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pelicaniforce wrote:


# An Inquisitor passes his charisma test and convinces his warband to drop their current gig and start an orchestra that teaches polygamists about water safety. They say fine, but ask who is going to pay for it. The Inquisitor's budget comes from the Inquisition, and the orchestra is not really an inquisition gig, so they have to work evenings at the truck stop.

A rogue trader fails his charisma test and does not convince his henchmen to start an orchestra, but he just bought a chain of space-ship gas stations so he can afford to pay professional musicians instead.

Space opera...LOL!!!

Ok, I do not know abything about class. Thousands of years of social hierarchy are wrong now. It must be good to be an employee and bad to be independently wealthy.

Inquisitors can be independently wealthy. Not all RTs own their ships, many captain them, but the ship itself is owned by someone else... a cartel of investors, the Ecclesiarchy, possibly even the Inquisition itself, either overtly or through a bunch of fronts and dead-drop companies to disguise their role in what the RT is up to.

This makes the RT an employee, in effect, of whomever owns the ship. The captain of the vessel may not hold the Charter, that may well be in possession of a lien-holder, a banking house, a private manufactorum (the AdMech does lease patterns of weapons, vehicles, and everything else to private concerns), or even a noble family who have settled a world, and live a life of luxury, but are still in possession of a fleet of ships and a Writ of Trade. They hire people to captain their ships in their name, but the Captain of said vessels is just another employee, not truly the holder of the Charter.

The way I see it, is that it's a trade off between relative personal freedom, and responsibility.

Rogue Traders, depending on whatever fine print is on their charters, are basically free to roam the galaxy in whatever capacity they please. As long as they remain faithful to the God-Emperor, and promise to spread His holy light and divine influence in all and any endeavours (the fine print, by and large), then they're golden.

The Inquisition, are tied much more palpably and finitely to the running of the Imperium, this is true - on the whole. However, they are also self-appointed. They have decided themselves that they are the police of the entire IoM. They sacrifice the personal freedom of the Traders for a higher role of responsibility. And, as we all know, with great responsibility comes great power. What's more, on an individual level, an Inquisitor can pretty much do whatever the hell s/he likes, as long as the days actions are filed under "in the name of the Emperor, for His protection" in the evenings report... they're golden.

In the event that they should meet and butt heads, you can bet your lunch money that it'll be the Rogue Trader who will be sweating, because in almost all circumstances - including those in which the Trader is the honest party, the Inquisitor is sure to have several ways of making sure that the reports to reach Terra have painted them as a heretic, mutant, witch, xeno-sympathiser... etc, etc.

The same trade off (but on a smaller scale) can be said to exist between the RTs and Imperial Commanders. The latter have sacrificed a mobile power base and the freedom that comes with it, for a fixed one with more immediate, tangible power/wealth. Of course there's varying degrees of pedigree for both - I'm sure there are venerable Trader dynasties who can buy out a Planetary Governor of his/her services/resources - and vice versa.

Having said all that, any Inquisitor will have to have very severe cause (and kahunas the size of the Eye of Terror) to go after a High Lord or Chapter Master...

IRT your last sentence, one of the High Lords is the Grand Master of His Ordos of the Holy Inquisition. I believe his/her primary role is to watch the other High Lords for signs of corruption and heresy, in addition to representing the Inquisition, as a whole.

An Inquisitor is not self appointed btw. A guardsmen isn't going to wake up one day and say to himself, "You know what, flakk this commissar, I'm the one who's going to run the show!" He'd be declared a heretic and executed instantly, or else go rogue. You have to go to school to become an Inquisitor, and then that power is appointed to you.

Edit: Is a Rogue Trader self appointed? How does one become a RT?

The older dynasties get a Warrant of Trade that grants them semi-autonomy and vast resources/influence, and is signed by His Imperial Majesty or a Primarch. The younger dynasties get a Letter of Marque, usually signed by a High Lord or an Imperial Saint, and while granting similar prestige as a Warrant, does not give the same degree of freedom or influence, and must be re-appealed from generation to generation, unlike a Warrant of Trade.

 Psienesis wrote:
IRT your last sentence, one of the High Lords is the Grand Master of His Ordos of the Holy Inquisition. I believe his/her primary role is to watch the other High Lords for signs of corruption and heresy, in addition to representing the Inquisition, as a whole.

Even so, the circumstances are going to have to be pretty exceptional, as technically any Inquisitor has the authority to do it. But none of them, Lord, High Lord or no, would dare act against Terra or a SM Chapter without severe cause, heaps and heaps of evidence, and - no doubt - the assistance of other members of the Terran Council and/or other SM Chapters. And even after all that, the Inquisitor in question would have to have balls the size of moons to do it. That was my point.

 DemetriDominov wrote:
An Inquisitor is not self appointed btw. A guardsmen isn't going to wake up one day and say to himself, "You know what, flakk this commissar, I'm the one who's going to run the show!" He'd be declared a heretic and executed instantly, or else go rogue. You have to go to school to become an Inquisitor, and then that power is appointed to you.

I never said Inquisitors are individually self-appointed, I said The Inquisition, aka the Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition are, on an organisational level, the self-appointed guardian's of the Emperor's will. A group of very powerful and influential individuals took it upon themselves, around the time of the closing of the Great Heresy, and said "we're the police of the Imperium now, we're the ones who are going to decide who's a heretic, who's a witch, who's a mutant, and who's an alien". And that was that. The Holy Ordo was formed (and, eventually expanded and slit into the three Majoris and countless Minoris).