Warhammer 40K: Assassinorum Vanus Temple
Today loremasters we speak of perhaps the deadliest of Imperial Assassins, the all-seeing Infocytes of the Vanus Temple.
“The cleanest kill is one that another performs in your stead with no knowledge of your incitement.” ~Vanus Temple Dictum
The Vanus Temple is one of the assassin temples of the Officio Assassinorum.
Vanus Assassin Overview
Agents of the Vanus Clade are known as infocytes and also made use of predictive engines in order to base their calculations on all available data as well as prognostic simulations in order to determine the success rate of the operations. The infocytes are essentially human computing engines that are far different from mindless automata such as servitors as their skills were unparalleled in matters of strategy and tactics. Their presence cemented their Clade’s role as being the intelligence-gathering arm of the Officio Assassinorum. It has been said that they have never been known to make an error in judgement though some considered this disinformation.
Despite this being the case, the Vanus Temple Clade is well known for the creation and dissemination of propaganda which is noted as being its greatest strength. Infocytes are said to hold the same relationship with raw information as an addict had with their chosen vice. In the sense that they are enraptured by the idea of new data as well as what they could do to not only gather it but know it as well. They along with cryptocrats take part in operations through telepresent means. These are conducted from their sanctum or from an Officio Assassinorum sponsored starship. Vanus Assassins physically deployed in the field is a rare occurrence. Ultimately, the Vanus Clade watches everyone with their data-stacks being filled with information on all the other Clades. This is the means by which they maintain their position by way of blackmail.
Vanus Clade Equipment
In terms of equipment, Clade Vanus are known to possess cogitator gauntlets that projected hololithic panes that floated in the air for them to access data. They could also send small swarms of organic-metal netfly automata that can tap into opti-cables and parse through the rich data which they fed back to the operative. Each of these netflies was by itself a relatively unsophisticated piece of technology but, en masse, their networking skills allowed the information they transfered to be condensed into a coherent picture of what occured in the immediate surroundings of the Vanus Assassin.
This allowed Clade agents to generate maps of nearby structures, traffic and place monitoring beads throughout any given zone. This the netflies accomplished by boring into the deep sub-web of imaging coils in the area. When entering into a information system, Clade Vanus assassins are able to unleash data phages and blackouts designed to subvert the enemy.
Operatives of the Clade did not have obvious weapons and tended to be armed with devices such as an electropulse projector built into their cogitator gauntlet as well as made use of their menagerie such as psyber eagles, eyerats and netfly swarms. Additionally, they made use of Imperial bionics such as mechadendrites. These serve as potent interface tools with other pieces of technology with the information present being projected by hololithic displays.
According to Fon Tariel, the dictates and method of operation of the Clade were summed up as: “the cleanest kill is one that another performs in your stead with no knowledge of your incitement.” Some believed that the operatives of this Clade were incapable of following assassin instincts in the field and this is the reason why the Officio Assassinorum kept them at their scrying stations.
Methods
The agents of the Vanus temple are masters at gathering and manipulating information to bring about the elimination of their targets via unwitting third parties. Thus leaving no trace of Officio Assassinorum involvement. They are highly proficient in subtle assassination. For example – killing an embezzler by intercepting a cash shipment to him and planting forged data-bills, resulting in his co-conspirators murdering him out of suspicion.
History
Similar to the other Clades, the Vanus were formed during the age of the Great Crusade by a secret pact at Mount Vengeance on Terra consisting of the five other primary Clades that sought to eliminate the enemies of the Emperor in the shadows. Their founder was Sire Vanus who served as the Director Primus of the Clade and served under the secret Master of Assassins. The Clade is known to had removed many enemies of the Imperium as part of their duties which they accomplished by the manipulation of data rather than outright termination.
Learn More of the Officio Assassinorum
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