Commissar Inquisitor

[jma037]

Would a Commissar make a good Inquisitor?

Should Commissar Yarrick be made an Inquisitor?

Could a Commissar Inquisitor still wear his Comissar uniform?

Would he have more "sway", per say, with the Guard.

 

 

Discuss!

[Growler67]

With the addition of some GS, that would be a pretty good base model, IMO.

[xMALLEUSx]

I'v been thinking the same thing lately, i would imagine so, some inquisitorial adepts such as a cleric are protected from the warp by the power of their faith alone.

 

Given the staunch upbringing at the Schola Progenium and unshakeable faith in the Emperor, i think a commissar would make a great Inquisitor. With the question about his commissariat uniform i say an Inquisitor wears whatever he wants, just add some =I='s here and there and your done.

 

Fluff wise he could have been a commissar attached to the 88th Krieg Infantry which were all requisitioned by Lord Hector Rex during the Seig of Vraks

[Eddie Orlock]

Would a Commissar make a good Inquisitor?

They have different roles. Being an Inquisitor is often about clandestine investigations and sneaking about, traveling to the far and dark corners of His realm and beyond. Being a Commissar is about being the personal ambasador of the Emperor to a great tide of the unwashed masses and making sure that they to the line in his local locus. Sure there is some overlap in so far as the commisariate is responsible for maintaining moral and rooting out sedition in their assigned corps, but that's about where it ends

Should Commissar Yarrick be made an Inquisitor?

No. He is far more useful to the Imperium as the inspirational Guard leader he is.

Could a Commissar Inquisitor still wear his Comissar uniform?

Setting aside that the conduction of his Inquisitorial mandate would likely require him to leave his assigned post, an inquisitor can wear whatever he darn well pleases or is convienient to his investigations. That said, it might be conspiquous, but then some Inquisitors like that.

Would he have more "sway", per say, with the Guard.

He'd have contacts with his former colleagues. Whether they're warry of him with his new status, or helpful is a question of prior character development.

Discuss!

See above.

[Vindicatus]

Comparing a Commissar to an Inquisitor is like comparing a Ford Galaxy 500 engine block to a door knob.

 

Commissars are blunt tools, used to beat inspiration and devotion through the most common methodology there is in a regime such as the Imperium: fear.

 

Inquisitors are the surgical tools to keep the internal issues of heresy, dissent, and warpcraft from spilling out into the open, public eye, thus creating a mass panic. While Commissar's have ultimate authority over those in the Guard who fall under their gaze, the Inquisitors are feared by everyone. Sure, a Guardsman fears that shiny hat and the red sash, but nothing clears a crowded market square like an Inquisitorial Rosette. Granted, many use fear, threat of force or violence itself to get the job done, they do so in service of the purpose they were created for.

 

With the sort of presense and oratory skills that Commissar's usually have, he might make a good candidate for an Inquisitor later on, but that's essentially setting one hat down to pick up another; a 'Inquisitor-Commissar' is akin to preforming neurosurgery with a nail-studded 2x4.

[Azekai]

Commissars are blunt tools, used to beat inspiration and devotion through the most common methodology there is in a regime such as the Imperium: fear.

 

a 'Inquisitor-Commissar' is akin to preforming neurosurgery with a nail-studded 2x4.

 

I think you are selling the commisariat a bit short there, brother. From lexicanum:

Commissars have both the right and duty to immediately execute any Imperial guardsman or officer who shows cowardice or incompetence in battle. They must also ensure the regiment does not harbour the likes of Genestealer Cultists, Chaos heretics, spies, or mutants.

 

Commissars may not always be embroiled in Inquisitor-level skullduggery, but they are no strangers to rooting out witchery, heresy and incompetence. I think that there are plenty of reasons why a commissar could be inducted into an inquisitor's retinue and made an acolyte; if the commissar distinguishes himself there is no reason why he could not be made a full-fledged inquisitor one day.

[ChaosLord Leon Enaek]

It depends on what happened in between.

Whilst its unlikely that the Ordo Xenos (for example) would appear before Commissar Gidds of the Winn 31st Infantry and declare him an Inquisitor, Gidds may be drafted into the personal staff of Inquisitor Harry Porter of the Ordo Xenos, and from there gain the experience and standing to later be promoted to the rank of Inquisitor. He'd probably be the elaborate shoot-a-zoat-in-the-face-before-i-crawl-through-a-sewer type, so wearing his commissar uniform would be fine, and as a result he'd still be able to inspire and rally the men of the Imperial Guard, as well as have a few contacts back in the Winn 31st.

 

 

 

 

So...

...Yes... I think he could

 

 

And sorry for my lazy namings (Winn... (Shudder!))

[Vindicatus]

No, I wouldn't assume that they would be, but minus shining exeptions to the rule (*coughGauntcough*), the vast majority of the Commisariat do nothing but browbeat, point fingers, and pull the trigger. They may have the skills through combat, but in my eyes, from what I've seen and read, they lack a lot in the way of tact and patience; it's not always a great idea to pop the first thing that moves when hunting, you scare off your real quarry.

[Chengar Qordath]

In addition to the fact that some Commissars have more brains than some people are crediting them with, it probably also bears mentioning that there are a fair number of Inquisitors who aren't subtle, precise investigators. In particular, the Monodominants are infamous for usually having all the subtlety of a boot to the head.

[Eddie Orlock]

In addition to the fact that some Commissars have more brains than some people are crediting them with, it probably also bears mentioning that there are a fair number of Inquisitors who aren't subtle, precise investigators. In particular, the Monodominants are infamous for usually having all the subtlety of a boot to the head.

This may be, but, being a Comminsar is a full time occupation. So is being an Inquisitor.

[jma037]

I'm diffinately of the from commissar to inquisitor school of thought. But old habits die hard. Especially when you've been a commissar for say 30 odd years. So this inquisitor (monodominate no doubt) would still act like a commissar, talk like a commissar, but have that =][= to condemn a whole world instead of just one person. Instead of fight or a bolter round. It's fight or exterminatus! I have this guy rolling with a Black Templar crusade with a retinue of Redemptionists. Burn the Heretic, indeed.

[Validar]

I think the question lies in indoctrination. The commisars are taught the Truth and follow it without delay or question - an inquisitor is required to define and preach the Truth, which has resolved in the different fractions in the Inquisition (there is, ofcourse, no one truth, but several perceptions).

 

Personally, I think the Comissar simply isn't refined enough to work as an Inquisitor in general. He is indoctrinated to do one simple thing: Keep the men in line. Overcome their fear of the enemy with a greater fear.

And the Inquisitorial life just isn't that simple. In fact it gets complicated real quick and you have to decide about right or wrong, which cannot be dictated by simple doctrine.

[Growler67]

You might consider these as another option: http://forums.waryammer.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19694

[Chengar Qordath]

I think the question lies in indoctrination. The commisars are taught the Truth and follow it without delay or question - an inquisitor is required to define and preach the Truth, which has resolved in the different fractions in the Inquisition (there is, ofcourse, no one truth, but several perceptions).

 

Personally, I think the Comissar simply isn't refined enough to work as an Inquisitor in general. He is indoctrinated to do one simple thing: Keep the men in line. Overcome their fear of the enemy with a greater fear.

And the Inquisitorial life just isn't that simple. In fact it gets complicated real quick and you have to decide about right or wrong, which cannot be dictated by simple doctrine.

Thing is, single-minded devotion to the Imperial Truth and an absolute refusal to accept moral ambiguity actually makes for a great Inquisitor ... if you're a Monodominant. As jma037 pointed out, it is not that hard to see an Inquisitor as essentially a Commissar who covers the whole Imperium instead of just one part of the Imperial military.

 

A lot of people seem to make the mistake of assuming that every single Inquisitor must be like Eisenhorn. Some Inquisitors are subtle, precise investigators that constantly ask moral and ethical questions about their duties, and others are sledgehammers that bluntly and dogmatically enforce the Emperor's will. Both have their place in the Inquisition.

[Vindicatus]

I think I'm more thinking along the lines of 'good' meaning 'a career that lasts longer than it took to kick in that door to the genestealer brood. By myself.'

 

Thought, calculation, tact, and patience have a place in the Inquisition, and like it's been said, so does flailing with a sledgehammer in a china shop. I think where I see the difference is the fact that I see someone who takes a moment to think about an action, a puzzle, a clue, or whether to wait for backup as being far more useful to the Imperium than someone who says F'it, revs a chainsword and Kool-Aid-Man's himself through a ferrocrete wall to start braining cultists.

 

As GRIMDARK (lulz) as the 40k universe is, I expect someone of that nature to last about 20 seconds - someone who put some thought behind it might send in a lackey first to see just how terrbiad the situation is he's walking into.

 

I suppose if you needed a fervor-filled door kicker, a properly indoctrinated Commissar would work swimmingly.

[jma037]

I think I'm more thinking along the lines of 'good' meaning 'a career that lasts longer than it took to kick in that door to the genestealer brood. By myself.'

 

Thought, calculation, tact, and patience have a place in the Inquisition, and like it's been said, so does flailing with a sledgehammer in a china shop. I think where I see the difference is the fact that I see someone who takes a moment to think about an action, a puzzle, a clue, or whether to wait for backup as being far more useful to the Imperium than someone who says F'it, revs a chainsword and Kool-Aid-Man's himself through a ferrocrete wall to start braining cultists.

 

As GRIMDARK (lulz) as the 40k universe is, I expect someone of that nature to last about 20 seconds - someone who put some thought behind it might send in a lackey first to see just how terrbiad the situation is he's walking into.

 

I suppose if you needed a fervor-filled door kicker, a properly indoctrinated Commissar would work swimmingly.

 

Right here you're assuming that busting through that door to the genestealer cult will get him killed. That's a pretty big assumption there. What if he bust through that door and he's followed by say, oh I don't know, 78 initiates of the Black Templars? He already found the cult. What more "tact" do you need, except for the cleansing fire of a flamer? And if he suspect a cult within the hive, wouldn't burning the whole hive and leave no one alive achieve the same end as secretly infiltrating the cult and rooting it out?

 

Some Inquisitors might call you a "girly man" for such heretical thoughts.

[Vindicatus]

You are the currency of the Emperor.

 

 

Spend yourself well.

 

By that, I mean not getting yourself cut to ribbons because you don't think you should wait an instant longer for those Black Templars, Sororitas, or other agents of the Ordos to get into position to assist you. A skilled hunter knows when to stalk, when to drive the prey into his fellows, and when to pull the trigger himself.

[Chengar Qordath]

You seem to be making the mistake of assuming any Inquisitor who prefers the direct approach is also going to be a suicidally overconfident fool. There's no reason to assume that would be the case.

 

Most Inquisitors with a fondness for sledgehammer tactics have very large combat-focused retinues and use their power to commandeer local law enforcement and military forces liberally. When they kick in the door of a genestealer cult, they're backed up by dozens of trusted handpicked warriors, as well every reliable local soldier/arbitrator they can get.

[Vindicatus]

No, but Commissar's having been the top of the authority chain, having been indoctrinated over the years, and (mostly) having the sort of confidence to do something ballsy on a whim would be more apt to fall into old habits.

 

I realize that not every direct-action Inquisitor acts in a suicidal fashion; many of them would tear a building down around a single room just to eliminate what was inside, and that's fine. Commissar's have a specific mentality that is groomed over a long service period to act in a brash, straight forward, unflinching (read: unthinking) manner.

 

And of course, there are exceptions to every rule; some may be more tactically minded. Some may want to simply nuke the sight from orbit because it's the only way to be sure (shameless reference <---). However, I am more apt to think that they will handle it how they always have. "There's a problem, right now. So, I'm going to handle it. RIGHT NOW."

 

That being said, chest-puffing bravado and tactlessness have their place as tools to those who know how to direct and guide them, as those who don't only see one course of action through a problem. Remember, when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail.

[Azekai]

I realize that not every direct-action Inquisitor acts in a suicidal fashion;

 

None of them do. Just because they smite the enemies of the Imperium and are zealous doesn't mean that they throw prudence or caution to the winds. Even the most hard-line monodominant wouldn't make it to the rank of inquisitor in the first place if they simply hurled themsleves at the enemy without thinking, and the same goes for members of the commissariat.

 

I also think that you overstate the nature of the indoctrination they undergo- they are trained in the schola progenium, which is the school that also educates assassins, storm troopers, sororitas, and inquisitors. All of these are trained to serve the Emperor and are well educated, but none (other than perhaps the Eversor) just run at the enemy eager to kill them. I am not sure why you seem to think that most commissars act like Khorne Berzerkers.

[Vindicatus]

Because that's they're job.

 

"Something scary in the front? Put something scarier behind you."

 

What Commissar's do other than start capping the back's of skulls of those in their remit for refusal to fight, lack of morale, and heresy is to, themselves...go over the wall. They inspire and orate whilst doing acts of battlefield insanity, making those around them think that 'it's not quite so bad as it seems', or that much worse awaits them than what the enemy can give, and resume putting foot to ass for the Imperium.

 

Indoctrination aside, a simple life living under the conditions of the Guard is enough to change your character and state of mind; while they may undergo the same schooling, they also continue to refine their craft in their respective fields, learning a completely different set of skills to apply to what task is set to them. Commissar's by leading the charge, Inquisitor's by acting as bloodhounds in search of the heretical. Perhaps people are not truly grasping how long a few decades of living a certain way can truly affect your actions, attitude, and methodology.

 

The idea of a Commissar is a person short of temper, quick of action, and less so of thought behind the action. Whilst an Inquisitor has many of these traits themselves, much of it is tempered by a cold, calculating will to exercise the Emperor's charge to them. You forget...I'm not harping on Monodominants, nor am I declaring the straight-to-the-fray Inquisitors as foolish.

 

I'm simply stating why Commissar's would make poor Inquisitors, due to the very characteristics that make them such smashingly good Commissar's in the first place.

[The Holy Heretic]

Yup! A good commisar is of below average intelligence, a staunch believer in authority and a selfrighteous bastard - and probably a card carrying member of the 40K equivalent of a 'white supremacist' group - but basically he is just a goon.

 

A good inquisitor needs to be well educated, intelligent, calculating and scrupulous. He'd probably found several 'white supremacist' groups just to have a cadre of worthless scum to fill the role as expendable redshirts, when the need arises.

 

Yarrick would be a poor inquisitor indeed, as instead of using his time on important stuff like saving the empire from the corruption within, he'd run around and pick fights with a dumb ork just to make the headlines ^_^

[Chengar Qordath]

I realize that not every direct-action Inquisitor acts in a suicidal fashion;

 

None of them do. Just because they smite the enemies of the Imperium and are zealous doesn't mean that they throw prudence or caution to the winds. Even the most hard-line monodominant wouldn't make it to the rank of inquisitor in the first place if they simply hurled themsleves at the enemy without thinking, and the same goes for members of the commissariat.

 

I also think that you overstate the nature of the indoctrination they undergo- they are trained in the schola progenium, which is the school that also educates assassins, storm troopers, sororitas, and inquisitors. All of these are trained to serve the Emperor and are well educated, but none (other than perhaps the Eversor) just run at the enemy eager to kill them. I am not sure why you seem to think that most commissars act like Khorne Berzerkers.

Seconded. The idea that commissars (especially effective commissars) are overconfident morons with less than two brain cells and no tactical sense has absolutely no basis in anything that comes from canon.

[Inquisitor Fox]

Wasn't there a short story about a Commissar taken prisoner by dark eldar, only for him to successfully lead an insurrection of escaped prisoners to destroy/damage a fleet dock type of thing even though he knew they had no chance of success or escape, and completely weaken his captor enough that the captor was enslaved by other dark eldar, all simply because the Commissar's orders were to kill this one warlord planetside before he was captured, and by the throne he was going to complete his mission?

 

That seems to imply a great capacity for thought, planning, and subterfuge to me ;)

[DinoDoc]

Seconded. The idea that commissars (especially effective commissars) are overconfident morons with less than two brain cells and no tactical sense has absolutely no basis in anything that comes from canon.

It is the opinion Cain seems to have of most of his colleagues.