Weaknesses and Stats of the Imperial Assassins

[C2_of_Omegon]

As a fan of 40K, I noticed several things on the Imperial Assassins' page that stood as a little odd to me. Mainly with the Callidus and Culexus.

For the Callidus, it's the weaknesses. In the audiobook Assassinorum: The Emperor's Judgement, Callidus Klara Rhasc ends having to subdue an Eversor. During their intial meeting, Klara samples the his genetic material through touch, which exposes her to the drugs in his system. This puts her on a drug high, instilling higher levels of rage in her which she eventually comes down from and suffering withdrawal. This would show that a Callidus could end up contaminating herself when coming into contact with such specimens/targets/foes.

For Culexus. First is durability, which should be around at least Large Building level due to having the same armor (Synskin) as the Callidus and Vindicare. In addition, the Etherium only allows psychic attacks to pass through the Culexus. This is further backed up by the fact that an assassin, Noctus Kord was stabbed through the head with a sword in the book Assassinorum: Execution Force. In addition, in the book Nemesis, another Culexus named Iota noted that she would be killed by an unarmed Eversor, meaning that she can be struck.

As for the Culexus weakness, it's stated by Iota in Nemesis, that without psyhic energy to siphon, it would take time for the Animus Speculum to come online on it's own. This would mean that the Assassin would have to activate their gear beforehand or be facing a psyker to have the weapon ready to go.

Now there may some things that go against what I've presented or some other explanations but I'd like to point this all out, just in case.

 

[C2_of_Omegon]

bump

 

[Azathoth_the_Abyssal_Idiot]

Didn't know about the Callidus sampling genetic materials through touch thing. That's definitely something that could be added under abilities as well as noted to be a weakness.

Culexus should likely have Large Building level durability naturally, yes. Though I'm not sure if, like the Eversor, there have been vastly differing durability/AP showings from the Culexus (i.e. five Eversors dying in the process of killing a planet full of giants while another single Eversor fought on even footing with someone who was kicking the crap out of Darnath Lysander, two squads of Imperial Fists, multiple other Assassins, and two Assassin Grandmasters, simultaneously).

Not sure about the Etherium thing, as I've seen a few conflicting statements from canon material. The current Officio Assassinorum Codex seems to list the Etherium as "a highly advanced nodal layer built into the Culexus' synskin that shifts the wearer's body out of phase with realspace. This makes his physical form ghost-like and absent from the physical world..." which would seem to imply a selective form of intangibility.

 

[C2_of_Omegon]

@Azathoth

Well, I do believe I have an excerpt from the latest Assassinorum Codex:

"Whilst closing with his mark, the Culexus operates under the protective field of his Etherium ― a highly advanced form of Aegis Suit that is built into the Culexus Assassin's synskin. This, combined with the wearer's innate and disturbing qualities, makes him all but impervious to psychic attack. Weapons that are in any way connected to non-material dimensions simply pass through him as if he were no more than a ghost. Perhaps most unsettling of all, the Etherium also renders the Culexus Assassin nearly impossible to detect, whether by conventional senses or via complex mechanical sensors. For this reason, the advance of the Culexus is more of a relentless prowl than a headlong rush, as the Assassin stalks towards the target with the inevitability of death itself. A Culexus can stand in the very same room as his target yet remain hidden, his victims feeling only a mounting sense of unease, and glimpsing nothing but phantoms haunting their peripheral vision."

I've always read it as though the intagibility is really only for psychic powers, which every reference I've ever seen only makes mention of psychic attacks going through the Culexus like the operative isn't even there.

The going out of sync with realspace seems to only make assassin harder to hit and aim at, giving them the cover to get their target. Observing a Culexus assassin has been said to be like looking at a faulty pict-reel.

With that said, I've never seen or heard of an Culexus going intangible to avoid an attack or something phasing through them unless it was a psychic attack or weapon. I do understand how because of the descriptions, things could be mixed together.

 

[Azathoth_the_Abyssal_Idiot]

Making the Assassin far more difficult to hit with physical attacks seems accurate. Almost like a Holo-Field. Though how would that properly be phrased?

"Immunity to non-physical attacks, Etherium also makes them absurdly difficult to properly hit" or something of that ilk?

 

[C2_of_Omegon]

Making the Assassin far more difficult to hit with physical attacks seems accurate. Almost like a Holo-Field. Though how would that properly be phrased?
"Immunity to non-physical attacks, Etherium also makes them absurdly difficult to properly hit" or something of that ilk?

Well, the Culexus is noted have "Power Nullification (Culexus Assassins only, Anyone within the Assassin's general vicinity will have any psychic, magic, and reality warping powers disabled)." Though it should be noted that any weapons with those properities will be disabled as well.

I would say that it has Cloaking. You can tell somethings there but it's very hard to see and focus on.

 

[Azathoth_the_Abyssal_Idiot]

Right.

So the changes would be:

• Add info about genetic material sampling under Powers and Abilities as well as Weaknesses for the Callidus

• Add "At least Large Building level" to the Culexus' durability

• Note that conventional, physical attacks work on the Culexus, but its cloaking makes it extremely difficult to properly hit

• Note that the Culexus' Power Nullification also affects the unnatural properties of weapons

Correct?

 

[C2_of_Omegon]

Right.
So the changes would be:

• Add info about genetic material sampling under Powers and Abilities as well as Weaknesses for the Callidus

• Add "At least Large Building level" to the Culexus' durability

• Note that conventional, physical attacks work on the Culexus, but its cloaking makes it extremely difficult to properly hit

• Note that the Culexus' Power Nullification also affects the unnatural properties of weapons

Correct?

Yup. Couldn't have put it better.

 

[Azathoth_the_Abyssal_Idiot]

Done.