Cruentus wrote:
Well, Eisenhorn starts in Ordos Xenos, but I think by the end is in Malleus. Hence the titles of the three books in the trilogy: Xenos, Hereticus, Malleus.

He starts in the trilogy in the Ordos Xenos, but I also get the feeling that being part of one Ordos or another is a very fluid situation. It may be where your patron or mentor is from, or it may be where your interests or abilities lie. There was very little in Xenos for Eisenhorn that gave me an indication that he actually hunted Xenos. It appeared to be all heretical.

I would describe him as a good Inquisitor, except for the whole Radical slide (which is my favorite part, btw), but I think the actual Ordos doesn't matter so much in actual practice.

Ravenor, on the other hand, does quite a bit with Eldar Farseers, so is very appropriately situated in the Ordos Xenos, again though, with a very Radical slant.

So I think them being bad at their jobs depends on how you want to define what is means to be in one Ordos or another, and I don't think there is much out there about how an Inquisitor gets moved around (or moves around), or gets seconded to another Ordos, and what that means.

As the Inquisition possesses neither formal hierarchy nor leadership, each Inquisitor is free to pursue the mission of Humanity's survival in the manner he or she believes most appropriate. Like-minded fellows gather together to investigate areas of mutual interest or concern, as bounded by one of the many Inquisitorial Ordos. Each Ordo waxes and wanes with the times, for many Inquisitors move freely between them according to where they judge the need to lie. The greater the level of daemonic activity, the larger the Ordo Malleus becomes; in times of heresy, the Ordo Hereticus grows to match the threat. An Ordo can lie fallow for years, existing only as a historical curio until its field of study becomes relevant once more. Such is the nature of the galaxy, however, that some perils -- specifically those posed by the Daemon, the alien and the heretic -- are ever-present. Accordingly, the Ordos dedicated to combating them -- the Ordo Malleus, the Ordo Xenos and the Ordo Hereticus -- are considered Ordos Majoris, for their vigil is never-ending. Nevertheless, there are many scores of Ordos Minoris as well, lesser branches dedicated to more transient dangers.

Association with one of the Inquisitorial Ordos is not a matter of absolute allegiance, for they are no more structured than is the Inquisition itself. Nor does it preclude an Inquisitor's involvement in matters pertaining to another Ordo. There is no formal demarcation, and Inquisitors investigate and act where they wish. Indeed, many Inquisitors would argue that to compartmentalise the foes of Mankind would be a tragic error, for all too often, the lines between disciplines are fine to the point of nonexistence. Just as a plague of mutation might originate from an alien infestation, a blossoming population of psykers might prove to be the vanguard of an imminent daemonic incursion.

Membership of an Ordo is a statement of interest, a field of study. If an Inquisitor declares himself a part of the Ordo Malleus, his fellows will know that his sphere of endeavour encompasses matters daemonic. He need seek no approval to do so, for an Inquisitor has no superiors, save those he chooses to acknowledge. There are sometimes elements of hierarchy to be found within an Ordo, albeit nebulous and highly informal ones. As an Inquisitor grows more accomplished and learned, he garners esteem, and by common consent is graced with a title, such as "Grandmaster". These are marks of respect, rather than unconditional authority. Other Inquisitors may defer to a colleague's experience and reputation, but they are by no means required to do so.

Even within an Ordo, fields of endeavour seldom overlap completely. Each branch, after all, encompasses an almost infinite potential for study and investigation. Even so, Inquisitors sometimes band together into a loose association called a conclave. A conclave is assembled at the request of a respected Inquisitor, who seeks to pool the skills, knowledge and resources of his peers in order to oppose a threat too great for a single Inquisitor to face; an Ork WAAAGH!, a daemonic incursion on a massive scale, or a plague of heresy.

Most commonly, a conclave will call upon only a single Ordo, but it is far from unheard of for a conclave to include several branches of the Inquisition, if the situation requires it. Members of the conclave seldom take a martial lead -- such things are best left to the commander of whichever forces the conclave has requisitioned. Nevertheless, the conclave invariably sends a representative to oversee any military actions, and thus ensure that the focus of the mission is not lost in the heat of battle. If necessary, this emissary will seize command of the entire mission, but most Inquisitors find it preferable to remain in the shadows whilst the Emperor’s armies go about their bloody work.

 Grey Templar wrote:
While the 3 Ordos nominally have different areas of expertise, in practice its not really so clean. Since Inquisitors are technically fully independent, they are free to pursue their investigations in whatever fashion they choose. An Inquisitor will investigate matters as he discovers them, which will always lead down various convoluted rabbit holes. You might start with an investigation looking into a group of humans smuggling alien technology, but end up with a chaos daemon infestation.

They're really more like loose cliques of Inquisitors who have self-professed specialization in a specific type of enemy, with individual inquisitors changing their field as they gain experience in something else.

The only really structured part of each Ordo would be the more administrative parts, along with the Chamber Militant. The Inquisitors and Scribes who collect the data from the Inquisitorial operatives in the field and then funnel that paperwork to Terra. Thats where the distinction of Ordo would really be most relevant, in the sense that it determines what archive the paperwork gets filed in. Chamber Militants get tasked with high profile incidents that are relevant to a specific threat, but again there is probably a lot of Overlap. Grey Knights will end up dealing with Xenos while Deathwatch end up dealing with Daemons at least some portion of the time.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Grain of salt since its from a wiki, but:

Spoiler:

As the Inquisition possesses neither formal hierarchy nor leadership, each Inquisitor is free to pursue the mission of Humanity's survival in the manner he or she believes most appropriate. Like-minded fellows gather together to investigate areas of mutual interest or concern, as bounded by one of the many Inquisitorial Ordos. Each Ordo waxes and wanes with the times, for many Inquisitors move freely between them according to where they judge the need to lie. The greater the level of daemonic activity, the larger the Ordo Malleus becomes; in times of heresy, the Ordo Hereticus grows to match the threat. An Ordo can lie fallow for years, existing only as a historical curio until its field of study becomes relevant once more. Such is the nature of the galaxy, however, that some perils -- specifically those posed by the Daemon, the alien and the heretic -- are ever-present. Accordingly, the Ordos dedicated to combating them -- the Ordo Malleus, the Ordo Xenos and the Ordo Hereticus -- are considered Ordos Majoris, for their vigil is never-ending. Nevertheless, there are many scores of Ordos Minoris as well, lesser branches dedicated to more transient dangers.

Association with one of the Inquisitorial Ordos is not a matter of absolute allegiance, for they are no more structured than is the Inquisition itself. Nor does it preclude an Inquisitor's involvement in matters pertaining to another Ordo. There is no formal demarcation, and Inquisitors investigate and act where they wish. Indeed, many Inquisitors would argue that to compartmentalise the foes of Mankind would be a tragic error, for all too often, the lines between disciplines are fine to the point of nonexistence. Just as a plague of mutation might originate from an alien infestation, a blossoming population of psykers might prove to be the vanguard of an imminent daemonic incursion.

Membership of an Ordo is a statement of interest, a field of study. If an Inquisitor declares himself a part of the Ordo Malleus, his fellows will know that his sphere of endeavour encompasses matters daemonic. He need seek no approval to do so, for an Inquisitor has no superiors, save those he chooses to acknowledge. There are sometimes elements of hierarchy to be found within an Ordo, albeit nebulous and highly informal ones. As an Inquisitor grows more accomplished and learned, he garners esteem, and by common consent is graced with a title, such as "Grandmaster". These are marks of respect, rather than unconditional authority. Other Inquisitors may defer to a colleague's experience and reputation, but they are by no means required to do so.

Even within an Ordo, fields of endeavour seldom overlap completely. Each branch, after all, encompasses an almost infinite potential for study and investigation. Even so, Inquisitors sometimes band together into a loose association called a conclave. A conclave is assembled at the request of a respected Inquisitor, who seeks to pool the skills, knowledge and resources of his peers in order to oppose a threat too great for a single Inquisitor to face; an Ork WAAAGH!, a daemonic incursion on a massive scale, or a plague of heresy.

Most commonly, a conclave will call upon only a single Ordo, but it is far from unheard of for a conclave to include several branches of the Inquisition, if the situation requires it. Members of the conclave seldom take a martial lead -- such things are best left to the commander of whichever forces the conclave has requisitioned. Nevertheless, the conclave invariably sends a representative to oversee any military actions, and thus ensure that the focus of the mission is not lost in the heat of battle. If necessary, this emissary will seize command of the entire mission, but most Inquisitors find it preferable to remain in the shadows whilst the Emperor’s armies go about their bloody work.

 Esmer wrote:
I'd say that this has much to do with Dan Abnett not liking Xenos as driving forces of his stories very much. Gaunt's Ghosts fight exclusively against human enemies too, I believe (though I may be wrong on that one). There was a particular weird bit towards the end of Hereticus where Eisenhorn meets "someone who the Eldar apparently call a 'Farseer' ". You'd really think an Eldar Farseer of all things would not be an alien concept (see what I did there?) to an alleged xeno expert.

Another oddity from Xenos: Eisenhorn encounters some Chaos Space Marines preparing a warp ritual of some sort, so who does he call for backup? Why the Deathwatch of course, who else?

 agurus1 wrote:

 Esmer wrote:
I'd say that this has much to do with Dan Abnett not liking Xenos as driving forces of his stories very much. Gaunt's Ghosts fight exclusively against human enemies too, I believe (though I may be wrong on that one). There was a particular weird bit towards the end of Hereticus where Eisenhorn meets "someone who the Eldar apparently call a 'Farseer' ". You'd really think an Eldar Farseer of all things would not be an alien concept (see what I did there?) to an alleged xeno expert.

Another oddity from Xenos: Eisenhorn encounters some Chaos Space Marines preparing a warp ritual of some sort, so who does he call for backup? Why the Deathwatch of course, who else?

In Guant’s Ghosts they fight the Loxatle often, they are reptilian-quadrupedal Xenos mercenaries that work with the blood pact. They have distinctive weapons, and smell, are intelligent and more than a match for several guardsmen. I think they might also be chaos worshipping Xenos though.

 Grey Templar wrote:
To be fair, the Deathwatch may have been the easiest and closest backup he had. They are far more common than, say, the Grey Knights.

 Da Boss wrote:
Most of the 40K novels deal only with chaos vs. imperials because people like to read about people. The Xenos books never do as well.