Miserable Heresies

Placeholder wiki design

Player Characters

• Brother Arkadiy
• Morwyn of Saim-Hann
• Sister Superior Victoria Oath
• Blank Wrath & Glory Sheet

Central NPCs

Master Inquisitor Miaoshan

The player characters serve a powerful but highly eccentric Inquisitor whose philosophy combines a passionate devotion to compassion and the preservation of life with a deep pragmatism that considers the perfect to be the enemy of the good. She has an instinct for worlds that are nexuses of suffering, and sends her most powerful followers to save them from themselves.

Miaoshan wears a giant suit of power armour when not on her flagship, Relentless Mercy of the Emperor, and much of the time when on it. Her closest followers know her as a slight woman, barely more than a girl, with three pairs of arms; but they have seen others emerge from the armour to speak as her - men, children and even xenos.

There is no Grandmaster Inquisitor of the Amaesia Sector despite its size, and the four Master Inquisitors are unusual in not formally belonging to any Ordos and in their relentless interference in each others' affairs despite their own prodigious workloads (though this might be a difference of degree more than kind). Miaoshan's time is thus taken up far more by her strategic efforts on behalf of the sector and rivalry with her colleagues than investigation per se; she selects her senior staff with utmost care and then unhesitatingly entrusts them with the fate of worlds, as if they were her own eyes and hands.

Master Inquisitor Tara

The flamboyant Tara is a poor fit amongst Inquisitors, seemingly cut from the same dashing cloth as the Rogue Traders and usually looking the part. She seems to do little actual Inquisiting of any stripe, but one could hardly accuse her of being idle; she always seems to be present at the most dangerous and crucial moments in the fate of the sector, to witness the deeds of incomparable heroism in the most desperate of circumstances and bring their legend back to the faithful citizens whose lives were saved by blood and glory across the stars.

Tara has neither the personal might or supremely competent retainers of Miaoshan, but her charisma maintains a network of powerful allies that don't seem to resent the apocalypses she routinely drags them in to. Her essential thesis is the key vulnerability of the Imperium against the horrors of the universe is despair; better than a strong but brittle faith in perfect victory is enduring hope that fights to the very last, fed by legends of last stands that succeeded against all odds. Miaoshan does not disagree with the strategic value of hope, but contends the deliberate cultivation of desperate system-threatening situations "because it's a better story" is poor form.

Master Inquisitor Milianus

A handsome and cultured man, but one of few words. One of those words is "Exterminatus".

Milianus feels suffering aids the enemies of the Imperium more than death, that aggressively cauterising the wounds of the Emperor's holy domain better allows it to recover and push back the darkness. His policy is to whenever possible personally visit a world before condemning, that he might be confident in his judgement and bear a concrete memory of the planet's final days. But he rarely feels the need to be there long.

Master Inquisitor Logroño

By far the longest serving Inquisitor in the sector, Logroño's nominal rank appears to be more a recognition of his impeccable record and formidable legacy than any inclination to meddle in politics. He still takes a very personal interest in the purging of heresy, on the opposite scale to Milianus. He maintains very few staff, prefering to do the work of the Emperor with his own hands, and despite his advancing years his grip on his bolt pistol has never wavered.

Planets

Avignon

The seat of Cardinal Cesare, Avignon was originally a nigh-lifeless and desert-covered planet before the Cardinal selected it as his personal Cathedral World several hundred years ago. Cesare credits its subsequent rejuvenation into a lush paradise (along with his own longevity) as a sign of the Emperor's covenant with the people of the Amaesia Sector, that their faith will be rewarded with life itself. Countless millions have responded to that promise and settled here at Cesare's feet; but as he is long on charisma and short on doctrine, the forms of their feverent worship vary wildly from hab-block to hab-block.

Avignon has become a defacto regional capital as the Cardinal has cleverly parlayed the strength of the Sororitas Preceptory he brought with him and his world's rapidly increasing wealth into acquiring multiple planetary governors as clients. Little can be done in this part of the sector politically or commercially without routing through Avignon and Cesare's court.

Presently Avignon is suffering an invasion of the foul Xenos known as Necrons. Vowing to never give up the ground made sacred by the Emperor's Covenant, Cesare has refused to evacuate and instead called home his Sororitas and the vast Imperial armies under his sway. The sacrifice of an ever-growing list of Astra Militarum martyrs and the valour of the Sisters of Battle has kept all but the cities extinguished in the initial shock of the invasion safe and at their prayers, but the enemy has shown no signs of abandoning their campaign.

NPCs

Cardinal Cesare

Cannoness-Preceptor Gellenta (Order of the Bloody Rose)

Hospitaller-Palantine Leticia (Order of the Eternal Candle)

Magistrate Nemedes Ortythys (Adeptus Arbites)

Lord General Vitetius Ariax (Astra Militarum)

House Rules

Miserable Secrets-style investigation system

Notes & Records

Glory Pool 1

Card Suits

The following unicode guide will make it easier for you to use the card suits in your text posts.

U+2660	U+2665	U+2666	U+2663
♠	♥	♦	♣
Black Spade Suit	Black Heart Suit	Black Diamond Suit	Black Club Suit
U+2664	U+2661	U+2662	U+2667
♤	♡	♢	♧
White Spade Suit	White Heart Suit	White Diamond Suit	White Club Suit

Important Links

• [Initial Outline of Investigation System}