Exorcism (Exorcists)

Though all Imperials have at least an understanding of the concept of an Exorcism, and are taught to fear ‘daemons’ as a part of scaring them into compliance, only a few know the true nature of Corruption and Daemonic possession. For the most part, ‘exorcists’ in the Imperium serve a spiritual role, acting as part of the spiritual pageantry of the Ecclesiarchy - cleansing homes of ‘bad spirits’ or purging ‘sinners’ of (usually imagined) corruption in religious ceremonies. The Exorcists of the Ordo Malleus tend to avoid such ceremonies, because silently sniggering or glowering at the back of an Ecclesiarchy temple is generally frowned upon and not conducive to maintaining the veil of secrecy the Inquisition prefers to keep about the true nature of the Archenemy.

This is not to say that Exorcists lack faith. Indeed, only those with strong Faith and conviction as well as strength of Will are selected by the Holy Ordos for this training. Without faith in the God-Emperor (or the Omnissiah) it would be nearly impossible for these individuals to undertake the dangerous exorcisms they are called to perform.

Within the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition, an Exorcist is a specialised Agent of the Throne. Exorcists are trained by the Ordo Malleus: although they may not be of the Ordo themselves anymore, they have been fully inducted with knowledge of Daemons and the Dark Gods. All will have undergone harrowing rites to prove they have the strength of will to undertake the duties that will be expected of them.

Any character who has this trait has gone through this experience without exception; it is not possible without Game Team permission to play an Exorcist who is not known to the Ordo Malleus.

True Exorcisms are not commonplace. The Ordo Malleus and the Inquisition at large forbids its Agents from exposing those outside the Holy Ordos to them except in the direst of circumstances. Those not of the Inquisition who are exposed to true Exorcisms are often euthanized for bearing witness to their use: be cautious when and how you use them.

Power Tests

Several traits and abilities request that a character performs a Power Test - this is a test with a 25% chance of failure. In all cases you can always delay a test until it would not interrupt the flow of roleplay or combat - you are free to do it earlier, but we generally recommend doing tests at the end of a combat for example.

The standard suggestion for doing this is to take a bag of beads and fill it with 12 beads, 9 of one colour (representing success), 3 of another (representing failure) and do a draw. But any other method capable of determining a 25% chance of failure is acceptable.

There may be conditions where this will flip and it will be a 75% chance of failure and a 25% chance of success.

Warded Circles

The Warded Circle is an essential part of an Exorcist's work. The Circle is drawn in salt, chalk and sometimes blood or other spiritually charged matter applied in an even circular shape. Amongst the Ordo Malleus there are facilities that use more permanent circles formed from electrically charged metals and even ones that use lasers or arcing electricity to create more permanent locations.

In the case of most Rites of Exorcism, an Exorcist does not want to be within the Circle that is the focus of their power. With a circle created and charged though arcane means, objects or persons who are to be the targets of Exorcisms can be placed within and cannot be allowed to leave.

Creating Warded Circles

Warded Circles are intended to represent the fact that Exorcists are not nearly as mobile when they call upon their powers as innate users of the warp like Psykers. You must create one in order to begin your Exorcism.

The 'ward' refers to a shape drawn within a circle. An Exorcist is taught to avoid using six, seven, eight and nine sided or angled shapes within a circle because of their connection with the Dark Gods. Most prefer to work with Decagrams as 10 is associated with the God Emperor.

The exact nature of the circle varies; it takes a minimum of 60 seconds to set up one by drawing on the ground or marking a circle in salt or blood. Several LARP sites do not allow this: it is acceptable to ‘mime’ drawing the circle in this circumstance.

Phys-repped circles using pre-prepared props such as mats are excellent but cannot simply be thrown to the ground in order to instantly establish a circle. They are suitable for marking the boundaries, and help avoid the risks of accidentally breaking circles.

After a Warded Circle has been set up, it remains charged and can be used for Exorcisms until sunrise/sunset on the day it was created; or until the boundary of the circle is crossed, scuffed out or a member of the game team says otherwise. The central ward may need to be reconfigured for different rituals. A Circle can be sabotaged by the ward being altered in any way.

Psykers can create a warded circle far faster by way of their innate talent to perceive the flow of the warp and their ability to access it. However, they need to be inside the circle to speed the process, essentially replacing a stable ward with themselves. This takes 20 seconds done this way but is not always ideal.

Methods of Exorcism

In OC terms, it does not matter what exact form the Exorcism ritual takes. However, 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 sacred salt to create a circle around the target, ‘sealing’ it in, 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. Exorcisms do not require the target to be willing, or believe in the spiritual authority of the Exorcist; they are enacted through the Exorcist’s strength of will alone. This makes them dangerous for both the target and exorcist; the corruption might well fight back.

Exorcising Corruption

Perhaps unsurprisingly given their name, the primary 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 exorcise Corruption in the following way:

• The target of this Exorcism must be willing or either Subdued, Bleeding or otherwise unable to move freely and must be kept within a Warded Circle throughout for this to work.

• It costs the Exorcist 0/1/2/3 points of Willpower to purge Corruption depending on if the individual is Brushed/Touched/Marked/Tempted.

• Once an Exorcist has committed Willpower they may begin a five minute ritual. The exact form of its ritual depends on the Exorcist. It is common to loudly invoke the name of the God-Emperor or Omnissiah. This process is painful to the subject, who feels the warp-taint burning from their flesh. They should roleplay appropriately (inform them beforehand to ensure they know).

• After the ritual is completed the Exorcist performs a Power Check. If they pass the Exorcism was successful. If they fail, a complication has occurred: they must draw from the Exorcism Risk Deck and play out the complication to see if they succeed.

• If the exorcism is resolved successfully the character drops one level of corruption.
  • A character who has been exorcised cannot attack or make calls until they have Recuperated.

Consequences of an Exorcism and The Emperor's Judgement

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.

However, a character who has Embraced Chaos by using one of the boons offered to them by the Dark Powers 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.
• 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 and Demons

Dealing with Possession or Banishing a Daemon is a far riskier proposal. 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.

• The target of this Exorcism or Banishment 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 or Banishment.

• Exorcists must blindly bid an amount of their willpower to purge the Possession or Banish a creature that may be pooled from every Exorcist involved. If they outbid the will of the being opposing them, they may proceed - otherwise all Exorcists involved must draw a card from the Exorcisms Risks Deck and resolve it to be able to proceed.

• They may then proceed as above with a five minute ritual. At the end, they collectively perform a single power test. This has a 75% chance of failure if they did not successfully outbid the entity originally, otherwise it is made as normal.
  • If they are attempting a Banishment they must know a keyword or part of the True Name of the Daemon for this to be anything more than a temporary exclusion from reality. Some greater entities will simply not be affected at all if you don't know either of these.

• 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.

Combat Exorcisms

Unfortunately for Exorcists, Daemons do not tend to stand patiently still while waiting for an Exorcist to draw a Warded Circle around them to 'trap' it. While it is possible to partially complete a warded circle and 'trick' a daemon into it before finishing the process, doing so before the Daemon can cut down the Exorcist or trap someone inside the circle with it is difficult. As such, most Exorcists go into battle laden with holy icons, holy water, sanctified salts and a vast panoply of rare materials that repulse or weaken supernatural creatures.

An Exorcist may expend ONE Supply or Willpower to:

• Make up to five calls of Sanctic Weaken at 3s intervals. This may be repeated for additional cost in Willpower or Supplies. They must be within melee reach of their target to do so.
  • 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 - brandishing or pressing holy icons against it.

The effect of this can vary immensely. Here are some examples of its use:

• A corpse animated by psychic will or the warp or a Player Character possessed by a lesser daemon (such as some card decks suggest) can be purged or prevented from rising again by calling Warp Weaken once.

• A Daemon or Possessed NPC can be affected by Sanctic Weaken allowing them to be harmed by mortal weapons.

• A Daemon or Possessed individual (including PCs) can be kept Weakened long enough to draw a circle around them safely by coordinating uses of this call. When the circle is finished make it clear to them you have trapped them (some powerful daemons may still break free).