Why do they still leave no witnesses?
Dear brothers,
why is the Brotherhood still so keen upon leaving no witnesses?
I feel like in the latest novels, the GreyKnights do grow more reluctant to exterminating them, being more considerate about mind wipes.
But still the general rule stands: the sighting of a Grey Knight is sooner than later a deathsentence.
But to be honest i do not understand the urgenceny anymore.
I do understand, that if a incursion is so bad the GreyKnights need to step in..it is usually bad bad..
and (very nicely portrayed in the Garran Crowe) and the witnessing of a incursion, knowingly or not, can already plant the seed of chaos and can doom a whole planet. So i understand the exterminatus of the overall public, because pretty much no normal human can withstand chaos, because even the most devoted citizens of the imperium can not withstand the unending possibilitys chaos will find to corrupt you..there is always a ways..and chaos will find it.
But most of the Astartes (at least 50% of course...thank you Erebus) seem to have at least somewhat of a resistance against the effect of chaos, being able to fight lesser demons and CSMs, sometimes a "normal" Astartes Chapter is able to banish Daemon-Primarchs.
And here comes the point, in which i cannot understand the necessity,
why do only certain individuals in the Imperium and the Inquisition are allowed to remember or live through the experience of fighting besides their Silver-Blue-Shiny-Brothers, it seems that individuals accomplishing certain deeds involved with GreyKnights (for example a Canoness Errant being a incorruptible force in a chaos invasion, or ChapterMasters that fought beside them) are allowed to keep these memories and live on with them.
Is the point of leaving no witnesses the necessary sacrifice to be sure to leave no breeding ground for chaos?
Is the point of it to keep our shiny Brotherhood a secret? If yes, why so? Why are we not allowed to aid our a little more distant cousins (or would they be our nephews🧐) and fight beside them on much more bigger battlefields?
I understand, there were times where chaos was a big secret and nobody could know or be trusted with it, but then...half the Legions fell to chaos...and THE F'ING UNIVERSE TORE IN HALF AND NOW CHAOS IS BASICALLY WRITTEN IN THE SKY...i don't think chaos is that much of secret anymore...at least to the Astartes.
TLTR:
Im all for slaughtering the civilians after a incursion, they just cant handle chaos, but why are Astartes not allowed to keep the memories of fighting beside them.
Is the "No witnesses" rule to destroy every trace of chaos, even in everybodys memories, or is it to keep the Brotherhood a secret? If yes why?
Even now after Great Rift.