This isn't necessarily a game question but I'm always curious of peoples opinion of what an inquisitor is. In my opinion they are just people not necessarily terrifying unless they go out of their way to be, but regular people put into a better position than the slums of humanity that they see everyday. they are knights among serfs fighting to keep the clock from striking midnight just one more minute, sometimes they can save days and sometimes they save mere seconds but its a constant struggle to keep it from going up in flames. Sometimes when they fight they may loose people, loved ones, and even their souls but they know no matter what that it is needed.

How do you veiw an inquisitor?

You have been told of the Inquisition; that shadowy
organisation which defends Mankind and the
Emperor from the perils of heresy, possession, alien
dominance and rebellion.

You have been told the Inquisition are the ultimate
defence against the phantoms of fear and terror
which lurk in the darkness between the stars.

You have been told the Inquisition are the bright
saviours in an eclipse of evil; purest and most
devoted warriors of the Emperor.

You have been told the Inquisition is united in its
cause to rid the galaxy of any threat, from without or
within.

Everything you have been told is a lie!

My opinion is pretty close to that of the 'Inquisitor' game community's (i.e. the likes of those who produce Dark Magenta, seemingly it's also what Gav Thorpe was thinking when writing the Inquisitor rulebook and the Thorians supplement). An Inquisitor is someone who bears the authority of the immortal God-Emperor of Mankind. Nothing more, nothing less. Theirs is the highest authority in the Imperium of Mankind, second only to that of the Emperor himself.

In strict terms, they're all 'equal authority'. In actual terms there's a bucketload of practical variables involved (hence the politics of the Inquisition).

Terrifying, shadowy, ultimate defence, bright saviors, purest, most devoted? Nonsense. They are people fit to (or who otherwise still) bear the authority of the Emperor.

That, in my view, is an Inquisitor. Some are charlatans. Some have their seals and rosettes. Some have seen the Emperor on the Golden Throne of Holy Terra. Some have never left their homeworld.

The galaxy is a big place, the Imperium is a gargantuan civlisation. To be an inquisitor is to wield the authority of the Emperor.

I'd stay a bit away from the intro for the Inquisitor game, because when it was written it said that the Inquisition was founded by two conspirators for the SOLE purpose of thwarting the plans of two other conspirators to resurrect the Emperor and just happened to eventually fill it's current role through plotting and happenstance. So the Inquisition's official purpose and its authority is itself a lie. That has since been somewhat retconned in the Horus Heresy books, where the Inquisition was founded by Malcador, the Regent of Terra and second only to the Emperor, for it's current mission: to seek out the corruption within (though it's still unclear if the Emperor knew about it's founding).

Just as Rogue Traders come in many forms but are all ambitious, I would say that above all else Inquisitors are, good or bad, (usually) the most intelligent and willful individuals of the Imperium. Regardless of an Inquisitor's methods, they have to have had a great deal of intelligence and will to gain their rank. Now that doesn't mean that they are incorruptible, but they are still somewhat resistant. It takes a lot to climb the ranks from Acolyte to Inquisitor, as Dark Heresy demonstrates.

There's a great quote in Disciples of the Dark Gods about the Inquisition, I believe it is something along the lines that the Inquisition is "100 ideologies divided by a common goal." The Inquisitor is a being of great power, mental and political. They must be at least somewhat well traveled, either to put out fires across the Imperium, attend Conclaves and more shadowy meetings, or for darker reasons to build conspiracies. It's possible that an Inquisitor could never have met another Inquisitor save for his master, but that is only likely on the very fringes of Imperial Space.

Other than the difference between an Inquisitor and an Inquisitor Lord, there are no real distinctions in rank within the Inquisition but reputation and experience command a very close thing to rank within the Inquisition. And if your fellow Inquisitors believe that another has juristiction, than that is the same thing as the genuine article.

Nearly all Inquisitors do indeed work for the good of the Imperium and it is their unique power that allows the usually slow to react Imperium to survive against rapidly moving or stealthy threats. However all Inquisitors have different ideas on how this should work.

In my opinion, very few Inquisitors legitimately "fall" to Chaos or other powers and none simply use their powers to live lives of luxury (to be concerned with such petty things would be antithetical to becoming an Inquisitor. However, many choose to enjoy the fruits of luxury while they push their agendas). However, quite a few choose the path of the radical, usually for a simple reason: hubris. An Inquisitor knows full well the corrupting influence of dark powers and heretical tools but some, willful and intelligent as they are, believe that they, above all other servants of the Golden Throne, can withstand those temptations. And for a time many are right.

I would say that the Inquisitor and the Inquisition are truly devoted to the safety of the Imperium, just as the stories say, but each Inquisitor has a different interpretation of that remit. Unlike other organizations it is so factional and uncoordinated that it cannot be corrupted systematically like, say, a planetary government, and that is one of its greatest strengths.

In conclusion, the Inquisitor is the sole defender of the Imperium's future, the knife in the dark and the untraceable order that use the Imperium's greatest strength, it's massive resources, and circumvent it's greatest weakness, it's bureaucracy. However, the Inquisitor is also a man with a plan (all Inquisitors, apart from the very newest, have some sort of overarching goal. With so much power, a grander scheme for the Imperium will inevitably form) and should the Inquisition ever become united it would soon rend the Imperium apart.

I see the Inquisition as a institution of individuals, no two alike. An Inquisitor can have any kind of personality at all. Genius, idiot, pure, corrupt, kind, cruel etc etc. There is no template for Inquisitors. The diversity of styles of Inquisitor means that just about anybody could be seen as a viable candidate by another Inquisitor. The trials and trauma than Inquisitors go through can easily change one's personality - and that Inquisitor could then go about looking for similar people to recruit.

There are greedy, selfish Inquisitors who use their power to live lives of indulgence, only hunting heretics because they enjoy the game. There are idiot Inquisitors who can't think their way out of a box. There are compassionate Inquisitors who seek to limit the excesses of their fellows. There are monstrous Inquisitors who make the servants of Chaos look like Carebears.

When you meet an Inquisitor for the first time the only thing that you can count on is that it will be an interesting encounter.