So... let's say you want to create a first adventure for DH. You have new players with PCs newly drafted into the Inquisitor's service... How would you begin the investigation?

I mean, the Inquisitors aren't cops who investigate every single disturbance. They and their acolytes sit in some base... and what now? In what way do they learn that on some world, something is amiss? What kind of thing must happen for them to be notified?

In this kind of setting, getting the PCs involved seems a bit harder than, say, in a Call of Cthulhu scenario...

Well, the way I do it in my campaign is basically this...

The PC's have a nice little gun-cutter which they call home, and also living on that gun-cutter is an NPC astropath. When it's time for a new mission, the astropath gets a message from the Inquisitor telling the PC's where they need to go and what they need to do (the latter might be very specific or very, very vague).

And as for how the Inquisitor learns about all these trouble spots to begin with? Well, the PC's have never asked. And if they ever do, the answer will probably be along the lines of "That's above your pay grade", "You're not cleared to know that", etc.

Depends on how much interaction the Inquisiitor has with their cell.

But I'd give a small briefing, be it in transport to the location or otherwise either through middlement (waiters, adepts, servitors) if the Inquisitor keeps their distance, or with the inquisitor themselves who would either be at their own home or at location in disguise about to do something else.

Well, my game has a well-connected Inquisitor and Acolytes who follow suit. The Inquisitor has agents on pretty much every habitable planet, keeping an eye or ear out for suspicious circumstances. He's also the nominal local head of the Ordo Xenos (basically everyone said he's the new Lord Inquisitor and he just tells people to stop calling himthat), and as such is nominally the 'public' face of said Ordos in the Sector; people go to him or his public agents when things seem to be going awry and they can't handle it.

Thus, his eyes and ears are everywhere, and he'll then direct his various groups of Acolytes to various problems, or involve himself if the big guns are needed. Or his Interrogators will do the directing if he's busy. Sue is his informal representative on Desoleum, a valued agent whose injuries in the line of duty make him (yes, him) unsuitable for field-work. Now he spies on the Consortium, the nobles, pretty much everyone else, handing it off to his nerds for processing and telling the Acolytes beneath him in rank what to do when the boss is away.

My players are the Inquisitor's head-honcho Interrogators on Juno at this point, with a nominal leadership position among the other high-tier Interrogators. They've got a squad of stormtroopers on call for when they need some extra muscle (not that they need it), a two-hundred-man think-tank processing information into intelligence and each one has built up some kind of contact network for investigating leads and the like. They are also undercover, as their Inquisitor didn't play nice with some of the nobility on the planet in the past, and is sort of black-listed on Juno. Keeping their origins quiet is an important goal, which is aided by a Rogue Trader Dynasty who provides their cover for the occasional favor. That said, each character has been building connections with various groups to keep their ears to the ground.

The scum has been frolicking with gangers and other scum, getting an in with the seedy underworld (also the squig-hunters). She also has a couple Ecclesiarchal ties, she's even more religious than your average Imperium citizen (tattooed Imperial scripture on her shaved scalp, Aquilas and purity seals everywhere, etc.).

The sniper has started working with arms-dealers and smugglers, building up black market contacts (good for acquiring stuff undercover that the planetary government doesn't want people to have). This has put him in touch with a couple of high-class buyers. He also does events for fellow ex-Guardsmen, getting information out of them/keeping tabs.

The Psyker has become involved in the fashion scene of all places, using it to keep an eye on the rich and famous. If they all knew she was a Psyker, it'd be so much funnier.

The Bounty Hunter works with law enforcement and the high-class crime circles. He's found an appreciation for prostitutes, as they've provided plenty of intelligence for him (he's also a sucker for a pretty face).

The Tech-Priest has been doing burlesque danci-I'm kidding, he's totally doing Tech-Priest things, improving his situation with the Brotherhood of Mars by a lot (which wasn't hard, he's Magos Biologis and he sort of pissed some other Magos off upon arrival on-planet).

The Arbites, believe it or not, has been cultivating contacts amongst the middle-class equivalents, finding talented people that can provide services that may come in useful at later points. When stuff needs to be done for the group/base, or when they interact with the goon squad and other NPCs, he tends to be the Face. He's also the nominal recruiter and the guy who does the vetting of potential assets when the think-tank is done. The Arbites is in fact the friendliest character of the group, somehow.

As you can see, they cover a broad spectrum of the at-risk areas of the Imperium. None of them are bureaucrats, but c'est la vie. It'll be fun when we start the game back up and they return to a planet in chaos (partially literally, they've mentioned a desire for some Malleus-type shenanigans, so I'm going to use Enemies Beyond to make the planet a rather massive battleground due to a ton of Warp Incursions when the Bleak Pits went supernova).

Ideally, you want your story to open with a bit of bang. I like the openings of Dark Heresy - Black Sepulchre or Only War : Final Testament. Good solid ways to open a story.

For starters, it depends on your interpretation of the inquisition and its powers.

For me, their alleged authority to do anything doesn’t seem believable. The Horus Heresy occurred because Horus was all powerful and there were effectively no checks and balances to his authority/power. And the Imperium responds by creating several thousands of Horuses with absolute power? Not bloody likely….

As I see it, the inquisition main strength is the power to investigate anyone and anything. Nobody is above suspicion and investigation. But they still need actual proof to prosecute the important people, the peers. And then take that to court…(yes, there are courts in Wh40k as the fluff mentions them…). Otherwise, players (or inquisitors ) can just walk up to a suspect, declare them guilty in the eyes of the inquisition and blam…adventure over….

So, the average inquisitor has too many cases in his in-box. And most of those cases are merely rumours or hints of “impropriety”…. This is where the acolytes come in. They are to investigate the rumour, and if it is true, solve the problem if they can themselves or with some local assets sympathetic to inquisitorial acolytes or call in the inquisitor (who has more power and authority) to deal with the problem if it goes beyond their pay grade.

So how would they get their first assignment? Probably after basic training…..

I would recommend basic training for the players. The 1E book of Martyrs has group skill packages. Create a group skill package of skills your players should logically have in common for 200-300 XP (secret language, secret codes, forbidden lore heresy etc.). Either role-play this boot camp or narratively run through it before they are given their first assignment by an underling. Their assignment is their final exam. If they succeed, they have passed and the inquisitor will personally welcome them into his cadre. If they fail, they will be eliminated/jettisoned/returned to their previous lives/jobs/locations….

My GM opened the campaigns with us already having embarked on our mission.

Our first session essentially opened with us landing on the planet of our assignment with a very short debriefing of what we were investigating here. We didn't actually meet with our Inquisitor until quite a ways into the campaign.

The Askellon sector, the setting of DH2 makes it easy to start off a campaign. The main difference between Askellon and the Calixis sector of DH1, is that Askellon has *far* fewer Inquisitors. In fact, whilst there are Inquisitors operating in the area, it is a small number and they largely do so in secret. Combine that fact with the pandemonium and you have a sector overflowing with heresy.

I kicked off my campaign with the Dark Pursuits scenario in the DH2 rulebook- its a really good starting point but it needs fleshing out a bit. My players were all fresh acolytes from the Calixis sector, employed by an Inquisitor also from Calixis. The Inquisitor had recently visited Askellon and was shocked at the apparent lack of Inquisitorial activity and has made it his mission to bring the Emperor's light to Askellon. My campaign begun with the acolytes and their Inquisitor on a Cobra Class Destroyer requisitioned for Inquisitorial use enroute to Askellon from Calixis. The first session opened with the Inquisitor providing the Acolytes with a bit of background on the new sector and informing them of their first lead, rumors of an illegal trade of xenos artifacts on the hive world of Desoleum...

What I'm planning to do for a campaign I'm planning to run:

- First session is character creation.

- First mission is going to be a short one to introduce players to Dark Heresy. Something simple. I'm thinking the Inquisitor tests the players by telling them "there is something strange at {location}, find out what it is and deal with it". There will be no cult, just a child psyker in a small village. After dealing with that, the Inquisitor will reveal that he knew about the psyker, but he wanted to see how the acolytes would fare without knowing all the details. Because there will always be details they have to uncover.

- The Inquisitor will then leave the PCs with an information gathering network a previous group of acolytes built. Players will get information through that, or through personal contacts, or the occasional NPC who knows they are good at solving unusual problems. Such information leads them to problems worthy of their time.

For me, their alleged authority to do anything doesn’t seem believable. The Horus Heresy occurred because Horus was all powerful and there were effectively no checks and balances to his authority/power. And the Imperium responds by creating several thousands of Horuses with absolute power? Not bloody likely….

As I see it, the inquisition main strength is the power to investigate anyone and anything. Nobody is above suspicion and investigation. But they still need actual proof to prosecute the important people, the peers. And then take that to court…(yes, there are courts in Wh40k as the fluff mentions them…). Otherwise, players (or inquisitors ) can just walk up to a suspect, declare them guilty in the eyes of the inquisition and blam…adventure over….

The Imperium is full of unofficial checks on authority. For example, if an Inquisitor angers the wrong people they might arrange for someone to kill him. Or they might arrange for him to receive a Warrant of Trade. Both make the Inquisitor go away.

Then there is making sure that the Inquisitor actually gets the guilty. Scaring the cult into lying low until the Inquisitor leaves is still a failure.

Very much so. To (mis)quote Dr Who, the really important missions, at the points in time that half a dozen acolytes can still do something important, don't tend to shout " Heresy Over Here !". They just whisper " hey....that's a bit weird ."

For a very first mission, the Inquisitor is likely to assign them a job - but at the same time, it should be vague. If the mission is "go to Hab-subsid Eta 519 and arrest the heretics inside" he'd be sending stormtroopers or astartes. More likely, it will be "go to this area and poke it with a stick", together with a broad-brush briefing on what odd thing is making him look in that direction.

Suspicious deaths are always a good start - I think it's safe to assume that an Inquisitor (or at least someone in his service) keeps an eye on Sanctionate mortuary reports. But just deaths aren't significant; there needs to be something linking them that wants explaining - and it gives you a chance to underscore the Inquisitor's Sherlock-like powers of observations if it's something subtle.

Say that there's been a multi-sided gang turf war down-hive that's gotten particularly bloody. The Sanctionates are planning to do what they normally do - let it burn itself out, then move in and arrest the survivors. So far, not unusual, but on perusing the death notices, the inquisitor has noted that amongst the dozens of deaths by chainblade cuts, stubber, shotgun and las wounds, there's an underlying pattern - several deaths on each side result from multiple through-and-through las wounds.

That's an injury pattern normally characteristic of hellguns. One or two could be a coincidence, or result from an overcharged las weapon with a 'hot-shot pack', but the expense means they're very rare for down-hivers, and the low rate of fire of such weapons (normally requiring recharge or reload after each shot) doesn't match the multiple wounds per victim - which means semi-automatic bursts.

Hellguns are weapons which are traditionally the mark of elite professional soldiers. A gang member who's a discharged guardsman or former noble bodyguard having one is not impossible, merely improbable, but having one or more on both sides of the fight? A far more probably explanation is that the same individual(s) are responsible for all deaths - which means that a group of well-equipped soldiers may be deliberately provoking and escalating this gang war. That's something worth sending acolytes downhive to investigate.

Thanks for all the answers so far!

If you don't mind, here are four things I'd like to ask for your help with:

1. Specific scenario starters. I mean, if I was writing a Call of Cthulhu scenario, it'd probably open with a murder But, would a single murder get an attention of an Inquisitor a few star systems away? If not, then... what matters would the Inquisitors investigate?

2. Assuming that the Inquisitor has informants on some planet - how would such informants pass any info to him / her? I mean, going to an Astropath isn't really safe - wouldn't an Astropath start babbling around, if made to send a message to an Inquisitor?

3. In what ways do the Acolytes investigate stuff, exactly? Let's say they are sent to investigate a murder - how should they approach it? The trail would be at least weeks old, there would no crime scene, the witnesses would be hard to track down... So, what is there for the Acolytes to do?

4. What kind of people are recruited as Acolytes? I might be introducing the game to people new to DH and WH40K in general. So, how do I tell them what kind of characters they need to create? And, overall, what does it take for a character to get noticed by an Inquisitor - they aren't drafting random soldiers or scribes, aren't they..?

To start off with you probably want to start with point four first. In my mind Acolytes tend to be selected for a particular reason (usually due to some knowledge, ability or skill that they possess which sets them aside from other people around them) during their 'service' the Inquisitor will have a chance to assess the potential of the individual. Acolytes who perform well will be kept on for future service while those that don't will either perish or be allowed to fade back into the obscurity of their previous life. I think that many Inquisitors are always on the look out for individuals that can answer a higher calling in service to the Emperor. I would encourage your players to come up with a reason for why the Inquisitor chose him or her. Maybe they are part of an organisation like the Adeptus Mechanicusor the Adeptus Astra Telepathica who the Inquisitor has ordered to send a representative to help him. Perhaps they are an Imperial Guard soldier or Adeptus Arbites officer who thwarted an attempt on the Inquisitors life. On the other hand they might be an Outcast who knows that the Inquisitor holds the power of life and death over them and serve out of fear of retribution if they fail.

For point one I would have the Inquisitor know a more about what's going on than the players do. Remember that the Inquisitor is looking at a bigger picture than the Acolytes so a single murder might not interest the Inquisitor but if it could be part of a pattern or part another on going investigation that the Inquisitor is overseeing. Sometimes it might not have come to the attention of the Inquisitor yet but one of his informants brings it to their attention as possibly being something that needs investigating. If the agent knows they work for the Inquisitor then he might ask for your immediate assistance.

With point two I'd just run it like a spy story. The informant has ways of passing messages on that can reach the Inquisitor without being detected. Maybe it's concealed inside a mundane Astropath message. If it's less vital then the message could be passed to a courier who can deliver it to the Inquisitor in person. I suspect that most Inquisitors expect their agents to be flexible when it comes to seeking directions from him/her. If he's not on the planet and is half a sector away then he'll expect some initative on the part of the agent or acolyte. That's why he's selected them.

For point three the 'murder' is usually the lead in to a bigger conspiracy. Have the agents snoop 'round a bit. Ask the local law enforcement about the case. Visit the victims neighbourhood. Speak to local people about what they remember about the night of the murder. It could be that whoever killed the victim decides that they'll off the people who just suddenly showed up to ask questions. Maybe the victim liked visiting a particular club which leads the party to a hidden cult. Maybe there's another murder close by with a similar MO that gives the party a fresh case to work with.

1. If you want to start it with a murder, just make it the kind of murder that'd be... Noticeable. Give it Heretical trappings, maybe; cultist stuff, pentagrams, goat heads, etc. Cliche it up if need be. Or, go for Xenos. Some kind of obviously non-native beastie, or alien weapons having done the damage. The Daemonic is also an option; signs of Warp Activity can lure in all sorts.

2. Two options; one, they could have their own Astropaths. Two; what kind of dunderhead openly blabs about sending Inquisitorial messages? Do they want the people in black suits carapace armor to stroll up, club them with a Null Rod, and drag them away? Yeah, most of them have a bit more sense of self-preservation than that, I think. There's a chance they're circumspect and only telling certain people, but that's a risk that goes with any message system.

3. Even if they show up late, evidence can still be examined, picts investigated, witnesses/leads spoken to or followed. Or, it isn't just one crime, but a spree. You show up after it happens the fifth or sixth time, there's more opportunities to check things while they're fresh. That said, there's nothing saying they'd be that late. They could be 'sent' while on the same planet as the Inquisitor, or acting with some autonomy. My group is mostly autonomous from their Inquisitor at the moment, for example. He trusts them not to do something extremely stupid, thus they have leeway so long as they get the job done and don't summon any Daemons while doing so.

4. Inquisitors draft whoever they want, for whatever reason. It takes clout to keep a person from being taken, and it usually isn't worth the effort to resist. Sure, they'll nab some 'random' soldiers and scribes if they need that type (goons and paper-pushers are useful); if they need specialists, they'll grab those too. Otherwise, your starting character in Dark Heresy 2nd Edition is above average. They may not be exceptional (yet), but there's a spark, something that lights up in the dark. They survived where others didn't, or did something others failed to do. Maybe they found something they shouldn't have, and instead of wasting the talent with a purge they were inducted.

Never forget that seeing the future does exist in 40k.

Inquisitors draft whoever they want, for whatever reason. It takes clout to keep a person from being taken, and it usually isn't worth the effort to resist. Sure, they'll nab some 'random' soldiers and scribes if they need that type (goons and paper-pushers are useful); if they need specialists, they'll grab those too. Otherwise, your starting character in Dark Heresy 2nd Edition is above average. They may not be exceptional (yet), but there's a spark, something that lights up in the dark. They survived where others didn't, or did something others failed to do. Maybe they found something they shouldn't have, and instead of wasting the talent with a purge they were inducted.

Or it could be doing the right thing when the PC knew that it was likely to cost them a lot but would never benefit them. For example, borrowing money they didn't think they could pay back from a crime boss in order to donate it to an orphanage that really needed the money. A situation where the character would try to hide the donation so that the crime boss doesn't go after the orphanage.

That willingness to self-sacrifice for the right reasons is an attitude some Inquisitors would find useful. Especially one who calls his newest acolytes "canaries"

Anything can draw the inquisitor's attention, but if it's several star systems away, it needs to be important.

A murder won't matter, unless there's something associated with it that's openly heretical and - more importantly - implying a level of knowledge or competence in something - xenotech, daemonology, whatever.

Perhaps it's a locked-room mystery with lots of broken objects nearby (a teleporter?) or the injuries are consistent with psychic powers. Perhaps the victim turns out to be a mutant - not impossible in any situation, but certainly worth investigating if he's a member of an influential noble family!

Perhaps they hear a rumour of a cult, or an individual, that they are aware of being active in a system - a rumour of Ahriman's presence on a world would send inquisitorial acolytes flocking there to hunt him down (just as planned).

An Inquisitorial acolyte has three major options for sending messages between worlds. One - use a normal 'commercial' astropath as an influential private citizen. Sending a message saying "Ordo Xenos Kill-Team arrived on world. The Governor will be assassinated in three days time " is going to cause trouble. Sending a message saying " Arrived today on trade-ship Verdant Glory. Initial contract for Amasec export received, follow-on orders likely within three days ." won't. Astropathic messages need to be short and punchy anyway - with limited opportunity to send details, pre-arranged signals are the order of the day; there's no reason they can't be discrete ones.

"Freaky **** be going down over here, send acolyte team immediately" is a pretty basic message and easy to hide.

3. In what ways do the Acolytes investigate stuff, exactly? Let's say they are sent to investigate a murder - how should they approach it? The trail would be at least weeks old, there would no crime scene, the witnesses would be hard to track down... So, what is there for the Acolytes to do?

Think of them as a very specialised and unofficial 'cold case' team. You're right that they'll rarely get to see the crime scene first hand.

The first order of the day is to find out what actually happened - getting the Arbites/Magistratum files on the case (ideally without them knowing!). They may want to talk to witnesses, and as noted, their first challenge is finding them! There may no longer be a crime scene per se, but there will be verispex reports and pict records of the scene, and the Acolytes know things the Magistratum don't.

They aren't likely to be sent to 'find the murderer'. In weeks or months, the arbites have probably done that if the information in question is sufficient to do that. But if this person was secretly an inquisitorial acolyte (for example) the fact that he was stabbed by a downhive ganger could be a cover for the people he was investigating having him silenced. Are his records still hidden somewhere? Did he leave something with allies?

Equally, suppose the murder looks like a 'normal' stabbing - a botched break-in, leading to the hab-owner being knifed in a struggle. The arbites have filed it as 'normal crime', cleaned up the scene, and by know the hab is up for let again and has a new resident. But - having Forbidden Lore (The Warp), the Inquisitor has noted that the blood spatter - which the arbites noted seemed excessive but nothing more) forms from a certain angle various blasphemous runes.

If nothing has come of this, then it wasn't a summoning itself - not from a competent sorcerer, anyway.....but the instruction might be 'see if there have been any more deaths like this with hidden symbology'.

If they arrive, check the records, and find there have been several, on the outskirt districts of the hive (easily lost within the dozens or hundreds of murder cases a hive deals with each day if you're not looking for them!)...forming an eight-pointed star centred on the primaris cathedral...... that's when someone sends a rather urgent direct message to Broadsword Station.

4. Inquisitors draft whoever they want, for whatever reason. It takes clout to keep a person from being taken, and it usually isn't worth the effort to resist. Sure, they'll nab some 'random' soldiers and scribes if they need that type (goons and paper-pushers are useful); if they need specialists, they'll grab those too. Otherwise, your starting character in Dark Heresy 2nd Edition is above average. They may not be exceptional (yet), but there's a spark, something that lights up in the dark. They survived where others didn't, or did something others failed to do. Maybe they found something they shouldn't have, and instead of wasting the talent with a purge they were inducted.

In one of our old campaigns our Inquisitor would walk up to whoever was in his way, show his seal and say "I speak with the voice of the Emperor and he wants you to...".

There is no 'clout' in the galaxy bar the Emperor himself (or another Inquisitor) who can deny an Inquisitor access to what (or who) he wants.

Yeah, that's not iron-clad. By the book, the Inquisition totally has that power. When you get into the actual situations/game-world however... Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Do you want to piss off that Peer of the Imperium? Is the Inquisitor going to walk up to the stronghold of the Tech-Priesthood and demand they give him a Titan and really expect them to hand over the keys? If things were that easy for them, their job wouldn't be as difficult as it is. They have to weigh the benefits and consequences of their choices and actions. They have to actively cultivate their Influence or they'll get denied for whatever reason. Hell, if they're a Radical, it is completely possible they're told to sod off by more puritan parts of the Imperium.

I mean, look at Inquisitors who try to investigate Space Marine Chapters. How many of them 'disappear' when they try to pry?

Your old game's Inquisitor could totally act like that; when he gets poisoned or killed in some other quiet way for being obstinate, or discreetly screwed over because of his attitude (maybe they 'can't' divert a ship to pick him up off the planet he's been shipwrecked on for an extra couple months), it falls at his feet.

Also remember that a lot of an Inquisitors work is undercover. If they draw too much attention to themselves, the cults react. Some will try to get more firepower. Some will rush their schedule. Some will cease all activity until the Inquisitor leaves. In all cases the Inquisitor has failed.

I mean, look at Inquisitors who try to investigate Space Marine Chapters. How many of them 'disappear' when they try to pry?

You might want to check out what happened to the Celestial Lions when it comes to Space Marine chapters antagonising the Inquisition.

Inquisitiors 'can' overstep their bounds but I think the Inquisition would taker a dim view of members of the Imperium deciding to rub out one of their members while he was discharging his duty to the Emperor. An Inquisitior is the left hand of the Emperor so people better have a **** good reason as to why they're objecting to what he's asking for. If an Inqusitor asks for a Space Marine Chapter or for the mobilisation of a PDF or for a Titan Legion questions might be asked if it wasn't justified. So why would the old games Inqisitor be killed? Was he somehow overstepping his bounds? No. Was he acting against the best interests of the Imperium? No. High ranking Imperial officials might be annoyed that he's stepped in but he outranks them and Inquisitors only turn up when things are about to get seriously bad.

Think of the Inqusition as the police turning up at your house. It's never good news.

Also remember that a lot of an Inquisitors work is undercover. If they draw too much attention to themselves, the cults react. Some will try to get more firepower. Some will rush their schedule. Some will cease all activity until the Inquisitor leaves. In all cases the Inquisitor has failed.

Of course but don't think that there isn't a point where the Inquisitor will decide that it's time to act and when they act they have the full weight of the Imperium behind them. For a small cult it might be his acolytes and the local Adeptus Arbites. On a planetwide scale it might be the PDF, any local Imperial Guard units or possibly the Imperial Navy. For a larger scale threat the Inquisitor could be talking to Space Marine Chapters, Forge Worlds, Imperial Battlefleets etc.

And look at everyone who delves into the Dark Angel's activities/past. Oh wait, they're 'missing.' Hell, the same can go for Inquisitors who try to get too far into the Mechanicus. There's still Space Wolves running around too. And the Deathwatch and Grey Knights might work 'with' the Inquisition, but if they think something else is more important? Guess who is going to bend first (power armor with superhumans inside is remarkably not flexible).

If the other members of the Inquisition found out someone had their colleague killed, sure they'd probably respond. They've got a reputation to uphold and all. If they find out.

And yeah, if an Inquisitor is asking for an entire chapter of Space Marines or a Titan Legion, there will definitely be questions asked. Those are extremely rare and valuable assets that act on a segmentum, if not galaxy-wide scale.

As far as your old game goes, I said to expect his behavior and entitlement to end up causing problems. He may not be overstepping his 'official' bounds, but do you think people enjoy being walked over and told what to do? Authorities with their own jobs probably don't want to hand off their agents to some person with a rosette and an attitude, or divert their resources to said person. Depending on how you look at it, taking people from their duties could be against the best interests of the Imperium. Then there are rulers of entire planets or more, the shepherds of billions of religious lives, the leader of the group whose existence is the only reason you've got a void-ship to travel in and lights in your homes. People whose authority is near absolute generally don't like folks coming along and telling them what to do. People with enough power to cause no end of trouble later on if you bother them.

Not to mention the entire section of people who don't care about all that.

Guess who is going to bend first (power armor with superhumans inside is remarkably not flexible).

Well it is the Inquisition who declares Space Marine chapers Excommunicate Traitoris. Just something to think about.

Nobody likes being told what to do but the Inquistion speaks with the voice of the Emperor . They are one of the highest authorities in the Imperium. They outrank Chapter masters, Imperial navy admirals, Imperial guard generals, Fabricator-generals, Imperial governors etc. They're concidered the equals of the High Lords of Terra. That's the kind of territory we're getting into. OK you run a planet. OK you run a void ship. I am your God's will incarnate, please feel free to take umbridge when he asks you to do service in his name.

Actually no, they do not outrank the Chapter Masters of the Adeptus Astartes or anything else in that list really. The Holy Ordos were founded by Malcador the Sigilite to police and oversee the Imperial Adeptus. They do not however have purview over their actions unless they may prove that those are opposed to the Imperium.

The figures you mentioned cannot be ordered save from the Emperor himself, that and the High Lords that act as his voice. An Inquisitor has great power yes, but even that has limits. Go pissing off a Lord Admiral or a Sector Governor and you can find yourself isolated from your peers. Piss off a Chapter Master or a High Fabricator and you can find yourself dead.

Actually no, they do not outrank the Chapter Masters of the Adeptus Astartes or anything else in that list really. The Holy Ordos were founded by Malcador the Sigilite to police and oversee the Imperial Adeptus. They do not however have purview over their actions unless they may prove that those are opposed to the Imperium.

The figures you mentioned cannot be ordered save from the Emperor himself, that and the High Lords that act as his voice. An Inquisitor has great power yes, but even that has limits. Go pissing off a Lord Admiral or a Sector Governor and you can find yourself isolated from your peers. Piss off a Chapter Master or a High Fabricator and you can find yourself dead.

Really depends on the Inquisitor. Pretty sure an Inquisitor-Solar would be able to pull enough clout to denounce a Sector Governor or Lord Admiral, especially if he or she has the backing of the Inquisitorial Representative - a High Lord of Terra.

It's all...about the influence. Hope its high enough. =D

Yes, precisely. Not every Inquisitor is the same just as not ever Chapter Master or Lord Admiral. Even the Inquisitorial Representative would balk at the prospect of denouncing Dante of the Blood Angels or Tu'Shan of the Salamanders.