The Inquisition
The Emperor’s Hidden Defenders
The Inquisition exists to confront threats that may be too secret, dangerous, or politically sensitive for ordinary Imperial institutions.
Its enemies may include:
Chaos cults
Daemonic incursions
Rogue psykers
Xenos infiltration
Genestealer cults
Corrupted officials
Heretical technology
Traitor military forces
False saints
Forbidden organizations
Internal conspiracies
Inquisitors who have gone too far
The Inquisition does not function as a single police force with one chain of command.
It is a network of powerful investigators, agents, scholars, warriors, interrogators, and specialists united by a broad duty to defend humanity.
They often disagree over what that duty requires.
Inquisitorial Authority
An Inquisitor acts in the name of the Emperor.
Their seal may compel cooperation from governors, military commanders, priests, Tech-Priests, law enforcers, and other Imperial officials.
An Inquisitor may:
Seize records
Requisition troops
Command vessels
Arrest officials
Close ports
Impose quarantine
Access restricted sites
Interrogate suspects
Confiscate relics
Override local law
Order executions
Demand planetary cooperation
This authority is immense but not unlimited in practice.
A powerful governor, Space Marine Chapter, forge world, cardinal, Rogue Trader, or rival Inquisitor may resist, delay, negotiate, or challenge an order.
Authority must still be enforced through reputation, allies, evidence, military strength, or fear.
Inquisitors
Inquisitors come from many backgrounds.
Some were soldiers, scholars, priests, psykers, interrogators, nobles, criminals, or members of earlier Inquisitorial retinues.
They are selected for intelligence, determination, adaptability, loyalty, and the ability to act independently.
No single appearance or personality defines them.
An Inquisitor may be:
A severe public judge
A hidden investigator
A battlefield commander
A scholar of forbidden lore
A manipulative spymaster
A wandering hunter
A zealous preacher
A calculating radical
A quiet protector
A ruthless executioner
Their methods reflect personal belief as much as formal doctrine.
Acolytes and Retinues
Inquisitors rarely work alone.
Their agents may include:
Interrogators
Guardsmen
Assassins
Bounty hunters
Tech-Priests
Sanctioned psykers
Clergy
Scholars
Medicae specialists
Criminal informants
Mutants
Xenos mercenaries
Deathwatch warriors
Servitors
Administratum adepts
A retinue gives an Inquisitor access to skills and perspectives unavailable through ordinary Imperial channels.
Many player parties can function as an Inquisitorial cell.
Some members may be loyal volunteers. Others may be prisoners, debtors, sanctioned outsiders, or individuals offered service instead of execution.
The Major Ordos
The Inquisition contains many specialized Ordos.
The three best known are the Ordo Hereticus, Ordo Xenos, and Ordo Malleus.
Ordo Hereticus
The Ordo Hereticus investigates internal threats to the Imperium.
Its concerns include:
Chaos cults
Rogue psykers
Religious corruption
Treason
Mutant uprisings
False prophets
Corrupt governors
Infiltrated institutions
Dangerous rebellions
Its agents often work closely with the Adepta Sororitas, Arbites, Ecclesiarchy, and local authorities.
Ordo Xenos
The Ordo Xenos studies and combats alien threats.
Its concerns include:
Xenos infiltration
Alien artifacts
Genestealer cults
Hostile civilizations
Forbidden trade
Biological contamination
Diplomatic manipulation
Rogue Trader activity
Alien technology
The Deathwatch serves as a specialized military force associated with the Ordo Xenos.
Not every Ordo Xenos Inquisitor demands immediate extermination. Some study, manipulate, negotiate with, or temporarily cooperate with xenos when necessary.
Ordo Malleus
The Ordo Malleus confronts daemons and the forces of Chaos.
Its concerns include:
Daemonic possession
Warp breaches
Sorcery
Daemonhosts
Chaos relics
Corrupted psykers
Summoning rituals
Traitor Legions
Daemon worlds
Its work is among the most secret and dangerous within the Inquisition.
The Grey Knights are closely associated with its highest-level operations.
Lesser Ordos
Many smaller Ordos investigate specialized dangers.
These may focus on:
Time distortion
Forbidden technology
Zombie plagues
Warp anomalies
Internal Inquisitorial corruption
Prophecy
Unstable worlds
Ancient relics
Specific alien species
A lesser Ordo may consist of only a handful of Inquisitors.
Some are temporary alliances created to confront one crisis. Others survive for centuries because the threat they study never disappears.
Puritans and Radicals
Inquisitors disagree over which methods are acceptable.
Puritans believe humanity must defeat its enemies without becoming like them.
They distrust xenos technology, daemonic weapons, forbidden sorcery, and alliances with corrupt powers.
Radicals believe the Imperium may need to use dangerous tools against greater threats.
They may employ:
Xenos agents
Daemonhosts
Forbidden relics
Heretical technology
Unsanctioned psykers
Chaos artifacts
Renegades
Criminal organizations
The distinction is not always simple.
A Puritan may order the destruction of millions to prevent corruption. A Radical may use a forbidden relic to save a world.
Both may believe the other is leading humanity toward ruin.
Investigation and Secrecy
Inquisitorial investigations rely on evidence, pressure, intelligence, surveillance, informants, interrogation, and covert action.
An Inquisitor may conceal their presence because public knowledge would warn the enemy.
Another may arrive openly with troops and demand immediate obedience.
Common investigative methods include:
Reviewing records
Following financial or supply trails
Monitoring astropathic messages
Examining bodies and mutations
Interrogating prisoners
Infiltrating cults
Testing relics
Recruiting informants
Tracking unusual disappearances
Comparing incidents across worlds
The greatest danger is often not discovering that something is wrong.
It is determining how far the corruption has already spread.
Interrogation and Judgment
Inquisitors possess broad freedom to question suspects and judge threats.
Some use torture, psychic examination, drugs, threats, deception, or prolonged imprisonment.
Others prefer observation, contradiction, evidence, negotiation, and controlled testing.
In The Shattered Imperium, interrogation should focus on tension, uncertainty, conflicting testimony, and moral choice rather than graphic cruelty.
A suspect may be guilty of one crime but innocent of another. A cultist may possess information needed to save lives. A loyal official may appear compromised because records were altered.
The Inquisition seeks certainty in a galaxy where certainty is rare.
Rivalry Within the Inquisition
Inquisitors frequently oppose one another.
Disputes may concern:
Evidence
Jurisdiction
Methods
Xenos cooperation
Use of forbidden relics
Treatment of psykers
Whether a world can be saved
Whether a suspect should be recruited
Whether secrecy is still necessary
Which threat is more dangerous
These rivalries can become political, personal, or violent.
One Inquisitor may sabotage another’s investigation while believing they are protecting the Imperium.
A party may serve one Inquisitor while being watched by another.
Exterminatus
Exterminatus is the destruction of life across an entire world.
It may be considered when a planet is irretrievably consumed by daemons, Tyranids, Chaos corruption, uncontrolled plague, or another threat capable of spreading beyond containment.
Such an order is among the most severe decisions an Imperial authority can make.
It should never be treated casually.
Before Exterminatus, important questions include:
Can the population be evacuated?
Is the evidence reliable?
Can the threat be contained?
Is the world strategically necessary?
Who benefits from its destruction?
Has someone manipulated the investigation?
What happens if the decision is delayed?
The possibility of Exterminatus creates urgency, but it should not erase the value of investigation or player choice.
The Imperator Illuminatio
The Imperator Illuminatio serves as one of the campaign’s initial starting Areas.
As an Inquisitorial vessel, it may carry investigators, prisoners, specialists, Deathwatch personnel, sanctioned xenos, relics, evidence archives, and sealed threats.
Its missions may involve several Ordos at once.
Different officers and agents aboard the vessel may disagree over its objectives, prisoners, allies, and acceptable methods.
The ship provides a natural reason for a mixed party to travel between worlds and become involved in the gathering crisis around Cadia.
Its detailed command structure, compartments, secrets, and personnel belong in its Area, POI, faction, and Character entries.
The Inquisition in Play
The Inquisition can provide authority, missions, transport, equipment, intelligence, and access to forbidden locations.
It can also create surveillance, secrecy, moral pressure, internal rivalry, and dangerous obligations.
Characters may be asked to:
Investigate a cult
Recover a relic
Capture a rogue psyker
Question a governor
Infiltrate a warband
Escort a dangerous prisoner
Examine xenos technology
Stop a daemonic ritual
Prove a world is not corrupted
Decide whether to destroy evidence
Choose between rival Inquisitors
Prevent an unjust Exterminatus order
The Inquisition should never feel completely safe.
Its agents defend humanity by entering places where truth itself may be dangerous.