Main Menu

News:

If you are having problems registering, please e-mail theconclaveforum at gmail.com

Inquisitor Viden Kassor, a good radical.

Started by Aidan, September 13, 2009, 10:55:42 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Aidan

Well, here he is. Viden Kassor (originally known as Johann Pekrin) has been mentioned a few times on the conclave, but I've never posted a character's profile like this. I figure I should eventually.Kassor is one of my main protagonists, and a really radical Recongregator (some would say heretic). I like him, though.

This is fairly lengthy (though it could be much, much longer!). I've divided it neatly into different sections though, since the bulk is taken up by his history which may well not interest people.

In an unrelated note, Juan Almeida died yesterday. That probably means nothing to most everyone here, but it means something to me, so in respect I dedicate this to his memory. He's just the sort of hero Kassor would have used.

Without further ado:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NAME/

Viden Kassor

DETAILS/

AGE/ 68 standard years (as of 040.M42)
HEIGHT/ 1.69 meter
HAIR COLOUR/ straw blond
EYE COLOUR/ hazel
SKIN TONE/ caucasian, no tan
FAMILY/ none

HISTORY/
(You can skip/skim this if you like, his Ideology and 'Style' are summarised below; this is much abriged anyway.)

Johann Pekrin was practically born into Inquisitorial service. His parents were two Inquisitorial agents  - the result of an unofficial relationship strongly frowned upon by the agents' mistress, a conservative Amalthian whose work - ususally carreid out from behind a desk - was mostly concerned with the elimination of generally mundane threats to the stability of the sub-sector. The child was placed in foster care and would have been forgotten, had he not - at an early age - displayed a remarkable talent: the youngster was a comparatively stable telepath. Once his parents' mistress learned of this from his terrified caretakers, he was whisked away again and put through the standard processing of the scholatica psychana, along with a top-class education and indoctrination in the imperial creed. By the time he reached his majority he was a legitimate psyker, a budding intellectual, and above all a faithful servant of the emperor, and it was as all these things that he entered into the service of his mistress.

Pekrin spent his first years on his mistress' immediate staff, slowly learning the true nature of the Inquisition and their means and methods of maintaining the imperium - at least, from an Amalthian perspective. At twenty-one, he was given his first independent assignment, a taste of the work his mistress had in mind for him from the beginning: agitation. A controversial and risky occupation, this was otherwise his mistress' favoured tool for weeding out dissent. By drawing it out early, or working her agents into potential dissident groups, she could quickly and cleanly eliminate potential troublemakers before they posed a serious threat to the stablity of the imperium. For his part, Pekrin was perfect for the job, since his telepathic ablilites allowed him to - literally - cut to the truth of things very quickly and learn secrets that could help him and his mistress, and determine who was and who wasn't a loyal imperial citizen. On top of that, the young man enjoyed his work, masquerading as a dissident, the excitement of playing such a dangerous game with dangerous people.

As an agitator, Perkrin serve his mistress well, helping to infiltrate and destroy a group of unsanctioned psykers who were sabotaging works in the shipyards of Expar; working in conjunction with agents of the Ordo Xenos to end the Vandor Merchant Company's efforts to open trade with a xenos species; and assisting one of his mistress' allies - a Cardinal of great ambition but doubtful spirituality - in disposing of certain overly pious church members who were challenging his authority and purity. Then, fatally, he took the guise Viden Kassor, a renegade army officer on the planet Pegasin. There was a great deal of dissent among the planetary defence force on that world, since several years earlier when they had been ordered to bloodily crush food riots. It was widely suspected that there was going to be a coup attempt at some point in the future, but as Major Kassor, Pekrin used fiery speeches and open defiance of the government to spur the military into uprising long before they were properly prepared to face the government loyalists. Unfortunately, what neither Pekrin nor the Pegasin authorities had counted on was the outpouring of support for the coup-plotters from the civilian population, and what should have been a clean purge of dissident soldiers became a bloody slaughter of protesting civilians. Witnessing the atrocities he had helped cause - and later, his mistress' dismissal of the matter as she congratulated him for his success - began a profound change in Pekrin's outlook. Aware of the dangers of harbouring such views, and being practiced at masking his true intent, he kept his doubts concealed from his colleagues. Less than two years after the Pegasin incident, Pekrin was awarded his inquisitorial seal, whereupon he left his mistress' service, and the sector history records.

It is not uncommon for an Inquisitor to 'vanish', and nothing was thought of it - it was presumed the 'youngster' (Pekrin was thirty-nine by this stage)  was steeping himself in some fieldwork of his own, having got out from his mistress' shadow. In fact, the man had fallen into depression, and was below the radar not out of a desire to conceal his activities, but rather because there were none. At some point, though, that changed. Pekrin came back from the shadows with a new perspective, that the Imperium itself was broken, ruined, and needed rebuilding - and he now had the determination to see this done. He also came back with a new name; Viden Kassor, the guise he had assumed on Pegasin, became his standard operating name. Around the same time - perhaps before his 'awakening' , perhaps shortly after - Kassor came into contact with the shadowy figure of Ulso Lasarus, an elderly savant who had served the inquisition long ago, and who harboured radical views of his own. Lasarus became a mentor and guide to the relatively inexperienced Kassor, and some speculate that Kassor's views and actions might not be entirely his own ideas, but those of his mysterious companion.

Unaligned to any ordo, and not bound to a specific post like his one-time mistress had been, Kassor slowly made his way rimward across the segmentum, doing some minor work in traking down and destroying heretic groups, but all the while focussing on his secret ambitions. He scouted systems for unrest, much as he had done as an agitator, but now he seeked to harness it for his own ends, to reform unjust systems, depose corrupt governments, and rebuild societies according to his ideals. He had very little success. His first attempts at fomenting dissent were rapidly destroyed by nothing more grand than local military and law enforcement, and Kassor found himself having to leave the scene quickly lest his involvement be discovered. Eventually, he set upon reaching the outermost rim, hoping that a sector on the easternmost extremity of the galaxy might prove more receptive to his ideals, distant as they were from the power centers of the imperium. It is this that brought him, eventually, to Phycon Sector.

Phycon, as it happened, had already been rocked by rebellion, with one of it's subsectors, Darcanis, becoming politically and ideologically independent. While this intitially encouraged Kassor, he soon learned that the independence was largely meaningless; the grand idealists who had first won independence had long ago been deposed and replaced by a pragmatic and self-serving leadership who kept order within their borders with an iron fist, and kept peace with the Imperium by secretly paying planetary tithes behind their peoples' backs. Still, there was a reformist, even revolutionary undercurrent alive in the sector, and loyalty to Imperial governments was far from absolute.

Kassor's first target within Phycon sector was a planet in the Imperial region, Birris, a resource-rich desert inhabited by nomadic tribes and ruled by a tiny, settled minority who worked - and still work - in collusion with Imperial and Adeptus Mechanicus authorities to provide labourers to work the mines, the produce of which are then shipped off to the nearby forge world of Kairos. By all accounts, the conditions in the mines - while not pleasant - were not nearly as bad as they could have been, but the people of Birris had no interest in mining, and saw none of the proceeds either. Therefor, the government regularly sent out recruiting gangs to scout out the native tribes and force anyone considered fit - generally strong, young men - into service in the mines. Unsurprisingly, the native inhabitants harboured a great deal of animosity towards the Imperium and their puppet government, and it was this Kassor tried to sieze on. He built up rebel movement, led by a sympathetic noble in the Birris ruling class, with most of its power coming from some of the nomad tribes. Unfortunately, Kassor's activity had been discovered by Lord Inquisitor Bastien Hezerus Gerdricht, the central bastion of imperial power in Phycon sector.

Hezerus outmanouevered Kassor, apprehending the rebel prince Kassor's movement had intended to put in power, and forced the rebels - against Kassor's advisement - played their hand too early and launched a full-blown assault on the capital (Birris' only permanent settlement) in an attempt to rescue their leader. The rebelds found the small planetary defence force better equipped and organised than they had anticipated, and the fight was alot harder and bloody than they were ready for. With his rebellion endangered, Kassor made one last-ditch effort to free the rebel prince and boost morale. This went disastrously wrong, as Hezerus was waiting with a company of his elite stormtroopers, and the rebels were butchered. Kassor barely escaped with his life, as did one of the rebel tribe-leaders, Idres Alinn, who has remained in Kassor's company since.

Kassor still remained unaware of the involvement of a rival inquisitor, layed blame for the failure at his own lack of knowledge of the region, and sethimself to rectifying this problem. Inquisitor Hezerus, for his part, had no idea that the rebel instgator he'd thwarted was, in fact, a roaming inquisitor. It was only until several years later, in 036.M42, that they were to come into conflict again, this time over the future of the independent Darcanis Free Sector. Inquisitor Hezerus had long tolerated the existence of the indpendent sub-sector; indeed, he had been a central player behind the coup that had removed the revolutionary government and replaced them with the eminently corruptible clique that now ruled the independent region. Now, however, there were stirrings of change in Darcanis, with a growing anti-government and anti-imperial movement. Hezerus reasoned that Darcanis should be returned toimperial dominion before another regime change brought back the old ideals. The military buildup in Imperial space alarmed the Darcanin authorities, who had long been secure with the most powerful military force in the sector. Kassor saw an opening, and took it.

Kassor negotiated on an unofficial level with the rebel leadership, and seemed to convince them that they could no longer remain safely outside of the imperium. Instead, he proposed to assist them in returning Darcanis to the Imperium while maintaining the leaders' power. Kassor secretly planned, in the confusion following such a momentous political overhaul, to eliminate the corrupt leadership and form a new one based on his own ideals - as the government that returned Darcanis to Imperial control, he presumed their loyalty would be sure enough to get away with a few ideological differences. To this end, Kassor worked to sabotage the Imperial war effort as they tried to retake Darcanis; He managed to keep the Adpetus Mechanicus - a powerful force in Phycon sector - from lending any meaningful support; and he helped the Darcanin military coordinate their forces so as to outmanouever the Imperium. The Imperial invasion was turned back and annihilated, and Kassor and Hezerus had finally become aware of eachother's identities.

Unfortunately, victory made the Darcanin authorities cocky. Hezerus had hastily left the scene, leaving a trail clear enough for Kassor to follow, and with the Inquisitor's attention elswhere the Darcanin saw no reason to uphold their end of the bargain. They severed all the existing ties with the Imperium - to this day, they remain in a state of 'cold war'. Kassor very nearly caught Hezerus as the latter trying to undermine the Darcanin 'league' by intigating societal unrest on Antamis, one of their largest population centers. Kassor managed to foil his rival, but not prevent his escape to the safety of Imperial space.

Kassor now has decided to build upon his original plans for Darcanis sub-sector. He still sees it as the best possibility for establishing a standard for reformation in the Imperium. Rather than trust in the Darcanin leadership, however - who are, after all, the very sort of morally corrupt individuals he intends to purge from the Imperium - he has made an alliance with a leader of one of Darcanis' internal anti-government rebels, a man known as 'Marshal Amers', one of the last of the old guard revolutionaries. Amers' anti-imperial streak has diminished with time, and Kassor reckons that he can be trusted to bring Darcanis back to the Imperium and help Kassor establish his 'new order'. They are currently in the process of carrying out a very elaborate and well-thought out scheme in preparation for war with Darcanis.

However, there are always enemies - both from the radical idealists within the rebels Kassor now aids, those who still want nothing to do with the Imperium - and, of course, from Inquisitor Hezerus, who is still playing a complex game with Kassor - Hezerus is pushing to declare Kassor a heretic, but he has littel eedvidence of Kassor's misdeeds, while Kassor has alot of dirt on him, regarding his own dealings with the Darcanin government. Hezerus remains a powerful and influential member of the Inquisiton in Phycon, and isolated as they are from the Imperium, the normal rules of the game don't apply... for anyone.

IDEOLOGY/

Kassor is a recongregationist of a particularly radical bent. He follows the recongregationist theory that the Imperium must be destabilised, pulled apart, and reestablished in a better form. To Kassor, this means doing what he has done as an agitator: support revolution against the Imperium, dissestablishing the corrupt, twisted mutation of the Emperor's vision, and creating the foundations for a possible 'new imperium' that is closer to what the Emperor supposedly had in mind - In Kassor's ideal, an authoritarian union of human systems but without theocratic tyranny, administrative corruption, and the deluge of beauraucracy that are among the greatest failings of the existing Imperium.

In order to achieve his aims, Kassor has worked with revolutionary groups to secure independence from Imperial control and spread dissent among worlds where no such movements exist. This can involve either direct support, or, more commonly, material and informative support delivered through trusted agents.  He now works rather to do the reverse, intending to reform a sub-sector while bringing it into the Imperial fold, thereby excusing any reformations he institutes.

Unlike alot of Recongregators, Viden Kassor has little interest in exposing the corruption of particular individuals - he has absolutely no faith the ability or interest in the Imperium to stop these evils. Rather, his plans are solely for combatting the problems on a grand scale, a view that even some fellow recognregationists might see as radical and dangerous.

STYLE/

Since his actions are, indisputably, throuroughly illegal in the eyes of Imperial authorities, Viden Kassor must be very careful to remain unnkown to the majority of the Imperium's rulers and enforcers. He has almost no official support, though he could (theoretically), in times of dire need, use his inquisitorial authority to requisition support from imperial planets. Within Darcanin space, Kassor - under various aliases - commands absolutely no authority, but has some contacts within certain organisations. Besides this, he has a few loyal agents in various positions throughout Phycon Sector. These agents help carry out his instructions, and relay to him information that may be of interest.

Considering his relative lack of support, Kassor must often take personal action (ususally under guise), sometimes even fighting alone. Despite this, however, he has fairly unimpressive combat prowess: his weaponry is limited to an easily concealable needle pistol and a force sword, which he is moderately proficient with. His psychic abilities, while very powerful, are mostly passive, although he can influence the minds of his opponents, forcing them to take unusual action. Aside from this, he can track down mental activity from hundreds of meters away, read people's thoughts, and transmit telepathic messages to his companions. Ultimately, though, Kassor is a lot less powerful than the standard-fare inquisitor, and if he were ever to enter single combat with his nemesis Bastien Hezerus, he'd be unlikely to last a minute.

In his favour, however, Kassor has managed to make alliances with a number of people who are powerful fighter, powerful politicians, or both. His greatest asset, however, is his great scheming mind and his visionary beliefs that might - just might - see some change come for humanity.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 
WS    BS        S         T        I       WP     SG      NV     LD    SPEED
69      51       56      58      69      81      72      77     66        4

Equipment:

needle pistol (choke toxin; 3 magazines)
force sword
carapace armour (chest, abdomen) flak armour (arms, legs, groin) 2 point bionics on head.
implanted de-tox gland.

Abilities:

Telepathy
Mind Scan
Enforce Will
Psy Track.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There's his stats. Aside from his willpower, they're really rather lackluster, aren't they? That's the idea. The point is that Kassor, while often being the main protagonist, is not the gallant revolutionary, never the hero. The hero is the idealistic guy (or girl) he has allied/manipulated at that point in time. As you might have gathered, he goes through these at a decent rate. In real-life terms, he like the KGB agent giving support to the revolutionaries, except that he has ideals himself and answers to no one.

So basically, the ability of Kassor and all his immediate team is fairly low. Between the five of them, they have some good skills, but aside from Kassor and Lasarus' impressive telepathic abilities, there's little else they having going for them. This allows me to give Kassor allies who have some more serious killing power, like Marshal Amers and Asther Raene.

If you think he's a barmy heretic who should be executed, you're not the only one. Kassor has no illusions about how the Imperium treats his kind. Idealists never have it easy, anyway - where would be the fun in that?

I'll post some (shorter) backgrounds for Kassor's group sometime soon.

-Aidan.

Myriad

Nice character.  As I've said before, its good to include reasons why they'd be at odds with the enemy.

Modest stat-line aside, nobody with a force sword and enforce will is all that harmless.  He seems to be on a good overall power level to me.
I had better point out, that some of the clubs I represent are of a military bent.

You know what you are?  A plywood shark!

Gnaeus Conlitor

Remember Inquisitors automatically have the Leader ability. Might be appropriate considering the whole Agitator background as well.
Inquisitor got me in to roleplaying which in turn kick started my writing career. I am eternally grateful.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Gnaeus Conlitor on September 14, 2009, 03:50:57 PMRemember Inquisitors automatically have the Leader ability.
That doesn't have to be true (although it would be appropriate here).

While the rulebook says that Inquisitors always have the ability, I can imagine there are many who do not excel in the area.

Basically, unless something is actually a psychical trait, I wouldn't say any race or character class had an ability "automatically" (and even then, such things could be lost under certain conditions). Recommended or probable abilities, but automatic ones, no.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Aidan

Quote from: Myriad on September 14, 2009, 11:08:37 AM
nobody with a force sword and enforce will is all that harmless.

Certainly not! Provided he can hit things with the sword, of course. Essentially, he can beat most mooks, and stands a fair chance against acolytes, but against his counterparts in other groups he should stay out of combat. As he has learned from experience.

Quote from: Gnaeus Conlitor on September 14, 2009, 03:50:57 PM
the Leader ability. Might be appropriate considering the whole Agitator background as well.

Perhaps. However, as I have pointed out, Kassor/Pekrin was and is more prone to backing up rebel leaders rather than being one himself. To better represent his agitator days, I might give him the demagogue ability. Thanks.

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on September 14, 2009, 05:41:52 PM
While the rulebook says that Inquisitors always have the ability, I can imagine there are many who do not excel in the area.

And Kassor, despite the occasional inspiring act, is more of a planner than a leader in battle. He's definitely very good at spurring people into action, but that's not necessarily the same thing as having them follow the orders of someone with limited on-the-ground tactical ability.

- - - - -

-Aidan.

Dust King

So he's sitting in the background rather than leading the charge then. Well at least that will extend his life expectancy ;)

MarcoSkoll

Fair enough, no leader ability. Inquisitor Skoll doesn't have it either, being unkeen on pulling rank, and usually more focused on other things when in combat - like shooting enemies, not getting shot himself, trying to make sure his girlfriend doesn't require any more bionic repairs... you know, everyday stuff (for an Inquisitor).
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles