Index Astartes: Exorcists

[Gree]

I don't know is this is susposed to be in Liber or not. Regardless it concerns the Exorcists.

 

(Picture needed)

 

This is my fan project to create a full-length Index Astartes article for the Exorcists in Warhammer 40,000. Save for pieces of GW fluff. (3rd war for Armageddon, Index Astartes, Heroes of the Space marines) This work is completely unofficial.

 

Much of this is based off my personal interpretation. Other players are welcomed to comment and offer ideas and revisions. As it stands this is a rough draft.

 

Index Astartes: Exorcists

 

Origins

 

The origins of the Exorcist Chapter is classified by the highest Inquisitional authority of the Ordo Malleus. It is shrouded in a veil of secrecy of triple Vermillion level security checks on the deepest archives of Terra and Banish.

 

However those facts can be pierced together to tell a remarkable story.

 

The beginnings of the Exorcist chapter lie in the heady days just before the murky times of the 13th Founding in the centennial meeting of the Kavikan Conclave, one of the largest groupings of Inquisitors in the Segmentum Obscuras. The meeting of the Inquisitors was interrupted by Inquisitor Lord Fass Proma of the Ordo Malleus, a living legend of the Ordo. At six hundred years old, he was pushed to the limits of augmetic surgeries and juevnant treatments.

 

Proma was a revered figure among the Ordo, despite his Radical leaning, his centuries of service where peerless, countless daemons banished hundreds of cults destroyed, and legions of the Emperor’s enemies vanquished. He was also known to be an enormously charismatic speaker and brilliant leader. He made a special effort to be in contact with as many of his fellow Inquisitors as possible. It was said that he was the Father of the entire Kavikan Conclave.

 

Proma, when he came, ordered the meeting rooms sealed. There, he spoke to the assembled Inquisitors for seven days. None know exactly what went on in those closed hallways.

 

But from scattered records, Proma proposed a new Space Marine chapter. He would bind daemons into members of the Astartes and then Exorcise them, purportedly to make them immune to the depredations of Chaos. He brought along several of his Acolytes who had undergone the process. There was an uproar. A lesser Inquisitor would have been tried for Heresy immediately, but the charismatic and senior Inquisitor was unperturbed by this, and successfully defended himself, demonstrating the warp resistance of his followers.

 

In front of the entire Kavikan Conclave, he made a bet, if he was wrong then he would submit himself to full investigation on charges of Heresy. If he was successful then he would be vindicated. If he failed then Imperial justice would be done. All he asked for was for a chance, and it was granted to him. It’s unlikely that any other Inquisitor would have the charisma or connections to even attempt such a radical feat, let alone actually carry it out. But Proma did. He was even able to gather the assistance of the White Consuls (By the way of a Chapter debt to Proma) to train the new recruits.

 

On one of the Inquisition secret Fortress worlds, Proma began his new chapter, with a crop of 277 recruits selected secretly from the most hardened death worlds and hive cities in humanity, Proma began his work. In this he enlisted the aid of Genator-Major Clelland. Under the tutelage of the White Consuls, the new recruits where taught training and prayer, while the specifically chosen geneseed was implanted into their bodies. The daemonic possession occurred right before the implantation of the Black Carapace.

 

Under controlled hexigrammic conditions, the recruits where exposed to daemonic possession under the guns of Proma’s veteran daemon hunters for twelve hours. Then they where cast out by the Inquisitor Lord and his disciples. Barely 200 survived the procedure, requiring only reconstructive surgery and psychotherapy in reparation to the mental and spiritual damage. The rest where terminated, including those who had died or simply had been fully possessed.

 

The remaining two companies where given a period or recuperation which included heavy fasting and prayer while the Ordo Malleus then monitored them for spiritual corruption. The subjects where then instructed in anti-daemonic combat, trained in the use of the 666 verses of Exorcisms and equipped with a fresh set of suits of power armor and sanctified boltguns loaded with psycannon bolts.

 

The two companies were then put into action on a daemon infested world on the northern fringes of the Eye of Terror. With a squad of the Grey Knights held in reserve, the Exorcist Space Marines achieved a kill ratio of 97:1.

 

Proma was buoyed by this success. He sent vid-picts of the battle to the Kavikan Conclave along with Clelland’s own extensive reports on the entire project and his own observations of the recruits. Proma’s success was impossible to deny, and he was grudgingly given permission to begin a full chapter of Exorcists, for fifty years Proma was extensively involved in the creation of the Exorcists.

 

During this period of time the Grey Knights where also involved in the recruitment of the chapter. Despite the dubious methods used to create the Exorcists, the overseeing squad of Grey Knights where suitable impressed enough by the piety and faith of the brothers to assist in the building of the chapter.

 

Then Proma died as soon as the chapter reached full strength and departed for their second major combat assignment. The old Inquisitor’s body had simply given out after centuries of service to the Emperor. To this day he is the only unaugmented human revered as a Chapter Hero by the Exorcists.

 

Of the Chapter itself, Captain Augusta, the first leader who led the Space Marines in their first action, became Chapter Master.

 

For four thousand years they operated as a fleet-based chapter. There, they specialized in combating daemonic threats, or aiding the Ordo Malleus when the numbers of Grey Knights was unavailable. For four thousand years, they where a fleet based chapter, operating from the Heretica Malleus, their massive battle barge that served as fleet headquarters, and extensive chapter fleet.

 

This changed in the battle of Astoriz Nebula, in M40.588. where the Exorcists fleet was ambushed by a large fleet of Chaos Space Marines from the Iron Warriors legion led by the Daemon Warsmith Kesai. Kesai’s daemon fleet destroyed the Heretica Malleus and with it most of the chapter’s leaders and half of the Chapter’s geneseed stock. The Exorcists where forced to retreat from the Nebula.

 

Fortunately, half of the genestock survived on the fleet’s Apothecarion ship, and the Exorcists where able to rebuild, but Chapter Master Thorne was determined that the chapter needed a homeworld.

 

They found in at Teramon VI. Following contact with their allies in the Inquisition, the Exorcists claimed feudal rights over the planet with the cooperation of the Ordo Malleus and built a new Fortress Monastery. Teramon VI was renamed Banish, and it benefits proved to be tremendous, a solid fortress to house the Battle brothers and a tough populace who had contact with the powers of Chaos before.

 

The Chapter rebuilt itself and began their patrols of the Segmentum Obscuras and beyond. The legacy of the Exorcists is long and proud, the Badab war, the Argastes war, Armageddon and the 13th Black Crusade all stand prominently.

 

As ever the chapter stands to defend the Imperium from all threats, but most especially the daemonic.

 

Homeworld

 

Banish is a world roughly the size of Holy Terra, covered with great forests and jungles that creep over the twisted remains of it’s former factory cities and hives that once housed a massive population.

 

Once Banish was called Teramon VI, a wealthy industrialized world covered in factories and hive-like cities that was responsible for much of the production in the local sub-sector. Wealthy and prominent, it enjoyed much political status. That was until M40.191, when a massive Chaos host under the leadership of Chaos Lord Caroe Bloodfeaster invaded, the massive Chaos army included warbands from the World Eaters, the Disciples of Pain and the Night Lords.

 

Though the Chaos marines led massive armies of cultists, daemons and mutants to devastated each of the hives, eventually the Chaos army was defeated due to the efforts of the Imperial Guard and the White Consuls chapter, but the damage had been done.

 

Teramon VI was a world already stating to decline, the once prominent minerals and metallic ores that made it so wealthy, finally dried up, further attempts to mine it completely failed. The Imperium began to lose interested.

 

It only got worse when the Chaos invasion hit, 46% of the population was killed, along with 67% of the infrastructure. The planet was finished as a production world with the loss of both minerals and workers. The Imperium then relocated what factories and heavy equipment it could, along with the ruling population of the planet, and then left it to die while they colonized another planet.

 

But Teramon did not die, although a massive civil war broke out after the Imperials left and the planet regressed into a lower state of technology, the people survived and rebuilt. Social structure came into various clans and tribes now. Many people died from lack of food, in the past foodstuffs where send from off world. But now the survivors of the civil wars and the hunger where forced to migrate to the few sections of the planet not ruined by over-mining and pollution.

 

There, farming communities grew, fortresses soon built off to protect from the attack of rival tribes and surviving chaos troops they had hid after their defeat on the planet earlier. With startling speed, the plant life grew back, covered the former hive cities in great tendrils of vegetation. Some whisper this was the influence of Chaos. Eventually the still loyalist towns of the planet settled into an uneasy peace as the chaos survivors organized themselves and struck back at the last Imperial worshipers on the planet.

 

The loyalists resisted, but it soon became clear that the various mutated beasts, infernal warriors and daemons summoned by the cultists where a problem. Combating this, groups of Imperial Priests and former PDF soldiers formed into crude witch hunting groups.

 

At first they simply called themselves ‘’witch-finders’’ ‘’warp hunters’’ and ‘’daemon-killers’’. They fought back with what technology they could to slay the witch, the heretic and the daemon. They had successes of course, but they where never able to completely destroy the threat of the Chaos powers, for they where simply brave humans fighting with what they had manage to gain.

 

Matters came to ahead when in 588. the chaos forces on the planet tried to summon a Greater Daemon of Chaos after centuries of ritual spells and preparation. They would have succeeded if not for the Exorcists. The Chapter stumbled across Teramon VI in their search for a new homeworld, immediately the Librarians detected the collection of daemonic energies. Thorne, taking stock of the situation, launched a chapter-wide drop pod assault and utter crushed the summoning attempts.

 

With the defeat of the Chaos forces, the Exorcists introduced themselves to the daemon killers on the planet. Explaining who they are where, they demanded only one thing in return for their protection, let the Exorcists rule them. The people of Teramon agreed.

 

And so Teramon VI was symbolically renamed Banish, after the battle, and the Chapter built it’s a monitoring station at the sight of the summoning. They then selected the harshest jungles of Banish and built their Fortress-Monastery there.

 

The Inquisition came in and quickly enlarged and rebuilt some of the living centers. A Schola was introduced on the planet, the Inquisition quickly used it as a source of recruits for the Inquisitional Storm troopers and for other purposes. A Inquisitional Fortress was constructed on the moon, which housed a small, permanent garrison of Grey Knights.

 

Banish is a harsh world, with long hit summers and brief cold winters consumed by blizzards. The persistent vegetation that covers the planet’s former cities is hard to remove and often grows back at incredible speeds. Most of these species of plants are poisonous, others are even somewhat sentient. Most are dangerous, only a few areas on the planet can crops be grown safely.

 

Many mutated beasts exist on the planet often threatening the settlers. The Exorcists posses the ability to exterminate these beasts, but choose not to in order to toughen the population. The planet itself is infested with strange phenomenon, on many occasions visitors to the planet have sworn they see ghosts, or objects move of it’s own accord, the native of Banish hardly notice it.

 

The Planet itself sometimes find’s itself under attack by Chaos pirates and raiders from the Eye, although none of these attackers are anywhere near the level of the First Great Invasion.

 

The people of Banish are a tough, practical minded, and extremely religious and pious people. There is a higher percentage of psykers among the populace, which the Inquisition has taken much advantage of.

 

Organization

 

The Exorcists are a mostly Codex Chapter, with only a few minor variations that result form their unique recruitment program. Most notably is the addition of two added scout companies. The two extra scout companies where the results of a high-attrition rate among the Exorcist recruits. Recruits are expected to undergo extensive purification and constant purity checks in hexagrammic wards both before and after the Exorcism for their entire careers as Astartes.

 

After the Exorcism, the failure rate is practically zero, but before the Exorcism, it is much higher, with the Astartes still undergoing hypno-therapy. Only the strongest willed recruits are accepted. This factor, combined with the inevitable casualties of the Exorcism, although most recruits survive, are still enough that coupled with the Chapter’s extensive military actions against the worst horrors that the Warp can produce necessitates the presence of the extra scout companies.

 

The other is the fewer presence of Librarians, despite the high amount of psychic recruits found on Banish, few possess the iron will to control their powers, and fewer still can survive the Exorcism.

 

Combat doctrine

 

The Exorcists as befitting a mostly codex chapter, train equally in all roles and strive for a balanced, flexible method of warfare espoused by the Primarch Guilliman in his Codex Astartes. However certain patterns have emerged over the millennia, a result of chapter tradition and specialties. The Chapter itself frequently uses scouts heavily in insertion missions and reconnaissance in large numbers due to the increased size of their scout companies.

 

The Chapter’s specialty against the daemonic foe is another obvious one. The followers of Chaos have been the main foe of the Exorcists since their creation. The Chapter has worked heavily alongside the Ordo Malleus for this purpose, including the Grey Knights. Certain pieces of daemon-hunting wargear, items too rare for a normal chapter, have found their way into the hands of the Chapter’s warriors by dint of their close allies in the Ordo Malleus.

 

The high aggression levels of the procedure also give the Exorcists an aggressive edge, making the marines more inclined to offensive strikes and warfare than what the codex deems necessary. This does not mean that the brothers of the Exorcists are incapable of holding a defensive line. Far from it. The history of the chapter is filled with successful defensive actions against the Emperor’s enemies. An offensive approach is simply preferred when available.

 

Beliefs

 

The Exorcism are inevitably an extremely pious chapter. As befitting the fact that they have been exposed to corruption, they see that only absolute trust in the Emperor can save their immortals souls. The Exorcist’s Primarch and geneseed is classified even to the battle brothers by an ancient and honored decree set down in the earliest days of the chapter. Such an order that none dare argue.

 

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Exorcists is the titular Exorcism. The Exorcism is traditionally done before the implantation of the Black Carapace, but after the extensive hypo-therapy. The recruit is typically ritually purified by the Librarians and Chaplain before the Exorcism, he is blessed Thirteen times by the Chaplains with the Ugnets of Warding and subjected to the 108 verses of Condemnation. When enters the Exorcism minor daemons are summoned under carefully controlled decisions. Gun servitors watch the recruit, heavy flamers ready to purify the recruit at the slightest indication that something has gone wrong.

 

In those twelve hours the Exorcist recruit is subjected to his very worst nightmares. His body and soul will be forever scarred by this experience, frequently required minor corrective surgery by the Apothecaries. Some do not survive, either slain by the daemon, or irrevocably posses and then slain by the Gun-Servitors. But those who do survive are now forged anew with an iron resistance to the depredations of Chaos.

 

The product of the daemonic posses leaves the marine virtually invisible other presence of the daemons of Chaos. This is not the same as an Untouchable, who actively pushes the Warp back, the Brothers of the Exorcists are simply ‘’invisible’’ to the witch-sight of the daemonic. This factor, coupled with their extensive mental conditioning and anti-daemonic teachings that are second only to the brethren of the Grey Knights, mean they are almost immune to the depredations of Chaos.

 

Throughout the history of the Exorcists, only two marines have fallen to Chaos, both have been Librarians.

 

Librarians share a strange role in the chapter, while Librarians are a must for the Exorcism process and casting the daemon out. They themselves are closer to damnation not only during the Exorcism, but after it as well. To be a Librarian of the Exorcists, requires iron will and absolute faith that surpasses any other normal Librarian. For only that way can they survive. This does not mean the brother-Librarians of the Exorcists are more powerful, but that they simply require far more control.

 

Librarians are both feared and respected, for their dual role. However they must be watched in battle by their brothers, for they are the closet to fall of the Brothers of the Exorcist, even with their unique condition, using psychic powers attracts the attention of warp entities who will find the psyker even in his ‘’invisible’’ condition. The Brothers of the Librarium may lead in the field, but every Battle Brothers of the Exorcism is fully prepare to give the Emperor’s Peace to a Librarian who has fallen to Chaos.

 

Although only two Librarians have fallen in six millennia, the Brothers of the Exorcist Chapter can take absolutely no chance at all with their psychic comrades.

 

Geneseed

 

The exact chapter that provided the founding geneseed of the Exorcists is classified to all but the Chapter’s High Command the a few privileged Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus by an ancient edict that was issued by Inquisitor Proma. So far out of respect for him the Exorcists have obeyed the decree.

 

This does not stop speculations of the Chapter’s geneseed. Some believe it too be the Grey Knights, others argue the Ultramarines and Dark Angels, others claim it is a mish-mash of various genetic samples.

 

Whatever the source the geneseed of the Exorcists, it is considered suitably pure by the Genators of the Mechanicus. Fears of daemonic taint have proved to be mostly false as the geneseed of the Exorcists have had almost no incidents of genetic deviation or mutation.

 

Battlecry

 

The Exorcists have no set battlecry but instead rely on prayers from the 666 verses and other High Gothic litanies.

[bjorn irongaze]

very nice

[Gree]

I am thinking of making Banish more like Cadia, what does everyone else think?

[Brother Tyler]

The timing of the shift from being fleet-based to being based on Banish might be off. If I recall correctly, the Chapter was described as being fleet-based during the Gothic War, which was the 12th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler, which began in 139.M41, almost 500 years after the time you've described. That should be a simple fix, but might require some additional tweaks to the fluff.

 

Alternately, it might be assumed that GW has superceded the old fleet-based fluff with them being on Banish for a much longer period, perhaps since the creation of the Chapter. We really don't have enough information to make an accurate choice.

 

The safer way might be to blend the two as I described in the first paragraph.

 

It's a tough choice overall, and both courses of action have their pros and cons.

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, I conducted a little research and have to correct my previous. It was the Index Astartes article on the Third War for Armageddon in which the Exorcists were described as being fleet-based. That war took place in 999.M41.

 

Coincidentally, that is the same timeframe that the map indicating Banish as the Exorcists' homeworld is set.

 

So we have two conflicting pieces of background material.

 

The only reconciliation I can come up with is that the Imperium at large might believe that the Chapter is fleet-based, though the Chapter secretly maintains a base on Banish (possibly with the aid of the Ordo Malleus).

 

Alternately, the older fluff has been superceded by the new.

[The emperors chosen]

In Heroes of the Space marines, there is a story which feature an exorcist, and he remarks that he has grey knight geneseed, make of that what you will

edit:found the quote"even the mighty Grey Knights, fro whose seed Rauth's Chapter had been born,..."

[Gree]

Okay, I conducted a little research and have to correct my previous. It was the Index Astartes article on the Third War for Armageddon in which the Exorcists were described as being fleet-based. That war took place in 999.M41.

 

Where? Where does it say fleet-based? I cannot find it in my fluff copy.

 

EDIT: Found it. Well then new fluff superceds the older fluff for me. Banish could simply be a large recruiting and testing ground along with the Chapter's orbital shipyards.

 

In Heroes of the Space marines, there is a story which feature an exorcist, and he remarks that he has grey knight geneseed, make of that what you will

edit:found the quote"even the mighty Grey Knights, fro whose seed Rauth's Chapter had been born,..."

 

I know, I already stated that. Except some members here do not like the idea of Grey Knights being their geneseed donors. So I make it ambigous.

[Sigismund Himself]

Coincidentally, that is the same timeframe that the map indicating Banish as the Exorcists' homeworld is set.

If you look at that page, it actually notes the map as being correct as of 998 M41. So there may not be a conflict.

[Marshal Rohr]

I am thinking of making Banish more like Cadia, what does everyone else think?

 

 

Oh, cool! Then you'd have Cadian Space Marines! Yeah!!

 

 

No. Be original.

[Gree]

I am thinking of making Banish more like Cadia, what does everyone else think?

 

 

Oh, cool! Then you'd have Cadian Space Marines! Yeah!!

 

 

No. Be original.

 

No, be helpful. I never said exactly like Cadia, I meant more like a fortress world, when I come for help, I expect people to be polite and constructive.

[Ferrus Manus]

No, be helpful. I never said exactly like Cadia, I meant more like a fortress world, when I come for help, I expect people to be polite and constructive.

My Templary friend has a point. When you think about it, it's kind of silly for the Exorcists to live on a fortress world. Some of their practises, i.e possession, would want to be shielded from others. Not going to happen on a fortress world populated by millions of men, especially if something goes wrong. I'd suggest a nice quiet, hidden world. Either that or an Inquisitorial world...

[Gree]

No, be helpful. I never said exactly like Cadia, I meant more like a fortress world, when I come for help, I expect people to be polite and constructive.

My Templary friend has a point. When you think about it, it's kind of silly for the Exorcists to live on a fortress world. Some of their practises, i.e possession, would want to be shielded from others. Not going to happen on a fortress world populated by millions of men, especially if something goes wrong. I'd suggest a nice quiet, hidden world. Either that or an Inquisitorial world...

 

It is an Inquisitorial world , read it again.

[Ferrus Manus]

Ah, I look silly. Just re-read the description, I think it sounds fine. My only gripe with the section is the idea of a permanent garrison of Grey Knights. Personally, I think they should stay on Titan, but then that's my opinion.

[Marshal Rohr]

I am thinking of making Banish more like Cadia, what does everyone else think?

 

 

Oh, cool! Then you'd have Cadian Space Marines! Yeah!!

 

 

No. Be original.

 

No, be helpful. I never said exactly like Cadia, I meant more like a fortress world, when I come for help, I expect people to be polite and constructive.

 

 

Have you forgotten you eagle Claws thread? You get what you give.

 

 

Grey Knights don't garrison worlds, much less Astartes worlds. The Chapter ritually possess its marines, so having a large civilian population is out of the question, what if there is an outbreak? Then you have to kill the population of the entire planet. Making it a fortress world is an even worse idea, and having a Chapter based on an INQ world is a bad idea. Why would you build a Keep, where you possess marines, on a world run by the organization who hates them the most, with many different inquisitors each with different views on chaos. All it takes a strong puritan with a large enough backing and you'd have a civil war.

[Gree]

Have you forgotten you eagle Claws thread? You get what you give.

 

And I expect constuctive criticsm in return, instead of vaugly, insulting replies. Your original post was short, sarcastic and not helpful at all.

 

Grey Knights don't garrison worlds, much less Astartes worlds. The Chapter ritually possess its marines, so having a large civilian population is out of the question, what if there is an outbreak? Then you have to kill the population of the entire planet. Making it a fortress world is an even worse idea, and having a Chapter based on an INQ world is a bad idea. Why would you build a Keep, where you possess marines, on a world run by the organization who hates them the most, with many different inquisitors each with different views on chaos. All it takes a strong puritan with a large enough backing and you'd have a civil war.

 

This is what I expect.

 

Grey Knights don't garrison worlds, much less Astartes worlds.

 

That will probably be changed.

 

The Chapter ritually possess its marines, so having a large civilian population is out of the question, what if there is an outbreak?

 

Daemons are not zombies, and the Exorcism rooms are tiple shielded with hexigrammic wards and purifed every day with blessings.

 

Then you have to kill the population of the entire planet.

 

Not every planet goes to hell when a single daemon appears, we have plenty of examples of that in fluff.

 

Why would you build a Keep, where you possess marines, on a world run by the organization who hates them the most, with many different inquisitors each with different views on chaos. All it takes a strong puritan with a large enough backing and you'd have a civil war.

 

However I would note that the entire idea of the Exorcists is started by the Inquisition, read the original IA article in White Dwarf. That's how they where created and it is indeed the whole point. Inquisitors, are not stupid, if they oppose somethign they do not go out and start wars for that, they go far more subtler, read Eisenhorn.

[Ferrus Manus]

However I would note that the entire idea of the Exorcists is started by the Inquisition, read the original IA article in White Dwarf. That's how they where created and it is indeed the whole point.

Granted. But you have to remember the Inquisition has more factions and different types of beliefs than the Black Templars have battle brothers. What one faction believes is a good thing, another would see as heretical. So you have to balance it.

[Gree]

However I would note that the entire idea of the Exorcists is started by the Inquisition, read the original IA article in White Dwarf. That's how they where created and it is indeed the whole point.

Granted. But you have to remember the Inquisition has more factions and different types of beliefs than the Black Templars have battle brothers. What one faction believes is a good thing, another would see as heretical. So you have to balance it.

 

At the same time they are opposed politically. Much of the bickering takes place in politics, read Eisenhorn. Besides, the Exorcists have existed since M36, if someone was going to purge them it would have been a long time ago.

[Brother Tyler]

Actually, judging by the Grey Knights' puritanical stance, I doubt that they would have anything to do with the Exorcists other than (possibly) being the original source of the gene-seed used in the creation of the Chapter. If the Grey Knights were to discover that the Exorcists ritually possessed their battle-brothers, they would likely seek extreme sanction, regardless of whether or not the possessed battle-brothers are then exorcised of their daemons.

[Gree]

Actually, judging by the Grey Knights' puritanical stance, I doubt that they would have anything to do with the Exorcists other than (possibly) being the original source of the gene-seed used in the creation of the Chapter. If the Grey Knights were to discover that the Exorcists ritually possessed their battle-brothers, they would likely seek extreme sanction, regardless of whether or not the possessed battle-brothers are then exorcised of their daemons.

 

I see, then how would you explain the common Exorcism chant that Rauth used in Heroes of the Space Marines? (Mortis Morgatii Praetovo) He described it as coming form the Grey Knights and implied it was a chapter tradition. It's possible the Inqusition could have copied it, but Rauth's tone implied it was shared.

[Brother Tyler]

I would explain it by referring to the fluff from the Third War for Armageddon website in which we have the following:

After a period of recuperation, the subjects were instructed in the methods of combating the daemonic, trained in the use of the 666 verses of the Book of Exorcisms and equipped with the weapons of an Exorcist.

 

As for the Grey Knights and their views toward Radicals (and the practices of the Exorcists Chapter in possessing/exorcising their battle-brothers are quite clearly "radical"), we have the following excerpt from Codex: Daemonhunters:

Daemonhosts may only be chosen if an Inquisitor Lord or Inquisitor is also part of the force. If Daemonhosts are chosen the Inquisitor in charge is branded a Radical and may not include Grey Knights in his force.

Numerous other quotes from that book, the Index Astartes article on the Grey Knights and Deathwatch, and other sources clearly describe how the Grey Knights fight the daemonic in all its forms and seek it out wherever it can be found.

 

Though many of us might not like the revelation in Heroes of the Space Marines concerning the Grey Knights being the source of the Exorcists' gene-seed, it makes a certain amount of sense and we must accept it as fact unless GW ever tells us otherwise. However, this doesn't in any way mean that the Grey Knights approved of this use of their gene-seed. For the Grey Knights to countenance the act of possessing any Adeptus Astartes bearing their gene-seed with a daemon, no matter how minor, no matter how temporary, would be utterly reprehensible to the Grey Knights. This would be perceived as an act of the foulest kind and an insufferable insult to the purity of the Chapter's gene-seed. It's entirely possible that the Grey Knights are completely unaware that the Exorcists carry the same gene-seed - it would be entirely possible for a cabal of radical Ordo Malleus Inquisitors to acquire some Grey Knights gene-seed and to develop enough sets of that gene-seed to create a full Chapter of Adeptus Astartes, using the normal methods. After that, it would simply be a matter of preserving that gene-seed within the new [Exorcists] Chapter - there would be no further need to acquire "original" Grey Knights gene-seed.

 

As far as the rites and such go, they are nothing more than standard daemon hunting rites of exorcism, detestation, etc. The Grey Knights don't have exclusive knowledge of those rites.

[Gree]

Alright then, anyone else you would have train the chapter instead of the White Consuls? I was thinking about the Red Hunters, being Inquisitorial friendly, but with no information on their leanings. ( I don't have Vraks 3 yet)

[Brother Tyler]

To be honest, unless such a Chapter is mentioned somewhere in official background material (and I'm not aware of any), I wouldn't even bring the issue up. With the exception of the 2nd Founding Chapters that didn't really need to be trained, and the Unforgiven Chapters that are influenced by the other Unforgiven Chapters at some point (perhaps "in training", perhaps later), we don't really know who trains any of the other Successor Chapters. I think that trying to shoehorn someone into this role for the Exorcists is just asking for unnecessary problems.

[Gree]

So then should I just leave that point vague and have unspecified marines train the Excorists?

[Brother Tyler]

Unless there's something significant to be gained from mentioning a Chapter that provided training, that's the exact course of action I'd follow. There are only two examples of Chapters not from the 2nd Founding that we have Index Astartes articles for - the Blood Ravens and the Red Scorpions (okay, the IA "article" is part of Imperial Armour volumes four and six). Neither of those mentions a Chapter that provided training (and in the case of the Blood Ravens, that's deliberate), but neither suffers from this detail being missing.

 

The Exorcists are distinctive for a few other reasons, so mentioning a Chapter that may have provided training isn't going to add anything of real value.

[Darrell]

So then should I just leave that point vague and have unspecified marines train the Excorists?

 

I think the better course of action would be to not mention the training at all. They were founded whenever, for whatever reason, and this is what they've done since then. No need to mention a parent Chapter or training cadre.