Commander of the Librarius: Ezekiel Command Title: Grandmaster of Librarians Honorific Title: Keeper of the Book of Salvation
Overview
The librarius is the organization that commands the chapter's librarians and associated individuals. The librarius has its own hierarchical order and its own quarters, command centers and storage facilities. Included within their purview is the chapter's main library, which contains not only the ancient texts of the chapter but also all manner of arcane artifacts of value to the librarians. Another facility under their exclusive jurisdiction is the chapter's main and secondary astropathic chambers from which telepathic communications flow.
Complement
The total strength of the librarius varies from time to time, but uniquely for the Dark Angels chapter, they maintain a rather higher number of librarians than most codex chapters. The main reason for this being the additional burden relating to their past, as described below. The secrecy surrounding the Dark Angels chapter limits the identification of such individuals except for those who have gained fame in the field of battle.
The full complement is as follows:
Grandmaster of Librarians: Ezekiel, Keeper of the Book of Salvation and Holder of the Keys. Epistolary: 7 Codicier: 9 Lexicanium: 16
Duties
The functions of the librarians of the Dark Angels chapter are numerous. The more important ones are listed below:
Training and recruitment:
Psychic assessment and mind scanning is an essential part of assessment of new recruits. Not only do recruits need to have purity of mind and clarity of thought but also the ability to undergo the rigors of space marine training. The librarians' assessment becomes crucial in the selection process. Furthermore, senior librarians also partake in the training of younger librarians and astropaths.
Interrogation: The librarians play an essential part in the interrogation of suspects, aliens and heretics. In most cases, they are able to simply read their quarry's thoughts and thereby provide intelligence rapidly to the commanders in the field. Other, more adept adversaries need the combined strengths of the Interrogator-Chaplain's blades and the soul weakening efforts of the librarians. Only the higher ranking librarians, particularly the epistolaries perform these functions.
Communications: The astropaths who maintains the astropathic chambers on the Tower of Angels come under the direct command of the librarius. Furthermore, the librarians act as critical conduits in long range battlefield communications and within their fleets. The lower ranking librarians are mostly used for such communications tasks.
Battlefield Psychic Assault All librarians are trained to varying degrees in the use of their psychic power in the field of battle. Their effectiveness depends on their experience and psychic potential, but needless to say Dark Angel librarians are awesome adversaries in battle. They may use their powers in a simple force attack to smite their enemies or in a more devious way to undermine and weaken the resolution of their enemies. They also may take to the battle with potent force weapons which can be used to channel their psychic force in close combat with devastating consequences to the enemy. |