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Hi guys. I'm preparing a character for a Black Crusade RPG game, want him to be a TS sorc. The way I understood their fluff, is that Ahriman cured them of all mutations at the cost of turning non-psyker astartes into haunted automatons, and that this means that TS psykers have unblemished complexions, regular amount of appendages and eyes and generally look rather human. But then I read some excerpt from a book saying that they just THINK they look normal, and the Rubric was an utter failure except for changing their perception of their own selves. Wassup? Was Iskandar lying, did a fluff change take place, or was I wrong to assume their lack of mutation in the first place?

Ahriman´s Rubric banished mutation from the Thousand Sons, yes, but only amongst them who had little in the form of psychic talent and only by destroying their physical forms. The rest of us are as prone to the whims of the Warp and our own sins, just as any other being dwelling inside the Eye. If you believe my former brother Ahzek is entirely unchanged beneath his Eye-touched armour, you are as dangerously naive as he was when he unmade our Legion. Ahriman believe he is perfectly unaltered, hmm, did you know that? Yet I have seen the void that screams where his face used to be.

- Iskandar Khayon reporting to the Inquisition, apparently.

Supported by rules (gift of mutation available to Thousand Son Sorcerer unit leaders and a boon that causes mutation in 6th/7th edition), model range (plenty of Thousand Son Sorcerer models included mutations).

They look Human as in that they are still made of flesh and blood and not dust and magic like regular Thousand Sons. Like all followers of Chaos, they are still subject to mutation though. A mere human spell will never be able to keep the power of Chaos at bay.

I think the rubric "mostly" stopped the curse of the Flesh Change.
This is something Ahriman would consider a success..

But they still suffer from mutation like everything living in the eye .

Thanks guys! So the Rubric was just a big aul' bunch of buncombe? I think I minsunderstood its success - it rendered regular marines immune by the virtue of turning them into Rubrics, and it agumented the power of the sorcerers, but it didn't purify the latter at all. I think I've seen it implied somewhere that it did. Thanks for clearing that up.

It could just be an issue of perception when it comes to psykers. Remember, Magnus and the Emperor could both appear however they wanted, and normal people found it difficult to perceive either.

It should also be remembered that Iskandor has a lot of question marks over his tales relating to the Thousand Sons, the supposed reason for his nickname 'Kingbreaker' for example. What he tells the Inquisition may well have no bearing whatsoever on the truth.

Let's say maybe the Sorcerers lost all their mutations at the time the Rubric was cast.

That was 10,000 years ago.

Since then, many of the Sorcerers who were around have died and been replaced with new ones who were not subject to the Rubric. The Legion retreated into the Eye of Terror, where normal physical laws don't necessarily apply. The Sorcerers have been making use of their abilities all that time, and their God has seen fit to favor them in various ways.

So it's a toss up about whether any of them could maintain a natural appearance. Happy to accept the idea, but I don't think it would be valid for all Sorcerers in the Legion.

Some of them at least are confirmed through official models and art to definitely be mutated.

They don't seem to be degenerating into Chaos Spawn in large numbers though, which is what was happening before, so I wouldn't stay the Rubric was complete "buncombe". It at least had a stabilizing effect.

Also Ahriman, the one Thousand Son sorcerer we know for sure was around when the rubric was cast and has been outside the Eye of Terror for most of the time since, isn't obviously mutated, although he may be hiding it under his helmet and robes.

The rubric stopped the flesh change, but the Sorcerers can be mutated by Chaos gifts. See the Exalted Sorcerers for example.

Good points everyone, thanks a bunch. I was toying with the idea of creating a normal-looking TS sorcerer, who was a fiend and a monster on the inside in spite of his mutation-free appearance. I understand I could achieve this by means of illusion, but I reckon hiding mutations, which are seen as boons and blessings of the Ruinous Powers, when around other servants of Chaos, who themselves will be heavily mutated, might be seen as... less than appropriate. I'll run this by my DM and see what he thinks. Perhaps my sorc looks human neck up, but his body is like a mix between Nightmare from Soul Calibur and a vulture underneath? :-)

Mhorbaine wrote:
Good points everyone, thanks a bunch. I was toying with the idea of creating a normal-looking TS sorcerer, who was a fiend and a monster on the inside in spite of his mutation-free appearance. I understand I could achieve this by means of illusion, but I reckon hiding mutations, which are seen as boons and blessings of the Ruinous Powers, when around other servants of Chaos, who themselves will be heavily mutated, might be seen as... less than appropriate. I'll run this by my DM and see what he thinks. Perhaps my sorc looks human neck up, but his body is like a mix between Nightmare from Soul Calibur and a vulture underneath? :-)

How about running with the 'trapped in a portrait' meme?

Have the model all pure and unchanged, but his personal heraldry banner depicts a disgusting mass of tentacles and ectoplasm which is the sorcerer's true form?

Mhorbaine wrote:
Hi guys. I'm preparing a character for a Black Crusade RPG game, want him to be a TS sorc. The way I understood their fluff, is that Ahriman cured them of all mutations at the cost of turning non-psyker astartes into haunted automatons, and that this means that TS psykers have unblemished complexions, regular amount of appendages and eyes and generally look rather human. But then I read some excerpt from a book saying that they just THINK they look normal, and the Rubric was an utter failure except for changing their perception of their own selves. Wassup? Was Iskandar lying, did a fluff change take place, or was I wrong to assume their lack of mutation in the first place?

Ahriman´s Rubric banished mutation from the Thousand Sons, yes, but only amongst them who had little in the form of psychic talent and only by destroying their physical forms. The rest of us are as prone to the whims of the Warp and our own sins, just as any other being dwelling inside the Eye. If you believe my former brother Ahzek is entirely unchanged beneath his Eye-touched armour, you are as dangerously naive as he was when he unmade our Legion. Ahriman believe he is perfectly unaltered, hmm, did you know that? Yet I have seen the void that screams where his face used to be.

- Iskandar Khayon reporting to the Inquisition, apparently.

Yes. It was a block against mutation. But then retcon happened, because wacky new models.

Old lore made them immune to mutations, in new lore it puts them in charge of the changes and they don't lose their minds ( another effect of the flesh-change they went insane/out of control).