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I've heard from the forums that GKs have a tendency to kill though who've come into contact with daemons. I couldn't help but wonder what happens when other members of the imperiums armed forces encounter them. Do they just get a visit from the local inquisitor and underlings and sort out Who Saw What, and Who's Seen Too Much? If the inquisition goes around abducting or killing off every guardsmen that's shot at a daemon (as oppose to fleeing/crapping themselves) they'd probably break an army if it were a big enough battle.

Of course I can see the flip side, should the army/select few ever settle a world the Inquisition would have to rely on the guards just keeping their mouths shut...probably allot of assurance there.

But if anyone know what they exactly, I would like too know.

In the GK Codex, it is said that the fate of those who have been subject to contact with a daemonic entity depends on their value for the Imperium. The range of options to resolve the situation ranges from summary execution to infinite detention in a penal colony to mind-scrubbing, all the way to simply letting them go after debriefing. Space Marines, Battle Sisters and Inquisitorial operatives would populate the latter groups, whereas Guardsmen would usually be found at the opposite end. There are exceptions from these rules, of course, depending on both the type of contact and duration of exposure (the "risk level", so to say), the unit's reputation, and even the mindset / modus operandi of the individual Inquisitor who gets to make the call.

In the end, the average Guardsman is quite simply easiest to replace. At least this is still more pragmatic and practical than just throwing their lives away by using infantry to blow up a mine field (-> Chenkov). Daemonic incursions are extremely dangerous, and the taint of Chaos has been shown to spread even through the ranks of once loyal servants ... an example being the Volscani Cataphracts, who have had an impressive fighting record, until one day they killed off the entire Cadian Interior Guard leadership in a welcoming ceremony.

Chaos is subversive, and the Imperium's stance is that every deed is justified if it serves to protect the purity of its inhabitants. Even if it means culling them.

It really all depends, as Lynata said. For instance, I'm sure most of the citizens and Guardsmen around the Cadian Gate have at least some knowledge of the Daemonic forces that assail them on a daily basis. It would seem odd to cull everyone who has seen or heard of Daemons there. However, in an event like the First War of Armageddon, a place that had seen little to no Daemonic activity beforehand, almost all the Imperial Citizens were either executed or imprisoned by the Inquisition.

 Lynata wrote:
Chaos is subversive

This cannot be overstated.

The lives of loyal Imperial subjects consist in regularized, low-intensity pain with minimal relief found in religious devotion. Loyalty is quite literally its own reward. Even the rumor of Chaos promises so much more. The merest whiff of a feast can madden those who are famished. The hopeless crave meaning or at least diversion but all they'll get is senseless horror.

Better dead than damned.

Like others here said - it depends.

Astartes and Sororitas may be overseen because of their value ( Sisters are known for high resistance toward Chaos so I count them here ). Guardsmen would be killed without hesitation because they are after all ordinary men, and Chaos spread easiest trough them. That's the official version anyway...

Unofficially some of them are spared or in most cases Inquisition don't care as long as they do their job ( Sgr. Merrick from Dawn of War and Cain are good example of this, facing daemons of Chaos and they are still around ). Some major Regiments are spared even after facing great Chaos incursions ( Krieg and Cadians are most notable, Armageddon Steel Legion didn't exist during the time of 1'st war ) because of their vallue or simply because they didn't show any sings of taint.

But the fact remains: whenever Grey Knights go they will kill every Guardsmen and mind wipe every Astartes, and for good reason too:
But the fact remains - thanks to smart and ever enlightened mr. Ward the Grey Knights have fallen from around 3.000 to only 1.000 Astartes. This makes them unavailable to be everywhere at the same time and stop every daemonic incursion, so there are probably a ton of Guard troops that knows about existence of daemons and they are still fighting them.

So in vast 40k universe it really depends, you may fight tons of daemons over several decades or you can just see one in the wrong place and time and have nemesis weapon getting trough your scull.

For the most part they are killed by individual or in the most extreme cases the entire force is purged. Even the Sanguinary Guard had their minds wiped after helping the GKs. Dudes who represent the pinnacle of the Blood Angels warriors, men who are the stuff of legends had to have their encounter with an ancient foe purged from their brains.

No wonder why either, if the typical Imperial citizen or guardsmen found out the nature of the true power of Chaos, they would turn to Chaos as quickly as they turned to the God Emperor. I mean, if a winged greater Daemon landed onto a baneblade and crushed it with one stomp, then bellowed out in a deep roaring voice, that turned the sky to fire and thundered like a deep base that shook mountains... Most dudes would look at their flashlight guns and be like "GG brah"

I had been intending for a while to write some fluff or fanfiction or what have you to give my CSM a back story based on them fleeing from Inquisitorial mind wipes but the only thing I was aware of was the incident revolving Armageddon and the spacewolves and how that all worked itself out.

Ivan Issaccs wrote:
I had been intending for a while to write some fluff or fanfiction or what have you to give my CSM a back story based on them fleeing from Inquisitorial mind wipes but the only thing I was aware of was the incident revolving Armageddon and the spacewolves and how that all worked itself out.

Codex Grey Knights has some epic stories. I don't care what anyone says, being a GK and watching a Bloodthirster Shove a Carnifex through a wall during a Daemonic/Nid invasion is maybe the most metal thing ever. It also goes a long way in explaining why if you ever were witness to a GK scrap you need your brain either wiped or wiped off a wall.

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:

But the fact remains: whenever Grey Knights go they will kill every Guardsmen and mind wipe every Astartes, and for good reason too:

There were a bunch of Grey Knights at Armageddon, and most (not all) Imperial citizens were left alive. They were sterilized and put in work camps, but they weren't purged. The Space Wolves who participated also remember that event quite well. Especially Logan Grimnar who has held a grudge against the Inquisition because of how they (in his eyes) betrayed the men and women who defended their homes and the Imperium.

So a purge/mind-wipe isn't guaranteed when there's Grey Knights involved.

Well not every Citizen on Armageddon was tainted by Chaos. Only those that had direct contact, or had direct contact with those that did, were destroyed. The rest were locked down.


Its like cutting out an infection. You don't just cut out the affected area, you cut out some of the healthy parts as well to ensure the taint can't continue spreading. Cancer treatments harm both healthy cells and cancer cells.

Its a very basic tenant of medicine and sterility.

 BeefCakeSoup wrote:
For the most part they are killed by individual or in the most extreme cases the entire force is purged. Even the Sanguinary Guard had their minds wiped after helping the GKs. Dudes who represent the pinnacle of the Blood Angels warriors, men who are the stuff of legends had to have their encounter with an ancient foe purged from their brains.

Where does it say they had their minds wiped?

 Darth Bob wrote:


There were a bunch of Grey Knights at Armageddon, and most (not all) Imperial citizens were left alive. They were sterilized and put in work camps, but they weren't purged. The Space Wolves who participated also remember that event quite well. Especially Logan Grimnar who has held a grudge against the Inquisition because of how they (in his eyes) betrayed the men and women who defended their homes and the Imperium.

So a purge/mind-wipe isn't guaranteed when there's Grey Knights involved.

By left alive you meant put into camps where they worked until they died? It's easy to purge Regiment of several hundred or thousand Guardsmen, it's difficult to purge millions of citizens quickly without exterminatus. So they need to get rid of them, but because some of them made it to other worlds they made up story that they were all tainted and put them to camp to isolate them from the rest of the Imperium. This is only allied when they fail to kill them all immediately.
And as I remember Grey Knights tried later to submit Space Wolves and end up losing one of their Gran Masters and several Justicars. If Bjorn didn't intervened there would be a bloodbath between those two chapters. Even today they are on bad terms. it's not that Grey Knights left Space Wolves alone, they tried to mindwipe them and bring them into submission but they failed as Wolves actually rebelled against them.

The conclusion is simple, it depends on the day you meet them, your purity, how they are dealt with and most important of all who is in charge when it happens.

F.ex. at the siege of Vraks some 17 million Kriegsmen saw demons and the Grey Knights, but there haven't been any word of the final conclusion except that Inquisitor Hector Rex has taken control over the situation and suspended everything under the overwatch of Ordo Malleus.

Eldercaveman wrote:

Where does it say they had their minds wiped?

Page 15 and 16 of Grey knight code 5'th edition, "The Fall of Ka'Badha".
Every surviving Blood Angel got his mind wiped. But there is no mention of Sanguiary Guard.



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 Beaviz81 wrote:

F.ex. at the siege of Vraks some 17 million Kriegsmen saw demons and the Grey Knights, but there haven't been any word of the final conclusion except that Inquisitor Hector Rex has taken control over the situation and suspended everything under the overwatch of Ordo Malleus.

Maybe Death Korps of Krieg have special pardon from Inquisition, just like Cadian Shock Troops. I also never heard of Grey Knights destroying Cadian Regiment.

I guess it must be the golden boys, because of the cross reference with codex blood angels.

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:

Eldercaveman wrote:

Where does it say they had their minds wiped?

Page 15 and 16 of Grey knight code 5'th edition, "The Fall of Ka'Badha".
Every surviving Blood Angel got his mind wiped. But there is no mention of Sanguiary Guard.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Beaviz81 wrote:

F.ex. at the siege of Vraks some 17 million Kriegsmen saw demons and the Grey Knights, but there haven't been any word of the final conclusion except that Inquisitor Hector Rex has taken control over the situation and suspended everything under the overwatch of Ordo Malleus.

Maybe Death Korps of Krieg have special pardon from Inquisition, just like Cadian Shock Troops. I also never heard of Grey Knights destroying Cadian Regiment.

It is a mottled thingy up to the author in my perspective. There just ain't anything real to go on.

The whole killing people because they saw daemons thing isn't what the Inquisition was doing.

They were mind wiping or killing people because they saw the Grey Knights. Which is an altogether different problem. Astartes: mind wipe because they were too valuable. Regular people and/or guard? Depending on the Inquisitor in charge: either death, sterilization or nothing.

The Wolves stopped a lot of what the inquisition did after the 1st war of Armageddon; although the populace was still sterilized and a lot of guardsmen were hunted down. It only ended once the Inquisition squared off against the Space Wolves and the Wolves essentially won.

The thing about the Inquisition is that most Inquisitors make up the rules as they go along. This goes a long way to give reasons why stuff happens in one area of fluff that doesn't in another. The only common thing seems to be if someone sees the Grey Knights. Once those guys are called in then pretty much every witness is "cleansed" in order to preserve the secrets. Of course, they are only supposed to be called in if things are really that bad. You might want to read The Emperor's Gift. Great expansion on the Space Wolf/Inquisition/Grey Knight story from the codex.

I have the old Slaves to Darkness book where GK first showed up and the fluff is basically the same in this area. It says that unless a force is of HIGH value to the Imperium they will never be allowed to live.

It gives an example of an Imperial guard regiment that fought off Daemons. They were then vaporised by the GK from orbit. Eldar were blamed for the regiment's destruction. It seems to be the case that not only are most of those who meet Daemons are killed but the manner of their deaths is covered up too.

Well, it serves a double purpose:
a) prevent the truth from negatively affecting Imperial morale and
b) preserve the people's hatred towards xenos, thus preventing unsanctioned cooperation / infiltration

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:
(the)Wolves actually rebelled against them.

Honestly, after the way the Wolves carried on in The Emperor's Gift, they should have been declared Excommunicate Traitorus and simply purged. Those idiots not only openly defied and raised arms against the Holy Inquisition, but their actions resulted in many more millions of Imperial Citizens being killed as the Inquisition was forced to widen their net to catch all the people who had been on Armageddon.

That is what bothers me most about the Wolves. Not that they show the finger to every second Imperial Adeptus in existence, but that they always, always get away with it.

And this is on top of being what many influential officials within the setting would label heretic mutants, mind you.

Personally I take the "new canon" with a grain of salt and Black Library books with a whole shaker.

That being said, at the onset of Daemonic forces in 2nd edition 40k (in Rogue Trader and 1st edition there were only Imperial and Traitor forces) the IoM at large were not aware of the warp entities. SM and IG forces deemed the CSM as traitors and only the GKs were aware of their patron deities. Whenever deamons were encountered, Inquisitors were dispatched to determine the how much corruption was evident and deliver action accordingly. Some peoples were unable to discern the hand of Chaos and the influence was minor, these peoples were often mentally conditioned and let free afterwards. Those witnessing daemonic creatures and fully influcenced were either mind-wiped or executed. Plante-scale daemonic encursions resulted in exterminatus. SMs were not exempt from these tactics, although mindwipe was preferred due to the marine's value. It was not unheard of for a Chapter to be targeted for exterminatus due to actual or perceived influence from Chaos, example the Flame Falcons.

clively wrote:


They were mind wiping or killing people because they saw the Grey Knights. Which is an altogether different problem.

No, just no. They are not mindwiping people that see GKs. They are mindwiping people that come into contact with daemonic taint, or possably came into contact with daemonic taint.

Grey Templar wrote:No, just no. They are not mindwiping people that see GKs.

It does, in fact say that in the current GK 'dex.

Yeah, I don't like it much, either.

 Kaldor wrote:

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:
(the)Wolves actually rebelled against them.

Honestly, after the way the Wolves carried on in The Emperor's Gift, they should have been declared Excommunicate Traitorus and simply purged. Those idiots not only openly defied and raised arms against the Holy Inquisition, but their actions resulted in many more millions of Imperial Citizens being killed as the Inquisition was forced to widen their net to catch all the people who had been on Armageddon.

Yes but the thing is they kicked I,GK and the RH arses pretty hard, which showed how GK are weak against mere astartes and that IoM can't afford another civil war especially if some chapter's come to their aid....
Thing is only idiots were the "I" for turning to be total weaklings....

 Lynata wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:No, just no. They are not mindwiping people that see GKs.

It does, in fact say that in the current GK 'dex.

Yeah, I don't like it much, either.

The context says its because of Daemons they mindwipe people.

in the fluff, the chances of seeing a GK and not seeing a daemon/being in contact with the taint of chaos are probably close to zero.

 Lynata wrote:
Well, it serves a double purpose:
a) prevent the truth from negatively affecting Imperial morale and
b) preserve the people's hatred towards xenos, thus preventing unsanctioned cooperation / infiltration

Ye speaketh holy truth of the divine Emperor!

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. This seems to be Imperial policy in this case. In addition, Eldar and other Xenos are foul, grotesque monsters in need of cleansing with fire and sword, their loathesome existence means they desreve to have things blamed on them.

So we know the inquisition tries to keep the existence of chaos, daemons and the GK secret. But for units fighting chaos it's got to be impossible. Is there any indication in the fluff as to what aspects of the imperium are allowed to know about these things without getting themselves executed.

Leech wrote:If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. This seems to be Imperial policy in this case. In addition, Eldar and other Xenos are foul, grotesque monsters in need of cleansing with fire and sword, their loathesome existence means they desreve to have things blamed on them.

Also, Tau eat your babies.

And the Emperor died for your lemonade!

Grey Templar wrote:The context says its because of Daemons they mindwipe people.
in the fluff, the chances of seeing a GK and not seeing a daemon/being in contact with the taint of chaos are probably close to zero.

I know what you mean, and I'd like to justify it with this as well, but the wording clearly focuses on witnessing the Grey Knights rather than witnessing a daemonic incursion as being the factor.

"The veil of secrecy surrounding the Grey Knights is closely guarded, and both they and the Inquisition go to great, and often brutal, lengths to maintain it. [...] Not all campaigns can be won through the deeds of the Grey Knights alone, and the warriors of Titan often find themselves battling at the side of brother Space Marines, the Imperial Guard or elements of the Imperium's other armies. In such circumstances, the Inquisition must take drastic measures to ensure that the secrecy of the Grey Knights is preserved. [...]"

I had to check this just yesterday because I wasn't sure myself, or rather, I am still used to the old version myself ... but it's there and it's printed.

Ivan Issaccs wrote:So we know the inquisition tries to keep the existence of chaos, daemons and the GK secret. But for units fighting chaos it's got to be impossible. Is there any indication in the fluff as to what aspects of the imperium are allowed to know about these things without getting themselves executed.

Marines, Sisters, Inquisitors and their chosen operatives ...
But really, it can't be nailed down with a clear distinction. As mentioned before, it depends on the Inquisitor in charge as well as the value of the witness. One Inquisitor might decide to let a veteran Guard regiment get away with it because they fought well, are desperately needed elsewhere, and seem untainted. The next Inquisitor might decide to lancestrike a bunch of surviving Space Marines from orbit just to make sure. Most of the time it'd be something in-between.