Chaplain

Every Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes entrusts the keeping of its faith and traditions to its Chaplains, the warrior-priests who form the Reclusiam. Robed in funereal black and hidden behind skull-faced helms, they are a deliberately fearsome sight, embodiments of death and devotion who walk among the battle-brothers as the conscience of the Chapter.

A Chaplain's duty is the spirit rather than the strategy of war. He leads his brothers in the rites and litanies of their cult, prepares aspirants for the trials of induction, and consecrates the honoured dead. In battle he strides at the forefront, chanting catechisms of hate and courage that lift ordinary Astartes to transcendent fury, ensuring that faith never wavers even in the darkest hour.

He bears the Crozius Arcanum, a heavy staff-mace that is both his badge of office and a brutal weapon, and is shielded by the crackling energy field of his rosarius. Answering to the Master of Sanctity, the Chaplains stand slightly apart from the Chapter's chain of command, watchful guardians of its soul whose word can condemn a fallen brother or sanctify a desperate last stand.