With Codex: Imperial Agents about to break out of the Black Cells and make a bid for freedom, it's time to ask who runs the show. In a galaxy full of supernatural and alien terror, the Inquisitors are just about as scary as any of the great threats to humanity. Their reputation alone is enough to bring rebellious governors back into compliance, and given some of their more extreme antics, it's easy to understand why.
The Inquisition was first formed as a means to quietly enforce Imperial rule, and to safeguard the whole edifice from corruption. In the 41st Millennium, however, it is a labyrinthine web of autonomous agents pursuing their own personal agendas with unchecked power. Though (mostly) united by a genuine desire to defend the Imperium, their methods and manias differ wildly – no two Inquisitors hold quite the same beliefs, and conflict between adherents of competing ideologies is common.
Each Inquisitor specialises in a particular threat to the Imperium, from seditious foes to classified records and even the nature of time itself. They are collected into distinct organisations known as Ordos, with the three Ordos Majoris – the Ordo Xenos, Ordo Hereticus, and Ordo Malleus – holding the most sway, though there are more than a few minor Ordos with influence.
The Ordo Xenos busies itself with the dealings of alien races, not least wherever the insidious influences of the T’au Empire and Genestealer Cults are found. In Codex: Imperial Agents, they’re represented by Kyria Draxus, a radical Inquisitor whose dedication to hunting Necrons has even led her to work alongside the Aeldari – but make no mistake, she’s an expert Xenos Hunter committed to putting Humanity first
Inquisitor Draxus is a mysterious figure who disappeared from the galaxy for some time, but returned with word of the Silent King’s reappearance as the war in the Pariah Nexus began to heat up. Some say she has taken to the region with renewed purpose, and now seeks to destroy the network of Necron pylons stitched across the Nexus.
Heretics, mutants, and rogue psykers alike fear the baleful eye of the Ordo Hereticus, who exist to burn corruption out from the heart of Humanity. They often count some of the most zealous and uncompromising Inquisitors among their number, much like Katarinya Greyfax – an iron-willed enforcer of the Emperor’s design who has a particular talent for singling out psykers with her Psyoculum before impaling them on a stake from her condemnor boltgun.
Once trapped for centuries within a Tesseract Vault by Trazyn the Infinite, Inquisitor Greyfax was released by the enigmatic Necron to help combat Abaddon’s forces during the Fall of Cadia, where she was appalled by the Imperium’s idolatry towards the Living Saint Celestine. She was later present at the resurrection of Roboute Guilliman and followed the Terran Crusade all the way to the Throneworld, tempering her hatred towards Celestine and saving members of the Ecclesiarchy from several assassination attempts.
While the Ordo Xenos battle the enemy without and the Ordo Hereticus hunt the enemy within, the Ordo Malleus safeguard the Imperium from the enemy beyond – daemons, and the foul influence of the Warp. Their investigations are among the most dangerous and Inquisitors who thrive among the daemonhunters need to be made of stern stuff indeed – like Torquemada Coteaz, a puritanical taskmaster who spends every waking moment poring over reports and dossiers from his extensive spy network.
When he takes to the battlefield, Inquisitor Coteaz repels daemons with psychic blasts blessed by the Emperor’s own influence, while protecting his subordinates from Warp trickery with his Malefic Wards. With daemons often sporting unnatural resilience and profane strength, he wields a massive nemesis daemon hammer to crush their skulls, further augmented by the strength of his artificer power armour.
You’ll be able to take all three Inquisitors onto the field of battle soon, alongside three Battleforces of devoted followers, which go up for pre-order this weekend.
