Inquisition - Origins: It should come as no surprise that the Inquisition's past is shrouded in secrecy. Even the Inquisitors themselves have only the haziest of understandings as to how their organisation was founded, and must rely on hundreds of disparate and contradictory legends for guidance.Indeed, there is a branch of the Inquisition itself -- the Ordo Originatus -- dedicated to unravelling ten millennia of myths, exaggerations and lies. This is a difficult task, raised to impossibility due to the opposing work of the Ordo Redactus, who focus their own efforts into deliberately obscuring the past, lest the enemies of Mankind discover some advantage through knowledge of the Inquisition's beginnings.What almost all the legends agree on, however, is that the Inquisition is widely believed to have been formed by Malcador the Sigillite by the order of the Emperor of Mankind during the final days of the Horus Heresy. As the story goes, Malcador, the Regent of Terra, was charged by the Emperor immediately after news had reached Terra of the Warmaster Horus' betrayal during the massacre of the Loyalist Astartes on Isstvan III, to gather a group of dedicated Imperial servants whose loyalty, courage, and strength of mind was unquestioned.Malcador initially chose 12 persons of "an inquisitive nature," 8 loyal Space Marines taken from all of the Space Marine Legions and 4 mortal Imperial lords and administrators, who would respectively become the initial core of the Grey Knights and the conclaves of the Inquisition. They were presented by Malcador to the Emperor at the Imperial Palace after being brought secretly through enemy lines during the Siege of Terra, the final campaign of the Heresy.These were individuals of unblemished loyalty, determination and strength of mind, who would serve the Emperor well in the years to come. Beyond that one story, the legends diverge, ascribing numerous identities to each of the twelve -- some ludicrous, many credible and all utterly unprovable.Yet the foundations of the Inquisition were created from the four mortal lords and administrators of the Imperium chosen by Malcador, while the Grey Knights, the first and most effective of the Inquisition's Chambers Militant, were forged from the eight Loyalist Astartes. The foundation of the Inquisition remains shrouded in mystery and is still a much-debated subject amongst Imperial scholars.Though it is widely known across the galaxy that the Inquisition exists, its deeds are all but impossible to trace. Records are sealed, restricted or simply destroyed. Witnesses are silenced, suffer telepathic mind-wipe or are slain out of hand. Yet the signs are there for those who know how to look for them.Many Imperial scholars believe that the Inquisition played a pivotal role in such momentous events as the Second Founding, The Beheading and the Fall of Nova Terra. There are gaps in official records that indicate whole branches of the Adeptus Terra have been put to the sword in the past, and who but the Inquisition have the authority to do such a thing, let alone disguise the act thereafter?Most who seek the Inquisition's past go a lifetime without proof, and those that do uncover evidence have a tendency to disappear. Some attract an Inquisitor's attention, their skills deemed suitable for advancing the Inquisition's goals. Most simply perish, their lifeless bodies later discovered in situations so damning as to call their character into question. The Inquisition watch over the Imperium -- they do not care to be watched in return.It is generally accepted that the Inquisition only solidified into its truly modern form some time in the middle of the 32nd Millennium after the formal birth of the Imperial Cult as the state religion of the Imperium, some 800 Terran years after the end of the Horus Heresy, although its essential components and apparatus (the Black Ships, the "Witch Hunters" of the Sisters of Silence, etc.) were active in the Imperium during the Great Crusade before the Horus Heresy began.Newly uncovered sources indicate that the Inquisition had 12 key founders, who were active before, during and after the Great Crusade. As noted above, at the start of the Heresy the Emperor had ordered His regent, Malcador the Sigillite, to gather men and women of unswerving loyalty and devotion who might seek out the hidden foes of all Mankind.Malcador ultimately presented 12 such individuals to the Emperor just before the start of the Siege of Terra, 4 of them mortal Imperial administrators of "an inquisitive nature" and 8 of them Space Marines drawn from his own Astartes special agents, the Knights-Errant. The Knights-Errant were Loyalists Malcador had been tasked with gathering from across the galaxy who were drawn from the remaining Loyalist Astartes Legions or who had escaped their Traitor Legions after the massacre at Istvaan III. These 8 Astartes would go on to become the first of what would later be known as the Grey Knights, the Chamber Militant of the Inquisition's Ordo Malleus, the Daemonhunters. The Inquisition was originally a unified organisation with no separate divisions, wholly dedicated to fighting the corruption of Chaos wherever it reared its head within Imperial space.In the 32nd Millennium, following the War of the Beast and the near-destruction of Terra by the Orks in service to the Warlord known as The Beast, the Inquisition was formally divided into two major orders or "ordos," the Ordo Malleus which continued the Inquisition's original mission of combating the forces of Chaos and the newly formed Ordo Xenos which dedicated itself to protecting Humanity from assault by alien species. The Ordo Xenos received the Deathwatch, an alliance of Space Marines drawn from many different Chapters also originally created to fight the Orks, as its Chamber Militant, while the Grey Knights continued to serve the Ordo Malleus.A third major Ordo, the Ordo Hereticus, was created within the Inquisition after the terrible events of the Age of Apostasy in the 36th Millennium to prevent a future Reign of Blood and Plague of Unbelief. It was assigned the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas as its Chamber Militant and tasked with searching out all enemies of the God-Emperor who existed within the Imperium's own political, religious and economic structures, including rogue psykers, mutants and other Renegades. It is for this reason that the members of the Ordo Hereticus are often called "witch hunters."