Inquisitor age

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

I was writing up some background and got stuck on the age. What age would the average standard inquisitor be

Thanks

[Koval]

About 150 or so?

[MarcoSkoll]

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.

[Koval]

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.

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

What about an inquisitor lord

[MarcoSkoll]

I 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.

[Koval]

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.

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.

[MarcoSkoll]

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.

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".

[Koval]

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.

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.

[Morcus]

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.

[Koval]

What about the non field types?

They're lazy and therefore don't count. 

[DapperAnarchist]

Indeed, how many non-field types would be Inquisitors, as opposed to Savants or Acolytes?

[Flinty]

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...''

[Shannow]

''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

[Molotov]

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...