Inquisitor de Ruthven - first warband

[Rorschach]

Hey all, longtime forum lurker here.  For years I've admired Inquisitor from afar (even amassing a decent collection of 54mm figures from various ebay auctions), but only recently was able to talk a couple friends into giving the game a try.  Not great timing I know, but between the three of us was should be able to put together 3-5 models each, plus an NPC or two, and we'll see where we go from there.  Anyway, I figured I'd post my character ideas (apologies for the wall of text) and see if anyone had an comments/criticisms.

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Inquisitor Niccolo de Ruthven

Age: 86 terran years
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 185 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Bald
Niccolo is right-handed

WS   BS   S   T   I   WP   SG   NV   LD
58   65   52   57   70   67   79   73   76

Equipment: Cane-sword (short sword), Armsmear M15 "Officer Pattern" hellpistol, Flak-lined greatcoat (AV 3 on all locations except head), MIU-link (psyber-raven), Inquisitorial Seal

Armsmear M15 "Officer Pattern" Hellpistol
The Tech-Adepts of the the Forge World Armsmear, long renowned for their production of high-quality handguns, developed the M15 "Officer Pattern" Hellpistol for high-ranking Imperial officials who sought the superior penetrative capabilities of the hellpistol in a more compact frame, and without the necessity of a bulky backpack power source.  Fed from a discreet 8lb belt-mounted power unit, the M15 maintains all the lethality of its larger cousins, while sacrificing range and ammunition capacity.  They are also extremely expensive to manufacture, making them highly prized among the Imperium's elite.

Type    Range   Mode      Acc   Dam        Shots   Rld   Wt   
Pistol   E      Sg/Sm(2)          -     3d6-1     15   [2]    16+8

Special: Light AP: Reduces target AV by one third, rounding down.  The M15 also contains an integral laser sight.

Psyber-raven
A gift from the Adeptus Mechanicus for exposing the "heretek" Noam Demitrius, the psyber-raven is a sophisticated piece of surveillance tech disguised as a black bird.  Using his Mind Impulse Unit, de Ruthven can control the psyber-raven much as a psyker controls a familiar.  The psyber-raven counts as a familiar as detailed in the Inquisitor Rulebook, and must remain within 30 yards of the character.  When commanded, it can fly to any point on the tabletop that is within 30 yards of the master character.  In addition to normal senses of hearing and sight, the psyber-raven contains a bio-scanner and pict-recorder.  Designed for covert observation, enemies subtract -30% from all tests to detect the psyber-raven.  The psyber-raven can be targeted separately and is a small target (-20% to hit), has a toughness of 50 and has the following injury results:

Superficial: No effect
Heavy: Bio-scanner is disabled
Serious: As heavy, plus psyber-raven must remain within 10 yards of character
Crippled: Psyber-crow is disabled/destroyed

Abilities: Silvertounged, Leader

Silvertounged:  Raised from birth to swim in the shark-infested waters of Medician politics, de Ruthven is an accomplished liar, skilled political operator and master manipulator.  He receives a +30 bonus to his leadership when in conversation with another character.

History:  Niccolo de Ruthven was born to a minor noble house on the Imperial World of Medici.  A highly stratified society even by the standards of the Imperium, the vast majority of resources, wealth and political power were hoarded by the oldest and most prestigious of Medician noble houses, those considered to be of the purest blood.  Highly intelligent, ruthlessly ambitious and completely unwilling to accept his family's insignificant position in the Medician court, Niccolo fought from birth against the stigma of his "lesser blood."  Through a combination of subtle politicking, bribery, coercion, blackmail, and the use of an extensive network of informants placed throughout Medician society, de Ruthven gained a reputation as a skilled politician and a valuable resource for more established nobles seeking intelligence but unwilling to dirty their hands by interacting with Medici's servile classes.

When the simmering vendetta between houses Aveline and Ortigosa, the ruling houses of Medici, boiled over into full-scale civil war, de Ruthven seized his opportunity.  Through a series of shifting alliances, double-crosses and false promises, Niccolo was able to simultaneously cement his ties to House Ortigosa and undermine House Aveline's political support.  When Gaspar Aveline was arrested as a recidivist and traitor and Bernadino Ortigosa rose to the position of High King (and Imperial Commander), it was Niccolo de Ruthven at his side as the head of the newly-minted Internal Security Commissariat, an intelligence bureau tasked with purging the nobility of elements disloyal to the crown.  He commenced a systematic cleanse of the the established order, sweeping aside the old guard and opening the door to intelligent, ambitious minor nobles deemed "loyal to the crown."  Just as it seemed his triumph was at hand, Niccolo was poisoned by vindictive agents of House Aveline, and Medici was plunged back into civil war.

And yet Niccolo de Ruthven lived on.  Awakening in an unfamiliar medicae facility, he was addressed by the shadowy figure of Inquisitor Ignatius Konstantin, a radical Istavaanian who had in fact orchestrated the Medician civil war.  Complementing de Ruthven's resilience and will to power, Inquisitor Konstantin offered a place among his coterie of acolytes.  De Ruthven served his new master for years, eventually rising to the position of Interrogator.  After three decades of putting his skills at statecraft and intelligence-gathering towards Inquisitor Konstantin's increasingly destructive ends, de Ruthven became disillusioned with his master's reckless ideology. And after years of constant testing that ranged from being dropped into active war zones to outright torture, Niccolo came to believe that his tutelage was nothing more than a sick game, and that his master never intended to raise him to the rank of Inquisitor.  And so when Konstantin began to provide direct support to heretical cults for the purpose of fomenting conflict and war, de Ruthven seized his opportunity and approached a prominent cabal of Amalathian inquisitors.  Offering evidence of his master's heresy in return for sponsorship to the rank of Inquisitor, de Ruthven condemned his mentor to death and raised himself to the ranks of the Inquisition overnight.  Since then, he has ostensibly remained a capable but unspectacular member of his sector's Amalathian majority.  In truth, de Ruthven has covertly pursued a Recongrator philosophy.  Working behind the scenes to undermine the established order and bring change to an Imperium he views as decaying and staggeringly corrupt, de Ruthven is a committed radical who has heretofore maintained an unimpeachable record of puritanism.

Personality/Methods:  Coldly driven and highly intelligent, Niccolo is a master of deception and manipulation.  Unflinchingly polite even when threatening someone's life, he nevers swears and almost never raises his voice.  When not operating under one of his numerous aliases, he introduces himself simply as "de Ruthven," eschewing overt trappings of his office or ostentatious displays of wealth.  Favoring austere but impeccably made clothing, Niccolo maintains interests from his former life as a Medician nobleman, including a passion for orchestral and chamber music and an abiding love for the wines of his homeworld.  Respecting intelligence and ambition above all else, Niccolo realizes that while the Imperium is supported by the backbreaking labor of the teeming ignorant masses, it must be lead by men and women of drive and vision.  He seeks out progressives, revolutionaries and other advocates of change in all branches of the Imperium and seeks to promote their interests while undermining the powers that be.  De Ruthven has made particular target of the Ecclesiarchy over the course of his career, believing that the priesthood should stick to minding the spiritual needs of the flock and leave temporal power in the hands of those qualified to wield it.  Although preferring to work behind the scenes, de Ruthven will often use an official Inquisitorial investigation as cover for his more covert activities, simultaneously working to undermine the established order while claiming to safeguard it.  When pursuing his Recongregationist agenda, Niccolo prefers to work subtly, manipulating from the shadows, operating under various assumed identities, and making use of precision assassinations.  He prefers to avoid full-scale rebellions and directly aiding anti-imperial cults when he can help it, though he has become more extreme and far more willing to sacrifice innocent lives in the pursuit of his goals the longer he has held the rosette.  And like all Recongregators, his hands are bloody with the mistakes of his past.

Base of Operations: While he maintains a number of safehouses, de Ruthven's permanent residence is his Acadia-class intrasystem luxury yacht, the 590-ft Eclipse.  Equipped with an advanced sensor and communication suite, the yacht houses de Ruthven's personal quarters and offices, including his private stock of Medician wine and his prized vox-phonograph.

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Anyway, those are the basics.  I realize there are some pretty big leaps in the narrative, but I didn't want to overwhelm with specific details (I can provide more if desired).  I'm basically going for a spymaster-type inquisitor here, someone who can handle himself in combat but whose real strength is his mind.  The psyber-raven rules I'm not sure on, but I was basically altering the psyber-eagle rules to represent more of a long-range spy device.  We'll see how it works in practice.  Also I would be remiss if I didn't give credit to MarcoSkoll for his terrific Revised Inquisitor Armory, and whoever first wrote the Silvertounged rule.  More characters to follow, any comments are appreciated in advance!

[MarcoSkoll]

I guess the core question I'd ask is what made Niccolo his master's choice of interrogator when, clearly, they had ideological differences (although only moderate at first, very major by the end)?

That's not a criticism, by the way - the "Interrogator kills his corrupt master" trope is a perfectly reasonable one, it's just best explained. (Although, in some bad cases, you have to wonder how the master doesn't see it coming from a mile off).

Overall, very good so far.