Lord Inquisitor Aegult Caidin

Lord Inquisitor Caidin is an enigma, even to the members
of an organization known for deceit. It is said that one of the reasons he maintains his
secrecy is so that he might walk unseen amongst the peoples
of the Imperium and the ranks of the Inquisition. Some say
he is everywhere, and that he sees and hears all that transpires
within the dark halls of the Tricorn Palace. Veteran Inquisitors
might dismiss such a rumor as intended merely to cow the
lesser Acolytes, but others are not so sure. Some even whisper
(with one eye on the shadows) that Inquisitor Lord Caidin
might have multiple identities, and that several notable figures
within the Ordos Calixis could all in fact be him.
While he has never publicly stated his allegiance to an
Ordo, Inquisitor Lord Caidin is in fact a member of the Ordo Malleus, and a very senior one at that. The Ordo Malleus has
always been concerned with monitoring the Inquisition itself
for signs of corruption brought about by the very enemy
its members seek to defeat. Caidin’s name is linked with a
number of very high profile internal purges, in which senior
members of the Inquisition have been exposed as traitors,
heretics, or worse. The fact that Caidin must surely have made
many terrible enemies in the process goes a long way towards
explaining his obsession with secrecy.
Lord Caidin arrived in the Calixis Sector over two
centuries ago, and even then he hid his face and shunned
the company of his peers. He carried with him a mandate,
to take on the leadership of the Ordo. Though none could
deny his claim to authority, many in the High Council
bitterly resented Caidin’s assumption of power, since
they aspired to the appointment themselves. In the years
that followed, many attempts were made to mobilize
opposition to Caidin’s rule. Some factions, notably
the Phaenonites and the Oblationists, came
out against him, while many Inquisitor Lords
plotted independently. Attempts were made to
learn something of Caidin’s past, and a few
found tantalizing clues of his involvement in calamitous
events elsewhere in the galaxy. Some believed he
was the Deliverer of the Perfidian Gap, who led
a hundred Imperial Guard regiments
to their doom yet returned victorious from
the hell-worlds of that region. Some thought
he was the power behind the forces barring the Gates of Fire. One rival claimed Caidin had fled to Calixis
from a war-torn region on the other side of the galaxy,
utilizing the Warp gate known as Van Grothe’s Rapidity,
or perhaps some other, as yet undiscovered, gate on the Eastern Fringe to flee his enemies.
Yet, Lord Caidin weathered the storms of his rivals’
denunciations, not through blood and counter-accusations as
some in his position might have, but through the most subtle
of maneuvering. Some rivals were too vocal to be allowed to
continue their accusations, and these simply disappeared. To
deal with the others, Caidin established himself over several
decades as the very heart of the High Council of the Calixian
Conclave, above the petty disputes between factions, blocs,
and alliances. No matter what conflicts and rivalries may rage
in the chamber or across the sector, Lord Caidin is the eye of
the raging storm. He shows no undue favor and rarely needs
to act against even the most extreme of factions. Somehow,
Lord Caidin keeps order in the chamber, maintains the
tenuous balance of power outside it, and according to some,
watches over the very fate of the Calixis Sector according to
some unknown mission.
If Lord Caidin truly is, as some claim, a Lord of the Ordo
Malleus tasked with monitoring the entire Calixian Conclave,
then his power, and that of his Ordo, must be absolute (if all
but unseen). With a single piece of data parchment, Caidin
ascended to the most powerful position within the Ordo
Calixis, and in effect controls every one of its hundreds of
Inquisitors and thousands of Acolytes. The reasons that he
and the Ordo Malleus were given such power must surely
rank among Caidin’s most closely guarded secrets, and his
true plans may only come to fruition when and if damnation
threatens to consume the Calixis Sector.