Impaled Nazarene wrote:Baltenstein wrote:
Yeah, the fluff from the 2nd Edition Codex Imperialis, which, if I'm not mistaken, was the fluff source where Imperial policies on that matter were portrayed at their most extreme ("Every survivor of a battle against the forces of Chaos gets executed, every Space Marine gets his memory erased, and if there isn't complete certainty that no witnesses exist anymore, drop an Exterminatus on the entire planet") was progressively toned down in later fluff publications. The writers probably figured that it would cause too many contradictions and unresolved questions if the Imperial approach were to be that absolute.
That said, I can totally see the Ordo Malleus disappearing Astra Militarum regiments from uneducated backwater planets after examining them and deciding that they were too heavily contaminated by their contact to Chaos but in general, I imagine that most Space Marine chapters and Astra Militarum authorities will be aware of Chaos and have some notion or basic knowledge about its forces and capabilities.
Especially now, where the realm of Chaos pretty much reaches from one end of the Milky Way to the other.
Wiping Astartes memories sounds really bad unless they get exposed to some really heavy and infectious chaos shit. I've seen media where your standard Tac Marines know their shit. Not like detailed inquisition level knowledge on every daemon but more than enough to spot a daemon know what to do and how not to get wrecked.
Considering what someone did to Agriworlds, I think it's safe to say not every writer has great ideas when it comes to plot stuff.