How can a battle sister or a tech priest, for example, be an inquisitor?

[Liquain]

Question of the lore. As far as I know, inquisitors are a separate kind of thing. Battle sister is a battle sister, and an inquisitor is an inquisitor.
Say, how can a battle sister, dedicated to her chapter, be an inquisitor, who is like an autonomous and independent entity? Is it just for gameplay purposes?
Correct me, if I'm wrong.

[kknd]

It's their background, the duties of an Inquisitor come first. Otherwise they'd have not been selected to become an interrogator, well before Inquisitor status becomes an option.

While I'm sure each individual would have their own reasoning, that seems like the likely logic for taking up the rosette to me. Since Inquisitors are chosen from within an Inquisitor's retinue, they would have first hand experience of the job well before they are considered for taking it. A tech priest would see just how badly their expertise is needed in the work, a sister would see first hand just how badly the clergy needs one of their own to be vigilant.

The broad mandate and wide authority is likely the clencher for a lot of them. A sister can be stuck, knowing someone is (to her view) a heretic or recidivist, but barred from acting by higher authority. The only authority below the Emperor that an Inquisitor must respect is another Inquisitor.

A tech priest can be told 'No, you can't go digging into that ancient sealed ruin for archeotech.' by Planetary governors or senior members of their faith. Few dare gainsay an Inquisitor when they proclaim the quest for knowledge or their duty leads them anywhere.

For a lot of potential Inquisitors, it might be as simple as realizing that the Inquisition isn't a monolithic organization. That it too has factions and bad actors who muck it all up. When the only way to have a say and keep those in check is to take up the job, a lot of people are going to take the mantle out of self preservation. Heck, some will have seen the real horrors of the galaxy and said 'Well, guess this needs fixing.' I figure.

[Liquain]

Thanks, man. That cleared things up a bit for me.

[Fair Play Creative]

If an Inquisitor walks up to you and makes you an Interrogator, you don't refuse, no matter your previous life or station. You're in the Inquisition now.

[kknd]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Liquain:

Thanks, man. That cleared things up a bit for me.

Glad I could help. I enjoy the setting and on the face of it (for someone who's not dived deep on Inquisitors thanks to the old RPG books getting into the nitty gritty.) the question is pretty confusing.

I still find the most fun origin for an Inquisitor being someone who started as an Administratum Archivist. Literally a professional paper pusher, likely drafted with zero warning by an Inquisitor mid operation, who through toil and tumult ends up an Inquisitor themselves.

But then I'm biased since I put a lot of thought into that, the Dark Heresy RPG campaign I was running needed a very hands off Inquisitor, pretty much the inverse of our player character in Martyr (Who does their own field work.) and it seemed the logical explanation for why. (Without them being ancient/crippled or something.)

Interrogators are kind of fascinating in that sense of 'there is no standard', there are some skills they'll need for sure, but one of the reasons Inquisitors are so varied is just how twisting the road is to get there. Not like Commisars or Marines where there is a singular source (if on a per chapter basis for marines) like the Schola Progenium.

Honestly given how our PC inquisitor in Martyr leads from the front and rarely brings retinue along, they'd be a hanging plot thread source in a Dark Heresy campagin. This rampaging bull in the china shop that gets things done, and leaves a mess someone else (the PC inquisitorial agents) has to clean up after them. Because are you going to tell an Inquisitor 'Stop it and file the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ paperwork instead of running out system immediately!'? I wouldn't.

[Shift]

I'm not a lore specialist, but I recall it's pretty common for a battle sister to become an inquisitor. A tech-priest is rarer, but also not impossible.

The thing that is about gameplay is the inquisitor going to battle instead of sitting back, smashing an exterminatus button here and there and call people heretics.

[Horagen81]

or see it like this ;)
if the Sister of battle or Techpriest see it as a sign from their respective gods why would they go against their wishes.
If they can best serve the God Emperor of mankind by becomming an inquisitor they are surely going to do it :D
99% of the time of cause :D
there is always a chance it is a Sister of Chaos or Heretek in their mids

[Apothecary Michael]

I would say, depending on person and circumstances, it is possible. The Question is, when was the Char requited to be an iInterrogators. For the Battle Sister it could be, when she was a fresh recruit and only later got to the Point where she can became a Saint.
If she already was very powerfull I'm sure there would be some resistance and compliance. For example. you don't make a Captian of the Space Marines into an Intorrigater without backlash from his chapter. So you will need a really good reason to do so.
I think the reason when and why a person became an iInterrogator is the deciding factor. And it doesn't mean old connections are gone. For the Battle Sister she can still visiting some people from her chapter. Maybe seeking guidance from an Abtess or something.

[-KV-BrotherSerb]

people said this already but your former occupation doesn't matter much. You get chosen as an interrogator, you either become an inquisitor or die trying.

[Bilateralrope]

One key part about someone becoming an Inquisitor is that they need to leave whatever organisation they were a part of beforehand. An Inquisitor serves the Imperium and The Emperor, not whoever they worked for beforehand.

They don't have to cut off all contact with their former lives, especially not when staying friendly can be useful. But divided loyalties are not acceptable.

[UrbanHermit]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Bilateralrope:

An Inquisitor serves the Imperium and The Emperor, not whoever they worked for beforehand.

The Sisters were originally known as Daughters of the Emperor. No conflict there.

Also, from the 40k fandom wiki:

There is naturally some overlap between the duties of the Sisterhood and the Imperial Inquisition; for this reason, although the Inquisition and the Sisterhood remain entirely separate organisations, the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas also act as the Chamber Militant of the Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus.

[Fair Play Creative]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Bilateralrope:

One key part about someone becoming an Inquisitor is that they need to leave whatever organisation they were a part of beforehand. An Inquisitor serves the Imperium and The Emperor, not whoever they worked for beforehand.

They don't have to cut off all contact with their former lives, especially not when staying friendly can be useful. But divided loyalties are not acceptable.

Well said.

[Morty2989]

Every now and then Humble Bundle sells the old Inquisitor tabletop RPGs and they're worth grabbing to read up on this stuff. The techsorcist was my favorite background, never had a clue that was a thing in 40K.

[Helldiver]

Another thing you have to keep in mind is that Sisters of Battle proper (the ones with the power-armor and guns, aka Orders Militant) are actually kind of rare. In the great scheme of things they're actually small in number when compared to other organizations in the imperium.

However, the non-militant arm of the Ecclesiarchy is significantly larger. Ranging from orders hospitaller (the ones out on the battlefield helping wounded soldiers, plagued hiveworlds, etcetera), administrators, seminary staff which can number in the thousands, religious paper pushers and so on.

That makes the sisters of battle the best most knowledgeable in local civilian affairs. The Inquisition mainly deals with matters on the homefront (most commonly, but not always). Heretical cults, underground cabals, secret societies with anti-imperial intent and so on. Their goal being to stop the infiltration and proliferation of such things before it reaches the greater society and becomes a problem they can't deal with and have to resort to the big guns (Space Marines, Grey Knights, a full invasion force, or an order exterminatus).

So the local imperial church of a hiveworld probably would regularly have some of their members go on investigations in an effort to thwart any potential heretical uprisings even without an inquisitorial decree. That some of them rise to Interrogator is probably just a continuation of that as they continue their investigation and they discover that the mess is a lot bigger than anticipated.

When do the girls put on the power armor, grab the bolters, flamers, inferno pistols and chainswords? Sometime around this point once it's discovered that the heretical cult has grown outside a few arrests and they're dealing with entire gang-sized/city sized populations. It is at this point that you'll see the full company of sisters of battle, seraphims, redeemer tanks and so on come in. And from there it just keeps escalating so use your imagination.

[Liquain]

Thank you, everybody, for the detailed replies. That's a huge heap of info.

[hellheaven1987]

Sisters of Battle is the unofficial military branch of Ordo Hereticus, it is not uncommon for sisters to involve in Inquisition. Generally, an Inquisitor often starts career as a retinue of senior Inquisitor and advance in a master/discipline path, so anyone can be an Inquisitor.