[Brother_Brimstone]

I've created quite a few characters for Inquisitor - most on paper, then discarded, some used as 28mm, and fewer at 54mm (working on my fourth and fifth). This, however, is my first ever Inquisitor character who actually IS an Inquisitor! I'm interested in the Samurai archetype and wanted to create a 'Samurai Of The Emperor', so with that as my start-point, I created Petris Kanabre. I've really tried to avoid clichees, and have given reasons for the samurai culture (detailed in the long fluff).

As usual, comments / criticism appreaciated and THERE IS A SHORT FLUFF OPTION for those who don't want to read the long version - if you just scroll down past the long version, it is signposted with capital letters. If you don't want to read the long fluff, just a glance at the short fluff, or even just the stats/equipment would be great, as i'm inexperienced in making Inquisitors, and probably need all the help I can get.

Inquisitor Petris Kanabre

Petris came from an agri-world named Mandaris V, a world with a single recurrent figure in its culture; the Samurai. The Mandarian people told stories of times at the formation of the planet, where Samurai served the noble founders of the planet, and helped rid the planet of beasts and evil spirits. In fact these peasant stories were mythologised tales of mercenaries working for the rich upper classes, killing the planet’s native Xenos life in order to free the world for their use. Still, it served the rulers well to perpetuate these myths, as the peasants feared retribution from Samurai if they disobeyed their masters, and did not toil for little to no wage.
Mandaris had a strict feudal system, with the farming peasants at the bottom, craftsmen, merchants and middlemen next, soldiers after this and of course the rich Imperial Lords at the top. The soldier’s ceremonially high position was generally only theoretical anyway – most born to a soldier family were drafted to Mandaris’ PDF or the Imperial Guard, and thus never had the chance top take their place in the planet’s feudal system – however, those who stayed on planet as the PDF clearly had authority over the merchants, craftsmen and peasants, and yet still answered to the rich Imperial families, so their place was fairly fixed. Mandaris’ soldiers are famed within the Imperial Guard, as determined warriors, but particularly as being skilful with a blade – their blades generally stylised to resemble the Katanas which belonged to their culture’s mythical Samurai. This is partially out of their own choice (many of them feverently wanting to be like their people’s legendary heroes, anti-heroes and villains), but their katana training was also partly the choice of the Imperial Rich, figuring that if they could make their PDF servants resemble the feared Samurai, they could better intimidate the lower classes (and thus demand obedience more easily).

Petris was born into the soldier class, his parents were both bodyguard for a local rich but lower ranking ruling family. His parents were killed when Petris was 8; they died protecting the rich family from a peasant insurgence. The insurgency eventually failed, in no small part due to the efforts of Petris’ parents. The ruling family of course could not adopt Petris (after all, he was not of a high ranking bloodline), but they wished to see Petris’ parents’ sacrifice rewarded, and thus the family used their modest, but relatively considerable influence to have Petris inducted into the nearest Schola Progenium, where he could learn to train his warrior’s skills and honour his parent’s memory.

Petris, although still young, was old enough to know of his people’s legends. His parents, being particularly fond of the mythological Samurai, and considering themselves to be spiritual successors of these figures spent most of the time they had with Petris teaching him about the way of the Samurai, the honour system, and the basic use of a Katana. The most important rule a Samurai must obey, Petris’ parents always told him, was to protect their master, no matter what. It was the code Petris’ parents lived and died by, and Petris swore that he would honour that code.

In the Schola, Petris trained as a fighter, particularly specialising in the use of a blade, and swordplay. In fact, Petris’ gun training never really moved beyond the use of a pistol, and thus although Petris became extremely adept at the use of pistols, he never bothered with any other guns. Petris integrated pistol use into his own general fighting style – a graceful flowing art which focused less on the strength or quantity of blows, but where they hit and the amount of damage each single blow could do. Outside of his physical training, Petris attempted to read as widely as he could, taking particular interest in the study of the God-Emperor, the ultimate ruler and leader of mankind.

Petris became known within the Schola, as an ideal bodyguard. His use of a sword and pistols would be rather unsuitable for the general imperial army, but the drill abbots were convinced that Petris could one day well serve a wealthy and important Imperial Family as an obedient, skilful bodyguard due to his unquestioning subservience, strict code of honour, and of course, fearsome fighting abilities. It was due to this reputation that when Inquisitor Kyozorus Rikichio of the Ordo Malleus came to Schola Progenium looking for a promising young student to assist him in a forthcoming task, Petris was almost unanimously put forward for the task. At the time, Petris did not know why his particular skills were considered ideal for Kyozorus’ purposes, but soon it would become clear. Kyozorus needed someone of strong unquestioning faith and great combat potential to assist him in his current mission.

Kyozorus was planning a raid on a daemonic sect which had been discovered on Cantharis III, a nearby planet, and Kyozorus needed to act fast, as reports told him that the daemon had been summoned, and was rampaging on the planet. Kyozorus was near the planet at the time, and could not afford to waste a moment – he needed to recruit help from as nearby as possible to ensure a fast response – and it just so happened that the Schola was on a planet neighbouring Cantharis III. Kyozorus took Petris, along with a handful of other students from the Schola – those who excelled at training in the Imperial Faith and/or the use of weaponry. On the short journey between the Schola’s homeworld of Cantharis II and the troubled planet of Cantharis III, Petris announced Kyozorus as his master and protectee, swearing on his family’s honour that he would not let down his parents and their legacy. The students were told that they would be fighting enemies of the Imperium, and that the battle would be hard, but faith would be their greatest weapon. He encouraged the group, led by the trainees of the Faith, to chant Litanies and prayers to the God-Emperor.

They made Planet Fall, and their craft’s metallic door slid open. The landscape was a wreck – patches of grassland on fire surrounded by a barren dusty landscape interspersed with ruined buildings. The two suns were like angry red eyes, afire with vengeful fury, and a strangely chilling wind swept the landscape. A creature of evil had been summoned, and it was their job to send it back to the wretched pit from which it came – or so Kyozorus told them. He led them, barely old enough to stop being considered children, still chanting litanies through the wastelands – their young voices cracking with a mixture of fear and excitement. As they came to the brow of a hill, a ripple moved through the small group as they saw what was on the other side.

A group of five robed and hooded figures were following something which defied all normal description. Petris felt that the creature resembled his culture’s myths of evil spirits; large, standing over twice as tall as a man, with the lower body of a serpent, the upper body of a man, and the head of a goat – strangely undersized – seeming to only be the size of an actual goat’s head, with fanged teeth. It seemed to be somehow producing fire, either from its eyes or mouth – Petris was not able to tell. At Kyozorus’ command the group charged the hooded figures, who seemed preoccupied chanting. The first shots were fired from one of Petris’ companions autogun, and then the scene erupted.

 The head of one of the hooded figure exploded as the bullets from the autogun found their mark. The four remaining figures, seemingly awakening from, their trance pulled stubbers from the dark recesses of their robes. Petris, Kyozorus and their group were still making ground towards the figures, still chanting. Petris heard a cry, as the boy beside him had a hole punched through his chest by a shot from the enemies’ stubbers. As they finally came within arms length of their enemies Petris kept his focus on only them and Kyozorus, swearing to die protecting his master before allowing him to die. Of course, Kyozorus was hardly the type of man to need protection, but this did not deter Petris. Without seeing, Petris knew his fellow Schola members were dropping fast, he could hear that know there were but three voices chanting prayers and litanies to the God-Emperor, but there was but one hooded figure left standing. Kyozorus drew a red glowing sword from his hip-sheath, and in the same motion drew the sword along the robed figure’s chest. As the last heretic fell, the thing turned, suddenly noticing the commotion behind it.

Kyozorus shouted something, but Petris could not hear. All he knew was that Kyozorus was charging the spirit, and Petris was duty-bound to follow. As Kyozorus approached the spirit, his chanting increased in fervour as he attempted to strike the beast with his glowing sword. The beast, with a giant clawed hand swiped at Kyozus, and striking him in the side of the head. Kyozorus went down, dropping his sword as he impacted the ground. Petris saw it all move in slow motion, as the thing raised a giant clawed hand over the unconscious Inquisitor. Petris was not simply unwilling to let his master die, he COULD NOT allow it. Swallowing his fear, Petris grabbed the dropped sword and, leaping in the air brought the blade upwards in a smooth, practiced arc. The blade passed through the beast’s neck meeting surprisingly little resistance. Petris landed almost simultaneously with the thing’s head, and the thing slumped over, its decapitated body only narrowly missing Kyozorus’ unconscious form. As Petris snapped out of his strangely calm trance, he realised he should probably be afraid. This was no dream – this thing was real, and there could be more like it out there. His mind boggled, and he blacked out, from a combination of exhaustion and horror.

Petris awoke on what he presumed was some form of building or vessel – its metal walls reflecting the eerie artificial light overhead. Kyozorus was standing over Petris smiling, as was another member of the Schola whom Petris recognised – a female trainee preacher named Okran. Okran had maintained consciousness through the entire thing, and apparently, when Kyozorus had regained consciousness, she was just standing over the thing’s headless body, still chanting and staring off into the distance. Once he had managed to snap her out of it, he had her recount exactly what happened, and she had told him of Petris’ bravery.

From that moment on, Petris and Okran served Kyozorus. Petris started as a bodyguard, but after proving his heroism in fighting daemons and protecting Kyozorus time and time again, Kyozorus initiated Petris as his Acolyte, Okran’s unshakable faith but lack of combat ability left her somewhat behind Petris, and she has remained a Preacher since, although she was officially made an ‘honorary member’ of Ecclesiarchy at Kyozorus’ request.

The turning point of Petris’ career came when he and Kyozorus’ were making a raid on a daemon-worshipping cult on Sontareth VII. Kyozorus and Petris interrupted the cult partway into a ritual, and Petris, focussed on protecting his master, accidentally stepped into a summoning circle. He was possessed by a horrific being, which Petris came to know as Shakaaroth – the Whisper at Midnight – a being of pure terror. Petris was sure to be destroyed by this being, a daemon of unimaginable age, wisdom and power, but for a reason unknown to Petris he was not. The being left Petris, seemingly of his own voliton, but not without leaving its mark. The being was the same as that which had been partially manifested on Petris' first fateful outing, although his form then had been but a small representation of Shakaaroth's true power. Shakaaroth had plans for Petris, and wanted Petris to survive and thrive that he may unwittingly do his bidding. Shakaaroth imbued the skull of his former manifestation with a power - it would make daemons fear Petris. Shakaaroth had marked Petris as his own, and it would be a foolish daemon that would know of Shakaaroth's reputation and yet still willingly cross him.

Petris’ seeming to have single-handedly overcome possesion   had two effects. Firstly, Kyozorus made Petris a full Inquisitor; at the ripe young age of 70 terran years. Secondly it spelt Petris’ induction into the Illuminati. Unbeknownst to all, even his own acolyte, Kyozorus was a member of an order known as the Illuminati – a secret organisation which sought to have the God-Emperor reborn. The main condition for entrance to the Illuminati seemed to be the ability to have overcome daemonic possession entirely by one’s self – and this was why upon this event Kyozorus had promoted Petris (seeing another potential Illuminati member, and an ally in search of the Sensei). Unfortunately for Kyozorus, he, Petris and many other of his contacts within the Illuminati had been tricked by Shakaaroth, and all Kyozorus had done was secured Shakaaroth a more powerful tool for his own resurrection

Since induction, Petris’ philosophy, has remained broadly the same, and yet subtly different. Petris still places protecting his master before all else, but Petris now realises that his master is the God-Emperor Himself, not Kyozorus or any other man. Petris will spend eterneity and more protecting not only the God-Emperor, but also the God-Emperor’s family, because any good Samurai must protect his master’s family as he would his master. Petris has taken it upon himself to find and protect the Sensei, in hope that he may keep them safe until they are needed to finally bring the God-Emperor back. On that day, Petris will have to make the difficult choice of sacrificing his master’s children to save his master, but he knows his hand shall not tremor. A Samurai must give everything to protect his master; but Petris' master may not be as benevolent as he thought, and he may find the sacrifice to be in vein...

SHORT FLUFF

•   From an agri-world, parents died protecting a ruling family, Petris was sent to a Schola Progenium.
•   Petris trained to be the ultimate bodyguard
•   Petris was brought on a mission by a desperate Ordo Malleus Inquisitor
•   Petris saved the Inquisitor’s life
•   Petris is kept on by the Inquisitor as a bodyguard
•   Eventually promoted to acolyte
•   Gets possessed but miraculously overcomes it (through bloody-minded will and unshakable faith)
•   Is inducted into the Illuminati and made a full Inquisitor
•   Decides to become ‘bodyguard to the emperor and his family’ – seeks out Sensei and protects them, taking them to Illuminati safe locations, but also does more normal Malleus duties such as fighting daemons in order to ‘protect the emperor and his family’

Stats

Ws: 84
Bs: 62
S: 53
T: 68
I: 73
Wp: 81
Sg: 65
Nv: 76
Ld:78


Equipment:

Carapace armour on chest, legs and arms. Mesh armour on groin and abdomen, heavy hood on head (Av 1). Pentagrammic wards, power knife, sword (family katana) Skull of Shakaaroth, 18 megathule laspistol , Magnum Stubber with 7 sanctified rounds and 1 reload of 7 sanctified rounds.

Skull Of Shakaaroth – The skull of the daemon which Petris felled on his first outing with Kyozorus, unfortunately but a small taste of the power of Petris' ongoing enemy. It is said Shakaaroth has used the skull to alter it's bearer's warp presence. While Petris carries this skull, he is marked in the warp as belonging to Shakaaroth - a powerful daemon lord. Shakaaroth is known to almost all other daemons as being powerful and fearful, being said by some to be a manifestation of fear in its purest form. All daemonic characters treat Petris as Feasome, regardless of whether they themselves are Fearsome or Terrifying. However, Petris' not knowing his effect on daemons still treats Fearsome and Terrifying characters as Fearsome and Terrifying.

Skills/Abilities

Word Of The Emperor – Ever since his first outing, Petris has learned to chant prayers and litanies to the God-Emperor as he fights all manner of horrifying creatures. Petris has versed himself well in the words of the Imperial Faith, to ensure that his strongest weapon is his faith.

First Strike – Trained with his Katana since early childhood, a particular speciality of Petris is the ability to draw his sword and strike in a single, smooth action.

Feint – Again, a product of Petris’ specialisation in sword training.

[MarcoSkoll]

I've never really been keen on the "defeated possession by strength of will" thing - daemons are beings that were ancient even when the world was young and who are possessed of power limited only by the depths of their foetid imaginations. In short, far more powerful than the will of any human.
It happens a few times in the canon, but I prefer to apply EYHBTIAL and assume that the stories are inaccurate - after all, if you are being manipulated by a daemon, you're probably not exactly a reliable source.

Unfortunately, a character having a will so strong they did something that should be impossible or near impossible is on the side of cliché.
One fix that might work is that as this is the same daemon as before... what with the plans of daemons, it could easily be deliberate. i.e. Shakaaroth has some plan which Petris fits into. While Petris thinks he defeated the daemon by strength of will, what actually happened was that he was allowed to win.

Not an entirely original plot, but daemons who have some sort of cosmic gambit aren't exactly hard to come by.
Of course, you ran that way slightly with Zophar/Sarthuul (I can never remember if it's a double A, or a double U in Sarthuul - I'm resorting to guesswork), so you might want to work on a different idea, but I'll throw it out there for you.

That's the only real quibble I have with the background. The rest mostly works for me.

As far as the profile... well, if you're aiming for "Conclave Standard", I'm not exactly sure about the two stats in the 90s.
WS 91 and two hand-to-hand skills - combine that with the power-sword... well, it almost certainly means he'd win a fight against any one of my characters, probably even without breaking a sweat.
I've got a couple of characters that might make him work a bit to finish them. One might even get lucky enough to land a hit or two.

Leaving the Wp value to go without saying, Initiative 86 is definitely very high as well. Personally, I think the WS, I and Wp could all quite easily take a hit of 10 points each. They'd still be high, but not quite so unassailably high as they are now.

[Inquisitor Cade]

I imagined a Samurai based 40k guard army once, though never made it beyond an experiment model. It had the light infantry, hardened fighters, preachers, close order drill and veterans doctrines. The infantry had dark green jackets and trousers, coloured headbands indicating squad with a coloured dot indicating platoon and folding stock mars pattern lasguns. The sergeants would have carapace samurai armour, close combat kantana's and banners with the squad and platoon colours on their backs. The command squads would have eceryone in carapace armour with close combat katanas (4 guardsmen), power katanas (officer and commissar) or eviscerating dikatanas (preacher). The veteran squads would be ninjas.
[/Ramble]

Right, yes, the character...
getting possessed and overcoming it is a bit of a cliche', but as it is to drive the narrative rather than to crow bar in psychic powers it is one of the better instances. And having a society of people it has happened to seems to give an ironic nod to the fact it has been done a few times.
I wouldn't have thought that they would all be thorians though. Suggesting the is a society for ex possessees for just one faction seems a bit much. I'd say he got his philosophy from Kyozorus and that the Illuminati are a group that greatly respect one another and consider themselves superior to Inquisitor who have not self exorcised a daemon.

Petris has taken it upon himself to find and protect the Sensei, in hope that he may keep them safe

Maybe I missed over a sentence but it is a lot of fluff to check through. What are the Sensei?

Those are some high stats.

A high Ws is definately appropriate, but this is OTT. I'd say high 80's and first strike would be better (with that Ws he won't need to fake hit in order to find an opening, so I'd do away with feint).
I'd expect his S to be at around the same level as his T, the mid 60's as all the close combat training he does would certainly include a major workout.
I is very high, A round 80 would still give him an edge over the vast majority of Inquisitors.
Wp is excessive. given his self exorcism certainly it should be in excess of 80, but I wouldn't put him at the limit of human capacity.
Given his mental strengths in I and Wp I'd drop Sg by 10ish, making him merely very intelligent. If he were that smart he would probably have been selected as a tactical advisor or something rather than a bodyguard.

Give laspistols some love. Trade in the hi power for a 18 megathule. Go on, you know you want to.
You may have gathered that I have no compelling argument for this character to have a laspistol, other than that laspistols are the imperial standard issue and not stubbers as most inquisitors would indicate. Clearly he has good reason for the magnum, as an anti daemon weapon, but why take a stubber over a las for his main sidearm? Oh I've thought of a reason! If he uses a pistol sword combo then having a mag run dry in a fight would be bad right? Right? And what have more shots than laspistols?

The powersword is certainly plausible, but with a that Ws and that sword he'll never have an exciting fight. He'll just win in close combat every monotonous time. It might be more interesting if he has a regular sword, if for example he uses his family kantana. Samurai then to have multiple blades, a wagisahi and a tanto as well as the katana. Maybe he could have a power tanto, but favour his katana unless he really needs to cut open a can/power armour.

I don't like deflect shot unless the character has prescience or detection powers, or another reason for being able to see/predict the paths of bullets. In this case I'd say it is just a safety feature that covers his only vulnerability, being shot.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Ah, I apologise; I should explain. The Illuminati are by no means my own creation - I wouldn't want to take credit where it isn't due. The Illuminati first appeared in Realms Of Chaos: Slaves To Darkness, but more recently in 'The Inquisitor War' by Ian Watkins.

They're an organisation who beleive that there exist the so-called Sensei - biological children of the Emperor. The Illuminati have taken it upon themselves to find, hide and groom the Sensei in order to one day in the far future, sacrifice all of the Sensei in order to allow the emperor to be reborn, as a warp entity known as the 'Star Child', who when born, would destroy all of chaos - a lofty ambition.

Although I got my info from a friend who owns STD, you can see the full info here http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Illuminati - but as I say, I have a friend who verified its presence in STD, so i'm not going entirely off an idea I saw on the wiki (although the wiki was my own source as I wrote the fluff, as I don't own STD).

Accordingly, the Illuminati, by fluff, have to be 'Illuminated' - this means they must be possesed and personally throw off the daemon in order to join - thus while I agree personal dispossesion IS a clichee, I did it to try and make my character fit in with the existing fluff better - not to try and make him badass and overpowered.

Incidentally, it was the Illuminati's use of the word Sensei that made me want my character to be like a Samurai, protecting the sons of his master (as in literal biological sons).

However, what I could do to perhaps bring this old, forgotten fluff more in line with current thinking, is say that Shakaaroth is personally responsable for the entire Illuminati, and that HE IS the starchild who wants them to bring him to life. Thus he posses and disposses those he feels he could trick into bringing him to life, and is covertly tricking the most devout servers of the emperor into summoning a being so powerful it could destroy the emperor. The Sensei could in fact just be those with a strong warp presence, or 'tasty souls'. But you see, i'm not sure if that would be just doing away with the Illuminati fluff, and I love it so much, I wouldn't want to ruin it. Any thoughts would be great.

As for stats I feel that apologies are once again in order. As i say, this isn't just the first Inquisitor i've posted - this is the first Inquisitor I've ever made, and I wasn't sure of the right stats to give one of the 'Imperium's Finest'. Also, my lack of gameplay experience is also a hindrance. Can we say that my OP character is forgiven on the condition I brought back some old, forgotten fluff?  

I shall lower stats as suggested, bringing down I, WP, Ws and losing Deflect Shot. I hope i haven't come across as a power-gamer, it's anything but, I just find it hard to know what would convey an 'expert' within a game without it being monotonously and arbitrarily powerful.

As for the Las-Pistol, it's just another case of me not being used to playing Imperial characters - i'll make that change too.

I like your suggestion about the blade though - rules wise, hower about i switch the knife to power-knife, and leave his sword as a sword, to be his dead father's katana? He favours the katana unless he really needs to use the power knife, which, although rules-wise would be a knife, fluff wise would be his Tanto, and his sword his katana.

Anyway, thank you very much for wading through the fluff and my ill-experienced stats - i'm really grateful. Edits will be in red.

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

TL;DR
Scanning the first paragraph the most jarring thing is this...

Agri-world... Samurai...

Samurai are the elite warrior caste, not farmers. A high ranking samurai might be in charge but he'll report offworld, it's unlikely that there would be many samurai at all around for the culture to be aware of... and farmers don't become samurai...
Keep in mind that many worlds in the 41st millenium are effectively monocultures - an Agri-world is pretty much a giant wheatfield with some workers and admin.

There is however an alternative...
Fuedal worlds are low tech, with less contact with much of the rest of the Imperium than most. They are governed by a rigid heirarchy which passes from the Planetary governor (or Shogunate) down through a sequence of noble ranks (the samurai) to the peasants.
Exports tend to be food surplus and craft objects, items like jewellery and ceremonial trappings and humans, be they destined for drudgery, modification or cannon fodder...

Pretty much what you've described TBH...

[Inquisitor Cade]

However, what I could do to perhaps bring this old, forgotten fluff more in line with current thinking, is say that Shakaaroth is personally responsable for the entire Illuminati, and that HE IS the starchild who wants them to bring him to life. Thus he posses and disposses those he feels he could trick into bringing him to life, and is covertly tricking the most devout servers of the emperor into summoning a being so powerful it could destroy the emperor.

That could work, but as long as you aren't set on it being true the truth doesn't need to be specified. All that's important is what the character believes.

I still think that he should have an S in the 60's, and I'd drop feint, but at this point the character isn't inappropraitely powerful or anything, I just thing that these changes would represent him slightly better.

[Brother_Brimstone]

While i appreciate your time and input i think calling it an agri-world is fair enough.

The planet is almost entirely farms with the occasional mansion belonging to the local overseer or baron. The soldier class (or samurai) live on the estates of the barons and are for all intents and purposes Imperial overseers, ensuring the peasants work and squashing potential rebellions.

If it's a planet which is almost exclusively farms and peasants, with a few warriors to ensure the peasants work and fewer still overseers who for all intents and purposes own the land an peasants, i don't see any problem with it being called an agri-world. Excess warriors who arent needed are shipped off for use in the Guard.

EDIT: the difficulty is, i loved the illuminati as is. and wanted a way to implement an illuminati character. the difficulty lies with respecting the tradition ("illuminati are said to exist in the warp as comfortably as realspace", to become illuminated you must single handedly disposses yourself etc...) while keeping the character realistic and NOT overpowered. i didn't want illuminati to be a tacked on word - i wanted it to be an interesting and important part of Petris' character, and i'm just seemingly struggling to tie it all together.

still, thanks for the help

[Alyster Wick]

However, what I could do to perhaps bring this old, forgotten fluff more in line with current thinking, is say that Shakaaroth is personally responsable for the entire Illuminati, and that HE IS the starchild who wants them to bring him to life. Thus he posses and disposses those he feels he could trick into bringing him to life, and is covertly tricking the most devout servers of the emperor into summoning a being so powerful it could destroy the emperor.

Really like this idea.  Also, it doesn't necessarily mean you're killing the background, this daemon is just creating a pocket of folks who are Illuminati to resurrect him, it didn't create the whole idea.  Problem solved! It would also make a hell of a plot twist, get your whole gaming group thinking they're on an epic campaign that would change the face of the 40K universe only to find out they'd been duped by a goat-headed man-snake.

To avoid the cliche you could also say that the daemon's skull helped him ward off the daemon (but no one knew that and so despite not throwing off the daemon on his own he'd still be initiated). 

Also, you can defeat the cliche entirely by saying that it is not the characters will alone that does it, but when characters are properly attuned to the Emperor then they are aided in defeating the daemon.  Not too get too off topic, but it'd be similar to the Christian idea that you great men of faith are not great in and of themselves, but that they are only great through allowing God to work through them (I am only using this as an example of an analogous philosophy, in no way trying to being a theological discussion in the present day).

And (like so many things on the conclave) the Illuminati have the potential to be overused and hackneyed, but the Conclave reaction against conventions that are overused and hackneyed has a wonderful way of making them characterful the few times that they are actually used.  If you want to keep him as is I think that's fine (though I do admit I find the alternatives mentioned more interesting).

[Brother_Brimstone]

Thanks for the input and the suggestions - i think that is the idea I'm going to go for. It's not necessarily that all of the Illuminati are serving Shakaaroth; just that Petris (and also possibly Kyozorus and others) is/are being manipulated by him. In fact, in the same way in 'Inquisiton War' the Ordo Hydra is introduced as a subsection of the Illuminati who are radical, perhapps the Illuminati members who think Shakaaroth is the Star CHild are another sub-Illuminati faction (sort of a faction within a faction within a faction). They don't need an ordo name, because they don't know that they are serving Shakaaroth; they're just a group of well meaning Illuminati who think that one particular Wapr Presence is the Star Child when it isn't. Perhaps they are being led by an heretical Inquisitor who turned to Chaos, and unbeknownst to them, he actually wants to unleash Shakaaroth? It makes the story more open-ended and perhaps increases beleivability.

In fact, perhaps the Skull Of Shakaaroth only has its power because Shakaaroth invested power in it himself. Is Petris unwittingly a Gifted Chosen of the daemon? Devoted to destroying all daemonic life, and yet his most powerful relic is a gift from a daemon. Perhaps Shakaaroth is a daemon lord, powerful beyond all human knowing, and that is why other daemons find his skull so unsettling? Perhaps that is why it would take the sacrifice of the Sensei to bring him to realspace in his full horror?

I really like where this is going - thanks for the advice, I now have a lot of future fluff material! I shall edit the fluff accordingly, and as is my usual, edits in red.

I appreciate the contribution.