The Exorcists?

[PH34RB0T]

So, let's begin. I have a small collection of Black Templar (2 Crusader Squads, 2 Rhinos, and a scratch-made Emperor's Champion), and I'm really interested in the Grey Knights. Now, I thought it would be fluffy to build up an Exorcist force while waiting for the juicy goodness that is the rumored Grey Knights 'dex. So, does anyone know any specifics about their combat style? I read the Lexicanum article, which states that they're very aggresive, which would seem to mesh well with the Codex: Black Templar, but I wouldn't do this if they're still mostly a codex chapter. So... anyone?

[Gyson_Vore]

Well, from what I know of them, I would say that a good number of scouts (as they have an additional company or two for new recruits) and transports would really be all that would be needed to make them really 'aggressive'. That's just my two bits though

[Brother Tyler]

The Exorcists were founded in M36. While the date of their founding would imply Cursed Founding, the Inquisitiorial communication that detailed the Chapter's founding refers to them as a Dark Founding Chapter. There's some debate about the implication of this, though the most commonly accepted view (not the one to which I subscribe) is that the Chapter was indeed part of the Cursed Founding and that the "Dark" Founding reference is a slip-up. Regardless, the Chapter was under the control of the Inquisition, or a secret cabal of Inquisitors, during its creation and for some undetermined time thereafter.

 

The Chapter appears to have been founded with the intent of being more potent against daemons than the average Chapter. This was accomplished by subjecting the battle-brothers to minor daemonic entities temporarily, then exorcising the daemons. Some of the test subjects did not survive the process, and some that survived required surgery and/or psycho-conditioning afterwards. The surgery may have been because of mutations suffered during the possession period, and/or it may have been due to damage the subjects suffered during the possession/exorcism. The material doesn't tell us, so there's lots of speculation.

 

The Exorcists battle-brothers were (are) trained the tools and methods of the daemon hunter. When the nascent Chapter reached initial operating strength, the force was dispatched to a daemon world. A squad of Grey Knights was kept in reserve. We don't know what the mission of the Grey Knights was - whether it was to aid the Exorcists if they ran into problems, destroy the Exorcists if they succumbed to Chaos, or both is unknown. It's possible that either or both was the mission of the Grey Knights. Regardless, it has been speculated by many that the Grey Knights and the Exorcists had a very close relationship based on this quote, though the quote doesn't appear to support that conclusion. The performance of the Exorcists upon the daemon world was exceptional, I think it was something like a 97:1 kill ratio which was much better than the average Chapter of Space Marines would be expected to achieve. Another observation based on the Chapter's performance upon the daemonworld was that less than 2% of the Exorcists battle-brothers succumbed to daemonic re-possession. There's debate about whether or not this is a good thing. My personal belief is that it's a bad thing in that you can only suffer from re-possession if you've been possessed before, so other Chapters don't have this problem.

 

The speculation at the end of the Inquisitorial communication was that the Chapter might be granted limited autonomy at some point thereafter. However, it appears that the Chapter is either fully or near fully autonomous as of M41. The Chapter participated in the Gothic War, in the Badab War on the loyalist side, in the Third War for Armageddon, in the Thirteenth Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler, and in the Aschen War. Neither the Grey Knights nor the Inquisition appear to have been bird-dogging the Chapter in any of those events (though there are practically no details on the Aschen War).

 

Some have speculated that the Chapter's daemonhunting training and nature makes them somewhat like Grey Knights, including the use of nemesis force weapons. There's no official background material to support this conclusion, however, and I think it's a misconception based on the single squad of Grey Knights observing the early Exorcists upon the daemonworld I described above.

 

Earlier versions of the background material indicate that the Chapter was fleet-based, however the current Codex: Space Marines assigns them the homeworld of Banish. Whether this is a complete retcon of the earlier fluff or if the Chapter used to be fleet-based and later claimed Banish as their homeworld is unknown. It's also possible that Banish is one of several worlds that the Chapter recruits from, though GW hasn't told us anything more specific.

 

The Chapter has been described as being Codex Astartes adherent in both the current codex and in Insignium Astartes. The latter also says that the Chapter indicates company affiliation by the color of the helmet stripe. Regardless of the Codex adherence of the Chapter, it has two additional scout companies, for a total of twelve companies. The reason for this is the Chapter's highly unorthodox and rigorous training methods, which most of us assume to be the daemonic possession/exorcism ritual and attendant daemon hunter training. That's speculation, though.

 

The notion of the Chapter being more aggressive is based on the account of the Chapter's performance upon the daemonworld back in M36, as described in the Inquisitorial communication I mentioned above. However, no other description of the Chapter has included this. My personal belief is that this is a result of the Exorcist battle-brothers hating the Warp and daemons subsequent to their possession/exorcism, and that it only takes place in proximity to daemons. The official material doesn't tell us either way, though. I would take the Lexicanum description about the Chapter being more aggressive than normal with a grain of salt, though there is potential for GW to later substantiate it as a more general thing.

 

A very important thing to consider is the nature of the illuminati and whether or not the Exorcists qualify as such. The illuminati were a product of the Rogue Trader era (1st edition of the game, when the fluff was very fluid). The illuminati are individuals that have been possessed by daemons and who have been freed of the daemonic influence. Such individuals don't have to be psykers (though many mistakenly believe that being a psyker is a prerequisite) nor do they have to be freed of daemonic possession solely by their own power (as described in Ian Watson's Inquisition Wars novels), so the Exorcists certainly meet those requirements. The illuminati, having been personally exposed to the Warp and daemons have an intimate understanding of Chaos' threat to mankind and are thereafter enemies of Chaos. More importantly, they have some immunity/resistance to Chaos/daemons and psykers. Up until the short story Head Hunted, there was nothing to indicate that the Exorcists were illuminati or even quasi-illuminati. That short story, however, describes the Exorcists battle-brother as being difficult for the Deathwatch Librarian to see, implying some degree of illuminati nature (without ever using the word "illuminati").

 

Another element of the Head Hunted story is a degree of suspicion of psykers among the Exorcists. To some degree this is understandable as psykers present a very real threat of Chaos influence within the Imperium. On the other hand, psykers are absolutely essential to the survival of the Exorcists and their unorthodox practices as psykers would be necessary to summon minor daemonic entities into battle-brothers (or perhaps this is done to aspirants), to contain the entities during the possession period, and perhaps even to help the possessed battle-brother to exorcise the entity. We'll see what GW tells us later.

 

You can see more specific information on the Exorcists Chapter in the article I wrote in the Librarium here. You can ignore the special rules and characters I developed since those are homegrown and based on my own speculation, but pretty much all of the known facts about the Chapter are included there, including a roster of the Exorcists vessels that have been named and an official quote attributed to Captain Leitz.

 

I'm moving this to the Index Astartes forum.

[PH34RB0T]

Wow... Thanks. So, C:SM is the codex that lines up the best with the chapter? Because I remember someone else mentioning that the Blood Angels codex matches well with the fluff...

[Brother Tyler]

Codex: Space Marines specifically refers to the Exorcists, implying that they should be represented using that codex. The only reason to use Codex: Blood Angels would be to represent the aggressiveness theory via the Death Company. Like I said, though, that whole aggressiveness theory isn't based on any really solid evidence (yet). You could certainly use CBA if you wanted, which would make it easy on your opponent (since they're red and all :) ).

[Inquisitor Fox]

I would just like to add a small snippet on top of Brother Tyler's awesomesauce reply, concerning the Illuminati. Based upon evidence from the Black Library work, Xenology, it appears the Star Child/Illuminati thread is working it's way back into modern fluff, specifically in the xenos Eldar tablet evidenced and depicted in the book Xenology. As the Illuminati are working with the Harlequins and that this tablet seems to point directly to the Star Child thread as given originally in the Inquisition War trilogy, however it is a much newer publication, it seems to indicate the Illuminati are back "in play." This is interesting for the Exorcists as they are a similar phenominon, perhaps (this is my own personal speculation here) created by Inquisitors affiliated with the Illuminati.

[WarInHeaven]

Codex: Space Marines specifically refers to the Exorcists, implying that they should be represented using that codex. The only reason to use Codex: Blood Angels would be to represent the aggressiveness theory via the Death Company. Like I said, though, that whole aggressiveness theory isn't based on any really solid evidence (yet). You could certainly use CBA if you wanted, which would make it easy on your opponent (since they're red and all :D ).

 

you just answered the question i was about to ask, thanks!

 

now, i hope the local shop has got some of those dex's left...

[blooddragon]

My son and I are building and Exorcist army together. He has his Soul Drinkers and I have my Desolate Angels. My brother had some Exorcist custom shoulder pads created by chapter house studios and has thrown his hat into the mix in our joint effort Exorcists army. We prime the first batch base coated them and have yet to get back to them but soon very soon. They are an awesome chapter with some good fluff I only hope GW does more with them.

[The Thirst]

every marine is illuminated ie have been possessed by a lesser daeon and pushed it out by sheer force of will