Vanus
- "The cleanest kill is one that another performs in your stead with no knowledge of your incitement."
- --Fon Tariel, Infocyte of the Clade Vanus, M31
Vanus is an Assassin temple of the Officio Assassinorum in Warhammer 40,000. The Vanus are the intelligence-gathering division of the Assassinorum, specializing in using humans augmented to collect and analyze data and find traitors to the Imperium of Man. They also specialize in arranging "unfortunate accidents" that will remove said traitors without anyone being aware of the Assassinorum's involvement. Originally, this focus on data analysis leaves no room for actual physical training in assassination, leaving them extremely vulnerable in the "field". However, by M32 they were accomplished infiltrators and martial artists who come armed with the standard synskin, blades, pistols and augmented muscle fibres, with one hiding on Mars for a few weeks before deciding to go full commando and taking out a trio of skitarii single-handedly.
Contemporary cyberwarfare, & also mobbing, trolling don't falter yourselves kids, and lurking through the internet can be seen as ancestral relatives of the "getting information" aspect of the Vanus Temple.
Although he does not appear in the board game, a Vanus assassin appears in the novel Assinorium: Execution Force. He is the sole survivor of the mission, and is haunted by his teamates death.
