First things first – I’m not a Tarot reader myself. Actually I think Tarot belongs there on the Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense along with stuff like Psychics, Alien Abductions, and Astral Projection.

The Emperor’s Tarot is another matter entirely. In the distant dark future they’ve managed to come up with something that actually works the way a RL Tarot is supposed to function (incidentally Psychics also work, the Ordo Xenos battle Aliens, and Astral Projection IS possible). If on our own Tarot was like that – I would be taking classes!

I’ve been fascinated by the Emperor’s Tarot since that time when I first read the Black Library novel Draco. Only it was called Inquisitor back then, which was around the time there was a novel called Space Marine where the Astartes admitted to using las-weapons sometimes. Of course squats existed as well, so it was a mad era really; must have been back in M40 or something.

But I digress. I’ve been fascinated with the Emperor’s Tarot for many years. And while there has been mentions of it in various novels and RPG books there hasn’t been anything definite; no list of cards, nor rules. Neither have I seen a complete set of fan-made stuff. Bits and pieces only. A few cards here, some rules there (quite a bit of it in French actually – seems there is quite the French 40k community out there).

So I decided to write something up. Based on the real world Tarot to make things more recognizable. I also tried to work with whatever suits and major arcana had already been named. Ultimately, however, it didn’t quite fit, so I had to fill in a lot of holes (and remove a few bumps). I think the end result is pretty good.

Now, on the off chance that YMMV you can always reconcile any differences between my version of the Tarot and any other versions out there by applying the GW stance on what is canon and not. See? That wasn’t so hard at all!

Puns aside; with millions of worlds over ten thousand years…there is bound to be a huge variation on Tarot design. Just look at RL Tarot on Earth. And 40k is ever chaotic and mutable. So there is room for many Tarot versions in 40k. Mine just happens to be the unofficial official M41 Calixian version of the Tarot.

Special thanks to Deviantart and FFF-board member roddyhood30 for making the actual Tarot cards based upon my descriptions. Also thanks to messiahcide over at darkreign.org (yes they still exist, but with a new URL) for providing the document template.

Enjoy!

http://www.twilightpeaks.net/blogs/media/blogs/1TP/quick-uploads/p584/40k_roleplay_-_the_emperors_tarot_supplement_v1.30.pdf?mtime=1548058223

B.