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I did some research and according to the super old fluff they could. But with the current fluff people seem to be divided. Some say there’s a Death Watch Captain that took over a whole retinue after the Inquisitor he was attached to died and some say there is a Grey Knight guy who is being groomed to be one. So with that being said? What yall think?

Well..erm…maybe?

The main strength of an Inquisitor is being able to blend in, ideally within the upper echelons of Imperial Society and downward. An Astartes, in person, is gonna stick out like a sore thumb.

Now, an Astartes elevated to such could play that game via cat’s paws, but would need to be able to trust said cat’s paws implicitly. Which no Inquisitor worth their salt would ever do

So I’d have to argue “nothing stopping it happening, but it’s wildly impractical”

While I agree with the sentiment, Ravenor flies around in a personal hover tank. If the idea interests you, have fun exploring it. It's a big galaxy and anything can happen.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Well..erm…maybe?

The main strength of an Inquisitor is being able to blend in, ideally within the upper echelons of Imperial Society and downward. An Astartes, in person, is gonna stick out like a sore thumb.

Now, an Astartes elevated to such could play that game via cat’s paws, but would need to be able to trust said cat’s paws implicitly. Which no Inquisitor worth their salt would ever do

So I’d have to argue “nothing stopping it happening, but it’s wildly impractical”

So this topic was brought up a lot.

It's your hobby, if you want to make a marine Inquisitor then go for it. It's a big bad galaxy and nobody knows everything that's out there.

The rosette can be used for overt action a lot more than people think it can.

I'm sure it would maybe pop up somewhere, 40k being the big sandbox it is.

In terms of practicality, it would certainly be interesting story-wise. Astartes already hold a lot of sway being Angels of Death and throwing in the clout of an Inquisitor would be an interesting step.

Again, kind of.

I don’t doubt that in terms of getting the High Heedyins to fall in line and buck their ideas up, even an unarmoured Astartes is quite the persuasive argument.

But Inquisitors don’t just operate there. And never have. Their job is to root out corruption and heresy, ideally before it really becomes a planetary problem.

And for that? An Astartes is singularly ill-suited, on account you can spot them really easily, and from there scurry off and/or hide your heretical trinkets and that.

Though, as an Inquisitorial Asset? There’s certainly some to be said for Brother Sargent Blimey O’Blatant being presented as The Inquisitor. A pants filling icon of terror that Sister Definitely McOnyourside use to better infiltrate your ranks, before the pair of them deliver a proper shoeing to your nascent cult.

Ok, but there are Inquisitors who cut about as crusaders rather than operatives.

Rank can only be conferred by another Inquisitor so if an Astartes gets that rank and takes over the assets their previous master Inquisitor had, they don't need to go from detective to warleader in the same way a raw recruit would.

You don't see Coteaz or Karamzov cutting about like Columbo after all.

I’d still argue an Astartes Inquisitor would be very limited.

For turning up and intimidating whatever Powers That Be? Sure. But, the Inquisitorial Seal itself carries a lot of weight in that regard.

For going all sneaky and infiltration? Utterly useless.

Also, it’s not a good use of a strictly limited Imperial asset. Astartes are the final word in Shock and Awe tactics. In the modern Imperium, they’re the ultimate force multiplier. 10 Marines deployed to slaughter the enemy’s command work best with the Imperial Guard ramping up the overall pressure. Ideally coralling the enemy High Command to a central location, where a single Drop can deliver enough Marines to not only smush said High Command, but cause enough general damage and confusion The Guard can just roll the rest up.

Allies and assets? Yes. Actual rank? Nowt to stop it so far as I’m aware, but such a waste it feels unlikely.

Both Astartes and Sororitas are noted as possible Inquisitors IIRC (and Rogue Traders)

Worth remembering that neither are "just" warriors - they excell in that field but those eligiable for the role of Inqusitor are likely to have hundreds of years of experience and knowledge - Astartes in particular will be able to consider many possibilites quicker than mortals.

Inquisitors don't just sneak about - some command crusades and fleets (as is their right) and a Marine or Sororitas can potentially do this extermely well.

Lastly a Marine or Sororitas injured enough to not be able to cope with full front line duties can still make a formidable Inquistor.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’d still argue an Astartes Inquisitor would be very limited.

For turning up and intimidating whatever Powers That Be? Sure. But, the Inquisitorial Seal itself carries a lot of weight in that regard.

It's not just intimidation it is awe and even reverence. Sure an Inquisitor enacts the will of the Emperor, but an Astartes is an Angel, a physical manifestation of the Emperor's power and his grace.

For going all sneaky and infiltration? Utterly useless.

Also, it’s not a good use of a strictly limited Imperial asset. Astartes are the final word in Shock and Awe tactics. In the modern Imperium, they’re the ultimate force multiplier. 10 Marines deployed to slaughter the enemy’s command work best with the Imperial Guard ramping up the overall pressure. Ideally coralling the enemy High Command to a central location, where a single Drop can deliver enough Marines to not only smush said High Command, but cause enough general damage and confusion The Guard can just roll the rest up.

Allies and assets? Yes. Actual rank? Nowt to stop it so far as I’m aware, but such a waste it feels unlikely.

Again though, not all Inquisitors are detectives in the basic sense so being an investigator on the ground wouldn't necessarily be their role. That's why Acolytes exist after all.

As a story hook, I think it's quite interesting. How the various organisations of the Imperium would react to this Inquisitor would be a great angle to explore. Do fellow Astartes feel this Inquisitor has betrayed their very nature or do they see them as an oddity that can bridge the divide between the two most independent arms of the Imperium? How does the Inquisition feel about this extremely powerful warrior who is not only physically more powerful than most of them but also "naturally" is likely older than most Inquisitors and will very likely outlast them as well? Would they sabotage the Inquisitor's career to make sure they never amass enough power to become a political threat?
What about the politicians? That Astartes could eventually come to sit on among the High Lords of Terra an idea that would likely terrify those who think of it.
Would the Inquisitor go down the path of Radicalism and start to build their power base? What if they were the last of their Chapter, would they use their newfound power to rebuild or found a new one?

It’s definitely an interesting story hook. But you’d need to take into account that Astartes are for a certain, pretty limited purpose. Which isn’t just making stuff go splat, but keeping it splatted.

Within the Inquisition as a whole? Yes, an Astartes Inquisitor would have its place.

But not within the narratively interesting Inquistion. Where they seek to save worlds before the almost assuredly present chaos or genestealer cults get too strong. To delve into the darkest, mankiest of crevices to winkle out the nasty whilst it’s still nascent.

An Astartes cannot do that by their very nature. They can’t infiltrate the general populace.

I recall a scene in the early Eisenhorn books when they are watching the Victory Parade (when Ravener has a nasty accident) and the one thing that gets remarked upon is when the Inquisitors are marching through - they are basically without any semblance of unity.

Some Inquisitors operate as front line operatives infiltrating worlds; rooting out evil in person. Others (and Ravener does this a lot) operate from the shadows and command a team.

Some command small teams; others establish large spy networks; some flash their badge and nab a huge warship and a small army to themselves.


They all have the same general goal, but can be entirely individual in how they get there.



An Astartes might not be a spy, in fact they'd be a rubbish spy on most worlds that aren't a heavy gravity industrial world where their enhanced size and body muscle might go undetected.
However there's nothing stopping one creating a force of additional spies to be their eyes and ears. Indeed they might be very effective creating a team of spies to identify key targets and then boom the Astartes warps in with a warship, their own power-armour and a company of Imperial Guard to wipe out whatever the threat is. A heavy hitter rather than a subtle knife.

It takes all kinds. Indeed several times Eisenhorn loses a LOT of his staff because whilst he and they are highly trained, they are still a very small outfit in any one place at any one time. When the threat isn't just a few cultists; but a whole vast armed force (or say a Warlord titan....) then he's really lacking the big guns and armed forces to tackle such a threat.

At which point he has to rely on others to come and aid up.

I always wondered about this Kev Walker art Inquisitor Hand is looking VERY large vs the attendants. But, in the comic, he's no where near this size- It may be artistic license, or Kev painted this and then only added the character to the Daemonifuge series later. Granted, his head is human- sized.. but it's like he took some Ultramarine armor and put it on, like a kid wearing Dad's overcoat..

It's a big galaxy, and I don't think there's technically any reason that it wouldn't be "legal" for lack of a better term. It's just that the hypothetical astartes inquisitor would need a lot of unusual circumstances to conspire to make it happen.

* Become a marine. Granted, there have been a lot of marines over the years, but not *that* many. And significantly fewer within a couple centuries of whatever time period your character exists in.

* Cross paths with an inquisitor.

* The inquisitor would have to decide they want our astartes to be their successor for some reason. Astartes are generally encouraged to focus on a relatively limited skill set and to have a relatively specific personality/paradigm. Presumably, the inquisitor would need to have been impressed by our astartes' skills and/or personality moreso than by any of the available non-astartes candidates they had access to. If an inquisitor wants some astartes-level muscle, he can just try to arrange for the marine to be a henchman. There isn't innately much reason to want to make a marine into an actual inquisitor unless you just really like the unique traits of this particular marine. I guess a quirky inquisitor might want to make it happen for religious reasons or for the stability that comes with having a potentially long-lived individual within the inquisition. Or in the case of the GK guy, maybe it's the incorruptibility they're looking for?

* Presumably there might be some drama/politics involving the astarte's chapter. After all, marines are a scarce resource. Chapters don't normally just let people go off to pursue new career paths, nor do marines seem to love the idea of prolonged isolation from their brothers.

* Inquisitors have been known to take shots at each other if they disapprove of one anothers' methods or natures. I imagine an astartes inquisitor would draw a certain amount of unhealthy interest from his peers.

So it's possible but would also be kind of weird. The sort of thing that seems unlikely to happen more than once or twice during the 10,000 years the inquisition has existed.

Feels most suited for a Dark Angels Chaplain - after all, they're already an Interrogator...

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
It’s definitely an interesting story hook. But you’d need to take into account that Astartes are for a certain, pretty limited purpose. Which isn’t just making stuff go splat, but keeping it splatted.

Within the Inquisition as a whole? Yes, an Astartes Inquisitor would have its place.

Ok, but we're talking about the Inquisition as a whole, not an obscure Radical sub-sect that thinks the Emperor is really a crab and is trying to evolve humanity into super crabs or something.
Also, Astartes absolutely are multifaceted, and certain Chapters prove this. Warriors yes but poets, scholars, administrators, and builders too. When your lifespan is widely believed to be functionally immortal, you have the time to learn these things.

But not within the narratively interesting Inquistion. Where they seek to save worlds before the almost assuredly present chaos or genestealer cults get too strong. To delve into the darkest, mankiest of crevices to winkle out the nasty whilst it’s still nascent.

An Astartes cannot do that by their very nature. They can’t infiltrate the general populace.

Firstly, that's your opinion that the detective stuff is more interesting.
Secondly, that angle is one that would be amazing to explore. How does an Inquisitor who cannot do the standard infiltration and investigation themselves go about this? You're looking at problems and not thinking "How would they do this?".


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 Wyldhunt wrote:
It's a big galaxy, and I don't think there's technically any reason that it wouldn't be "legal" for lack of a better term. It's just that the hypothetical astartes inquisitor would need a lot of unusual circumstances to conspire to make it happen.

* Become a marine. Granted, there have been a lot of marines over the years, but not *that* many. And significantly fewer within a couple centuries of whatever time period your character exists in.

* Cross paths with an inquisitor.

Not difficult in the grand scheme. Thousands of Chapters over thousands of years, a lot of them get wiped out for one reason or another. The Crimson Consuls for example were part of a group of Chapters that were targeted by the Alpha Legion and an Inquisitor took the one remaining Astartes into his personal retinue.

* The inquisitor would have to decide they want our astartes to be their successor for some reason. Astartes are generally encouraged to focus on a relatively limited skill set and to have a relatively specific personality/paradigm. Presumably, the inquisitor would need to have been impressed by our astartes' skills and/or personality moreso than by any of the available non-astartes candidates they had access to. If an inquisitor wants some astartes-level muscle, he can just try to arrange for the marine to be a henchman. There isn't innately much reason to want to make a marine into an actual inquisitor unless you just really like the unique traits of this particular marine. I guess a quirky inquisitor might want to make it happen for religious reasons or for the stability that comes with having a potentially long-lived individual within the inquisition. Or in the case of the GK guy, maybe it's the incorruptibility they're looking for?

I think its important to remember that Astartes are still human and capable of many things. The Knights Errant were evidence of this and proof that Astartes could fill the role of what would come to be Inquisitors.

* Presumably there might be some drama/politics involving the astarte's chapter. After all, marines are a scarce resource. Chapters don't normally just let people go off to pursue new career paths, nor do marines seem to love the idea of prolonged isolation from their brothers.

* Inquisitors have been known to take shots at each other if they disapprove of one anothers' methods or natures. I imagine an astartes inquisitor would draw a certain amount of unhealthy interest from his peers.

This is why I think this hook is so good. You'd be taking an individual from a notoriously independent military arm and placing them in a position of power in another notoriously independent but intensely controlling military arm.

That is a cool hook, but kind of reduces, or risks reducing I suppose is the better wording, to the Inquisitor being the unseen Charlie, issuing orders to the Angels via Bosley.

A single Astartes, perhaps the sole remaining of a now extinct Chapter could be a fun thing there. After all, on his own he can’t achieve much. He may have limited or no access to his former Chapter Assets, and so went that route, the rank perhaps conferred because he missed the extinction because he was seconded to an Inquisitor, who saw the advantage in a functionally immortal asset who doesn’t need to sleep and has been genhanced.


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Though we do have retired Custodes doing pretty much that, too.

And given the inherent distrust Custodes have for Astartes, we might see such an agent take umbrage at an Astartes holding that sort of power.

Also a Marine Inquisitor acting as the Alpha Legion do would work - in the background for the most part, using operatives and tech to process the info and then acting as the leader of or the entire strike team when needed

And thats before we even consider Marine Psykers and what they can do.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
That is a cool hook, but kind of reduces, or risks reducing I suppose is the better wording, to the Inquisitor being the unseen Charlie, issuing orders to the Angels via Bosley.

Again I very much disagree. The role of investigators is definitely important to the character of the Inquisition but we have prime examples of those who are crusaders or warleaders rather than detectives. There is space for both.

Even then with regard to the whole infiltration aspect, it's not like we don't have examples of Astartes already doing that with the likes of the Alpha Legion and Raven Guard (plus their various successors). As you yourself have also said, the Eyes of the Emperor do it too.
On a world of trillions, who is really going to notice one person who's larger than the average person? Ogryns and all sorts of mutants and abhumans exist after all. Take an Astartes out of their armour and put them in a cloak and they can blend in.

Yeah, I don't see any obvious issues with the odd Astartes Inquisitor. As pointed out, the main issue is recruitment. I suspect the Deathwatch would be one of the easiest routes.

Regarding the role of Inquisitors. Inquisitors are not spies. Espionage is one of the many tools available to them, but not the only one. For every Gregor Eisenhorn or Amberley Vail that like to shroud themselves in a cover story, there is a Commodus Voke or Fyodor Karamazov for whom subterfuge is bordering on heresy. As mentioned, there are also plenty of Inquisitors who cannot blend in due to other reasons, such as Gideon Ravenor, and he has an entire book series despite any direct espionage being performed by subordinates.

Further to this, the Imperium is a very diverse culture and there are a multitude of ways to hide an Astartes Inquisitor in plain sight. The simplest would be to pretend to be an Astartes bodyguard attached to a high ranking individual like a Rogue Trader- the individual actually being part of the retinue or a close associate. Such bodyguard assignments are rare but such treaties have been seen in the lore (like Ragnar Blackmane having a stint protecting a Navigator family).

Another method is to disguise as a more common human role that may be oversized through other means- an Adept of the Mechanicum may work well (especially if the Astartes in question had originated from a technologically gifted Chapter). I also doubt an Astartes would look out of place on a world like Necromunda with Goliaths running about.

Ultimately, if Custodes can ably sneak about and infiltrate the Imperium, a Marine should be able to do the same with the right training.

My 2 cents - Absolutely not.

Astartes are Astartes. They are 100% members of the Adeptus Astartes and Only in Death Does Duty End.

The Inquisition is the watchdog origination of the Imperium. All its members are human, not Abhuman and not posthuman. There is no place for mixed loyality. Many may serve the human Inquistors, but no one not human may be one.

This is why the Grey Knights and Deathwatch exist. Astartes originations that are the Chambers Miliitant of the Inquisition. Their primary purpose is to serve the Inquisition, but they are Astartes originations with wholly Astartes leadership.

 alextroy wrote:
My 2 cents - Absolutely not.

Astartes are Astartes. They are 100% members of the Adeptus Astartes and Only in Death Does Duty End.

The Inquisition is the watchdog origination of the Imperium. All its members are human, not Abhuman and not posthuman. There is no place for mixed loyality. Many may serve the human Inquistors, but no one not human may be one.

This is why the Grey Knights and Deathwatch exist. Astartes originations that are the Chambers Miliitant of the Inquisition. Their primary purpose is to serve the Inquisition, but they are Astartes originations with wholly Astartes leadership.

I pretty much agree with this. Also, given the Inquisition was founded in the aftermath of the HH, I would suggest there’d be a very deliberate focus on them being human not Astartes and even to this day probably an uneasiness wrt giving an Astartes nominally unlimited authority (however much in practice a Chapter Master probably has more de facto power than the vast majority of inquisitors).

There’d also be the issue of them breaking away from their chapter, though I guess Deathwatch black shields could be a recruiting path in that regard.

Functionally though the higher echelons of the Grey Knights and Deathwatch do much of the things a hypothetical Astartes Inquisitor would and IMO splitting one off to actually become an Inquisitor would be a much more unusual path.

I am gonna buck the trend and say no, under no circumstances can a Space marine become a true inquisitor, would they be capable, sure of course they were designed to excel in many way.

the issue though is the Inquisition themselves as well as the Imperium, they are extremely locked into their political structures to the extent factions such as the monodominants would instantly declare the marine a heretic for breaking the Emperors holy tenets in the formation of the Imperium, the Marines are the warriors, the angels of death they are NOT Inquisitors as such any deviation of that would be heretical.

remember that to many inquistiorial factions the structures of the Imperium are not just functions of government but holy institutions laid down by the Emperors decree and holy in their own right, no deviation allowed, in this manner they are similar to the Tau caste system albeit with an Imperial streak.


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another though, should an inquisitor somehow get a hold of some geneseed and makes their own marine in a clandestine manner or even uses it on themselves, well, that is a radical at least and the whole inquisition would come down on them.

Many thanks inquisitors are hundreds of years old and subjected themselves to a range of genetic modification starting from rejuvenat treatments to the guy who got himself made to look more horse-like to scare people. Many are also psykers. I feel that Inqusitors aren’t necessarily any more baseline human than Marines are.

I would definately agree that a marine inquisitor would be near unique, across a million worlds and 10,000 years or more of time, there is a lot of room for exceptions to the rule.

 Flinty wrote:
Many thanks inquisitors are hundreds of years old and subjected themselves to a range of genetic modification starting from rejuvenat treatments to the guy who got himself made to look more horse-like to scare people. Many are also psykers. I feel that Inqusitors aren’t necessarily any more baseline human than Marines are.

I would definately agree that a marine inquisitor would be near unique, across a million worlds and 10,000 years or more of time, there is a lot of room for exceptions to the rule.

They’re not, but they like to think of themselves as such (or rather the epitome of humanity). IoM loves itself some hypocrisy.

Garro comes to mind as a proto-Inquisitor of sorts with the line of investigative work he did for Malcador leading up to the siege.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
An Astartes cannot do that by their very nature. They can’t infiltrate the general populace.

Not every inquisitor does. One of the first inquisitors that we meet in the Eisenhorn books is Commodus Voke. Eisenhorn notes in his narrative that Voke never goes undercover himself. He always uses the power of his inquisitorial office to get what he wants when he performs investigations, and he initially looks down on Eisenhorn for being the kind of inquisitor who goes undercover. Despite Voke's attitude toward undercover work, the books suggest that he's a successful inquisitor, and has dealt with many threats to the Imperium.

 Formosa wrote:
I am gonna buck the trend and say no, under no circumstances can a Space marine become a true inquisitor, would they be capable, sure of course they were designed to excel in many way.

the issue though is the Inquisition themselves as well as the Imperium, they are extremely locked into their political structures to the extent factions such as the monodominants would instantly declare the marine a heretic for breaking the Emperors holy tenets in the formation of the Imperium, the Marines are the warriors, the angels of death they are NOT Inquisitors as such any deviation of that would be heretical.

remember that to many inquistiorial factions the structures of the Imperium are not just functions of government but holy institutions laid down by the Emperors decree and holy in their own right, no deviation allowed, in this manner they are similar to the Tau caste system albeit with an Imperial streak.


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another though, should an inquisitor somehow get a hold of some geneseed and makes their own marine in a clandestine manner or even uses it on themselves, well, that is a radical at least and the whole inquisition would come down on them.

The Inquisition seldoms if ever acts as a body and many have complicated webs of allies in other Inqusitors - the most you normally get is a a group of Inqusitors ganging up on another.

The Structures and strictures of trhe Imperium are myraid and contradictory.- if an Astartes can become an Rogue Trader an Inquisitor seems very very possible