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 what daemons actually are. 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, more 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 conductive 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. Not at all 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 near 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 - trained by the Ordo Malleus, although they may not be of the Ordo themselves anymore, they have been fully inducted with knowledge of the 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 and the Ordo Malleus and the Inquisition at large forbids its Agents for exposing those not of the Holy Ordos to them except in the direst of circumstances - those not of the Inquisition who are exposed to them are often euthanized by the Inquisition 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 Exorcists work done 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 or Exorcism, a 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 rites or 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 - it is expected of both Exorcism or Rites in these rules that you must create one in order to begin your work.

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 60s to set up one by drawing on the ground or marking a circle in salt or blood. Several LARP sites do not allow this however and it is acceptable to ‘mime’ drawing the circle in this circumstance

Phys-repped circles using props are excellent but cannot simply be thrown to the ground in order to instantly establish a circle - but they are excellent for marking the boundaries especially when conducting a ritual or exorcism and avoid the risks of breaking circles.

After a Warded Circle has been set up, it remains charged 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 and they 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, but they need to be inside the circle to speed the process, essentially replacing a stable ward with themselves, this takes 20s done this way but is not always ideal.

Exorcisms

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 all afflictions to which Inquisitorial Agents are often exposed by the nature of the Hidden War against the Archenemy.

An Exorcist can exorcise Corruption (up to Marked), as well as purge Warp Taint from people and objects in the following fashion:

• 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 for this to work.

• It costs the Exorcist 1/2/3 points of Willpower to purge Corruption depending on if the individual is Tempted/Touched/Marked - the cost of purging Warp Taint will either be written on an effect card or told to you by a member of the Game Team.

• 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 exorcee 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 or the warp taint is removed from the person or object.
  • A character who has been exorcised is under the effect of the Weaken call until they Recuperate.

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 doing a power test at the end 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 under the effect of the Weaken call 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 trapping someone inside the circle with it to avoid them breaking the circle. 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 Daemons.

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 addition 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 sactic salts, miming tossing it on the daemon (please don't use liquids, some of our kit has electronics we'd rather avoid getting wet) or striking the daemon 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).