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[MetalSlimeHunt]

Neither of them, if you have half passable papers, are likely to end up caught. The level of autonomy possessed by Inquisitors and Rogue Traders is impeccable, so nobody would even try.

[Kot]

Except, not. Not even close. One is authorized by the Emperor. The other is a direct representative of his authority. One is bad. The other is far worse.

Yes.
The Warrant of Trade gives you such retarded amount of posibilities that you're a dude on par with Inquisitors and Chapter Masters and whatnot, to the point that even the most ridiculous Inqusitiors would think twice of accusing a Rogue Trader of heresy without definite proof.

Neither of them, if you have half passable papers, are likely to end up caught. The level of autonomy possessed by Inquisitors and Rogue Traders is impeccable, so nobody would even try.

That's why it's very unlikely to have a person trying that shit. Also, getting half-passable papers is night-impossible in this case, while Inquisitors have Rosettes, the Rogue Traders have Warrants of Trade. Both are night-impossible to forge.
And if you try to impersonate either Inquisitor or Rogue Trader and get discovered... may the God Emperor have mercy on your soul.

[Grim Portent]

Thing is, do you want to be the SDF (System Defence Fleet, the space version of PDF) fleet captain who pissed off a real Rogue Trader by daring to ask for credentials?

These are guys who own industries that span multiple worlds, wipe out some smaller xenos races for getting in their way and duel people to the death for wearing the same outfit as them at a party.

If you ask one for his warrant and he turns out to be legit (not that the average SDF mook will be able to tell) there's a good chance you'll be fired or worse.

Not to mention the problems inherent in getting into a pissing match with someone who owns a ship(s) the size of a Frigate, Cruiser or possibly even Battleship? Those things can drop lance battery fire onto the house of your commanding officer from orbit. That's generally not a good thing to provoke.

[nenjin]

The Warrant of Trade gives you such retarded amount of posibilities that you're a dude on par with Inquisitors and Chapter Masters and whatnot, to the point that even the most ridiculous Inqusitiors would think twice of accusing a Rogue Trader of heresy without definite proof.

Chapter Masters and Inquisitors have the power to determine what Imperial Policy is within in Imperial Space. Rogue Traders do not. They are empowered by but not representative of the Emperor's authority within Imperial Space. They do not have any real authority in Imperial Space, just autonomy. That doesn't make them invincible. And from my reading, Inquisitors do not give a fuck about Warrants of Trade. It is no barrier to investigation or prosecution. A Warrant of Trade isn't even really a defense against accusations of heresy and/or xenos-love if a given Inquisitor decides it's not.

Basically, Rogue Traders are given both the power and the rope with which to hang themselves. The smart ones tread that line carefully.

[Kot]

Thing is, do you want to be the SDF (System Defence Fleet, the space version of PDF) fleet captain who pissed off a real Rogue Trader by daring to ask for credentials?

>Piss off someone by doing basic thing that everyone should technically do in space
I mean it's not like they're going to have huge I AM ROGUE TRADER painted on their ship, it's the usual shit to hail a ship and ask "WHO THE FUCK YE ARE". Literally everyone in Imperial space has to have some kind of documents on them to fly around, and while WH40k tech is shit I guess they maybe have some kind of sending pictures of that shit through or something, if the Warrant itself is not in some way similar to Inquisitorial Rosette and has some electronical identification.
The obvious exception are Black Ships but those officially don't even exist and in their case your SDF is going to get blasted just for seeing one so there's that.

These are guys who own industries that span multiple worlds, wipe out some smaller xenos races for getting in their way and duel people to the death for wearing the same outfit as them at a party.

Those are also the guys who go around in ramshackle shitty Sloops and basically live from day to day because they don't own anything except their piece of garbage ship.

If you ask one for his warrant and he turns out to be legit (not that the average SDF mook will be able to tell) there's a good chance you'll be fired or worse.

Or you're just doing your job. And not to mention that it wouldn't proably be the Rogue Trader on the phone anyway but one of his mooks speaking because real Rogue Trader spends his time during regular voyages drinking bitches and fucking wine.

Not to mention the problems inherent in getting into a pissing match with someone who owns a ship(s) the size of a Frigate, Cruiser or possibly even Battleship? Those things can drop lance battery fire onto the house of your commanding officer from orbit. That's generally not a good thing to provoke.

I am pretty sure that fake Rogue Trader wouldn't go around in a Battleship, and if he would do, then HOLY SHIT CALL THE INQUSITION BECAUSE THERE'S CHAOS AT WORK HERE.

Chapter Masters and Inquisitors have the power to determine what Imperial Policy is within in Imperial Space. Rogue Traders do not. They are empowered by but not representative of the Emperor's authority within Imperial Space. They do not have any real authority in Imperial Space, just autonomy. That doesn't make them invincible. And from my reading, Inquisitors do not give a fuck about Warrants of Trade. It is no barrier to investigation or prosecution. A Warrant of Trade isn't even really a defense against accusations of heresy and/or xenos-love if a given Inquisitor decides it's not.

And Rogue Trader families own fleets sometimes bigger and better than your local Navy forces. Sometimes they own huge fucking own trade empires and have lesser Space Marine Chapters at their disposal. Rogue Traders are pretty much equals of any other "powerful" dude in Imperium.
And Inquisitors technically don't give a fuck about anything, if High Lords of Terra were suspected they would go to investigate and prosecute, but the Warrant might still protect you from Inquisitor going "HAERSY" and shooting you on spot if you're caught with some sexy felinid ladies.

Basically, Rogue Traders are given both the power and the rope with which to hang themselves. The smart ones tread that line carefully.

So are Inquisitors. So are Chapter Masters (as hilariously presented in /tg/ legendary game). So...

[nenjin]

And Inquisitors technically don't give a fuck about anything, if High Lords of Terra were suspected they would go to investigate and prosecute, but the Warrant might still protect you from Inquisitor going "HAERSY" and shooting you on spot if you're caught with some sexy felinid ladies.

If the Inquisitor has a modicum of political sensitivity, maybe. But likely not. The only thing stopping an Inquisitor from shooting you on the scene is whether you out gun them. And for your part you have to decide whether killing an Inquisitor in good standing is worth the risk or not.

[sprinkled chariot]

Inquisitor can get you to meet some fine gentlemen from officio asassinorum, and for them asassinating chaos sorcerer lords, eldar farseers( even RIGHT INSIDE CRAFTWORLD), aunva( kind of main tau ethereal on the time before he got culexused) is not accomplishment, but just daily business.

[Grim Portent]

Inquisitor can get you to meet some fine gentlemen from officio asassinorum, and for them asassinating chaos sorcerer lords, eldar farseers( even RIGHT INSIDE CRAFTWORLD), aunva( kind of main tau ethereal on the time before he got culexused) is not accomplishment, but just daily business.

Inquisitors actually have a rather hard time getting their hands on Assassins. There's only so many of them and they are very valuable assets, so they're usually not handed out to the Inquisition whenever they ask for one. If they were Inquisition Wars wouldn't get a chance to be a thing because Inquisitors wouldn't be able to build up factions without a rival getting them sniped by a Vindicare.

The thing that's not addressed much in the fluff but does come up in Dark Heresy: Ascension is that while the Inquisition is theoretically able to request anything from anyone and not take no for an answer, in practice the Inquisitors who try that usually die quickly under mysterious circumstances (such as a Chapter Master's fist to the face.) The power of the Rosette only goes as far as people can be cowed by it, the moment someone with enough balls to oppose an Inquisitor (which can include spoiled nobles with no appreciation of consequence, ignorant gangers, Space Marines assured of their own importance, generals or admirals in a warzone with no time and less patience, blad-de-blah-de-blah) the Inquisitor is in a position where they can press their authority and risk dying for it or back off and make do with what they have or try a more subtle approach to get what they want.

[Loud Whispers]

IIRC there's a bit in 13 hours (or maybe I'm confusing it with another 40k book) in regards to Commissars which I think is relevant. Just as in theory an inquisitor can requisition anything they want, a Commissar can boost morale with as many blammings and discipline actions as they want. Notably though, at one point one of the Commissars stops pressing the buttons of some guardsmen, and the description of it can be paraphrased as "the commissar knew the threshold at which a guardsman would disregard his own life and shoot him", and one always has to watch out for accidental friendly fire later on

[Kot]

It should be noted that Commissars are morale officers in all meanings of this words.
They totally can requisition some ice-cream to improve morale. Summary executions are much better than ice-cream, though.

[90908]

On the note of Commissars, I've always found it curious that they are technically speaking authorized to kill commanding officers. I know they can kill Colonels (source:Commissar) and I believe I heard something about a general being *BLAM*.-ed. It seems as though this would be a detriment, as it would stop the command staff from acting effectively due to fear of the Great Hatted Assholes shooting them after a strategically sound retreat.

Or perhaps that's the point...

[Kot]

Technically, I am pretty sure that Commissar can execute anyone they fucking please as long as they have balls to get away with it. I recall a footnote about Commissar executing a Space Marine Chapter Master (or maybe that was just a Captain and I am mixing that up with that other thing) that was nearby for cowardice. It didin't end well for anyone involved, though.
Most of the time they only execute members of Imperial Guard/Navy and Civilians, though. And Colonels/Generals usually don't have anything to worry about because Commissars, SUPRISINGLY, usually have enough brains to understand that the concept of "attacking backwards" is acceptable if nothing can be gained and higher-up orders it.

There is also this pretty nice piece of writefriendry running on the same premise in which a Commissar executes Marneus Calgar. Hilarity and second Horus Heresy ensues.

[Grim Portent]

On the note of Commissars, I've always found it curious that they are technically speaking authorized to kill commanding officers. I know they can kill Colonels (source:Commissar) and I believe I heard something about a general being *BLAM*.-ed. It seems as though this would be a detriment, as it would stop the command staff from acting effectively due to fear of the Great Hatted Assholes shooting them after a strategically sound retreat.

Or perhaps that's the point...

Commissars are trained strategists and tacticians, they can discuss a retreat with the officers they're attached to and decide if the retreat is justified or not, advise the command staff about it and only execute them if the Commissar feels it is necessary.

Notably the Commissars attached to the Death Korps are supposed to tell them to retreat rather than stop them from doing so, as Kriegsmen have a tendency to throw their lives away inefficiently when left unsupervised.

[Kot]

We're the Death Korp of Krieg, son. Did you think that was just a pretty name? We never retreat. We fight and we die, that's the Krieg way.

Ahh yess, The Death Korps of Krieg. The only regiment where Commissars are more likely to get shoot for cowardice than Guardsmen.

Spoiler: By the way. (click to show/hide)

[spazyak]

Those are magnificent.