Having recently come into possession of a priceless tome of blasphemous knowledge pertaining to Radical Inquisitors, I found myself very intrigued by the mention of an Inquisition War. Personally, I think it would make a wonderful background for a campaign, Radical or not, as it allows for the widest range of missions imaginable and could pit the Acolytes against the most memorable foes in the Calixis Sector - Inquisitors.

Also, with the Inquisition busy, Chaos and Xenos might have a field day.

However, I cannot find a good reason why a war should break out. I mean, what could be strong enough to override caution and common sense in the face of such things as the Tyrant Star? Plus, I might lack a bit of background as I have not read the adventure modules which nonetheless seem to contain quite a bit of additional information on the sector and its dark legacies.

Now, I wonder...could some of you be helpful and give me a few incidents or occurences that could start a full-blown Inquisition War. A few suggestions would be enough to make my day

I would readily suggest you get hold of "The Inquisition War" trilogy omnibus. That might help you come up with some ideas

I would also recommend reading specificaly Malleus from Eisenhorn Omnibus, it deals with such situations very well, altough not to the point of outright Inquisition War. Still it shows well, what happens when veteran Inquisitor is disgraced and call upon his contacts and peers to prove he is right.

I had several toughts on what can trigger full scale Inquisition War in Calixis Sector, but note that all these events are drastic to the extreme:

-Oblationist faction being declared Exomunicate Diabolus. C´mon altough smaller power group, with powers they are dabbling, self-righterous zeal and actual plans to purge whole Ordos Calixis, they would have caused monstrous havoc through the Calixis sector and maybe beyond. I think that unlike other Excomunicates, Phaeonites, they wouldn´t disappear but would go down fighting and kicking.

-Tyranite Cabal being challanged and forcefuly disbanded by Conclave presenting partialy false but mostly (disturbingly) genuine evidence of it´s heresies and power-grabbing. Collegium Tenebrae wouldn´t allow dooming the whole sector just for whim of numerous and militaristic, but still blinded and overzealous fools.

-Descendants of Kobras Aquirre return from void beyond Koronus Expanse. And they are demanding the full Inquisitional authorities they passed among themselves confirmed. And they have a powerful fleet. And allies. And Dark Age Tech. And worse.

-Ordos Calixis are being declared Perdita Immoralis for it´s numerous failings and suspected (and proved) infiltrations by forces to dark to speak of. Conclaves Helican, Antimar and Ixianad are being despatched for shadow crusade... all under the authority of Emmissary of Ordos Terra. Inquisitor Marr.

-Inquisitor Gelth suddenly returns and accouse several powerful Inquisitor Lords of being influenced, directly or indirectly, by Komus, the Black Sun. He declare them Exomunicate and organise his numerous allies and contacts to purge the Inquisition in Calixis Secotr. Is he right? Or, is he himself under influence of diabolic phenomena?

-Unknown Traitor among Holy Ordos is revealed by investigations and sacrificies of several Inquisitors and uncountable acolytes and throne agents. It´s Lord Caidin himself!!! That can´t be true... can it?

Well i would set the time long before "current time" before the Tyrant star appears. Maybe even just before and the Tyrant stars first appearance ends the (your) war. (after all it is "your/our/my" world to do with as we please).

Very nice so far...but where can I find more info about Inquisitor Caidin? The only Lordinquisitor mentioned more than in passing is Zerbe...

HeirofNagash said:

Simple ... Human ... Emotion. And, Human Stubbornness. And Human Hubris. ............ and on and on and on.

At the same time, all of the above examples are good ones, as well.

HeirofNagash said:

Well, he is the grandmaster (using ordos helican terminology) of Ordos Calixis, one of the most senior and powerful Inquisitor Lords in sector and de iure head of whole Calixis Inquisition.

Info about him isn´t very detailed, he is mentioned in Core Rulebook in section about Inquisition, several in-universe messages scattered through the books are adressed to him, and he is occasionaly mentioned in Radical´s Handbook, DotDG (he actually declared Unknown Heretic to be threat rating Obscuro Terminus... I thought it would be funny if it would be himself:D) and Inquisitor´s Handbook (he has Jedi Mas... ehm, Master Templar Calixis as his personal bodyguard. Yikes!)

I had an interesting idea about the Unknown Heretic and Caidin...what if he suffers from multiple personality disorder? Mental illnesses can be weird enough but with the inclusion of all the weird and unnatural things of the 40k universe things can get even more "interesting". If his heretic half was determined to bring the Inquisition or at least certain successful Inquisitors down, it would be pretty easy with Caidin's power and authority at his beck and call...

HeirofNagash said:

True that. And both he, and his appointed leader of the Tyrantine Cabal, are mentioned as being almost militant about not supporting any one faction over another (among the 'so-called' legitimate factions). So ... it seems that the writers have left us with a plethora of delicious possibilities. Conspiracy, anyone?

Well, after doing some thinking, here's a short outline of how I'd probably get things started:

Lord Inquisitor Caidin is indeed the Unknown Heretic. He, however, does not know so, suffering from a severe mental disorder that created in him two conflicting personalities (I am not yet sure how the other personality came into being and why it turned traitor against the Imperium, ideas anyone? Maybe his psyker "bodyguard" has something to say about the matter...why does the phrase "Dark Templars" continuously bounces around in my head?). One is Lord Caidin, the other a malevolent force using his considerable power to strike at Inquisitors all over the sector.

Anton Zerbe is probably the only one who knows about this, having found incriminating evidence after years of research and some careful divination. He, however, is keen to keep it a secret, for he knows that, if this would leak out, it could have disastrous consequences.

Things begin to get ugly when somehow, the secret gets out and one bold Inquisitor does the unthinkable...he Denounces Caidin. Maybe it's Zerbe himself, being forced to after things get out so he won't lose face before the Tyrantine Cabal...

High Conclave is being brought together, a sense of urgency being present, for shortly after the Denounciation, an attempt on the life of said Inquisitor is made which he survives - possibly implicating Caidin.

High Conclave convenes...and the Oblationists (or the Libricar) strike, determined to use this grand opportunity to wipe out the Conclave, Caidin's fall being seen as the ultimate proof of corruption among the Ordos. Either a bomb or a lance strike from orbit destroys parts of the Tricon Palace, wiping out dozens of Inquisitors and thousands of lifes, among them Zerbe and Caidin himself.

A great number of Inquisitors of the Tyrantine Cabal are dead, leading the remains of the Tenebrae Collgium to try and take over so at least some amount of order is being put into place again. It might have worked, if not for the inevitble internal squabbles, blame-games and power-grubbing of the remaining inquisitors, not to mention sudden rise of activities among the Phaenonites whom the Conclave cannot afford to effectively hunt down at the moment. Things quickly get out of hand and as word of the inability of the remaining Inquisitors to do their jobs reaches Terra, it is decided to wipe the slate clean. Dozens of Inquisitors and assasins are sent out to do one thing only: quell the unrest by any means necessary.

And suddenly, there is only...War.

So, folks, what do you think? Too far-fetched or feasible?

Heh. Well, if you want chaos on a grand scale, war and destruction of epic proportions, then I'd say your plot brings it. The Emperor only knows what will be left of the sector when it's over. But if your players want constant 'edge-of-your-seat' action, then that's the way to go. JMHO.

The way I planned it, there will be plenty of opportunities for all kinds of adventure and stuff for everyone to do as sometimes, the war will only serve as a backfor investigations. Here's something about the group's Inquisitor.

Natius Osrinn:

Employer of the Acolytes (aye, it'll be a Radical campaign). His avoidance of the Conclave after his return had its reasons not only in his Xanthian methods but also because he had some insights into what would happen, thanks to Ajan'xul, his daemonhost, a creature capable of foretelling the future to a certain extent. Though Xanthian, Osrinn is utterly loyal to the Imperium and his designs include minimizing the damage done by the war as well as combating the forces that rise once the Inquisition is busy with itself. Given that his resources will be spread thinly indeed, the Acolytes will enjoy relatively high levels of freedom, though they will not hold his seal, for he cannot risk detection.

His closest retinue include(these are NOT the Acolytes):

Ajan'xul: An incredibly powerful daemonhost to which is bound a Lord of Change. The creature serves Osrinn as advisor thanks to its glimpses into the future. There is no love lost between the two as Osrinn is prone to doling out severe punishments upon the daemon for even the slightest blasphemy or unwanted suggestion. It might only be a matter of time before the daemon breaks free and takes brutal revenge.

Ghonga: A hideously mutated Ogryn that Osrinn saved from the pyre, thus gaining his complete devotion. Ghonga is often called for when raw strenght is needed. The mutant is not exactly smart but has displayed a vicious and cruel cunning that does not really befit an unaugmented Ogryn.

Brother Ghaelen: A Space Marine of the Relictors chapter, bound to Osrinn through a so far unknown debt the chapter owed him.

Sileena: Known as The Flesh-witch of Ghargren Marsh on Dusk, the ageless beauty is a powerful sorceress and possibly Osrinn's lover, though none has yet dared to voice that suspicion.

Also, on occasion, a hooded, small creature has allegedly been seen in Osrinn's company, matching the description of the enigmatic Hrud, but no one has confirmed it.

An example of "how the war started":

During a high-profile meeting several dozen Inquisitors all interested in the mystery of the Tyrant Star a known conservative Inquisitor A and a more radical Inquisitor B who is rumored to be Istvanian started to fight over philosophies in dinner table. A thinks the Inquisition should start to collect all information on Tyrant Star and analyze the options to minimize future effects of Tyrant Star appearances. B is against this, because he sees the effects of the sighting of the Tyrant Star as limited, local problems best dealt by local outhorities. He proposes that Inquisition moniotrs the situation and starts to analyze if Tyrant Star is indeed so dangerous that a way must be found to end its appearances... or, if the effects are -in the end- only limited scope.

Both A and B are a bit drunk after the long dinner and wander off to continue the heated discussion. As acolytes follow them. A few hours later As acolytes tell that Inquisitors A and B fought a duel using power swords and Inquisitor A killed B in the duel. The inquisitors at scene divide into four factions:

#1 support A and claim it was a justified kill in fair duel

#2 support B, but keep their mouths shut because they still believe acolytes and think the duel was fair and kill justified

#3 support A, but keep their mouths shut because they think he is lying and murdered B

#4 support B and claim A murdered him and his acolytes cover the truth

Factions #1 and #4 immeadeatly cut all ties with each other. #2 tries to trade information of Tyrant Star from #1 and #3 and start a common investigation and analysis on Tyrant Star with #4. #1 and #3 occupies itself with spreading acolytes and operators around the sector, trying to limit the effects of Tyrant Star appearances.

A few inquisitors from #4 kidnap one of As acolytes and torture him to get a confession. In the end before dying he confesses that B was murdered and it was covered up as a duel. #2 inquisitors learn of this. They are disgusted with torture and killing of the acolyte and don't belive the confession is real. They tell of the kidnapping to #1 inquisitors.

#1 and #4 immeadeatly judge each others with Exterminatus Traitoris and start to prepare for all-out war. #2 sides with #4 but uses the war mostly as a good excuse to raid the #1 Inquisitors facilities for information on Tyrant Star and keep their own investigations going. #3 tries to keep away from fight and limit the damages.

In my opinion it´s a good advice to remember that the factions; and the individuals belonging to them; are always in in a "cold war".

A real inquisition war only means that moat of the precautions and shady intrigues are blow up. War on inquisitional terms means only that someone wants to eliminate someone... and if both of them technically have unlimited authority it is a matter of how can mobilse what in wich time.

Harlec said:

Actualy, Radical´s Handbook presented term Inquisition War as actual full (or even over the description of full, it´s big I we are talking about) scale war between at least two powerful groups of Inquisitors, who, in most cases, declared each other Excomunicate Traitoris and mobilise every single acolyte, contact, mercenery, knowledge, alliance in their dispossal to anihilate the enemy... at least in my opinion, those who win are consider "right" all the time in the eyes of Imperium and other sectors´ Inquisition

TorogTarkdacil said:

Well, sometimes. The RH also says if the war blows out of proportion they kill every sector Inquisitor and simply start anew

To those who think that Caidin is the faceless heretic, it mentions in Purge the Unclean pg 139 that the heretic is known as a sorcerer of chaos named Eloeholth the Faceless to the eldar, and he has been known that way for thousands of years. I doubt it's Caidin. Unless he's been somehow possessed.

If you look at the inquisitors that are members of the Tyrantine Cabal in the DH core rule book you will see quite a lot of them are radical and there is even an istvaanian. And I believe the Collegium Tenebrae is primarily the radical elements of the cabal that works independently towards using the tyrant star rather than destroying it. So while the danger of the tyrant star grows, the inquisitions gets more and more divided.