Timestamp: 7.081.996.M41

Location: Inquisition Deathwatch Strike Cruiser Ignorance is Bliss, en-route to Phagir

Situation: Xerza's welcoming speech

Body: You are all gathered together in the officers mess. A long table dominates the luxuriously appointed room. A large gilded Aquila is bolted to one bulkhead.  Across the table is a large armor-cryz observation window. The grayish globe of Malfi dominates, with numerous orbitals and starships cluttering the starscape.

Xerza is there, wearing her black dominatrix bodysuit under a formal black robe, her Inquisitional rosette on a chain around her slender neck. Four black-armored Stromtroopers stand guard in each of the room's corners, but they are probably more for show than because there is any need for additional security. The table is set for nine people, presumably because in addition to Xerza there are eight people in the room (not counting the guards).

She welcomes you all personally, and whatever she might have done to you before she is now the gracious and polite hostess. Taking your seats you have time for a quick look at the other persons present:

At the end of the table, the second last to arrive, is large male wearing the black body-suit of an Arbites, but without his badge of office. His eyes are hard and distant. A pistol rig under his shoulder holds a heavy autopistol and he has a power-maul clipped to his utility-belt. He's introduced as Maximilian Elazar Dante.

Next to him, the last to arrive, is a slight and wiry male with striking gray hair and matching eyes. He radiates cool confidence and pent-up violence. He is clad in a tight-fitting syn-suit and carries sword, bolt-pistol and needler. You instantly mark him as a trained killer. His name is Haxtes Guilliman.

On his right sits a truly massive woman with close-cropped blond hair, wearing what looks like a Guard-issue parade uniform, without any rank insignia or unit badges. She is actually quite pretty and amply curved; if you like them big and strong enough to rip your arms off.  She has massive hell-pistol in a hip-holster and a two-handed chainblade in a scabbard next to her seat. An ogryn if ever you saw one. She is named Jarra.

Beyond her, next to Xerza, is a tanned fellow with a shaven head and dark almond eyes.  He has twin custom-made Gunmetallicus autopistols in a quick-draw shoulder rig.  He wears leathers and body armor. Whenever you look at him he turns to look directly at you and you suddenly feel that your personal space is being invaded. Ignace smiles to you as he's introduced.

Opposite him is a pretty woman that shares many of his racial features; they look like they may be from the same world.  Her long dark hair is fashionably arranged, as if aping Xerza. She appears to know the gunslinger well, perhaps they are intimate even. She also speaks in low tones with the Inquisitor, suggesting a previous aquaintance. She too is a killer by profession.  Her name is Odessa.

Next to her is a pretty little thing, a young girl of sixteen or so.  She is very pale and her long dark hair clings to her slight form. Oddly enough her eyes seem to change color as you look at her; either they are augmentic or she's some sort of witch.  She is dressed in the gown-robes of a female tech-priests. Xerza names her Venus.

Near the end of the table is a middle-aged man in a Navy flight-suit. Honor bars show him to be a triple ace and the recipient of several medals of valor. He's tall, dark and handsome. He also looks haughty and sullen and you immediately dislike him.  You can't explain it, its just a very bad first impression. Silon or something.

Last along the line is an elderly gentleman in a fine suit. He has a neatly trimmed goatee and graying hair, exquisite manners and a very charismatic personality. Just by watching him smile you find yourself straining to hear what words of pious wisdom might emerge from his soul. The savant is called Vern. Professor Vern of Archaos.

Xerza speaks:

"Welcome all of you. The first of you I recruited six months ago, the last only a few days ago. But you are all here for the same reason. To serve the Holy Orders of the Inquisition, and by extension the God-Emperor.  You have been chosen because you are special, because you have been marked by the fates for something more than most men. And you have been chosen by my master, Inqusitor Tancred, because he alone can see your true worth. Each of you harbors a dark secret that would make you unfit, if not tainted, in the eyes of most.  I know your secrets, your peers do not. You may tell them if you wish, but you are not obliged. With my knowing your secret is a secret no longer and thus holds no power over you.  Your souls are pure and whatever you might be or have done is no longer important; only your dutiful service to the Master of Mankind matters."

Standing at the head of the table she calls forth each one of you, pinning the rosette to you and blessing you in the name of Him on Terra. All the while she recites with a strong voice the following:

"These are the twilight years of the 41st millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the God-Emperor of Mankind has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by his own indomitable will, the lord of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies, and guardian of humanity's future by virtue of his unfailing wisdom and foresight. He is a God to whom a trillion prayers are uttered every second. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium to whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die. Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty Imperial battlefleets cross the dreadful miasma of the Immaterium, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion; the inexhaustible armies of the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the unflinching enforcers of the Adeptus Arbites, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants, witches - and worse. To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for there is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods."

Odd words, almost heretical, but no-one speaks out, caught in Xerza's web of words and the emotion of the situation, and soon she speak even more potent words:

"You are an Acolyte in the service of the Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition. You stand in the front line of a great and secret war where your duty is to hunt out the foul stench of heresy, the vile alien, and the twisted influence of Chaos. You will tread where others fear to go; venture to distant planets, walk through ancient space hulks, and savour both the cruel depths of the under-hive and the wicked world of the high-born. You will face enemies that would steal the courage from lesser men, you will see things that will scar your mind and soul forever, and you will come to face you own dark desires. You will never know fame nor reward, yet if you stand resolute you will die knowing that you did so serving a higher purpose, and that your name and deeds will be carried to Holy Terra in darkness and silence, there to be whispered to the God-Emperor himself, who will know and remember for all eternity..."

When she is finished she leads you in prayer:

Adore the Immortal Emperor
For He is our Protector
Admire the Immortal Emperor
For His Sacrifice to Mankind
Exalt the Immortal Emperor
For His Strict Guidance
Revere the Immortal Emperor
For His Undying Guard
Venerate the Immortal Emperor
For His Holy Wisdom
Honour the Immortal Emperor
For His Eternal Strength
Glorify the Immortal Emperor
For His All-seeing Vision
Praise the Immortal Emperor
For His Enduring Rule
Hail the Immortal Emperor
For He is the Lord and Master
Worship the Immortal Emperor
For without Him we are Nothing

With that she calls for servitors and a banquet is served.