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How do inquisitors actually become inquisitors?  Is it a trained from birth type thinger?  Or do the Ordo Malleus wonder up to, say a space marine who went gung ho on a daemon prince, and pluck him from his brothers to join them?  Can a sister of battle one day go "You know what, I think I hate psykers far more than a 5+ save!" and send off some forms to apply for a transfer and a bad hairdo (I really don't like the head on that female inquisitor model, who looks very Adepta Sororitas indeed).  Hell could a commissar hate psykers so much that he pretty much just ends up becoming an inquisitor by sheer force of will, fear inspiering, and contacts... though really that's a mix of suggest two and three.

So yeah: Has that topic ever been addressed officially, does anyone have any informed opinions, or is it totally free for people to play with how they like?

I think the Schola Progenium is one place. Inquisitors are maybe the smartest pupils.

According to RT, "Inquisitors often come from the ranks of the priesthood.....only an extraordinary human could take on the responsibilities of an Inquisitor."

In the second Ragnar book, the Inquisitor has an apprentice.

The psyker ones are ferreted out by the Black Ships (run by Inquisition, by the way).

Officially, some of the best psykers get picked by the Black Ships to be trained in the Inquisition. Unofficially, since the Inquisition ARE the ones doing the recruiting, I'll bet hard credits (that's right, British pounds!) that they do indeed take the very best of them and leave everyone else second pick...

For non-psykers, I do hope lmb is right about the Schol Progenium -- where else can you find a large pool of young children that you can easily train into imperial government professions?

I certainly DON'T think that traveling Inquisitors would send the random talent they find off to the academy... This may help Ihe inquisition, but it sure ain't helping the inquistor ("so, when will you come back to me as an interrogator? What! Ten years!").

some do actually pick up random people- have them in the group for a while and have them eventually move up through the ranks as it were-
thats how you get ones who used to be sisters of battle (i remeber fluff of it somewhere) and so on

That's very interesting indeed.
Essentially then there would be nothing wrong with me using an inquisitor modeled like a sister (maybe just having a penchant for fleur de lys), and using a heavy bolter retributor to be a heavy bolter weapons servitor? Or acolytes in power armour+bolter as normal sisters? Though I'd have to convert the retributors a bit to get that 4+ save (seeing as normal armour is 3+, and according to the SoB's wearing nothing but scriptures and a mask confers 4+). Oh and using the excuse that the inquisitor chose some fairly low sisters for the acolytes as a bit of a field trip ;D hence the 3 WS and tendancy to take wounds for the inquisitor "by accident"?

I'm probably going to turn this into a tenative "Is this okay?" my attempted army fluff type post eventually. I'm pretty new so I've yet to get a full grasp of the world of WH40k.

just go for it with the fluff- just about anything goes methinks

It'd still be nice to know the details for the sake of it =P
You know, do my homework, get extra credit ;p

There are various ways a Sister could become an Inquisitor.

Since the Sisters of Battle form the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus it is very common for them to work closely together. Promising young Sisters may well be deliberately assigned as apprentices to an Inquisitor by their superiors. The Sisters are highly politically reliable troops, have a thorough indoctrination and an excellent education. Having a former Sister in the Inquisition could also be advantageous to an Order.

For a Sister who manifests psychic powers (Sisters join up from the Schola Progenium at a young age, like Marines) there is no longer a place in the Sisterhood, as they are not accepting of 'witches'. If she is powerful enough however to be allowed to live then she would be excellent material for the Inquisition.

Such a former Sister Inquisitor may well prefer other Sisters in her retinue, regarding them as the bravest and most reliable she can get. There are a number of female models in the Inquisitor henchman range, and the retinue of my female OH Inq is made up of as many females as possible. Only the Crusaders and her 'gimp' (the penitent witch) are male.

All Inquisitors seem to have to need to serve a long, hard apprenticeship to an older Inquisitor before they are granted that exalted rank. Many are killed in the line of duty, and most of the survivors are not judged worthy. This is no Jedi and Padowan relationship, many Inq's are as suspicious of their apprentices as they are everybody else, and will purge them if they think they have been contaminated by the heretics and traitors they encounter.

I suggest picking up the Eisenhorn books. They are a pretty good read and provide all kinds of info about the Inquisition. Its basically "the Rise and Fall of an Inquisitor" and shows some ways in which they gain power and select/stumble upon future member of their retinues.

Apprenticeship does seem to be the one common factor in the lives of Inquisitors.

Suffer not the Witch to live!

Acolytes are inquisitors in training... brought up from families of inquisitors [yes, some of them do have families] or are recruited from people the inquisition has deemed worthy, generally of higher echelon citizens. Well, if you've read any of the Eisenhorn series that's pretty much what does it.

Im reading the "Inquisition War" by Ian Watson(very good book so far, Im about half way through) and it goes a bit into how a few of the characters became inquisitors.

1)Black Ships - The Black Ships of the Inquisition go around and gather up hundreds of psykers from around the galaxy to be brought back to Terra to be...."fed" to the Eperor. And a few times the Inquisitors on these ships pick out the gems from the stock, present them to the Schola, and they are trained as Inquisitors over many years. Jaq Draco(the main character) described that he was roughtly 12 when picked up by the Black Ship and was about 25 when he first saw action as a junior Inquisitor.

2)The Ecclesiarchy - One of the characters in the book became an Inquisitor through the Ecclesiarchy. He was latenty psycic and could "see" people and sens their presence in the warp. He and his gang of merry men captured a band of rogue psykers, presented them to the Ecclesiarch and he was recruited to the Inquisition.

3)Being found by an Inquisitor - Inquisitors have staffs and henchmen, so Im sure there have been cases where the Inquisitor comes across a person he knows would make a good Inquisitor, he retains him and trains the guy, them when the time is right presents him/her to the Inquisition for furthur training.

I know the headquarters of the Ordo Malleus are like 5 kilometers under the ice of Antartica on Terra and are infanatly huge.

In the Inquisition War, isn't Draco sworn to celibacy? He says he went with a woman once to try it, or somesuch.

Nope, he's not sworn to celibacy, he's just too busy hunting out heresy to have much time for getting it on.

He did bang a Callidus Assassin thought, baw chicka baw waw!!!

Man, and look where that got him...

I HAVENT GOTTEN THAT FAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I remember one short sotry where an Inquisitor got himself infected with one of Godfather Nurgle's plagues, and had to be killed by his pet psyker, who took his Inquisitorial Icon, becoming an Inquisitor.

I think, officially, anyone can be an Inquisitor - all it really takes is the ability to get your hands on an Icon and avoid getting into a position of being hunted down by five Inquisitor Lords for heresy. Obviously, the Inquisition hoards it's Icons like a miser hoards gold (or credits, if you will), so it's easier said than done. But they're less likely to hunt you down if you've got other Inquisitor's approval, and highly unlikely if you convince them to give you one directly (trhough training on Terra).

Hmm. Damn, I'm getting all fluffy again - time for a new ex-thief Inquisitor, methinks.

(Sisters join up from the Schola Progenium at a young age, like Marines)

Marines are not picked up from the Schola Progenum. In fact, they're actually recruited from planets. Generally, Space Marine chapters announce that they'll be having a contest to see who's good for recruiting. They test skills and such, and those deemed worthy are picked up.

And yes, the Inquisitorial Rosette is the badge of office. If you've got that, you've got all the powers of an Inquisitor.

He did bang a Callidus Assassin thought

So, what was this book called again? Heheh.

Actually I just meant that Sisters are recruited when young, like the Space Marines are, not that Marines are recruited from the Schola Progenium. I should have structured that sentence you quoted better.

Just possessing an Inquisitorial Rosette grants you nothing. An Inquisitor is admitted to his office by the grace of the Emperor, the favour of his master and the acclaim of his prospective peers. The Rosette is just a badge of office, a symbol of the power, not the power itself.

The book was Inquisitor by Ian Watson, one of the early 40K novels. The background is slightly outdated compared to current fluff. He based the character of Meh'Lindi off the description of the assassin Camaru in the old Rogue Trader book. Most of the current assassin temples and the design of the present Callidus model are inspired by his ideas.

pnweerar wrote:The psyker ones are ferreted out by the Black Ships (run by Inquisition, by the way).

Officially, some of the best psykers get picked by the Black Ships to be trained in the Inquisition. Unofficially, since the Inquisition ARE the ones doing the recruiting, I'll bet hard credits (that's right, British pounds!) that they do indeed take the very best of them and leave everyone else second pick...

For non-psykers, I do hope lmb is right about the Schol Progenium -- where else can you find a large pool of young children that you can easily train into imperial government professions?

I certainly DON'T think that traveling Inquisitors would send the random talent they find off to the academy... This may help Ihe inquisition, but it sure ain't helping the inquistor ("so, when will you come back to me as an interrogator? What! Ten years!").

I thought they didnt pick the most powerful but the ones with the willpower not to fall to chaos?