Unpublished fluff, since discarded but an xplanation of the basis for the Ordo Veritas
History and Mission
of the
Ordo Veritas
The Ordo Veritas dates from the time of the Horus Heresy and the original founding of the Inquisition itself. It is often considered to be an Ordo Minoris, but it is not. It is the smallest of the Major Orders. It‘s mission involves the protection and sustenance of the person of the Ever-living Emperor. The greater part of the Ordo is involved in the operation of the Black Ships; those ships that scour the Imperium for psykers which can be used to sustain the Golden Throne. It is vitally important that the psykers be ‘pure‘ and untainted by corruption. It is just as imperative that the psykers are delivered in good condition. It is also necessary that anyone admitted into the physical presence of the Emperor must be screened and vetted very thoroughly, and yet many of these persons are important members of the Administratum or other branches of the Imperium. The traditional methods of Examination and Interrogation employed by the Ordo Malleus and the Ordo Hereticus are totally unsuitable for use in these circumstances. The Ordo Xenos shoots first and asks questions later. The Ordo Veritas are the most expert of Examiners and Interrogators and their subjects hardly ever suffer permanent damage, unless that is the intent.
Over the years, the Ordo Veritas has expanded its mission to include oversight of all of the highest levels of the departments of the High Lords of Terra. It is the Ordo Veritas that issues the Patent of Orthodoxy to the Navigator’s Guild, the Emperor’s Imprimatur to the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the Holy Blessing to members of the Ecclesiarchy. The Ordo Veritas also fulfils the formal role of Inspectors-General throughout the Imperium. Again, these are all situations where the less sophisticated methods of the other Ordos would be totally inappropriate.
The Ordo Veritas is comparatively small and, while it reports back to the High Lords of Terra, it is specifically prohibited from maintaining or organizing any significant military force, to keep its power and influence under control. The Ordo Veritas is generally looked down upon by the other Ordos of the Inquisition and its members are considered soft and/or effete. Of course, the reverse is also true. The Ordo Veritas tends to regard most other Inquisitors as brutal butchers, necessary brutal butchers, but butchers none-the-less. It is also true that he Ordo Veritas gets less respect than most of the other Ordos of the Inquisition. An Inquisitor engenders a great less fear and awe on Terra, where great magnates of the Imperium are a dime a dozen. It is the difference between theoretical and practical power. The high echelons of the Ordo Veritas are master politicians and it is no accident that more than 75% of the Masters of the Conclave of the Inquisition, one of the twelve High Lords of Terra, have been members of the Ordo Veritas. They know where the bodies are buried and how to operate the levers of power to advance the agenda of the Inquisition as a whole and the agenda of the Ordo Veritas in particular. Because of their perceived weakness, they are more trusted to be impartial.
Philosophically, as a consequence of their main mission, maintenance of the Golden Throne and the Astronomicon, the Ordo Veritas must be considered the very definition of the Amalathian creed and thus a part of the Puritan faction. However, because of its work with psykers and mutants both with the Navigators Guild and the Black Ships, the Ordo Veritas must be considered to have some Radical elements in its mission. The Ordo Veritas does not consider that all means should be used, merely the traditional means. These means clearly include Sanctioned Psykers and Navigators who, by any rational classification, must be considered deviant and mutant, but again traditional deviant and mutant, and necessary too.
Over time, the Ordo Veritas has actually become more Radical. In the beginning, there were plenty of candidates to power the Golden Throne and the Astronomicon. Unfortunately, as the Imperium has expanded, the supply of ‘pure’ psykers has proved to be insufficient. Fortunately, the Ordo Veritas has found a solution to this problem. Unless very highly trained and protected, and perhaps even then, psykers are inevitably corrupted by their contact with the Warp. The Ordo Veritas rapidly discovered that nearly every identified psyker, even those who did not know that they were psykers and who had never exhibited any psykic behavior, were somewhat corrupted by their contact with the Warp. If these psykers were to be used for either the Golden Throne or the Astronomicon, over time, these would undoubtedly become polluted. The Ordo Veritas, therefore, developed the techniques and equipment to purify these psykics and to remove the taint of the Warp from them. During the development of this process, it was discovered that the incidence of psykic behavior was increasing and that, by the 37th millennium, the vast majority of Imperial citizens have some slight psykic potential. This is a bad thing because it makes these citizens easier targets for the forces of Chaos. This is a good thing because it vastly increases the source of power for the Golden Throne and the Astronomicon. This secret knowledge forms the basis for the Ordo Veritas’ actions.
The Ordo Veritas believes, and acts in the belief, that every Imperial citizen can be saved and, with sufficient Correction, their soul can be purified to the point that it can be joined with that of the Ever-living Emperor. That the Correction almost always results in the death of the physical body is unimportant. What is important is that the soul can be saved. To this end, the Ordo Veritas has developed the Psykic Accumulator, a device which allows them to store and preserve the soul-essence of the Corrected. What is not often realized, for good reason, is that the vast percentage of those who board a Black Ship, do not leave it alive. Their soul-essence is transferred to the huge Psykic Accumulators, their bodies reprocessed. The only psyker candidates with arrive alive on Terra are those deemed suitable for training as psykers in the service of the Imperium as Sanctioned Psykers or members of the Inquisition. Occasionally psykers are sent to the Adeptus Astartes for training although most Chapters recruit their own members. The Ordo Veritas thus considers the extreme methods used by many of the other Ordos to be very wasteful. The Exterminatus destroys so many souls that could be Corrected and used for the greater need of the Imperium. From the other side, the other Ordos, unaware of the secret, see the Ordo Veritas’ view as weakness and pandering to the corrupted, further reinforcing their view of the Ordo Veritas as weak and effette; out of touch the harsh realities of the front-line fight against Heretics, Mutants, and Aliens. Everyone does agree that the Ordo Veritas are experts at finding the truth. Their Examiners and Interrogators are masters of their craft. The truth is found and the subject usually survives. In some cases this is extremely valuable, but much of the time ‘Kill them all and let the Emperor sort them out’ is the preferred battle cry.
As far as the other parts of the Imperium are concerned, the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Navigators Guild, the Adeptus Astartes, and the Administratum, the Ordo Veritas is seen as the ‘sensible’ arm of the Inquisition, people that you can do business with, the lesser of the evils. The Ecclesiarch and the Adeptus Arbites are natural allies of the Ordo Veritas. The soul-saving mission of the Ordo Veritas is completely aligned with the soul-saving mission of the Ecclesiarchy, even if for a different reason. Many of the psykers taken away by the Black Ship would develop into potential troubles for the Adeptus Arbites and might attract the attention of the Ordo Hereticus or Ordo Malleus. Their elimination or removal by the Ordo Veritas is seen as a good thing for all. No one looks forward to an Ordo Hereticus investigation and few seem to survive them.
