Inquisition (Masquerade)
TAKEN FROM OLD WIKI
No heresy will find haven in our ranks.
No impurity will be overlooked. No corruption will be forgiven.
No weakness or softness or perversion or anything less than total, inrreproachable piety will be tolerated.
It is the holy duty of each of you to be worthy of the sacred burden with which you have been entrusted.
You must be paragons of unassailable righteousness. I will accept nothing less.
Inquisitors, the eyes of the Inquisition are upon you. No-one is above suspicion.
- Grand High Knight Inquisitrix Penanggalan, in her first address as Commander of the forces of the Australian Inquisition, 2000 C.E.
Info
The Holy Office of the Sabbat Inquisition is a ministry dedicated to investigating, exposing and scourging doctrinal impurity from the face of the Sabbat. Standing outside the governing structures of the Sect, it is empowered to investigate and, if necessary, punish Cainites at every level of political power, from the lowliest footsoldier to the greatest Cardinal, and it takes its sacred duty very seriously.
It has only existed in Australia since the late 1970s, when the fearsome Toreador Antitribu Jan Wiebbezoon took up the mantle of a slain Knight Inquisitor dispatched from the order's base of operations in Montreal to investigate the murmurings of corruption in the frontier continent, and, through aggressive recruitment, indoctrination and training, turned the handful of Paladins his ill-fated predeccessor had left behind into an elite religio-military force that proceeded to descend upon the Australian Sabbat like a firestorm, slashing and burning all it deemed unworthy. This purge, known simply as the Great Inquisition, lasted a full year, and the clean-up and secondary rural sweeps continued well into the 1980s.
In 2000, shortly after the fall of the long-standing Cardinal Noche de Tormenta to her challenger, Decimus, Wiebbezoon named his long-time close advisor and trusted emmissary, Knight Inquisitor Penanggalan, his Lieutenant, and entrusted her with the command of his forces, allowing him to withdraw from public life and better devote himself to matters academic and ecclesiastical.
One of her first acts of command was to lead the forces of the Inquisition into battle at the Tasmanian front, inspiring the Crusading footsoldiers with their fearless valour, and making the faction instrumental in the taking of Hobart; since then, the Inquisition has been consistently found at the forefront of every large-scale skirmish, leading their fellow Sabbat by righteous example. Whereas Wiebbezoon's Inquisition had been a cloistered order of scholarly monks, occasionally traveling only to institute ecclesiastical tribunal, Penanggalan is considerably more militaristic in her approach, and her Inquisition is part knightly order, part paramilitary organisation. The Inquisitors under her command are more Political Officers than mere clerics, dauntlessly first into any combat against the Camarilla, ruthless in their performance of their investigative and interrogative duties to the Sect, zealous in their adherence to the spiritual doctrine of the Sword of Caine and instantly, pitilessly decisive in dealing with any seen to fail in following their example.
Under her hand, the Inquisition has become a thing of cold order; purged of the sadists that once found haven in its ranks in favour of a more clinical approach, and held to stricter standards of purity than even those it enforces on the rest of the Sect, the new Inquisition is sharp, relentless, merciless, dispassionate - and utterly terrifying.
Look And Feel
The Australian Inquisition is militant, Orwellian and has as much of a firm, utility-minded cyber-punk aesthetic as the rest of the Sabbat. Clerical robes are by no means forbidden, but they are unwieldy, and a Knight Inquisitor is just as likely to be clad in a natty suit or buckled leathers, with his Paladins as likely to wear half-face balaclavas and flak vests as helm and pauldrons, though all members are instantly recognisable by their uniform display of black and arterial red (and any Cainite not of the faction prominently wearing these colours is liable to receive an unpleasant visit).
For aesthetic and philosophical inspiration, look to Warhammer 40,000 and Equilibrium.
Emotional Atmosphere
- Paranoia: The Inquisition never sleeps, and none are subjected to so great a scrutiny as its own. Every Knight and every Paladin is ever watchful, monitoring his colleagues with cold-blooded vigilance for signs of weakness or corruption, and every Knight and every Paladin fears the eyes of his brothers upon him. The corrective measures the Inquisition uses for the rehabilitation of those members who wander off the straight and narrow are the stuff of nightmares.
- Faith: The Inquisition believes the spiritual dogma of the Sabbat in its most distilled, conservative form, with a red-hot ever-burning flame of foaming zealotry. A fanatical, hard line adherence to the religious principles of the Sword of Caine is one of the primary prerequisites for membership, and insufficient fervour is grounds not only for disqualification from consideration to join the faction, but also for suspicion, which can result in the unfortunate applicant incurring an entirely different sort of attention than they had hoped for.
- Control: The Inquisition is surgical in both its investigations and its punishments, a precision instrument intended to ensure the protection of the righteous of the Sword of Caine from the corrupting influence of the weak and heretical. The Inquisition is feared for its efficiency at uncovering impure elements, but the neatness with which it performs the excision of such ensures that it remains a protective and judicial body, rather than a marauding one. The Inquisition is not nice. The Inquisition is not friendly. The Inquisition is to be feared. Nevertheless, the Inquisition has a holy mission for the defence of the Sabbat, and any Knight or Paladin found to be leveraging his position to harm those whom suspicion has not delivered into his jurisdiction, or who considers any level of collateral damage to 'innocent' Cainites (though failure to co-operate with an inquisition, active obstruction of a Knight or Paladin, or provocative/disrespectful behaviour all fulfil the conditions required to render a Cainite fair game) acceptable in the course of his investigations, faces punitive measures from the order. "Protect and scourge", if you will.
- Purity: Thou shalt not love, but that thou loves the Inquisition, and the Sabbat. Thou shalt not lust, for lust is human and a weakness beneath thee. Thou shalt not fear, for fear is for lesser Cainites. Thou shalt not suffer corruption, be it in thy dearest comrade; if thy heart gives thee pause in the execution of thy duty, then tear it from thy chest - thou art not worthy of thy blood. Thou shalt not seek political power, lest thy ambition belie thy virtue. In the face of the Camarilla, thou shalt be unrelenting in thy attack, unhalting in thy ferocity, and should the puppets of the Antidiluvians outmatch thee, thou shalt bury them beneath an avalanche of thy bodies, and weep for joy that Caine has allowed thee the opportunity to die serving him thus.
- Hypocrisy: The Inquisition demands a great deal from its members; secretly, it's too much. Though its Knights and Paladins are among the most righteous and pious of all Cainites, they're still sentient beings, as opposed to the perfect walking instruments of holy judgement they aspire to be - each member still has passions to subdue, and self-preservation instincts to grapple with. Privately, however zealous they may be, every single member of the faction falls down in some way on some tenet or other, but due to the effectiveness of the Inquisition propoganda machine, and the terrible strictness with which its standards are enforced, each genuinely believes they are the only one, and is terrified their weakness will be exposed. See Paranoia, above (also see the roleplaying game of the same name, wherein to be a mutant is treason punishable by death...and all citizens are mutants, entirely unaware of each other). Perhaps ironically, this leads to a certain culture of competitive piety among the members of the order, as every one races to overcompensate for his vulnerability, desperately seeking to distract from any possible suspicion by appearing the greatest exemplar of the faction's ideals.
Psychology
- On the Brisbane Crusade:
(1) This position will be held, and the section will remain here until relieved.
(2) The enemy cannot be allowed to interfere with this programme.
(3) If the section cannot remain here alive, it will remain here dead, but in any case it will remain here.
(4) Should any man, through shell shock or other cause, attempt to surrender, he will remain here dead.
(5) Should all guns be blown out, the section will use Mills grenades and other novelties.
(6) Finally, the position as stated, will be held.
- - Special Orders to No. 1 Section 13/3/18 by F.P. Bethune Lt of the Australian Defence Forces on the Western Front, WW1.
- On the Newcastle Crusade:
Statistically, you will almost certainly die when assaulting a well-maintained fortress with a competent commander. You must strive to make your death useful.
- - Penal Legion Training Manual, Suicide Bomb Squads (Warhammer 40,000)
- On the Sydney Crusade:
Hard pressed on my right; my left is in retreat. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking. Attaquez!
- - General Ferdinand Foch, to General Joffre during Battle of the Marne (often incorrectly attributed to Chesty Puller)
Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
- - Winston Churchill
Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let's see who pounds the longest.
- - Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
- On the Camarilla:
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
- - Winston Churchill
Shall I tell you what real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called Evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.
- - Seneca
May God have mercy on my enemies, because I won't.
- - Gen George S. Patton
Ranks
There are three ranks for formal members of the Inquisition:
Knight Inquisitor
A basic member of the Inquisition. They travel with their Paladins and possibly their pack. Their job is that of identifying and prosecuting Infernalists and Heretics.
Judge Inquisitors
The supervisors of the Inquisition. They report to the Inquisitor General and no one else. They spend their nights pursuing the most difficult of cases (usually prosecution of Bishops or Archbishops, large infernal circles, and cases where maybe a Knight Inquisitor has failed or died).
Inquisitor General
The leader of the Inquisition of a given area and the face to the Consistory. In addition to the formal ranks of the Inquisition, the individual Inquisitors are each assisted by Paladins, bodyguards and assistants, usually a pair for each per Inquisitor. These Assistants are not actual members of the Inquisition, but serve nonetheless in the pursuit of its purposes.
The duties of the Inquisition, rooting out Infernalism and identifying and prosecuting heresy, can and are carried out in many varied manners. An Inquisitor may walk into town announce themselves and pursue a public inquiry, or they may very well sneak in, insinuate themselves with a false name or identity and proceed to investigate in secrecy.
The reason for the pursuit of Infernalism is that to sell your soul and will to a demon is to put yourself in bondage to another, a purpose the Sabbat stands against with its very being, at least publicly. The mandate for the pursuit of heresy is a more recent addition, and one that causes more friction than the pursuit of Infernalism. Many are the reasons that a Sabbat member does not wish an Infernalist in their ranks, from fear of enslavement, sacrifice to their dark master, or religious prohibition. But the charge of heresy is debated hotly within the Sabbat. In fact the Loyalists will usually fight such a charge bodily, as their creed says that there is no such thing as heresy in the Sabbat, we are all free to pursue any sort of freedom we wish.
Charges of heresy are leveled against those who do not follow the Code of Milan and the Purchase Pact. It is argued that to remain Sabbat you must follow all tenants of the sect to the letter, lest you fall to the corruption of the antediluvian’s heresy.
Whatever the method, the duties are the same, crush heresy and Infernalism in all its forms. An Inquisitor is a devout and fanatical member of this sub-sect. They will not hesitate to face danger and possible extermination in the pursuit of their duties. Another interesting note about the Inquisition is that you will find more "God fearing" members wielding True Faith in the Inquisition than in any other group of the Sabbat.
In all the Inquisition is a force for stability and order at the present, but it is feared by many, including the Black Hand, that they may turn their authority against political enemies in the sect if given cause to.
Members
- Inquisitor General Jan Wiebbezoon
- Grand High Knight Inquistrix Penanggalan, Inquisitor Lieutenant-General and Commander of the Australian Inquisition
- Rex, Inquisitor Paladin
- Daniel Halifax, Knight Inquisitor
Playing the Inquisition
- "So...what are the Inquisition, anyway?"
- "Pseudo-Catholic communist vampire fascist State Sec."
- "But...most of those words contradict each other."
- "Tell them that."
Expressions of interest welcome!
The Australian Inquisition is open to limited PC membership; Knight Inquisitors are restricted to one per state, meaning there can be a maximum of seven (with the Inquisitor General and Grand High Knight Inquisitrix not counted towards the total) active at any time - Paladin membership is considerably more open, with several Inquisitor Paladins to each Knight. We understand that many more people will want to play Knight Inquisitors than there are slots available, and thus it is reccommended they create Paladin characters, as in the event of a Knight dying or being retired, first preference will be given to advancing one of their Paladins to the post; the IC reason for this is that the Inquisition prefers to promote internally than to have to go through the extensive checks required to vet newcomers (though johnny-come-latelies should consider this a challenge, rather than a closed door). Interested players are invited to contact Pam Saunders to discuss before making a character, because this is a very concept-narrow faction with serious IC consequences for deviation from the core; concepts conforming are also more likely to be approved by the ST.
Knight Inquisitor/Inquisitor Paladin characters are Top approval.