03. The Inquisition and Its Ordos

The Emperor’s Hidden Watchers

The Inquisition exists to uncover threats that ordinary Imperial institutions cannot safely confront.

Its agents investigate hidden cults, daemonic influence, xenos infiltration, forbidden technology, treason, psychic corruption, and conspiracies reaching into the highest levels of power.

The Inquisition is not a conventional police force or military branch.

It is a network of independent Inquisitors who act in the Emperor’s name and are expected to pursue threats wherever they lead.

Inquisitorial Authority

An Inquisitor may demand cooperation from nearly any Imperial servant.

They may:

• Seize records

• Requisition troops or vessels

• Arrest powerful officials

• Enter restricted facilities

• Override local law

• Command investigations

• Confiscate dangerous relics

• Order quarantine

• Conceal evidence

• Request extermination of a severe threat

This authority is immense but not magical.

An isolated Inquisitor may still lack soldiers, transport, proof, or political support. A governor may delay cooperation. A general may demand evidence. A rival institution may challenge jurisdiction.

The rosette opens many doors, but the Inquisitor must still survive what lies behind them.

Independent Agents

The Inquisition does not possess one simple chain of command.

Inquisitors may belong to different Ordos, conclaves, philosophies, and personal networks. Senior figures can influence or judge others, but much Inquisitorial power remains personal.

One Inquisitor may command a cruiser, several regiments, and dozens of agents.

Another may travel under a false identity with only a small retinue.

Both may possess equal legal authority while having very different practical power.

Inquisitorial Retinues

Inquisitors rarely work alone.

Their retinues may include:

• Interrogators

• Soldiers

• Psykers

• Adepts

• Assassins

• Tech-Priests

• Medicae personnel

• Savants

• Pilots

• Arbites

• Priests

• Xenos specialists

• Former criminals

• Sanctioned mutants

• Unusual allies

Members are chosen for skill, loyalty, knowledge, or access.

A retinue may function as an investigation team, strike force, diplomatic delegation, or covert cell.

Player characters can easily serve within such a group without every member being an Inquisitor.

Interrogators and Acolytes

Interrogators are trusted agents being prepared for greater responsibility.

They may lead missions, question prisoners, manage networks, or act in an Inquisitor’s name.

Acolytes are field agents assigned to investigate leads and gather evidence.

They often receive only part of the truth.

This protects dangerous information and allows the Inquisitor to judge how agents act without complete guidance.

It can also place a team in severe danger.

The Major Ordos

The three best-known Ordos are:

• The Ordo Hereticus

• The Ordo Xenos

• The Ordo Malleus

These are not rigidly separated departments.

A single investigation may involve all three.

A xenos artifact could corrupt a human cult and open a daemonic breach. Jurisdiction then becomes a matter of expertise, politics, and which Inquisitor arrived first.

The Ordo Hereticus

The Ordo Hereticus investigates threats arising from within humanity.

Its concerns may include:

• Heresy

• Apostasy

• Rogue psykers

• Mutant uprisings

• Corrupt priests

• Traitorous governors

• Forbidden cults

• Institutional infiltration

• False saints

• Abuse of Imperial authority

• Witchcraft

• Sedition linked to corruption

The Ordo Hereticus often works closely with the Adepta Sororitas, Arbites, Ecclesiarchy, and local authorities.

Its agents must distinguish genuine corruption from political accusation, superstition, and local rivalry.

A careless investigation can destroy loyal communities.

The Ordo Xenos

The Ordo Xenos studies and combats alien threats.

Its investigations may concern:

• Xenos infiltration

• Alien relics

• Genestealer cults

• Forbidden trade

• Diplomatic contact

• Biological contamination

• Alien mercenaries

• Hidden settlements

• Xenos technology

• Human collaboration with alien powers

The Ordo Xenos often cooperates with the Deathwatch.

Not every member holds the same beliefs.

Some seek total destruction of alien influence. Others permit temporary alliances, controlled study, or covert negotiation when Imperial survival requires it.

The Ordo Malleus

The Ordo Malleus confronts daemons and direct threats from the Warp.

Its responsibilities may include:

• Daemonic possession

• Warp breaches

• Chaos sorcery

• Daemonhosts

• Corrupted relics

• Summoning rituals

• Traitor psykers

• Daemon worlds

• Greater daemonic manifestations

• Chaos cults with confirmed Warp influence

The Ordo Malleus often works with sanctioned psykers, exorcists, specialized military forces, and the Grey Knights.

Its knowledge is heavily restricted because even accurate information about daemons can attract danger or inspire imitation.

Lesser Ordos

Many smaller Ordos investigate specialized threats.

Examples may include matters involving:

• Time distortion

• Forbidden texts

• Artificial intelligence

• Mutant populations

• Xenos disease

• Imperial succession

• Warp anomalies

• Hidden histories

• Unauthorized technology

• Institutional corruption

Some lesser Ordos are permanent.

Others form around one crisis, region, or interpretation of danger.

Their existence may be unknown outside the Inquisition.

Conclaves

Inquisitors sometimes gather into regional conclaves.

A conclave may share intelligence, review major cases, assign resources, or judge an Inquisitor accused of misconduct.

These gatherings are political as well as practical.

Members may support allies, challenge rivals, suppress evidence, or argue over methods.

A conclave decision carries great influence, but an independent Inquisitor may still refuse to accept it.

Puritans

Puritan Inquisitors believe the Imperium must defeat corruption without using the enemy’s methods.

They may reject:

• Daemon weapons

• Forbidden sorcery

• Xenos alliances

• Possessed agents

• Heretical technology

• Uncontrolled psychic experimentation

Puritans often emphasize discipline, faith, and containment.

Their methods can still be ruthless.

A Puritan may destroy an entire settlement rather than risk spreading corruption.

Radicals

Radical Inquisitors believe dangerous tools may be necessary to defeat greater threats.

They may use:

• Xenos technology

• Forbidden archives

• Daemonhosts

• Heretical agents

• Controlled mutations

• Unstable psychic methods

• Temporary alliances

• Captured enemy knowledge

Radicals do not always serve Chaos.

Many remain sincerely loyal while believing that orthodox methods are insufficient.

The danger is that each compromise makes the next one easier.

Rival Philosophies

Puritan and Radical are broad categories rather than two unified factions.

Inquisitors disagree over:

• Whether enemies can be redeemed

• Whether xenos can be trusted

• Whether dangerous knowledge should be preserved

• Whether sacrifice is justified

• Whether Imperial institutions can be reformed

• Whether Chaos can ever be used safely

• How much freedom agents should possess

• When extermination is necessary

These disagreements can create conflict between loyal Inquisitors pursuing the same enemy.

Evidence and Suspicion

The Inquisition must often act before certainty is possible.

Waiting for complete proof may allow a cult, daemon, or infiltrator to spread.

Acting too quickly may condemn innocents and destroy valuable alliances.

Investigations may rely upon:

• Witness testimony

• Psychic impressions

• Financial records

• Biological evidence

• Confiscated artifacts

• Interrogation

• Surveillance

• Informants

• Battle reports

• Prophecy

• Pattern analysis

Every source can be false, corrupted, incomplete, or misunderstood.

Secrecy

The Inquisition controls dangerous information.

Witnesses may be silenced, relocated, recruited, imprisoned, or subjected to memory alteration.

Records may be sealed or destroyed.

Entire operations may be hidden from planetary authorities.

Secrecy can prevent panic and deny knowledge to the enemy.

It can also conceal mistakes, abuse, and rivalry.

Player characters may complete a mission successfully and still be forbidden from explaining what occurred.

Judgment

An Inquisitor may condemn individuals, organizations, or populations.

Possible outcomes include:

• Surveillance

• Arrest

• Interrogation

• Execution

• Purification

• Forced service

• Quarantine

• Institutional removal

• Destruction of evidence

• Military intervention

• Planetary sanction

The greatest punishments should be rare and consequential.

Franz should not treat every suspicion as justification for immediate destruction.

Investigation, competing evidence, and the possibility of error should matter.

Relations with Other Institutions

The Inquisition can investigate almost any Imperial organization, but doing so creates enemies.

An Inquisitor may clash with:

• Planetary governors

• The Ecclesiarchy

• The Adeptus Mechanicus

• The Astra Militarum

• The Imperial Navy

• The Adeptus Arbites

• Rogue Traders

• Space Marine Chapters

• Other Inquisitors

These institutions may cooperate while quietly limiting access, hiding information, or protecting their own authority.

D&D 5e Mechanical Use

Inquisitorial adventures may use:

• Investigation

• Insight

• Persuasion

• Deception

• Intimidation

• Religion

• Arcana

• History

• Medicine

• Faction reputation

• Contacts

• Sealed authority

• Evidence tracking

An Inquisitorial rosette may grant advantage or access in appropriate circumstances, but it should not automatically force every NPC to obey.

Retinue members may use existing classes and backgrounds rather than requiring a unique mechanical role.

Inquisitorial Player Characters

A player character may serve as:

• An Acolyte

• An Interrogator

• A sanctioned psyker

• A soldier

• An investigator

• A Tech-Priest

• An assassin

• A scholar

• A former criminal

• A xenos specialist

• A trusted outsider

An actual Inquisitor is usually best represented as a high-level character, patron, or advanced campaign role.

Agents should have room to question evidence, interpret orders, and choose how a mission is completed.

The Inquisition in Play

The Inquisition can support stories involving:

• Hidden cults

• Xenos infiltration

• Daemonic possession

• Political corruption

• Forbidden relics

• Rival Inquisitors

• False accusations

• Secret alliances

• Institutional conspiracy

• Compromised agents

• Puritan and Radical conflict

• Evidence that threatens the Imperium

The Inquisition exists because some enemies cannot be defeated by armies alone.