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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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Assassins are recruited at a very young age, from the orphans of Imperial servants raised in the [[Schola Progenium]]{{Fn|1}} and the populations of [[feral world]]s. Prospective candidates are tested mercilessly even as they are shipped to [[Terra]], pitted against hazardous environments as well as each other, with perhaps one in ten surviving the journey.{{fn|11b}} The survivors are divided among the six (or potentially seven; the ''current'' status of the [[Adamus Temple|Adamus]] temple is unknown) temples and then undergo ten years of intensive training under the Lord Assassins.{{fn|11b}} From then onward they live in and operate out of one of the Assassin temples said to be located somewhere on Terra. They are harshly tested and trained, their senses and resolve heightened with implants. Even after the initial training, the life of an agent of the Officio remains hard and unforgiving.{{Fn|2}}
Some [[inquisitor]]s are known to organize organise Officio Assassinorum training for [[Death Cultist]]s that serve in their retinue, which transforms these already highly efficient killers into much more deadly and honed executioners.{{Fn|4}}
==Organisation==
Despite their hard and often short lives, Assassins can rise in the organisation by successfully completing missions. Upon achieving '''Sicarius Primus''', they gain the right of refusal to any sector-level mission and even take assignments intended for other Temples. This is the stepping stone for advancement to the central Temple on Terra, where they can become high-ranking masters of the organisation.{{Fn|27a}} Indeed, the Grand Master himself is a skilled assassin who has advanced to the Officio's highest position.{{Fn|28}}
The temples, with the exception of the Culexus Temple, are located on Terra but their specific locations are a closely guarded secret. Each Temple also operates sub-temples on the [[Segmentum]] and then [[Sector]] level. These are in turn coordinated by the [[Temple of Assassins]] on Terra, which is home to the [[Grand Master of Assassins]] and the central command of the organisation. The Central Temple on Terra maintains several sub-departments to oversee Officio activities, such as the '''Office of Missions''' and '''Office of Operations'''. The heads of these departments answer in turn to the Grand Master himself.{{Fn|27a}} There are also '''Master Adepts''', who can organize organise and sometimes even lead assassination operations.{{Fn|32}}
The Officio is also home to many non-assassin employees as for every assassin that is deployed, thousands of clerks and bureaucrats oversee the logistical work of the agency. These officials determine where the operatives should go, who they should kill, and how their equipment is produced and maintained.{{Fn|27a}} The ranks of the Officio Assassinorum also include ancillary staff, including intelligence operatives who are deployed across the Imperium to conduct reconnaissance and analysis,{{Fn|27b}} along with [[Astropath]]s, [[Navigator]]s, and other such servants. Though these individuals are not Assassins themselves, they live entirely within the organisation and have no contact with the outside world.{{Fn|2}}
The origins of the Officio Assassinorum itself are traced to the times of the [[Great Crusade]] where a pact was made on Mount Vengeance by the six ''Directors Primus'' of the Assassin Clades, headed by the Master of Assassins. All seven individuals were masked and their identities kept secret from one another and thus they were unaware that their leader was none other than [[Malcador (Character)|Malcador the Sigilite]]. From the six Directors Primus, the founding Clades were formed from [[Sire Vindicare]], [[Sire Eversor]], [[Sire Culexus]], [[Sire Vanus]], [[Siress Venenum]] and [[Siress Callidus]] who all met in secret at the [[Shrouds]]. For decades, they hunted the enemies of the Emperor by way of stealth and subterfuge in order to show these foes that there was no place for them to hide. Such was the secrecy of this agency that its existence and actions were only marginally known to the [[Emperor]] as they intended to maintain his noble purity. As the deployment of an Imperial Assassin was a delicate matter, usually only a single agent was sent into the field or, at maximum, three, but always from the same primary Clade.{{Fn|3}}
Following the outbreak of the [[Horus Heresy]], the agents of the Officio Assassinorum dispatched eight agents from the six primary Clades in order to eliminate the renegade [[Warmaster]] [[Horus]], but all of them failed. The last attempt was made by [[Tobeld]] of the Venenum Clade outside the command tent of the rogue [[Primarch]]. During a meeting at the Shrouds, the Clade Directors Primus debated and argued over how to eliminate their foe. At this point the Master of Assassins, following the advice of [[Legio Custodes]] [[Captain-General]] [[Constantin Valdor]], decided to assemble the first [[Officio Assassinorum Execution Force]] consisting of various Clades, to eliminate Horus. Such an act was unheard of in the history of the Officio Assassinorum.{{Fn|3}} The civil war saw the Officio's many agents scattered throughout the Galaxy, and in its aftermath [[Chosen of Malcador]] [[Khalid Hassan]] succeeded Malcador as the [[Grand Master of Assassins]]. He saw the rebuilding of the organization organisation as vital in order to counter the power of the remaining Primarchs.{{Fn|34}}
In 546.[[M32]] after the disastrous [[War of the Beast]], the [[High Lords of Terra]] [[The Beheading|were slain to a man]] by the Grand Master of the Officio, [[Drakan Vangorich]]. A [[Space Marine]] strike force drawing from the [[Halo Brethren]], [[Sable Swords]], and [[Imperial Fists]] [[Chapter]]s under [[Lord Commander]] [[Maximus Thane]] was scrambled to stop Vangorich. Storming the [[Assassinorum Temple]] on [[Terra]], the force was assailed by a hundred [[Eversor Assassin]]s. Only Thane survived to reach Vangorich and slay the mad Grand Master. Afterwards, the Imperium descended into a period of anarchy.{{Fn|6}}
*'''999.[[M41]]''' - During the [[Second Agrellan Campaign]] a [[Culexus Assassin]] attached to an Officio [[Execution Force]] succeeds in killing [[Aun'va]], [[Ethereal Supreme]] of the [[Tau Empire]].{{Fn|14}}
*'''[[M42]]''' - The Officio Assassinorum is deployed by [[Roboute Guilliman]] during his purge of [[Imperial]] Bureaucracy, known as the [[Primarch's Scourge]].{{Fn|22}}
*'''[[M42]]''' - Three [[Callidus Assassin]]s are dispatched to kill [[Grandsire Wurm]], [[Genestealer Patriarch]] of the [[Cult of the Pauper Princes]] on [[Vigilus]]. Though none of the Assassins survive, they succeed in slaying Grandsire Wurm. In the aftermath however, another Grandsire Wurm reincarnates in its place.{{Fn|20}}
*'''[[M42]]''' - A [[Callidus Assassin]] posing as a [[Mentors]] [[Chapter Serf]] kills [[Ekene Dubaku]], [[Chapter Master]] of the [[Celestial Lions]].{{Fn|21}}
*'''[[M42]]''' - [[Grand Master of Assassins]] [[Fadix]] reveals his loyalty to [[Regent]] [[Roboute Guilliman]] by slaying the members of the [[Hexarchy]] before they could launch a coup against his regime.{{Fn|24}}
===Known Operatives===
*[[Callidus_TempleCallidus Temple#Known_Callidus_AssassinsKnown Callidus Assassins|Callidus Assassins]]*[[Culexus_TempleCulexus Temple#Known_Culexus_AssassinsKnown Culexus Assassins|Culexus Assassins]]*[[Eversor_TempleEversor Temple#Notable_Eversor_AssassinsNotable Eversor Assassins|Eversor Assassins]]*[[Vanus_TempleVanus Temple#Known_Vanus_AssassinsKnown Vanus Assassins|Vanus Assassins]]*[[Venenum_TempleVenenum Temple#Notable_Venenum_AssassinsNotable Venenum Assassins|Venenum Assassins]]*[[Vindicare_TempleVindicare Temple#Notable_Vindicare_AssassinsNotable Vindicare Assassins|Vindicare Assassins]]
*Other / Unknown Temple:
**[[Legienstrasse]] — [[Maerorus Temple]]
*{{Endn|28}}: [[The Beheading (Novel)]], Chapter 9
*{{Endn|29}}: [https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/09/29/heresy-thursday-decapitate-your-enemies-with-the-clade-adamus-assassin/ Warhammer Community: Heresy Thursday – Decapitate Your Enemies With the Clade Adamus Assassin (Posted on 29/09/2022)] (Last accessed on 29 September 2022)
*{{Endn|30}}: [[Dark Millennium (game system)]]: '''Hope's Twilight''' — [https://web.archive.org/web/20240504112735/https://www.ccgtrader.net/card/112070/xx-00-operative XX-00 Operative] (archived 04 4 May 2024, last accessed 04 4 May 2024)
*{{Endn|31}}: [[Warhammer 40,000: The Ultimate Guide]], pg. 133
*{{Endn|32}}: [https://web.archive.org/web/20250923192338/https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/mkh26zdt/meet-the-lords-of-war-venturing-to-the-warhammer-40000-grand-narrative-this-week/ Warhammer Community: Meet the Lords of War venturing to the Warhammer 40,000 Grand Narrative this week] ''(archived from [https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/mkh26zdt/meet-the-lords-of-war-venturing-to-the-warhammer-40000-grand-narrative-this-week/ the original], last accessed 23 September 2025)''
