Monodomination

[Vladilek]

I'm writing some fan fiction and I've decided to use a Monodominant (Calixian Conclave / Ordo Hereticus) as the main character. It's been interesting using someone whose puritan let alone a more "radical" puritan like a Monodominant Witch-Hunter. Her retinue is made up of Red Redemptionists, Hierophants, Preachers and Witch-Finders along with the standard adepts, interrogator, acolyte prime, etc; her and her agents weapons / equipment mirror the puritan standpoint and the Monodominant faction with plenty of flamers, chainswords, a Dauntless class cruiser and a ton of faith in the Emperor. I was trying to decide on whether she tended to drift towards Monodominance or was a fully fledged believer but I seemed to have settled on her being a extreme firebrand / bombast. Eventually she is going to fall into extreme depths of radicalism before essentially creating a new radical faction (She loses her faith in the Imperial Cult and the God-Emperor.) and being hunted across the stars for some three hundred years.

What are the Monodominants stance on the Officio Assassinorum or the use of Assassins such as the Moritat? I'm guessing since the Moritat are technically a death cult a Monodominant would be extremely suspicious of such a thing even if they are Imperial. The Holy Ordos are fully of secrecy, mirror, lies, shadow wars, etc. but I don't want to have a character that has a one dimensional approach to her operations. Monodominants deplore and hate subterfuge, stealth, secrecy, etc. but when going up against a carta extremis Inquisitor would they use such measures against such a foe? Or would they just continue the witch hunt out in the open? Naturally the hunted could only  have so many places to hide and so many contacts that he / she could use and with dogged determination and fiery drive along with an entire planetary populace doing a witch hunt the hunter could find the target. I'm trying to envision public executions, propaganda, massive pogroms and violent purges as her normal modus operandi but for some reason I want her to be willing to use more subtle methods when required.

[MarcoSkoll]

First things I can say is that you've fallen foul of some common misunderstandings of what Puritan and Radical mean.

Unfortunately, the beliefs of an Inquisitor cannot be summed up on just Puritan and Radical. It's a graph with several axes off in many different dimensions.

I'll address the two obvious things here. Although I recognise it's not how you meant "radical", I'd say the style of Monodominantism you've got in mind is better described as "Extremist Puritanism".

I'll add that it is possible to have moderate MDs. While a traditional MD is unconcerned about innocents getting torched as well and might purge on the smallest perceived flaw, a more moderate MD could try and avoid such collateral, removing only the genuinely guilty, give benefit of the doubt and willing to tolerate sanctioned  psykers and perhaps mutant slaves.
It would be good to see more of this kind of MD, because it would actually be a good alternative to the common misconception that Amalathianism is the "standard" Puritan faction. In all honesty, MDism is probably the majority belief in the Inquisition (being basically the standard view in the Imperium), but a great deal of those will not be the extreme form that is stuck in most people's heads.

The other thing is losing your faith in the Imperial cult and the God-Emperor is not Radical. Radicalism is non-conventional methods and beliefs, but ones which can still be accepted by the Inquisition. As this has rejected the God-Emperor, this has gone beyond that and falls into the realm of Renegade.

What are the Monodominants stance on the Officio Assassinorum or the use of Assassins such as the Moritat?

As I've said, MDism is a far wider faction than most people tend to view it as. At which point, the question starts to sound somewhat like "How long is a piece of string?".

A MD who is like a subtle scalpel that cuts away only the genuinely tainted would certainly use assassins.
One that is more akin to performing brain surgery with a sledgehammer and who believes everyone has to be purged publicly would be more loathe to do so.

I'm trying to envision public executions, propaganda, massive pogroms and violent purges as her normal modus operandi but for some reason I want her to be willing to use more subtle methods when required.

Well, she wouldn't quite be the standard Monodominant stereotype then (something I would welcome), so here are two ideas:

1) All the above is a cover, a diversion from her true methods.

2) She takes a pragmatic view that when she has a specific target who is likely to flee the oncoming storm (not that Oncoming Storm), then they should be removed however is fit. If that means that no example can be made of them, it is a shame, but better they die quietly than escape publicly.

[Vladilek]

When she takes the plunge and turns renegade she uses her puritan past as a cover for her activities but eventually the Calixian Conclave finds out but that's later on. I was thinking about how the Monodominant faction is usually considered as a linear sledgehammer-esque faction when in fact I'd figure they are one of the largest if not the largest overall which means they would have different sub-factions. Of course it all depends on the Inquisitor at the end of the day and their approach to things. I just don't want her to be a one dimensional bitch who blindly rushes into things and ends up causing more destruction and collateral than the cult their purging. She's is widely considered the most promising Inquisitor of her generation by her peers and at her relatively young age, for an Inquisitor, her operational history speaks for itself. I'm definitely going to have one of the more radical factions at work behind the scenes which she's going to eventually figure out as the investigation continues which goes into the overall story and long-term plot. I know of course that radicalism and puritanism should be taken with a grain of salt as the Holy Ordos are an extremely diverse organization. Everything comes in shades of black, gray and white which really makes the Inquisition interesting.

I'm going to go ahead and spoil the ending here to her story. After her glorious rise through the ranks and seemingly blessed career she becomes the most hated heretic in the sector. Even the most radical factions like the Horusians and Phaenonites won't even touch her and are hunting her along with every single Inquisitor. When you kill ten Inquisitor Lords, their entire retinues, and steal extremely powerful and forbidden goodies from the Inquisitorial vaults using heretical methods you tend to lose all of your friends. The sector Conclave unites, radicals, puritans and everyone else in between, begin a blood hunt. Astartes, Imperial Guard, Chaos, Xenos, heretics, the whole deal are all after her.

I don't want this to be the generic fall to radicalism Xanthism angle (Eisenhorn already has that along with Quixos if they ever expand on him.). This character isn't mine but I read a tiny tidbit about her in one of the books and I literally fell in love. There is almost zero background on her besides the overall story but I want her to be human and interesting; I love that there is so much room to work with. The idea of a scalpel approach to Monodomination sounds amazing and I agree that the faction is wide and interesting ignoring the stereotype of typical Mondominants. I loved the Istvaanian Sourcebook you guys have on here but are you thinking about doing any of the other factions? I haven't spent much time on these forums but the Holy Ordos are definitely my favorite subject. It should be interesting to see her interaction with other Inquisitors and other factions as her fall progresses...

[Kaled]

This character isn't mine but I read a tiny tidbit about her in one of the books and I literally fell in love.

Which character in which book? If she's someone else's character, wouldn't you rather make up your own instead? What if they expand on her story and do so in a completely different way to you?