Editing Inquisition (section)

==History==
[[Image:Inquisitors.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Monty Python|Bet you weren't expecting]] [[Spanish Inquisition|that!]] (They're not wielding the Soft Cushions and the dreaded Comfy Chair.)]]
So when it became obvious that the Emperor's plan to starve the [[Chaos Gods]] with [[Imperial Truth|atheism]] was a failure due to the [[Horus Heresy]], the Big E tasked [[Malcador the Sigillite]] with the formation of the Inquisition. Charged with finding "men of character" to seek out the [[heresy|traitor]], the [[xenos|xeno]], the [[daemon]], and the unexpecting, the Inquisition serves as the secret protectors (or murderers) of the [[Imperium of Man]], guarding it from those who would destroy it from within, from without, and from [[Warp|beyond]]. The known founders are: Kyril Sindermann, once the [[Iterator]] of [[Horus]]'s fleet and one of the first believers in the Emperor's divinity, Lemuel Gaumon AKA Promeus, a former Remembrancer of the Thousand Sons and the first person to successfully be exorcised and Moriana the Seer, a handmaiden of the Emperor that later became a Chaos worshipper (No surprise that Inquisitors like Quixos defect to Chaos when ONE OF THE FOUNDERS ended up turning traitor!).

The Inquisition began with the [[Knights-Errant]], a group of proto-Grey Knights drafted from Loyalist Space Marines (including those formerly from Legions that had turned traitor) that were active during the Heresy and would include the first Grand Masters of the Grey Knights, forming the beginnings of the Ordo Malleus (the Ordo Malleus wouldn't form proper until the Inquisition also made the Ordo Xenos). Over time, the other ordos were added; the Ordo Xenos after the [[War of The Beast]] (partly to manage the brand new [[Deathwatch]]), the Ordo Sicarius after the Wars of Vindication, and the Ordo Hereticus after the [[Age of Apostasy]], and so on. Over time, the Inquistion's overall mission became less about fighting the machinations of Chaos so much as preserving the Imperium's integrity as much as possible; as deviance was to be interpreted as disloyalty and therefore Heresy, this also meant they took a more active approach in Imperial affairs.

As part of their duties, [[Inquisitor]]s theoretically have damn near unlimited power, up to and including [[Exterminatus|the destruction of worlds]]. If they have good cause, they can demand service from anyone, from lowly citizens to the [[High Lords of Terra]]. The only people officially exempt from this are the [[Adeptus Custodes]], who can legitimately say they have a more important job in guarding the Emperor on the Golden Throne, not that this has stopped a couple of irredeemably stupid Inquisitors from trying to throw their weight around with them. Messy deaths resulted. The Inquisitorial Representative in person has a tiny bit more leeway with them but this is more of a courtesy and not a subordinate relationship.

In practice, though, it's much more complex. Inquisitors' influence depends on their reputation and "good name". An Inquisitor who has a good record of [[/tg/ gets shit done| getting shit done]], capturing verified and well-known heretics, is not trigger-happy with the pyres and tend to at least say "please" and "thank you" when they require service from other people generally finds them more willing to work with the Inquisitor than [[Fyodor_Karamazov|nutters who will burn innocents just because]], or a greenhorn who just got their rosette. Many Imperial organizations, especially [[Space Marines]], tend to get short about taking orders from anyone save the High Lords or the Emperor. Those who don't tread lightly can find their careers cut short by [[chainsword]] or [[Ork_Kommando#Snipa_Boy|an ork sniper]]. [[Heresy]]? It's only heresy if you're found, and if the guy who can "accidentally" bites it - well, that's hardly your fault, now is it?

Inquisitors can also be attached to large campaigns like crusades as ancillary advisors, in which case they work nominally within the command structure of the Guard and even take orders from senior figures (so long as they feel like it anyway). So whilst they do have practically unlimited temporal power, an Inquisitor using it for frivolous or petty reasons would swiftly get called up for abusing their authority, and an entire Ordo exists for providing oversight on Inquisitors who call an Exterminatus. So an Inquisitors can't just flash their rosette to skip the bar queue or exterminatus the planet because their grox burger didn't have pickles.

With the resurrection of [[Roboute Guilliman]], they are having to tread very carefully around him due to him being the son of the Emperor and being appointed Imperial Regent by His authority, therefore holding many of their same powers and utterly above their jurisdiction, and generally not being happy with their standard operating procedure, or the fact that he introduced several new organisations whose goals fly in the face of much of the Inquisition's previous work at censoring and blacklisting history and records. As of the most recent fluff, they've already started a secret war with Guilliman's new organisations, namely trying (and [[FAIL|failing]]) to stop the Imperial Regent from acquiring a copy of the Lectitio Divinatus dating from the days of LOYAL Word Bearers. The delicious irony that the Inquisition's greatest weapon had been turned against them: the sheer weight and scope of the Imperium.