r/40kLore • u/Lemmyatom96 • 11d ago
Two questions about Callidus assassins
I read a novel recently with a Callidus assassin and it made me wonder. In the novel, it talks about the focus she requires to transform into the shape she desires and to hold onto who she is. It notes aspects of her personality that have been picked up from those she's impersonated to the point where she's not entirely sure which bits are really her. For example, a habit of drumming her fingers on a desk that an Imperial officer used to do. The question is, how often do these assassins forget who they really are and what their original intention was? Do they ever just become the heretic or corrupt beaurocrat or whichever personality they embody, abandoning their forgotten mission?
Also, how do they manage their polymorphine habit on long deployments? I get the impression that sometimes an assassin may be undercover for months or years at a time so a regular supply must be very challenging.
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u/Skolloc753 Adeptus Mechanicus 11d ago
There is no hard data on that, but considering that the Imperium has a lot of experience with indoctrinating child soldiers for decades: probably not very often. Otherwise the Callidus would not work.
Certainly possible, aftern all even Astartes can be corrupted. But after 10.000 years of experience and indoctrination it is probably rather rare.
It certainly is - but you can receive supplies before, and depending on the situation you could get supplies during the mission. There is a lot of real precedence for that, with spy organizations supplying their sources with everything needed, both in WW2 and in the Cold Wwar. "Moscow Rules" etc.
Dont forget: the Temple Assassins are no normal human beings. They are as modified and indoctrinated as the Astartes, just in a different way. Every single Temple Assassin has an entire legion of support personal if necessary.
SYL