a Gideon Ravenor question

[Sodoff]

I've been reading the Ravenor Omnibus, (I just started Ravenor Rogue, please no spoilers)
This is all 40k Lore, for those of you who don't know it.
My question is, (spoiler alert!!!)

At the start of the novel, Ravenor and his team seems to be pretty good at handing out the ass-kicking to the various bad guys, but of course, in a novel, your protagonist has to face adversity (spelling?).
So their enemies become more powerful and more difficult to defeat.

(SPOILER ALERT) Ravnor and his team, from time to time, even find themselves cornered and in some serious shit, at which point, something happens and ho-ha they are saved at the last minute.

But the question remains, their adversaries were all human heretics,

(Oh, Ravenor is considered a powerful psyker (SPOIILER ALERT) but yet the only two real psykers he comes up against are just as, if not more, powerful than him.)

What the hell is the Ordo Xeno (did I get that right?) going to do, when they one day face the true face of chaos? The reason for my wonder is that I've always thought of the Inquisition as ultimate bad-ass. When they showed up it was "happy demon killing day"


Please try not to resort to doomsaying, I know there are some chaos lovers out there!
*mumblegrumble heretics mumble*

 

[bue519]

Well, I'm sure if you went over to Chaos then you could probably become more powerful without being a better psyker. However, you will probably lose your soul.

 

[Vampire cat]

They aren't tasked with that. The Marines and the Guardsmen do the frontline fight against "the true face of Chaos". The Inquisitorial faction take care of problems that are "inside" the exsisting empire, and they won't frequently be called upon to fight an all-out war as you might think. And if they ever did, it would be alongside chapters of Space Marines and millions if not billions of Imperial Guardsmen.

CAKE!

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

What the hell is the Ordo Xeno (did I get that right?) going to do, when they one day face the true face of chaos? The reason for my wonder is that I've always thought of the Inquisition as ultimate bad-ass. When they showed up it was "happy demon killing day"

The Ordo Xenos aren't organized with battling Chaos in mind. The Inquisition os more or less supposed to function almost like our real world intelligence agencies if anything (think the american C.I.A or Israeli Mossad), but of course with a serious degree of autonomy and authority (since each inquisitor basically has the authority to order the destruction of entire planets and instigate full scale wars against perceived threats).

Chaos is more like the complete arch.enemy of mankind in the eyes of the Imperium so it's more like the duty of every single Imperial citizen to battle against it in whatever shape or form it may arise. Not even the Ordo Malleus or Ordo Hereticus are designed to be pure-bred "Chaos fighters". The Ordo Malleus are organized to oppose the influence of the daemonic, and the Ordo Hereticus are to oppose the spread of heresy and treachery against the Emperor.

And while each and every Inquisitor probably acquire certain skills, knowledge anf wyas that are more or less radical and effective to fight the threat of Chaos, alone they aren't particularly bad-ass in comparison to perhaps an arch-sorcerer of the Chaos Legions or a daemon prince or something like that.

In fact if you read up on the ridiculous amounts of havoc and destruction each single Black Crusade instigated by Abbaddon The Despoiler has wrought upon the Imperium of Man, despite the inevitable actions and influence of the Inquisition it pretty much illustrates that Inquisitors and their henchmen aren't as overpowered and badass as they are sometimes portrayed, and the threat of warp entities and the legions of chaos is actually reviled so much by the Imperium of Man because it is a manifestation of a force that could likely destroy the entire Imperium unless it keeps up it's genocidal, vigilant, and "the ends always justify the means" ways.

Quite simply, Inquisitors are the guys and gals who sets big things in motion, but ultimately it is the grand institutions such as the Adeptus Astartes, The Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy that wins the apocalyptic battles that tend to ensue whenever Chaos shows it's face anywhere. And during many occasions the Inquisition fails utterly to do it's job, resulting in having to call down an inevitable exterminatus on several Imperial worlds (meaning useless victory against Chaos due to the fact that the Imperium lose a staggering amount of resources through scorched earth tactics like that).

The result of course is to show that the galaxy of the 41st millenium is a scary, threatening and dark place... Because that's the way we like it.

(hey, it produces A SHITLOAD of good stories after all XD)

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

Each of the three Inquisitorial Ordos has their own chamber militant. The best known being the Grey Knights of the Ordo Malleus.
In a large scale engagement a member of the Ordo Xenos will be assisted by Deathwatch kill teams, like those in the Eisenhorn book. They are made up from marines of many different chapters and are responsible for things such as the recovery of alien technology and observation and elimination of intelligent aliens. They are the heavy hitters of the Ordo Xenos. Its up to normal inquisitors to find out what happening within the Imperium, investigating planets for heretics, and the forces of chaos.
If there is going to be a hard fight then they will call on the their chamber militant and/or appropriate forces from the local PDF.

 

[Sodoff]

aah

thank you! that clear is up
uhm I thought the Ordo Xeno was the entire Inquuistiton,

what is Ordo Malleus and Ordo Hereticus?

 

[Slaanax]

aah

thank you! that clear is up
uhm I thought the Ordo Xeno was the entire Inquuistiton,

what is Ordo Malleus and Ordo Hereticus?

Each one deals with a different threat

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page

Any major battle with the most Powerful Demons will be left up to the Grey Knights.

 

[Wedlock49]

The Order Xeno don;t focus on heretics they tackle aliens and renegade humans who trade/help the aliens.

Ordo Malleus deals with daemonic threats and Ordro Hereticus hunts down and kills traitors and heretics.

Eisenhorn (Ravenors teacher) was an Ordo Xeno inquisitor, i'm not sure how much of a spoiler this will be as it happened in the Eisenhorn books rather than the Ravenor ones so I'l put it in tags

Spoiler

Ravenor turns to the ultra renegade side of the Inquisitorial stand and is very much a heretic, he befriended an Eldar Farseer and uses Wraithbone trinkets to converse and control members of his team... A hundred years previously and Eisenhorn would have killed him and pronounced him a heretic but he himself had fallen onto the renegade path over his long years fighting

 

[Valkyrie101]

As I remember it, Ravenor's warband comprised only a few individuals, against the full force of an interplanetary conspiracy with a lot of wealth, power and influence.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

aah

thank you! that clear is up
uhm I thought the Ordo Xeno was the entire Inquuistiton,

what is Ordo Malleus and Ordo Hereticus?

It's the other two larger Ordos of the Inquisition that specialize in dealing with threats of a different nature than Ordo Xenos. Ordo Xenos investigates and battles the alien, Ordo Malleus investigates and fights the daemonic, and the Ordo Hereticus deals with the heretical and regulates individual Imperial institutions (including the Inquisition itself).

There are other Ordos too (like the Ordo Sicarius) but these are smaller and of even more specialized nature and tasks than the big three.

Aside from that, you also have different political factions within the Inquisiton that actually spans across the different Ordos (like the Monodominant faction, the Amalathian faction, the Thorian faction, the Istvaanian faction along with several others of more or less radical or puritan inclination and obscurity).

Making the Inquisition into a shadowy, plotting and headacheinducing institution that the Inquisitors themselves can't seem to fully understand. A Kafkaesque nightmare to say the least.

But somehow it (or rather particular individual Inquisitors) manage to pull through at the end of the day and keep the Imperium of Man more or less safe from it's enemies.

 

[Sodoff]

awesome! so much to read! so much to know.

Must. begin.. now!

The Order Xeno don;t focus on heretics they tackle aliens and renegade humans who trade/help the aliens.

Ordo Malleus deals with daemonic threats and Ordro Hereticus hunts down and kills traitors and heretics.

Eisenhorn (Ravenors teacher) was an Ordo Xeno inquisitor, i'm not sure how much of a spoiler this will be as it happened in the Eisenhorn books rather than the Ravenor ones so I'l put it in tags

Spoiler

Ravenor turns to the ultra renegade side of the Inquisitorial stand and is very much a heretic, he befriended an Eldar Farseer and uses Wraithbone trinkets to converse and control members of his team... A hundred years previously and Eisenhorn would have killed him and pronounced him a heretic but he himself had fallen onto the renegade path over his long years fighting

but but.. In the Ravenor novel he is not once mentioned as a renegade, he functions fully as an Inquisitor and still has contact with the Ordos

 

[Betancore]

but but.. In the Ravenor novel he is not once mentioned as a renegade, he functions fully as an Inquisitor and still has contact with the Ordos

I wouldn't call him a renegade, more a radical. In Eisenhorn, the distinction was made between Inquisitors who consider themselves puritans, and those who use more radical methods. Ravenor is more of an end-justifies-the-means kind of person.

 

[Sodoff]

I agree

phew just finished the article on the Wh40k lexicanum, linked by Slaanax,
I know so much more now

 

[Wedlock49]

Well, in my eyes Ravenor and Eisenhorn are both traitors to the imperium but they're still working towards the imperiums goals. I love radicle inquisitors.

The book that Ravenor is shown talking to Eldar is the last in the Eisenhorn series so it may be happening later in the timeline than with Ravenors novel. I really do advice you to read Eisenhorn, it gives you back story on Ravenor as well as just being a very good series.

 

[Emperor Platypus]

CAKE!

This, just this.


Also, isn't the inquisition able to call in the grey knights? I always figured that once chaos reared it's ugly head, the knights would be send in to show that: "the emperor protects"....... and "kills anyone stupid enough to not been born human".

 

[Sodoff]

Well, in my eyes Ravenor and Eisenhorn are both traitors to the imperium but they're still working towards the imperiums goals. I love radicle inquisitors.

The book that Ravenor is shown talking to Eldar is the last in the Eisenhorn series so it may be happening later in the timeline than with Ravenors novel. I really do advice you to read Eisenhorn, it gives you back story on Ravenor as well as just being a very good series.

¨

What now?

I was under the impression that the Ravenor series took place after the Eisenhorn series, thats what indicated in the books anyway?

 

[Wedlock49]

Well, in my eyes Ravenor and Eisenhorn are both traitors to the imperium but they're still working towards the imperiums goals. I love radicle inquisitors.

The book that Ravenor is shown talking to Eldar is the last in the Eisenhorn series so it may be happening later in the timeline than with Ravenors novel. I really do advice you to read Eisenhorn, it gives you back story on Ravenor as well as just being a very good series.

¨


What now?

I was under the impression that the Ravenor series took place after the Eisenhorn series, thats what indicated in the books anyway?

The timelines take place at the same time and they overlap often, Ravenor was Eisenhorns apprentice until he's caught in a renegade air-raid and put into intensive care because of the injuries he sustained, that's why he's in his crippled state now.

The last Eisenhorn book takes place around 200 years after that happens giving Ravenor plenty of time to slowely slide to the Radical side, as most inquisitors do if left alive long enough to do so.