| abstract | - The exact nature of the Exorcists' creation and the gene-seed used in their Founding has remained classified by a special Bull Absolute of the Inquisitorial Representative issued at the time of their Founding. The Chapter has long-standing and strong links with the Inquisition and certain factions within the Ordo Malleus in particular, and it is most likely that it is the sponsorship and designs of that Ordo that has given them their unique character, and may well have specified their creation, either as a grand experiment or for some singular purpose. They are unusually resistant to both daemonic possession and Chaotic corruption. As part of their initiation into the Chapter, Exorcists Astartes are forced to serve as Daemonhosts for a short time before the possessing daemon is expelled back to the Warp by the intervention of an Inquisitor. The Death Spectres are the second known Chapter to have been created during this unusual Founding. They are a Successor Chapter of the Raven Guard and share the same mutations as found in that Chapter's gene-seed. Like the Raven Guard, the Battle-Brothers of this Chapter possess a minor mutation that causes the Melanchromic Organ (which controls the amount of melanin in an Astartes' skin tone) to not function properly, leading to the development of albinism in Death Spectres Astartes. Differing Melanchrome gene-seed from Chapter to Chapter leads to variations in skin and hair colour, and in some Chapters all of the Space Marines may have identical colouration, such as is found in the albino warriors of the Death Spectres Chapter. Finally, there is the Crimson Sabres Chapter. The Renegade Space Marine warband who call themselves the Crimson Slaughter were once the Crimson Sabres Chapter of Space Marines. Since their betrayal and excommunication, many have sought out the Chapter's origins, delving back into their past to find perhaps some reasoning behind their rapid decline into savage butchery. Thus far, the Inquisition has failed to reveal any conclusive evidence that links them to corrupt gene-seed or known mutagenic factors. It is surmised by many, from Inquisitors to curator-scribes, that the Crimson Sabres may have belonged to the 13th Founding, but nothing has ever been proven.
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