Witchfinder

“...be fired into ye heart of a sun lest heresies spread even unto death.
2496. Place ye suspect in an airlocke and remove all air for a period not less than one standard Terran hour. If ye suspect survives, then he is a Witch and should be placed in ye vessel’s plasma core until he is reduced to ash.
2497. Chain ye suspect and bury him in a desert up to his neck. Fill his mouth with salt and sew it shut. Observe ye suspect for one week. If ye suspect survives, he is a Witch and should be rendered into four parts, burned, and his ashes scattered to ye winds...”
–Extract from Ye Book of Trials, a common Calixian Witchfinder text
The teachings of the Ministorum can provide immense
comfort to oppressed humanity. They are often couched
in terms that can appeal to the meanest understanding,
with appeals to hope and faith in the darkest of times.
Yet they can also be vituperative and hateful, inflaming
billions of fanatics against the enemies of the Imperium.
This outpouring of righteous ire unites humanity
against its darkest foes. Internecine conflicts between
sects can arise over minor doctrinal points. Pilgrims
riot over access to holy sites. Restless populations
overthrow planetary governors, and the
Pax Imperialis is threatened. Worse are
the heretics and the apostates who
threaten the very souls of the Imperial
citizenry. The Ordo Hereticus uses its
vast influence and resources to root out
cults that corrupt the populace.
The Calixian Ministorum, under Arch-Cardinal Ignato,
needs individuals who, in service of the Holy Ordos,
bring witches to justice. These Witchfinders are
Inquisitorial agents trained by the Synod Calixis
to investigate and move against unsanctioned
psykers, thus enabling the Imperial Church to
protect the populace. The Ministorum lauds
particularly successful Witchfinders with the
title Peritus Malificarum, a formal designation
in the eyes of the Calixian Ecclesiarchy
that the holder of the rank is an expert
at facing a witches’ wiles. Together with
the Ordo Hereticus it equips them with
sealed warrants empowering them to
requisition resources as they act against
such witches, as well as against other
deviants such as heretics and mutants.
Many of the more successful Acolyte
Clerics are recruited by the Inquisition,
particularly by those in the Monodominant
faction, as their paranoid views mesh well
together. Consequently, some Ordo Hereticus Inquisitors select
Acolytes already in their service to become Witchfinders. It is not
unheard of for an Inquisitor to maintain the title Witchfinder well
into their career.
Witchfinders are colorful, charismatic, and terrifying
individuals, with a strong taste for the theatrical. Having legal
and moral mandates for their actions makes them brazen in
their use of religious iconography and texts to justify the fear
they inspire. Well-travelled and experienced, their specialty
is the show trial, with dizzying, shifting, and occasionally
contradictory accusations, obscure evidence, horrific trials
and tests, and nigh inevitable executions. Motives vary
between individuals, though most are inspired by a genuine
holy zeal for the rooting out of witches.
Witchfinders, to some extent, create their own status. A
Witchfinder who quietly and cautiously investigates witches
without causing any collateral damage is not
worthy of the name: witchfinding at its
core is theatre and drama, providing the
masses of humanity with both a warning
against heresy and instruction on
how to act when confronted by
it. A Witchfinder is a demagogue
and to some extent a showman, who is
nevertheless a profound man of faith.
His loyalties are principally with the
Ordo Hereticus, but also with the
Ecclesiarchy, who have sponsored
him. He rarely finds these two in
conflict and when he does it is,
in his eyes, because members
of on organization were lead
astray from the path of
righteousness.
==Alternate Career Rank==
All Calixian Witchfinders are of the Ordo Hereticus and are
Inquisitors in training. Prepared to uncover heretical cults
and withstand truths that would decimate a lesser mind, the
Witchfinder requires practical experience that prepares him for
the rigors of facing psykers. A Witchfinder is in many ways a
junior Interrogator in service of the Ordo Hereticus. They are
trained men of faith who turn their hard earned wisdom to the
service of the Inquisition.
Required Career: Cleric
Alternate Rank: Rank 5 or higher (3,000 XP)
Other Requirements: WP 40+, Command
Special: The character must have served an Ordo Hereticus
Inquisitor and proven himself a potential Throne Agent.
Note: Witchfinders are powerful servant’s of the
Inquisition with strong ties to the Ecclesiarchy. They have
authority that allows them to pursue their own agenda’s to
some degree. GMs should consider this when a player wishes
to take the Calixian Witchfinder as an alternate Career Rank.