Verispex

"There is here such a wealth of evidence, that the perpetrator has all but signed his name to the crime. One needs only the proper knowledge and tools to find it. Your culprit will be condemned presently."
–Adept-Officer Kilvarek at a murder scene on Vaxanide
Every criminal act leaves its track, and the Arbites must lay
that track bare. The Chasteners reveal it running through the
confessions of the prisoners in their cells. The Detectives see
it running through the furtive actions and words of citizens
who think themselves unobserved. But there are times when the Precinct Fortress on Scintilla
needs more than a heavy hand and a riot shield to
bring noble suspects to justice. There are times when
the Adeptus must find a criminal before they can arrest him.
Indeed, there are times when the actual hand behind a crime
is so far removed from the act itself that only the barest
of clues can connect the two. In circumstances like these,
the clues are often all but invisible to even the most highly
trained Arbitrator. It falls to an entirely different sort
of operative to not only find these clues, but
to analyze them and wring from them what
information they have to offer.
Many Calixian Judges
maintains the usefulness of physical evidence, often debating
its viability with those Precinct commanders on the outskirts
of the Calixis Sector. Taken from the Calixian Ordos, where
individual Inquisitors maintain a variety of specialized adepts
for their own purposes, the highly specialized knowledge of
these adepts lends itself to inter-agency co-operation. These
Verispex Adepts are the ones who see the track in the most
literal way; it is they who piece together the physical traces
of crime, to weight the hammer of the law with irrefutable
evidence before it is brought down on the head of the criminal.
During the first purging of House Thrungg, Inquisitor
Archtulus found it necessary to work closely
with the Adeptus Arbites as the fallen noble
family used their vast resources to escape
capture. Decades of work was required in
the purge, and in the process Inquisitor
Archtulus worked closely with Adeptus
Arbites Judges to train Adepts in a
variety of detection arts.
These agents are known as
Verispex Adepts, a rare instance of
Adeptus Arbites and Ordo Calixis
collaboration. It is the Verispex who
use their own immense knowledge,
both learned and implanted, to follow
the minute traces of physical evidence
left by even the most careful suspect,
in service of the Imperium of Mankind.
The Adepts saw minor use in the Tricorn
palace, their training carefully overseen
by trusted Sages. With the resurgence
of House Thrungg in recent years, Lord
Marshal Goreman has requested aid
from allies within the Inquisition, training
additional Verispex Adepts for a variety
of purposes, in the hopes that their skills
will prove invaluable across the sector.
The path of a Verispex begins
much earlier than that of a typical
Adept, often during the first two
decades of life. This is due to
the extensive education the
specialized program requires of
its Verispex Adepts. From an
early age, potential Adepts are
taken from the Schola Progenium
and drilled in the specifics of Imperial doctrine that will
apply to their task. As rigid loyalty and dogmatic obedience
is instilled they are trained in identity capture techniques by
skilled Arbitrator population monitors. Next, they are drilled
in the customs and mannerisms of citizens from all walks of
life by well-travelled Inquisitorial Acolytes. Lastly, they learn
to interpret the data that a wide range of detection servitors
and auspex scanners are capable of uncovering.
The Verispex specialists are the Calixis Sector’s forensic
scholars, their charter covering material evidence rather than
the human intelligence collected by the Detectives. It is they
who will track a weapon from the spent slug, determine the
exact pattern and temperature of the las-burn or the tear-pattern
of the chainsaw blade, filter out and separate the
tiny organic traces clinging to a burgled Adeptus shrine so
that the cyber-mastiffs can be put on the scent, or identify
the print-mill three systems away whose stolen inks were
used on underground pamphlets full of incitement and
sedition. Such is the breadth of these techniques that Adepts often specialize
in one specific aspect of their work, such as the chemical
composition of plasteel manufactured on specific worlds, at
specific manufacturers throughout the Calixis sector, or the
genetic legacy which marks the members of different houses
on Prol IX from one another. Such minutia takes decades
to collect and catalogue, and few Verispex are put to work
on active cases before their fourth decade of service. Due to
the extreme investment the Adeptus Arbites and Holy Ordos
must make in order to train a single Verispex, these scholarly
agents are highly valued and often kept far from the front
line of Imperial law-keeping. This is, however, not always a
possibility. Whenever a Verispex Adept is sent into the field
they are accompanied by an Inquisitor or Judge's most
capable retainers.
Individual Inquisitors maintain a vast array of
agents, many of whom possess skills so specific that they
may never see practical use. It is these Acolytes that a Judge
will occasionally conscript, just as an Inquisitor might make
use of an Arbitrator when his duties require someone of
singularly rare knowledge. Such broad work means that the Verispex themselves are
recruited by the Inquisition from a bewildering variety of specialties
and sub-hierarchies that even other Arbites can find impenetrable.
A Verispex may spend years of their career on cataloguing the
unique signatures of the artificial atmospheres aboard every
starship in a sub-sector fleet so that a suspect can be traced by the
tiniest residue trapped in their hair or lungs. Another might pour
all their effort into a treatise on the differences in blood-spatter
between a wounded native of the slightly higher-gravity Sepheris Secundus and one of the infinitesimally lower gravity of Malfi,
both on their own homeworlds and on each other’s. The Verispex
who routinely work in the field with Arbitrator and Detective
teams tend to have very specific skill sets, but without the work of
these painstaking specialists to draw upon, the Inquistion would
likely find themselves at a dead end. Verispex who specialize in
exotic weapon wounds and toxins are especially sought after by
Inquisitors heading into the Koronus Expanse, who often need to
trace and combat the most unusual of enemies.
The sort of trivium which
Verispex are routinely
called upon to examine
requires an incredibly
powerful mind to
process. While they are,
to a man, often the most
intelligent and well educated
Acolytes, many Verispex Adepts
receive cortex implants and
internal cogitation engines to aid
them in their work. Scanners, pict-recorders,
processing engines, and
chemical and metaphysical analysis arrays
are all familiar tools of the Verispex
Adept. As well, the banks of cogitators and
legions of technical servitors at the disposal
of the Verispex corps are enormous on a scale
rarely seen outside the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Indeed, the ties between the Verispex and the
Priesthood of Mars are many and varied. The
technical skills required to become a Verispex
Adept are sometimes considered borderline
heretical, and it is not unheard of for an ancient
Verispex to be "re-purposed' by a politically
savvy Arch-Magos. For this reason, many
forge worlds and Mechanicus enclaves have
tenuous pacts of mutual alliance and service
with nearby Arbites Precincts. The Martian
Priests still guard their secrets jealously, but
they are willing to share the barest insights
in return for protection and privacy when
it comes to Mechanicus affairs.
Many of the skills required by Verispex venture into scientific
and technical fields, infringing upon the borders of the Adeptus
Mechanicus’ traditional domains. While the Mechanicus draws
the line at inducting Verispex directly into their own techno-esoterica
(in the way that, for example, an Adeptus Astartes
Techmarine becomes an initiate of the Martian Priesthood),
each of the Calixian Precincts will have a treaty with their
Mechanicus shrine whereby selected Verispex receive carefully
vetted instruction in the lesser mysteries of the Cult---Biologis,
Alchemys, and Physick are three of the common choices. These
privileged few will sport a blue steel arm band, marking them as
ordained laity under the eye of the Omnissiah. Essential as these
initiates are, they represent perennial headaches for Precinct
commanders who must balance the fact of their induction
into another arm of the Adeptus with the need for rigid and
incorruptible loyalty to the Arbites.
==Unique Equipment==
Verispex Armor
The Verispex Adepts on loan from the Inquisition are
individuals with a unique perspective on the galaxy, a skewed
outlook gained by years of focused study. These crime-teks do
not require the same standard of protective armor as frontline
Arbitrators, yet they are still operating alongside Arbites agents,
and must be clothed in garments that express their standing.
Verispex armor symbolically resembles Arbitrator carapace
armor, but is far lighter and more comfortable. It contains
a variety of special tools and scanners, including an auspex,
chrono, combi-tool and data-slate. In addition, the armor
has storage space for specialized tools, granting a +10 bonus
Awareness and Medicae tests made to find information in the
field (such as looking over a dead body or tracing the trajectory of a bullet).
Arms, Body, AP 2, WT 5.5kg, Cost 500, Very Rare
Verispex Helm
In order to comprehend the often mystifying scenes left
behind by the galaxy’s killers and assassins, the Verispex
Adepts employ a wide variety of tools, custom crafted by
Calixian Manufactorums. Issued with the Adept’s Verispex
armor, the Verispex helm is a diagnostic and detective device
resembling prey-sight goggles mounted with a variety of
eyepieces and lamps. The helm employs a number of polarized
eye lenses and lume frequencies to locate bloodstains and
other bodily fluids. The rare chemicals found in the oceans of
Landunder also allow the Verispex helm to analyze scent and
pheromone trails, an invaluable tool for the Verispex Adepts
working beside the Calixian Arbites. Many Verispex Adepts
will attempt to acquire a Verispex helm for their own use,
especially when in the field with an Inquisitorial cell.
The Verispex helm includes both infra-red goggles and a
photo-visor (see page 147 of the Dark Heresy rulebook).
In addition, the Verispex helm adds +10 to Search and
Tracking Tests.
Head, AP 4, WT 2.5, Cost 750, Very Rare
Gene Printer
This compact piece of apparatus can be worn as a backpack,
and will provide (with reasonable accuracy) confirmation as
to whether two pieces of biological residue come from the
same person. They are used by the Arbites Verispex teams to
prove guilt based upon gene-spoor (hair follicles, skin, etc.)
left at crime scenes. While many would-be criminals decry
this “evidence” as suspicious at best, Lord Marshal Goreman
asserts that the devices are serviced regularly by trained
Adeptus Mechanicus personnel. Gene printers are relatively
simple devices, and lack the nuanced power of the larger, holy
Omnissian constructs stored within the great altar-templums
of the Mechanicus. These legendary devices are said to be
able to unspool a supplicant’s genome all the way back to
ancient Terra, providing a wealth of genetic information
about him and his entire line.
The gene-printer requires an Ordinary (+20) Tech-Use Test
to perform the proper rituals of tek-obeisance. A success will
confirm whether or not two gene-spoor samples placed within
the device come from the same person. The machine-spirits of
gene-printers are relatively simple, however, and at the GM’s
discretion, complex genetic factors (genetic manipulation,
twins, xenos tampering, etc.) may interfere with the result.
Cost 1,500, WT 15kg, Rare
==Alternate Career Rank==
Like many positions within the Adeptus, becoming a
Verispex Adept is rarely a matter of choice. The skills required
to stand among the forensic experts of the Inquisition are
both extensive and specific, and demands lengthy education
in the libraries of the Tricorn Palace. The vast majority of
those who become Verispex Adepts begin their career at an
extremely young age, though the rare candidate is taken after
spending time among a cell of Acolytes. After a relatively
brief span of years, the recruits are given a speciality based
on their performance and accomplishment. These hopeful
adepts are assigned to a senior Verispex Adept sharing
their specialization for a lengthy apprenticeship in which
their knowledge of esoterica and minutia is increased to
proportions rarely witnessed. After this apprenticeship, which
can last anywhere from several years to decades, the Adept
is finally sent into the information cataloging halls of the
Tricorn Palace. or into the service of an Inquisitor.
Required Careers: Adept
Alternate Rank: Rank 1 or higher (0xp)