Switch Theme:

So, are we supposed to root for the Imperium?  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

As opposed to the bureaucracy of Chaos, which is closer to that of a third world country (those with the most guns and most power feth over everyone else)?

The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





I wouldn't call SoB white; I've only ever seen them portrayed as the "burn a city to kill one man, without even trying to... not kill everything else in the general proximity..." types (except the veteran assigned to the Schola Progenium on Perlia in Cain's Last Stand, who acted like all the other aging soldiers there: drinking, smoking, and gambling while going on about old war stories, and whom was explicitly described as being an exception to the normal SoB). That goes double for radically Puritan Inquisitors: Monodominants, Libricars and their ilk.

The Inquisition itself varies from obliteration of anything even remotely near their target as S.O.P. ("nuke them from orbit, the Emperor will recognize his own."), to more levelheaded situational action and pragmatism ("maybe I shouldn't kill every xeno and heretic I find, because a trail of bodies will tip off my actual target..."), to "what do you mean I can't trust what daemons say? I'm totally threatening them during interrogation!" With the Ordo Hereticus seeming to fall into the first more often than not, the Ordo Xenos into the middle one, and the Ordo Malleus into the last. With a plethora of exceptions and variations for all of them, of course.

 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:I wouldn't call SoB white; I've only ever seen them portrayed as the "burn a city to kill one man, without even trying to... not kill everything else in the general proximity..." types
That's because most writers are incompetent, and because the story wasn't about Sisters they made them look bad so that the protagonists could look good.. Sisters of Battle are stated to be shining examples of all that is good about humanity, and Sisters Hospitaller in particular are consistently described as universally beloved by the Imperial population.

The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





I could have sworn Faith and Fire, a book revolving entirely around them, had them literally burning a city in the hunt for a single man; they seize a city in the hunt for a single rogue psyker (the most sympathetic character of the book, considering his motivations are "don't get tortured to death" and "stop the actual villain of the story"), where the citizens welcomed them as liberating heroes, and were promptly hosed with promethium for no given reason (they also failed to accomplish the whole reason for marching on it in the first place, when the psyker flees in a light racing aircraft)...

Mind, I didn't say anything about how they're perceived in-universe, where I get the impression that at the very least the average Imperial citizen shares your views on the matter, only that when it comes to taking military action, they make the Inquisition look careful and lenient by comparison, rather precluding them being an example of "white".


Really, trying to ascribe a status of "white" to any faction is an exercise in futility; the scale starts at a ruthless, pragmatic grey and slides towards "so, why are we trying to summon this daemon, again?" black.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/01/12 02:48:48


 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

You realize that a single rogue psyker, especially an unsanctioned one, can damn an entire world to daemonic infestation?

The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





Is that attested as having ever actually happened in any book? A psyker might be possessed, or reek havoc on a small scale, but I've never encountered a reference to an instance of a single unsanctioned psyker becoming a portal through which a proper "daemonic infestation" could flow.

Which is sort of beside the point of "they know where the psyker will be, and decide to burn all the civilians who hailed them as liberators and saints alive just because they happened to be passing by them on the way to the palace."

 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:Is that attested as having ever actually happened in any book? A psyker might be possessed, or reek havoc on a small scale, but I've never encountered a reference to an instance of a single unsanctioned psyker becoming a portal through which a proper "daemonic infestation" could flow.
Any psyker's soul is a potential doorway to the warp.

Dark Heresy's quote for the Imperial Psyker class says it best: "Imagine knowing there was a door to the realm of Daemons, and the slightest inattention on your behalf would see them batter it down and rip you to shreds. Now imagine that door is inside your head. That's what being a psyker is like."

Indeed, the book later states exactly what you said has never been stated before: "Despite the benefits that they bring to the Imperium, an undiscovered or unsanctioned psyker can place entire populations and planets in danger. Psykers' essences glow brightly in the warp, like bait on a line, and they draw malignant entities to that glow. Psykers weak in mind or untrained in protective arts can be easily tainted, and in the worst cases possessed by daemonic entities and used as a gateway between realspace and the warp."

So yes. One single mistake by a psyker can damn an entire world, especially an untrained and unsanctioned one.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/01/12 03:35:44


The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Raging-on-the-Inside Blood Angel Sergeant




Stavromueller Beta

You root for the imperium cause you are human!!
   
Made in us
Deathwing Terminator with Assault Cannon





Gillette Wyoming

Okay, I don't like the Tau at all that being said I have to see they are probably the closest to being good, yes they have cleansed worlds, but not like the IoM and they generally try to conquer planets via subterfuge as opposed to cleaning the planet via Exterminatus, but this is just my opinion


DA 4000 points W/L/D 6e 3/2/0
IG 1500 points W/L/D 6e 0/2/0
And 100% Primed!  
   
Made in us
Erratic Knight Errant





If the Imperium is left standing alone in the galaxy, humanity would have a chance to right itself.

If Chaos wins once and for all, ... Not so much of a chance!

   
Made in de
Helpful Sophotect





Hamburg, Germany

One reason I really enjoy the whole 40K universe fluff is that it doesn't have any good guys - except the helpless masses, maybe. Everyone with even the least bit of influence in the IoM is a murderer, criminal or psychopath in some way.

At the very least, everyone of them is willing to kill other people to further their own ends or to give the IoM (as in: the state, not humanity) a better chance to survive.

Just like in the real world.

I particularly enjoy dystopian fiction, however, because it allows for believable protagonists and antagonists, due to having more shades of grey. Classic black/white-evil/good stories almost always forget to emphasize that the heroes kill loads and loads of uncharacterized guys who fight for the antagonist - those heroes are evil, too, but due to dramatic reasons, they are lauded for what they do.

"We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "feth" on their airplanes because it's obscene!" (Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now)

And you know what's funny? "feth" is actually censored on a forum about a dystopia where the nice guys are the ones who kill only millions of innocents, not billions. 
   
Made in rs
Been Around the Block




Europe / Serbia / Belgrade

Well there aren't many Xeno or Chaos books out there, but there are.

For example, the Fire Warrior novel (the only novel with the perspective of the Tau as far as I know) is about the perspective of a Tau Fire Warrior named Shas'El T'au Kais who is sent with a group of other Fire Warriors to save an Ethereal who was kidnapped (Xenonapped? lol) by the Ultramarines.

Spoiler:
Then he went through all the trouble of killing a bunch of Guardsmen & Space Marines. Sure he had some backup, but most of the time, he was all alone. Then of course, the Ultramarines team up with the Tau to beat up some Word Bearers. And of course, Shas'la Kais ended up being alone & fighting a bunch of Humans...and Demons...including a Lord of Change. Which of course lead to a big-ass promotion, and then he appeared again in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade as the leader of the Tau on Kronus. He did loose, and his Ethereal died, but he survived.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/01/12 10:50:11


A Member of the Greater Good.

I also collect Tyranids and Lizardmen (From WHFB).  
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut





Bracknell, Berkshire, England

I wouldn't necessarily call all Chaos evil. In Pawns of Chaos we had happy Tzeentch worshipping village folk, whom seemed to get along pretty well. Until Imperial forces pillaged their world that is. But Tzeentch cared enough to send a Greater Deamon of Tzeentch to go out and save them.

Cheese Elemental wrote:Maybe we should stop talking about fapping before a mod comes in here.



MADE WITH MYBANNERMAKER.COM

HOSTED BY IMGUR.COM

 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

They're happy because they haven't seen the true face of Chaos.

If you want proof that Chaos is evil, go read the description of a daemonworld in Codex: Chaos Daemons

The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




Swindon, Wiltshire, UK

Melissia wrote:They're happy because they haven't seen the true face of Chaos.

If you want proof that Chaos is evil, go read the description of a daemonworld in Codex: Chaos Daemons


Chaos isn't evil, it is chaos.
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

corpsesarefun wrote:
Melissia wrote:They're happy because they haven't seen the true face of Chaos.

If you want proof that Chaos is evil, go read the description of a daemonworld in Codex: Chaos Daemons


Chaos isn't evil, it is chaos.
You mean, the endless torture and murder of innocents isn't evil? The eternal rape of the souls of Eldar (including those who had no connection with the previous empire) isn't evil? That constantly causing rebellions, and war, and bloodshed simply for the sake of it isn't evil? The average Chaos worshipper isn't necessarily evil, but Chaos itself? Perverting everything about a people, destroying their culture so completely and utterly that they become nothing more than spawn of chaos (I should point out to you that even the Imperium allows its people to keep their own planetary cultures as long as they pay their taxes and give lip service to the Ecclesiarchy)? I think the Chaos Gods are indisputably evil. Every single one of them revels in harming others, and were any one of them put into a human body on modern Earth, they would be considered an embodiment of evil to rival or exceed any of our current symbols of evil. Khorne would murder countless people, simply for the sake of seeing their blood and gazing upon their skulls. Nurgle would develop and spread diseases intentionally, just for the sake of doing so, just to watch people wallow in disease and suffer. Slaanesh would become a hated sexual predator known across the world for his/her extreme deviancy and hedonism, where everything is pleasure for him/her. Tzeentch would overthrow governments and plunge the world into eternal war, causing wholesale slaughter and destruction just for the sake of doing so.

These are not forces of nature, but intelligent, powerful creatures with their own desires and willpower, who consider everyone else nothing but playtoys. They are the cruel, laughing gods that manipulate the entire galaxy into eternal war and bloodshed for their amusement.

The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





Melissia wrote:
Sir Pseudonymous wrote:Is that attested as having ever actually happened in any book? A psyker might be possessed, or reek havoc on a small scale, but I've never encountered a reference to an instance of a single unsanctioned psyker becoming a portal through which a proper "daemonic infestation" could flow.
Any psyker's soul is a potential doorway to the warp.

Dark Heresy's quote for the Imperial Psyker class says it best: "Imagine knowing there was a door to the realm of Daemons, and the slightest inattention on your behalf would see them batter it down and rip you to shreds. Now imagine that door is inside your head. That's what being a psyker is like."

Indeed, the book later states exactly what you said has never been stated before: "Despite the benefits that they bring to the Imperium, an undiscovered or unsanctioned psyker can place entire populations and planets in danger. Psykers' essences glow brightly in the warp, like bait on a line, and they draw malignant entities to that glow. Psykers weak in mind or untrained in protective arts can be easily tainted, and in the worst cases possessed by daemonic entities and used as a gateway between realspace and the warp."

So yes. One single mistake by a psyker can damn an entire world, especially an untrained and unsanctioned one.

Of course, mechanically, in Dark Heresy the worst thing that can happen is the psyker becomes a daemonhost, with odds that are worse than .6%, and they're only that high because it would never appear in the game otherwise. In fluff terms, even the far more likely "merely" exploding from uncontrolled energies coursing through the psyker has about the same chance of occurring as burning a city to the ground does of summoning a pack of khornate daemons. Despite the official line of hunting them because they might become a portal to the warp, the real reasons appear to be mainly a mix of "we need them to power the golden throne," "we need sanctioned psykers, and someone has to catch them in the first place," and "psykers, being generally unstable types, are likely to hurt people around them without meaning to, or cause widespread destruction if they do."

Then there's the matter that it would seem most pysker Inquisitors are technically unsanctioned, having been found by another Inquisitor and deemed too potentially useful a tool to turn over to the black ships, where they may end up dead or ultimately assigned to someplace other than the Inquisitor's service.

When it comes down to it, the SoB practically embody the "burn them all, the Emperor will recognize his own," mentality of the more psychotic elements of the Inquisition. Your average Inquisitor finds a way to hunt down heretical cults without just killing everything in the general vicinity "just to be sure," while the Sororitas will find a way to kill everything in the general vicinity because "being within range of my flamer is a deadly sin."

Ironically, they're worshiped as near-saintly figures, while the Inquisition is viewed as the "kills everyone they meet, 'just to be sure'" types. Of course, the space marines are also seen as generally important and useful, despite their being vastly outnumbered by planets in the Imperium, and outnumbered by the Imperial Guard by something on the order of at least a billion to one...



The Chaos Gods themselves don't seem to actually care one way or another about the materium; they're more preoccupied scheming against one another and living it up in their own planes. Their servants, on the other hand, tend to scheme to bring daemons into the materium for their own gain (making them Stupid Evil (which even references the servants of chaos as examples of the trope) more often than not), or to gain favor with other, higher ranking disciples of the Gods.

Khorne is insane to the point of killing anything that gets close enough to attack. Nurgle is generally portrayed as jolly and good natured, only appearing evil from the point of view of those who have a vested interest in not seeing virulent diseases spread about. Slaanesh just sort of sits around as its daemons try to entertain it, with the whole "devouring the souls of the eldar" thing more a symptom of its nature than any real conscious decision, being essentially a singularity of eldar souls and all. And Tzeentch schemes against all of the Chaos Gods, himself included.

The only forces of Chaos that really care one way or another about the materium are the traitor legions, who see themselves as the rightful heirs to the empire (and perfectly embody Stupid Evil). Daemons that seek entrance to the materium just want to devour souls and reek havoc (there are daemons that notably don't want to be in the materium, like Cherubael, whom Eisenhorn binds into a daemonhost to punish it for tricking him into banishing it in the first place...), making them more equivalent to Tyranids or Orks.

 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:Of course, mechanically, in Dark Heresy the worst thing that can happen is the psyker becomes a daemonhost, with odds that are worse than .6%, and they're only that high because it would never appear in the game otherwise.
... that's because you only play sanctioned Psykers. But even then, this is not the only place where this is mentioned. The sanctioning process protects a psyker from the worst of daemonic predations, and most psykers are not even strong enough to withstand it and thus are instead given to the Emperor to maintain the astronomican. Pity the unsanctioned rogue psyker if you want, but it is still a global threat to let him run around unchecked.

The sanctioning ritual may be horrifying and even break the minds of many psykers, but it's far better to be sanctioned and protected than to be turned into a daemon. Sanctionites say that there is a door in their head that they must always keep closed or daemons will come out. Those who aren't sanctioned basically have a doorway with no door, and they have to struggle all the harder, and will eventually lose their struggle.

Indeed, there are rules for unsanctioned psykers in the game too, and the game very clearly makes it obvious that playing a Nascent Psyker is a death wish. These psykers are unable to properly control their power, they can summon their powers without fail but every single time they use them they create a psychic phenomenon. These powers trigger in moments of stress, and constantly push the psyker down the path of damnation, eventually resulting in them becoming daemonically possessed-- and worse.

There's a VERY good reason that there is a rule called "For Your Own Good" in tabletop 40k.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2011/01/12 16:40:46


The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





Compare to Inquisitors: the average psyker Inquisitor didn't undergo any of the sanctionite warding and whatnot, at least if you go off specific cases in the fluff, and they make sanctionites look like gibbering lunatics. Granted, a good deal of that is simply a good heaping of plot armor, but still. I've also never seen psykers turn into a portal into the warp, admittedly that's presumably because they either have plot armor, or because enemies that suddenly liquefy and turn into a daemons are either anti-climactic or take on the air of a bad Deus Ex Machina.

Of course, the psyker in Faith and Fire is the rare example of one who is both extremely stable and powerful enough to remain in control. He's being hunted not because he's a possession hazard, but because he's individually dangerous, and because the (secret) actual "villain" of the book wants him captured, so he can sacrifice him and become a living weapon against chaos, using an old Imperial relic... Even then, the SoB don't try to just capture or kill him, they go out of their way to burn tens of thousands of random bystanders alive, for no actual reason other than "they were there."

Exterminatus makes perfect sense when a world is given over to chaos to a point where trying to redeem it would be impossible, or when it's so infested with genestealers or other tyranids that cleansing it is all but impossible, and any innocents left would only die horrifically otherwise. But the Inquisition only uses it then, they don't just go "yeah, this guy we want to kill, he's somewhere on that planet. Why bother looking for him when we can just kill everyone?", they send operatives and strike teams to deal with their target with a minimum of collateral damage. Sororitas don't bother with any such discretion, they just burn everything to the ground, whether or not it's anywhere near their objective.

The "It's For Your Own Good!" rule never made much sense as anything but a penalty to the guard player: all failure would do is remove one of two wounds from the psyker, while the commissar freaks out and shoots him if his eyes start glowing...

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/01/12 17:03:44


 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:Compare to Inquisitors: the average psyker Inquisitor didn't undergo any of the sanctionite warding
Source?

The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





Every book I've seen that dealt with Inquisitors? I'm fairly certain Eisenhorn and Ravenor were never sanctionites, and that wasn't treated as unusual in the least; the same goes for the Inquisitor and one of his acolytes in the Dark Heresy tie-in novels. At the very least, they don't get the full sanctionite treatment, just a formal "yeah, sure, fine, the Inquisitor says you're cool so whatever" sort of thing. There's also specific commentary to the effect of Inquisitors who find potentially useful psykers being reluctant to turn them over to the black ships, preferring to train them themselves, since once they've left their hands the Inquisitor no longer has any control over their fate, and so may well lose out on a valuable tool, which naturally doesn't sit well with the generally pragmatic Inquisitors.

 
   
Made in us
Sybarite Swinging an Agonizer





New Orleans, LA

Well I find every faction in the 40k universe is pretty much bad. In this instance we have bad...and really evil factions.

The Tau are pretty bad, they just keep it clean.

Honestly i'd say the Space Marines and the Tau are probably the closest thing we have to "Good guys" in 40k...but considering the fluff both forces are warmongers who will not hesitate to kill each other.

Armies:
4000+
2000
125 Khador
1500 Beastmen


W/L/D
14/11/10
4/1/3
 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:Every book I've seen that dealt with Inquisitors? I'm fairly certain Eisenhorn and Ravenor were never sanctionites
And does it actually say that, or did you just not hear about their time spent aboard the black ships?

The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





I can't recall, though neither looks nor acts like a sanctionite, I would almost swear Ravenor is simply someone Eisenhorn found and trained, and that despite all his sitting around contemplating the past Ravenor never makes even an allusion to having been taken by the ships. I know the Acolyte in the Dark Heresy tie-in novels is outright stated not to have been given over to the black ships after the Inquisitor found her, and contemplates trying to use the Inquisitor's authority to protect a weak rogue psyker from being sacrificed to the golden throne...

 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

Yes, that happens occasionally, but it's quite rare for even an Inquisitor to risk harboring a nascent psyker. It's more likely that they'd send them to be sanctioned, because an agent of the Inquisition who develops psychic powers is already hardened against the horrors of the warp in service to the Inquisition, and therefor more likely to make it back instead of being sent to be fed to the Golden Throne.

The thing is, Inquisitors are specifically stated to be human beings of indomitable, unbreakable will, that's pretty much their one requirement for being an Inquisitor (it's even a rule in tabletop-- Iron will, the Inquisitor chooses to pass or fail a morale or pinning check, regardless of if the test would normally have them automatically fail). An Inquisitor who fosters psychic powers would be far less of a danger to those around them (unless they wanted to be) than the average psyker regardless of sanctioning because of this willpower. Inquisitors are truly exceptional human beings regardless of their nature.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2011/01/12 18:05:16


The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in gb
Ghost of Greed and Contempt






Engaged in Villainy

At least Chaos marines (and orks) enjoy themselves.
Eldar annoy the gak out of me...

"He was already dead when I killed him!"

Visit my Necromunda P&M blog, here: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/747076.page#9753656 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





Please note, though, that my initial point had nothing to do with whether or not psykers are dangerous, and everything to do with the SoB acting with a degree of pointless brutality that even the Inquisition shies away from. Yes, if they're hunting someone, that someone is probably dangerous. No, all those civilians they torched while walking towards where their target is had nothing at all to do with anything. I mean, I guess they deserved it: a few probably took the Emperor's name in vain, or occasionally slacked off at work, or thought lewd thoughts at some point... Such heresy!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/01/12 18:53:59


 
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

Sir Pseudonymous wrote:a degree of pointless brutality that even the Inquisition shies away from.
And that's why you're wrong.

While there are some RARE inquisitors in RARE circumstances who MIGHT decide to harbor a rogue psyker, the majority of them would not only have done what the Sisters did, but they'd also killed or mind-cleansed anyone who was a witness to it too. The Inquisition is not an organization of softies, they are an organization of exceptional human beings with the willpower to do what must be done.

The Sisters don't have subtle methods in their repertoire. You know the old saying-- when all you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like nails. While the Sisters Famulous have training in subtlety and politics, Sisters of Battle have naught their faith, their bolters, and their conviction that it is better a citizen die faithful than to live tainted, a feeling which is hardly unique to them. The Guard feels the same way, as does the Inquisition aside from radicals (who themselves are considered tainted by the rest of the Inquisition and the Imperium at large). They could spend months or even years hunting down a single psyker within a population, who is slowly tainting the population and becoming more and more depraved and corrupt, eventually, if they don't find him, becoming a daemonhost and a portal through which daemons can enter the world, and damn the entire world to Inquisitorial attention-- which does not bode well for ANY of its citizens. Or they can find a method by which to flush the psyker out, sacrifice a small portion of the population to save the rest. This portion are martyrs, dying while still faithful so that the rest can also remain pure in life.

If the Sisters had a choice, they wouldn't use that method. But the situation was quite dire-- a single rogue psyker presents a threat to the entire world that cannot be ignored or pushed aside.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2011/01/12 19:06:47


The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in us
Sybarite Swinging an Agonizer





New Orleans, LA

As far as I have read in the fluff. An inquisitor is not somebody you want looking at you. "Innocence proves nothing."

Armies:
4000+
2000
125 Khador
1500 Beastmen


W/L/D
14/11/10
4/1/3
 
   
Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest





Melissia wrote:The Inquisition is not an organization of softies, they are an organization of exceptional human beings with the willpower to do what must be done.

And the sense to not burn a city to the ground just because it's there. Their target is in the mayor's palace. Instead of charging the palace, they stop to kill all the civilians who welcomed them as liberating heroes, allowing their target to escape.

In general, they show a nigh-psychotic willingness to cause as much collateral damage as possible, rather than expend any effort at all to... not cause catastrophic collateral damage. Inquisitors put their lives on the line to root out heresy without destroying everything in the vicinity, since dead men don't pay taxes, grow crops, or volunteer for the Imperial Guard; their jobs would be much easier and safer if they just virus bombed any world they thought might have some heretics hiding somewhere on it.

 
   
 
Forum Index » 40K Background
Go to: