Malleus Skotus

Threatening Elegance.

**Malleus Skotus** is a Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus of almost legendary repute operating chiefly in Sector Occident Prime.

## History

### Early Life

Malleus Skotus was born on Holy Terra herself to Robert Skotus a Palatinus Second of the Ancient Noble House of Skota and his wife Clarisse-Alienor Vasa. Malleus was the eldest of three children with a younger sister, Gladia and brother, Pileus. The three of them spent their childhood in the palaces belonging to their Famous Family on Earth and New Venus. Malleus' high rank got him special treatment when he showed signs of psyker ability at adolescence. He was promptly enrolled in the Schola Psykana but entered that institution with a small entourage consisting of valet, pedagogue, private cook and bodyguard, along with a pile of luggage. Despite these luxuries his training was as harsh and testing as that of any young psyker. He was rated a midrange Delta which is about the highest level of psyker that can be considered completely rational and controlled. It did not require his Famous Family's influence to get him immediately earmarked for service in the Inquisition. In fact he had senior Inquisitors from all three Ordos literally fighting over him. Lord Inquisitor Yuri Genji of the Ordo Malleus emerged victorious from the struggle. Malleus entered his service as acolyte at age seventeen unattended by House servants and with only one small bag containing a loaded dataslate and a few changes of clothes. Malleus always says that this was the true beginning of his training.

### Professional Life

Malleus Skotus was raised to the rank of full Inquisitor in 789M.41 He began his career in the Ordo Malleus as a fervent Thorian, like his master before him. His area of activity was the Sol Sector extending occasionally into neighboring sectors of the Segmentum Sol. His headquarters were an estate on Enceladus, solar stronghold of the Ordo Malleus and collected an array of able acolytes and agents with whom he achieved many notable feats and successes that made him something of a legend among his peers. But the life of an Inquistitor, especially a Daemon-Hunter is a hard one full of disillusionments and frustrated hopes. Decades of disappointment wore off the shine of his ideals and he became harder, more desperate and more inclined to infringe upon the discipline of the Ordos.

Malleus turned first to the Casophilian faction and from there it was an easy slide to the more extreme Revivificators. His allies left him one by one as he became more and more radical until only two remained, Cuma Sybbyl and Oman Rusk. He took on new and much more questionable companions including a revivicator and three assassins of the forbidden Necronomicon Cult and sank to the level of flirting with Horusianism. A terrifying confrontation with the damned soul of Revivicator Vaest brought Malleus to his senses. Counseled by his friend Bishop Hewer and Mendicant Brothr Query he resigned himself to the patient watchfulness of an Anomalian Beholder. He shifted his activities from Daemonology, which he had decided was dangerous to his soul, to witch hunting, from Ordo Malleus to Ordo Hereticus.

His current arena of activity is Sector Occident Prime where he is a senior member of the Inquisitorial Conclave headquartered on Trianguli Prime. But he has been known to extend his range into Segmenta Pacificus and Obscurus as well as all through the Segmentum Solar.

## Personality

Age has somewhat mellowed what was originally a dangerously intense nature but he still has a presence that hits the beholder with the force of an iron hammer and the heat of a burning fuse. Skotus' equanimity is in fact rarely disturbed but those unfamiliar with him tend to tip-toe in expectation of an incandescent blast at any moment. Those who do know him become accustomed to his manner and are able to relax in his presence and even joke with him to the astonishment of outsiders.

## Appearance

Skotus is a full two meters tall and blade thin with a face like a sword's edge black hair and a neat black beard, both now silver with age, and a pair of deep set grey eyes with a gaze that could burn through solid neutronium. This intimidating quality is increased by the severe cut and dark hues of the austere quasi-uniforms he affects.

## Abilities and Traits

Skotus is a powerful Biomancer with the full spectrum of related powers. He can boost his own strength and speed to supernal levels; smite his foes with lethal bolts of bio-lightning. He can boil the blood or choke off the breath of a subject with a gesture of his hand, and heal by the power of his mind. He still possesses but rarely uses his Daemonological powers save at urgent need.

Skotus is the fortunate owner of a large, fluffy ginger Gyrinx cat named Flambeau with an unnervingly piercing blue stare. Flambeau serves as Skotus' familiar, heightening his psyker powers and other mental abilities. The cat follows his master everywhere unless physically prevented. Flambeau sulks when left behind and becomes agitated if his master is in danger or difficulty. When Skotus returns he is generally treated to several hours of snubbing before his cat deigns to forgive him.

## Equipment

Lord Skotus rarely uses any equipment beyond his master-crafted inferno pistol and his personally designed force-sabre with its single edged, slightly curved blade that glows blue when activated. His days of storming into battle encased in a hulking suit of terminator armor plentifully embellished with Inquisitorial icons waving a gigantic relic blade in one hand and storm shield in the other are - for the most part - over. He prefers a more subtle approach in these, his mature years.

## Relations

### Family

Lord Skotus is a senior member of an ancient and powerful dynasty of the Terran Aristocracy. The Skotii can trace their clan's origins back to the dim depths of the Age of Terra and prides itself on being older than the Imperium. As a House Palatine the Skotii have absolute control over their Terran enclave and their fief worlds (in the Centauri systems of Sector Solar and Skotia in the Brittanica Sector) . The Skotii are well represented in the Adeptus Terra and many have sat on the Senatorum Imperialis.

Though he has never married he has sired three daughters by his psyker and long time lover Cuma Sybbyl;

#### Kymbeline Skota

Skotus's firstborn child followed in his footsteps, not entirely by choice - but then nobody in the Imperium gets to choose their life. Kymbeline inherited the psyker curse from both parents and was earmarked for the Inquisition almost from the day she entered the Schola Psykana. As an Inquisitor she is determined to make her own reputation unshadowed by her father's legend, to which end she has spent most of her career as far from him as possible. She was originally a Witch Hunter but when she heard Malleus had changed orders she immediately did the same becoming a Ordos Malleus. Her usual area of activity is the Eastern Fringe specifically the Hagar Cluster.

#### Devorguille Skota

Skotus' second child was claimed by the Adeptus Astra Telepathica for it's own purposes. She is one of their specially trained Astral Agents, equipped with ancient psy-tek and cybernetics and commissioned as an agent at large. Her curse falls midway in strength between both her parents in the 'zeta' range on the 24 point chart. Like her father she is a talented biomancer and fully trained in the combat applications of her powers but she is also a sensitive telepath and a gifted clairvoyant - gifts inherited from her mother. Her cover as a command and control officer of a Black Ship keeps her circulating around the Segmentum Obscurus safely clear of the rest of her family.

#### Aidana Skota

The third daughter is the family renegade - there is always one. Fortunately for her Aidana's psi assignment was too low to interest the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, somewhere in the high Lambda range, which translates in Real World terms to 'Luck' and trustworthy hunches. Unfortunately she had no interest in the kind of social and political career open to a lady of the Terrestrial nobility. Instead she served a term in the Imperial Navy to learn about ships and command then resigned and applied for a Warrant of Trade, which she had no difficulty in getting with her connections. Like Kymbeline Aidana likes to keep as far from her relatives as possible. Her usual area of activity is the Halo Zone of the Segmentum Pacifica.

### Friends and Allies:

#### Ganter Bay

Is not accounted a member of the Inquisitor's entourage. As a Champion and Errantus of the Watch he is invested with authority of his own by the Lords of Terra and an independent agent. He has however freely elected to ally and work with Lord Skotus for the past sixty years.

#### Brother Query

The Mendicantine Frater is equally free of official Inquisitorial ties - insofar as anybody knows - though he has been associated with Lord Skotus even longer, over a century at least though when and how he became connected with Skotus remains a mystery to everybody but the two of them.

### Past Entourage:

#### **Yuan Thai**, Savant:

Thai was born 551.M41 in the Simhapura Hive of Indasia on Holy Terra. His parent were mid-upper ranked Administratum Adepts able to give their only son the best of educations. Identified as a potential savant he was trained at the Scholam Sagesse attached to the the Universariate Inde. He was recruited by Inquistitor Yuri Genji in 571.M41 and served him for 218 years until the Inquisitor requested he transfer his allegiance to Genji's beloved protege, Malleus Skotus in 789.M41. Thai remained with Skotus until 858.M41 when he once again transferred to the service a younger Inquisitor, Danilo Stone. Thai is very tall and thin, with a sallow complexion and a high domed, entirely bald skull trailing connection wires from occipital ports. He has deep set eyes with an epicanthic fold, a long hooked nose and a small, neat moustache. He is dry and scholarly in manner but with an unexpected sense of humor, and remains calm and observant under pressure. Which is probably why he's survived nearly four centuries as a Throne Agent.

#### **Zenobie Bitar**, Pilot:

Zenobie was born on Luna in 761M.41, an eleventh generation member of the Blessed Sol Pilot's guild. She is qualified to fly anything from atmo craft to sublights and a licensed shipmaster. She was hired by Skotus in 789.M41 as pilot and master of his system yacht The Sibyl until 866.M41 when Malleus gifted both the Sibyl and its mistress to his former Interrogator Inquisitor Vivette Lescynzka. Zenobie is dark skinned, lean and elegant with a mass of beaded black braids framing an almond shaped face with big umber eyes. She has an augment left hand.

#### **Altos Skane**, Bodyguard:

Atlos was born on the Feral World of Virginis in 749.M41. As a young warrior he was captured by an enemy tribe and sold to slavers from the Civilized if not decadent world of Sopdet as a Pit Fighter. Atlos held the admirable record of 118 kills and no defeats and was freed by his owners after winning them a fortune. He was at loose ends, bored with the lavish lifestyle of a Champion of Sopdet when he met Malleus and was taken on as a bodyguard in 791.M41. Eighty six years later in 877.M41 Altos left Malleus' retinue with Rogue, see below. They got married and settled down in the Skye complex of Alba Nord to raise four children; Bruis, Garth, Miral and Lila. Atlos is a tall, muscular man, lithe rather than massive in build, with bronzed skin, reddish bronze hair and golden brown eyes. He is a complete adrenalin junkie. As a cataphract gladiator, he wore ornate segmented armor of gold and orichalcum and a visored helm of lacily carved ivory. This is also his costume when bodyguarding Malleus. He owns two Charnabal sabres.

#### **Pensee Diaphantus**, Pariah:

Pensee was born on Perseis c. 779.M41, to unknown parents and brought up in a Foundlings' Scholam run by a Cenobitic Order. She was discovered and taken on by Skotus in 796.M41. She disappeared in 849.M4 from a hospital bed, leaving a note but no explanation. After many years Skotus learned she'd joined an enclave of Silent Sisters disguised as a Cenobitic convent on Beid. Pensee was slim and and wiry with fine chisled features, full lips, a pair of deep set dark eyes and a coiffure of thin, black, looped braids. She was never completely happy with Skotus' crew. While she appreciated the friendship and acceptance she found there, she always longed for the company of others like herself.

#### **Konor Kolton:** Arbite Investigator.

A native of Perseis Konor was born in 751.M41, the fifteenth generation of a family of Arbitrators. He joined Skotus in 796.M41 after collaborating on a case. Konor became Skotus' Interrogator in 850.M41 but transferred to Inquisitor Veronese Tuek in 858.M41. He was raised to Inquisitor eleven years later. Konor is very tall and massive even out of armor. He has brown skin, grey eyes and blond hair. His face is chisled with a perfectly straight nose, and a square jaw. He seems entirely unaware of his good looks and becomes quite uncomfortable is somebody makes advances to him. Konor owns two Cyber-Mastiffs, Zuse and Apaulo, equipped with advanced sniffer and analysis functions and paired bolters in addition to the traditional teeth.

#### **Rogue:** Bounty Hunter.

Anys Bruis, aka Rogue was born on Cytherea, one of the floating resort cities of Venus, in 774.M41. Her mother was a dancer/acrobat and her father a security specialist. She combined the skills of both in her career as a bounty hunter. She encountered and joined Skotus in 803.M41. In 877.M41 Altos and Rogue left Skotus to get married and settled down in the Skye complex of Alba Nord to raise four children; Bruis, Garth, Miral and Lila. She is a sleek, lithe young woman Her bobbed black hair is decorated with a white streak and a red one. She has bright blue eyes in a pixyish face.

#### **Isen Hewer**: Hierophant.

Isen Hewer was born on the Shrine World of Ophiuchi in 759.M41 to a parish priest. As a young man he had trouble reconciling his aggressive, adventurous nature with his piety. his solution was to embrace the vocation of Missionary which had enough danger to suit anyone. Joining Skotus in 809.M41 made his life even more dangerous and interesting. He became increasingly disturbed by Skotus' growing radicalism and left in 851.M41 to become Bishop Missionarius on the feral world of Cadetheron. He is a tall, lean and handsome with an interestingly lined face, surprisingly gentle hazel eyes, and iron grey hair. He generally carried both a crozius and a chainsword.

#### **Ekaterin Lorica and Nile Zorez:** Celestians of the Order of Our Martyred Lady

The Sisters come from the Convent of St. Katherine Victrix on the agri-world of Lyra. Ekaterin was born to the landowning class, Nile comes from a family of tenant farmers. They were assigned to Father Hewer as bodyguards by their Canoness and followed Hewer into Skotus' retinue in 809.M41. They left with Hewer fotry-two years later to found a convent of battle sisters on Cadetheron. Both are dark eyed with short bobbed white hair giving them a surface resemblance but Ekaterin is slightly taller with a smooth oval face and fine cut features, while Nile has a square jaw, short nose and wide mouth.

#### **Divuus Okran:** Techpriest Warsmith.

Okran was born in 684.M41 to artisan class parents in the mid levels of Hive Vien Cen-Euro on Holy Terra. He was offered to the local Mechanism Temple at age nine and accepted after the usual testing. Okran was with Lord Inquisitor Yuri Genji for 101 years. Upon his death in 816.M41 Okran transferred his allegiance to Genji's last pupil, Malleus Skotus. Left Skotus' retinue in 892.M41 to become a Magos on Deimos. He has no visible flesh being completely covered with a grey ceramite plate including a red painted hood and shoulder cape framing a tubed face plate with three green glowing asymmetrically arranged eyes. He neither eats, nor sleeps but engages periodically in private maintenance rituals. Okran takes great pleasure in the capabilities of his augmented body but unlike most senior Adepts he also enjoys socializing with Meatbags and has a high tolerance for their illogic and emotion.

#### **Bened Sith:** Sanctioned Psyker; Pyromancer and Telekin.

Bened was born to agriculturalist parents on one of the platforms that make up the Rings of Sirius, continent sized plates orbiting Sirius B. Identified as a psyker at age twelve he was collected by the Black Ships and schooled at the Scholam Psykana on Earth. Initially a Psyker Primaris attached to the Imperial Guard he was seconded to Inquisitor Yuri Genji's Retinue in 728.M41 and served for 88 years before the Lord Inquisitor's death in 816.M41 and transferred his allegiance to Genji's pupil Malleus Skotus. Transferred to the retinue of Danilo Stone along with Savant Yuan Thai in 858.M41. Hatchet faced with disturbingly pale blue eyes his hairless skull is threaded with promient veins that throb visibly when he employs his powers. His appearance is against him but he is in fact quite stable for his Delta class level, warm-hearted and sympathetic, and was a prized mentor to the young Malleus Skotus.

#### **Vivette Leszczynska de Duluse y Vega:** Interrogator, Psyker, Telekin and Telepath.

Vivette was born in 805.M41 to an Ancient Noble House on the Civilized World of Tentrion. The Leszczynskai survive on their bloodline, marrying daughters and sometimes sons to the New Rich in exchange for high bride prices or dowries. Vivette was destined for a marriage of convenience until developing psyker abilities in the high epsilon range at age fifteen. She was sent to the Scholam Psykana under Skotus' patronage and joined his retinue as an acolyte in 825.M41, rising to full interrogator three years later. She ascended to Inquisitor in 850.M41. Vivette is tall and slim. Her fine features and large dark eyes are set off by pearl powder and the marcelled curls of a white silk wig, her natural hair is black and cut short and sleek. She generally wears the elaborate gowns of her caste with long waisted bodices and intricately draped layers of skirts of her caste. A lover of fashion and the finer things, it took her years to master her temper and her natural impulsiveness.

#### **Danilo Stone:** Captain, Seventy-Second Palacia Infantry. Later Interrogator and Inquisitor.

Born to middle class shopkeepers in the Palacia Capitolina in 691.M41, Danilo was inducted into the 72nd as a trooper in 711.M41. High casualties taken in the Diasparian Wars cause his rapid rise to officer rank and company comand. He was a war-worn veteran of thirty-five when Skotus recruited him in 826.M41. Danilo became an Interrogator 843.M41 and ascended to Inquisitor in 858.M41. He is a good looking dark haired man with a wiry build, deceptively youthful face, old unsurprised eyes.

#### **Giorgias Clune:** Mercenary.

Giorgias was born on the Agri-world of Teegarden in 791.M41. Unsatisfied with a life spent raising grain he took a job as a caravan guard at sixteen, got off world a decade later by signing on with with a Guild Merchant and knocked around the Segmentum as a gun hand until he joined Skotus' retinue in 831.M41. He chose to followed then Interrogator Konor Kotlon into the retinue of Veronese Tuek in 858.M41, and later joined Konor's own retinue after he was raised to Inquisitor. Giorgias is a massive bronze skinned man well over two meters tall, his muscular arms covered with the tattooed crests of his various employers. His head is shaved smooth and he has an augment targeting eye. He favors serrated blades and a Astartes sized bolter pistol.

#### **Miles Oneal:** Sanctioned Psyker.

Miles was born in 756.M41 on Carcosa, one of the haunted worlds of the Hyades Cluster. Like many of his compatriots Miles was collected by the Black Ships at an early age. Trained in the Scholam Psykana he had an assignment of low Gamma. Seconded to the Inquisition in 775.M41 he became an acolyte and later agent of Inquisitor Christophe Ducas, a Recongregationalist and secret Xanthite. Ducas was killed by confederates in 849.M41 after betraying a plot against the High Lords of Terra. Miles joined Skotus in tracking down and destroying the plotters. Neither knew that Miles was hosting the Daemon Herald Lucifuge until the Daemon revealed himself on Pollux. Lucifuge was successfully banished after a long battle by Skotus and Father Hewer working together. Hewer then undertook the difficult task of putting Miles Oneal back together taking the broken psyker with him when he, Hewer, left the retinue for Cadetheron in 851.M41

#### **Humburt Vaest:** Necronomican Revivicator**.**

The least savory of Skotus' associates Vaest's antecedents were unknown beyond his membership in the Revivicator Cult known by the name of an Ancient, lost occult work. He joined Skotus in 857.M41 along with a trio of Necromonicon Assassins. Vaest and Skotus' efforts to restore life, were never fully successful only creating near mindless revenants, who were finally responsible for Vaest's first death. He managed to possess Asenath, Dar, one of the Assassin, with his last strength but his hold on her was precarious. Desperate to hang onto to life he managed to call up the Greater Daemon who possessed Arich, another of the Assassins. Both Vaest and Arion were banished by Skotus aided by Brother Query.

#### **Asenath Dar:** Necronomican Assassin.

Possessed by Vaest but successfully cleansed by Brother Query. Memory wiped and settled on New Venus where she became a savant employed by Gladia Skota. She retains her combat skills in muscle memory.

#### **Arich Zan:** Necronomican Assassin.

Possessed by a Greater Daemon, it was banished by Malleus and Brother Query but his soul had been destroyed.

#### **Alos Mus:** Necronomican Assassin.

Memory wiped and settled on New Venus where he became a pictor employed by Gladia Skota. He retains his combat skills in muscle memory.

### Servants:

In addition to his official entourage Lord Skotus is accompanied by a personal staff whose primary duty is to see to his comfort and that of his entourage, though they sometimes serve as combat auxiliaries when numbers are needed.

#### Jihan Ouyang

Skotus' personal chef and a Master of traditional Terran cuisine . He is a short, rotund little man with olive complexion very straight very black hair and a long thin moustache hanging below his second chin. Ouyang is a wicked knife fighter, he has also been known to throw kitchen knives when disturbed in the throes of creation. So far he's always missed.

#### The Makkai Twins, Albin and Blanca

Albin and Blanca were born/decanted c. 860.M41 in a secret laboratory probably on Mars. The Twins are apparently the only survivors of their Afriel Hatching, they were discovered by Skotus in the stews of the Frontios Hive in 881.M41 and they replaced Altos Skane as his bodyguards. As members of his retinue their unusual strength, speed and skill with weapons were balanced by their tendency towards bad luck. Often very bad. After one narrow escape too many they decided with Skotus that for everybody's safety they were better out of the field. The Twins currently serve the Lord Inquisitor as waiters, errand runners, etc. The official story is they are hereditary retainers from Skotus's ancestral holdings in Alba Nord. They are a tall, albino pale pair with eerie yellow eyes. The Twins' faces and bodies are criss-crossed with fine scars inflicted by surgery, or battle wounds or torture or all three, but in any case made by very fine, sharp blades and they are mutes communicating by hand signs.

#### Orman Rusk

Skotus's batman, is a former Inquisitorial stormtrooper. Born c. 790.M41 Oman was almost certainly the offspring of Inquisitorial agents as he was reared and trained at the Schola Progenium associated with the Antarctic Complex. In 821.M41 he was the sole survivor of his squad of Stormtroopers, the others being killed investigating unsanctioned activity on Tethys. Oman managed to survive alone until rescued by Skotus' follow up mission and was taken into his retinue. Oman Rusk, along with Cuma Sybbyl, stuck with Skotus through the worst of his dark period but in 901.M41, at the age of a hundred and ten, he decided he was a bit too old for field work and semi-retired to the job of batman. Oman has pale gray eyes, a square face and a complexion like old leather. His head of brown hair has been reduced to a few wintery grey hairs fringing his bald pate.

### Enemies

Skotus has made plenty of enemies over his long and eventful career, both inside and out of the Inquisition. He also has a number of active rivals - *all* within the Ordos and some much too close for comfort.

## Quotes

### By:

"*I agree the rate of mental illness among Inquisitors is moderately alarming. But then who in the Imperium can be called sane?*"
—Malleus Skotus
"*It is impossible to maintain one's footing in Chaos. The first concession invariably leads to others and the road goes ever downward. I speak from experience.*"
—Lord Inquisitor Malleus Skotus
### About:

"*Comes from a really old family, which probably means he spends his nights chasing the Ordo Redactus out of his garbage.*"
— Douchard Bagge
"*Skotus is what most Inquisitors his age end up becoming. Powerful, renowned, and mentally unstable.*"
— Greyon Autaris
"*He has seen more experience then even me, but his past is shrouded. I wonder-what is he hiding?* "
—Ahtar Delcon
"*Lord Skotus, you and your associates are welcome aboard the Crimson Beacon. While I will respect your wisdom and advice Inquisitor, should you try to use your authority to command my chapter, I will see fit you are never so welcome again.*"
— Eulitus Ephrain of the Wings of Salvaxes
"*Be wary when speaking to him brother, those who dance on the edge of heresy never entirely forget its entrancing tune.*"
—Lord of knives to his first Captain, Lophess Ovair, of the Obsidian Blades.
"*It is a fool that thinks himself a rival of a daemon. It is a madman that thinks himself an equal. However, I have yet to come across a man such as you, who thinks himself a destroyer of daemons. Allow me, with the power of the Gods, to remind you of your place, mortal!*"
— Seddrinth the Gifted, Daemon Prince and Battle-Thrall of the Storm Draugar
"*Hahahaha, HAHAHAHA! You think you've won, Inquisitor!? You have no idea. You have no idea what forces are at work here. Terra shall fall. The heart and soul of Mankind shall be flayed open, blooming like a flower of truth and enlightenment! Reality itself shall disappear! There will be no space, no time, only Chaos! You can't stop it. No one can! You can kill me, Inquisitor, but you can never kill the Truth. I die now, willingly, knowing that my Gods await me.*"
—Anonymous Heretic before execution
"*Sweet. Loving. God-Emperor. Is the a file or a barcode?!*"
— Echo, accessing the Skotus Familial Annals
"*I met him once in my younger years, you know. He was quite a legend among acolytes back then. Nowadays I am starting to wonder how he has survived this long.*"
— Rosanne Thrace
"*I once though Malleus was the kind to die young in glory, probably in battle. Now I know he'll die old, more glorious than ever.*"
—Inquisitor Jacob Flux