This week's thought provoking scenario! (If these get annoying or boring let me know, I just like to use these as a practice in creative thinking. Plus you folks have great ideas always!)

Background Info:

You are apart of an incredibly successful acolyte cell that has close dealing with your inquisitor

Your inquisitor is exceedingly charismatic and good at manipulating people

Your Inquisitor is a talented Psyker

You are a member of an Acolyte cell primarily as an interrogator and information gatherer, and as such are very perceptive to the workings of human interaction. Most of your cell is composed of individuals indifferent to your inquisitor and merely see their work as a means to an ends (Mostly to work outside the line of the common imperial citizen) all of you work competently at what you do and in the past four years you have served the Emperor's Inquisition faithfully and successfully (you note that of all the other inquisitors you've come in contact your Inquisitor's cells have had the lowest attrition rate)

However, in the last few years you've grown concerned over the activities of a particular Acolyte in your cell. A feral worlder turned body guard for your inquisitor. This particular Acolyte has even from day one shown a nearly fanatical devotion to your inquisitor, due mostly in part to your inquisitor's impressive psychic prowess, and has even called them the "god's hand" in their native tongue. In recent though the devotion has change from fanatical to nearly heretical, as the Acolyte views have changed and grown and they now consider the inquisitor the be a god in of them self (after some miraculous victories over overwhelming odds against the forces of chaos). You, and others of your cell, have in private voiced concern in this department but your Inquisitor assures you that it's not uncommon for bonds to form of this magnitude and that the devotion is "All that their primitive mind can do to rationalize what they witness me do."

So now you are confronted with a personal dilemma: Your inquisitor is openly accepting praise as a god by a disillusioned acolyte. While being mindful that they are your inquisitor, your sworn oath to the one and only god emperor tells you that his justice must be done. What do you do?

The Feral Acolyte is potentially guilty of Heresy and for this there can only be one solution. If the Inquisitor tolerates this worship he is dangerously close to Heresy himself and may face sanction. If there is reason to believe that the Inquisitor has used his abilities to give this impression to the Acolyte than that is Irretrievably heretical whether you are Puritan or Radical! On the other hand: Calling the Inquisitor "The God's hand" is essentially referring to him as a saint. This is not necessarily heretical but the Inquisitor has a duty to educate his Acolyte to make sure he understands the difference between a "God's Hand" and the God Emperor himself!

Its obviously a major problem and I would probably try and like Radwraith said try and make the inquisitor educate the Acolyte on that he inq. isn't a god. Failing that I will have to come together with some other Acolytes and kill him off and so end his heresy. It seems to me that my fate is pretty much bound up with the inq. and so I would be a fool to raise arms against him unless he goes outright heretical and I have plenty of evidence to back it up, at which point I have little choice but to raise arms against him. I can hope that he won't do anything stupid that gets me killed.

I recall the first rule of the Scintillan Dictates that "Thy Master's Will Shall be the Whole of the Law" and accept my place as my Master's servant secure in the knowledge that he his an exemplar of service to the Emperor and the Feral Worlder is ignorant and probably clouded by some degenerate version of the creed but completely faithful nevertheless.

@ Gurkhal

Told ya I was the swing vote!

Radwraith said:

And I noticed. So hopefully we''ll have a nice pyre going soon…

One of the smarter, less religiously obsessed members of the group is likely to rat you out if you try anything against the Acolyte, and especially against the Inquisitor himself.

Gotta protect his meal ticket, and not get tortured to death for treason with the rest of you.

Blood Pact said:

You mean one of those smartasses who will have the Ordo Hereticus conclude our Inquisitor is a heretic and hunt us to extermination like the heretical vermin we are► If this gets out it could be a very bad thing for us as the Inquisitor will drag us down and with my way at least we can stand free of guilt or heresy before the Emperor.

And no body said anything about a treason. We were more discussing tragic accidents that happens in the Inquisition''s service.

Gurkhal said:

Pyres pyres pyers. Is it cold over there?

Gurkhal, very disappointed my friend. I dare say the Inquisitor will be too.

Interrogator Z

Zakalwe said:

As for cold yes its getting a bit chilly and thus I needed a few heretics to burn so I can keep the warmth. If the Inquisitor's prefers the company of heretics he should not recruit puritan acolytes.

Pray tell, why don't you want to consider something different than killing valuable resources?

The acolyte in question is obviously deluded, yes, but his particular madness is useful. So, instead of damning the acolyte for his (albeit misplaced) devotion, encourage it. Tell him about great deeds and miracles the Emperor's Hand performed in the past, explain how fortunate this galaxy is He was born in it, etc. Then, when the idiot is suitably zealous, dump him on the very feral world he came from, to serve not as His acolyte, but His prophet.

Feral worlds are usually far removed from Ecclesiarchial or Ordo Hereticus scrutiny, so you can bet the budding cult won't be detected for decades. And, even if it will, then what? Just who is the Emperor's Hand and what is so heretical about worshipping some saint of clearly Imperial origin? If enything, Missioneria Galaxia operatives would help the cult to take roots.

Now, the tricky part: the Prophet must have some divine authority to start off. The quickest and best way to help him on his feet would be to stage a few "miraculous events" for his benefit. If you pull this right, primitive apes will never suspect anything is amiss. And in the end, the inquisitor would get a pool of fanatically loyal underlings, for whom His word is a Divine Mandate. Since feral worlders are normally being used as muscles (or cannon fodder) of the acolyte cells, a bit of healthy fanaticism on their part would be great: no pesky complaining about sacrificing their worthless hides for their inquisitor.

And - if we think a one step ahead - feral worlders also produce psykers. Normally these are either snatched by the Black Ships or clubbed to death at an early age (superstitious parents and all that). But with the population fanatically devoted to our noble inquisitor, it could be a whole different story. It would be not a great feat to convince the primitives their "witch-born" are actually blessed by Him With The Insignia, and that their powers are a mirror of His. So, it is their sacred duty to raise such children in His image, while taking care to hide them from sinister Black Ships, whose crews would ****** their children away to gnaw at their divine souls.

As a consequence, inquisitor would also get a recruiting pool of psyker wannabes, who are not registered in Imperial database and can therefore be used with greater discretion. Surely a valuable asset for someone of creative mind.

Oh Erborn, ever the other side of the coin eh?

I think I would find it difficult as an Acolyte to have faith in the emperor, or I should say, instead believe that the 'emperor' is just some kind of metaphor for the establishment. Holy Terra is such a mystical place that it itself seems more like a myth than anything. However my inquisitor's power is absolute, obvious, and most importantly something I can witness.

Of course that's what separates the faithful from the non. It's also funny because I'd feel myself a free thinker (as the acolyte) for not believing in the emperor but as a player I know that the emperor is real ha ha!

Erborn said:

The reason why this is all heresy is that the Feral wouldn't be worshipping the Emperor by indirect means but it actually worshipping the Inquisitor and even encouraged by to do so. Solid faith is good but that faith should be to the Emperor and not to the Inquisitor. That's why its heresy and must be dealt with. If the Feral had only looked on the Inquisitor as blessed by the Emperor I would have little problem with it but that's not the case and spreading a cult of the Inquisitor as a walking god within the God-Emperor's domain is most certainly heresy.

As for hiding away psykers from the Black Ships you must either be an agent of Chaos, a fool or both to suggest a thing like that. More likely is that the warp-spawns will find plenty of gateways to that would and bring unimagined suffering and trouble instead of any advantage for the Imperium.

My dear puritan friend, if the psykers saved from becoming chew-toys are left to fend for themselves, that would indeed be the case. But did I ever told they would be abandoned without proper guidance and tutelage?

Let us not argue about the lucidity of the "unsanctioned" and just how dangerous the "unsanctioned psykers" really are. Let's assume, for simplicity's sake, that they are a menace. But even so, they have their uses:

1. The really powerful ones - which could easily be singled out at an early age - could be trained to resist the predations of Chaos by a trained colleague. In our case, such a colleague is an inquisitor in question. Granted, they will still be considered "unsanctioned" by the Imperium, but being trained by a professional, they would not longer be a threat to themselves. And, as I mentioned before, their "unsanctioned" - or "rogue" - status would give them greater freedom to operate unseen and undetected.

Such gifted individuals would be extremely rare, of course, but every single one of them would be a real asset. And let us not forget they will be fanatically loyal to the inquisitor, and so will ultimately serve for the greater good of the Imperium.

2. The hopelessly weak ones - who shall be more numerous - could be used in an altogether different fashion. Using his telepathic powers, the inquisitor could turn such worthless maggots into psychic thralls, whose only purpose would be to soak the fallout of the psychic phenomena and - Emperor forbid! - perils of the warp.

The practice of creating such thralls is an ancient and noble art, all but forgotten in modern times but quite commonplace in certain strata of the young Imperium.

3. The mediocre psykers, who are too weak to survive on their own, yet too powerful to make good thralls, could be - depending on the inquisitor's mindset - either be put out of their misery or used as living weapons. Take the Callophean Psy-Engine, for example: an elegant and utterly devastating weapon, and that's only one option of many.

And then again, let's take one more look at the situation as a whole:

Where is the glory and challenge is re-educating or killing a single naive tribal? At best, the deed would go unnoticed, at worst - the inquisitor would be ridiculed by his puritan colleagues for his inability to keep the acolytes' minds in line. On the other hand, if the inquisitor would uncover and eliminate a heretical sect whose unholy purpose was to kidnap and corrupt young psykers… that's a whole different story.

Prestige and commendations from his Ordos aside, it could also prove to be a blackmailing chip when dealing with the Ecclesiarchy (after all, keeping a healthy spiritual presence on feral worlds is usually their responsibility). And, of course, no one says the "uncovering and burning" must come before the inquisitor bleeds the cult dry, getting everything he can from the apes.

Erborn said:

1. Heresy and hybris - so our good inquisitor will spend the rest of his life doing the Black Ships' work on the planet except of doing what he was made inquisitor to do? That's great use of resources.

2. Heresy piled upon heresy - those things were forbidden for a reason although I'm not suppose that a savant of the prohibited like yourself knows about this

3. Heresy and wastefulness - this is the Black Ships' mission and I doubt that they'll need the inquisitor to do their jobs for them.

I've got a pyre waiting for you, heretic.

It is a widely accepted fact that many savages from the less enlightened planets have a primitive belief system with multiple "gods" or spirits that they pay obeissance to. While this is widely decried by some members of the Ecclesiarchy, there is a general consensus that the problem should be solved slowly by converting the worship, first by making it clear that the Emperor is the highest god or spirit in the hierarchy, and later by changing any beneficent spirits to appropriate Imperial saints. This is, however, a time-consuming project and not one the Ordo Hereticus needs to waste its specialized resources on. In the meantime, the primitives' savagery and simplicity can be used for greater purpose in the works of the Imperium. Remember: a small mind is a blessing.

Overall, after review of the situation I would suggest that it does not merit extreme action that could turn the forces of the Imperial Inquisition against one of its members, and so far a fairly successful one. If the savage has simply accepted a honored member of the Imperial Inquisition as one of a group of superior beings, this is all right and proper and he is following his natural place in the Imperial order. However, he should not hold the Inquisitor as the ONLY such divine being. If the barbarian's faith system is, to use the ancient term, polytheistic, make sure that due obeissance is paid to the Emperor. If not, let them be aware of the fact that the Inquisitor is, indeed, beholden to a greater power still, which must be respected - through slaying the Emperor's enemies, ideally, as this is the task to which such a dullard is most fit.

The situation may need revision in case the inquisitor, as psykers sometimes are, is corrupted by the warp. Do make sure that the savage is sufficiently aware of the Emperor's hatred of Chaos that he should at least not be willing to join his master if the worst should come to pass.

Skeletor said:

if it has gone as far as indicated here, then there can be no other recourse. The failed Acolyte must be sent for excruciation and repentance. After which he will be turned over for summary combustion. I am the last line of defense. I am not here to make friends. I am here to Judge.

Worshipping servants of the Emperor as Gods is common in Feral Worlds. It happens on Fenris, with the Space Wolves' Iron Priests being considered 'Gods of Iron'.

Sure, they have an unorthodox belief system, but they still worship the Emperor.

True, some folk would burn them, others would see them as primitive, but strong servants of the Imperium.

Basically, the answer is: it depends.