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[Ghazkull]

That said, most high-ranking people historically do not fear Inquisitors. Now, that's a foolish attitude that indeed gets a lot of them killed, but that's the Imperium for you.

At one point between the Chaos Cults in your upper echelons, the Hive Gangs and Genestealer Cults in the lower Echelons, the incredibly brutal Adeptus Arbites (who are better outfitted than any guard regiment, mind.), 2,50meter hulking demigods of war in powered armor, entire regiments outfitted with capabilities to turn your planet into dust, between the horryfing mind magicians who constantly have a chance of going kaboom and turning into living gates into hell, between the pointy-eared torture porn pirates and the 3 meter hulking green murder machines hiding in your jungles you simply come to the conclusion that no, the guy in the black uniform with no rank insignia except for the =I= is simply not as terryfing as all the ten million other horrible things a planetary governor has to deal with on an average tuesday.

[Avis-Mergulus]

That said, most high-ranking people historically do not fear Inquisitors. Now, that's a foolish attitude that indeed gets a lot of them killed, but that's the Imperium for you.

At one point between the Chaos Cults in your upper echelons, the Hive Gangs and Genestealer Cults in the lower Echelons, the incredibly brutal Adeptus Arbites (who are better outfitted than any guard regiment, mind.), 2,50meter hulking demigods of war in powered armor, entire regiments outfitted with capabilities to turn your planet into dust, between the horryfing mind magicians who constantly have a chance of going kaboom and turning into living gates into hell, between the pointy-eared torture porn pirates and the 3 meter hulking green murder machines hiding in your jungles you simply come to the conclusion that no, the guy in the black uniform with no rank insignia except for the =I= is simply not as terryfing as all the ten million other horrible things a planetary governor has to deal with on an average tuesday.

...And then it turns out that this was the wrong conclusion and you are more easily replaceable than you thought. BAD END, do not pass go, do not go to jail, your class is now lavatory sanitation servitor.

[Grim Portent]

The real reason most governors and nobles do not fear Inquisitors and the like is actually lack of experiencing the various horrors of the Galaxy. Most worlds go hundreds or thousands of years at a time with no major problems, which is enough time for multiple generations of governors to go with nothing more severe than some inter-nobility civil war. No Ork invasions, no Daemonic incursions or Space Marine envoys.

A lot of the time an Inquisitor will be the first person a Governor meets who doesn't bow and scrape to their every whim other than the clergy. They either have to learn fast to respect that there are greater authorities than their own or be faced with a very pissed off person with the right to execute them for obstructing their duties.

[nenjin]

My impression has always been that Imperial Governors and Nobles who aren't mustache twirling villains who are already totally fucked as far as Imperial Law is concerned, are the only ones that don't immediately shit their britches when an Inquisitor presents themselves.

In other news, I'm reading Pharos and Kruze is still a whiny bitch.

[GiglameshDespair]

I'd say it's also that an Inquisitor who strides into a Planetary Governor's palace and announces their intentions to execute the governor probably isn't going to be leaving. Nobles and governors have power of their own, concentrated around them and specifically designed to keep them alive.

An Inquisitor may have the technical authority to cap anyone they please, but that's also different from actually having the ability to do so. It's why for nobles they may have to try to bring them to trial, because just attempting to execute nobles may end up with dead inquisitors and/or rebellions against the Imperium.

[nenjin]

Inquisitors that walk around relying just on the strength of their authority don't tend to last very long. Usually they've already co-opted some other Imperial entity as backup before they make their declarations of intent. Or have use Inquisitorial forces.

It's pretty rare from what I've read for Inquisitors to walk into the equivalent of the Planetary Senate, point their finger around the galleries and declare that everyone is dead. It's a popular image to carry around in one's head but I don't think it actually happens that way in the fiction. Inquisitors may have a ton of hubris but they're not Space Marines.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Depends on the circumstances. The Inquisition is very intentionally the opposite of a secret organization, and try to spread their reputation as far and wide as possible. Certainly there are many people who believe that Inquisitors are functionally unstoppable if they don't believe they're the hand of the God-Emperor.

Kill a lone Inquisitor the first time? Maybe. But then another one will show up, and will be far more willing to order lance strikes until there's nothing left of your capital city should you still be obstinate. The rosette is so important because it carries the verifiable data of the greater Inquisition granting an individual Inquisitor unlimited authority "or else". And there's a lot of or else in 40k, far more than any planetary government can handle.

And even lone Inquisitors can be more dangerous than they already are. If anybody is going to be hauling around crazy archae/xenotech that can make you a one-man army, it's an Inquisitor.

[nenjin]

Well but remember we're talking in the context of levying Imperial Justice against an entire planet. Unless they're carrying the Life Eater virus around or maybe replaced their insides with a Cyclonic Warhead...

Against the individual elements of Imperial society they have almost no equal. But a single Inquisitor telling a planet they're going to wipe them out while they have boots on the ground and no back up either with them or in orbit....I think almost all Inquisitors have more tact than that.

[milo christiansen]

I think almost all Inquisitors have more tact than that.

"tact": adj. Nailed down, secured with a tack.

[Grim Portent]

Failed attempts to kill important planetary figures will usually lead to at least some rebellion against the higher authorities. It was such an event that triggered the Vraks conflict after all.

A recently appointed charismatic Cardinal-Astral named Xaphen had been twisted to excess zealotry by one of his Deacons, who was subtly corrupted by Chaos. This Deacon encouraged the Cardinal-Astral to rouse the people into a war of faith to cleanse the sector of the heretical and unclean. This however is not something the clergy are allowed to do, as part of the Thorian Reformation, so they decided to start their Crusade on the Armoury World of Vraks, which was fortified and equipped and would serve as a formidable base.

Xaphen's oratory was enough to get the populace on his side save for his Sororitas bodyguard and the local Arbites forces, who plotted together to kill Xaphen during a speech. Unfortunately for them his Rosarius saved him from their sniper's shot and the Sisters and Arbites were killed to a man by the populace for their 'heresy'.

This gave Xaphen (who's paranoia was being fed by his Deacon) more room and evidence to claim all the people off-world were corrupt, that enemies surrounded Vraks on all sides, etcetera etcetera and make the Vraksians willing to fight the Imperial forces sent to retake the world.

Since most planetary leaders are demagogue's of greater or lesser skill, and the tiered nature of Imperial governance meaning most people only know a few levels of leadership above themselves to any real extent, a failed attempt to kill the leader of a planet easily lets them rile up anti-Imperial sentiment among the populace.

Depends on the circumstances. The Inquisition is very intentionally the opposite of a secret organization, and try to spread their reputation as far and wide as possible. Certainly there are many people who believe that Inquisitors are functionally unstoppable if they don't believe they're the hand of the God-Emperor.

Unless something has changed in Codex: Inquisition from all the older Inquisition material, they are very explicitly not an organisation that spreads it's reputation. It's rather explicitly stated in several books that the Inquisition is thought of as a myth by most of the population, usually works in the shadows (guys like Karamazov are exceptions to the norm) and swears most people who learn of them to secrecy on pain of death or forced recruitment.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Depends on the circumstances. The Inquisition is very intentionally the opposite of a secret organization, and try to spread their reputation as far and wide as possible. Certainly there are many people who believe that Inquisitors are functionally unstoppable if they don't believe they're the hand of the God-Emperor.

Unless something has changed in Codex: Inquisition from all the older Inquisition material, they are very explicitly not an organisation that spreads it's reputation. It's rather explicitly stated in several books that the Inquisition is thought of as a myth by most of the population, usually works in the shadows (guys like Karamazov are exceptions to the norm) and swears most people who learn of them to secrecy on pain of death or forced recruitment.

They don't spread the details, they spread the myth. Like the idea of the Illuminati: They want to be known, but not understood.

[Kot]

Yeah, they want the myth to be there, in case if some Inquisitor some day needs help so he can just flash his Rossette and get help. They however, don't want people to know the details.

Think like that Lord Inquisitor trailer - Torquemada rides through the town on his slave-powered throne and looks fabulous and important while the actual business is handled by Marcus who kills that dude on the balcony above.

[Kot]

I am of spookings

[Tiruin]

I am of spookings

I really like how literature then became translated into the WH40k universe. c:
That was brilliant.
Especially the humor XD
I love how one can work with the medium and be creative to be silly and witty with it.

Edoot:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I love also how they made it canon into their fanmade story. XD
I did really like that Inquisitor, despite the zeal with it all.

[Kot]

Rule 40,000 of Internet - if it exists, it can be translated into Wh40k universe. Even the sweet romance novels, just add in Tyranids at the end.