Exorcists Index Astartes Article

[MECHFACE]

Sneak peek at the upcoming White Dwarf Exorcists Index
 

Edited March 16, 2021 by MECHFACE

[Joe]

Some rules, courtesy of Deffbeaky over on the Warhammer 40,000 Discord. Chapter Tactic, Relics, Warlord Traits and Strategems respectively.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Joe

[MECHFACE]

Actually these are pretty close to what myself and Brother Tyler developed in our own separate attempts at an Exorcists Index. Dishing out Mortal Wounds and shutting down Psychic Powers. I do think the treatment of Orisons is a little simple (and a missed opportunity) but actually pretty reasonable - though being stuck with the IP's crappy Dev-Doctrine makes this a bit pants (would be better to have chosen a different Chapter Super-Doctrine to really set them apart from the IP's).

 

So, not bad at all from my eyes and plenty to work with for expanding fan-wise.    

Edited March 18, 2021 by MECHFACE

[Ryltar Thamior]

... it would appear that the hoped for 'ambiguity' and 'in-universe rumour/perspective' interpretations of the first page of the article's Imperial Fist assertion ... are probably debunked. 

That is to say - few ifs or buts about the Fist geneseed, on the basis of those pages just posted. 

[MECHFACE]

So I've seen the article and retconned lore now. So apparently they were the Exorcists but at first not possessed - then got possessed fighting tzeentch but overcame it - got noticed by a sect of the ordo malleus who saw potential for the Exorcists to become 'exorcists' - and now they undergo possess ion but it leaves them mentally scared and with physical mutations.

 

So there is some ambiguity in that the majority of the chapter don't know about dorn's gene-seed and they don't interact with other IF successors least their secret gets out.

[Spinsanity]

So I've seen the article and retconned lore now. So apparently they were the Exorcists but at first not possessed - then got possessed fighting tzeentch but overcame it - got noticed by a sect of the ordo malleus who saw potential for the Exorcists to become 'exorcists' - and now they undergo possess ion but it leaves them mentally scared and with physical mutations.

 

So there is some ambiguity in that the majority of the chapter don't know about dorn's gene-seed and they don't interact with other IF successors least their secret gets out.

Now I feel an urge to re-read Death of Antagonis just to see how much this new development derails (or not) from what was originally stated in there regarding the founding of the Exorcists...

[MECHFACE]

From death of antagonis:

 

"And that made it the very dear love of Cardinal Rodrigo Nessun, because paradox was the vital truth of the warp. It was a truth that had burst upon him five millennia ago. The Ministorum had seconded him to a detachment of the Inquisition’s Ordo Malleus. He had been a loyal slave of the Emperor, then, and a participant in the project that had led to the founding of the Exorcists. That Adeptus Astartes Chapter was legendary for its incorruptibility. Rumour said that each had a daemon bound within his flesh as part of their initiation, making them immune to any further possession. Nessun had no quarrel with the accuracy of the legend, but he would, if asked, add a small amendment. The immune were those who had been successfully initiated. There had been failures. Many, during the work leading up to the founding. So many that illumination had descended upon Nessun. The failure, he had realised, lay not with the corrupted Space Marines, but in the goal itself. Those newly born daemonic warriors were the truth of the universe. That was the first paradox. He embraced it, and them."

Edited March 19, 2021 by MECHFACE

[Spinsanity]

From death of antagonis:

"And that made it the very dear love of Cardinal Rodrigo Nessun, because paradox was the vital truth of the warp. It was a truth that had burst upon him five millennia ago. The Ministorum had seconded him to a detachment of the Inquisition’s Ordo Malleus. He had been a loyal slave of the Emperor, then, and a participant in the project that had led to the founding of the Exorcists. That Adeptus Astartes Chapter was legendary for its incorruptibility. Rumour said that each had a daemon bound within his flesh as part of their initiation, making them immune to any further possession. Nessun had no quarrel with the accuracy of the legend, but he would, if asked, add a small amendment. The immune were those who had been successfully initiated. There had been failures. Many, during the work leading up to the founding. So many that illumination had descended upon Nessun. The failure, he had realised, lay not with the corrupted Space Marines, but in the goal itself. Those newly born daemonic warriors were the truth of the universe. That was the first paradox. He embraced it, and them."

Hmm, I guess that did leave room for a re-founding. Oh well, I preferred the old fluff that hinted at the thirteenth founding was the dark founding precisely because noone knew for sure which Legions the chapters’ geneseed was from...

[Brother Tyler]

The article was actually written in a fairly clever manner that makes it not quite a retcon. Instead, it allows for the previous lore to fit into the new lore (aside from the explicit clarification/retcon of the gene-seed, that is).

The 3rd edition lore presented the origins as if the experimentation with daemonic possession were conducted first, the Chapter coming later and [potentially] being granted autonomy later. The new lore has the Chapter existing first, going through the incident, and introducing the daemonic possession into their rituals. The clever part is that the Inquisition asserts its authority over the Chapter after the incident. This is definitely a retcon, but it's done in a way that the old lore sort of fits within. It's not perfect, but it's close enough that one could argue that it's not a total retcon.

The complication of introducing Primaris to the Chapter is overcome through the useful expedient of all the greyshields en route to the Chapter being destroyed in battles with daemons, avoiding the awkwardness of the super soldiers having to explain to the super dooper soldiers that "oh yeah, we ritually possess our initiates with daemons to make them rawr!" and the likely friction that would result (let's see how the Relictors deal with the introduction of Primaris).

What I'm leery of is the Broken Ones and the risk they pose to the Chapter. It's actually a very interesting bit of the background, but I can see some storyline progression where this vulnerability threatens the Chapter.

I was disappointed that Silas Alberec and the other characters and events from the previous lore weren't even mentioned. Alan Bligh did a terrific job in fleshing the Exorcists out for the Badab War, but the only things that remain are the Orisons and Enoch Trismegistus. They didn't even make the Hellslayer a Relic (which might have allowed hobbyists to create a pseudo-Alberec).

I've never liked the shoulder pad rims for company affiliation thing (sorry, Guilliman) and liked that Insignium Astartes portrayed the Exorcists instead using a helmet stripe to indicate company affiliation. Of course, this method wasn't used in the Badab War imagery for the Chapter. And now this article has the Exorcists using the shoulder pad rims. My Exorcists will continue to use the helmet stripe.

 

I still want to know who Captain Augusta was. During the Gothic War, the Captain Augusta was one of the vessels used by the Exorcists. I always assumed he was an important figure in the Chapter's history, but GW has never given us any information about him. This article continued in that frustrating tradition.

Aside from the few disappointments, it was a decent article and certainly fleshed out the background on this Chapter. The painting guide, too, was very handy for players (especially the trick on the Chapter badge). I still prefer my rendition, but I'd be willing to use these rules for official WH40K games.

[Ryltar Thamior]

Dangit where were you with this font of information about company markings when I was doing a truescale Exorcist a year or so ago ! 

Went a bit up the wall attempting to work out what was going on with the shoulder pad rims in correlation to various companies given the non-standard grey for at least one battle-company and just decided to split the difference and go with the attested white for a veteran. Helmet markings would make *much* more sense !

I'm personally rather disappointed by the chronology / history, because I had some personal bits and pieces about the Dark Founding being a sort of proto Cursed Founding style effort [more on that perhaps, some other time], but I have to say - it could have been worse. The material about the renegade cardinal and escaped 'failed subjects' is indeed pretty nifty. 

Unfortunate, as well, if they're wiping - even if only via omission - the excellent FW in-depth treatment (which I'd only briefly glanced over in the past few years - should evidently go back for another go!) ; not least because what grows up to fill in the gaps created via its non-mentioning may be less wondrous via comparison :/ 

Chapter emblem wise - we just used a Primaris librarian shoulder-pad. Which is, I suppose, fine if one's doing a one-off .. although a little expensive in bulk.