Validity of Aliens in Inquisitor

[MarcoSkoll]

@Dolnikan: Mostly, she does - it's not like she introduces herself as such to all, and her oddities are mostly looked upon as being of the void.
But one can hope that the GM does choose to exploit the opportunity for conflict if it does become known - it would spoil some of the fun if it didn't have its consequences.

@ Lucidum: No, "False man" here means a gene-engineered human, rather than AI machines.

[Lucidum]

Ah, well no matter.

As it stands, genetic engineering is sort of a double-edged sword in the Imperium. On the one hand you've got Space Marines, Genetor Techpriests, Polymorphine-using Callidus Assassins, Rejuvenat Treatments and abhumans (not necessarily genetically engineered, but definitely a departure from normal humans); but then on the other hand there's Fabius Bile's experiments and other stuff mentioned in background books.

[Macabre]

One must remember that Inquisitor is a war in the shadows, most events/games take place without the larger world ever knowing about it. Some are even fought on non-imperial worlds or worlds with a sparse human population.

This thread seems to highlight the question as to how can a leader of a warband justify (and get away with) having an alien in their retinue?

The answer is often a matter of perspective: aliens fulfil useful roles by virtue of their natural physiology (much in the same way we use animals today to perform tasks far out of reach of our own natural abilities). Whilst few aliens will earn the trust, companionship or camaraderie of their human counterparts, a cunning employer will still see the benefits of hiring a xenos employee.

Also, the employer (be they an inquisitor, rogue trader etc) isn't likely to be a fool, and will take great care to conceal the fact they have a xenos on the payroll. So on worlds with a heavy Imperial presence, if the xenos isn't needed, they'll stay on the ship/in the safehouse/out of sight, if they are needed, then they may be disguised in some way (if able) in heavy cowls/hoods and loose robes, latex/synthskin masks, some technological concealment/cloaking, whatever takes your fancy where possible in the plot.

As an additional note, you must also consider the backdrop and mythos of the Imperium. Information is banned, average citizens are not made aware of things that don't concern them, and whilst the Imperial Creed teaches about the perils of contact with the xenos, most people have never seen one, and those few that have (retired guardsmen for example) will not have seen the full gamut of races that inhabit the universe. Human psychology, by and large, tend to dismiss things that they don't understand or can't process ("that can't be an alien, its just a ganger in a mask/a trick of the light/a deformed mutant"), likewise, few would be willing to report such sightings to the authorities for fear of being accused of contamination and executed.

Bizarrely, the Imperium is a realm of double standards too, as we know that no human is genetically perfect and everyone today has some form of mutation. Indeed, transhumanism is a keystone to the 40k mythos, with bionic augmentation and genetic improvements prevalent amongst a lot of mankind, abhumans and homo-superior members of an inquisitors warband are simply overlooked by the local authorities how don't want to make trouble against an agent of the Emperor who can call upon the death of worlds.

Genetic alterations do occur, some are sanctioned by the higher authorities, some aren't. Sanctioned ones tend to be out of necessity for the situation (such as the Gland War warriors, altered to perform on the hostile terrain), unsanctioned ones tend to be out of curiosity or the desire to create superior soldiers (Afriel Strain, Dark Founding astartes). Even those can successfully 'pass' as human, Gland War warriors look human and their alterations are primarily chemical, Afriel Strain experiments (despite being universally albino in appearance) also look human as we know albinoism occurs naturally (for a cogent paradigm I recommend watching James Cameron's Dark Angel).

As to xeno-hybridisation, considering Doctor Moreau isn't a possible scenario today, owing to our scientific knowledge that humans are too genetically different (and incompatible) with animals native to earth, the chances that a xenos race is genetically compatible to allow human hybridisation are infinitesimally slim. There are exceptions in the canon, such as genestealers, but please no half-eldar.

[Zakkeg]

Natural hybridization is impossible. You could make a human with glow-in-the dark skin if you really felt like it. (And were willing to throw ethics out the window.)

That said, right there with you on the half-Eldar thing.

[DapperAnarchist]

Bile's experiments on the Emperor's Children in the run up to the Heresy seem to mostly be attempts to copy alien or mutant mechanism in synthesised human-derived organs... I assume that would be transgenic? Perhaps?