Ordo Hereticus - Notable Ordo Hereticus Members: Inquisitor Adrastia - Adrastia is a high-ranking Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus. She, alongside Lord General Castor of the Astra Militarum's Cadian Shock Troops, were ordered to the Sub-sector Aurelia to investigate charges of heresy levelled by Captain Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens Chapter against his Chapter Master Azariah Kyras. She hoped to complete her investigation ahead of the arrival of an incoming Exterminatus fleet, which had been given orders to enact an Exterminatus upon all of the sub-sector's worlds to remove their growing Chaos and xenos taint from the Imperium.Inquisitor Victoria Aldrich - Victoria Aldrich has never been a woman to take her work lightly. Even as a lowly Acolyte, Aldrich was well known for her verve and vigour. Her master, the venerable and cunning Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Yusuph Trevar, brought Aldrich under his wing specifically for the enthusiasm with which she approached the job of rooting out heretical and daemonic infestation. A zealot like Aldrich was the perfect counterbalance to Trevar's methodical trickery. After years in Trevar's service, the bombastic and learned Acolyte had learned much of her master's ways and tempered her enthusiasm with cunning and planning, retaining the gusto which was her hallmark. Aldrich is now an Inquisitor in her own right with over a standard century of service to her credit. She continues to hound the spawn of Chaos with energy and ardour, bringing the full weight of her Inquisitorial position and her substantial personal prowess to bear on the enemies of Man.Inquisitor Agmar - As a young member of the Ordo Hereticus, Agmar led multiple attacks upon Ichar IV's capital city of Lomas to break up a rebellion launched by strange cult members. It turned out that the rebellion was created by a massive Genestealer infestation. With the Adeptus Arbites, he destroyed enough of the defences used by the cult's psychically-enslaved members to allow the Ultramarines Chapter to seize the planet. It was then that Agmar's Astropaths felt the approach of Hive Fleet Kraken and it was his initiative that led to the breaking of the Hive Fleet at Ichar IV.Inquisitor Havelock Blackheel - A man of abounding faith in the God-Emperor and possessed of a nearly limitless hatred for psykers, Havelock Blackheel is as much a force of nature as he is an Inquisitor. A Puritan and Monodominant, Inquisitor Blackheel has waged a one-man war against psykers for nearly a standard century. A large, hale man with a barrel chest and long locks, Havelock Blackheel hails from Maccabeus Quintus where, from an early age, he displayed a violent distaste for irregularity and a fiery zeal for orthodoxy. He harbours a special hatred for psykers, passed to him from his parents, and upon joining the ranks of the Inquisition found kinship with the teachings of the Monodominants. With his boundless energy and bewitching charisma, and for reasons he assures his followers have nothing to do with any personal friction with "certain spineless cowards of the Ordo Calixis", he roots out the Heretic and the heterodox on the fringe worlds of the Koronus Expanse with a zeal that raises eyebrows even among his allies.Inquisitor Solace Deschaine - The woman in charge of the Ordo Hereticus activities on Eleusis is Solace Deschaine, a woman of unshakeable faith and indomitable spirit. Inquisitor Deschaine has spent the last twelve standard years on Eleusis in constant vigil, her agents living out amongst the populace and reporting any suspicions or subtle signs of heresy directly to her. During this time the Inquisitor has uncovered countless secrets hidden just below the surface of the reconstruction, both literally and figuratively.Inquisitor Vownus Kaede - Inquisitor Vownus Kaede is a noted scholar, philosopher and an optimist. He is also a skilled swordsman, irreverent scoundrel and a self-righteous reprobate. Named after the rogue hero of Catuldynus' epic verse allegory The Once-Pure Hive, Kaede has spent most of his life living up to his namesake's legacy. Originating somewhere "East of Sol and West of Macragge," Kaede signed on with a Free Captain at a young age and has never looked back. The details of his elevation to Inquisitor status are hazy and change every time he tells the story. The only point that remains consistent is that he was once a member of the Ordo Xenos, before finding his true calling as a Witch Hunter. Regardless of his chequered past, Inquisitor Kaede has been a respected member of the Tyrantine Cabal for over a standard decade. Though he is nominally of Puritan leanings, Kaede is a skilled psyker who fanatically believes in the psychic future of the human race and is willing to casually commit almost any atrocity in order to safeguard it. He and the martially-inclined Acolyte bands he employs spend a great deal of time travelling between the Calixis Sector's sub-sectors chasing down rumours of hidden witches. Kaede absolutely detests Rykehuss' methods and takes a great deal of pleasure in spiriting promising young psykers out from under the Witch Finder's pogroms. Inquisitor Kaede appears exactly the way Imperium citizens picture a Witch Hunter. From his wide-brimmed hat, to his Inferno Pistol, to the ancient short-bladed Force Sword named "Slight Jest" that he bears at his side, there is no mistaking his appearance and what it implies, which is exactly what Kaede wishes. To Kaede, the Tyrant Star prophecy is a delicious mystery to be unlocked.Inquisitor Hettesh Kane - The Sanctioned Psyker Hettesh Kane was once a renowned teacher in the Scholastica Psykana. He became a dedicated member of the Ordo Hereticus to hunt down and eliminate rogue psykers throughout the Imperium; however, Kane's experiences and personal beliefs led him to become convinced that psykers could achieve nearly anything, if properly trained and possessing deep moral conviction. Over time, Kane began to train and teach those he captured rather than destroying them outright. Although he was not always successful, Kane sought to turn those who were once enemies into agents of the Golden Throne.Inquisitor Lord Fyodor Karamazov - Inquisitor Lord Fyodor Karamazov is known and feared throughout the Imperium. He gained his fearsome reputation during an event on the planet of Salem Procor, when he executed a popular servant of the Adeptus Ministorum. This caused a huge outcry from the Ministorum's clerics and the Thorian Inquisitors, yet later it was discovered that the preacher had in fact truly been a Heretic, and Fyodor's reputation was redeemed. However, relations between the Inquisitor Lord and the Ecclesiarchy and his fellow Inquisitors have yet to mend. Karamazov rides into battle on the massive war-machine known as the Throne of Judgement.Inquisitor Ligea - Inquisitor Ligea can be described as "Looking more like an elegant family matriarch rather than a hunter of Daemons." Ligea was an unusual Inquisitor, in that she did not see much combat, but rather focussed her efforts on texts and ancient writing. She possessed at least one minor psyker ability, which allowed her to apprehend information simply by contacting an object, such as a book or a statue. She was recruited into the Ordo Hereticus at a very young age. She was attached to the Grey Knights Chapter on the trail of Saint Evisser, looking for Ghargatuloth, Prince of a Thousand Faces, a powerful Greater Daemon of Tzeentch. Unfortunately, Inquisitor Ligea eventually succumbed to the taint of Ghargatuloth after allowing herself to delve too deeply into tainted knowledge, opening her mind to daemons which caused her to lose her mind. Having gone quite insane and fallen mostly to Chaos in the process, Ligea was captured by the Inquisition she once served. However, having opened herself up to Ghargatuloth, she was able to learn and reveal the true name of Ghargatuloth to Justicar Alaric, through a recording of her interrogations, in which she babbled what was apparently a meaningless string of syllables. This gave the Grey Knights the advantage they needed in order to destroy Ghargatuloth once every thousand standard years. Inquisitor Ligea died in an interrogation room high above the planet Mimas when Inquisitor Nyxos ordered her cell opened, venting her into space.Witch Finder Rykehuss - Rykehuss is the terror of witches, a man for whom everyone is guilty of something and the only punishment is death. To him the Calixis Sector is a cesspit where witches breed like flies and the honest, pious Imperial citizens are besieged by sin on all sides. Rykehuss’ bouts of volcanic anger and impassioned sermonising are well known at the Bastion Serpentis, and he constantly exhorts his fellow Inquisitors to descend on all the sinners to purify them with righteous flame or condemn them to damnation. Rykehuss wears ornate, heavily customised armour gifted to him by the Adeptus Mechanicus after he sought out a witch cult on a Forge World in a nearby sector, and he is an expert with a veritable armoury of weapons. The Witch Finder's methods are simple. He descends on a particular city, sees depravity everywhere and immediately sets up a Court of Ordeals where pious citizens bring accused neighbours and family members to be tried. When Rykehuss hears of a particularly foul heresy being perpetrated somewhere nearby, he gathers all the torch-wielding backup he can and marches there, trusting in his martial skill to help him put the sinners to death personally. Some who witness Rykehuss' terrors consider him a hero, others a butcher, and both are right. Many innocents have died at Rykehuss' hands but so have many rogue psykers and cultists. Rykehuss, however, is not as crude a man as his methods would suggest. He knows that he cannot kill all the sinners, but his bombastic and terrifying style ensures that Imperial citizens are constantly reminded that there are threats in their midst and bigger threats waiting to punish them for their weaknesses. Innocent deaths, while regrettable, are a small price to pay for Rykehuss to spread the fear that helps suppress the activities of witches -- and in any case, the Emperor sorts them all out in the end. Rykehuss is obsessed with the notion that it is the widespread activity of witches in the sector that is bringing on the doom of the Hereticus Tenebrae.Inquisitor Astrid Skane - A formidable woman, Inquisitor Skane exudes the rough authority of a seasoned Arbitrator officer. Tough and resourceful, she is one of the most active of the Tyrantine Cabal's Inquisitors, happy to get her hands dirty rooting out corruption. Skane is a striking woman with a stern, strong face who wears her hair regulation short. She habitually dresses much as she did when she served as an Arbitrator on Scintilla, in a black uniform and body armour, and is rarely seen without her Shock Maul and Shotgun. Skane respects those who respect her, treats her more skilled Acolytes as equals and has little time for pomp and appearances. Skane follows the Recongregators' creed, which states that the Imperium must be reformed radically to reduce the suffering of its people and that the Inquisition is the only body with the authority and skill to reform it. Skane believes that the Imperium's woes are caused by corruption among its ruling classes. She developed a particular hatred for corrupt nobles whilst serving as an Arbitrator and has carried that through to her work as an Inquisitor. Her operations, therefore, target corruption among the nobility and the Adepta, including the Adeptus Arbites she once served. She dreams of a future where the Imperium is turned upside-down and justice is the rule rather than the exception, but she realises that she will not live to see it. She fights for what justice she can and hopes that others will follow her to carry on the battle. Skane is convinced that the Tyrant Star can only be appearing due to some form of summons. She believes there is a powerful Chaos Cult at work in the sector, employing sorcery to call the Tyrant Star down on mankind. That is a cult she would very much like to personally root out.Inquisitor Soldevan - A handsome man with skin the colour of ebony and a taste in imposing military dress uniforms that only enhances his air of strength and authority. Soldevan was originally an Interrogator in the employ of Witch Finder Rykehuss but never believed in his master's extreme methods, and quickly broke with Rykehuss after attaining the Inquisitorial Seal. Soldevan believes that knowledge, not wanton destruction, is the key to protecting humanity from the threats it faces. Soldevan's beliefs run deeper than he would ever admit. He believes that the Warp is an immense source of power and that an Inquisitor is a man of sufficient intelligence and willpower to harness it. Soldevan wants to open up a pathway to the Warp and seek out the consciousnesses that dwell there hoping to bargain with them for the power he needs to combat the enemies of mankind. Soldevan has got quite close to his goal and has several forbidden tomes in his possession that, with the right sacrifices and rituals, will summon forth powerful daemons for him to negotiate with. He is always seeking more knowledge or artefacts of the Warp, either captured during the Tyrantine Cabal's operations or purchased at extortionate prices from unscrupulous dealers in forbidden relics. Somewhere during this process Soldevan has lost his sanity and replaced it with absolute conviction that the Warp holds the secrets of humanity's survival. He believes that the Tyrant Star represents a vital conduit to secrets of the Warp.Inquisitor Tannenberg - Witchfinder Tannenberg was a Hereticus Inquisitor who uncovered the heresy and mutation within the Saint Garrat Scriptorium, sending its Adepts to the excruciation chambers and burning the scriptorium to the ground. Tannenberg was also responsible for executing all forty-five members of the psyker Chaos Cult known as the Coven of the Red Moon. Amongst his many Acolytes is the scribe Lamont.Inquisitor Thaddeus - An Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, Thaddeus was put in charge of hunting down and destroying the Renegade Soul Drinkers Space Marine Chapter. He is a rather patient man and does things slowly and concisely as to get them right. He shuns other Inquisitors who use force and fear on Imperial citizens to secure information. He believes in speaking to people politely and with respect to get what he needs. He seemed to make a deal with Sarpedon, the acting Chapter Master of the Soul Drinkers, when Sarpedon was injured badly and held by an insanely powerful mutant attempting to gain godhood in the Warp, known as Teturact. Thaddeus decided to spare Sarpedon after solar months of trailing the Soul Drinkers and learning about the tragedies which had befallen them. He fired on Teturact, giving Sarpedon time to finish him with the Soulspear. Thaddeus decided that Sarpedon was not nearly as dangerous to the Imperium as Teturact was. Thaddeus fell out of favour with the Lord Inquisitors for allowing the Soul Drinkers to continue to exist, but he still pursued them and eventually met his end facing down the Howling Griffons Space Marines after they saw him as Sarpedon's ally.Witch Hunter Tyrus - Tyrus is a Witch Hunter and a staunch member of the Monodominant sect of the Inquisition. As a child, he was tortured by the Daemon Prince Kholoth who took one of his eyes and ears before destroying the rest of his village. Tyrus was saved from death at the Daemon Prince's hand by the Inquisitor Covonis who then took Tyrus under his wing as an apprentice and Acolyte. Covonis was killed on the world of Epsilon Regalis by Kholoth but Tyrus successfully banished Kholoth to the Warp again, taking up his master's power armour and Force Sword. He was then elevated to the full rank of Witch Hunter and Inquisitor. Tyrus is highly active in the Imperium as an internal policer of heresy. He is known for carrying out extreme and bloody purges of suspected Heretics on many worlds on regular occasions. He is also known to chase heretical Inquisitors as strongly as he does witches. He has a great hatred for all kinds of psykers, even those found amongst his fellow Inquisitors. His policy on guilt is based on religious testing and arcane methodology. Tyrus is known to use the ancient trial by ordeal to determine guilt or innocence of heresy or witchcraft in certain cases, such as the Trial by Balance, the Ordeal of the Blade and the Trial by Holy Seal, while his favorite method for determining guilt is to force the accused to consume a jug of holy water blessed by an Adeptus Ministorum priest. If they choke then they are guilty of being a Heretic in Tyrus' judgement and are immediately executed. Tyrus is also known to use the Emperor's Tarot to determine innocence or guilt.Inquisitor Globus Vaarak - Severely wounded as an Interrogator while boarding a pirate ship, Vaarak's body is broken, scarred and bloated. Both his legs were amputated and he moves by means of a robust mechanical vehicle with mechanical legs and an inbuilt life-support system. His face is horribly burned and pockmarked, with tubes running from his nostrils and mouth to help him breathe. One arm was also lost and has been replaced with an obvious bionic limb. Vaarak's clothing is a ribbed black bodyglove that barely holds in his enormous girth and which incorporates cooling and regulating devices to keep him alive. Vaarak is an Amalathian who believes that the Imperium, as grim a place as it is, must survive in its current state if the human race is to continue existing. He therefore seeks out sedition and rebellion in the Calixis Sector, trying to maintain the careful balance of its power groups. Given that he cannot operate in the guise of a normal citizen or Adept, Vaarak must conduct most investigations through his Acolytes, of whom he has several teams. His methods are subtle and moderate compared to some of the Tyrantine Cabal's other Inquisitors, for he would prefer that the Inquisition's hand was not obvious, and encourages his Acolytes to avoid open conflict and violence as much as possible. Vaarak has a bleak and self-deprecating sense of humour and is an excellent judge of character. Many of the Calixian Conclave's next generation of Inquisitors will come from among Vaarak's Interrogators if he remains in favour. He has joined the Spectarians because the Tyrant Star represents a truly destabilising threat to Imperial society.Inquisitor Grendyl - Grendyl is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus who is in command of all the Acolytes and other Inquisition forces that have been deployed to the Hive World of Atoma Prime in the Moebian Domain to eliminate the Nurglish Chaos infestation which has taken root in Atoma's capital of Hive Tertium. Grendyl's true identity and appearance is a closely guarded secret. The only interaction between the Inquisitor and newly-recruited Acolytes aboard the modified Firestorm-class Frigate Mourningstar that serves as the mobile headquarters for the Inquisitorial force seeking to cleanse Hive Tertium is through a holographic transmission provided by a servitor outfitted with a hololithic projector. This message is seen during an initiation ceremony where the image of the Inquisitor's face and voice changes multiple times, taking on male, female and even Ogryn identities. While Grendyl and their true goals beyond cleansing the Nurglish infestation of the hive city remain mysterious, it is believed that the Leman Russ Battle Tanks produced in Atoma Prime's manufactoria are vital to the Inquisitor's future plans. There is also mention that Grendyl has a personal interest in the investigation of the different strains of Nurgle's supernatural blights and contagions to be found among the Chaos Cultists and members of the Moebian 6th Traitoris Militarum regiment driving the spread of the corruption in Hive Tertium. Grendyl requisitioned use of the Mourningstar, a Rogue Trader vessel, to serve as the headquarters for all Inquisitorial operations on Atoma Prime. The Rogue Trader hosting Grendyl's retinue and warband of Acolytes is Shipmistress Emora Brahms, who appears to be a close ally of Grendyl, and perhaps even a friend. Although Brahms is wary of the Inquisition's machinations and would gladly leave Atoma Prime if she was free to do so, she will remain resolute in the Ordo Hereticus' service until the Chaos corruption of Hive Tertium has been cleansed. Grendyl's retinue of trusted Acolytes and the warband accompanying them was known to have quelled uprisings by Heretics in four other star systems prior to arriving at Atoma Prime.