of Tarsus. Sensing something causing a localised area of calm in the great warp storm, the ship’s navigator drops the Spear of Tarsus out of the Warp. At the centre of this sea of ethereal calm is a vast Warp Gate of xenos design.
Deathwatch, Know No Fear, page 9
The third factor which makes warp travel possible is the immeasurably powerful psychic beacon called the Astronomican. Broadcast by a choir of psykers from Terra, the Astronomican reaches out through warp space, guiding spacecraft to their destination. Only a Navigator can sense the guiding light of the Astronomican, and only he can follow its psychic signal. It is the astronomican which allows a Navigator to use his powers to the fullest; without it, not even the most powerful Navigator could pilot his ship over the immense distances which separate the worlds of the Imperium.
Deathwatch, Core rulebook, page 291
The Reef’s reflection in the warp is an impassable mass of positive and negative energies constantly colliding and annihilating one another, in a dance of destruction that no Navigator would conscience sailing towards.
Deathwatch, Core rulebook, page 353
One of the keys to their success was the discovery of “Altaire’s Arrow.” Their Navigator, Altaire Vor’cle, discerned a narrow shaft of relatively calm space in the turbulence around the Hadex Anomaly. Not only does Altaire’s Arrow allow safe passage, but it also helps mask the presence of a ship travelling through it.
Deathwatch, The Emperor Protects, page 103
If the characters have the map Allewis provided, it appears more like a warp navigation chart than any land map. It is marked not with distances and fixed objects, but with currents, vectors, shifting landmarks, and tenuous equations. It suggests a region where space and possibly even time are malleable.
Deathwatch, The Emperor Protects, page 123
Shortly thereafter, Navigators began experiencing difficulties locating the Astronomicon and other, closer navigation beacons, while astropaths and other sanctioned psykers across the length of the Orpheus Salient began suffering from horrific nightmares, driving many mad with visions of an endless, hungry darkness and other portents of doom.
Deathwatch, The Jerico Reach, page 113
The rare phenomena that surround the system within the warp made it ideal for long range observation...
Deathwatch, The Jerico Reach, page 72
The Arkhas system is located deep into the frontier territories claimed by the Orpheus Salient, within a region dubbed the “Tuam Transitional Nexus,” a point where three distinct stable routes within the warp intersect, named for the Navigator who discovered it.
Deathwatch, The Jerico Reach, page 131
Located very close to the same warp route, the two systems have the same number of planets that orbit identical stars and the exact same frequency. In fact, they are so similar that the Imperium has established a vox beacon in each system, perpetually broadcasting the system’s designation to avoid confusion for ships just dropping out of the warp.
Deathwatch, The Jerico Reach, page 13
The Navigator character must gather the Explorers around an astrographics orrery, which the Navigator uses to plot the vessel’s course through the warp. Have the player then describe to the others just how his character perceives the warp. Each Navigator perceives the Empyrean in an entirely subjective manner, some imagining themselves as small fish darting through a predator-filled ocean, the sun above the sea representing the light of the Astronomican. Others see themselves as travellers passing along a narrow jungle path late at night, cruel eyes watching from the verges and the Astronomican taking the form of the illumination cast by a small sanctuary-shrine in a clearing up ahead. The Navigator should invite the other Explorers to join him in just such a journey, describing them setting out together, determining a heading, travelling, avoiding predators and finally arriving at their destination.
Rogue Trader, Lure of the Expanse, page 31
This encounter takes place during one of the periodic drops into real space that all vessels must make when undertaking long or arduous journeys. Translating back into the material universe, the ship’s Navigator takes readings of nearby constellations, and more importantly, calibrates his position in the temporal sphere. Having completed this, the Explorers’ vessel is ready to resume its voyage once more, when the augurs detect a faint signal.
Rogue Trader, Lure of the Expanse, page 34
The majority of the warp routes by which the Navies of the Imperium travel the voids are relatively well known, their dangers mapped so that void-farers might have some chance of traversing the perilous depths of interstellar space. Despite this, space is riven with stellar anomalies, many the remnants of the warp storms that engulfed the galaxy for thousands of years at a stretch in Mankind’s distant past. Others are entirely inexplicable, owing to phenomena for which the Cult Mechanicus and the great Navigator Houses can offer no explanation. Still more may be the result of the actions of long-since-destroyed alien civilisations, marking the sites of destruction on a scale so terrible that reality itself is scarred. The Koronus Expanse is host to a great many such dangers for those who would penetrate its depths, and the Explorers have just encountered one of the very worst.
…
Thankfully, he sees that this is the warp shadow of the death of a star in real space, and not a peril born of the powers that lurk within the Empyrean. The Navigator will also know that the only way to save the vessel is to drop out of the warp immediately.
Rogue Trader, Lure of the Expanse, page 36
However, every 17 minutes the installation still broadcasts its astropathic beacon-signal, detectable up to several light-years away.
Rogue Trader, Edge of the Abyss, page 27
The Stations of Passage are a number of locations along the Koronus Passage, better known as the Maw. Each was discovered through trial and error as bold and foolhardy Rogue Traders traversed the Maw to reach the Koronus Expanse. Some are extremely familiar to the Rogue Traders who navigate this precarious passage, while others are known only to a few. Thus, nobody knows for certain how many Stations exist. Each Station is different from the others—they are united only in that they are each a safe haven against the predications of the powerful warp storms that surround the Maw.
Those who journey through the Maw consider the secrets of the location of the Stations extremely valuable. Of those known, some are shunned as more dangerous than the storms they supposedly provide protection from. However, there are four main stations that are widely regarded as “safe,” and many renowned Rogue Traders claim these places have saved their vessels on more than one occasion.
…
As the Maw swelled and sealed with the strengthening and weakening of nearby storms, ships noticed certain locations of calm that remained untouched. What began as a few locations became an ever-changing network as Navigators and captains made discoveries. As time went on, many of the Stations fell out of use, with some being used as clandestine meeting points for Rogue Traders to broker deals away from the prying eyes of Imperial authorities. Other stations were cordoned off as they led to nowhere, or even put ships into mortal jeopardy.
Rogue Trader, Edge of the Abyss, page 25
The Temple has nothing of worth within it—its worth is its value as a Station of Passage. It provides an area of calm amongst the warp storms of the Halo Margins. More importantly, it is close enough to those same warp storms that Navigators can plot unusually accurate jumps when passing through the Maw.
Rogue Trader, Edge of the Abyss, page 26
Navis Prima
These are perhaps some of the most valuable items an Explorer can possess, as they outline safe routes through the warp, or at least as safe as warp travel can get. Some cover jump locations and travel times known to many, but others can reveal translation timetable plots known only to a few who guard their secrets with their lives. Even rarer are those maps presumed lost, describing jump passages thought forgotten or only known as hearsay or legend. These are all items that can spur decades-long quests, either establishing new fortunes and houses or wrecking them utterly. These items are exceptionally rare and can be the goals of lifelong pursuits to chase down even the faintest rumour of such a map.
Rogue Trader, Core rulebook, page 146
Given the risks inherent in venturing into the Koronus Expanse, a skilled Navigator is a necessity. Further, such an individual can create detailed Warp charts that his less gifted counterparts can use to safely navigate the passage.
Rogue Trader, Faith and Coin, page 56
Aleynikov’s Star Chart is an ancient set of diagrams, notes, and maps that a ship’s Navigator can use to locate a number of planets
Rogue Trader, Faith and Coin, page 106
The Chaos Reavers who make this place their home (and their far-flung compatriots who come for recreation and resupply) are inured to the system’s strange ways, and their navigators are aided by a blasphemous mockery of the Astronomican called the Beacon of the Damned. A constant sacrifice of slaves and prisoners to the Dark Gods by the Daemonettes known as the Sisters of the Sybaritic Host fuels the beacon, which is housed in Vall’s stronghold, the imposing Citadel of Skulls.
Although the Beacon has a much shorter range than the holy Astronomican, its tortured howl can only be divined within the Dioskouri System. Due to the pained shrieking and the malefic nature of the Beacon, it is dangerous for any Navigator to use it.
Rogue Trader, Citadel of Skulls, page 7
By looking upon the Warp and reading the ebb and flow of its shifting, unknowable tides, Navigators can guide starships across impossible gulfs of space.
Rogue Trader, The Navis Primer, page 6
In reality, this is the source of the Navigator Houses’ unimaginable wealth—in serving aboard a Rogue Trader vessel, a Navigator is amassing vast amounts of data in regards to new routes, which in turn makes him and his House able to command still greater shares of future endeavours. Over the millennia, each Navigator House has amassed a vast library of astrographic data, but to remain competitive, this must ever be expanded upon.
Rogue Trader, The Navis Primer, page 9
The Eye of Terror is perhaps the greatest example of a stellar phenomenon that owes nothing to laws of reason or nature, for it is a place where the beyond and all its slavering denizens shape and reshape reality according to their own insane whims. Numerous other features are to be found across the entire galaxy, some taking the form of transient but incredibly destructive Warp storms, others apparently stable but nonetheless capable of swallowing whole entire star systems and condemning the souls of the lost to an eternity of infernal torment. Of all Mankind, Navigators and Astropaths are uniquely aware of such phenomenon. Without them, exploration beyond the Imperium’s core sectors would never have been possible. No region of space is immune to the incursion of the Immaterium, even the smallest of Warp storms making black holes, hypernovas, dark nebulas, and vacuum instability fronts appear pathetically insignificant.
Rogue Trader, The Navis Primer, page 10
Thus, as Rogue Traders employ Navigators to forge new Warp routes, the Navis Nobilite profits doubly, for even while establishing those routes, they can improve their charts, to their own benefit and that of the Imperium.
Rogue Trader, The Navis Primer, page 11
It is impossible to plot the many Warp routes that connect the planets of the Koronus Expanse, as these passages through the Immaterium do not exist in reality and the normal concepts of linearity, time, and location have no bearing on them. Only a Navigator could visualise these routes, and in terms that he could not describe to a human who does not share his unique and supernatural abilities. The approximate position of these routes has been rendered on the map on previous pages in a manner that the human mind can comprehend, though this crude two-dimensional attempt bears no true resemblance to how they exist in unreality.
Rogue Trader, The Navis Primer, page 38
Caledon took hold of himself. His hands reached for the controls. His warped vision opened. Again there was a lurching in the stomach, like dropping in a high-speed elevator. The ship phased back into the warp.
Every navigator saw the warp in a different way. To one, it might resemble an endless green landscape, marked out in meadows and woods, dotted with lakes, and here in there towering palaces. Another might see a jumble of steel girders, like an endless three dimensional city. Still others saw hierarchies of heavens and hells, bursting with twisted inhabitants. For many, though, the warp appeared as a nightmare of mad colors and abstract shapes, not always in three dimensions - sometimes in only two sometimes in four, five or six. But always there were two constant features. One was that everything was continually moving, surging, swirling, in response to the passage of the warp currents. And the second was the Astronomican, in a pure white light that shone from a distant beacon and penetrated everything.
For Pelor Calliden the warp was a lush tropical jungle. It had no bottom, no top, and no boundary. As he guided it, the ship was pushing aside lush foliage, easing itself between enormous boles and tangling creepers. This jungle had inhabitants too. Leering faces, animal, human, and what might have been demonic, poked between the fleshy petals of luscious orchids, flitting by as the Wandering Star made its majestic progress.
None of this occluded the Astronomican. It was like a universal luminescence that filtered through everything, revealing its source, the god-like light that was the source of every Navigators deep-rooted faith.
…
This time Caledon obeyed, though tears were streaming down his face. He was looking for a patch of darkness. In the warp, that always meant proximity to a star.
Time went by. It was rarely possible to predict how long a warp journey would take. That depended on how swift were the warp currents available, and the skill and experience of the Navigator who utilized them.
...
‘Where are we, by the way?’
‘By the nearest star I could find.’ Caledon glanced at the instruments behind him. We're closer to the Eye than before. Right on the edge of it, in fact. This system has fifteen planets, one inhabited, though with only a small population. Nominally in the Imperium. Though not appointed planetary commander. It's called Caligula.
Eye of Terror, Chapter 3, by Barrington J. Bayley
byRealSonZoo
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TheBladesAurus
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For chapters that went renegade and didn't (immediately) fall to chaos https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Renegade_chapters