We'll be using the Warhammer/DH system for this campaign.

I've contemplated both D20 and GURPS, but ultimately rejected them.

D20 has the big advantage of rolling...D20...which is waaay smother than the D100. We also know the system pretty damn well; on the other hand there would be conversion work needed, and I'm afraid the D20 system would subconsciously make you think this was another Draco-like campaign, which would be fatal.

The new version of GURPS looked quite good and has quite a bit of readily converted stuff available; but even though the new edition is much much better than the previous ones its still a DX/IN race and combat still sucks in too many ways to mention.

So we'll go with DH. It's easy enough and at least fairly sensible; we also know the game pretty well. The down side is that is pretty chaotic and not very balanced and/or logical in its makeup. But its 40K right...forget about reason and progress :-)

I'm getting the feeling I'll tweak a few things though; chief among them the Wpn dam/pen/armor/toughness/wounds system. Never liked it in the past, don't like it now. Truth be told the mini system where you roll to hit, then check for penetration and wound damage in separate mechanisms is smoother and has a better feel!

So I might be altering things to that effect:

1. Perception --> To hit it you must perceive it
2. To hit --> Degrees of success increase penetration
3. Penetration --> No pen, partial pen or do it punch right through?
4. Damage --> Injuries are either immediately fatal, deadly, incapacitating, deliberation, or superficial.

Exactly how I'm going to model this I'm not entirely sure; but I am sure I'd like weapons that DO penetrate to be more dangerous. There is also the question of hit LOCATION, different armors protect different areas differently (sic, pun) AND hits to head/vitals should be more dangerous than hits to the extremities.

More later

I've just noticed that the 'official' start date for DH is 815.M41, a bit earlier than the 999.M41 we've been looking at thus far. Not that it really matters that much - actually I tend to prefer to not stick too close to established conventions. So we're sticking with our start date...sort of...because I'm contemplating moving it a few years back...to 993 or 994...something like that. I want the turn of the millennium to be a moment of anticipation and dread, and we need a bit more time to prepare for that. Shouldn't matter much; all dates and such will just get shifted a few years - I'll let you know once it's been finalized.

Hi, Check out the new sidebar; it's a rewrite of the old 40K intro from Rogue Trader, the one from Dark Heresy, and a good old 40K quote/devotional. Does make you want to serve, doesn't it? :-D

The Haegum is the both the name of Tancred's secret headquarters, as well as a general reference to all of Tancred's cadre. Physically the Haegum is located within the grounds of the Tarsus Coasters Incorporated, an umbrella organization for several minor Tarsus guilds involved in interstellar commerce, shipping, banking, insurance, and various other endeavors. Tancred has controlling interests in several of the enterprises that make up the TCI, which in turn provides much-needed revenues that can be used to support his operations. Most TCI employees and indentured workers are blissfully ignorant of the existence of the Haegum, only a select few know of its existence and none outside the Inquisition knows what it truly is.

Several hundred people have access to the Haegum, but it is rare to find more than a hundred gathered there at any one time. The Haegum's inhabitants can be grouped into permanent residents and transient residents; in the former category are the staff of forensic-scholars, security detachments, and other support staff. The the transient population is mainly made up of Inquisitorial representatives; Interrogators, Explicators and other trusted agents, as well as the occasional visitor from another part of the Inquisition.

The main Haegum complex covers seven sub-levels of the TCI hab-block, completely self-contained and cut of from the outside, except through a few secret high-security entrance. Within the Haegum is everything needed to plan, prepare and monitor the operations of Tancred's Inquisitorial cadre – storage areas, workshops, living and recreational areas, kitchens, training facilities, firing ranges, librariums, offices, ops rooms, medical facilities, detention areas, interrogation and torture facilities, and much more. Although parts of the Haegum are lavishly furnished, especially the guest suites and such, most of the levels are quite plain and utilitarian. The exception is the private quarters of the agents and their adjoining recreational areas; every effort has been made to make them as warm and pleasant as possible.

At the heart of the Haegum is the Sphere, a massive adamantine sphere buried deep inside the hab-block in which the Haegum is located. The only know access to the Sphere is though a heavy adamantine gate on sub-level 7. Only the most senior members of Tancred's cadre are allowed within; and of those only the Quartermaster makes his home within the walls of the Sphere. Many suspect that the Inquisitor himself is lairing inside the Sphere, but this has never been proved true by any know party. What is know is that the Sphere is psychically shielded and contains high-security vaults where special prisoners, evidence, and equipment is kept.

As can be gleaned from the above data Tancred is a rich and influential man by any standard, but his commercial competitive edge is somewhat blunted by the fact that most of the earnings are used to fuel Inquisition operations in Calixis sector. Maintaining not only the Haegum headquarters, but also a large network of agents and informants is costly business indeed. Tancred has no problems with maintaining the status quo, but his resources are not limitless, nor does the estate manage itself. For Tancred's acolytes this means that their master has more resources than most, but also many more expenses, and so they cannot expect to always gain access to extra resources!

Malfi. Hive World. Cesspool of Corruption. Jewel of the Calixis Sector. World of Many Doors and Endless Vice. The world into which Agent Maximilian Elazar Dante was born and then subsequently abandoned upon the stairs of local orphanage. The only clues as to his parentage was the suspensor-crib he was left in and the tiny bioplas thermo-glove covering his infant body, both items expensive enough to mark him as someone special. The glove marked with the initials MED, and stenciled upon the crib his full name – as if he was one of but many, and marking was needed to tell them apart. Greedy hands absconded with said items of course, leaving Maximilian as naked as he had been when he came into the galaxy, and taking with them those last clues as to his heritage.

Malfi is a semitropical, gloomy world of overbuilt hives and habitations ledges, lying some eight hundred days standard rim- and spinward from Scintilla. Malfi is by far the most heavily populated of Calixis' Hive Worlds, with a population approaching the five-hundred-billion level, and is the main manpower and manufacturing pool of the rimward territories of the sector. Despite its efforts, Malfi remains a border world, located at the very edge of Imperial space. It satisfies itself with commanding the Malfian subsector, ruling the territories rimward and spinward of Scintilla. The subsector governor answers only to the Lord Sector. Malfi is a seat of the Adeptus Administratum and several chief banking houses.

Malfi has a grudge; it believes it should be the sector capital world and venomously protests the supremacy of Scintilla. Certainly, with its super-continental hives and eradication of natural landscape, Malfi resembles a Segmentum Solar Hive World far more than any of the other worlds in the sector and its claim for capital eminence seems reasonable. However, politics and demographics are fickle mistresses. Early regimes, following the Lord Angevin’s crusade, made their headquarters on Malfi, but moved on as Scintilla was better placed to provide a center of effective governance for the sector.

Malfi is – and this may be the real reason the sector rulers passed it over – a place of the most infernal intrigue. It is impossible to count the courtly factions vying for power and the ear of the Matriarch. Every act and motion of Malfian life is about dissemblance and intrigue. Been seen with the wrong crowd or say something inappropriate, and you may be damned to years of squabbling diplomacy and sudden duels. Entering Malfian society, even the lower levels of society, one enters a world of complexity and deceit from which few emerge alive and unscathed.

This was the life into which Haxtes was born. At first it was not so different from life on other worlds, but as time passed the situation on Protasia grew worse and worse. Haxtes' father left when he was very little, to fight the Imperium that had brought the war with them. He never saw him again. His mother was forced to sell herself to feed her three children, first to local men and later to the Imperials when the seized Haxtes' home-town. One day she did not return, leaving Haxtes and his brother and sister to fend for themselves. That did not go well. Jax, aged fourteen, was taken by Protasian insurgents in the night, given a gun, and told to fight the occupiers as once his father had. A few months later his sister Eleena, aged twelve, was taken by the Imperials. No reason was given. Neither was seen again.

At the tender age of eight Haxtes was alone in the world, having witnessed all his family and all his friends either die or disappear. His world had all but been destroyed and his home-town, once a fair city of millions was now under brutal Imperial occupation, and occupation that became bloodier and more merciless by the day as Protasian insurgents continued to fiercely resist the occupation force. Eventually the Imperial's would be forced to abandon the city of Tzhula, but upon doing so the took their vengeance by savaging the city with plasma warheads, megaton kinetic strikes, and flesh-eating viral attacks.

Haxtes somehow survived it all. He not only survived, he grew strong, he thrived. Unfettered by morals, unbound by compassion, he took what he wanted and killed those that stood in his way or might one day come to threaten him. Always alone he was, never trusting others, he grew to become the Shadow of Tzhula, a wraith that moved unseen and struck without warning, laving the dead bereft of food, weapons, or valuables. At age twelve he was something of a local legend, though few ever suspected the truth; that he was just a small boy.

It all changed in the harsh winter of 983.M41. Food and other resources were all but gone, and the survivors of the war-zone turned upon one another with unusual abandon. Haxtes lived better than most, but even he grew desperate. And so, despite his gut feeling to the contrary, he tried to take the life of a hooded black-clad stranger, seeing as he might have valuables for use in trade. It did not go well; Haxtes had finally met his match and was beaten half to death...and taken into captivity.

The Standard Template Construct system contains the collective knowledge of the Dark Age of Technology, including the application of said knowledge. In short it tells you everything you need to know and how to use that knowledge to affect the universe. This is the Holy Grail of the Adeptus Mechanicus – access to the complete and uncorrupted database of the STC system.

The Standard Template Construct system was perfected during the Dark Age of Technology and was instrumental in allowing humanity to expand across the galaxy. It provided an instant knowledge-base available to all colonies that would not only allow them to be self-sufficient, but in time progress to the highest level of cultural and technological sophistication.

Everything in the STC is standardized, not just the artifacts produced, but also the machines that make the artifacts...and the machines that make the machines, and so on. There is no innovation as such, since for all intents and purposes every field of science has been fully mapped out, and every technological application has already been invented, tested, used, improved, refined, integrated and standardized.

The STC system is not magical; it cannot conjure things out of thin air (but it can tell you how to build a machine that could, provided such a thing is at all possible). Instead the STC teaches those that can understand it how to make the tools to make the machines that in turn would allow them to make more advanced machines, and so on until the highest technological tier is reached. Going down this path would be prohibitively expensive and would generate little in return, so the process would have to be balanced with the need to provide for society's immediate needs.

So going down the path of the STC would take many generations of work, each generation building upon the advances of those that came before. However, each step of the process would be mapped out, progress would be accelerated, and it would all work perfectly and be the best that can be imagined. Indeed, any improvement the STC users might make would reveal themselves to be false as they progressed along the path, with even minor changes potentially having tremendous cascading implications further down the path.

STC Templates: Templates are the blueprints of the STC system, images of one part of the wealth of knowledge contained within the STC system. Such templates, or even parts of them, are highly valued by the Adeptus Mechanicus (and other Tech-guilds for that matter).

STC Constructs: Everything built using the STC system can be labeled Constructs; or more specifically Standard Template Constructs. So a lasgun produced using a STC template is a construct, as is a land raider, a heavy lift shuttle, or any of the other million technological horrors that drive the Imperium of Man.

STC Constructors: A constructor is in itself also a construct, albeit one with a special purpose; it has the ability to create new constructs (i.e. it is an STC factory). As long as it has access to uncorrupted templates and resources (specified in the templates) it can continue to output new constructs. Some constructors can be retooled (or can retool themselves!) to produce a variety of constructs.

Examples: The ubiquitous Chimaera is one STC template that is in common use throughout the galaxy. Each of the Chimaera's physical sub-components (as well as its operating software) is represented by one sub-template (meshed together to form the overall Chimaera template). The Chimaera is an old and flexible design, where the Mechanicus has access to a number of variant templates. These range in scope from major conversions (such as the Hellhound flame-tank), via intermediate variants (with different armor, engines etc. to accommodate for local resource availability and/or needs), to minor alterations (different display screen models, seating material etc.) of mostly cosmetic nature.

STC and the Age of the Imperium: Retrieved STC technology form the technological base of the Imperium of Man. Local variation does exist of course, both to meet local demands and to fill the many gaping holes in the available STC database, but by and large all Imperial worlds have access to mostly the same technology and utilizes it in similar fashions. So a lasrifle produced by manual labor on a small backwater Forge World in Ultima Segmentum might be slightly different (of a different pattern in Mechanicus jargon) from one produced in a holy STC Constructor back on Mars, but when you look past the variations it is the same piece of technology.

STC and the Adeptus Mechanicus: Not a single complete STC system has ever been retrieved; the Age of Strife almost destroyed humanity and with it the STC system. The exact reason why so little of the STC system remained, especially the most advanced parts, eludes the Mechanicus. All calculations indicated that more should have survived, yet it has not. Clearly there are some unknown factors in the equation, factors that if revealed may help the Mechanicus find the missing pieces.

Suffice to say that the Tech-Priests of Mars managed to cling to a great pool of knowledge throughout the Age of Strife, but they are far from having a complete database. They continue their holy work even today, and have now spent 10.000 years looking for bits and pieces of the STC in every dark corner of the galaxy. Unfortunately, as time passes it just gets harder and harder to find uncorrupted templates, and it seems unlikely that the Mechanicus will ever manage to reach their goal...through not for lack of trying. Still, the Adeptus Mechanicus have access to a great number of technologies not commonly available to the rest of the Imperium; techno-lore that it is very reluctant to share.

STC and the Tech Guilds: The myriad Tech Guilds that operate the hi-tech of the Imperium's many worlds have less access to STC templates than do the Mechanicus (and the Mechanicus does but rarely share its knowledge). They may have bits and pieces of it, but otherwise they must make do with whatever local adaptations they have managed to conjure forth over the millenia. Those guilds that do have access to special templates guard them well, for they provide them with a source of power and revenue not available to other guilds.

The child that would eventually become Agent Haxtes Guilliman was born in 973.M41 (i.e. 23 years ago) on the Imperial World of Protasia/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus. Protasia was a prosperous and well-governed world, well able to provide for its 2.5 billion inhabitants while meeting the Imperial Tithe. Alas it would not last, for the people-elected Senate of Protasia decided that they would no longer be considered part of the Malfian Sub-sector, citing rampant corruption and gross negligence of part of the Malfian Adepta. And so it came to pass that they petitioned Terra for the creation of new sub-sector, with Protasia at its heart. Perhaps there was some merit to the petition, for Malfi really is a cesspool of vice and corruption, but if so any justification was wiped away by the heresy that is disobedience. The envoy was arrested and turned over the the Holy Ordos and the petition routinely turned down. Protasia was ordered to surrender and its leaders turn themselves in for processing and public execution. They failed to comply, taking this rebuttal as a sign that the greater Imperium was just as bad as the Malfians...

Haxtes breathed the air of his homeworld for the first time even as the plasma-bombs and kinetic penetrators started falling from orbit. As he was lain at his mother's breast Imperial Landers deposited the first Stormtroopers at key landing sites across his homeworld, preceded by a torrent of suppressive fire from hundred squadrons of fighter-bombers. When sleep came to him it was to a lullaby of a thousand heavy tanks churning across the plains. The Imperium had arrived to wage righteous war on the rebel world, to punish its wayward people and to brink them all back into the Emperor's light.

But victory did not come easily or cheaply. Indeed, victory failed to come at all. The Protasian fleet failed to prevent the Imperial navy from achieving orbital control, but inflicted severe damage on the task force before being forced to retreat. The loss of the battleship Heart of Fury and the heavy damage sustained by six battle-cruisers would force the theater commander to petition Sector headquarters for additional forces, a grave loss of face that eventually drove Admiral Nakemi to suicide and prematurely ended the career of Lord-Marshal Maxim Maximus.

Yet the Navy had accomplished it mission; the gargantuan Guard transports were largely intact and in low orbit, and immediately started to drop sixty Division-equivalents onto the surface, opening up three key theaters and securing key sites planet-wide. Losses to enemy naval assets, orbital defense grids, planetary defense batteries and anti-landing assets were four times higher than expected, averaging out at 20% or 120.000 dead and injured. Despite the stiff resistance the Imperial Guard reached its initial objectives within a fortnight, but then the advance ground to a halt as dwindling troop troop densities made further advances impractical.

Over the next few years the envisioned swift campaign of liberation became one of endless war instead. The Protasian defenders proved both capable, extremely well-equipped, and quite willing to continue the fight. The Protasian Navy would also return time and again to harass the Imperial Navy, even managing to break the blockade on several occasions, and causing havoc throughout the sub-sector by staging raids on other Imperial holdings. Compliance was clearly not something that would be soon in coming.

Battlefleet Calixis was eventually forced to send two full battle-groups to reinforce the Protasian Theater, and finally manged to destroy or drive away remaining enemy naval assets. Two-hundred-forty new divisions were eventually levied over the next decade and shipped piecemeal to the war-zone. Even then compliance was deemed impossible without resorting the a more thorough approach; the entire planet of Protasia was declared a war-zone and the rules of engagement revised accordingly. By 982.M41 eighty percent of the planet's inhabited areas not already seized by Imperial forces were reduced by strategic bombardment in an effort to crush the Protasian will to fight.

Kush is another of the odd people the make up Tancred's inner circle. Standing around four and half feet tall, Kush is shorter than most people. He is, however, very heavily built, with a extremely heavy bone structure, and muscles out of another world. Born on the squat homeworld Gamma Sigma Serpentis Secudus Kush witnessed the destruction of his home at the hands of Hive Fleet Behemoth (250 years or so ago). He was subsequently recruited into the Inquisition by Tancred, making him the second oldest of Tancred's companions of old.

The squats hold technology in high regard, much like the Adeptus Mechanicus. They do not, however, follow the teachings of the Machine God, but have accepted the Father of Mankind as their own (in addition to their own version of ancestor-worship). That said they are as superstitious as all the other tech-priests, so no difference there. Some squats make a living as part of the many techno-guilds throughout the Imperium. Kush is head of the Haegum's technical department.

Yeah, GW killed of the squats as well, something about their worlds all having conveniently been eaten by Hive Fleet Behemoth. Probably had their reasons, but I don't see why the ratlings and squats had to go, while the ogryns stayed? Whatever; as with the ratlings the squats are hereby back...and as with the ratlings they are not comic relief. They evolved (or perhaps genetic engineering was utilized, who can tell after all these years) over thousands of years on high-G worlds near the galactic core, worlds that were often very hostile (but mineral rich), which forced the squats to spend much of their time underground.

Boulvar is Tancred's oldest living follower, from way back when Tancred was just a junior Inquisition agent. He came with his master when Tancred left Segmentum Obscurus and has followed him ever since. His current duties include overseeing the running of the Haegum; he is tasked with overseeing every aspect of this many-faceted place/institution – every aspect save those related to its security.

Boulvar hails from an supremely ancient Hive World somewhere far to the galactic south; so ancient that it was a Hive even during the Dark Age of Technology. Although the planet and its hives survived after a fashion, its people were forced through as series of evolutionary mutations, causing them to grow smaller, tougher, and faster. Thus was born the ab-human strain of the ratlings, a common enough sight on many of the Old Worlds that survived the Long Night.

That's right folks, GW might have removed the ratlings from 40k, but I've put them back in. But rather than make them puny overweight chefs I've made them uncommonly tough and fast for their small size – pure survival traits from thousands of years of barely surviving in hellish hives-cities that endured the Age of Strife.

Anyway, the fact that Boulvar is a ratling is hearsay only. Indeed, upon first glance he looks like a near-robotic servitor, his immaculately dressed and polished gold-and-silver body easily dwarfing most normal men. According to rumors his physical form was transferred into its current host (in fact much like the process for creating a Dreadnaught) years ago by Medicae-Interrogator Sand; ratlings might live longer than most men, but even with rejuvenation treatments age was catching up with Boulvar.

# Astropathic Message Transcription Follows #

Date-Time-Stamp: 5.006.974.M41

Transmission Priority Level: Extremis

Transmitter: Astropath Senioris Teushmann, Lord Astropath, His Divine Majesty's Colony Malfi/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

Conduits: Ordo Xenos Monitoring Station {classified}

Receptor: Astropathic Chorus Scintilla, His Divine Majesty's Colony Scintilla/Golgenna Reach/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

From: Lord-Marshal Maxim Maximus, Chief of Staff, Malfian High Command, Malfi/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

To: Calixis Sector Command, Scintilla/Golgenna Reach/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

Security Clearance Level: Obsidian

Subject: Protasian Rebellion

Message Body: Eternal will live the one who gives his life for his fellow man. STOP. Senate of Protasia has rejected ultimatum and is considered in full rebellion against the Imperium of Man. STOP. On-world assets under General Bracchus Eiden assumed destroyed. STOP. Battlefleet Malfi engaged by multiple Xenos warship of heavy cruiser classification upon approaching system. STOP. Enemy essels driven away. Battleship Heart of Fury destroyed, six battle-cruisers heavily damaged. STOP. Threat level of enemy vessels stipulated at Maximus/Very high veracity. STOP. Landings have commenced with sixty division-equivalents in three theaters. Resistance heavy, with PDF forces employing Xenos hardware. STOP. Request additional fleet assets and 240 Division-equivalents. STOP. Assuming reinforcements world will be in compliance by 979.M41/Medium veracity. STOP. Fear not, for hate makes strong. Hate the enemies of mankind that he dare raise his hand against His Divine Will. Hate them for what you are and they are not; filled with righteous wrath. STOP. Lord-Marshal Maxim Maximus, authority signature {classified}. END.

# Message ends #

# Astropathic Message Transcription Follows #

Date-Time-Stamp: 5.102.973.M41

Transmission Priority Level: Maximus

Transmitter: Astropath Senioris Teushmann, Lord Astropath, His Divine Majesty's Colony Malfi/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

Conduits: Ordo Xenos Monitoring Station {classified}

Receptor: Astropath Elixis, Attending Astropath, His Divine Majesty's Colony Protasia/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

From: Lord-Marshal Maxim Maximus, Chief of Staff, Malfian High Command, Malfi/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

To: Commanding Officer, Protasia Military District, Protasia/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

Security Clearance Level: Vermillion-1

Subject: RE: Protasian Declaration of Independence

Message Body: The sin of failure will damn even the most pious of men. STOP. Senate of Protasia has declared been declared heretical and is considered to be at war with the Imperium of Man. STOP. Inform them that they are to surrender unconditionally without further delay or face reconquest. STOP. Arrest all Senate members and associates; they are enemies of the Lord of Man and are to be taken into custody pending public execution. STOP. Elements of Battlefleet Calixis en-route with ground assets approximating sixty Guard Divisions. STOP. Cursed are those who fail to give their lives in service to the Master of Mankind. STOP Lord-Marshal Maxim Maximus, authority signature {classified}. END.

# Message ends #

# Astropathic Message Transcription Follows #

Date-Time-Stamp: 5.099.972.M41

Transmission Priority Level: Maximus

Transmitter: Astropath Elixis, Attending Astropath, His Divine Majesty's Colony Protasia/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

Conduits: Ordo Xenos Monitoring Station {classified}

Receptor: Malfian Astropathic Chorus, His Divine Majesty's Colony Malfi/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

From: General Bracchus Eiden, Commanding Officer, Protasia Military District, Protasia/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

To: Malfian High Command, Malfi/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus

Security Clearance Level: Vermillion-1

Subject: Protasian Declaration of Independence

Message Body: All Praise the Immortal Emperor, without whom we are nothing. STOP. Senate of Protasia has declared independence from Malfian Sub-sector. STOP. Petition sent to Terra by courier for creation of new sub-sector. STOP. PDF forces have moved on Adepta assets. Warships on station above main population centers. STOP. Assume general rebellion to follow. STOP. Request orders and support from Sub-sector. STOP. Blessed are we, who have known the Emperor's Light. STOP General Bracchus Eiden, authority signature {classified}. END.

# Message ends #

Chaos represents the ultimate Evil, everything that is corrupt, hateful, or just plain wrong. Chaos definitely has a place in every 40k campaign, especially one dealing with the Inquisition. That said the threat of Chaos is most definitely a highly classified one, and not one that junior acolytes would known anything about! Indeed, exposure to Chaos, including too much knowledge of it, is definitely a shooting and burning offense. And that also applies to members of the Inquisition; yeah, that's you, the players. Only highly valued members of the august organization, ones that have proven their worth and their integrity (which you haven't) will be trusted with such terrible knowledge. Anyone else just gets a bullet and a one-way trip to the incinerator...or maybe just a mind-wipe if the exposure isn't deemed too great.

This means you'll know nothing of the Ruinous Powers or the existence of demons and other things from the other side. Oh, you know of the Immaterium of course, and the existence of psykers is well documented, but even in this age of religion and superstition there are few who have had first-hand contact with the supernatural. This might be a bit difficult to play out, since you as players have altogether too much knowledge about the setting, but try to act it out. Anyway, given your current employer you'll get ample opportunity to get to know more once we start playing...and then maybe the words 'there is Bliss in Ignorance' will take on additional meaning for you.

The Ordo Hereticus – by far the biggest of the Ordos – hunts the enemy within. The Ordo Xenos watches the enemy without. Then there are the lesser Ordos – they watch other stuff – but they are hardly worthy of mention in this context. Lastly there is the Ordo Malleus...they deal with...whatever comes after. When the Hereticus fails to contain the witches and sourcerous flames rise from the dark abyss; that is when you make for the nearest exit, leaving the men in the hooded grey cloaks to sort out the mess.

That is the way the Ordo Malleus will be portrayed in this campaign. They are Special Branch if your will. In the basic setting for Dark Heresy the Ordos are more equal I suppose, but seeing as how the overt threat of Chaos will be somewhat downplayed, this version fits better with the overall campaign theme.

Actually, come to think of it, you're not entirely sure exactly what the Malleus does, but you're petty sure you don't want to know...