| abstract | - The Culexus Temple is one of the most sinister and feared orders of the Officio Assassinorum and its assassins have been described by Eldar Warlocks as nothing short of the embodiments of pure evil. Even amongst the upper echelons of the Officio Assassinorum this temple is always viewed with extreme caution. The reason for this is not because of the way that the Culexian Assassins carry out their operations, or the heinous methods of killing they employ. It is because of the very nature of the Culexus Assassins themselves. The Assassins of this particular temple are not chosen because of their innate savagery, cunning or combat skills. First and foremost, potential candidates are chosen to be Culexus Assassins because they are born with an extremely rare human genetic mutation called the Pariah Gene -- which means they have no presence within the Warp unlike all other sentient beings, and thus no soul. This extremely rare genetic defect occurs for no known reason in less than one in a billion individuals. However, in recent years evidence has emerged that the Pariah gene was engineered into Mankind's ancestors million of years ago by the C'tan and their Necron servants so that humanity might be used as a weapon against the psychic species like the Eldar and the Orks that the Old Ones had created to defeat the C'tan. It is for this reason that the Necrons capture humans with the Pariah gene and transform them into the hideous Necron Pariahs. Even normal humans find the presence of a Pariah extremely disturbing, but the effect is most pronounced on psykers, who find Pariahs genuinely terrifying, as though staring into a hole in the universe when they use their Witchsight. It is hardly surprising that Pariahs are often treated like outcasts or lepers in Imperial society, rejected by their parents and banished from their homeworld's local settlements. Local superstitions on many worlds often warn about touching them, saying that to do so would bring bad luck. Resigned to their fate, many Pariahs lead simple, solitary existences, as far away from heavily populated areas as possible. All psykers and intrinsically psychic species like the Eldar consider a being like a Culexus Assassin to be an absolute abomination. Even monstrosities such as a Tyranid Hive Tyrant can balk at the prospect of being permanently severed from their psychic abilities and the Hive Mind. The Culexus Assassin causes absolute terror in all psykers -- which is why they are so useful to the Imperium.
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