I was writing up some background and got stuck on the age. What age would the average standard inquisitor be
Thanks
About 150 or so?
Actually, I have to disagree with Koval to some extent.
I'd say that's a fairly normal age for a player character or an Inquisitor of note, but I imagine it's a job with a pretty high attrition rate. Even if it is theoretically possible to live 400-500 years with Imperial science*, it's the average Inquisitor probably wouldn't last more than a few decades.
*Imperial Science sneers at average life expectancy!
So, an Inquisitor can be anywhere from about 40 up to as much as half a millennia, but the former would be considered very young by the standards of the Inquisition, and the latter improbably old.
Hmm, I'm tempted to experiment with a spreadsheet model and see how different mortality rates affect the average age of an Inquisitor.
Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 20, 2010, 07:36:34 PM
Actually, I have to disagree with Koval to some extent.
I'd say that's a fairly normal age for a player character or an Inquisitor of note, but I imagine it's a job with a pretty high attrition rate. Even if it is theoretically possible to live 400-500 years with Imperial science*, it's the average Inquisitor probably wouldn't last more than a few decades.
*Imperial Science sneers at average life expectancy!
So, an Inquisitor can be anywhere from about 40 up to as much as half a millennia, but the former would be considered very young by the standards of the Inquisition, and the latter improbably old.
Hmm, I'm tempted to experiment with a spreadsheet model and see how different mortality rates affect the average age of an Inquisitor.
I don't actually see how that's disagreeing, Marco. The guy did say average, and considering both the death rate, and the fact that giving full Inquisitorhood to a 40-year-old is like putting a pre-teen in 10 Downing Street, I'd say my average value was fairly average as averages go.
What about an inquisitor lord
Quote from: Koval on August 20, 2010, 08:02:29 PMI don't actually see how that's disagreeing, Marco.
In that I was saying that an Inquisitor would have to be fairly lucky to make to 150. Here's my vague logic behind that...
Anyone approaching a century of age unless they've already had access to rejuvenat, is probably no longer really physically suitable to be an Inquisitor, rejuve, in my mind, is limited by the genetic damage of ageing (once genetics have been damaged by enough cell divisions, you can't recover the lost "data"), so it can't really recover things much beyond "a starting point".
This is why someone like Lyra Rhodes (currently 98), having had genetic samples taken in her early 30s can still look late twenties. Someone like Cathal Brennan (150 or so - I
think...), who was recruited in his late 60s, can't look much younger than about 50.
There may be exceptions, but people getting that old will probably never regain the mental (or physical) agility of youth, and that's going affect the likelihood of them becoming an Inquisitor.
But anyway, I'm digressing somewhat there.
Anyway, that means almost all people will have to live at least half a century through such a dangerous job (through acolytehood, final promotion and such like) - and while these people are skilled, they're still mortal. 50 years would be very good going.
What I'm saying is that there are probably a load of Inquisitors promoted in their 50s or 60s... who then don't make it more than a decade or so before dying horribly, and that'll drag down the average age of an Inquisitor.
However, the average age of an Inquisitor who is actually notable, rather than a poor sod who dies to a mutant's stubber probably is about that. But the average age of Inquisitors in general... closer to 100, I'd say - perhaps even less.
Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 21, 2010, 02:41:22 PM
What I'm saying is that there are probably a load of Inquisitors promoted in their 50s or 60s... who then don't make it more than a decade or so before dying horribly, and that'll drag down the average age of an Inquisitor.
However, the average age of an Inquisitor who is actually notable, rather than a poor sod who dies to a mutant's stubber probably is about that. But the average age of Inquisitors in general... closer to 100, I'd say - perhaps even less.
I'd be
very surprised if the average player or RPer created an Inquisitor only to set them up for such an ignominious fate so early into what would ptherwise be a very promising career. If you're writing a story about a young Inquisitor who very quickly veers off into reading forbidden lore, or actively seeks out single combat with an Ork Warboss, that would be another matter entirely.
Quote from: Acolyte Havlan Tome on August 21, 2010, 01:41:03 PM
What about an inquisitor lord
Don't go there.
EXPLANATION: Whether or not an Inquisitor is considered a Lord is more to do with standing than age (although invariably they will have been Inquisitors for a very long time). It's not like a military promotion or anything.
Quote from: Koval on August 21, 2010, 03:49:12 PMI'd be very surprised if the average player or RPer created an Inquisitor only to set them up for such an ignominious fate so early into what would ptherwise be a very promising career.
But I'm not talking about
player Inquisitors. I'm talking about the Inquisition in general - including those members who are not so lucky as to have a player acting as a guardian angel.
Whereas a player Inquisitor is likely to be of such an age, the Inquisition will have pretty high mortality rates, meaning that careers of only a couple of decades after promotion would be very common.
Those that really can hack it and have some real luck to go with the skill - they can manage centuries, but I'd say they're a minority.
The range of player Inquisitors is not representative of the range of the Inquisition - PCs are chosen because they're interesting, not statistically likely.
One example I'd say is that there will be more than a few Monodominant Inquisitors (as it's basically the official stance of the Imperium), but they're pretty rare as player characters - people want characters who are more complex than "A mutant! BURN IT! A psyker! BURN THEM! Xenos! BURN THEM AS WELL! Heretics! SHOOT THEM!
THEN BURN THEM! Daemons! BURN THEM WITH THE
SANCTIFIED FUEL!"
Hmm, all the capital letters have made me think of Brian Blessed as a Monodominant Inquisitor - that can go onto my list of "What real life celebrities would be in 40k".
Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 21, 2010, 04:18:11 PM
Quote from: Koval on August 21, 2010, 03:49:12 PMI'd be very surprised if the average player or RPer created an Inquisitor only to set them up for such an ignominious fate so early into what would ptherwise be a very promising career.
But I'm not talking about player Inquisitors. I'm talking about the Inquisition in general - including those members who are not so lucky as to have a player acting as a guardian angel.
Whereas a player Inquisitor is likely to be of such an age, the Inquisition will have pretty high mortality rates, meaning that careers of only a couple of decades after promotion would be very common.
Those that really can hack it and have some real luck to go with the skill - they can manage centuries, but I'd say they're a minority.
At the same time, though, they probably wouldn't make the grade in the first place if they weren't that good. Hence the 150 thing. The question was presumably asked with a player character in mind, so that'll be why I answered as I did.
What about the non field types?
There are many Desk Inquisitors on secure imperial worlds, some even in inquisitorial fortresses who would have greater life expectancies and thus bump up the average.
I agree though that the Average Field Inquisitor would be dead or out of the Field in alot less than few centuries the likes of Eisenhorn make.
Quote from: Morcus on August 23, 2010, 01:50:22 AM
What about the non field types?
They're lazy and therefore don't count. :P
Indeed, how many non-field types would be Inquisitors, as opposed to Savants or Acolytes?
Humm... I agree that nobody gets a rosette in thier first flush of youth, so most Inquisitors are likely to be into the mid-late 30's for the gifted, and early 40's and up for the rest?
I think a problem many people come across is having reasonable stats, an interesting background and not being ancient; the thinking being one has to have spent at least one standard lifetime just to devlop that radical approach/find that xeno artefact /have honed thier deadeye shooting skills/be aware that the reality of the Imperium is truly grim and terrifyingly dark.
I admit I tend to make my characters old, simply because it is an appealing aspect of the grimdark fluff; but I shall now consider trying to ocme up with a fresh faced, embaressingly keen, bursting with enthusiasim, noob of 56 or so.
As for those chained to the scriptorum, more used to weilding a data slate than a stubber, I would imagine they would make very tedious PC's in a skirmish game.
''The door shutters crash open to the data bank area, two dishevielled robed figures enter, but have yet to spot you at the data port in the far corner - what are you going to do?''
''Err...Ignore them but mutter very loudly under my breath about QUIET study areas...''
Quote from: Flinty on August 23, 2010, 02:30:16 PM
''The door shutters crash open to the data bank area, two dishevielled robed figures enter, but have yet to spot you at the data port in the far corner - what are you going to do?''
''Err...Ignore them but mutter very loudly under my breath about QUIET study areas...''
I can quite imagine that some library attendants or such like are quite the opposite, and walk around with shock mauls or tranquilliser guns for those who become unruly within the hallowed halls and fail to heed this guardian of knowledge's wise and learned words :P
There's a pretty cool bit of fluff in one of the Dark Heresy books about how those entering a specific Inquisitorial library are given a poison. They have to return in an hour for the antidote, or they'll die...
Granted a desk inquisitor might not be the norm in games but I'd imagine they'd make a substantial portion of the inquisition from those who have lived long enough in the field to be promoted out and to run the administrative side of things and oversee the field work (To a degree). Theres also the Leathal Weapon Four senario.
Quote from: Flinty on August 23, 2010, 02:30:16 PM
Humm... I agree that nobody gets a rosette in thier first flush of youth, so most Inquisitors are likely to be into the mid-late 30's for the gifted, and early 40's and up for the rest?
That's crazy young. None of my (living) characters made Inquisitor until they were, at the very least, well into their fifties or early sixties. Osmond Johm in the (pending) Price of Devotion RP didn't make Inquisitor until about 70. I'd say if they're really, really good, Interrogators might expect to make Inquisitor by their late forties, and only if they're
really good -- you don't give the ultimate authority to just any schmuck with a good aim.
Quote from: Morcus on August 23, 2010, 04:54:42 PM
Granted a desk inquisitor might not be the norm in games but I'd imagine they'd make a substantial portion of the inquisition from those who have lived long enough in the field to be promoted out
In which case they'll probably be old enough to afford to retire from active field duty, say well into their second century (going on for 200, that sort of thing) and will have the authority and standing to be able to boss people around. If a Inquisitor that's much younger ends up behind a desk, then either he's got a very good reason for being there or he should've been an Administratum drone.
i got round this issueby simply saying "unknown"
That is just so very lazy. I disapprove.
Well, there is a "sort of unknown" for one of my characters - her birth records are completely absent, so while she knows pretty roughly how old she is, she can't be more accurate than a few months, so her age is now figured by a "best guess" birthdate.
There's also a character who, as a result of one of those quirks of warp travel, skipped over about 18 years. So when you ask quite how old he is, there's two answers depending on whether it's from his perspective or the perspective of most of the rest of the galaxy.
But I'd say completely unknown is pretty boring. It's also pretty silly from the perspective that even if the character doesn't know their birth year, they should at least remember enough to guess (and if you've written an amnesiac, shame on you for using such an overdone cliché*).
*Exception made for mind-cleansed characters, but I still think it's an excuse to not really write them background.
But even with an amnesiac type, bodies age, and you can work out an approximate age from that - even AFTER rejuve, which isn't perfect. A decent examination should be able to work out someone's age to within a decade or so.
For those of you who are horribly pedantic - yes I have written a character who doesn't biologically age in the slightest (http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1000.0). But at the same time, she's as resistant to amnesia as she is to age, so she knows exactly when she was born, and can figure her age right down to the month (despite being over twenty-four hundred years old in that story).
I get round this by not saying. My characters have rough ages - The Grey Man is old, Kolab is youngish, perhaps too young, Adelmar is average, etc. The closest I have to an age is that one character became an Inquisitor in her 88th year. What her year of birth is is known to her, and to lots of other people - but I haven't bothered to decide it, nor how old she is now.
I've always thought that you can have a character not know there age through some reason or other, but that you should as a player know there age even if they do not; equally the other approach of Dapper where the character knows and you don't is also valid.
I think no one having any idea though is just very lazy. The above ones are a little lazy but a lot better than just not bothering.
as warp travelling individuals, you also have to factor in the differences between time experienced real-side and in the warp - someone may have a real-side age of 50, but a physical age of 30 due to the natural distortions caused by warp travel for example.
In general, an exact age is mostly irrelevant so I don't tend to bother to specify one - a rough age almost always is sufficient. So Kaled is (IIRC) well into his third century and any games I use him in are set during that phase of his life. Anything more specific than that rapidly gets complex as not all games are set in the same year and don't necessarily take place in the order they're played (and added to the complexities of dating events and the effects of warp travel makes being too specific more hassle than it's worth).
Quoteas warp travelling individuals, you also have to factor in the differences between time experienced real-side and in the warp
I have a small-time ''pirate'' character who claims to have been born over 1000 years ago. This is mostly fiction on his part as he has been on so many ill-planned trips into the warp he is no longer sure (or cares) quite where in the galactic timeline he originated or how that relates to where (or even who) he is now.
I claim this explains his existential nihilism, but really he's just a miserable sod with a temper.
I second Kaled on the In game timeline making exact age irrelevent.
Quote from: Koval on September 04, 2010, 08:13:28 AM
That is just so very lazy. I disapprove.
and proud of it
An interesting point - how old was Franklin Roosevelt during his presidency? Well, obviously, he wasn't one age - dude was in the White House 13 years - and similarly, many Inquisitorial investigations could take several years - especially the sort that defines an Inquisitor. Looking to my characters, one is searching every library and cult he can find for information on how to safely banish a specific Daemon. That's gonna take decades. Another is hunting for that specific Daemon to find out where her Interrogator went. That also could take decades. Why, as they are defined in part by those two things, should I give them an age with can only apply to one part of the story?
Eh - my characters are ageing in real-time (well, they have been for the last few months at least). Each has a "birthday" and clocks up the years in the same way as I do.
Sometimes I'll play games or write stories out of order, and sometimes there's some fudging to be done to keep track of things where there's a major real/game time difference (i.e. I might play a section of campaign that covers weeks or months over a weekend, or work on story that takes months to write but which happens over only a few hours), but I like to have a "current" version of the character.
If someone else perceives those events to have happened in another order - well, that falls under either EYHBTIAL or gets blamed on the warp.