... being lax and lazy should be punished.
One of my earliest characters, Inquisitor Evad, was an exceptionally lazy, sloppy, and controversial figure. He was born as the bastard son of a prostitute in the city of Vitium on Gellar's World, spending most of his youth as a street urchin, hiding from the gangers who sought to kidnap and/or use him to extort money from his mother and her pimp. He was inducted into the Inquisition as a deductor when his mentor, Inquisitor Immunovich, mistakenly believed that Evad was the subject of several ancient Thorian prophecies.
Evad proved to be a resourceful, if lazy student who would spend more time trying to cheat his way out of work than actually doing any. His master had many followers in the Inquisition, who were readily convinced by the charismatic and persuasive Immunovich that Evad was indeed the child that these prophecies referred to. Many of Immunovich's followers were introduced to Evad face-to-face at conclaves, councils and gatherings. Perhaps due to his unpleasant personality, untidy dress sense and lack of good manners, most were (unsurprisingly) not impressed or convinced by Evad's alleged divinity. However, out of the dozens who were introduced to Evad, only two others would actually be required for Evad to earn his rosette.
These two inquisitors were the senile Inquisitor Grimman*, who was nearing 520 Terran Standard years of age, and would likely have promoted a chimpanzee if one had been a candidate. The other inquisitor was the highly religious Inquisitor Sanderson, who was relatively unimpressed by Evad, but had enough faith in his old mentor, Immunovich, that he was willing to make an act of faith and support Evad's candidacy for Inquisitorial status.
Evad therefore became an Inquisitor, when really, from the start, he was NOT inquisitor material. If anything, he was a light-fingered pickpocket who lacked the ambition or drive to take on such a responsibility. He was a lowly street rat who could not fulfill such a lofty role. When his mentor, Immunovich, died of old age at the age of 712 Terran Standard (314 years of which were spent as little more than a brain in a jar,) Evad no longer felt that there was an authority hanging over him to make him do any work, so he became lazy, procrastinative, and lax in his duties.
The reason that I bring him up is that he earned his money by "siezing tainted goods" that were affected by "non specific warp contagions" or "chaos filth" when in fact the goods were perfectly clean of all taint. Evad was essentially using his Inquisitorial powers to legitimise theft. In essence, he misused his Inquisitorial powers to serve his own ends, living as a hedonistic, lazy bum. Immunovich's supporters protected Evad from political backlash for a long time, and for a while, it looked as if there was likely to be a small Inquisitorial war in the Levitus Subsector as a result of Evad's actions. In an attempt to defuse the situation, the High Lords dispatched a Callidus assassin to slay Evad, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
In a final attempt to break all support for Inquisitor Evad, he was framed for the disappearance of the beloved public servant Aerin Anastasia Zukovsky by Inquisitors Lucifer, Lilith and Horn.
Inquisitors Lucifer and Lilith were participating in a plot to manipulate the Imperial military into supporting their proposed invasion of Omega. Inquisitor Horn was an Amalathian who was simultaneously trying to protect the highly decorated military leader, General Hector Hernandez Magellan, from the backlash of his crimes, and also trying to prevent an Inquisitorial Schism around Inquisitor Evad's embarrassing misconduct.
The result was that Evad lost all support from his previous protectors and supporters, and his rosette was revoked. He still operates as a petty criminal in other areas of the Imperium, but feels that he cannot return to the Levitus subsector, as there would be nothing to stop his once political rivals from putting a bolter round in his skull should he ever return.
Evad's explicator, Sophie Vandus, was instrumental in the uncovering of the truth of Aerin's disappearance a few years later, but in exchange for her silence on the matter, Inquisitors Lucifer, Lilith and Horn agreed to support her candidacy for Inquisitor status. She is currently finishing her 'training' under the tutelage of Inquisitor Horn.
I felt that I should share this story because it illustrates quite nicely how someone who should, by all rights, never have made it to the rank of Inquisitor could eventually, theoretically, reach that rank. Blind faith in the prophecies of madmen is something that many Inquisitors and other holy-men have. If they misinterpret the aforementioned prophecy, then it could lead to some very questionable types getting into the ranks of the holy Ordos.
I've always told myself that if I ever attend a conclave gathering at WHW, I would remodel Inquisitor Evad and take him with me as my warband, because I just love his character, even if I haven't played with it for years.
*Of course, most Inquisitors who fall into this kind of mental state would be encouraged by their peers to retire. However, why would you let someone like Grimman retire when he's so useful? Any time you want to suggest a radical idea to the concensus, you can count on his vote. He was basically a representation of my own cynical perspective on politics - that some people in politics are kept around not because they're good at their job or because they're competent, but because they can be counted on to vote in favour of what they're told to vote in favour of.
