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Is there a method or protocol in place to retrieve an Eversor who completed his mission and survived whatever the enemy could throw at him?

Or does he invariably O.D. from whatever stimms were pumped into him before setting him loose?

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They have an activation command so it stands to reason that they have a deactivation command. That being said, it would be unlikely that they would get recovered in the first place due to the nature of their missions.

From my understanding of the guy in Amberly Vail's retinue that is a former Commissar, and is essentially a Eversor in all but actual training/gear/title, they are basically turn them on, and let them go nuts, right? Once frenzon kicks in, there is hardly anything left. Not sure if it was the mind-wiping or what, but he was basically a Arco Flaggelant with a gun, and wasn't expected to survive activation. I think it's sorta a given that if you turn one on, you have crossed the threshold where cost benefit analysis takes a back seat to mission success. They are essentially suicide bombers. in 40k.

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
I think it's sorta a given that if you turn one on, you have crossed the threshold where cost benefit analysis takes a back seat to mission success. They are essentially suicide bombers. in 40k.

Fair.

Speaking of bombers, I'm curious what kind of situation calls for an Eversor rather than just a big bomb dropped from above. Maybe the sheer psychological effect of a maniac butchering everything in his path?

.

There is extremely small amounts of lore/fluff on what warrants the use an assassin, and what there is talks about how it's essentially a once in a 100 year opportunity to eliminate a Highlords of Terra level threat. That meaning it has to be SUCH a large threat, that someone actually contacts the Officio with a request, and it gets through the bureaucracy. For instance, a fallen Primarch is on sighted on a planet, a High ranking Chaos Warlord is sighted on a warzone, or, more likely, the elimination of a specific target/targets will catastrophically cripple the enemies chances in a key sector/warzone. For instance, Gaunt's mob attacking the Warmaster in one of their last few books, I think it was actually called Warmaster, as an Assassin level threat, but they had to do it with irregular militia forces, because the time table.

In the Custodes Book series, where the Officio is suspected of trying to kill Robby G, it's noted that the Highlords are reporting exactly 32 (?) active assassin missions, and there only being 34 (?) assassins accounted for (Forgive the numbers, I know they're wrong but it's been like two years since I read it). Point is, there are hardly any assassins active in existence, and even less get actively used.

An Eversor is the ultimate sanction from the Assassinorum. If a Vindicate can't be used, a Calidus would take too long and the talents of a Culexus would be wasted, then the human IED is sent in. Mass slaughter and Predator-esque last ditch explosion takes a serious threat.

For certain situations, an eversor would leave more infrastructure standing than the size of bomb required to do the job. Maybe not in The final conflict room, but in terms of penetrating a hardened facility, possibly less damage.

-Guardsman- wrote:
Is there a method or protocol in place to retrieve an Eversor who completed his mission and survived whatever the enemy could throw at him?

Or does he invariably O.D. from whatever stimms were pumped into him before setting him loose?
.

The answer is 'yes', but I don't know the method. In the 2nd Ed Assassins codex there is a brief "record" for an Eversor beneath a picture that goes like this:

CODE NAME: Eversor Assassin 0034/H/N/Tormentius
LOCATION: Segmentum Obscuras - Uphrateus
MISSIONS TO DATE: 67
MISSION SUCCESS: 98.3% STATUS: Permastasis REVOKED

67 Missions (66 successful), and still retrieved after the failed mission, somehow. They are not "suicide bombs".

-Guardsman- wrote:


Speaking of bombers, I'm curious what kind of situation calls for an Eversor rather than just a big bomb dropped from above. Maybe the sheer psychological effect of a maniac butchering everything in his path?

.

Same reasons we still use infantry and don't just bomb all problems with jets and missiles.

Sure, you could drop a very large orbital bombardment on the rebellious governor's palace, but that would probably level the entire city as well as the palace and you'd never be quite 100% sure you got him.

But a drop pod landing in the palace unleashing a murderous psycho that leaves a building full of corpses and bullet holes, and can actually confirm the kill, is quite useful. You still have a city to reclaim, along with its industry and populace intact. And probably well cowed by what just happened.

Yes. However I’m not sure the exact retrieval mechanism is revealed.

How, perhaps we can infer from their more basic version, the Archoflaggelant. Those have pacifier helms, which when not in combat play lovely soothing psalms to help keep them sedated. When it’s action time, pump them full of stims and combat drugs, switch off the helm (usual a verbalisation from their handler) and it’s off to the races we go.

The Eversor however is kept in stasis until needed, with mission details being fed directly into their brain. And if memory serves, they’re typically deployed by drop pod, and their thawing out typically takes place during launch.

Wait…hold on. Somewhere I’ve got the 2nd Ed Codex Assassins, how about I just read that?

Well, my above description was accurate (well done Mr Brain, treats for you later) but nothing is said about retrieval. But it is explicit that cryostasis is involved, with the Assassin being utterly unaware of any passage of time except when active. So to their perception, life becomes one long mission.

It is worth noting part of their adaptations involve cleansing and immunising to the combat drugs they’re flooded with for a mission, so once let off the chain their system can work through the drugs.

I’d assume there has to be some drug or combination to settle the Assassin down for retrieval. It could also be they’re ordered back to their drop pod, and so I posit those pods will have at least limited stasis potential?

But we can be certain they’re not intended as One Use Wonders.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for the purpose of the Eversor? Codex Assassins (2nd Ed) is quite explicit that it’s primarily renegade and rogue governors raising large armies against The Imperium. As I’m sure you can guess, a full cleansing of traitors is the aim, leaving no would be successors or inner circle to pick up where the recently deceased left off.

This is of course preferable to a costly battlefield engagement which could grind on for months, years or even decades.

 Gert wrote:
They have an activation command so it stands to reason that they have a deactivation command. That being said, it would be unlikely that they would get recovered in the first place due to the nature of their missions.

The RPGs describe in passing them having a stand down code not a million miles from a super-arcoflagellant.

One of the scenarios at the Inquisitor GT, years ago, had your team trying to stay alive after injury to the Assassin led to the code not working.

That was "fun".

I'm pretty sure I read a long time ago that Eversors explode upon their death, some sort of grenade or charge wired into them. I can't provide a source for that though, so I might be confusing it with something else.


Training and deploying an Eversor is going to be very resource intensive, so I would imagine that you would want to reuse that asset when you can. How you actually go about containing and retrieving them is beyond me though.

 Insectum7 wrote:

-Guardsman- wrote:
Is there a method or protocol in place to retrieve an Eversor who completed his mission and survived whatever the enemy could throw at him?

Or does he invariably O.D. from whatever stimms were pumped into him before setting him loose?
.

The answer is 'yes', but I don't know the method. In the 2nd Ed Assassins codex there is a brief "record" for an Eversor beneath a picture that goes like this:

CODE NAME: Eversor Assassin 0034/H/N/Tormentius
LOCATION: Segmentum Obscuras - Uphrateus
MISSIONS TO DATE: 67
MISSION SUCCESS: 98.3% STATUS: Permastasis REVOKED

67 Missions (66 successful), and still retrieved after the failed mission, somehow. They are not "suicide bombs".

Ooops, found it, disregard.

 Afrodactyl wrote:
I'm pretty sure I read a long time ago that Eversors explode upon their death, some sort of grenade or charge wired into them. I can't provide a source for that though, so I might be confusing it with something else.

You're remembering correctly. They're wired to explode if killed as a last attempt to achieve their mission.

It's not exactly a det charge or a grenade, it's more their potent mix of chemicals in their system don't do a good job of mixing together. When they meet, bio-meltdown occurs. Think of a science experiment in HS gone absolutely wrong as possible. It's explosive, but like a volitile acid bomb. I am not sure if it's a literal explosion, but it's enough to kill everything remotely biological within 20 or so meters of itself.

Do I have this correct?

Nope, it's an actual explosion.

 Gert wrote:
Nope, it's an actual explosion.

It is an explosion caused by a bio-meltdown though, not a mechanical bomb.

"A rose by any other name smells just a sweet"

TL;DR: You say potato....

Lord Zarkov wrote:
It is an explosion caused by a bio-meltdown though, not a mechanical bomb.

Its still an explosion and the Eversor is the delivery device.
Should the Eversor not succeed in its mission with its big claw, gun, and ninja skills then it blows up in a last ditch attempt to kill the target.

Lord Zarkov wrote:

 Gert wrote:
Nope, it's an actual explosion.

It is an explosion caused by a bio-meltdown though, not a mechanical bomb.

An explosion is a conversion of chemical energy into kinetic energy, through the sudden and massive expansion in gas volume. Given The right precursor biological processes and feedstocks, a bio-meltdown explosion is just an explosion, and probably a detonation at that, given the implied resulting damage. A deflagration would have a much less impressive outcome.

I think the point is more that the Eversor isn't "wired" to blow in a suicide bomb kind of way. They aren't carrying a bomb. (Well, besides the meltabombs they're equipped with) It's just a side effect of the crazy level of chems always in circulation to keep them functioning at the level they do. When the body stops regulating those potential reactions, pop.

I don't have a blast radius off the top of my head, and don't know if it's ever given in RL terms, but it was a 1.5" radius template in 2nd ed iirc.

It's an intentional design though so it is wired to blow, it's just not the primary method of killing.

Original context in thread was "some sort of grenade or charge wired into them", which it is not. They don't have a literal bomb wired into them.

My english major forbids me from letting this slide:

Having C4 inside them with a detonator is no different than making the conscious decision to force their body to mix the constituent parts of C4, and then add a catalyst. Same thing. The "wired in" part is just the subcutaneous vats of frenzon and whatnot.

^I'd be more inclined to agree if there were chemicals specifically implanted for the purpose of exploding, but that's not how it's described.


Besides, a Callidus would be much better for bomb delivery. Not only are they master infiltrators, but they can just hide equipment (like a bomb) in their bodies.

I find it funny that the same codex that gives us the "Retrieval" stats for Eversors, give us a blurb about Mother Gullet, who I was led to believe is something of a "Never speak about that lore, ever".

I don't see why it would be "unspeakable". If the Mother Gullet blurb is in the 2nd ed codex, I can't find it.

Surely it can't be worse than the Daemonculuba.

It is apparently from 3rd ed.

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Mother_Gullet

 Gert wrote:
It's an intentional design though so it is wired to blow, it's just not the primary method of killing.

I think it’s more a happy side effect. I can imagine during the R&D phase, they were able to create biological balancing when the Eversor is alive, then kind of realised “it doesn’t matter if they’re KIA, and actually, it’s also kind of useful”.