| The helm is only partially effective at muffling the Assassin's null-presence, even when operating at full power; most people can barely stand to be in the same room as the wearer due to the nauseous, head-spinning effect that is the trademark of a Culexus Assassin's presence. When it is switched off altogether, the mayhem that ensues is terrifying to behold. Victims in close proximity may flee in wild-eyed terror, or freeze in place, hyperventilating and shaking uncontrollably. Others collapse, clutching their heads as bloody froth oozes from tearducts and gaping mouths. | ||
~ Dataslate: Officio Assassinorum |
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. | ||
~ Dataslate: Officio Assassinorum |
The Culexus Assassin Dranos is sent to destroy the Sorcerer Xantaka before he can conjure any more daemonic legions from the Warp. Being all but invisible to not only the aethersight of Xantaka's Daemon armies but also his Rubricae bodyguard, Dranos simply walks up to the Sorcerer Xantaka and burns his brains to ash with a blast of negative energy. | ||
~ Dataslate: Officio Assassinorum |
| 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. | ||
~ Dataslate: Officio Assassinorum |
| Etherium: The Etherium is 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, all but invisible to mortal eyes, just as his mind is absent from the spiritual plane. | ||
~ Dataslate: Officio Assassinorum |
| They sensed her without sensing her, the ominous, ever-present shadow of null she cast falling on them. Children, when she turned her hard, glittering gaze in their direction, would begin to cry and not know the reason. When she passed close to tents full of sleeping figures, she could hear them mutter and moan under their breath; she passed over their dreams like a windborne storm cloud, darkening the skies of their subconscious for a moment before sliding beyond the horizon. Iota's pariah soul ― or lack thereof ― made people turn away from her, made them avert their eyes from the shadowed corners where she moved. It was a boon for her stealth, and with it she entered the sanctuary encampment without raising an alarm. | ||
~ Nemesis |
