Exorcism (Exorcists)

"Exorcism" is a word commonly: bandied about in the Imperium, it is not unknown for the Priests of the Imperial Faith to have those amongst their number who claim to be exorcists. There are many lay followers of the Faith who practice ritualistic "exorcisms" in their daily duties. In the eyes of the Inquisition, these are placebos and theatrical displays to reinforce Faith at best, and the providence of charlatans at worst.

"True" Exorcism is an esoteric practice that relies on rites of Sanctic Sorcery, the rarest form of warp manipulation. It is a secret guarded jealously by the Inquisition and a few other secretive organisations within the Imperium. It is a dangerous, and often deadly, line of work for an Inquisitorial agent, as to grapple with the cloying stuff of chaos metaphysically imperils the soul and body both.

The Ordo Malleus and the Inquisition at large forbids its Agents from exposing Exorcisms to innocent bystanders, who are often euthanised or mindwiped if they witness one.

Methods of Exorcism

In OC terms, it does not matter what exact form the Exorcism ritual takes.

Your character has studied esoteric lores about the nature of Daemons and the rites which cast them out in the process of learning this lore, and is likely to have very fixed ideas about what types of Exorcism are both effective and safe. Your character is aware that Exorcism involves interacting with the powers of the Warp and is therefore not without risk; the training staff of the Ordo Malleus stress the importance of sticking to set forms and rituals to avoid unexpected effects.

Some common traditional methods which are found in Exorcisms are:

• The invocation of the name of the God-Emperor or Omnissiah in Low or High Gothic or Binaric.

• The use of holy water blessed by a priest cast upon the target’s flesh, the application of sacred oils and unguents where the target is mechanical or a machine.

• The use of religious gestures (sign of the Aquila, sign of the Cog) or religious icons and incantation of prayers, psalms and forms of words such as those found on the Prayer and Liturgy page; binaric hymns sacred to the Cult Mechanicus.

• Physical scourging or symbolic wounds inflicted upon a living target – the use of fire and heat has symbolic value to the Imperium.

• Attempting to rouse the Machine Spirit of a possessed machine to resist corruption via extolling its virtues and publicly speaking its great deeds.

Any of these methods will likely be effective, as well as any roleplay appropriate to your character’s background and characterisation.

If your character loses faith in the efficacy of their methods, you must see a Ref before conducting an Exorcism.

If you attempt to carry out an Exorcism while you are Tempted by Corruption, it is highly likely to fail. You must see a Ref before attempting it.

Exorcisms are violent processes; the warp resists being driven from the flesh once it has taken purchase. This makes them dangerous for both the target and exorcist; the corruption might well fight back.

Warded Circles

Exceptionally, some rituals require the exorcist to establish a warded circle. This takes the form of a simple circle drawn in chalk, blood, salt or some other esoteric material. Some players have found it easier to represent this using symbols on pre-made mats or using various props to mark out a circle: this is fine - the general rule is that it should take some time to set up.

In some circumstances we may inform you that we cannot actually draw on floors due to the requests of the site hosting our game; in this case, if you have nothing prepared to represent a circle it is perfectly fine to roleplay drawing one out even if there is nothing there.

Although known as "Hexagrammic" Wards, exorcists are taught to use only decagrams (ten point stars) within a warded circle if they decorate them at all beyond a simple circular boundary - they don't enter it rather placing the target of their exorcism within it.

Combat Exorcisms

While not all Exorcists are combatants, the rites they know can be weaponized to better combat warp entities and other beings who have been corrupted by the powers of the warp. This is via the use of applied Sanctic rites and appropriately blessed equipment that they carry on their person.

An Exorcist may expend ONE Supply or Willpower to:

• Make a single call of SANCTIC KNOCKBACK within melee reach of a foe. The effect of this can vary, from driving lesser warp beings away or out of bodies (often used in the case of possessed corpses and the animated dead) to causing larger and more powerful ones to briefly pause. This might not have any effect at all against some very powerful entities.

• Make up to five calls of SANCTIC WEAKEN, with no less than 10s between them, within melee reach of a foe The effect of this can vary, from having the normal effect of WEAKEN on a target otherwise not normally affected by it, to making mundane weapons able to briefly harm manifested daemons who would otherwise be immune or resistant to them.

These effects can be repeated (at the same cost in Supplies and Willpower) so long as you have Willpower remaining.

This is physrepped by throwing (larp safe) vials of holy water or sanctic salts, miming tossing it on the target (please don't use liquids, some of our kit has electronics we'd rather avoid getting wet), or striking the target with silver stakes or striking it with or brandishing (larp-safe) holy icons against it.

Exorcising Corruption

Perhaps unsurprisingly given their name, the most common role of Exorcists in the Holy Ordos is providing esoteric first aid against encroachments of the Warp upon the mind, body and soul. These are afflictions to which Inquisitorial Agents are often exposed by the nature of the Hidden War against the Archenemy.

An Exorcist can attempt to purge Corruption from another character. There is no mechanical way to tell which 'level' of corruption a character is on: it relies entirely on observing the level of unusual/corrupted roleplay from the individual and the Exorcist making their best guess. They must then bid the correct amount of Willpower (see beneath) to purge it (or overbid to be sure):

• The target of an Exorcism must either be a willing participant, or Subdued or restrained (in a manner all the players involved are comfortable with) in order to be Exorcised.

• A character who is Brushed (1), Touched (2) or Marked (3) Tempted (4) may be exorcised by bidding the appropriate amount of willpower (denoted in brackets) and then performing a 5 minute exorcism ritual.
  • The Rituals required to deal with Brushed/Touched/Marked are subtle and usually less obvious. They do not require a Warded Circle.
  • A character who is Tempted must be contained within a Warded Circle (see above) and are often quite loud and obvious when performed.

• Before they begin the ritual roleplay the Exorcist performs a Power Test. If they pass, the ritual continues as normal. If they fail then a complication has occurred: they must draw from the Exorcism Risk Deck and work the complication into their ritual. Not all complications cause the Ritual to fail.
  • If a Complication occurs that would cause the Ritual to fail, then there is no requirement to perform the full five minute ritual. You can choose to initiate the complication at the best possible dramatic moment.

• At the end of the ritual, the Exorcist should notify their target that if they were at (the level you bid willpower to cleanse) or below, they reduce their Corruption by two levels.
  • If the Exorcist underbid and the character was on a higher level of corruption the ritual fails - the Willpower bid is spend regardless.
  • There is usually no immediate surefire indication of success or failure - the target may roleplay the weight of corruption lifting from them.
  • A character who has been exorcised cannot attack, make calls, or be Exorcised again until they Recuperate.
  • A character who has Embraced Chaos must accept the Emperor's Judgement from the Exorcist, roleplaying demonstrating regret for giving into temptation and suffering the effects beneath. However they can choose to hold onto their corruption and expend one willpower to cause the Ritual to fail, remaining corrupted.

A character who is tainted by the effects of the Warp can usually be Exorcised without significant permanent effects. The Exorcist's methods may leave them scarred, or the Exorcist may choose to impose a Penance upon them to assist in keeping their soul pure. However, in general these Exorcisms do not require lasting mechanical effects on the subject to be successful.

The Emperor's Judgement

A character who has Embraced Chaos by using one of the boons offered to them by the Dark Powers, or by casting off negative effects by willingly jumping to their Tempted level, must face The Emperor's Judgement.

• Roleplaying The Emperor's Judgement: Exorcisms for characters in this state are typically more extreme, more painful and require physical damage to be inflicted upon the subject, either by the Exorcist or at their direction. They always require a Warded Circle.

• Physical consequences: As a result of their brutal scourging, characters who have undergone The Emperor's Judgement cannot exceed half their maximum Endurance for the remainder of the event.

• Spiritual consequences: The Exorcist must assign their subject a penance. This is a pattern of behaviour they must follow to protect themselves against the temptations of the Warp. For example, they might be required to pray after every battle, or to act as a servant for one of their fellow Imperials. This penance is usually calculated to specifically offset the Temptations of the Dark Powers facing the subject.

• Should the subject fail to follow this penance, or willingly break it, they have willingly fallen to Chaos. They gain one use of their Tempted boon and immediately become Overwhelmed.

Exorcising Possession

Possession refers to the act of another sentience entering a body and subsuming control of it. Beings of the Warp, including Daemons, use it to enter reality but some particularly sinister Psykers and other beings have been known to do it too. This requires a different approach to cleansing a body of the taint of the warp: unlike in the case of Corruption, there is another (potentially quite powerful) entity resisting the Exorcists. If it does not wish to, or cannot willingly, leave the body it must be purged at great risk:

• The Possessed body must be Subdued, Bleeding or otherwise unable to move freely and must be kept within a Warded Circle for this to work.

• Up to three Exorcists may participate in this Exorcism.

• Exorcists must blindly bid an amount of their willpower to purge the entity possessing of a body that may be pooled from every Exorcist involved.

• • If you underbid the entity you must draw from your deck until you get a card that causes you to fail the ritual. If the Card has a method to resist its effects, you cannot use it. The ritual has failed, you may continue the ritual roleplay in order to trigger the complication when it would be most dramatic to do so.
    • If you draw Possession or Greater Possession the ritual succeeds and the target is free of the entity - you on the other hand...
    • If you know the True Name of the entity possessing the individual you may redraw your card and pick the one you prefer to suffer.

• • If you outbid or match the willpower of the entity then before you begin the ritual roleplay each Exorcist performs a Power Test. If they pass, the ritual continues as normal; if they fail then a complication has occurred: they must draw from the Exorcism Risk Deck and work the complication into their ritual. Not all complications cause the Ritual to fail.
    • If you draw Possession or Greater Possession the ritual succeeds and the target is free of the entity - you on the other hand...
    • If you know the True Name of the entity possessing the individual you may redo your Power Test on a failure.

• They may then, depending on the outcomes of the complications - proceed as above with a five minute ritual.

• If the Exorcism or Banishment succeeds the being is driven from the flesh it is possessing or from reality.
  • All Exorcists and a Character who has been Exorcised are unable to attack or make calls until they Recuperate.