[Crystal-Maze]

In a recent game, one of my player's characters encountered a Word Bearer traitor marine with the Word of Chaos and Demagogue skills from the 'Using Chaos Marines' article. He was a sniper-type imperial guardsman serving with an Ordo Hereticus inquisitor of the recongregational philosophy. Upon hearing the marine's words he failed a series of tests quite spectacularly and turned on his fellows. Rather than kill the traitor, the others decided to knock him out and try to get him to see the light again later.

What I am wondering is whether to allow him back, and how to go about it. Would it have to be as extreme as having his brain removed and replaced with a more loyal bionic (effectively turning him into a servitor type thing), having him arco-flagellated, or possibly torture or reprogramming by a priest (although this seems out of character for a recongregator who believes that the ecclesiarchy is deeply corrupt).

Does anybody have any suggestions as to what kind of thing I could subject the character to whilst allowing the player to keep his model in the warband (being students we are all rather skint). Any and all help appreciated

[MarcoSkoll]

To quote The Avengers:
"Why am I back? How did you get him out?"
"Cognitive recalibration. I hit you really hard in the head."

More sensibly, some kind of purification ritual would seem appropriate. To start with, look at anything that comes up in exorcisms and 40k it up a bit. It might include pain purification (i.e. torture, of a sort), partial or total mindscrubbing (possibly chemical, possibly psychic), reading of holy passages (or having them tattooed onto the skin), exposure to sacred objects... that sort of thing.
Really depends on how deep his Inquisitor thinks the taint runs (evidently not enough to have just shot him).

although this seems out of character for a recongregator who believes that the ecclesiarchy is deeply corrupt

Believing that the Ecclesiarchy is corrupt doesn't have to mean that one thinks all priests are corrupt.

One of my characters believes that corruption is rife throughout the entirety of the Imperium. This does not however mean she thinks every single Imperial citizen or servant - every lowly Arbitrator, Priest, Guardsman, etc - is dodgy.

[Koval]

I'd say some sort of rather grisly purgation rite followed by a partial mind scrub would be fitting -- the first part to serve as penance for a lapse in faith and a flirt with damnation, and the second to make the character forget it ever happened and harden his resolve should a repeat incident occur.

In game terms this might be represented by exchanging a few points of Toughness (I'd imagine D6-1, minimum 1) for Willpower as a 1:1 exchange. Depending on the amount of time that's passing between scenarios, starting the next game with a Light injury to a random location might be appropriate, or something like a vox-inducer to replace a ruptured/scourged larynx -- something with a trivial in-game effect but can still make the players squirm a little as they imagine what the poor sap must've had done to him. Roleplaying it so that the character's under scrutiny from his superiors might also be appropriate.

[Seargent Maxwell Forest]

Really depends on how deep his Inquisitor thinks the taint runs (evidently not enough to have just shot him).

I think it depends on how much of a purist your inquisitor is because if he's a puritan things could get messy