Yes I know, warhammer 40000 is not supposed to be realistic.

But still I am curious. How is the inquisition, the inquisitors and the acolytes financed?

I personally think that it is a combination of funding from the munitorium which is trickled down from the inquisitor lords to other inquisitors and so on to their acolytes, personal sidebusiness with treasures founded on the inquisitors adventures and claimage of resources using the rosette to just take that shiny new landspeeder from the vendor.

I havent really grasped how much resources the inquisition or, more important, the individual inquisitors have at their disposal.

In theory, one could think that the inquisition have the might to actually claim the empire for themselves, due to their right to take over everything necessary for them.

But in the fiction it more seems that the individual inquisitors are quite limited in their resources.

Interesting question. I suspect the upcoming Ascension sourcebook will have some insight, since it will have rules for Inquisitors and the resources they can access. However, I'm perfectly willing to engage in some theorizing...

The first thing to remember, IMO, is that each individual inquisitor is essentially an independent agent. While beholden to the Inquisition and the Imperium as a whole, they don't have a hierarchy like that found among the Adeptus Terra. Also the Inquisition itself is distinct from the priest-bureaucrats of the Adeptus. My theory is that each Inquisitor is independently wealthy. An Inquisitor is probably provided with a "inheritance" upon being elevated to the title, enough wealth to support themselves and their efforts without ever having to worry about it again. That bankroll probably comes from the Inquisitor who trained them and varies in form depending on the Inquisitor. Couple that with the Inquisitors authority to requisition whatever resources they require, from a landspeeder to a fully equipped Guard regiment, and they pretty much have everything they could need or want. Certainly, I wouldn't expect an Inquisitor to bother "looting the bodies" for cash.

As for Inquisitors in fiction, Eisenhorn owned large estates on multiple planets and Ravenor's team, even when operating underground, was able to toss around enough money to buy or at least rent whatever they seemed to want or need. Neither seemed to worry about where they next meal was coming from (unless the plot required it).

Most likely a combination of individual wealth and organizational resources. An inquisitor might have collected considerable personal resources during his career ( inheritance from grateful VIPs for saving their bottoms, confiscated assets from heretics and criminals ). Then there are the resources set aside by the various Ordos for general use by their agents ( trust funds, access to trusted transport firms, medical care, codes to use the "priority channel" of the Astropathicus etc. ).

Although using the communal resources always has a catch. Your rival Inquisitors ( from a different faction ) might notice that you are diverting 5 million Thrones to a Rogue Traders account and start making difficult questions.

Semai said:

Remember that the Munitorum are merely one small part of the Administratum, which in turn is one section of the whole Adeptus Terra... which the Inquisition is independent from.

Wealth in the Imperium is a matter of resources - interplanetary trade exists because the Imperium needs to move resources (raw materials, created items, and soldiers) from where they are obtained/produced to where they are needed. This is the Tithe, part of the feudal requirement placed upon the overwhelming majority of worlds in the Imperium (Forge Worlds, Astartes Homeworlds and certain other planets are exempt from the Tithe for various reasons). Consequently, on an inter-planetary level, currency exists to facilitate the calculation, assignment and distribution of Tithed goods first and foremost. Any resources left upon a world beyond those demanded by the Tithe can then be traded freely with other worlds to the notional betterment of the trading worlds.

The resources of the Inquisition are likely a simple reflection of their theoretically-limitless authority. The arbitrary sum of 7,500 Throne Gelt (Calixian local currency) is equivalent to the Administratum-calculated worth within that Sector of one hundred Mars-pattern Lasguns. An Inquisitor is well within his rights to demand resources of equivalent worth to that particular batch of Lasguns - such a thing is, in fact, a meagre example of his authority. To facilitate less overt methods of obtaining resources, then, an Inquisitor is given a theoretically limitless supply of currency - imagine a credit card you never need to pay back, which has no limits whatsoever on what you can spend - because he'd be able to obtain the things that currency represents anyway, this is just a matter of convenience.

In practical terms, an Inquisitor will likely place discrete amounts of currency in a variety of local and multi-planetary accounts for the use of himself and his agents, most of which are deliberately mundane in appearance and opened under false names, in order to provide resource access to the Inquisitor and his agents in the field where necessary, and topped up whenever the Inquisitor feels it is appropriate. In other cases, it may be invested into the creation of unknowing subordinate organisations (mercenary groups, etc) that an Inquisitor may use as unwitting servants or a convenient cover for his activities, or into the establishment of facilities for his own use such as libraries, private estates, contracts with Rogue Traders and Navigator Houses, and so forth. As demonstrated by Rogue Trader, many things have a value in far more than money, and thus finances alone aren't going to get an individual what he wants or needs all the time, at which point the use of personal influence and authority is necessary to support the use of money.

Many Inquisitors tend to spend a noteworthy portion of their time watching their peers, and this acts as a limiting factor. An Inquisitor who draws too deeply upon the resources available to him, particularly those really big resources which draw a lot of attention and which money alone cannot buy, will be subject to the scrutiny of his peers. As with any use of an Inquisitor's limitless authority, his ability to back up his decisions is crucial to his ability to wield the power he is given, and this requires connections, contacts, allies and a healthy dose of fear and/or respect. An Inquisitor Lord - who holds his position through the respect he is given and the reputation he possesses - can wield greater authority and access greater resources than a lone Inquisitor could.

One thing I've posited in the past is exactly what kind of knockon effects does an inquisitor's 'requisitioning' actually have? The Imperium doesn't normally get days off, it's a continually moving economy. Everyone has something they should be doing (well, at least the ones stuck in jobs) at every moment of every day.

So what happens when an inquisitor just decides to take 10,000 garrison troopers on a jaunt? What happens to all the deliveries supposed to be made to the garrison? Regular communications, training excercise contracts and all the minutae that goes into keeping a large group of people armed, armoured and trained will get disrupted.

If an inquisitor isn't careful they could seriously screw up the economy of a planet with their limitless authority. They might crush the heretics in the next sector but leave the other planet impoverished as a result.

I've wondered whether the administratum has a sub wing that attempts to redistribute wealth to fill the 'holes' left by an inquisitor's requisitioning. ie if the inquisitor takes 10,000 troops and then orders a manufactorum to outfit them with better armour, the administratum takes money from the nobles of the planet to make up the difference.

It was just amusing to think that the administratum would have a secret inquisitorial spending control division, a bureaucratic inquisitorial shadow to protect the imperium's economy from the worst inquisitorial excesses.

Hellebore

Hellebore said:

That is actually are very good point. I guess one of the lessons that an Inquisitor would give to his/her proteges marked for possible ascension to the rank of an Inquisitor is "every action has a consequence so think before you act".

Although the Administratum certainly can not give orders to the Inquisition ( "please do not requisition more than five ore transport/ fiscal year" ), I am sure that along the centuries some sort "understanding" has been reached.

Image the following the scene. The Planetary Governors tithe for the Imperial Guard comes up short and naturally the Administratum gets upset. It finally sends an Adept to see the Governor and make uncomfortable questions ( "where is the regiment", "you are not trying to skip on the tithe are you","are you loyal" ) . The squirming Governor answers "Inquisitor XYZ of Ordo Hereticus was here and took the regiment with him!" Adept:" Oh? I see...Well that would fall under the Addendum to the Tithe Calculation Process, section 145.5, paragraph two."

Lol yeah inquisitorial requisitioning comes under "work related" as a Tax Deduction for the purposes of the Plantery Tithe Return.

The kind of department I'm talking about might even have an Ordo of the Inquisition controlling it (there are, afterall dozens of ordos not just the big 3) and the adepts are its 'militant wing'.

So you have the Ordo Expendus who take their job very seriously, controlling the Imperium's economic stability and shoring it up where necessary through the redistribution of wealth. They use militant adepts that are expert hackers and data analysts that can also use force of arms to redistribute wealth if necessary.

Militant Accountants are just what 40k needs.

Hellebore

Hellebore said:

Consider my next character concept stolen .

Semai said:

How is CIA financed? Its a combination of "creative" bookkeeping with taxpayers money, golden toilet seats and black-bag funding from contra arms deals....

Well, seriously saying: I am quite sure that in theory Inquisition is financed from the same budget as Imperial Guard, Adeptus Astartes, Imperial Navy, Adeptus Arbites and all other myriad Imperial organizations. In practice we have to remember that Imperial taxes are a feudal-type of arrangement. Planets are required to tithe certain part of their production of everything, up to and including manpower, to Imperial Administration. In these kind of circumstances if one has "Emperors Permission for Everything" (Rosette) you probably don't have to keep a budget... you need something, you requisition it... you don't get it, you start an investigation on the poor soul who refused your request.

I suppose this is why Inquisitors need to be very carefully chosen... you can't give that kind of power to just about anyone.

Well, hopefully Ascension will shed some light to this question ( among others ). A large Imperium spanning organization such as the Inquisition can not operate indefinitely by simply requisitioning everything they need. Suspension of disbelief only goes so far. Even the Holy Ordos need some kind of regular economics and bureaucracy to handle their everyday mundane needs. Would you like to live in an Ordo Sector house that has no cooks or cleaners? Where the food is some army rations?

And the acolytes starting resources?

Well, we just skip those.

Why do the acolytes need to save everything they got to buy that lasgun when mister sugardaddy inquisitor can buy them their gear?

One thing is deeply disturbed with the Inquisition as a concept thou.

Why dont they get corrupted?

I dont mean in the "ruinous power soul eating way".

Just economically corrupted.

The noble families biggest wet dream must to have one of their sons becoming an inquisitor right?

Helping the family out with the business with a gently nod of the rosette?

Exactly how is an inquisitor chosen? They must have some hefty headhunter administrators to not promote the wrong guy..

I like to imagine a mix of requisitioning and actual finansing.
Sure, an Inquisitor will occasionally cause major problems down the line by diverting resources, but when they are first establishing themselves, they will do exactly this to establish an economic power base. Establishing themselves with the wealth of a minor/major mercantile house means that (since they're employing significantly less people than those above) they won't have to requisition things.

Of course, I also imagine that W40K has one of the issues that modern civilisation has. If [country/planet X] is producing more of [product Y] than they need to supply [country/planet Z], they'll simply store the remainder. Even if the food is highly perishable, it's more profitable to lock it away than have to sell it at a lower value.
Especially, since that would (in W40K terms) increase the demand for tithe, which would hurt the local economy.

With such a model, it's plausible that an Inquisitor is simply taking surplus equipment (also, from what I know of the military [limited to my own country's military, obviously] surplus supplies is the rule rather than the exception. As is decomissioning vehicles and equipment that are in fine working order with newer (at times inferior) versions.
Again, this is a place where a newly-minted Inquisitor could requisition without significant threat of destabilising anything important. Add in that the Inquisitors master could simply give him a slice of whatever system he's been financing himself with, letting the Inquisitor work to build it up further on his own.

And finally... what if an Inquisitor didn't use this model?
Interesting background story, how a planet got thrown into a centuries-long civil war because certain supply ships were diverted, causing the hungry and already malcontents of the planet to rebel. The PDF and Imperial Guard, being underequipped as the once-per-century delivery of las energy packs were also diverted, tried to suppress them but only managed to escalate the situation into an all-out war.
Now, a century (or two) later, the factions have become nations unto themselves and they have no desire to make peace with the other faction, whom they claim (rightly so) to have comitted terrible atrocities.

Come to think of it, this could actually be an adventure unto itself.
1) Inquisitor has ordered his Acolytes to end this conflict. Hundreds of ways to get the Acolytes involved on any level of the conflict.
2) Acolytes has over-requisitioned things. Now they've reached a world where they see the result. Those Imperial Navy ships? Were meant to destroy rebels trying to overthrow the local Adeptus Terra. The merchant ship? On its way with food/medical supplies to a world that has recently been attacked by Orks. Without an infrastructure or organised leadership, the situation is already dire, but with starvation and disease showing up the planet may be lost entirely.

Aajav-Khan said:

I don't think it's an Imperium spanning organization. There just happens to be inquisitors and their networks spanning the galaxy. For the most part, actual institutions of the Inquisition seem to be local affairs which are supported by those Inquisitors who claim membership to that particular institution giving it, by what ever means they can, what it needs to operate. The Calixian conclave seems to be supported by those Inquisitors who claim membership in it, it's resources are given to it by those who claim membership to be used by it's members. In other words, if there's a bureaucracy in an Inquisitorial institution, it's because the Inquisitors that belong to it instituted it and are the ones who support it. If it needs funding, they get the funding for it. If it needs men, they get the men for it, etc. How they do such would depend on the Inquisitors and the Institution they established. In the end, all such institutions exist because the Inquisitors (not the Inquisition) support it's existence and what they get out of it would be what they put into it.

A galaxy wide bureaucracy is exactly what the Inquisition is not supposed to be. One of their reasons for existing is to provide a fast response mechanismagainst threats to the Imperium, a fast response mechanism that doesn't have to go through all the chains of command and mad bureaucracy that is the Adepta. If they truly were a galaxy spanning organization with a bureaucracy, tithes coming in from the Administratum (which would be several colors of wrong as such would make them a bit too dependent on one of the organizations they are supposed to watch and police not to mention the increased chance of corruption with a little "c" that such an arrangement would create), a definite hiarchy (which would, again, breed corruption with a little "c" as it would tempt Inquisitors to jocky for various seats of power even more then they do already), and a galaxy wide command structure, then they'd be no better or faster at finding and responding to threats to the Imperium then any of the Adepta.

An Inquisitor requisitioning what he or she needs when the needs arises actually seems like the best solution. Throughout their careers, many will hide various resources away to make their job's easer and many will decide to pool their resources and knowledge with one another and form special little clubs complete with club-houses to hold some of these resources that they've managed to acquire. How such is accomplished and maintained would be up to the Inquisitors who belong to the special club and can range from large bank accounts that each member has to deposite their dues in every year or so to help support the institution they are apart of to having fortresses maned and supported by the people of the southern continent for 500 years now because an Inquisitor told them to do such until told otherwise and no inquisitor has ever told them to stop (and woe to the sole who decides to or the one who makes them stop).

Either way, from what i understand, Ascension will be addressing this in greater depth with it's Influence mechanic (which deals with what an Inquisitor can get his or hands on as well as the repercussions of using their influence to get what they want).

@Semai, the wrong ones do get raised to Inquisitor now and again and whole batches of them have to be wiped out sometimes. Nothing's perfect, especially in the Imperium.

Inquisitors work on an apprentice system so if an inquisitor has gone rogue then their acolytes probably will too.

There are so many consequences produced by the inquisition that are glossed over. For example, an inquisitor needs to borrow a precinct of arbitrators to raid a cult HQ but in doing so takes them away from a riot/sabotage case that means they aren't there to stop protesting hab workers from destroying the machinery inside a manufactorum which then halts the production of prefab cogitator conduit for a week, increasing their relative cost and throwing the economy out of whack. The cultist cell was destroyed, but now the economy of the planet is skwiffy.

The only way for an inquisitor to get away with requisitioning anything they want on a planet is if there is an excess of it. ie there are 10 arbitrator precincts on the planet rather than the required 7 so there are 3 that he can requisition without it putting strain on the local arbites. But it seems that the Imperium can barely keep up with demand with the production facilities it has now, so the chances of there being excess of anything (except unskilled manpower) is slight (although not impossible and contingent on the planet in question - forge worlds probably do have stockpiles).

Thus the need for a subsystem of checks and balances. If an inquisitor forces an entire syndicate to produce nothing but arms for his private army (for a legitimately important threat) then that syndicate is no longer feeding into the economy, nor is it supporting areas that it was integral in for a thousand years.

This is where the Ordo Erogatus comes in. They are the shadow of the inquistion, the hands behind the hands behind the scene. They swoop into the sector where the aforementioned syndicate has been coopted and redirect the personal wealth of the noble families into the deficit (because none of the peasants actually have any money to steal). Because that money is in excess (it's just personal wealth savings) it has no effect on the IMPERIUM'S economy (but it does mean that nobleman poshpants can't buy his 10th land speeder for another week).

The inquisition would also have their own money making schemes to prop up areas as well.

The economy of the Imperium and its sectors would be a giant puzzle game where the pieces are being continuously distributed and moved by the unseen hands of the Adeptus Peniculla militant wing of the Ordo Erogatus.

Hellebore

Semai said:

I'd like to think that they do. Frequently. However, once you are deep enough in the Inquisition and realize that the future of the whole human race is really at knifes edge and the universe is filled with horrible nightmare monsters out to get you then one of the following happens:

1) The Inquisitor goes insane and eventually the other Inquisitors deal with him... permanently. Unless the Big Bad Monsters get him first.

2) The Inquisitor simply doesn't have time or wish to worry about riches... After all, that brand new Limo-class Shuttle, the 100k Bling-bling and the good graces of you noble family start to seem pretty useless when a honest-to-god, very real greater daemon is about to pop out of warp and turn the whole planet into deserts of molten glass and oceans of blood.

Polaria said:

Your thinking mirrors mine. So you have climbed your way through the ranks and gotten the coveted Rosette. Now you have technically unlimited power. Congratulations. But now YOU have the responsibility, YOU have to make the decisions that potentially affect whole planets. And by now you are aware that there is no such thing as "winning", all you can hope for is to maybe maintain the Status Quo. After a few hundred years of grueling battles against the endless waves of the Heretic, Xenos and Daemon, is it any wonder that many Inquisitors become jaded? Just look at the NPC Inquisitors in various books.

( EDIT: I just realized, that this is actually a carbon copy of the classical Call of Cthulhu mentality . You can´t "win" against the Elder Cosmic Horros. All your fancy shotguns, pistols and gadgets are useless. All you can do is to sacrifice yourself in order to win a reprieve for humanity. )

Aajav-Khan said:

( EDIT: I just realized, that this is actually a carbon copy of the classical Call of Cthulhu mentality . You can´t "win" against the Elder Cosmic Horros. All your fancy shotguns, pistols and gadgets are useless. All you can do is to sacrifice yourself in order to win a reprieve for humanity. )

DH does play out much like Call of Cthulhu with Bolters. Play a sorcerer in CoC and you'll go insane and end up dying while summoning up something bigger than you can send back... Play a psyker in DH and you'll go insane and corrupt and end up dying while summoning up something bigger than you can send back.

After a few scenarios of CoC your players will crave for machineguns and more dynamite... After a few scenarios of DH you'll players will crave for stormbolters and meltabombs. After a few more in either game they start to suspect that no mater how much weapons they carry the monsters will outgun them... After a yet few more they realize this is indeed the case.

Polaria said:

After a few scenarios of CoC your players will crave for machineguns and more dynamite... After a few scenarios of DH you'll players will crave for stormbolters and meltabombs. After a few more in either game they start to suspect that no mater how much weapons they carry the monsters will outgun them... After a yet few more they realize this is indeed the case.

This is why, when I start up Act II of my campaign later this year (primarily Dark Heresy, but using Rogue Trader material as well), the first session starts with the group playing as a squad of Grey Knights, setting the scene for the rest of the campaign by introducing a number of elements that tie Act I and Act II together, while being able to show my players that even the mightiest of the Emperor's servants need to be mindful of the enemies arrayed against them.

Polaria said:

So true! This reminds me of the story about four investigators, a midnight cult gathering, a swamp and about 10 kilograms of TNT ...