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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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The Culexus Assassins possess the "[[Pariah]] Gene", making them for all intents, "soulless," accounting for their lack of warp-presence. This gene manifests itself very rarely, in a single individual among a billion, or more. This extreme rarity, coupled with the inevitable losses during training, makes the Culexus assassins the rarest of all Imperial assassins.{{Fn|1}} The Culexus temple is known to hunt down and recruit these [[Pariah]]s but also to vat-grow them. Due to the nature of being parentless, combined with the pariah gene making them seem soulless, these Culexus struggle with social interaction. Whilst able to mimic predictive human behaviour of a character they are playing as part of a mission, they may not actually feel emotions.{{Fn|3}}
The location of the Culexus temple is a closely guarded secret, said to be located on a planet which orbits no sun, and which is beyond the reach of the [[Astronomican]].{{Cite ThisFn|2a}}
The [[Eldar]], whose leaders are usually psychics, fear the Culexus greatly. [[Farseer]] [[Alladrios Kulcassian]] of [[Craftworld]] [[Alaitoc]] coordinated a centuries-long effort to locate and destroy this temple. Somehow he discovered the location and dispatched the ''Legacy of Eldanesh'', a [[Shadow]]-class cruiser. However, using his precognitive powers, he discovered to his amazement that the temple's destruction would lead to the Annihilation of Alaitoc. Choosing the lesser of two evils, he re-called the cruiser home.{{Fn|1}}
==Equipment==
The Culexus Assassin slays his foe by using a deadly psychic blast directed through an ancient device known as an [[Animus Speculum]]. It is not fully known how this device functions, but it is speculated that the warp energy separated from its targets by the null aura of the Culexus is held in this device and then unleashed. Indeed, the weapon becomes more and more potent in the vicinity of psykers. The device fires bolts of negative psychic energy and drains the power of nearby psykers to bolster its power. Secondly, the Culexus carries an [[Etherium]], a device that induce enormous distortion and confusion in all nearby enemies, psychic or not. Combined with the fact that the enemy is already disconcerted by the soulless Culexus, the Etherium makes the Culexus impossible to target.{{Fn|22b}}
Culexus assassins also make use of [[Psyk-out]] grenades, which are devastating to psykers, but do nothing to those without psychic potential. The grenades utilize a substance that is said to be a by-product of the constant workings of the [[Golden Throne]] itself.{{Cite Thisfn|2b}}
==Known Culexus Assassins==
*[[Iota]] '''Protephage''': a female member of the Assassin Clade during the heresy era, she was dispatched with the first ever multiple clade execution team to assassinate [[Horus]].{{Fn|3}}
*[[Dranos]]
*[[Vaedrex]]
==Sources==
*{{Endn|1}}: [[Codex: Necrons (3rd Edition)]], pgp. 8 , "Shadow games"*{{Endn|2}}: [[Codex: Assassins (2nd Edition)]], **{{Endn|2a}}: p. 21**{{Cite ThisEndn|2b}}: pp. 22–23*{{Endn|3}}: ''[[Nemesis (Novel)|Nemesis]] '' by [[James Swallow]], {{Cite This}}*{{Endn|4}}: [[Codex: Grey Knights (5th Edition)]], pgp. 52
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