Exorcists Fluff Project: The Orisons

[Yodhrin]

After spending the last year or so ogling my buddy's Badab War books, I finally broke and ordered them for myself a while back, and having now had the chance to thoroughly examine the Exorcists entry, I find I really love the concept of the Orisons, the Occult brotherhoods which exist outwith the normal Codex-adherent structure of the Chapter.

 

For a start, it goes a long way to restoring some sense of uniqueness to the Chapter, which I feel was lost when The Great Satan himself, Matt Ward( :lol: ) decided that the Grey Knights were going to change from paragons of virtue who wouldn't be seen dead with a radical; to xenos-loving, Battle Sister-murdering, sorcery-doing, daemon weapon-wielding radical hypocrites who pretend to be paragons of virtue who wouldn't be seen dead with a radical. With the Grey Knights recast as ruthless pragmatists(who apparently have Exorcists marines over for tea and crumpets on occasion), the Exorcists went from "shadowy possibly-Xanathite conspiracy" to "mass-produced pseudo-GK", and Forgeworld's occult secret societies bring back that subtle whiff of potential heresy that made the Chapter so appealing; to me at least.

 

However, whether to provide players with an opportunity just like this one, or simply because there wasn't enough room, Forgeworld didn't fully detail these Orisons, just gave us a few examples, and some tantalising hints via the names of the Marines featured in the artwork. I think it would be fun to try and devise some new Orisons, and flesh out the existing ones, either for players to borrow and use for their own armies, or just use as a guide for their own ideas; anyone fancy pitching in?

 

To start, lets lay out what we know already. Each Orison has a specific focus - is specialised in one field of esoteric knowledge - and that includes a body of literary work describing that knowledge. A Marine can be a member of any number of Orisons providing they meet any entry requirements, and from that we can infer that membership of multiple or more exclusive Orisons are marks of status and standing within the Chapter. The three Orisons already known are:

 

The Enochian Guard; "hellslayers", composed primarily of 1st Co. Veterans, any potential candidate must have slain at least one daemonic foe in single combat. Their body of knowledge likely relates to advanced techniques for battling the daemonic.

 

The Obelisk Thelemus; includes substantial numbers of Devastators and Techmarines, with no other info given.

 

The Broken Tower; almost entirely consists of members of the Librarius, with no other info given.

 

In addition, some ranks/honourifics are shown in the illustrations of squads which served in the Badab War, which are;

 

Inceptor; no details given, but Inceptor Khal is listed as being part of the Enochian Guard, so this could be a generic title or one specific to that Orison. The word itself refers to a beginner, someone studying the rudiments of a subject, so if we attribute it to the Orison rather than the Chapter as a whole(which makes more sense given that Khal is a Veteran Sergeant), it would likely be the first title given to someone after their initiation into the group.

 

Lector; no details given. The word has multiple meanings, so could refer to a teaching position of some kind, a reference to a non-Chaplain who conducts minor religious ceremonies/assists the Reclusiam in some manner, or a Marine who reads aloud from the Liber Exorcismus during ceremonies and/or battle.

 

Almoner; listed prior to the rank("Almoner Sergeant" in the example), meaning a title rather than honourific. In the religious sense, the word refers to a priest or administrative figure responsible for dispensing charitable funds to the needy, however it has an additional and more thematically-consistent meaning via Masonic tradition, in which the Almoner is an office charged with looking after the wellbeing of their fellows - this could imply involvement with the Reclusiam, Apothecarion, or both.

 

Athemae of the Broken Tower; an honourific rather than a rank. Appears to be based on a Wiccan/Pagan dagger blade used to "direct energy" during rituals.

 

So, that's what FW have given us to work with. Their primary sources appear to have been the Thelemic Mysticism created and popularised by Alastair Crowley, Enochian Magick which was in turn derived from the heterodox biblical text the Book of Enoch, and various other forms of occultism, mysticism, and non-mainstream Abrahamic theologies. I would propose we use the same sources, and what little info exists regarding the Exorcists, in order to flesh out the existing three Orisons, and add a few more.

 

Where to begin? Lets start with three things:

 

1. To what Orison, if any, should the "Lector" title belong, and which of the three definitions do you prefer?

 

2. A new Orison, implied by the "Almoner" title. Their body of work would be concerned with ensuring the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of their brothers, and as such would imply a membership containing many Chaplains and Apothecaries. An "Almoner" could perhaps refer to a full initiate of this Orison, well versed in it's works, who is not a member of either of those specialist groups. What should the Orison be called? What other ranks or honourifics would be fitting?

 

3. Another new Orison, this one beginning with even more vague foundations. There are references in the background for the Chapter which discuss the Exorcists' particular mental abilities, their capacity to use meditations to alter their state of mind such that fear and pain no longer trouble them ostensibly being greater than that of normal Space Marines. An expanded version of that discipline, perhaps even serving as justification for a unique tabletop unit, sounds like an intriguing basis for an Orison. Which occult mythos should we draw from for this one? Should it have a defined membership base, or be simultaneously more open(in that it's not primarily composed of one or two groups from within the chapter) and also more exclusive(in that the number of Marines capable of joining and mastering their discipline is small)?

 

Anyway, I'll stop rambling for now, I hope we can generate some cool ideas.

[Deiros]

Lector could be referred to 10th company Sergeants, making the 10th Captain an Arch Lector maybe?

 

Almoner should be a position that a Sergeant can fill and are "candidates" for Chaplain maybe?

 

Broken Tower: This could be like the "Librarians place of work and training. While the Athemae is given (power sword count as dagger) that is part of their wargear, this would be an interesting chapter specific item to develop (but that's another story).

 

Enochian guard could be the Honor Guard. Incepter is the champion or the 1st company Captain.

 

Obelisk of Telemus: Can be referred to as the "armory" and place where devastators squad go to test the weapons and train.

 

Hellslayers could be all those belonging to the 1st company.

 

This leaves you open to were do assault and regular tactical squads train, barrack or get together for whatever?

There probably is other smaller rituals within the circles, like the Athemae dagger for librarians.

 

Will answer better (hopefully) once I have more time but I'm interested in this as I am deciding between exorcists, blood angels (some successor) sons of anteus or dragon lords.

[Dosjetka]

I'm definitely interested in this. I will also reply in the next few days as I'm pretty busy right now, but I just thought that a small show of support was a good idea :cuss

 

Cheers,

 

Ludovic

[Brother Tyler]

On the subject of the orisons, I'm inclined to think that these tend to be focused around dealing with the Warp ("Ӕther" as used in IA10) and daemonic influences. This interpretation is based on the fact that membership in orisons is seen as an honour rather than automatic. So while the Broken Tower "is almost exclusively made up of members of the Chapter's powerful Librarium facility" and the Obelisk Thelemus is comprised of "many of the Exorcists' Devastator veterans and Techmarines" that does not mean that all Librarians belong to the Broken Tower or that all Devastator "veterans" and Techmarines belong to the Obelisk Thelemus. The Chapter, after all, is considered to be a "Codex" Chapter. This implies that the standard bodies of knowledge associated with being a Librarian, Devastator, or Techmarine in any Codex Chapter is not included in the "honour" of belonging to one of the Exorcists' orisons.

 

As far as the Enochian Guard are concerned, I want to point out that "hell-slayers" was not used as a title in IA10. Rather, it was used descriptively as a concise term that was later expanded in the explanation that entry into the Enochian Guard requires that the member first slay "a manifested Daemon in single combat." With the orison being named after the first Chapter Master of the Chapter (Enoch Trismegistus) and the inclusion of the world "guard" in the title, I'm more inclined to think that this is simply the Exorcists' version of a standard Codex Chapter's Honour Guard.

 

The inclusion of both "veteran" Devastators and Techmarines in the Obelisk Thelemus implies some body of knowledge related to siege warfare and/or defeating the Warp-constructs used by Chaos.

 

For the Broken Tower, I've been looking at the "tower" as a symbolic representation of individual fortitude and purity, a "tower of will" so to speak. With the omniscient understanding that the Exorcists' training rituals include the possession and subsequent exorcism of aspirants by minor Chaos entities, as well as the (low) risk of re-possession (presumably when exposed to Daemons), I've inferred that the Librarians of the Chapter have a very important role in detecting Warp influences in battle-brothers and subsequently purifying such battle-brothers of that influence (ideally by again exorcising their daemons, but potentially by having to kill the tainted battle-brother). The lone exception to the "rule" of this orison's membership exclusivity is Captain Silas Alberec who wields the Hellslayer (a special weapon especially potent against psykers and daemons; and his special rules (or rather, those of the Hellslayer) mesh with my interpretation of the Broken Tower's role.

 

I'll address my speculation on titles later (time to go to work).

[Elric Greywolf]

I think that there are four Orisons to do with each specific Ruinous Power. An Orison of Stability (against Tzeentch), of Life (against Khorne), of Cleanliness (against Nurgle), and of Charity (against Slaanesh); honours would be earned through combating each of the four Gods' minions.