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I have a few questions I was hoping Dakka could help me answer.

I understand that each planet has it's own government and police force,and that the Abtres only concern themselves with upholding Imperial law, which is dictated by the Lex Imperialis. What I am having difficulty finding more information about is what would constitute 'normal' crime, that is dealt with by the PDF or local police, and what would be viewed as a breach of Imperial law. Any links or specific examples would be great.

Secondly, how are Penal legions assembled and controlled? Are there certain crimes that are punished by life in prison or straight execution, while others are a one way ticket to a Penal legion?
I understand that Commissars are super scary and all,but arming tens of thousands of convicted criminals with las guns and flack jackets seem like a great way to create chaos cultists and heretical armies, but not so much an effective recruiting tool for loyal fighting forces.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Penal Legionnaires are equipped with explosive collars. With the press of a button, the Commissar (or anyone else for that matter) in charge can put the kibosh on any planned rebellions, uprisings or even general malcontent amongst the penal legion.

They're assembled by having large, heavily armored guys with stun batons, or just heavy clubs, wading into the general populace of a military prison and grabbing a few guys, hauling them out, and affixing said explosive collars around their necks. Once you've got enough guys with explosive collars on their necks in one place, you give them some las-guns, and then open the door in the side of the box-cage they're in. They now realize that they've been transported from a prison to a planet currently at war with Orks, Tyranids, whatever... and that door that just opened had opened facing incoming enemy fire.

Generally speaking, Penal Legions are formed of IG soldiers convicted of a crime that did not warrant, for whatever reason, summary execution by a Commissar, or their crime was performed in an area without Commissarial control (such as the regiments Commissar having been KIA in the battle previously).

PDF isn't really found in a police role. They're the Planetary Defense Force. The National Guard to the IG's regular Army. The PDF defends the world from alien invasion, pirates, uprisings, civil unrest, etc.

Arbites enforce Imperial Law, which includes tithe collection, the collection of psykers for the Black Ships of the Inquisition, smuggling, tax/tithe evasion, piracy, harboring xenos, heretics and traitors, suppressing riots and civil unrest that may impact the collection of the Emperor's tithe, and similar things which may impact the Imperial body as a whole. Arbites also are often the first-responders in the event of cult, heretical or xeno threats on a planet, and will often be the ones to put down such threats, or call in the Inquisition if it becomes too much for them to handle (ie, powerful Daemons start making appearances).

The Arbites have under their jurisdiction any activity that could constitute sedition against the Imperium. Consider any given crime: could it be interpreted as subversion to Imperial authority? If so, the Arbites can assert jurisdiction. I can't imagine the local police telling an Arbitrator "you have no jurisdiction."

As to penal legionnaires, it helps to remember that you don't have to be a hardcore murderer to wind up in this situation. The laws of the Imperium are pretty draconian so a lot of "regular" people end up in the legions. And if they get unruly, you just detonate a couple of slave collars. Plus, even "criminals" are not immune to the massive psychological pressures of life in the Imperium: some of even the baddest dudes do believe in the Emperor and for those that don't, they've had a lifetime of propaganda drilling into them that anything besides the Emperor is far, far worse.

I think there is a difference between Imperial Guard Penal Legions and Adeptus Arbites Punitive Battalions, the latter of which often found operating alongside the Imperial Guard but otherwise not subject to Munitorum/Commissariat oversight. The difference in equipment and tactics is probably negligible, it's just that IG Penal Legions are made up of former Guardsmen sentenced for some breach of protocol (likely stuff like cowardice or stealing ration bars), whereas Arbites Punitive Battalions sound like something to be press-ganged from some local population, possibly also referring to those cases where entire planets are sentenced for some crime committed by their government ("his family? pfshht, please, we're condemning his entire world!").

Since some Imperial Governors also send criminals to the Imperial Guard rather than the elite of their PDF, these formations can be easy to confuse. However, I am assuming that criminals sent to the IG still form normal regiments (such as the Necromundan Spiders) rather than becoming Penal Legions right away. Need to re-read the Codex entry on Penal Legions to be sure, tho.

As for the nature of crimes, Psienesis and Manchu have already elaborated on where the Arbites would intervene. Needless to say, in certain situations there can be quite some overlap between "interfering with the local government" and "interfering with the Imperium" (as various Imperial Adepta tend to play a rather large role in the lifes of the everyday citizen), but I think any squabble between planetary enforcers and the Adeptus Arbites over jurisdiction is quite fitting to the general theme of the Imperium being a bureaucratic nightmare.

I think FFG also put out a supplement to their Dark Heresy RPG which was basically all about the Arbites, although I'm not sure how close this book stays to the studio material. GW's Codex Imperialis has some more general fluff about this organisation, but not nearly as detailed - I think it was only three or four pages or so. And then of course we have the Shira Calpurnia novels from Black Library; I believe their author also helped out with FFG's supplement, so I guess there should be some overlap between these two sources.

 Psienesis wrote:
Penal Legionnaires are equipped with explosive collars. With the press of a button, the Commissar (or anyone else for that matter) in charge can put the kibosh on any planned rebellions, uprisings or even general malcontent amongst the penal legion.

They're assembled by having large, heavily armored guys with stun batons, or just heavy clubs, wading into the general populace of a military prison and grabbing a few guys, hauling them out, and affixing said explosive collars around their necks. Once you've got enough guys with explosive collars on their necks in one place, you give them some las-guns, and then open the door in the side of the box-cage they're in. They now realize that they've been transported from a prison to a planet currently at war with Orks, Tyranids, whatever... and that door that just opened had opened facing incoming enemy fire.

Thanks,that clears alot up,and also paints a great scene in my head. I can imagine any thoughts of escape evaporate pretty quickly when faced with charging Orks/Tyranids.

 Psienesis wrote:

Arbites enforce Imperial Law, which includes tithe collection, the collection of psykers for the Black Ships of the Inquisition, smuggling, tax/tithe evasion, piracy, harboring xenos, heretics and traitors, suppressing riots and civil unrest that may impact the collection of the Emperor's tithe, and similar things which may impact the Imperial body as a whole. Arbites also are often the first-responders in the event of cult, heretical or xeno threats on a planet, and will often be the ones to put down such threats, or call in the Inquisition if it becomes too much for them to handle (ie, powerful Daemons start making appearances).

It seems to me that most of those crimes, especially tithe or black ship recruitment evasion are crimes that would be committed by the government of the planet,as opposed to individuals. Any planetary governor with the sand to willingly withhold the Emperor's tithe or shun the Black ships must know that the Arbites will come calling, and would surely prepare? Would the Arbites just investigate and send word to Terra that the IG need to come root out the Heresy, or do they have the numbers and capability to take on the situation themselves?

The Arbites are already there. The Adeptus Arbites might maintain a presence on a planet for a thousand years or more, a constant reminder to every citizen, from the Planetary Governor to the poorest under-Hive dweller, that the Emperor's Justice is ever vigilant.

Given that, it would be very, very difficult for a Planetary Governor to start making plans to not pay the tithe, as the Arbites have the authority to arrest him if they suspect that this is his plan. While the image of a whole lot of Judge Dredds standing around being menacing is a common depiction of the Arbites, they also have rather extensive (and extremely skilled) investigation departments... and can always call on the Inquisition if they need someone with true, second-only-to-Him, authority.

Some fluff I found in the Codex Imperialis, including a neat little short story to get people into the right "Dredd mood".



"The Adeptus Arbites are the keepers of the great Book of Judgment, the legal code of the Imperium, painstakingly collated over the centuries and embodying every decree ever passed by the High Lords of Terra. As the millennia pass, the Book of Judgment grows ever heavier. Indeed, it has long since grown beyond the confines of a single literal volume. Its most ancient decrees are writ upon parchments of human skin, enscribed in unknown tongues by the nameless functionaries of a forgotten age.

Every day, a hundred new volumes of encoded holoscript are added to its number. Volume upon leather-bound volume sits upon rows of iron shelves that fill the walls of the Hall of Judgment. Every row is home to ten thousand tomes. Shelves are stacked a hundred metres above the time-worn floor of antique marble. Upon narrow gantries and ladders crawl the tiny ant-like figures of legal assistants as they search amidst the debris of judgment.

The Hall of Judgment is the holy sanctum of the Judges, the agents of a law that is absolute and unforgiving. In the Imperium, law and government are indistinguishable. Rebellion and failure are crimes, and any transgression of the Imperial Will meets with swift and uncompromising retribution. Of the personal misdemeanours of the citizens of a million worlds, the Judges care nothing. Such matters are for the Lords of individual worlds to deal with as they wish. The Judges concern themselves with more weighty issues. It is their task to bring the rebellious to trial, to hunt down enemies of the Imperium, to destroy those who threaten its safety from within. To the eternal sorrow of mankind, its servants stray all too often from their appointed path. Officials of the Adeptus weave plots of their own, driven by their lust for power, for wealth, or for forbidden knowledge. Many who occupy positions of authority, even the High Lords themselves, may be tempted and can fall into the arms of corruption.

The Judges command their own forces of retribution, massive armies spread throughout the galaxy and ever vigilant to answer the call for justice. The Judges can also call upon the full resources of the Imperium, adding their own strength to the immeasurable might of the Imperium's armies and fleets. Often, it is the Judges who find themselves fighting the first flames of rebellion, while the mobile Space Marines rush to support them. The very presence of the Arbitrators is the greatest deterrent to treachery.

The fighting forces of the Adeptus Arbites are the Arbitrators, warriors of justice, the militant arm of the Judges. These warriors are many and well armed, capable of fighting a limited war if need be, and of transporting themselves through space in their own ships. For the Judges trust no-one they may be called upon to judge, and can find themselves fighting rebellious Warmasters of the Imperial Guard or chasing treacherous Admirals of the Fleet. More often it is traitors amongst the planetary lords who are the Arbitrators' foes.

The Arbitrators belong to a complex organisation - an army divided into many ranks and specialised roles. Its individual Precints stretch across the galaxy. On many worlds, the Arbitrators' fortified Courthouse is the only point of contact between that planet and the Imperium. Each Precinct is the base for an army, complete unto itself, led by the Marshal of the Court and supported by an array of highly trained warriors of justice. Patrol groups prowl the underways of city hives, shock troops break up the vicious queue wars which develop outside governmental buildings, execution teams hound the guilty through barren wastes and labyrinthine tunnels, and detectives sift the holo-records, tracking cyber-criminals through the computer matrix of the Administratum."

--

Andrukas, Marshal of the Court of the planet Sulo, was as tall, grey and unbending as the statue of Judge Taggart that stood outside the fortified Courthouse. His face betrayed no sign of recognition as he listened to the messenger of Lord Messarian of Sulo. In fact, nothing about his features gave an impression of human musculature, so that he might as well have been wearing a mask.

"... my Lord Messarian protests his innocence in this matter", squealed the messenger, a short wiry individual called Ryse, "and demands immediate retraction of the accusations of the Lord Marshal Andrukas."

"Demands?", Andrukas stated coldly. "The demands of the Law come first even on Sulo."

With a gesture from their commander, two tall Arbitrators took Ryse by the arms and dragged him backwards through the chamber, out past a long file of people awaiting audience, and through the massive doors of the Courthouse. Picking himself up form the dusty street, he attempted to regain what little dignity remained by brushing the dirt from his robes.

Back in the audience chamber, Andrukas considered his next action. He knew that Messarian was holding back his tithes, fixing his own records to make it look as if the planet's harvests were poor and its workshops idle. Andrukas new different. He'd seen the new recruits to Sulo's armies, he'd watched as Messarian's forces grew and his power swelled out of all proportion. Until now he'd only begun to guess at the Lord's intentions. Then he'd caught the raiders, renegades from the Famir star system, and realised that Messarian nurtured ambitions of Empire. And who would stop him? Here, out on the Eastern Fringe, the Imperium's grip was weakest, and a rebellious commander might easily evade the Emperor's justice for a lifetime.

Andrukas knew that his entire Precinct stood ready, a hundred Arbitrators unswervingly loyal to his command. An astropathic communication had been sent to the Judges, but who knew how long it would take to mobilise fresh forces. If Messarian acted now, only the Arbitrators could oppose him. The thought of such outright rebellion repelled and nauseated the Lord Marshal. Such things happened every year out in the frontier, sometimes worlds were lost for centuries or even for good. Such a thing would not happen in his Precinct. Not while there was still breath in his body.

I can only think of one example of people being sent to a penal legion in Black Library fiction, and that's in For the Emperor, by Sandy Mitchell. A group of Guardsmen get into a scuffle, and while most of them are given a slap on the wrist, the more severe agitators (the ones who actually killed people) are sentenced to service in a penal legion. The Inquisitor in that novel also has an ex-commissar she recruited from a penal legion as part of her retinue. (I think that guy was from For the Emperor. I might be wrong on that...)

You might want to check out the Last Chancers series, by Gav Thorpe, for more information.