BACKGROUND: Inquisitor Johannes Kepler

This is my fourth, and last, Inquisitor profile - Johannes Kepler.

Johannes Kepler, like Alexander Barbero, is an Inquisitor who came to the Skolarii Sector relatively recently. A senior Inquisitor Lord of great renown, Kepler had disappeared and had been thought dead for many years.

In 756.M41 he turned up on Mangalore, investigating cult activities amongst the noble trade families. Over the next century he built a case against the prominent Solondz family and toppled them from their position as the foremost noble family in the Kandaeon Worlds.This led to Kepler's immediate promotion to Protector of sub sector four.

Seventy seven years later he joined the Suprema. His formidable psychic powers made him unpopular with Barbero and Buirman, as did his outspoken Amalathian politics. Many within the Inquisition Skolarii would see Kepler as a natural successor to von Aschausen if it were not for his highly strung nature. Whether his occasionally erratic behaviour is due to his prodigious psychic abilities or his long, mysterious disappearance, no-one can be sure.

I'll return to the Inquistion at some point and describe the rest of the Inquisitors who make up the Imperium's finest in the Skolarii Sector.

I have lots of new material for this blog to come over the next week. Gary and I have played another game in our Nemesis Campaign, so I need to write up that battle report. I have also been working out some of the details for the two armies I have to complete over the following tournament season; my Blood Angels and the Hooded Chaos Renegade Militia. Finally, I'm looking to put a raft of models up for sale on e-bay.

There is lots going on in the wider Games Workshop world, too. Chicago Games Day has taken place over the weekend and all sorts of news and rumours are filtering through from that. The Chaos Codex is still providing some surprises and the massive Apocalypse release is coming into view.

BACKGROUND: Inquisitor Franz Buirmann

More on those famous Inquisitors of the Skolarii Sector, this time around I have Franz Buirmann of the Ordo Xenos for your delectation.

Franz Buirmann represents the Odo Xenos on the Suprema. He is a bullish, blunt man with little time for politics. As a result he spends much of his time away from Jalein, roaming far and wide across the Skolarii Sector.

Both Alexander Barbero and Johannes Kepler have courted Buirmann's favour as they anticipate von Aschausen's departure, but so far he remains tight-lipped on his thoughts for the succession.

Buirmann presents himself as an orthodox moderate puritan but some have whispered that he is secretly a radical Inquisitor. They point to his former Explicator, Jean Baptiste Girard, who has swiftly risen to the lofty rank of Protector Ustra, despite his Istvaanian tendencies. Other radical Inquisitors have also prospered under Buirmann's patronage.

Only time will tell whether these rumors are true or are part of a plot to undermine Buirmann's shot at becoming High Protector.

The last member of the Suprema is Johannes Kepler, and I'll post his profile tomorrow.

BACKGROUND: Inquisitor Alexander Barbero

Tut, tut, tut. This is becoming something of a habit. Yet another day without a post. I'm just mega busy at the moment and I am out and about six nights out of seven this week. Something has to give. It's obviously this blog. On the plus side I have managed to play another Fantasy game against Gary's Dark Elves in our little Nemesis Crown campaign. I'll post the full battle report over the weekend.

First up, as promised, another Inquisitorial profile.

As a fellow member of the Ordo Malleus, Alexander Barbero could be expected to be a firm ally of High Protector Johan von Aschausen. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While the High Protector is a staunch Amalathian, Barbero is a redoubtable Monodominant, a hardliner railing against von Aschausen's pragmatic approach.

Barbero is a relative newcomer to the Skolarii Sector. He was initially invited by Cardinal Astral Exume of the Udaeus Group to investigate the Klandal Coven and following the death of the Inquisitor General of Berin in the attack on Spire Eagle Resplendent, Barbero assumed her position.

Barbero's Monodominant stance matched that of the Cardinal Astral and the Inquisitor soon became the focus of anti-Amalathian feelings. With powerful patrons, both within and without the Inquisition, Barbero quickly rose through the organisation. He is now the most senior Monodominant Inquisitor in the Skolarii Sector and his faction has gained ground while von Aschausen falters.

Barbero is getting ready to make his move.

I'll be back shortly with a glimpse at Franz Buirman of the Ordo Xenos.

BACKGROUND: Inquisitor Johan Gottfried von Aschausen

My girlfriend made it safely back from the apocalypse. Well, the flooding of Gloucestershire anyway. She was tired and bedraggled, but safe. She has some horrific photographs of the river Severn encroaching onto the M5 and the driving rain they travelled through. It just goes to show how fragile our existence really is, and that for all our supposed technological superiority we can be brought to our knees by a bit of water.

So, onto gaming stuff. I had a bit of a tidy of my gaming room yesterday and found an old notebook tucked away in a dusty bag. It contained all my scribblings on the Inquisition in the Skolarii Sector. Most of it had already made it's way onto the lone pilgrim website but there were four descriptions of high ranking Inquisitors which hadn't. Together, they form the Suprema, the supreme council of the Inquisition Skolarii. I always enjoy reading my own writing when it is old and forgotten because it's like someone else wrote it. I keep thinking, did I really write this? Where did I get all these ideas from?

Anyway, I tidied up my notes and I'm going to post each profile up over the next few days. First is the most senior Inquisitor in the entire sector.

The current High Protector Skolarii is dying. He is almost 650 years old. He is the only member of the Inquisition Skolarii who can actually remember the first Chaos invasion of 333.M41. He was an Interrogator back then, and after the war he went on to become a field Inquisitor in his own right. Over the next 300 years he conducted a solid but unspectacular career. He belongs to the Amalathian faction; his old master, Cornwaller, having attended the conclave in person.

Von Aschausen became the de facto head of the Amalathian faction upon the death of it's previous leader, Belacevac. He did not want the position but his fellow Inquisitors insisted that that was the reason why he should take it. Reluctantly, von Aschausen swapped the field for the desk and began his political career within the Inquisition. He rose slowly but steadily up the organisation, from Inquisitor General of Meridium in 642.M41, to Protector Strophious in 811.M41, eventually becoming High Protector in 897.M41.

The High Protector always joked that his success was down to his longevity; he simply outlived the competition. Of course his Ordo Malleus origins stood him in good stead. Ever since the first Chaos invasion the High Protector has always been a Daemonhunter. He was also a stabilising influence upon the Inquisition Skolarii which had been left reeling following numerous shifts in power since the Variance Discords of the 7th century M.41.

In recent years Johan's public appearances have begun to dwindle and rumour has it that his health is failing. The Monodominants are already jockeying for position. Von Aschausen has always opposed change in the Inquisition Skolarii but the hardliners are fighting hard to bring in a raft of changes.

Just as the Inquisition seems to be entering a new period of instability the forces of the enemy are rising. Ork attacks have increased right across the sector, while the court of the Kjalter sector has evacuated to the Skolarii sector in the face of ferocious Chaos cult uprisings. Can Johan rally the Inquisition once more to meet this new threat?

I'll be back tomorrow with a look at the second member of the Suprema, Franz Buirman.