Hetaireia Lexis

The Hetaireia Lexis is a loose organization of academic and private institutes, devoted to learning and the higher arts, with a strange and chequered history. Established by Lord Sector Caracalla some six centuries ago, their independence and rights are protected by a binding legal charter granting them rare autonomy despite being outside the control of the Adepta. Over the years, the Hetaireia has survived numerous changes in sector governorship, Ecclesiarchy opposition, scandals, murders, heresy trials, blasphemous rumors and even a full Inquisitorial purge of one of its contributing bodies, and yet continues to operate to this day. There are perhaps a dozen separate institutions operating under the Hetaireia’s umbrella and scattered across the sector. They range from small cloistered scriptoriums with no more than a few score students to the Lexis Maxima---a labyrinthine complex housing over a thousand scholars in the shadow of the Lucid Palace itself in Hive Sibellus.
==Background Packages==
Adept: Scholar of the Colleges Hetaireia Lexis
Home World: Imperial World or Noble Born.
Cost: 100 XP
Many Inquisitors regard the Hetaireia as a breeding ground for dangerous ideas and freethinkers. Others see the learned men and women it produces as a potentially valuable resource to be exploited. For such a scholar coming to the Inquisition’s notice, life as an Acolyte is usually a far more preferable fate to the potential alternatives.
Effects: Apply all of the following changes to your character:
Characteristics: Increase your Intelligence by +3. Reduce your Weapon Skill and Strength each by –5.
Skills: You gain Ciphers (Secret Society—Hetaireia) (Int), Forbidden Lore (any one) (Int), and Scholastic Lore (any one) (Int) as starting Skills.
Talents: You begin the game with Peer (Academic).