The Inquisitor’s Library

[bryant]

Dark Heresy. You are the retinue of Inquisitor Lord Zane Castis, the oldest Inquisitor in the Calixis Sector. His purview is heretical documents, which — for centuries — he has collected from the hands of those who would misuse them. Generally not peacefully.

All such documents are stored in the vast ship Tabularium Bibluvio, which also serves as Inquisitor Lord Castis’ headquarters. It is a sphere, dwarfing lesser ships. The heretical archive is contained in the featureless top half of the sphere; below that, the sphere is hollow for half of the bottom hemisphere, with four mighty black pylons connecting the archive to the living quarters which make up the bottom quarter of the sphere. Shuttles and other such less important spacecraft dock on the top of the living quarters.

Over the centuries, the weight of such a convocation of Chaos and lies has literally warped the space around it. It is deeply unsafe to venture into the archive; at present, Inquisitor Lord Castis affords no other person that right. He himself communes with the texts therein on a regular basis, in order “to keep them under control.” From time to time, horrendous monsters rage down the pylons to assault the remainder of the ship. One of your duties is defense against these unfortunate but inevitable results of the ship’s mission.

Your second duty is to assist your Inquisitor in confiscating more documents. The flow is never ending. Vigilance is paramount. This duty takes you to the foulest slums of the Sector, and also to the most lovely nests of corruption. Chaos knows well how to wear a harmless face. Inquisitor Lord Castis is known for his lack of mercy towards nobility who hope to conceal their heretical studies from him.

Your third and final duty, as given to you a few months ago when you were sent to serve Inquisitor Lord Castis, is to watch him. Eventually, he will bend and break under the strain of the archive. You cannot, of course, hope to defeat an Imperial Inquisitor: the Calixis Conclave merely hopes that, in the event of a catastrophe, you will be able to get out word before your death.

Best of luck.

Originally published at Imaginary Vestibule.

Comments

[michele-blue.livejournal.com]

Oh look. Dark religious themes mixed with crazy. You know my liking of such things. ;)

[that-cad.livejournal.com]

So we'll do character creation when I get back from D.C., right?

[head58.livejournal.com]

Why aren't we playing this right the hell now?

[bluegargantua]

I totally want to be in on this. Blood for the Blood Go--I mean ALL HAIL THE EMPEROR!

In the grim future of libraries, there are only fines
Tom

[head58.livejournal.com]

psst, hey Tom - join this over here: ephemeralcircus

[my-tallest.livejournal.com]

Blood and books for my Lord Khorne.. err, Inquisitor.

[my-tallest.livejournal.com]

Only if I can play Grim Grimmy McGrimster, Sergeant, honor-bound Believer and chainsword wielder.

"You... you broke the Rule. You are without honor. I sorrow that I must kill you."

Either that, or a Sanrio character in full gear. "In the grim future of Hello Kitty..."

[bryant]

This is well-supported by the rules. Yes.

It's kind of clever, actually. The setup for the game is that you're an Inquisitor's retinue, and since an Inquisitor needs all types, there's room for everything. Space Marines, scum, psykers, tech-priests, assassins, etc., etc.

[dcltdw]

Ooh, I like how it's just not possible to destroy heretical material. Or so I read the implication.

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

So heresy is a fundamental particle? Heresy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed?

What's the quantum particle of heresy? The heron? The perfect? The gnoson? What units is it measured in? "Sir, we're detecting a background rise of 5.23 Centiluthers at Regina Downport..."

[dcltdw]

I'm heavily biased by my time playing Ars Magica, so heresy could be the work of the Infernal (but not necessarily so, I think). If the particular heresy is the work of the Infernal, then one of the traits of demons is that they are absolute masters of deception. So you may think you burned that book, but perhaps its infernal essence merely turned into smoke that went up the chimney -- and can be collected and reconstituted somehow elsewhere. Or if the work is sufficiently powerful to have innate power, you get overwhelmed by an illusion of the book burning, but in reality, the book is quite undamaged.

So my answer is more along the lines of "magic knows". For example, the "take me home" spell: it's not that you have 14.8 milli-denarthians of attachment to where you grew up and 15.1 milli-denarthians of attachment to where you currently live, so therefore the spell takes you to where you currently live -- no no no, magic knows, and that's why the spell takes you there.

[bryant]

Oh, god, Ars players... ;)

In W40K, it's that evil is too useful to give up. E.g., the Emperor of Mankind is essentially a lich. Thousands of people are sacrificed every week to keep him going. But it's necessary, because his godlike will is the only thing that keeps humanity even partially safe from Chaos.

So the dangerous documents are kept safe in case they're needed at some point.