Exorcist launcher
This article is about the Adepta Sororitas weapon. For other uses of Exorcist, see Exorcist (disambiguation). |
The Exorcist launcher, main weapon of the Exorcist tank, is a large multitube artillery piece firing in salvos of up to six missiles.[4] It is used solely by the Adeptus Ministorum and its armed branch, the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas.[2b][Needs Citation]
Contents
Overview
The system was originally built on Mars, dating back at least to the Age of Apostasy. The weapon is barely understood by the Techpriests and Sisters servicing it and needs constant maintenance as a result. It has therefore acquired a temperamental reputation, being able to shoot a single missile instead of an entire volley, or to refuse to fire altogether. For the sisters operating them, this is a sign of the their holy nature, as they interpret these malfunctions as the Machine Spirits being infused by the Emperor's power and experiencing rapturous delight.[2b]
The weapon's primary loadout is armor-piercing ammunition, for destroying enemy emplacements and armoured vehicles, although the system is able to fire high-explosive or incendiary projectiles suck as Conflagration Rockets, and even be a threat to aircraft.[3a],[3b],[3c] Some versions of the Exorcist resemble more conventional weapon systems, others feature complex arrangements of gilded baroque pipes.[2b]
Known patterns
The Prioris pattern launcher originally built on Mars is the most prized model,[2b] duplicating a pipe-organ with its vertical-launch missile tubes, and using a console made of several several keyboards to input targeting solutions and impact coordinates.[Needs Citation] Other patterns also exist like the Dominica pattern[2c] and Sanctorum pattern[2b]. Known versions of the Dominica pattern include patterns I to IV and specifically the Mark IId Dominica pattern whose Forge World of origin is Ophelia VII.[2c] The Ecclesiarchy does not consider non-Prioris pattern examples of the system as potent a symbol of the Emperor's power as the earlier Prioris pattern.[2b]
Due to the looks and operation of the Prioris-pattern, the gunner is called an organist as well as an artillerist[Needs Citation]; firing procedures also follow the musical lexicon, with terms such as adagio, movement, recital and refrain.[2a],[3d],[3e]
Sources
- 1: Codex: Witch Hunters (3rd Edition), pg. 36
- 2: Imperial Armour Volume Two - Second Edition: War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes:
- 3: Codex: Adepta Sororitas (8th Edition),
- 4: Codex: Sisters of Battle (5th Edition) (second part), White Dwarf 380 (US), pg. 95
- 5: Forgeworld - Sisters of Battle (Archived) (Saved archive page, dated Feb 2003, last accessed 29 January 2021)
Uncited
- Chapter_Approved_2001 pgs. 6, 15