Thought for the Day: Thought begets heresy; heresy begets retribution.

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Backstory:

There is one certainty for the denizens of the Imperium of Mankind - war. Beset at all sides from the alien races hailing from the cold void of the galaxy, and from within by those heretics who fail to acknowledge the dread majesty of the God-Emperor of Humanity, it has been quite trying to hold the Imperium together in this time of duress. The traitors who refuse to bend their knee have turned to foul powers beyond our ken - the dark and ancient powers of the Warp, the Chaos Gods. The Warp- known by few, truly understood by none- is the underpinnings of our galaxy, a place where, for the lack of a better term, our souls reside. The darkest emotions and ideas gather here, abstractions in the material world become horrifying paragons of excess that would shatter a weak mind like a pane of glass. Those who are attuned to the Warp are known as psykers, and their brushes with the daemons and other denizens of that dark place mean that they are closely watched by the Imperium- for while they are useful to us alive, one rogue psyker is all it takes to rip a hole straight through the fabric of reality and bring creatures born in the most terrifying corners of our collective id upon us.

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"I carry with me an Inquisitorial Seal. It is a small, unassuming object contained in a neat box of Pluvian obsidian. It is a modest thing. Relatively plain, adorned with a single motif and a simple motto. Yet, with this little object, I can sign the death warrant of an entire world and consign a billion souls to Oblivion."
-Inquisitor Thraviam Flast of the Ordo Malleus
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The Setting:

The Inquisition - iron fist of the Ecclesiarchy, de facto rulers of humanity - has the power to root out internal threats to the Imperium wherever they may lie, whether it be humans collaborating with xenos, outright rebellion, or insidious Chaos cults dabbling with powers far beyond their comprehension. Their goal: to ensure that none of these things take root in any Imperial world, or if they do, to sign the warrant of Exterminatus that will cause the world to be utterly annihilated. You and your companions have been sent to the Hiveworld of Vanaheim in the company of an Inquisitor Lord in order to investigate a string of apparently-ritualistic murders in its principle city, recorded by local authorities and noted as possibly being part of a Chaos ritual by one of the many servitors employed by the Inquisition to pore through such reports. Unbeknownst to the planetary authorities, your ship arrives today. If you fail in your mission, the world will be declared In Exterminatus Extremis and billions will die. Are you ready to serve the Emperor?

Miscellaneous:

Welcome to the universe of Warhammer 40,000! This setting, originally devised for tabletop wargaming, has developed into a rich- and quite dark- science fiction setting. For this RP, I ask that you assume the role of one of the following character types in the Inquisitor's personal retinue:

Interrogator: A junior inquisitor whose training has specialized in information extraction.

Explicator: A junior inquisitor whose training has specialized in the uncovering of mysteries and the rooting out of hidden truths.

Sister Hospitalier: A member of any of the Orders Hospitaller of the Adepta Sororitas, trained extensively in medical care.

Combat Priest: A fanatical priest of the Imperial Cult, often carrying a massive two-handed chainsword known as an Eviscerator. Inspires faith through courage.

Confessor: A skilled orator and priest of the Imperial Cult trained in eliciting confessions and denouncements without violent means. Capable of inspiring loyalty in thousands of people, given time.

Exorcist: A priest of the Imperial Cult trained in the chanting of special litanies against warpspawned beings, and equipped with holy oils and unguents to ward against Chaos.

Sanctioned Psyker: A trained psyker outfitted with a variety of psychic-enhancing devices and trained in detecting abnormal Warp influences, such as daemons. (please PM before choosing this role, because it is BAD TIMES being a psyker in the WH40k universe. I would prefer someone familiar with WH40k to fill this spot if anyone does at all)

Bound Penitent: A heretic who, though the mercy of the Emperor and the words of the Inquisitor, has seen the light. Given one last chance to find redemption before death, the penitent is outfitted with an explosive collar in case of relapse or the Inquisitor's death. The penitent is expected to die throwing him or herself in harm's way to protect the Inquisitor, if necessary. (not really seeing anyone jumping on the opportunity to be what basically amounts to wearing a giant 'kill me' sign over your head, but it's an option.)

Techpriest Enginseer: A member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the only organization in Imperial space that does not worship the God-Emperor, though they pay him reverent respect. Instead, they worship the Omnissiah, the great Machine God, and they maintain the warmachines of the Imperium.

Imperial Guardsman: The Imperial Guard is the army of the Imperium, numbering in the trillions spread across thousands of worlds. A guardsman selected for an Inquisitor's retinue would have been a veteran of battle and proven themselves in conflict as being a loyal, fierce, and devout soldier.

Sister of Battle: A member any of the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas, these women are among the most devout and fierce of the Imperium's soldiers. Outfitted with powerful flamethrowers and the powered armor used by the Space Marines themselves, they brook no faithlessness and and their loyalty to the Emperor above all is legendary.

If you are familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe and would like to suggest other potential members of this Inquisitor's retinue, please feel free to shoot me a PM. Only the following character types will not be accepted under any circumstances:

The Unwanted List:

Space Marines: The Adeptus Astartes are simply too powerful, the Grey Knights especially. I know they're iconic, and they may be used as NPCs at some point, but I don't want one character being so tough they could probably take everyone else on the team out themselves.

Xenos: Don't care if it's Eldar, Tau, or what. I know there have been cases in the games or books where Inquisitors have dealt with aliens peaceably, but they were the exception, not the rule. This Inquisitor is a by-the-books sort of fellow, and he won't take kindly to the presence of nonhumans.

Servitors: No robots, unless you're posting in only ones and zeros :P

Daemonhosts: Again, this inquisitor is very by-the-books, he won't tolerate warpforged weaponry, much less an actual daemon in his midst.

More Miscellany:

If you're looking for a bit extra in the way of background - I couldn't possibly have covered it all here- try this website:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page)


Oh yeah, and a character sheet.

Name:

Gender:

Age:

Appearance:

Role:

Equipment:

History:

Notes:

Here's the Inquisitor Lord that'll be leading your merry band. He'll be run as an NPC.

Name: Miraen Klement

Gender: Male

Age: 117

Appearance: Miraen is a stern-faced man, with short, blonde hair flecked with white. Clean-shaven and stoutly built, he bears a single large scar running down his his neck. He appears no older than 35, perhaps 40.

Role: Inquisitor Lord

Equipment: Inferno Pistol, Knife, Inquisitorial Signet, Voxcaster, Rosarius, Auspex, Carapace Armor

History: Miraen was raised in the Scholae Excubitos, one of the many Schola Progenium throughout Imperium space. Never having known his parents, he was told that his mother was a Captain in charge of a Death Korps of Krieg platoon charged with holding their flank against a Chaos uprising on the world they were stationed on. A group of cultists managed to sneak up on them undetected and though they were killed to a man, it left her tattered platoon unprepared for the Chaos Marines that were dropped from orbit shortly afterwards. Posthumously awarded the Honorifica Imperialis, his mother was found with her bayonet snapped from her lasrifle and jammed through the eye socket of a Night Lords marine. This knife remains Miraen's personal close combat weapon, and he refuses to relinquish it for even the most advanced new technology.

Miraen excelled in his classes, and as graduation approached, he was eyed by the Inquisition as a potential recruit. An interview was conducted, and his faith was not found lacking, so he was apprenticed to an Inquisitor by the name of Luken. Luken taught him that very few things were as they appeared, that most everyone hid something deep inside that they were not proud of. Luken also taught him that most of the time, that didn't matter: his job was to find out what people hid from the light, to expose it, and to purge it if need be. The Inquisitor employed extensive and extreme techniques to elicit information, on one occasion, to Miraen's fascination and horror, even inducing daemonic possession in a restrained psyker in order to interrogate the daemon. More and more Miraen became convinced that 'fighting fire with fire' was the best way for the Imperium to stop its foes, and Luken looked with approval at his protйgй, recommending that he be promoted to the full rank of Inquisitor. A few years afterwards, Luken was executed for heresy.

The newly promoted Inquisitor was first shocked, then horrified, then angry. Clearly Luken had gone too far- he had taken his edgy and dangerous experiments beyond what he could handle and he had blasphemed against the Holy Emperor's name. Never, never, never would he risk all that he was on some damn fool's scheme as Luken had. This marked a great change in Miraen's life, as he became a grave man indeed. His superiors noted his change in conduct to a singularly ruthless, one-minded pursuit of the Imperium's enemies, exactly as they would recommend. He allied himself with the Monodominant philosophers of the Inquisition, and with the Puritans controlling much of the Inquisition's hierarchy, he found himself quickly rising through the ranks to Inquisitor Lord by the age of 112. Life extending medical therapy and implants have ensured that Miraen will live much longer than most humans, given that the dangerous nature of his profession doesn't kill him first.

I'm in.

Name: Gregory Soth

Gender: Male

Age: 28

Appearance: Gregory would be tall and broad-shouldered, if he did not perpetually walk in a slight stoop, as though heavily burdened. Though still quite young, his face is lined like one twice his age, and shocks of white already run through his black hair. His muscles have atrophied, leaving him with slender limbs, and he is perpetually underweight, his body being thin to the point of emaciation. He wears a lightened version of standard Imperial Guard armor, Cadian-style, over which he wears a light gray robe. Sections of implants in the back of his neck are visible.

Role: Sanctioned Psyker

Equipment: Laspistol, Flak Armor, various psychic dampeners and other tools.

History: Soth was born on an insignificant Agri World and led a relatively normal life for the world until his fourteenth year, when he began to be plagued by an endless cycle of increasingly chilling nightmares of worlds and creatures within the Eye of Terror. Although terrifying, he did not grasp what it truly meant until he began experiencing them during his waking hours as well as feeling a cold power stirring within himself. After his first unleashing of his psychic energy during a brawl which left the other man dead, he soon found himself onboard one of the Black Ships, headed towards Holy Terra.

At Holy Terra, he was one of the 'lucky ones', neither sacrificed to the Emperor, bound to the Astronomicon, or turned into an Astropath. He was, instead, trained. Although he was originally planned to be dispatched to the 7th Praetorian Guard, the services of a Psyker were required elsewhere, and he was, again, the lucky pick, and dispatched to Inquisitor Miraen Klement. His raw power as a Psyker, as well as his sound advice, led to him becoming a permanent addition to the Inquisitor's retinue. This will be his second mission with the Inquisitor.

Big edit: started reading about the skitarii, and couldn't resist being one.

Name: Vladimir Kurov

Gender: Male

Age:26

Aperance: Average sized and powerfully built, with a recently stiched scar runing from neck to brow, dividing his long hair. Wears a tattered white robe over his uniform.

Role: stormtrooper(skitarii)

Equipment: plasma gun, bionic eye, long las, carapace armour, krak/frag grenades, jump pack, spare parts, standard getup (knife, rope, bayonet, etc).

History: Groving up on a forge world, Vladimir saw his chance to escape poverty by joining the skitarii. After a few years, he became convinced that the techpriests logical, calculating way of dealing with everything, where the best way of dealing with things. His mindset and skils got him promoted to stormtrooper, where he enjoyed life as a survey team guard. Then things went downhill.

After a mission to retrieve necron technology, he was the only one to survive. His superiors, punished him by asigning him to the last chancers, though they replaced his hands(not arms), and left eye with bionics. Vladimir won't speak of what happened on that mission or the one he somehow survived the missionwith the last chancers. He is asigned to Miraen in order to get any important tech off planet in case of exterminatus, and will meet him on planet.

Yeah, guardsmen are a bit weak individually, but only because everything else in WH40k is so dangerous. I figured anyone who picked the Guardsman would pick a stormtrooper/kasrkin type role, not just a rank-and-file cannon fodder, so that's fine. Stormtrooper armor is called Carapace armor, and you might want to check http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Imperial_Guard_Wargear) for any other equipment. Your history's fine, and the character looks good, by the way, but I do have one (admittedly minor) question: why a hellgun and a plasma gun? They fill basically the same role- a powerful anti-infantry weapon, and the hellgun's standard issue.

Oh, and Corinthian- your character's good, too, no questions for him that hadn't already been dealt with in PMs.

Plasma gun has more raw power, but is less reliable, would be my guess.

I'm interested in joining, but I've only ever seen the game played and don't know much about the setting. I checked out the wiki but I couldn't find any specifics on Sister Hospitalier or the Confessor. I read about the inquisition though and it's got me even more interested. Umm... any help, maybe with a link to the above characters mentioned would be awesome.

Examples of Confessor characters would be Sebastian Thor and Dolan Chirosius: while Sebastian Thor lacked the official title of Confessor, he did exactly what that sort of character does best - whip up the masses into a religious fervor and direct it. While in this campaign, your character likely won't have the chance to do any large-scale speaking, you'd be the face of the party and could likely win over the populace a few at a time.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Sebastian_Thor)

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dolan_Chirosius)

Sister Hospitalier characters aren't detailed much in the books and such, and as such they aren't any notable characters that fulfil the archetype that come to mind. They're based on either Earth or Ophelia VII, the two convents of the Adepta Sororitas, and they serve in all medical capacities of Imperial life. If you'd prefer to play a medic type character unaligned with the Adepta Sororitas, you could also play an Imperial Guard medic from any of the many, many worlds of the Imperial Guard.

Speaking of that, where is your character from, mur'phon? From the history and name, I'd guess you were part of the Vostroyans or Valhallans, but that's just due to the Russian flavor of those armies.

irrelevant now

Thanks for the info, it helped me a lot. I'll read up some more on the wiki and then make my character.

Once this character gets posted, I'll be beginning the RP. I figure if anyone wants to join late, it shouldn't be too difficult to work them in by just explaining it as 'ship was late' or something like that.

I'm a WH40K newbie, but I want to make a character anyway and see if she'll fly:

Name: Itreya Baryshnikova

Gender: Female

Age: 28

Appearance: As the heroine in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P__BXAsJN8)

Role: Sister Repentia

Equipment: Tight reflective leather battlesuit, explosive collar, and "Loviatar", a 9-stranded Neural Whip.

History: Itreya was always a woman quick to decide on a course of action, and this became her downfall once she joined the Emperor's forces. Even though she believed her highest goal was to become a Sister of Battle, Itreya eventually discovered one higher...to pursue her love of a lesser militiaman. This distracted Itreya from her holy duties, and she considered defecting.

Now under the command of Inquisitor Lord Miraen Klement (and with her lover mysteriously slain), Itreya hopes to redeem herself and become a full Sister.

You sure it's a good idea being a penitent Tys? Your life expectancy is measured in minutes, and if as seems likely the inquistor dies after a while, you'll go down with him. Not saying it can't be fun, but don't be surprised if someone stuff your shirt with grenades and kicks you in some pissed demons direction :xp:

No problem if you want to be a penitent, but just remember that above all, your character will be eminently expendable. A similar character minus the heresy would be a Sister Repentia of the Sisters of Battle, they occasionally wield neural whips, especially the veteran members of a squad. They also don't wear the powered armor typical of the Sisters, so your character appearance and equipment wouldn't change at all. This link has a good description of a Sister Repentia: http://es.games-workshop.com/especialista/inquisitor/bestiario/) - yes, it's the Spanish site, but most everything there's in English anyway. If you still want to stick with the penitent concept, that's fine as well, just remember that your character's life is constantly at extreme risk.

Also, anyone else looking to create a character can pull concepts from that site as long as they're Imperial, and with the exception of the Imperial Fleet characters and Officio Assassinorum - we've no call for assassins yet.

I edited my profile. :)

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond :/ Class has been insane this week (3 exams!) and I've just been too focused on that to work on this. Tysyacha- your character is just fine, glad you've joined us. I've been helping Crying_Fate with a character, and once that gets posted I'll get the RP started. Sorry again to everyone who's been waiting on this, life just got really hectic for a few days there :P

I'll be heading to the ruskie border for some "love thy neighbor" work for a week. Not sure if I'll be able to get online there.

edit: back again.

Alright, if you'd like to join the RP after this point, you need to shoot me a PM so I can work you in. Also, I will now emphasize a few important rules for this RP, as the introduction post will be put up shortly.

1) Combat is extremely dangerous. It will be conducted in the following manner: when an important combat is posted (ie, with characters or enemies that are actually important, not random thugs or something) you need to PM me your attempted action. In the case of the thugs, you're all highly trained, so it'll be a messy messy slaughter with no real chance of getting hurt without a massive fluke occurring. But with the darker, fiercer things an Inquisitorial team is called in for, it's not going to be so easy. If your attempted action would cause your character's death, I'll warn you and give you a chance to retract it. Injuries, however, will almost certainly occur, and stacking up injuries can make things look very grim for your character. These combats will be resolved with a dice roll (d20)- depending on how insane the action you're attempting, I'll set a difficulty and attempt to roll over that. If you fail, what happens will be determined by how badly you failed (ie, fail by 1-3, no consequence other than not succeeding, 4-10, injury occurs, 10+, character gets a death warning and a chance to retract)

2) When not posting for an extended period (7+ days) control of your character will be free to anyone who wishes to assume it, and control will be relinquished upon your return. If something comes up and you have to leave, PM me- it can easily be arranged that your character gets the flu or something else similarly incapacitating but non-permanent, so you're out of action for a logical reason.)

3) Interparty combat is barred except in severely extenuating circumstances. Don't have your character turn to Chaos or otherwise betray the group unless you're willing to have said character become an NPC. Again, if you must, a PM regarding some event like this occurring would be excellent.

If you've any problems with these rules, feel free to discuss it in a PM with me. I'm open to change any of them if necessary, but I'd prefer to keep combats dangerous and tense, to mimic the tone that Warhammer sets, so you'd need a pretty good reason to get rule #1 altered.