A Chaos cult is spreading across the world of Exhalus – a planet blighted by the Siren’s Storm in its skies, where even gazing upwards into the empyrean is punishable by death. The cult is far too elusive to be crushed by the might of the Emperor’s armies, so it falls to those in the shadows to root it out and put the heretics to the sword.In times like these, the defence of the Imperium falls to the Inquisition, a gargantuan interstellar organisation of investigators, interrogators, and executioners. In Kill Team: Ashes of Faith, that Inquisitor is you, and your team of specialised agents are all that stands between Exhalus and a horrifying mutant uprising.
Nobody quite knows when the Inquisition was formally created, though many versions of the tale place it around the time of the Emperor’s interment within the Golden Throne. Its heraldry bears a remarkable likeness to the personal icon of Malcador the Sigillite, and several versions of events have the Emperor ordering his regent to found an organisation from capable servants of an inquisitive nature.
However it came to be, the Inquisition soon made its mark on an Imperium wracked by the after-effects of the Horus Heresy. Traitors still ran rampant across the galaxy, and the brutal methods Inquisitors employed were undoubtedly effective in rooting out daemonic corruption.
In the modern day, the Inquisition continues its shadowy war against the alien, the mutant, and the heretic. Corrupted humans, like those infesting the hives of Exhalus, fall under the purview of the Ordo Hereticus – witch-hunters and cult-breakers with a knack for finding the invisible heart of heresy within seemingly stable worlds.
Unlike the alien-hunters of the Ordo Xenos, or the daemon-banishing paragons of the Ordo Malleus, Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus bring their skills to bear against those they are sworn to protect – humanity itself. Because of this, they have a greater appreciation for subterfuge and subtlety, with their agents moving unseen until the time to strike.
And strike they do. Though the Ordo Hereticus has full authority to requisition troops from their chamber militant – the Adepta Sororitas – it also recruits extensive networks of combat-capable agents to act as their eyes, ears, and arms in the field. Inquisitors are rarely able to deal with every emergency on their desk, so invest their subordinate Interrogators with the means to execute vital operations.
When dedicated combat skills are called for, Inquisitors have the right to enlist troops from across the Imperial military to aid their agents in battle. Elite Tempestus Scions, Sisters of Silence, and Kasrkin stormtroopers are favoured for their discretion and professionalism, though the local Adeptus Arbites precinct and veteran Guardsman companies are also commonly drawn into Inquisitorial operations.
Some claim that the Inquisition’s methods are a little on the extreme side, but there’s no arguing with results* in the 41st Millennium. Whether you plan to run your Ashes of Faith campaign as a staunch traditionalist or a dangerous maverick, you have the full confidence of the Imperium behind you – so long as you succeed.
You can learn what it’s like to live as one of the Inquisition’s most capable servants in the phenomenal Warhammer+ series Interrogator,** and begin the story of perhaps the most famous Inquisitor of them all in Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn omnibus. Stay tuned to Warhammer Community for more from Kill Team: Ashes of Faith as we get closer to release.
* Unless those results are the annihilation of an entire sector of Imperial worlds, Kryptmann.
** Spoiler alert: it’s not all fun and rainbows.