Imperial agents codex

-A few Imperial agents have the authority to order an exterminatus. Fewer still have the influence and power to carry it out. The most important aspect of those who would enact such an act of apocalyptic genocide is the terrifying certainty of purpose to look upon the destruction they wrought and call it just.

-Inquisitors answer to no authority save the Emperor. No one not even the High Lords of Terra are safe from their justice.

-The Ordo Chronos is one of the Ordos Minoris. The purpose of their agents is to ruthlessly hunt down those who were ejected from the linear time stream by the anarchy of Warp travel. These victims of time distortion threaten to cause cataclysmic damage to reality by their very existence. Also, these unwitting time travelers might carry revelations that must not reach the populations of the Imperium.

-Heeding the distress cries of the Imperial world of Caldassa, a world in the grip of a cultist uprising, Inquisitor Ostromandeus and his agents infiltrate into the world and seize control of the polar vox fortress where he wires his vox-servitor, Sentor-I-52, into its systems. Soon every hive city on the world is blasted with ceaseless dogmatic oration broadcasted from the cities' hijacked vox systems. The endless verbal barrage of chastisement and admonishments greatly erode the morale of the heretic armies. By the time the Imperials secured victory, many troops on both sides of the conflict had been driven mad.

-The vastness of the Imperium makes centralized rule and defense virtual impossibilities but not through lack of trying from the Imperial rulers. The organizations and colossal armies of the Imperium attempt to make the commands of the High Lords of Terra into reality no matter how they are divorced from reality or how woefully outdated they might be. It's the momentum of the glacial behemoth that is the Imperium that keeps it going, that and the sacrifice of countless of its people's lives.

-There are inquisitors who respond to the hostile and uncaring nature of the universe by falling utterly into uncompromising zealotry. These are the Puritans, the much-feared Inquisitors who think in absolute and black-and-white terms. Puritans of Ordo Malleus would exterminate entire worlds if a handful gained knowledge of the existence of daemons. Puritans of the Ordo Hereticus would throw even sanctioned psykers into the witch pyres, and are known to loathe even their fellow inquisitors if they possess psychic abilities. Puritans of the Ordo Xenos would rather accept death and defeat than accept the aid of even the most well-intentioned Xenos races. They would also reclassify abhumans, such as the Kin of the Leagues of Votann, into Xenos and order them exterminated.

-Few Inquisitors begin their service as Radicals. Overtime, the dire enemies and situations in the galaxy can force compromise for the sake of necessity. Simple black and white answers can not work in all situations resulting in Inquisitors coming to understand that justice and truth are complex concepts. Hope, hubris, and fear of failure can force Inquisitors to cross their self-imposed lines of righteousness. However, the terms radical and puritan are crude labels. Reality is much more complex. A so-called radical might see himself as a Puritan even as he is hunted by his peers as a heretic. Despite what many individual Inquisitors believe of themselves, their actions put them on a poorly defined spectrum.

-To receive aid from the Grey Knights is both a blessing and a curse. For one, there are no greater hunters of Warpspawn than them in the Imperium. However, it means that the conflict is at its direst point.

-The Imperial assassins are recruited at a very young age. They are taken from Schola Progenium, Black ships, or vatgrown by the order of the temples. This means that few assassins experienced anything but the faintest glimpse of a normal human life.

-Upon death, the body of Eversor assassin explodes with the force of a plasma warhead.

-Nulls are the rarest mutants in humanity. They have no presence in the Warp. In the most extreme cases of their mutation, some Nulls have a horrifying vortex in place of their souls.

-The Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons conquered the Imperial world of Highdawn. Sub-sector command sent armies to reclaim it from the heretics but each army was annihilated completely. In response, a Culexus Assassin named Veracity was sent to the world. She walked into the heart of the Sorcerers' power, their obsidian citadel. Where the armies of the Imperium failed, she succeeded. She unleashed such nightmarish horrors on the Thousand Sons that the world was reclaimed in a matter of days.

The Vindicare Asmagori Vo had served his temple for more than a century. During a mission, he fired a shieldbreaker round followed by a turbo-penetrator bullet to kill the Princeps of the Traitor Titan Stygiarus Maximal resulting in its crippling.

-The Ordo of Xenos section is called "The Book of the Alien". It begins with denouncements of various alien races. There are typical races such as the Orks, Aeldari, T'au, Necrons, and Tyranids. Then the Leagues of Votann are mentioned and denounced as hiding their otherness by false claims of abhumanity to slake their vile greed.

-Also the Scurrying Hrud, the repulsive Barghesi, and the forbidden Kadosh'el are mentioned.

-The Enslavers are mentioned as Xenos threat. An example of an Inquisitor investigating the kidnapping of a high-ranking munitorum adept by the Enslavers was given.

-Such diverse multitudes of aliens pose an actual threat or potential threat to the Imperium that Ordo Xenos Inquisitors have no shortage of crises and targets to handle. Seeing them fret over one Xenos threat after another, some of their peers in other Ordos accuse them of lack of focus.

-Often Ordo Xenos Inquisitor focus on a particular Xenos threat that they consider to be of the greatest danger to mankind. For example, Inquisitor Vetrosus long maintained the T'au race with their abominable intelligence machines, advanced technology, and honeyed words will bring about the damnation of mankind. To protect humanity from the dire threat posed by the T'au Empire, he launched a series of shadow wars against the T'au septs in Chalnath Expanse. He drew elements from the Silver Skulls and Necropolis Hawks chapters to aid him in his fight.

-After witnessing the utter conquest of the T'sakari system, Inquisitor Rasmusarii considers the Leagues of Votann to be the greatest threat to mankind. The campaigns of sabotage and slaughter conducted by the Kin Yaegirs were shocking but what truly pushed her to hher conclusion was the sight of the Kin ships shattering the system's capital world and processing it even as its Imperial defenders fought on. The mutilated meat of millions of Imperials was discarded into the void as unwanted refuse by the Kin vessels. Rasmusarii gathered around her a Conclave of Vengeance that included several of her staunchly Puritan peers, Rogue Trader Pavel Greth, Lord Borhess of House Hawkshroud, and also the regiments that were mauled by the Kin invasion. This alliance of vengeful Imperials is hellbound to take the fight to the Galactic Core and bring the hammer of Imperial justice down on the stunted ones.

-There are those among the Ordo Xenos who believe Xenos can be useful or perhaps necessary for the survival of mankind.  This could translate into using Xenos technology and relics in the service of mankind. For example, using a Xenotech array to allow Imperial vessels to peer through the stealth fields of T'au and Drukhari ships or a chitinous shard whose vibrations lead Imperial agents to the hideouts of the genecults. However, there is a price for using Xenos lore and arcana.

-To gaze long into an abyss risks the abyss gazing into you as well. Understanding the Xenos leads to familiarity. Familiarity leads to acceptance. Acceptance leads to tolerance. Some inquisitors have gone beyond using Xenos technology and knowledge. More than one Inquisitor who fought the Orks has developed a respect for their robustness and ingenious craftiness. They went on to hire Blood Axe mercs to fight alongside the Imperial troops.

-There are many inquisitors who temporarily hired  Xenos mercs from races such as the Kroot and Kin. There are rare examples of Inquisitors permanently recruiting or even befriending individuals from the Xenos races such as the T'au, Aeldari, Jokaero, and Avloryx.

-There are Inquisitors that take all of this a step further. Some Inquisitors get influenced by the Xenos foes that they hunt, growing to adopt the attitude or aspect of their Xenos foes. For example, Inquisitor Gustavus after hunting the Orks across the stars for years has developed barbarity and hardy toughness that matches his greenskinned prey.  Inquisitor Adenius who had spent most of her life in dismantling the Drukhari Kabal of the Emerald Thorn developed a sense of mysteriousness about her, an aspect of sinister feyness.

-But there are limits to this connection between Xenos and humans. Inquisitor Semyth underwent extensive physical and mental surgery to take the form of a Dvorgite flensewright to infiltrate the Xenos race's ranks. The desperate report sent by the Inquisitor indicates that he met a gruesome end. This shows that regardless of the Inquisitors' arrogance, there are aspects of the Xenos' existence that are beyond humans' understanding.

-On the other hand, there are Inquisitors who see the lack of knowledge and understanding of the Xenos as an advantage, adopting a method of willful ignorance when confronting the alien threat. They believe that one does not need to understand something to destroy it.

-The Ordo Xenos inquisitors have destroyed countless Xenos threats or have purged Xenos preemptively. Yet for all their efforts, the Xenos threat for the Imperium grows more dire with each passing year.

-The Deathwatch embraces something unusual in other Imperial organizations, innovation. Some of their technologies are of Xenos origin or have not been sanctioned by the Admech. For when facing such diverse foes with many abilities and powers stagnation could only lead to defeat.

-Deathwatch are hardline Xenos slayers, a natural ally for any Puritan Ordo Xenos Inquisitor. Their hatred and intolerance is absolute. No Xenos they encounter will be spared their wrath. They are known to gun down Xenos mercs of Inquisitors and other Imperial agents or violently reject any offers of temporary alliance from Xenos. They would see the threat of Xenos eliminated without being exposed to their corrupting influence.
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-The codex features a short story of Lord Inquisitor Kyria Draxus preparing to ambush a Necron courier on a world strewn with the desiccated bodies of the Stilling's victims. As she spied on the courier she muttered to herself that it has caused such misery and death at the whim of its mad king and for what purpose? Vainglorious nostalgia?

-Draxus was aided on her mission by a Vindicare assassin. His aid was welcome however it was unclear who his true target was and how helping Draxus would bring him closer to his prey. She had agents investigate the assassin's true agenda but for now she will accept his help.

-Draxus and her retinue and their Vindicare ally incapacitated the Necron courier and destroyed his hulking bodyguards. She retrieved the green metal canister it was carrying and finished it off. Then she departed taking with her the casualties suffered in the skirmish and knowing that the Necrons would soon respond to this theft.
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-The Puritan Inquisitor Fyodor Karamazov works his navigators and Astropaths to death as he takes his crusading fleet to the Avalonia sub-sector deep in Imperium Nihilus after hearing that its worlds have slipped into rebellion thanks to a new religion that preaches that the wider Imperium is tainted and that isolation is strength. The foolish worlds that adopted this heretical faith fall one by one to its true authors the Word Bearers. Fyodor vows to purge not only the Word Bearers but also every single Imperial civilian and trooper that fell to their heretical trickery.

-The countless environments across the colossal breadth and span of the Imperium have caused various populations of humanity to naturally evolve to better survive in their worlds' conditions.  Also, the byproducts of the industry from toxic waste to radiation can induce mutations. For the Imperial faithful, these divergences from the human form are abhorred and to be exterminated. However, some forms of mutants have been considered to be stable and useful enough to exist and serve within the Imperium such as the Ratlings and Ogryns. Even the Beastmen are tolerated as long as they repent for their abominable forms by serving in the Imperium's armies. Navigators are a form of mutants that prospered in the Imperium owing to their vital role in it. Though, they are confined and closely watched in their noble houses on Terra.

-Most other mutants are hunted down and destroyed. It's up to the Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus to investigate mutations and see them excised. They go on about their task without mercy. However, there are some radical Hereticus Inquisitors who seek to understand the source of these mutations and if they could be harnessed for the benefit of the Imperium. In most cases, mutants are culled. These purges have slaughtered countless loyal and faithful Imperial citizens who only bore minor mutations.

-The desperation and hopelessness rampant in the Imperium causes many to seek the succor denied to them by the Emperor. Many of the heretical faiths that prey on these masses are offshoots of the Imperial Creed. They are misinterpretations and products of fringe beliefs. Or more sinisterly it could be the twisting of Imperial faith by Chaotic agents such as the Word Bearers and the Alpha Legion. Due to systematic ignorance imposed by the Imperium, these traitors' methods are very effective. The notion of turning the Imperial faith, which Imperials consider their shield, into a weapon against the Imperium is satisfying for these traitors.

-It's not only Chaos cults that plague the underbelly of the Imperium. Xenos cults are also an insidious threat. Among these Xeno cults are Genestealer cults and the deviant faiths spread by the shapeshifting Lacrymoles.

-The Black Templars are eager to answer the call of the Hereticus especially those of the Puritan disposition for they share much with them in zeal and intolerance. Responses from other chapters tend to vary. Most chapters would answer the call as duty demands. Other chapters that don't want their cults and practices scrutinized or have a large number of psykers in their ranks would look scornfully on Hereticus Inquisitors or avoid them whenever it is possible.

-The Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus, whether Puritan or radical, are exceptionally brutal even by the standards of other Ordos. Even the slightest inkling or glimpse of the daemonic influence or forbidden knowledge is met with horrifyingly remorseless and complete purgation. No mercy stays their hand, no cost is too great. Vital Imperial military installations, Shrine worlds of irreplaceable holy reverence to the Imperial Church, Hive worlds that produce countless regiments for the armies of the Emperor are put to the torch to prevent the risk of daemons breaching the walls of reality.

-Fighting alongside the Ordo Malleus is extremely dangerous as many Imperial armies found out too late. It's better for the Inquisitors to purge their Imperial Guard forces or subject their space marine allies to dangerous and damaging mind-scrubbing procedures than allow knowledge of the daemonic to persist. Such practices have resulted in tragic civil wars when powerful Imperial commanders objected. Yet the loss of Imperial lives in the purges and the resulting civil wars are a small price for the Ordo Malleus when compared to the grim alternative.

-Radical Ordo Malleus Inquisitors use the power of Chaos against itself. Ultizing Daemonic lore to empower their weapons and aid their quests. They entrust the sanctity of their souls to their strength of will. Others have bound daemonic entities into living hosts. These daemonhosts are capable of wreaking horrible devastation on heretics and their fellow Warpspawn despite their bondage. However, to commit such an act would risk being consigned as a heretic by your peers. Shadow wars erupted between cabals of Inquisitors over it, much to the delight of the true servants of Chaos.