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Simple question really, could a member of a Space Marine chapter become an Inquisitor, say for example the chapter is allied to the Inquisition and a particular member of the chapter is picked out as a bodyguard and rises through the ranks of something. Or a chapter is all but destroyed and it's last remaining member ends up serving in an Inquisitors retinue and goes from there?

I don't believe they can. I've read several books were Space Marines are sequestered out to Inquisitors but they pretty much always return to their chapter unless they die. Usually this is in the form of the Death Watch. I'd think that if a Space Marines chapter were wiped out and he was the last one, he'd just stay in the Death Watch until he died. I believe in the Last Chancer series they are attached to an Inquisitor infiltrating a Tau planet and the Inquisitor has a Space Marine. It doesn't really say much about him chapter wise that I can Recall and I don't think it even mentions him as being a member of the Death Watch but it's been a long time since I've read it. Even then, he takes all his orders from the Inquisitor and is pretty much there to kill stuff when gak hits the fan.

But also, from a cannon point of view, I don't think the Council of Terra would allow it. The Inquisition is designed to guard the Imperium, even from itself, and they regularly investigate SM Chapters like the Dark Angels and Space Wolves. Making a Space Marine a full blown Inquisitor would be giving to much power to one person as they will now have special ties/bonds with SMs in general and Inquisitors can already do just about whatever they want.

I don't think so. While 40k is a massive universe where most anything can happen, I can't think of any space marines doing so. One, they'd pretty much only ever be on loan to the Inquisition as their retinue rather than a permanent fixture, and I think Chapter oaths would prevent them from joining another organization, especially one that's supposed to hold power over the Space Marines.

No, a Space Marine is too removed from humanity to be an Inquisitor.

Ok that makes sense guys, I had planned to make an Astartes Inquisitor, but now I may need to make him a rogue Astartes Inquisitor instead lol.

No they can be. See garro, Rubio, and loken


Automatically Appended Next Post:
They were the Knights errent space marines and LITERALLY founded the inquisition and the gray Knights.

For that matter, see the gray Knights and deathwatch, space marine inquisitors

 Backspacehacker wrote:
No they can be. See garro, Rubio, and loken


Automatically Appended Next Post:
They were the Knights errent space marines and LITERALLY founded the inquisition and the gray Knights.

For that matter, see the gray Knights and deathwatch, space marine inquisitors

Good point

I'm planning on making an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor who is a former member of the Lamenters, he was held captive by a violently sadistic Inquisitor and interrogated for years. And eventually murdered his captor and took his place. Now he's hunting down members of the Tyrants legion and getting vengeance for his chapter, whom he believes to be destroyed. I'm going to be using the FW cataphractii praetor model. Hopefully it should turn out to be a nice model. I've always wanted to paint a Lamenter.

The GK are not "Space Marine Inquisitors". Previously, they were the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Malleus, but this did not make them Inquisitors, simply tools of the Inquisition.

 Psienesis wrote:
The GK are not "Space Marine Inquisitors". Previously, they were the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Malleus, but this did not make them Inquisitors, simply tools of the Inquisition.

Agreed. Malcador gathered humans along with Garro and the rest. The Humans became the first Inquisitors and Garro and the rest went on to found/train the GK which are tools like Psienesis said, one specifically created to kill demons.

The kind of skills necessary for being an effective Inquisitor are not the same as the skills for being an effective Space Marine. There's a little bit of overlap, especially with the more militant members of the Ordos and the more scholarly sorts of Astartes, but one group is designated with defending humanity from the shadows, learning terrible truths, and ferreting out secrets; the other is a living weapon used for shock warfare.

In the traditional way I don't believe they can. Astartes are unable to think outside the box in the way an Inquisitor needs to. Too indoctrinated. The only exception would be the Alpha Legion.

Spoiler: the AL do have operatives/astartes posing as Inquisitors.

Going to have to come down on the side of 'no' for this one. The separation of powers set up in the wake of the Heresy is likely to prevent a Space Marine getting handed full Inquisitorial authority, Chapters that work closely with the Inquisition/the Deathwatch exist for cases such as you've described.

Inquisitorial hierarchy isn't a linear track and an Inquisitor's staff is likely to be effectively a dead-end job for most people on it (you don't get promoted out of there into the Inquisition), a Space Marine with an ambitious bent would probably get transferred into the Deathwatch and end up in a command position there.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Going to have to come down on the side of 'no' for this one. The separation of powers set up in the wake of the Heresy is likely to prevent a Space Marine getting handed full Inquisitorial authority, Chapters that work closely with the Inquisition/the Deathwatch exist for cases such as you've described.

Inquisitorial hierarchy isn't a linear track and an Inquisitor's staff is likely to be effectively a dead-end job for most people on it (you don't get promoted out of there into the Inquisition), a Space Marine with an ambitious bent would probably get transferred into the Deathwatch and end up in a command position there.

Well, i suppose it depends on what OP is defining as an inquisitor when he asks, "Can a space marine be an inquisitor." Because the answer, is unarguably, yes, a space marine CAN, and in some cases are inquisitors. The grey knights are in fact inquisitors as they belong to the inquisitor organization thus making them inquisitors. They are just a subset of the inquisition, which is proven via set theory, but i dont wanna go into and or teach a set theory class on a 40k form.

Now, if you are asking if they can be inquisitors like the iconic, black trench coat, flame pistol, HERESY! screaming sense, then yes they can as well, thats what garro was, he did that job before they became and founded the grey knights. Do they any more? Probably not because if a space marine can be an inquisitor, they would probably just throw in into the grey knights because he would be more useful there, or they would make him a death watch, which is the muscle for the iconic inquisitor.

So its a yes*

If you wanted to make a custom character that was a space marine inquisitor in the iconic sense, there is nothing in lore saying no you cant do that and would not be out of place or to far fetched.

Foxhound25 wrote:
In the traditional way I don't believe they can. Astartes are unable to think outside the box in the way an Inquisitor needs to. Too indoctrinated. The only exception would be the Alpha Legion.

Spoiler: the AL do have operatives/astartes posing as Inquisitors.

There are many many many chapters, following their own version of the codex astartes. There is absolutely no reason loyal marines cannot be sneaky and innovative enough to work 'as' and inquisitor, or to out think and inquisitor.

The issue with marines being Astartes is the size of them, they just are not subtle so would not be suitable for the more scalpel precision tasks. That also does not mean they couldn't do it. Ravener is a floating box and manages to operate, and Hector Rex is as big or bigger than some marines and he manages to fulfil his duty.

I assume the main issue with an inquisitor marine is finding an inquisitor to put him through his apprenticeship. On one hand he would be an invaluable tool, on the other you have a potential nuclear meltdown on your hands if said marine disagreed with your methods and also requires a LOT of maintenance.

Given the established background of both institutions, it seems unlikely to the point of implausibility, not to mention being a bit special snowflake-y

On the other hand, it's implied at the end of Black Library's Grey Knights trilogy that Alaric is recruited into the Inquisition. It is also brought up inine of Fantasy Flight's Deathwatch books as a plausible career exit for a very long-serving Deathwatch officer.

I could imagine that character's story being an interesting one to read, though I can also more readily imagine it being hideously Mary Sue-ish.

 Backspacehacker wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Going to have to come down on the side of 'no' for this one. The separation of powers set up in the wake of the Heresy is likely to prevent a Space Marine getting handed full Inquisitorial authority, Chapters that work closely with the Inquisition/the Deathwatch exist for cases such as you've described.

Inquisitorial hierarchy isn't a linear track and an Inquisitor's staff is likely to be effectively a dead-end job for most people on it (you don't get promoted out of there into the Inquisition), a Space Marine with an ambitious bent would probably get transferred into the Deathwatch and end up in a command position there.

Well, i suppose it depends on what OP is defining as an inquisitor when he asks, "Can a space marine be an inquisitor." Because the answer, is unarguably, yes, a space marine CAN, and in some cases are inquisitors. The grey knights are in fact inquisitors as they belong to the inquisitor organization thus making them inquisitors. They are just a subset of the inquisition, which is proven via set theory, but i dont wanna go into and or teach a set theory class on a 40k form.

Now, if you are asking if they can be inquisitors like the iconic, black trench coat, flame pistol, HERESY! screaming sense, then yes they can as well, thats what garro was, he did that job before they became and founded the grey knights. Do they any more? Probably not because if a space marine can be an inquisitor, they would probably just throw in into the grey knights because he would be more useful there, or they would make him a death watch, which is the muscle for the iconic inquisitor.

So its a yes*

If you wanted to make a custom character that was a space marine inquisitor in the iconic sense, there is nothing in lore saying no you cant do that and would not be out of place or to far fetched.

The distinction between various operationally-independent Imperial commanders is somewhat arbitrary, true. I'm using a narrow definition of 'Inquisitor' as an individual formally invested with the legal authority of the Inquisition (who's carrying a rosette around and has the power to commandeer forces as necessary) rather than any elite Imperial operative with access to exotic toys. If you're asking whether a Space Marine could operate independently in the manner the Knights-Errant (Garro & co.) did in the 31st Millennium that's a slightly different question; there could be 41st-Milennium Knights-Errant, but they wouldn't be defined as 'Inquisitors' for any practical purposes.

As for the set theory problem the issue isn't the overlap between the Inquisition and the Orders Militant, but whether 'Inquisitor' is synonymous with 'high-ranking officer within the Inquisition and associated groups'. 'Watch-Master', 'Canoness', 'Grand Master', and 'Inquisitor' are all distinct ranks with different promotion tracks, powers, recruiting/training procedures, et cetera, independent of the relationship between their hierarchies.

On review of sources it appears to be possible (mention in Deathwatch of Watch-Masters transferring into the Inquisition, emphasis in the Codex and in Dark Heresy on the Inquisition's decentralized recruitment/training procedures), but so rare as to be almost nonexistent and a pretty special-snowflake/mary-sue-ish thing to try and write.

I suppose what this comes down to really is what makes someone an Inquisitor. Where does an Inquisitor get there rank from, and who oversees them. They wield an awful lot of power independent of any oversight. Sure they have their little chambers millitant for when they need to raise an army etc. But generally they just have little warbands of acolytes and bodyguards don't they?

Do the highlords of Terra just issue some kind of writ of authority granting a person licence to be an Inquisitor on behalf of the Imperium? In a similar way to that of a Rogue Trader is given their Warrant of Trade?

 General Kroll wrote:
I suppose what this comes down to really is what makes someone an Inquisitor. Where does an Inquisitor get there rank from, and who oversees them. They wield an awful lot of power independent of any oversight. Sure they have their little chambers millitant for when they need to raise an army etc. But generally they just have little warbands of acolytes and bodyguards don't they?

If I recall correctly another Inquisitor nominates someone and a couple of other Inquisitors support the decision. Could be wrong though.

The closest you can get is something like Inquisitor Hector Rex. He received some of the implants to become a space marine and actually grew to about the size of one.

Maybe a 40k knight errant but they where rare in 30k

And in 40k they would be a tiny part of inquisition.
Be thousands to one knight errant probbly.

 King Pariah wrote:
The closest you can get is something like Inquisitor Hector Rex. He received some of the implants to become a space marine and actually grew to about the size of one.

I don't think he got the same implants as a Space Marine. It was different genetic modifications as I recall.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

 King Pariah wrote:
The closest you can get is something like Inquisitor Hector Rex. He received some of the implants to become a space marine and actually grew to about the size of one.

I don't think he got the same implants as a Space Marine. It was different genetic modifications as I recall.

Geneticly modified to near space marine in size, massive boost to strength, and further enhanced by power armour.
But still not a space marine.

Space marines implants give them capabilities that genetics would be impossible or extremely expensive and time consuming with 40k tech.

30k, they had the emperor etc making the tech behind them. Tech that is barely understood. But they can copy the process.

As a marine player gonna go with no. What it takes to an inquisitor is not what a marine is. That said there is no reason you can't have a marine be a long term companion of an inquistitor. He'll never succeeded him or her but he's a hell a warband member.

 King Pariah wrote:
The closest you can get is something like Inquisitor Hector Rex. He received some of the implants to become a space marine and actually grew to about the size of one.

Hector Rex was also a very Mary Sue type character that had no weaknesses or flaws of any sort whatsoever, never had any real doubts, never made any errors in his decisions, and who was a special snowflake with having been granted an audience with the Emperor, something not even the High Lords have gotten. He was a perfect example of how not to write a character.

Frankly that is what this question about whether a Marine could be an Inquisitor sounds like: an attempt to have it all. To have all the physical power and combat prowess of a Marine merged with the Inquisitor's political power and access to rare equipment, resources, and information.

Iracundus wrote:
Frankly that is what this question about whether a Marine could be an Inquisitor sounds like: an attempt to have it all. To have all the physical power and combat prowess of a Marine merged with the Inquisitor's political power and access to rare equipment, resources, and information.

Well, a marine could have the mental resources to do Inquisitorial work - they are after all rewired and boosted mentally too, even if the physical side is given much more page space. Stone Age barbarians, through the recruiting/training processes of a Chapter, will become fully proficient in IoM weaponry and technology relevant to their Chapter. I'd think the different brain enhancement psycho-indoctrination schemes take a lot more than just making them "gods of war" (tm) on a physical level.

So IMO it's more about the guy being a member of his Chapter than being automatically unfit for the role of an Inquisitor.

Could be an interesting story progression.

A young marine gets pushed into deathwatch, something happens that forces him to become a blackshield (or perhaps as lone survivor of his chapter he becomes an inquisitorial henchman) and works in to ]I[ from there.

It would be one of those 'this is the story that is the exception to the rule' stories... which 40k focuses exclusively on, hence the Whorfatar

I wonder if you the death watch takes neophytes when they have the rare need for infiltration and scouting.

A scout that hadn't completed his psycho-inoctrination when transferred to the deathwatch or loaned to an inquisitor, and then ends up loosing his chapter might work .

but it still feels special snowflake

goundry wrote:
I wonder if you the death watch takes neophytes when they have the rare need for infiltration and scouting.

A scout that hadn't completed his psycho-inoctrination when transferred to the deathwatch or loaned to an inquisitor, and then ends up loosing his chapter might work .

but it still feels special snowflake

Wouldn't need to. Normal marines can still fit in carapace armor. They just choose not to for most missions.

goundry wrote:
I wonder if you the death watch takes neophytes when they have the rare need for infiltration and scouting.

A scout that hadn't completed his psycho-inoctrination when transferred to the deathwatch or loaned to an inquisitor, and then ends up loosing his chapter might work .

but it still feels special snowflake

If Deathwatch did need scouts, they would be fully fledged marines in scout armour, or most likely modified power armour that is more stealthy, such as the MKIV Recon loud out from the heresy.

Ok ok...
What about a Marine who was left for dead by his chapter, and has absconded his hearaldry because of this and works as a mercenary?