Shen'ihr Inquisition

The Shen'ihr Inquisition is a millenia-old institution of the Shen'ihr people. Scattered through the Shen'ihr homeworlds are a number of secret, psionically occluded institutes, dedicated to taking the finest, strongest-willed Shen'ihr, and turning them into powerful tools with which to destroy arcane influences.

History

Origins

When the Shen'ihr reached out to space, they became aware of the source of the demons who sought to subvert their people in ages past - a ravenous horde of demons, marshalled by powerful ratlike sorcerors. These majin were declared the Enemy, and the Inquisition was founded as the tool by which the foulness would be one day purged. To the vast majority of Shen'ihr, this is the point of origin for the Inquisition. However, the vast majority of Shen'ihr are wrong.

The Inquisition itself acknowledges its origins to a date much earlier than Shen'ihr spaceflight. Instead, they date themselves back to the original proclamations of the Edicts against Magic, in the time of the Eight Warlords. Several factions arose during that time to study magic and the means of defeating it. As time passed, several of these factions began to share their results with each other, and eventually, this turned into alliance, and then, full amalgamation. The combined powers of these factions proved sufficient to deal with all abominable influences on the Shen'ihr horizons, and they formed the permanent institution that later became known as the Inquisition.

Early History

The newly-formed Inquisition would go through many growing pains. There was a wide variety of opinions on the proper actions to take against magic. Some were in favour of complete obliteration on sight, while others thought that, while magic was innately evil, the Inquisition should seek to capture and confine abominable artifacts and users, to study them and invent more effective means of combating it. Neither faction ever truly gained complete victory, and the balance of power between them would shift throughout the spectrum many times over the passing millenia. However, the playing field was always tilted in favour of those who would destroy all abominable forces on sight, due to the institutional hatred for magic within the Inquisition, and due to this, many artifacts and forces that the Inquisition could've learnt much from were destroyed, rather than studied. Despite this, and the claiming of many high-ranking positions within the Inquisition by the faction advocating obliteration of all that was abominable, one position consistently fell to those who would study -- that of the Inquisitorial Archivist. This person kept all records of Inquisitorial activity, that a full history of knowledge would be available upon need, so that future threats might be compared to past threats, and the best strategies applied.

Little was it known that inside one of the newly-founded Inquisitorial facilities was a hidden chamber, used by the Inquisitorial Archivist to store a wide variety of captured arcane artifacts. These were both those brought directly to the Archivist for storage by field agents, and "creatively misfiled" artifacts that were ordered destroyed by those who subscribed to the philosophy of obliteration. During periods where the Inquisition was guided by those who favoured investigation, artifacts would often by "mysteriously recovered" for study, only to later be creatively misfiled again, hidden away in the Inquisitorial Archives until they could once more be studied safely. This practice would continue for millenia.

Initially, the Inquisition worked upon factional lines, divided by the initial sects that had merged to form the Inquisition. New recruits were divided amongst the factions depending on the aptitudes of the recruits, and each faction had their own individual requirements that recruits had to meet. The modern form of the Inquisition would not arise until more than a millenia after their formal founding upon the discovery of their ancient foes, a declaration of reformation known within the order as The Conquest of a Thousand Skies. There were few exceptions to this structure, with even the rulership being divided amongst the factions, forming a ruling council based out of their highest-ranking members. Only a few Inquisition-wide officers existed, such as the Inquisitorial Archivist.

The Conquest of a Thousand Skies

More than a thousand Shen'ihr years after the formal founding of the Inquisition, the structure of it was drastically altered. Every founding member of the Inquisition was dead, and their influence through their direct acolytes had waned. Finally, they put aside the factions that the Inquisition had originally risen out of, and became one united. The formal text of the declaration, while not widely circulated outside the Inquisition even then (and only one external copy has been known to survive the passage of time) still serves as one of the seminal documents of the Inquisition.

We, the Council of the Inquisition Into and Destruction of Abominable Forces, do hereby declare and assert our intentions;
That no more shall the Inquisition be divided;
That no more shall Inquisitor raise hand or mind against Inquisitor;
That no more shall Inquisitor deny aid to Inquisitor;
That no more shall there exist the faction of Artur's Justiciars;
That no more shall there exist the faction of Inquisitorial Smiths;
That no more shall there exist the faction of Chelten's Legion;
That no more shall there exist the faction of Victory Imperishable;
Nor shall there exist any other faction, save the Inquisition Indivisible.
We assert that our power undivided shall mean our victory will be imperishable.
In this, we smelt the perspectives of the many into the omniscient view of an undefeatable one.
By this, we declare the Conquest of a Thousand Skies.

This was the final act of the Ruling Council, as they were less formally known. As their membership was based on the factions they had just declared non-existant, they could no longer use that as the basis for membership. Instead, they began to style themselves High Inquisitors, and a single one of their number, based upon their strategic wisdom, became the Master of the Inquisition, a structure that has followed down to the modern day.

Later, the addition of the Commandos was permitted without much debate, as the practical utility of a supporting military wing was undeniable. As they were not truly Inquisitors, but instead, a subordinate support wing, they were not seen to violate the mandate laid down by the Conquest of a Thousand Skies. There was, however, a tremendous debate, verging on civil war, over the formation of the Inquisitorial Crafthalls. While many of those employed in them lacked the talents required to even join the Commandos, much less the Inquisitors themselves, the Crafthalls also were to employ numerous Inquisitors in the study of abominable artifacts and development of weapons, armour, and techniques to defeat them. This was seen in some quarters as a direct violation of the Conquest of a Thousand Skies -- indeed, it was seen by some as a throwback to the Inquisitorial Smiths, a faction explicitly discreated by the declaration for their exploitation of their control over advanced materiel. While the Crafthalls did eventually come into being, it took a considerable amount of time before they were fully accepted by the Inquisition.

Allegiance

Until recently, the vast majority of Shen'ihr simply assumed that, as one of their ancient institutions, the Inquisition held allegiance to their King and Queen. This was called into question with their actions during the attempted Chorus Revolution, as many Inquisitorial forces appeared to take the side of the Chorus. While they eventually did show their true colours, revealing themselves to have been playing a long game, and assisting in finally crushing the Chorus, many still question the true allegiance of the Inquisition.

However, those who have studied the founding of the Inquisition, and the mentalities of the most successful and influential Inquisitors, rightly realized that the allegiance of the Inquisition is not so clear. While they do derive some of their authority from the monarchy, the vast majority of their founding charters make very little reference to the monarchy, and instead entitle them to destroy magic on behalf of the Shen'ihr people themselves, regardless of all factors.

When the Inquisitors joined the Chorus, they gave their reason to be the greater latitude they would have to pursue arcane activity. However, their masters had more foresight than that, as they observed that the Chorus would eventually wish to bring the Inquisition itself to heel, after conquering the monarchist forces on the homeworlds and securing their position. Given that one of the most important qualities of the Inquisition is its independence, that keeps them from becoming a secret police of a ruler, or worse, this was unacceptable, and was a significant reason for their abiding loyalty to the Staciadon throne. The later actions of the Chorus, desperation measures of bringing in alien arcanists to assist them, only deeply underlined the Inquisition's dissatisfaction with the Chorus, and assured the destruction of the would-be revolutionary forces.

Structure

The Inquisitors

From the viewpoint of an outsider, the internal organization of the Inquisition is very difficult to determine. They wear few signs of rank or experience, and often use techniques of stealth to conceal or disguise themselves. When they are seen for what they are in public, they are addressed simply as Inquisitor, without further titles. Despite that, there is a system of internal organization, largely based on the practical experience and strength of the Inquisitors in question.

• Deputy Inquisitor: While not a true Inquisitor, and often only having very limited powers, Inquisitors have the privilege of deputizing Shen'ihr forces as necessary to achieve their goals. These are the lowest ranking Inquisitors, for they are not Inquisitors at all -- although they still outrank Cadets and the Commando forces. They tend to hold an honourary rank in the Shen'ihr military of Deonan, or lieutenant.
• Inquisitor: This is the most common rank among the Inquisition, and marks one as a full-fledged Inquisitor, with all the rights and requirements thereof. When dealing with the Shen'ihr military, their honourary rank ranges anywhere from Drimah, captain, to Shur'tu, colonel.
• High Inquisitor: These Inquisitors are typically the elders of the order, having centuries of experience and power backing them. They are considered by the Shen'ihr military to be the equal of at least a Mo'vin, what Earth might call a brigadier general, and are often awarded higher rank than that.
• Master of the Inquisition: This Inquisitor rules the Inquisition, dictating their overall strategic deployment. He was responsible for their actions during the Chorus Revolution, for example. The Master has no established honourary rank with the Shen'ihr military -- typically, he would not act personally, with them. However, if he gave an order, unless countermanded by royalty, he would be well-assured that it would be carried out.

Within these ranks (with the obvious exception of Master) there is often a great deal of variation between individuals. For instance, a given Inquisitor may have been assigned certain marks of valor and service, and thus give orders to other, less-honoured Inquisitors, and expect to be obeyed. As well, the relative power and authority of a given person in a rank can vary greatly depending on the exact circumstances -- if an Inquisitor is assigned to overlook a given sector, for instance, they can often overrule any other Inquisitor who happens to travel into their territory.

The Commandos

In addition to the Inquisitors themselves, the Inquisition also maintains a corps of Inquisitorial Commandos -- troops especially trained to assist Inquisitors in their goals, whenever the Inquisitor might need their assistance. Often they are used to root out groups of abominations, but some Inquisitors travel with at least a small detachment of Commandos constantly, and this is perfectly acceptable to the order. The Inquisitorial Commandos are most often recruited out of the ranks of would-be Inquisitors who did not make the grade for some reason, and were deemed unacceptable for training to be an actual Inquisitor. In this way, the Inquisition retains their desire to conquer magic, and, historically, quite often future Inquisitors were the offspring of 'failures' who became Inquisitorial Commandos. Both for this cause, and their utility, the Commandos are considered a worthwhile branch to maintain by the Inquisition.

All Inquisitorial Commandos rank below even a Deputy Inquisitor in status and authority -- however, new Inquisitors are often assigned particularly veteran Commandos, so would do well to listen to the veteran leader of their troop. Still, they remain the Inquisitor, regardless of relative levels of experience, and the authority -- and responsibility -- remains on their head.

The Crafthalls

Besides their military ranks, the Inquisition obviously requires a significant support structure. Much of it is invisible to the masses, so rumours abound of the Inquisition having their own private planets, or, somewhat less extravagantly, their own private moons and space stations. While not entirely beyond the pale, whether it is true or not is beyond most to determine. What can be accurately determined is that the Inquisitorial Orders do maintain sizeable workshops at their secretive institutes, whether planet-bound or planetary in nature. These workshops (often staffed with the more inventive Inquisitors, as well as 'failures' who were more suited to this role than to the Commandos) churn out the materiel required by the Inquisition to wage its war against the arcane, such as the armour and weaponry of the commando corps. Many powerful devices have been invented by these dedicated craftsmen and craftswomen, and the small fleet of ships that the Inquisition is known to have, such as the Incorruptible that bore An'hui to Earth, were certainly produced by the Inquisitorial Crafthalls, as no indications exist that they were produced by another Shen'ihr shipyard, and their basic design is unique to the Inquisition.

Despite the archaic term of 'crafthall', a leftover from their ancient origins, the Inquisition's industrial forces are equipped with the latest in engineering technology, as proven by the meticulously designed and constructed battlefleet they possess.

Recruitment and Training

The Inquisition very rarely actively recruits people, although an Inquisitor may recommend someone for evaluation if they deem them to be of particular potential. Typically, a Shen'ihr would present themselves to one of the known Inquisitorial facilities for evaluation. After a short initial inspection to ensure that they are of the age of majority, and of sound mind and body, they are isolated for three days. These three days are given to them to consider the state of their being, and the decision they are making. They are supplied with as much water as they wish, in the small room they are given to meditate in, but no food. At the end of those three days of complete isolation, they are asked whether they wish to proceed. At this point, approximately fifteen percent of the original candidates decline, on average. Those who answer in the affirmative then proceed into what is likely to be the harshest experience they have yet had in their lives. Unfortunately, those who succeed in becoming Inquisitors will, in time, view it as a minor birth pang on their path. A complete psionic interrogation is performed on the would-be recruit, delving down into their deepest of memories, into things they have long forgotten. Their tiniest of actions and thoughts are harshly examined, right back into the earliest days of their childhood. Their willpower and moral fiber are harshly tested. It is an exercise that causes a considerable amount of psychic and physical pain, and lasts for twelve hours without interruption. Approximately seventy percent of original candidates have failed by this point. Those who pass this test are permitted entry into one of the Inquisitorial training cadres, and they begin their initial training.

Inquisitorial training could be described as attempting to race through the harshest military boot camp ever conceived -- while writing doctoral theses for philosophy. Candidates are kept under considerable amounts of physical and mental hardship, and are lost from the cadres on a daily basis. After twelve weeks, the remaining candidates (on average, about five percent of candidates accepted for training, or 1.5% of original candidates) are evaluated, and passed to final testing. This final testing is always a field mission of some sort, although often, the candidate is not told that this is their final test. Often, they will be attached to an Inquisitor as a Junior Inquisitor and sent into the field for practical experience, until the Inquisitor deems them a success or a failure. More promising candidates are sometimes assigned a troop of Commandos and issued a field assignment. Depending on their known aptitudes, some are kept at Inquisitorial facilities, and may find their tests in dealing with unknown magical artifacts that have been captured by Inquisitorial forces, for instance.

Between casualties on final projects and failures, only approximately one in one thousand, or 0.1% of candidates accepted for training, or 0.03% of original candidates will make it to Inquisitorial status. Those in charge of training continually refine the exams and tests to ensure this number stays low, to ensure absolute quality in the Inquisitorial ranks. To their honour, while many have fallen in battle, and are honoured for that, not a single ranking Inquisitor has ever been identified as having actually fallen to the corrupting influences of abominable power.

An Inquisitor's Armoury: the Power of Inquisition

The Inquisition holds a vast amount of knowledge in secret. While it is known that they have many masters of various psionic and ki arts among them, what is not generally known is the collection of arcane knowledge and artifacts that the Inquisition possesses. As an Inquisitor rises in the order, and gains the respect of the order for their strength of will and ability to resist the abominable, more and more knowledge is made available to them. The highest ranking Inquisitors have knowledge of the abominable to rival any archmage -- but still resist the temptation to actually wield the abominable energies. Instead, this knowledge is used to allow them to invent ever more effective means to defeat those energies, and to analyze any new arcane developments they discover.

Several arts are held secretly by the Inquisition. While some of them are known to exist, they are nearly impossible to duplicate without the millenia of development that the Inquisition has put towards them. Included among these are the powers of deep psychic interrogation, which they use to thoroughly analyse a suspect's mind to confirm abominable taint, and the power of psychic execution, which they use to simply stop the target's body, entirely and simultaneously.

Beyond the personal arts that are practiced by the forces of the Inquisition, however, they also possess a certain degree of authority, summed up in the form of three Edicts. An Inquisitor can deputize Shen'ihr forces and materiel, asserting the goals of the Inquisition over whatever other assignment they might have. While there is a limited right to refuse, given certain grounds, doing so often brings one under harsh Inquisitorial scrutiny.

When a taint is significant, an Inquisitor may declare an Inquisitorial Interdict upon any region, up to an entire solar system, though typically it is used on smaller regions, such as towns or provinces of worlds, space stations, or individual space ships. When the Interdict is declared, all transmissions from the Interdicted are refused by other Shen'ihr, and often their communication facilities will be sabotaged by Inquisitorial forces to ensure that the taint does not spread before it is weeded out.

In even more extreme cases, an Inquisitor may declare an Inquisitorial Extermination. Only once has this been declared in recent history, when an entire guild of abominations was discovered upon a small moon colony orbiting a gas giant. Abominable taint was significant, and demonic presence was definitely indicated, with significant summoning activities at work. It was deemed unsalvageable, as any survivors would be irreparably corrupted by the demonic and abominable energies at play in the colony. Once the Inquisitorial Extermination was declared, an entire Inquisitorial warfleet (the only one ever observed together) appeared around the moon. First, all known settlements were bombarded from space, followed by exacting sensor surveys of the entire moon, down to three kilometers below the surface. A more stringent bombardment followed, wiping all life from the surface and subsurface. It was followed up by the use of chemical and biological weapons that reduced all remaining organic tissues to their elemental components, and then the use of ground-penetrating nuclear devices to render the moon tectonically unstable and unsuitable for recolonization. A long-term Inquisitorial presence was established in the orbit of the moon, to ensure that no further abominable activity ensues, and it has been rumoured that the moon is, in fact, one of the training facilities used in the production of their forces -- it is said that they call it Peaceful, for it is a very quiet place.

Interactions

The Shen'ihr Populace

Civilian Shen'ihr rarely see an Inquisitor of any rank, though some are aware of the location of one or more Inquisitorial facilities -- typically, the ones where would-be Inquisitors are accepted for testing. Thus, as they are more than a little enigmatic to the common masses, they are held in a reverent mixture of awe and fear. From their power, there can be no appeal, and from their sight, no iniquity can be hidden. The Inquisition has successfully presented and maintained an image of being a bulwark against the terror of demonic invasion, so the masses respect the Inquisition far more than they fear them -- this is doubly reinforced by the extreme rarity of Shen'ihr mages, and the corresponding rarity of the Inquisition taking action against their own people.

That said, the techniques of the Inquisition are known to be brutal when necessary, and anyone obstructing an Inquisitor in the execution of his or her duty is commonly viewed as a definite potential to be corrupted by abominable forces. Thus, the arrival of an Inquisitor to one of the colonies of the Shen'ihr is often sufficient intimidation that every resource will be placed at their disposal instantly, before they can even command it, to assist in whatever their task might be.

The Shen'ihr Military

While the Inquisition often works in tandem with the regular military of the Shen'ihr, whenever the threat of an arcane incident is at hand, they are not part of the regular military forces, and do not bear regular military ranks. Indeed, to outsiders, often one Inquisitor is indistinguishable from another, as their markings of rank and achievement are much less flashy than most military and para-military forces -- indeed, often, they are only detectable on a psionic level. This is further reinforced by all Inquisitors, of various internal ranks, always addressing each other by the title of Inquisitor.

When Inquisitorial forces are attached to a regular military force, they often adopt 'honourary' ranks, for the purpose of being properly fitted into the chain of command. Typically, where there is a certainty of magic-wielding enemies, the Inquisitorial forces take the lead, and the regular troops act as supporting forces under their command. In a case where it is merely a patrol, the regular forces take the lead, with the Inquisitorial forces using their highly-trained senses to detect threats, arcane or otherwise, and then support the regular troops in battle as necessary.

Overall, their historical interactions and relationship with the military is a positive thing, although their actions during the Chorus Revolution has thrown that into doubt in some sectors. Inquisitors were strategically forced to come into conflict with loyalist military units, and survivors often hold personal grudges against the Inquisition for this.

Aliens

As magic has been largely rooted out of Shen'ihr culture, with only the rarest occasions of magic still cropping up internally, the vast majority of active Inquisitorial work involves alien races, whether they reintroduce magical knowledge to corruptible Shen'ihr, or simply practice the abominable art themselves. It is notable that Inquisitorial forces absolutely refuse to work with aliens. No alien has ever been accepted for even initial testing for the Inquisitors, and they are not permitted to work in any support functions, either, such as the Commandos or Crafthalls. Aliens are deemed to be more corruptible than Shen'ihr, lacking the racial history with magic that the Shen'ihr possess.

On rare occasions, Inquisitors may cooperate with aliens to achieve a greater objective, but these are rare, and generally do not end well.