Inquisitor Background Thread

[Jagged Tooth Grin]

For those who do not, or havent, played Warhammer 40k, here is a breif and simplified summary of the setting. any questions on the matter can be posted here, or preferable PM'd or emailed to me at jaggedtoothgrin@hotmail.com

It is nearing the end of the 41st millennium, and for thousands upon thousands of years mankind has been at war, humanities quest for the stars took great leaps forward when warp travel was discovered. The warp is an alternate dimension, filled with daemons and the domains of the 4 gods of chaos. Humanity expanded outwards at a ferocious pace, finding many alien races amongst the stars with them, then, at the peak of their technological advancement, the whole system collapsed in on itself. Much knowledge was lost in these dark ages, and humanity, divided and isolated, stood to be overwhelmed, but the emperor, a mangod, reclaimed humanity's birthright, and with the aid of his 20 genetically enhanced 'children' the Primarchs, he recaptured much that had been lost. Using the genetic material from those Primarchs he created legions of superior troops, the space marines, and together they strode out and conquered. But then a terrible betrayal occurred, Horus, one of the emperors Primarchs, and first amongst them at that, turned from the emperor and embraced chaos. He and his traitor marines lay siege to the imperial palace on earth, alongside fully half the remaining Primarchs and their legions, through a bloody battle Horus was defeated, though the cost was great. The imperium lay shattered again, and the emperor, grievously wounded, was forced to retreat to his life supporting system, the golden throne, where he remains to this day, guiding all spaceships with the astronomicon, a beacon in the warp, visible to nearly the ends of the galaxy. That was 10 000 years ago, and although much has again been recovered, all the surviving Primarchs are dead, the marine legions, split into much smaller forces so as to never be able to wield so much power again, survive by implanting their gene seed into initiates. The majority of the wars of man are fought by the imperial guard, the human army, billions of warriors across millions of battlefields.

Forces of Humanity

Imperial Guard
The fighting force of the imperium, each world is expected to provide troops for the imperial guard from their own planetary defence force (or PDF) as well as pay tithes and supply materials for the war effort. There are some exceptions, earth, for instance, is a huge temple world, and does not provide imperial guard troops. These warriors are the most numerous, and are fairly widespread. Without the imperial guard the imperium itself would have collapsed utterly

Space Marines
Split into a few hundred chapters of around 1000 troops, these marines are still the greatest warriors humanity has, but they alone cannot win the wars. Their intervention often turns the tide of a conflict, and as such they are armed with the basically the best technology, the fastest ships and the most powerful armour (power armour is significantly better than carapace armour, and the dreaded tactical dreadnaught armour, or terminator armour is virtually unstoppable with ordinary weaponry) marines are genetically enhanced, and are larger stronger smarter tougher than normal humans, they also live significantly longer, with the current chapter master of the blood angels believed to be around 1200 years old (and still kicking arse)

Inquisition.
The Inquisition is a secretive organization, tasked with protecting humanity by whatever means necessary, they are split into several branches, the most noteworthy are the Ordo Malleus, who seek out the corruptive forces of chaos and destroy them (this includes chaos cults, which spring up frequently in imperial worlds amongst the lower class citizens, who crave freedom, and the higher aristocracy, who grow bored and despondent) the Ordo Hereticus, who seek out mutation and heresy within the imperium (which in some instances leads them to chaos cults, but mostly other cults with rogue psykers at the head, or rebel military officers) and the Ordo Xenos, who this particular campaign centres on. They hunt and kill aliens, from ork invasions to the upstart tau.

Forces Against Humanity

Chaos
Chaos is a terrible force, corrupting those that it touches, twisting the greedy and vengeful to its own bitter purpose (the destruction of all life in the galaxy)
The daemonic forces of chaos dwell within the warp, and can only manifest in certain situation, the traitorous marines and humans who launch raids from a giant rift, where the warp and the normal universe blend known as the eye of terror. Most forces of chaos dedicate themselves to either a single god or all 4 as a whole. The gods are as follows. Khorne, the blood god, god of slaughter and violence. Nurgle, the corruptor, god of pestilence and disease. Tzeentch, changer of ways. The god of magic and sorcery. Slaanesh, the Lustfull, god of excess, pleasure pain and gluttony in all its forms.

Orks
Orks are loud and brutish, they carry crude but effective combat weaponry, although their range attacks are often more enthusiastic than effective. Orks are greenskinned and tend to travel by hitching a ride in giant spacehulks and meteors. They are larger than men and very strong, but usually not terribly bright, (the smart ones are more 'kunning' than smart) also noteworthy is that orks use teeth as currency. Orks are often accompanied by smaller “gretchin” or grots, who want very much to be like orks, although they are smaller and weaker than a human (or 'humie') they are usually much more kunning to dodge ork boots

Eldar
Eldar are an old and dying race, their home worlds stood where the eye of terror now is, and so they live nomadically, on giant spacecrafts called craft worlds. They are led by powerful psychics who direct their actions to those most likely to help the eldar. This means they may ally with humanity one minute, then turn on them the next. The eldar are basically elven in appearance, and have much more flowing style equipment, their level of technology is pretty well superior to humanities.

Tau
The tau are a relatively new race, somehow developing technology in an astounding rate, allowing them to carve a small niche in the universe. They act in a collectivist way, always performing 'for the greater good' (which to them means a galaxy of tau, or tau affiliates) they are weak up close but have fearsome ranged weaponry. They are however, small in number and if the imperium wasn't so busy defending itself from other incursions, they would be squashed like arrogant little bugs. Their allies, the kroot, are a very adaptive race, who evolve at an astounding rate, but lack much understanding of technology. They are mimics, rather than innovators

Tyranids
The Tyranids are an alien race unlike any other, they are purely organic based, and have no interest in the technological aspects of other races. They travel in giant fleets and swarm over worlds, devouring all that they find, leaving barren rock in their wake. They are a hive consciousness and terrifying to ordinary man. Their warriors stand over twice the size of a human and carry living weaponry as brutal and effective as they are. Their scouts, the genestealers, infiltrate worlds and corrupt the populace, creating hybrids and guiding the hive fleets towards the food.

The Necrons
The Necrons are a dead race, they have been dead for more millennia than man has walked the stars, recently they have awakened, their consciousness encased in robotic bodies, they are armed with technology such as has never been seen before, and act with a purpose quite unknown to others


The Society
All imperial controlled worlds have one religion, which worships the emperor of mankind as a god (which, to be fair, he is) although minor variants of this exist they are all required to comply with the basic tenants, in the myriad of worlds there exist most every kind of existence imaginable, primitive (feral) worlds where mankind live in savagery (think Conan) to high tech factory worlds, where mankind never sees the sky due to all the pollution and machinery. There are thousands of emperor worshiping cults around and when they grow in sufficient size they are usually audited by the imperial administratium (in particular, the Ordo Hereticus) life itself is usually pretty well dictated by the style of world, most commonly are the hive worlds, where most citizens live in giant cities working in factories and eating rationed meals, outside the walls it is often fairly treacherous conditions, deserts or swamps or pollution, driving winds or scorching heat. People who live outside the walls are generally bandits, life is generally like Russia during the second world war, propaganda extolling the virtues of work and duty are everywhere, and the conditions of the average citizen are usually pretty dismal, meanwhile the ruling class live in opulence. Mining worlds are usually harsh with minimal living conditions, food grown in nutrivats (pretty standard throughout the imperium actually) often living in underground tunnels with the constant roar of drilling machinery. Agriworlds are fairly sparsely populated, with one or 2 large cities built around a spaceport, but nothing like those on the hive worlds, where cities the size of modern day USA may well exist. It is worth mentioning that the entire surface of the earth is city, and shrine.
Then there are forge worlds, if normal worlds consist of many factories, the forge worlds are single, huge factories, they build everything from tanks and titans to smaller weaponry. Mars is one such world. They are populated with tech adepts and their (usually cybernetically altered) workdrones. Tech adepts follow a variation of the imperial cult, where they worship the emperor as the machine god. Structures are usually gothic in nature, tall archways and candles, technology is advanced but ancient, and tending to it is a very specialised job.
Chaos is, due to its subversive nature, highly suppressed, and very few outside the Inquisition are aware of its nature, and those who are fighting it are often killed or brain wiped to prevent corruption. (Those poor men of the IG are generally killed, as the brainwashing procedure is costly and usually reserved to particularly valuable individuals such as marines and high-ranking imperial guard officers. Those of particularly valuable nature are sometimes allowed their memories intact or only slightly altered. The Inquisition is a feared force by those who know of its existence (and most citizens don't) because they are ruthless and efficient (which is to some extent, precisely why normal citizens don't know of them) however, they are empowered with absolute authority and can demand (and receive) virtually any support they deem necessary

further information will be added when i feel like it or when the need arises

[Jagged Tooth Grin]

A Note On Technology

the following items are not normally available to individuals, although they may be assigned as part of a duty (specifically Bio-Scanner and Motion Detector Auspexes are often issued to shock troop units like Stormtroopers (although usually only one or 2 per squad, not to each individual) the inclusion of the more unusual ones are included more to provide a context rather than to suggest players should expect them (or even to encounter them ingame, psi-trackers in particular are very rare)

Servo Skulls
A servo-skull is a drone-like device created by the Adeptus Mechanicus
from the skulls of pious Imperial servants, so that they may continue to
labour in the Emperorís cause, even after death. They are fitted with small
anti-gravity engines which enable them to float, and each is designed to perform
a specific task.
Servo-skulls always remain within 2 yards of the character and will move with him. They are able to fly over obstacles, and can keep pace regardless of how fast the character moves. A servo-skull only has a mechanical brain, it has no mind as such, which renders it immune to many kinds of psychic powers, gases and toxins, and so on. A servo-skull performs a single function, some examples of which are:
Gun-skull : The servo-skull is fitted with a small weapon, equivalent to one of the pistol types listed earlier.
Med-skull : These are servo-skulls fitted with drug-filled syringes and small manipulative appendages for stitching and cauterizing.
Combat-skull : The combat-skull ís whirling blades and lacerating knives allow it to dart forward and slash at the characterís enemies.
Hunter-skull : The skull is fitted with a battery of detectors to locate the characterís enemies. The skull has one or more of the auspexes detailed below, and uses them once per turn as its action (it is always active, never passive): the character is aware of anything that the servo-skull is aware of.

Auspexes
There are a variety of scanners and detectors in use across the Imperium, which are known by the collective title of auspexes. These can be given two settings: active and passive. If on active, the character uses an action to activate the auspex. If on passive, the auspex activates automatically, but reduces its chances of detection. An auspex may be able to perform one or more of the following functions:
Bio-scanner
The auspex detects the life signs of biological creatures. It can detect any living creature, but cannot detect any non-organic object.
Motion tracker
As you might expect, a motion tracker detects any character or creature moving within 50 yards, and the faster a character is moving, the more likely they are to be detected.
Psi-tracker
This is a very arcane device that can read shifts in warpspace, essentially detecting the souls of those nearby.

Attached are some illustrations of Servo-Skulls, more information will be added later

[Jagged Tooth Grin]

This section contains the names and a brief description of function and armament of many of the Imperial vehicles found in the 41st millennium

Imperial Guard

Chimera: basic transport, turret mounted Multilaser, and a forward facing hull mounted heavy bolter
Variants include the Chimerax, the Chimero, and the Chimerdon, all of which are basically the same with different weapon configurations

Leman Russ: Main Battle Tank, turret mounted Battlecannon, forward facing hull mounted lascannon or heavy bolter, often also has sponson mounted heavy bolters
Variants include the Leman Russ Demolisher, which mounts the Demolisher siege cannon instead of the battlecannon, and the rare Leman Russ Annihilator, which uses twinlinked lascannons instead of the battlecannon.

Basilisk: Artillery, Earthshaker Artillery cannon, forward facing hull mounted heavy bolter

Sentinel Scout Walker: Light scout vehicle. Chicken-legged open topped walker, mounts either a multilaser, lascannon, heavy flamer or autocannon depending on pattern. Variant: Powerlifter, which has no weapons but large lifting claws

Manticore: Heavy Artillery. Mounts 4 massive Hellfire Missiles, forward facing hull mounted heavy bolter

Hydra Flak Tank: Anti Aircraft Tank. Mounts 4 long barrelled autocannons and forward facing hull mounted heavy bolter

Valkyrie: VTOL Gunship and transport. Mounts either a forward facing lascannon or autocannon, and 2 side mounted heavy bolters

Marauder Heavy Bombers: Bomber. Mounts 6 forward facing autocannons, 2 back facing assault cannons, and many many bombs


Space Marine

Rhino: Basic Transport, mounted stormbolter

Razorback: Enhanced transport. Mounted twinlinked heavy bolters, twinlinked lascannons, or multimelta. Reduced transport capabilities

Predator: Main Battle Tank, turret mounted autocannon, often sponson mounted heavy bolters or lascannons. Variants: Predator Annihilator, replaces autocannon with twinlinked lascannons, Baal Predator, replaces autocannon with twin assault cannons, and sponsons with multimeltas

Land Raider: Heavy Transport: mounted twin linked heavy bolters, and sponson twin linked lascannons. Possibly the most feared heavy tank in existence
Variant: Land Raider Crusader, replaces twinlinked heavy bolters with twinlinked assault cannons, and sponsons with hurricane bolters (6 boltguns linked on each sponson) and Land Raider Prometheus, replaces twin heavy bolters with sensor arrays, and sponsons with 4 heavy bolters each side)

Dreadnaught: Living Walker: contains a living (but mortally wounded) space marine, sustained by the dreadnaught. Usually mounts a power fist in one arm, and either an assault cannon or twinlinked lascannons in the other, other weaponry includes a missile launcher, multi melta, twinlinked autocannons, twinlinked heavy bolters, and a second powerfist

[Jagged Tooth Grin]

While not exhaustive, this list contains a reasonable number of the ranged weapons commonly found in the imperial forces.

Pistol weapons are small one-handed weapons that can be used in close quarters
Rifle refers to carbines and rifle type weapons, the mainstay of any squad’s armoury
Special weapons are usually issued to a single member in a squad
Heavy weapons are larger, carried by 2 imperial guardsmen (one as the gunner, the other as the loader and ammo bearer) or a single marine

Laser Weapons.

Lasguns (also known as Lasrifles, Lascarbines, and occasionally "flashlights") (Rifle) these weapons coherent energy and radiation, and while the laser itself is theoretically silent, the noise of the capacitors discharging, and the sizzling of ozone as they travel, means they are not particularly so. These weapons are the bulk armament of the Imperial Guard, they are easy to produce and maintain, although their damaging capability is fairly low compared to some of the other weaponry about. Lasgun power cells are rechargeable, and can easily be replenished within an hour or so at any civilised area, however, in dire situations they can be recharged by placing in a fire (although this understandably damages the cells, and reduces their effectiveness and lifespan) although they sometimes have multiple settings, a standard lasgun can fire about 20 charges per power cell, and is capable of automatic fire at reduced effectiveness and accuracy. Some members of the guard, in particular marksmen and snipers, have been known to modify their weapons (which is of course illegal, but often overlooked) to fire a higher powered shot, burning more of the power cell than normal. This also has the effect of damaging the barrel, which would need to be replaced every hundred or so shots, when modified as such, a cell generally provides 5 shots.

Laspistol (Pistol) laspistols are a pistol variant of the standard lasgun, and follow much of the same principle, the cells are smaller and hence carry less charge, but this is partially offset by the reduced range, a laspistol is capable of semi automatic fire, and a cell generally provides 15 shots.

Hellguns (Rifle) Hellguns are modified lasguns, they are rarer and significantly more costly to manufacture, they tend to be issued to shock troopers and elite warriors, most noticeably, the Stormtrooper regiments use these almost exclusively. There is 2 widely found variants of the hellgun, the original version looked much like a lasgun, with a bulkier barrel to help heat dispersal, and a larger power pack, these worked much like a overcharged lasgun, with the additional armour penetration that such modifications provided, unfortunately, they suffered the same problems as the lasgun counterparts, and have generally been scrapped in favour of the newer variant. The mark II version uses a small backpack generator/battery to power the shots, and is linked by a cable to the gun, this provides a much more steady supply of power, allowing for about 4 thousand shots to be stored, improved barrel design allows them to last as long as the power cell, and so the 2 are usually replaced at the same time. The major disadvantage this pattern has is that the power cable, while armoured, can still be severed leaving the gun essentially useless until repaired. That and the occasionally awkward cable setup means some Stormtroopers, especially those who require greater mobility, tend to prefer the original variant, with its flaws. Modifying a hellgun is a risky, and obviously illegal task, and generally frowned apon, but, the leniency allowed to the Stormtrooper regiments occasionally allow their soldiers to customise their weapons to their own need, but most often the weapon provides adequate power and firing capability that further modification is unneeded.
Both variants are capable or automatic fire, and while the mark II has a greater ammo reserve, overheating restricts the firing speed to comparable levels.

Hellpistols (Pistol) usually sidearms to officers and Stormtrooper sergeants, they follow the same principles as the hellgun and both variants exist.

Lascannon (Heavy Weapon) heavy weapons capable of destroying highly armoured targets, they are generally deployed in anti vehicle roles, but are frequently called upon to remove other heavily armoured targets. They are fired in single shots and are usually to heavy for a single man to carry and fire.


Slug Throwers
Basic chemically propelled weapons, haven’t improved much since current day times, autoguns are much like modern assault rifles or carbines, but they are generally not used, preferring their laser counterparts, shotguns are still fairly widely used in close quarter fighting, autopistols are basically machine pistols or small sub machine guns, and stub guns are large revolvers, often using homemade ammo to provide an extra punch, they are still inferior to their laser counterparts in almost all respects, the major advantage is they can often be silenced.
Specially made sniper rifles exist but are temperamental weapons. Autoguns carry 20 or 30 rounds in a clip, shotguns are usually internally fed, with 8 or 12 shells, autopistols tend to have 15 or 18 bullets in a clip, and revolvers typically have 6. Sniper rifles are loaded individually in most cases.
Heavy Slug Throwers, such as the Stubber, are much like modern day machine guns, emphasising sheer numbers rather than individual accuracy or stopping power, autocannons fire large rounds to take out highly armed targets and light vehicles.

Bolt Weapons:

Boltguns, or bolters (Rifle) the standard weapon used by the space marine legions, they fire self propelled miniature missiles, that explode after penetrating the target, with devastating results, they are very noisy and hard to maintain, but their destructive power is basically unmatched in their size. A boltgun is capable of firing at an impressive rate, and can empty their clip of 20-30 bolts in under 20 seconds if needed. However, bolter ammo is also reasonably expensive, so those who own them tend to use them sparingly.

Storm Bolters. (Rifle/Special) these were designed for Space Marine Terminators, and are essentially 2 boltguns strapped together and fed by a large drum (of between 40 and 60 rounds) they, understandably, fire twice as fast.

Bolt Pistol (Pistol) smaller versions of the boltgun, designed to be wielded one handed, they tend to fire smaller bolts, which while just as damaging, contain less propellant, and thus don’t travel as far, they typically carry 10 or 15 rounds in their clips.

Heavy Bolter. (Heavy) a heavy bolter is a machine gun that fires large bolt rounds. These are usually belt fed or loaded with drum magazines. They are very very noisy, but are often supplied as an infantry squads supporting fire. It is often also seen as a side mounted weapon for tanks, to provide some defence against infantry, although a heavy bolter is quite capable of taking down larger targets and even light vehicles.

Flame Weapons
Flamers, or Incinerators, (Special) fire compressed napalm, igniting on contact with air, or liquid fuel, lit through a small underslung igniter. Depending on the design, they may be fuelled from a backpack reserve, or a canister slung underneath the weapon much like a clip of ammo.
Smaller pistol versions exist, but are rare and not very effective
Heavy flamers are usually vehicle mounted, although some infantry use them (notably the jungle warriors of the Catachan)

Melta Weapons
Meltaguns (special) work on subatomic agitation, superheating gas inside the chamber before expelling it towards the target. Melta weapons are silent when fired, with a hiss that builds into a roar when they hit a target.
They are brutal and dangerous, rarely matched for sheer damage, but their short range and expense means they are basically never deployed in numbers, but rather as individual backup weapons, much like flamer weapons.
Multimeltas (heavy) are heavier variants, used to reduce enemy vehicles to puddles of slag. They are very rarely used outside of certain tanks and dreadnaughts.
Melta weapons of pistol size are very very rare and difficult to maintain

Plasma Weaponry

Plasma guns (special) are dangerous, and prone to misfiring, but are very powerful, cutting through armour with ease, they usually come with a lower setting to allow them to fire more frequently, as their higher power setting leaves them drained briefly. Plasma guns on their higher setting are capable of firing in medium length bursts.

Plasma pistols (pistol) are smaller versions of the plasma gun, and while still prone to misfiring, the damage they deal when they do is significantly less (you may simply find your hand vaporised, not your entire torso) and are favoured as a sidearm amongst those who need to deal with heavily armoured targets in close quarters

Heavy Plasma Guns (heavy) are larger versions that are even more dangerous both to use and to be shot with; they are often employed in large vehicles with sufficient power reserves to supply them.

Missile Launchers (Heavy) are much the same as they are now, although more accurate and easily carried, as are grenade launchers (Special)

I hope that provides a bit of insight to the weapons of the imperium, imperial guard squads (of 10) are usually armed with lasguns, with one model having either a melta or plasma gun, or a flamer, and another with a lascannon heavy bolter or rocket launcher. Stormtroopers almost never use heavy weapons, preferring to take 2 special weapons instead (melta plasma flamer or grenade launcher) and marines are usually the only ones who carry the likes of multimeltas and heavy plasma cannons as their heavy weapons, although they are also just as likely to take the heavy bolters and lascannons (albeit better made ones)