+++The Ordo Malleus+++

The Ordo malleus is an inner college within the Imperium, it's activities and existence shrouded in secrecy. The Inquisition goes to great lengths to hide the existence of Chaos and it's warped servants from the bulk of Humanity. The Emperor and his advisors fear that such knowledge would have a terrible attraction for Humanity, and Chaos would be hastened. The Ordo, when it is mentioned at all, is always referred to as a watchdog on the Inquisition itself. It's purpose, as the Imperium's elite (and only) DaemonHunters, is altogether more serious and sinister.

The origins of the Ordo Malleus are very ancient, and predate the Emperor's confinement in his throne-machine. The Ordo was originally established to police the thoughts and deeds of the Inquisition itself, but is now also charged with seeking out and destroying all manifestations of Chaos within the Imperium. It's chief targets are the raiders of the Traitor Legions, and covens of Chaos worshippers who infect the Imperium, and the Sensei, who are regarded as a great threat to the good order of the Empire.

Unlike the rest of the Inquisition, the Ordo has a rigid and formalized hierarchy. It is controlled by a council of 169 Masters, who have the right to direct audience with the Emperor. Their authority extends even to the Master of the Inquisition who has, on more than one occasion, been tried and executed by the Masters of the Ordo.

Below the Masters are the Proctors and Proctors Minor, each of whom controls a Chamber of the Ordo. The Chambers, named for their founding Proctor, are the basic unit of the Ordo. The rank and file of these are the Inquisitors Ordinary. Within a parallel organization of 'Chambers Theoretical and Historical' are the Inquisitors Historical. These are the older members of the Ordo who can no longer carry out active duties for reasons of ill- health or infirmity. They are assigned to research and collation projects in the vast Administratum Libraries. The number of Inquisitors Ordinary and Historical in a Chamber varies from only a few score for the Chambers Theoretical and Historical (which are engaged in research and disreputation) to hundreds for some of the chambers Practical (the sector establishments of the Ordo in the field).

The Ordo acts directly under the Emperor's Warrant, and has a completely free hand. An Ordo Inquisitor Ordinary can demand anything in carrying out his duty. No explanation needs to be offered; the Imperial servant faced with an Ordo Inquisitor must simply obey. The commonest demand by Inquisitors Ordinary is for troops to support their action. Such forces never survive under an Inquisitor Ordinary's command, but posthumous honors are heaped upon units attached to the Ordo.

The Ordo Malleus Inquisitor

The Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus are drawn from the ranks of the Inquisition, but are trained and conditioned to a far higher standard.

The Ordo prides itself on the psychic abilities of it's members. More than 75% of Ordo Inquisitors have psychic abilities, having been deemed strong enough to undergo the soul bonding ritual with the Emperor.

Members of the Ordo favor a simple and sinister uniform. They wear black, loose-fitting habits over their armor with large hoods that hide their faces in shadow. Graphic electoos (a form of tattoo) are a traditional, though unofficial, addition to the uniform of the Ordo. Because graphic electoos appear to move beneath the owner's skin, their appearance can be quite disturbing. Again by tradition, Ordo Inquisitors have one graphic electoo for each coven member they have discovered and cleansed, and it is not uncommon for successful Inquisitors to be covered from head to foot in elaborate designs. The designs for Ordo electoos have fixed for generations, and the motifs chosen are always variations on Daemons and scenes of the daemonic, the Ordo's enemies. This makes an Ordo member's electoos particularly horrifying.

The badge of the Ordo, the Imperial eagle clutching a rod and an axe, is usually worn on the shoulder or the right breast. Proctors and Masters are always psykers, and carry a force weapon indicating their authority.

The Grey Knights

The Ordo has a complete Chapter of the Legiones Astartes attached to it on a permanent basis. The Grey Knights were a single Chapter created during an unregistered Founding shortly after the (official) Third Founding. Although technically Marines of the Adeptus Astartes, the Grey Knights are, to all intents and purposes, part of the Inquisition. They are listed as a Third Founding unit, and by the Emperor's instruction, were designated Chapter number 666. However, they have never been attached to any Marine force, and by tradition their Chapter Master has always been an Inquisitor of the Ordo rather than a Space Marine. In effect the Grey Knights are a 'Chamber Militant' of the Ordo Malleus, and occasionally refer to themselves as such.

The Grey Knights are fully as effective as any other Marine Chapter. They are specially screened to exclude all but the strongest and most resilient psykers, a measure designed to prevent any Daemonic contamination. As a result, few of the Grey Knights have any psychic power whatsoever. Their training and surgery rituals are, if anything, more demanding than those of 'ordinary' Marine units.

Recruits are conditioned to ignore pain and fear, and undergo neurosurgery to isolate and bypass their fear centers. They are exposed to wild psykers, mutants and deviants of every kind. They are trained to destroy them without conscious thought. This training produces a rigidly disciplined and controlled mind to which the presence of Daemons is less of a shock than for normal beings. Their lives are ones of self-denial and spartan purity, filled with rituals to strengthen the mind and the heart against the horrors they must face. The Grey Knights are also imbued with a zeal and purpose to dwarf that of any other Marine Chapter. Often entire companies are granted an audience with the Emperor, a privilege normally reserved for the Adeptus Custodes. To date these extraordinary measures have been effective: in over 10,000 years of combat against the forces of darkness, not one Grey Knight has faltered in battle or betrayed the Emperor in word or deed.

Added to this spirit is the finest equipment in the Imperium. The Grey Knights are given only the best Marine equipment, with battle-proven and improved designs being given to them before any other Marine unit.

The Grey Knights are based in a secret fortress-monastery on Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons. Here the young aspirants are sent to undergo hundreds of trials of both body and spirit. Finally the handful of survivors (for none who fail survive) are implanted with the Chapter's gene-seed and begin their real training. Their bodies are hardened to withstand pain and fear and their minds are disciplined to withstand against the foul machinations of Chaos.

The fortress-monastery also contains a unique repository of knowledge about the warp and Chaos which has been painstakingly pieced together by the Ordo Malleus down the millennia in the Librarium Daemonica. This gloomy and forbidding place contains tens of thousands of tomes of arcane lore and diabolism, cracked with age and heavy with the psychic evil they have brought upon the universe. Every Grey Knight Psychic Terminator carries the Chapter's sacred tome of battle rituals, the Liber Daemonicus, in a special ceramite case upon their armor. This holy book contains the essential tenets of warp lore rendered from the dusty shelves of the Librarius Daemonica and is one of the Grey Knight's greatest weapons.

The majority of the Chapter's strength is scattered across the Imperium in fast ships guided by the finest Navigators of the Navis Nobilite. these forces are typically organized in small teams that have trained and fought together for their entire lives. Thus they stand ready to respond instantly to the first reports of daemonic incursions anywhere in the Imperium. Grey Knights may be stationed in the farthest reaches of the galaxy for decades at a time. All Grey Knights hope to be returned to their adopted homeworld of Titan when they die. There they can rest at last from their constant vigilance in the hallowed crypts far beneath the monastery amongst some of the Imperium's greatest and most unsung heroes.

Only the Grey Knights survive in the service of the Ordo. All other troops die when given over to them. The reason for non- survival is simple: any troops that an Inquisitor Ordinary has commanded have been exposed to Daemons. They are therefore privy to one of the most closely-guarded Imperial secrets; that Daemons exist and Chaos is a terrible threat. Those that survive a battle or campaign are executed, with full honors, shortly afterward. They are expendable, and entire Imperial regiments and corps have been dispatched by the Ordo Malleus.

The most notable occasion was at the end of the Nexxas Excuplation (M40.561). An incursion by the Traitor Legionnaires of the Emperor's Children was opposed by a complete Imperial Army corps. Once the invasion had been beaten back the corps was destroyed by orbital bombardment from an Ordo warship. The Imperial records were altered to show that a renegade force of Eldar was responsible for the destruction of the unit.

The only general exception to this policy of secrecy-by- extermination are Adeptus Astartes units. Execution of a Marine is seen as wasteful. Marine units are mind-scrubbed rather than killed: their memories destroyed rather than their bodies. Mindscrubbing removes any and all memories of the Ordo's true purpose, but requires its victims to be completely retrained. Mind-scrubbed Marines cannot even feed themselves, let alone fight for the Imperium.

Of the Adeptus Astartes only the Grey Knights are allowed to retain their memories. The centuries have proved that the Grey Knights can keep the secret of the Ordo's hidden war against Chaos as well as any Inquisitor.