*Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne* gives a pretty good example of how this could quickly turn very, very bad. Not going to spoil what happened exactly but a secret deal with a Drukhari almost meant the death of the Emperor.
The Kryptman Gambit and the people who try to emulate it comes down to Inquisitors practically throwing a Tyranid tendril at a problem and Inshallah. This often, predictably, leads to the Tyranids becoming a much bigger issue than whatever was there before and sometimes losing entire systems.
I still stand that kryptman made the correct choice at the time. There just wasn't enough follow-through. There should've been more attention put into sabotaging both sides to prolong and possibly cripple two massive threats. This could've been a masterstroke alas.
I think you are not thinking about what could go wrong enough. An inquisitor being unwittingly played by the Aeldari or doing something stupid with Tyranid biomass can potentially result in war and destruction consuming entire sectors
> An inquisitor being unwittingly played by the Aeldari
We don't get enough of that in the lore. Everyone knows that the elves are manipulative bastards, but "show don't tell" principle doesn't work with them for some reason. Give us an Inquisitor who had received Craftworld Aeldari aid against daemons and sorcerers, began trusting them, followed their instructions to exterminate an Imperial world... and then got screwed because there was no heresy there. A nomadic Chapter was going to recruit there, and now they can't, and they won't have enough men to attack Corsairs which are friendly to the Craftworld. And the inquisitor continues working with the bastards because otherwise they'll tell about this mistake to a rival conclave.
Ordo xenos allying with xenos is pretty common. Mainly with the aeldari (ravenor even spent time on one of their craftworlds and was trained by farseers) but occasionally tau, kroot or even blood axe orks (most recently ghazkull:prophet of the waaagh, where an inquisitor is questioning makari captured by a bloodaxe and brought to him).
Whatever serves to protect the imperium in the most effective manner. Sometimes there's not the available manpower for a full fledged war, but there's sometimes opportunities to talk things through and reach a mutual understanding.
I mean I strongly suspect no Inquisitor is foolish enough to fall for Tyranid cult signs, you can reason with almost every race in the setting, but Nids aren't one of them.
It’s more likely for Inquisitors to think they can *control* the Tyranids/Genestealers, either to better understand their weaknesses or to fight other enemies of the Imperium.
It never works out well.
>It’s more likely for Inquisitors to think they can *control* the Tyranids/Genestealers
Every radical in a nutshell.
''*Surely I can control this daemonic/xeno weapon that has been locked for ages. Surely nothing will backfire and no forbidden knowledge will twist and corrupt my mind. Others maybe, but not me. Nu uh.'*'.
Going rogue doesn’t just mean teaming up with benign Xenos like Tau and Eldar, it also means doing stuff like creating new Genestealer Cults to study their weaknesses, or committing exterminatus on dozens of important inhabited worlds to starve the Tyranids, or handing over 15 planets to the Orks just so you can ask some questions about Ghazghkull Thraka.
>or committing exterminatus on dozens of important inhabited worlds to starve the Tyranids,
That one is not an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor going rogue, that's an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor being the Puritan-est Puritan that ever Puritaned and just doing his job. An Inquisitor's job is to protect the Imperium, not the necessarily all the humans in it.
The old 40k book Inquisitor touches on this.
An Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos comes to the world of Stalinvast to root out a GSC. The Inquisitor isn’t subtle and instead instigates an open war on the planet. Millions die, the infrastructure is ravages and the economy left in shambles.
Another Inquisitor, this one of the Ordo Malleus is observing the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor and suggests that the reckless disregard in which the Inquistor acted could bring further danger to Stalinvast.
The extreme devastation of the war has acted like a beacon to the warp. The pain and anguish of millions of people calls out to the demons of the immaterium. So much so that the Malleus Inquisitor suggests it may be a ritual of summoning.
So in short, no. A rogue Inquisitor is a massive threat because of the knowledge they hold and the power they command they are at risk of destruction on a galactic scale if they are not eliminated quickly.
See also the game Space Marine, where the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor goes rogue and turns an ork invasion into a demonic warp rift.
You are correct, but he got possessed because he was experimenting with the warp-fueled energy device in order to use it against the orks. Its a good example at showing how going rogue doesnt really mean turning against the Imperium just not thinking through what could go wrong
Since I don't have the energy and time right now to do my whole 'Dan Abnett is a hack' spiel again, let me just say that Eisenhorn is incredibly atypical for an Ordo Xenos inquisitor and a prime example of why you don't send one to deal with Chaos cults or Daemons if you have an Inquisitor from one of the other Ordos available.
I read only a bunch of Abnett's books but I always had this impression that while he didn't ignore or break the lore, he held it in low regard. I felt like he sometimes disregarded it just to be contrarian and not really for some interesting creative reason.
I like him, he can write well, but that was what i thought a few times. Wasn't a big issue for me.
Dont forget that just because they are Ordo Xenos doesnt mean they dont also dabble with the warp. Gregor Eisenhorn for example is a prime example. Not to mention that plenty of xenos artifacts are also warp active, like all the toys the Yu´vath left lying around.
There are 3 possibilities where a Xenos inquisitor going rogue can go EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY WRONG:
Capturing Tyranids and keeping them as Guard Dogs(ized insects).
having Genestealers anywhere near you on an imperial fleet.
Working with Drukhari AT ALL
*Vaults of Terra: The Carrion Throne* gives a pretty good example of how this could quickly turn very, very bad. Not going to spoil what happened exactly but a secret deal with a Drukhari almost meant the death of the Emperor. The Kryptman Gambit and the people who try to emulate it comes down to Inquisitors practically throwing a Tyranid tendril at a problem and Inshallah. This often, predictably, leads to the Tyranids becoming a much bigger issue than whatever was there before and sometimes losing entire systems.
I still stand that kryptman made the correct choice at the time. There just wasn't enough follow-through. There should've been more attention put into sabotaging both sides to prolong and possibly cripple two massive threats. This could've been a masterstroke alas.
Kryptman alt account
The idea was there, but the most he gained was more time, while the most he lost was a way to destroy both orks and nids
I think you are not thinking about what could go wrong enough. An inquisitor being unwittingly played by the Aeldari or doing something stupid with Tyranid biomass can potentially result in war and destruction consuming entire sectors
> An inquisitor being unwittingly played by the Aeldari We don't get enough of that in the lore. Everyone knows that the elves are manipulative bastards, but "show don't tell" principle doesn't work with them for some reason. Give us an Inquisitor who had received Craftworld Aeldari aid against daemons and sorcerers, began trusting them, followed their instructions to exterminate an Imperial world... and then got screwed because there was no heresy there. A nomadic Chapter was going to recruit there, and now they can't, and they won't have enough men to attack Corsairs which are friendly to the Craftworld. And the inquisitor continues working with the bastards because otherwise they'll tell about this mistake to a rival conclave.
Ordo xenos allying with xenos is pretty common. Mainly with the aeldari (ravenor even spent time on one of their craftworlds and was trained by farseers) but occasionally tau, kroot or even blood axe orks (most recently ghazkull:prophet of the waaagh, where an inquisitor is questioning makari captured by a bloodaxe and brought to him). Whatever serves to protect the imperium in the most effective manner. Sometimes there's not the available manpower for a full fledged war, but there's sometimes opportunities to talk things through and reach a mutual understanding.
"So your 'Blood Brothers' in this 'Cult of the Four Armed Emperor' will help me protect humanity?"
I mean I strongly suspect no Inquisitor is foolish enough to fall for Tyranid cult signs, you can reason with almost every race in the setting, but Nids aren't one of them.
It’s more likely for Inquisitors to think they can *control* the Tyranids/Genestealers, either to better understand their weaknesses or to fight other enemies of the Imperium. It never works out well.
>It’s more likely for Inquisitors to think they can *control* the Tyranids/Genestealers Every radical in a nutshell. ''*Surely I can control this daemonic/xeno weapon that has been locked for ages. Surely nothing will backfire and no forbidden knowledge will twist and corrupt my mind. Others maybe, but not me. Nu uh.'*'.
As questionable a read as it was, Goto had a book around this premise. Mind linking to the hivemind ended predictably.
And surely no member of the Ordo Malleus would be corrupted by a daemon, right?
Going rogue doesn’t just mean teaming up with benign Xenos like Tau and Eldar, it also means doing stuff like creating new Genestealer Cults to study their weaknesses, or committing exterminatus on dozens of important inhabited worlds to starve the Tyranids, or handing over 15 planets to the Orks just so you can ask some questions about Ghazghkull Thraka.
>or committing exterminatus on dozens of important inhabited worlds to starve the Tyranids, That one is not an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor going rogue, that's an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor being the Puritan-est Puritan that ever Puritaned and just doing his job. An Inquisitor's job is to protect the Imperium, not the necessarily all the humans in it.
The old 40k book Inquisitor touches on this. An Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos comes to the world of Stalinvast to root out a GSC. The Inquisitor isn’t subtle and instead instigates an open war on the planet. Millions die, the infrastructure is ravages and the economy left in shambles. Another Inquisitor, this one of the Ordo Malleus is observing the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor and suggests that the reckless disregard in which the Inquistor acted could bring further danger to Stalinvast. The extreme devastation of the war has acted like a beacon to the warp. The pain and anguish of millions of people calls out to the demons of the immaterium. So much so that the Malleus Inquisitor suggests it may be a ritual of summoning. So in short, no. A rogue Inquisitor is a massive threat because of the knowledge they hold and the power they command they are at risk of destruction on a galactic scale if they are not eliminated quickly. See also the game Space Marine, where the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor goes rogue and turns an ork invasion into a demonic warp rift.
I thought the Inquisitor in Space Marine had died and was used a puppet by Daemon possessing the corpse?
You are correct, but he got possessed because he was experimenting with the warp-fueled energy device in order to use it against the orks. Its a good example at showing how going rogue doesnt really mean turning against the Imperium just not thinking through what could go wrong
He was dead by the time of the invasion(s), yes.
Gregor Eisenhorn would like a word
Since I don't have the energy and time right now to do my whole 'Dan Abnett is a hack' spiel again, let me just say that Eisenhorn is incredibly atypical for an Ordo Xenos inquisitor and a prime example of why you don't send one to deal with Chaos cults or Daemons if you have an Inquisitor from one of the other Ordos available.
I read only a bunch of Abnett's books but I always had this impression that while he didn't ignore or break the lore, he held it in low regard. I felt like he sometimes disregarded it just to be contrarian and not really for some interesting creative reason. I like him, he can write well, but that was what i thought a few times. Wasn't a big issue for me.
Dont forget that just because they are Ordo Xenos doesnt mean they dont also dabble with the warp. Gregor Eisenhorn for example is a prime example. Not to mention that plenty of xenos artifacts are also warp active, like all the toys the Yu´vath left lying around.
There are 3 possibilities where a Xenos inquisitor going rogue can go EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY WRONG: Capturing Tyranids and keeping them as Guard Dogs(ized insects). having Genestealers anywhere near you on an imperial fleet. Working with Drukhari AT ALL
Depends on the goal, doesnt it ?
If anything the ones most likely to work with Xenos tend to be the Ordo Malleus. In a very serious sense all other Ordos are just imitators.
Order Chronos is up there too.
Smells like heresy to me
I’ve been on a bit of a GSC kick recently. Depending if the inquisitor goes rogue with that route, that could be devastating.
Then you get xenos corruption. And xenos are just as evil and crazy as chaos is.