Exorcists
| Exorcists | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Battle Cry | Chanting in a mixture of dark languages and high gothic | |
| Number | Unknown | |
| Founding | 13th Founding | |
| Successors of | Imperial Fists (officially), Grey Knights (suspected) | |
| Successor Chapters | None | |
| Chapter Master | Aymir Vasaphon | |
| Primarch | Rogal Dorn (officially), Emperor of Mankind (suspected) | |
| Homeworld | Banish | |
| Strength | 1200 Marines | |
| Specialty | Fighting Daemons (Mostly lesser Daemons as Grey Knights are too valuable) | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Word Bearers shade of Red and Pure Black | |
Not to be confused with the Exorcist Tank.
The Exorcists are a Space Marine Chapter founded during the Dark Founding and is one of only three canon Chapters known to have come from that Founding (the others being the Death Spectres and the Crimson Sabres). Their shtick is basically "bargain bin reasonable Budget Grey Knights." But better because they, unlike the Grey Knights, managed to conquer a Daemon World (nor had anyone ever, for that matter) but the first couple hundred Exorcists did. Admittedly, those first two hundred were from Grey Knights recruits and were therefore highly pure psykers, but the point stands.
They have ties to certain factions in the Ordo Malleus; specifically the Plutonian faction (a Radical faction/philosophy that specializes in exorcism), with the chapter's feral homeworld of Banish itself being home to several Ordo Malleus facilities.
Although they largely follow the Codex Astartes, they also have two extra Scout companies (exorcism is a haphazard process, after all), and they have special cross-company organizations called Orisons. The Orisons invite exceptional warriors from across the Chapter to study a particular style of combat. The Chapter also doesn't like to stick to any one tactic for very long; indeed, their Chapter Tactics allow you to choose a different Chapter's Tactics before every battle! They also have an exceptionally large fleet (including three Battle Barges), which allows them to respond (relatively) quickly to any emergent threat and remain on extended operations much longer than other Chapters. Technically, the Exorcists recruits are not exorcised of daemons. The recruit must kick the daemon out of himself through sheer willpower. Otherwise he is killed by the other Astartes.
Their exorcism makes the Exorcists undetectable to daemons. It might also give insight into daemon methods to make the Exorcists even better at fighting them, given the situation. Whether or not it gives them other supernatural traits or powers is unknown, but considering the strength of Astartes souls, how the Warp and daemons work, and how easy Warpcraft is if you know how to use it this does seem likely or perhaps limited to anti-psychic whatever. Especially since they seem unusually effective against daemons and other psychic threats like Orks and Tyrannids.
White Dwarf 462 (March 2021) clears up their origin, with the Exorcists having originally been an Imperial Fists successor Chapter (shown in their use of the Imperial Fists' signature discipline, Geomancy). Their Chapter Master, Enoch Trismegistus (real subtle GW), was possessed by a Lord of Change, but was able to banish it with the help of his Chief Librarian. A nearby group of Inquisitors known as Plutonians then interrogated him; once they were sure he was uncorrupted, they shared their ideas with him (namely, that daemonic possession can be weaponized against daemons). Having absorbed the intelligence of the Lord of Change, Enoch was able to see the genius of their plan and agreed to test their theories on his battle-brothers. To this day, the Plutonians force daemons into the bodies of Marine neophytes for 12 hours, then remove them; if the body is too damaged, KILL IT! If the body isn't too damaged, it undergoes reconstructive surgery and is taught the 666 verses of the Book of Exorcisms. If the body can't handle exorcism but isn't destroyed, well... it becomes a Broken One, a failed Aspirant that the Plutonians and Exorcists use as hosts for multiple daemons so that they don't have to summon new ones. According to White Dwarf 462, the Inquisitors do seem to exorcise daemons rather than the Aspirant having to use force of will, so inconsistent lore abounds, as usual. Of course, lore wise, all of this could have been fabricated, if they were rather the successors of the Grey Knights whom usually resort to mind-wipes or executions and would, hypothetically, even kill a Chancellor of the Imperial Senate to maintain secrecy; one secret to cover a larger one.
Funnily enough, with their colour scheme of red, black and bone; use of geometric symbols and runic script on their armour; use of demonic possession; and use of dark chanting, they're basically loyalist Word Bearers.
Maybe try painting them using the Chaos Marine models. "We're totally loyalists, I swear!"
It'd probably be a good idea for all Chapters to take up this practice (and we know that Grey Knights' gene-seed actually comes from all eighteen or maybe twenty Legions Astartes, so that won't be a problem). If the Ecclesiarchy complains (they won't because when they found out they thought it was a brilliant idea and retardedly tried to do it, too) then just tell them and the public that part of becoming an Angel of Death is to use your very soul to kill a daemon as part of your training. That'd be true, satisfy everyone, and further strengthen the public's faith in the Emperor's not-so-merciful angels. Oh, and Chaos would be utterly fucked, the Ork WAAAGH!!! field would spaz out, and the Tyrannid Hive Mind would have a stroke. The Eldar...ooooh, their reaction would be delicious!
Considering how frequent daemonic invasion is in 40K, it is extremely unlikely that the Exorcists are the only ones of their kind. Most likely there's around a Legion's worth of such Chapters (one or two hundred, perhaps) scattered throughout the Imperium to respond to such threats before they become major enough for normal Chapters to be deployed and to prevent significant Greater Daemon summoning so the Grey Knights can focus on killing the strongest daemonic threats. On the other hand, that requires common sense but at the same time these guys are already pretty much straight up loyalist Chaos Marines.
Notable Characters
- Silas Alberec: The Brother-Captain of the Third Company, he is really fucking huge, like Ogryn or maybe even Primarch sized. He is slated to be the next Chapter Master. He wields an artifact mace known as the Hellslayer, which is made of a material so heavy that only his brutish strength can lift it. He led the Exorcist forces in the Badab War. He is also the only in-game playable character for the Exorcists, and he (awesomely) auto-wounds daemons at S10 ap2 master crafted. Hilariously, he can bring more pain against daemons than Kaldor Draigo could ever hope to.
- Enoch Trismegistus: The first Chapter Master of the Exorcists. The Orison known as the Enochian Guard is named after him. With two companies, had a 97 to 1 kill rate, with only 1% of the Exorcists getting recorrupted, so two marines total. Also his surname is taken from a real life semi-legendary alchemist and means Thrice the Greatest.
- Darrion Rauth: A member of the Deathwatch from the short stories Headhunted and Exhumed (written by Steve Parker). An asshole who really hates psykers, though he goes from "asshole" to "creepy" in the prequel novel Deathwatch.
- Waite Ryder: Master of the Fleet. Saved the life of Carab Culln, Chapter Master of the Red Scorpions.
- Librarian Malachite: A Librarian that pierced the heart of the Horned God with his Force Spear, banishing it back to the Warp, effectively ending the Aschen War.
- Epistolary Sabazius: Another librarian that served in the Chapter for nearly a century until he was dispatched by the Chapter Master to fight alongside the Inquisition on the Pleasure World of Leucosia. He later joined the Deathwatch and served with them until he and his kill-team went missing.
Daily Rituals
5:00: morning rising: the exorcists are roused from their astartes sized 4 poster beds, of note is the amount of restraints on each bed, including ropes and adamantium chains.
5:10 : motivational music and grooming the exorcists rise to cleanse themselves while listening to classical music from m2 of popular choice is ancient Terran remarancer Frank Sinatra's “I've got you under my skin” and merfolk song of possessed from m3.
6:00 : the exorcists sit down to breakfast prepared by chapter serfs and consecrated twice over Any serf who provides a sub-standard meal will find himself thrown out the window of the basilica malefax.
7:00 : daemonic possession therapy: marines are deliberately possessed by a demon and forced to drive it out, while chaplains scream in their face yelling “the power of the emperor compels you!” any marine who does not drive a daemon out will be gunned down on the spot, any marine whos head spins 180 degrees will be gunned down on the spot, any marine who crawls on the ceiling will be vaporized by plasma cannon.
8:00 : target practice: the exorcists gather for target practice cut-outs and live copies of word bearers are supplied en mass, any battle brother who mistakes one of the exorcists for one of the word bearers as brother Murdock did, will find himself launched out of the chapter’s land raider helioses!
9:00 : hand to hand maneuvers: the exorcists gather for hand to hand maneuvers against captured possessed marines, and various captured heretics shiny medals are given out to any brother who can curb stomp a greater possessed marine in CQC.
15:00: diplomatic liaisons with other organizations: the exorcists spend the next hour explaining to the sororitas what an exorcist missile launcher is versus what an exorcist with a missile launcher is! It gets much confusion, likewise explaining to imperial navy admirals what an exorcist marine is versus an exorcist grand cruiser and the name of the chapter fleet is particularly tedious.
16:00: Mandatory VR simulation: the exorcists spend the next hour playing the ancient Terran game “Doom” from m3 before going into a frenzy and ripping and tearing any nearby daemonic entities as pointed out by the Ordo Malleus.
17:00 : dinner time: the exorcists gather to have dinner, this time, they will not kill or dismember any serfs who screw up dinner. Merely turn them into servitors.
18:00 : mandatory reading hour the exorcists are forced to read ancient Terran graphic novels from m3 called “the darkness” about an ancient Terran hive ganger named Jackie Estacado who was demonically possessed, anyone who says “Jackie is so cool” will find himself spending the evening in the imperial fists pain glove they borrowed.
19:00 : nighttime combat maneuvers: the exorcists gather for nighttime combat maneuvers, which involves wrecking the shit of any would-be heretics on-site by driving a land raider through their doors and skinning anyone who would consort with a demon alive…just so they learn their lesson.
20:00 : second daemonic possession therapy session of the day: those brothers who were not demonically possessed may now do so, those brothers who were demonically possessed but did not drive the daemon out may now see brother Karras in the next room and his heavy flamer.
21:00 : evening prayer: the exorcists gather to give thanks a second time today, to the emperor for exorcist marines, exorcist missile launchers, and exorcist grand cruisers.
22:00 : bedtime: the exorcists retire to their dungeon beds for a good night’s sleep.
Grey Knights vs Exorcists
| Grey Knights | Exorcists |
|---|---|
| Recruit from Psykers, who are pretty much Daemon-chow. | Recruits are possessed and exorcised of Daemons, making them invisible to Daemons. |
| Kills or mindwipes (almost) everyone who sees them | Don't murder innocent civilians for being saved by them |
| Recruits from an already rare population and only 1 in a hundred thousand survive (keeping in mind all of those are powerful and sane enough psykers for Astartes recruitment, talk about a mind-blowing waste when most of their missions any Astartes can do and the rest you can just ask for a company of Custodes which, given Chaos, they'd probably gladly provide) | Recruits from an entire planet, and two extra scout companies offset the lethality of Daemonic Possession Therapy |
| Only fights Daemons and Space Wolves | Actually fights non-Chaos enemies on a regular basis (and seems exceptionally capable at fighting psychic-reliant threats like Orks and Tyrannids) |
| Secret base (Titan, moon of Saturn) is in one of the most overpopulated planetary systems in the Imperium, very close to the Imperial Navy fortress at Jupiter one planet away (though mitigating the stupidity, this puts them a short jump away from the warp gate under the Golden Throne if it flares up beyond what even the Adeptus Custodes can handle, though if the Custodes cannot handle it, the Grey Knights wouldn't have a slut's chance in Slaanesh's palace hope of helping worth a damn). | Secret base (Banish) is in the middle of a forbidden sector |
Gallery
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The Exorcists' old colour scheme, from Rogue Trader.
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One of the Exorcists' Terminators.
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Epistolary Sabazius, during his secondment to the Deathwatch, wielding his serpent staff.
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Depiction of 3rd Captain Silas Alberec.
