When I first came up with my campaign concept I had in mind that the player's Inquisitor would be quite Radical in outlook (probably Isstvanian) but as play progressed it was quite clear that the player characters were all VERY puritanical. As I was more comfortable with running games from that perspective and figured if that was what the players wanted that's what I'd give them, so retconned the Inquisitor's outlook to a Monodominant stance*

The question is do you have any situations where your group's (or a member of the group's) philosophy differs from the Inquisitor's. Has it lead to any particularly memorable situations?

*That's actually a gross over simplification - I've decided that there *is* a second, Istvaanian, Inquisitor who uses the group's master's name as a pseudonym. He also (unbeknowst to the group) sends them seperate missions and has control of some of their true Inquisitor's resources. It's the main "arc" plot of the campaign; is the group's master actually a Radical, is he mad and working against himself, or is there actually two people using the same name.

If I myself were in the 40k setting, I would be, in my opinion, in the "moral grey area" that is typically representative of moderate Radicals. I would see myself mostly as a Xanthian, in that I see the warp as a tool to be used as you would. Chaos is evil (well, kinda), the warp just is.

My group generally sides on the moral grey/Radical side too, willing to use whatever tools are needed to do their job. They have their limits (no using daemon weapons, etc), but, as the old saying goes "you have to be willing to bend the rules some of the time."

Nerd King said:

Oh, goodness me, yes. Our kill team was fairly puritanical in outlook (especially the biomancer, given the guardsmen tended to be more inclined to just follow orders, whatever they were). Unfortunately, the Inquisitor using them was out and out radical. Aside from making some (desperately unwise) snide remarks to the Inquisitor and generally making it clear he didn't trust the man, the biomancer figured he'd just do his time and leave (he was only temporarily seconded to the Inquisitor's group).

Unfortunately, once the Inquisitor had what he wanted, he decided it was time to get rid of any loose ends, and used an implanted command word in one of the (mind-wiped) guardsmen to turn him against the other two.

Fortunately , the tech priests they were amongst at the time had foreseen treachery and moved to avert it, leaving us with one unconscious guardsman (who needs to stay that way lest he continue carrying out his orders), one conscious and confused guardsman, and one Templar Calix biomancer, wondering how he got involved with all this in the first place when really he just wants to go out and kill things for the greater glory of the Imperium.

Aforementioned radical Inquisitor has since made a cameo in another of our games, lurking ominously at the back of a briefing, with a chaos-tainted mask he had the kill team recover now welded into his face . I don't think we've seen the last of him...

I used Astrid Skane from the DH rulebook as my group's Inquisitor. We didn't get far enough in the campaign due to the group falling apart thanks to scheduling issues to find out if the PCs were going to have differing opinions on things one way or another.

Moderate Recongregators work better for groups not used to the setting, IMHO... They're the ones who see the oppressive horribleness and want to change it for the better in the Emperor's name. They're the ones who know that if the Emperor woke up one day and saw the state of the Imperium that's been badly mishandled in his name for the past ten millennia, he'd be REALLY FRAKKING ANGRY.

I always love idea of Inquisitor emloying some realy vile schemes and eeevilush servants... is utterly and fanaticaly devouted to their cause... but still know that they are damned. Then, warp heard my calls and in DotDG and later in RH I found Oblationists.

Still, I consider the crudest "archeotype" of Oblationists, "daemonsword-wielding Monodominant" not exactly to my tastes. And then I combined Path of Oblation with Temple of Emperor Revenant. What could be cooler then Dead and Damned Inquisitor?

Lets have a look at the group I'm in:

- We have a nascent psyker. Our inquisitor has given him a sanctioning brand so we all think he is sanctioned.

- My character is simply a sanctioned psyker who isn't afraid of his powers.

- During Baron Hopes we worked with friendly mutants without question.

- In one mission we worked with some Eldar. Our only hesitation was confusing them with the Dark Eldar who had attacked us previously, until our inquisitor explained the difference.

- Our Inquisitor has some grand plan to reshape the Imperium, though we don't know about it. Something about taking a secret cache of very powerful psykers to earth, then using their psychic to separate the warp from the materium.

- During tattered fates we sided with the spider bride over papa grist. We knew she wasn't human and didn't know about any heresy committed by grist. She just offered us the better deal.

I'm not sure which radical faction we would fit, but our gm has told me that our acolytes are puritan.

Bilateralrope said:

Dare I say that he's in denial? Or possibly pulling your leg...

Graver said:

I doubt it considering that it is his reason for not wanting the Radicals Handbook.

Our party openly summoned a daemon last session. I think it's pretty fair to say which side of the fence we're on...

The group I'm GM for is an Adeptus Arbites investigator squad controlled in rather behind-the-scenes way by Vaarak (from Tyrantine Cabal), which sets them up as "moderate puritan". However, so far my acolytes have been rather more like "flaming-zealots puritan" and seem to be rather enjoying their fascists-with-shotguns approach. However, knowing my players I will expect this to change once their carathers dig deeper into the intrigue... time will tell.

Polaria said:

One of my groups work for Inquisitor Vaarak as well! Always nice to come across fellow accolytes.

As you say, time will probably wear down some of their more zealous leanings. Then again, it probably depends on just how zealous they are. I have a psyker (in Vaarak's group) who started off pretty puritanical, and has now just finished reading a book on sorcery and daemon worship (not with a view to using it, but even so, knowledge corrupts). On the other hand, I have a puritanical cleric who goes to the other extreme - gladly putting any mutant or witch to the flame, be they man, woman or child. I don't see him altering his attitude, but time will tell!

(Also, with your puritan chopping the limbs off slightly mutated kiddies, you have to ask yourself whether this character of yours is really "good" at all. Welcome to the 40k universe!)

In the group from my last PnP game, with the exception of the Sororitas (me), my crew was blatantly radical. The Psycher made a habit of working with Eldar, the Guardsman was hopelessly insane and corrupted, the Cleric (Black Priest of Maccabeus) was immolated by a Flamer of Tzeentch, the Moritat Assassin was a clumsy, bumbling, oaf, whose only apparent goal was the acquisition of loot, the Arbitrator was obviously more about "justice" than "the law", and the Tech-Priest was always a borderline Heretek. I can only assume that our Inquisitor was a Puritan, since my Sister was Prime pretty much throughout the game, and had standing orders to purge the others at any further sign of their corruption. So, you could say that we had a mix.

Thanks for all the response so far on the thread guys it's been very interesting to read al the variety that's out there.

The Void Born Naval Pilot I mentioned is a new addition to the group (boh the player and character) and I think the group may be a little bit of a culture shock at first. When he first joined teh team he was talking about Puritanism as if it was a bad thing (his character is loyal to the Imperium but probabably "middle of the road" when it comes to polictical and spiritual beliefs) and I don't think he realised the other character's stance. Suffice it to say any illusions he had were soon dismissed when the Warden tracked down one of the team's old Assassins and then sent in the Redemptionist to torch him with his flamer.

The player seems still convinced that "everyone will be a Radical in the end".

Nerd King said:

Never take Eisenhorn statements as axiom. Sometimes it would be intresting if everybody in some cell ended as Puritan. Great thanks for Radical´s Handbook to show us, how could this get horribly wrong (yes Oblationists and Libracar, I´m looking at you!)

I remember when studying for my Social Science GCSE studies indicated that many people tended to get more right wing and conservative in their views as they got older (a very contentious issue but that's one for another thread on another board...). I can quite easily see our core team (a Redemptionist Cleric, Warden of the Divisio Immoralis and a Fanatical Secutor Tech Priest) getting more and more puritanical as time pases.

At the moment they are probably best described as "faithful" but given time I can see them easily classing themselves as staunch monodominants. It remains to be seen how the pilot (and any other characters who join the group) respond to that.

The group which my character participates in is a mixed batch: -

• An Exorcist/Legate Investigator with strong puritanical leanings and a ruthless streak (no doubt due to the influence of the interrogator who has openly displayed monodominant tendencies), yet is 'warp-touched' due to the incidents surrounding the demise of the shrine world in his youth and an ongoing conspiracy of a heretical element of the inquisition which hides out within the Calixis Sector...
• A Mechanicus Secutor tech-magos and skilled marksman who is ever the 'fire and brimstone type when it comes to tech-heresy, not to mention something of a marksman...
• An assassin/bounty hunter from Necromunda who found religion and joined the Redemption after the incidents within Maggots in the Meat ...
• A Justicar whose influence seems to rival and challenge the leadership of the Exorcist/Legate Investigator, whose glroious past within the Battlefleet Calixis seems to be marred with suspicion amongst his colleagues to links with a secret society within the Ordo Calixis (Collegium Tenebrae)...
• A Metallican Gunslinger who has learnt of of the dark secret of his lineage, being distantly related to an ambitious noble family within Hive Sibellus who had dabbled with Transgenic augmentation (The Raikone family from the Genestealer Cults web doc/pdf file which can be found on the Dark Reign web site), not to mention sharing several criminal world endeavours with the reborn assassin and hiding his own links with the Cold Trade...
• An Imperial Psyker who is descended from a mercantile family which had links to a Rogue Trader Dynasty yet fell from grace and became indebted to the ordo Calixis and the Ecclesiarchy. Currently a Templar of the Scholastica Psykana he has fallen under suspicion of several of his fellow acolytes due to upholding his families traditions, his actions following his exposure of an element of the Cold Trade within the Malfian Subsector, suspicion of corruption via exposure to xenos, lack of 'faith' in the pursuit of commerce and the inexplicable events triggered by use of preternatural abilities (amongst other transgressions), has resulted in both censure/scourging as well as turning the psyker slowly into a killer in the shape of Riddick from Pitch Black...
• A battle sister, who has grown concerned regarding the actions of her fellow acolytes, yet has found the psyker/templar the most receptive to her guidance/counsel, especially after isolating him and participating in rebuilding his fractured mind following strange events leading to his abduction and participating in the incidents described in the first chapter of the Haarlock Legacy. Curiously, she is not alone in her concerns finding herself sponsored by Inquisitor Glavius Wroth as a Legate Investigator in secret, who it seems has a vested interest in not only the heretical element's purification but the proclivities of several of her peers...

Saying that, the Lord-Inquisitor the acolytes currently serve is a staunch Amalathian who has in the past made it quite clear he does not tolerate 'deviancy', being a member of the Ordo Hereticus. Whether "Lord Bruttenholm" is aware of the acolytes guilty secrets is not clear, though he has threatened them all with being transformed into mindless automotons should they err.

from france

defintely slipping to radical my arbitrators who was a puritan have adopted the recongregators point of view; for the moment he just think of a star chamber against people especially noble who think above the law. he didn't put his ideas on motion but i think it s just a question of time. his acreage gauntlet are getting impatient to be use as a electric chair. for those who doesn't know me it just that shoking weapons especially this one are a obscession of my character.

My players have no real idea who they're working for. They know the man's name is High Inquisitor Quintus Dyne, and two of them have met him once, but that's it. Whether he is radical or puritan has yet to be seen. So far he has nearly destroyed a ship in order to test one prospective Acolyte (and kill a rogue Inquisitor at the same time). He then had that same character sent on a false mission for no other reason to see him arrested which, in turn, allowed him to send in another prospective Acolyte to rescue him (and that, in turn, was simply a round about way of getting a Daemonhost to reveal itself so that the two Acolytes could team up and take it out). He also planted information so that a pirate lord would attack a world in order to test three other prospective acolytes – if they survived the pirate lord’s attack, they could join. And, of course, none of them knew that they were being tested. He’s very much a ‘trial by fire’ kinda guy, but whether that means he is radical or puritan, they have to find out for themselves.

As for radical or puritan characters in the campaign itself, our campaign has five characters:

Mason Roth (Arbite) - A by the book Arbite who got most of his corrupted unit arrested after he spent a number of years gathering evidence on their activities. It was heralded as a hero by the high-ranking Arbites and Judges on his home world, but closer to home he was passed over for rank advancement time and time again until he was finally 'requested' by the Inquisitor he now serves. He has met the Inquisitor once. He was the one sent in to rescue the other Acolyte.

Lord Sigmund Castus (Imperial Psyker) – Noble-Born psyker adept at reading minds. As the 13th in line for the throne on his world and therefore little chance of ever ascending the throne, his father used him as a mind reader in negotiations with other noble houses. Eventually he was found and sent off to the Scholastica Psykana, where an Inquisitor took note of his abilities and recruited him. That Inquisitor was killed en route to the Inquisitorial stronghold and Castus was forced to read the mind of a dying Navigator to find the location of the Inquisitorial strong hold. He got a good look at the Warp through that, which has affected him somewhat, but is now in the service of Dyne and quite happy about it (he seems himself as having a destiny). He was the one who Dyne had get arrested on purpose so the Daemonhost would reveal itself.
Deacon Vasco Moriendi (Cleric) – A low level battle-preacher assigned to a Guard unit, he was the only surviving member of the Adeptus Ministorum after a huge attack on a world embroiled in a 6 century war with a vicious race known as the Kyaire. As he was the only one left, he got promoted to Imperial high command, and this is where the Inquisition first took notice of him. He was recruited and sent to a small trading world to await transportation, and there he became embroiled in an attack on a spaceport by a pirate lord and was forced to fight them off (not knowing that the pirates were sent there by Inquisitor Dyne via false information).

Corporal Yanick Johansson (Guardsman) – A jaded veteran of the same unit that Moriendi served with, Yanick saved Moriendi’s life (out of self preservation rather than any sense of duty). The Preacher saw Yanick as a sign that the Emperor was watching over him, and had the Guardsman reassigned as his personal bodyguard. When Moriendi was promoted to High Command, Yanick came with him, and when the Inquisition finally took Moriendi, he brought Yanick with him. Good thingn he did, as he was instrumental in fighting off the pirate lord’s forces at the space port – even killing the pirate lord himself!

Tech-Adept Arturo Dey’towa (Tech-Priest) – Born in the void on a ‘Forge Fleet’, Arturo travelled the stars as he grew up, eventually joining the Adeptus Mechanicus. He looked set to join the Forge Fleet’s Skitarii contingent, but stuck with the more ‘Enginseer-y’ bits of being a Tech-Priest. One day his fleet happened across an ancient Space Hulk known as the Woebringer, and the Forge Fleet was annihilated, with virtually all souls lost. Arturo managed to save about 30 people and escape, and for saving people rather than valuable SCT’s Arturo was reprimanded and given a menial task at a nearby minor trading world. There he stayed for many years until he was forced to fight off a pirate attack along with a Preacher and a Guardsman. He later found out that one of the 30 people he had saved had been a member of Inquisitor Dyne’s retinue, acting undercover in the Forge Fleet to find exceptional individuals and that Arturo would have been recruited earlier had the Inquisition not lost track of him on the trading world. And yes, Arturo Dey’towa is “R2D2”, given he’s our resident lock pick and Swiss-army knife.

BYE

Myself, I'm a Recongragator all the way. The characters in my game are currently undeclared. Not actually Inquisitorial acolytes, they are currently working for a reform minded nobleman. The Guard medic is being seduced by a sect called the Followers of St Shallya (who have the radical notion that the individual matters and everyone deserves dignity and care). The scum is a nascent psyker and pretty much doomed to radicalism or death. The tech-priest is actually perfectly content with the status quo but isn't fanatical about it. Meanwhile, the Red Redemption is pretty much the main antagonist in my campaign at the moment. Obviously, I'm holding the radical path wide open.... we'll see where things go.

H.B.M.C. said:

If I had to guess on this fella, I definitely say Radical due to his willingness to get the enemy of the Imperium to attack Imperial holdings just to see if a handful of individuals could stop said enemy or not. Further, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he was an Istvaan, but that's just my initial impression from one paragraph.