Quick and to the point, how does the Ordos Xenos feel about xenos and really, what is known for fact about the Ordos at all?
The information seems very limited and this is for a Codex project between me and a mate of mine and any help would be appreciated!
Happy Hunting!
Like all the other Ordos, it's very much broken down to preferences of individual inquisitors. I'd recommend looking up information on the various inquisitorial factions. Not just puritan vs radical, but amalthian, monodominant, thorian, istvaanian, etc. Those will define the perception an inquisitor has towards xenos really more than anything else. Inquisitors may tend to focus on one particular species, or may focus on all of the known xenos in a particular area. Some deal with xenotech from extinct races, others track down intelligent xenos to glean information. All based on faction philosophy.
Generally, I would say the Ordos Xenos is the most flexible of the three major ordos, primarily due to the massive variety in the enemy that they tend to face. It's also why their preferred millitant branch, the Deathwatch, is made up of marines from all chapters, in order to bring the greatest variety of skills and abilities.
You are awesome, others insight is most welcome or how others might see the inquisition!
Thank you again! I never had a clue that there were so many different shades of grey for the Inquisition.
Just to be clear, I'm assuming these are just where their beliefs fall, no actual "factions", just the varying degrees of extreme?
the Ordo Xenos, the inquisitors from this ordo are quite pragmatists, we got clear examples of this in Kryptman and Veil.
there are factions inside the inquisition, inquisitors tend to form conclaves and such to fight specific threaths but also to fight against their rivals
Glad I could help. I'd say the most consolidated place to find it would be the Dark Heresy RPGs.
Yes, they're more beliefs than true factions. Ways in how they view the Imperium, both its future and their place within it. It tends to be that inquisitors are more likely to work closely with other inquisitors of the same faction, even across ordos, than with other inquisitors of the same ordos with differing beliefs. On an individual level, inquisitors can be anyone and everyone, especially within ordos xenos. The focus of the inquisitor will drastically change their personality. One who studies the patterns of tyranid hivefleets and is a prophet of the great doom they will bring will be tremendously different from one who has sat down with dark eldar, over a cup of tea and discussed terms of appeasement. Yet both can be considered Ordos xenos. Ordos malleus inquisitors tend to push to the extremes, either puritan or radical, and ordos hereticus is so large that it actually becomes possible for the various factions to form their own little cliques and cabals.
The Eisenhorn trilogy has a bit on the structure of the Ordo Xenos (since Eisenhorn's nominally a member), although he doesn't actually encounter aliens beyond book 1.
The Ordo's Chamber Millitant is the Deathwatch if you didn't know already - they essentially function like a squad of Sternguard led by a Captain or Codicier.
As the others have said it varies from Inquisitor to Inquisitor - some would happily sit down and talk with Xenos (like say Czevak's time on Ianden and visit to the Black Library, or Ravenor's Farseer buddy), others are all kill-slay-burn, although such Monodominants seem to be a minority in the Ordo (unlike in Malleus or Hereticus) since nearly all the Xenos Inquisitors introduced have been fairly easy going.
Xenology's another good book for OX if you can track it down - In the book the main character (Inquisitor Sasham) is a member of the Conclave-Conservati who are an ultra Puritan Ordo Xenos faction, led by Lord Inqusitor Grundvald, whose previous fame was wiping out the Lacrymole. It is set in a research facility where a Radical Inquisitorhas captured a number of different aliens to study by a Magos Biologis and Sasham is sent to shut it down.
I think it dependes on which xeno they're working with, a inquisitor who wors with eldar is propably more easy going than one that works with tyranids. (although i could easily see one trying to controll nidz)
Or use nids like Krypman and Octavius Ork Empire.Originally Posted by TheDungen
Basically, you're making the mistake of assuming the Inquisition is an organisation with a central command, and that has a uniform method of recruiting, inducting and training its members, and where everybody can sit down and discuss their findings with each other, and reach a consensus on what they should be doing.
To put it bluntly, that's about as far away as possible as you can get from what the Inquisition is. The Inquisition isn't so much an organisation as a group of individuals. Each has their own views, their own priorities, their own methods of doing things. The Inquisition is roughly grouped into Radicals and Puritans, although the dividing line between the two is far from clear cut. Basically, if a faction is widely accepted, it's Puritan, if it's not, it's Radical. Thorians, one of the "core" Puritan factions currently, used to be regarded as one of the worst Radical factions. Similarly, the Amalathian faction has a sub-group within it, the Libricar, who take Amalathianism to extremes, and have been classed as Radical.
There are then the factions, like the above-mentioned Amalathians and Thorians, as well as guys like the Istvaanians and Monodominants. Even these aren't clear-cut, and most Inquisitors aren't the stereotype examples of each faction.
So, to properly answer your question, you'd have the Monodominant Inquisitors, who probably believe every alien is an abomination in the eyes of the Emperor, and that they should all be eradicated. There'd be the Recongregators, who believe the aliens are a useful tool to help in their goals of resculpting the Imperium, or that the Imperium needs to be rebuilt to properly deal with the Xenos threat. There'd be the Thorians, who could believe that the Eldar, and their Wraith-tech/soul stones, hold the secrets for creating a Divine Avatar of the Emperor, and do their best to obtain samples for study, whether by trade or by more direct means. There'd be the Xanthites, who believe that the Xenos are such a dire threat that they look to the Warp to help defeat them. There'd be the Istvaanians, who either see the xenos as a catalyst to improve the Imperium, or seek to form Crusades to retake lost Imperial worlds from the xenos, or to expand the borders of the Imperium.
Basically, there is no "Ordo Xenos view on xenos". There are only the views of the various Inquisitors, and those are as varied as the number of Inquisitors. What one thinks should be common-place is the direst heresy to another. Don't be fooled into thinking "Puritans want to destroy aliens, Radicals want to study them", as the Thorians can want to study Eldar-tech, while the Istvaanians can be as uncompromising as the Monodominants in their views.
Remember, nothing is clear cut in the Inquisition, there is no right and wrong, only a billion different shades of grey, and no consensus on what's white or black.
There are however Inquisitors that work closer together at places like Nemesis Tessara, there are also an establishment that promotes people to inquisitorial status. Deathbed promotions are not allowed for an example.
I would guess there is an ordo xenos headquarters in the same manner as Ordo malleus has Nemesis. which functions as a home base for ordo xenos inquisitors and a hq for the deathwatch.
Don't know a lot about it though the Ordo Xenos is the only inquisitorial ordo never to have a dedicated codex.
Far as I could tell from Eisenhorn the Ordo Xenos is not as much about killing the alien as it is about making sure loyal citizens don't meet the alien. The inquisitors strive to ensure that only the people with the right clearances get to meet anything exotic in order to keep alien influence over Imperial citizens to a minimum. Sometimes it's about protecting people from dangerous creatures but more often probably just protecting people from dangerous new ideas.
After a careful evaluation of the situation Warlord Throkk decided to use his favorite tactic of Frontal Assault.
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