# How many inquisitors are there?



## Abbo (May 30, 2008)

In the Eisenhorn series they all seem to know(or at least heard about) each other that are active in the same sector.
How big is a average sector anyway?
Is it save to assume that on any given hive world there is at least one active?


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

considering how secretive the inquisition is, I doubt even the Inquisition actually truly knows how many there are anywhere, even on 1 ship nevermind planets, star systems or galaxies


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## when in doubt shoot! (Oct 19, 2008)

I always imagined there to be very few, maybe one to three in each sector, but they have lots of agents and informants that keep them up-to-date.


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## Major Strombardt (Feb 22, 2009)

With what I have read so far about the 40k world and useing my own 40k imagination, I would have to liken the Inquisition to such modern day organisations as the FBI and the Stasi (although there are countless others as well...). Both have conducted there own individual 'witchhunts' and sought out the 'deviant' sometimes for the benfit of the nation they served sometimes for their OWN private machinations...of course there was politics involved and so and so forth.
Both organisations were vast with informants and agents and 'controllers' and 'Directors'...I would say an organisation with the remit of the combined Ordos Malleus, Xenos and Hereticus throuout the entire Imperium and beyond would require Countless Inquisiitors. I think the distinction should be made that there are probably not so many 'Lord' Inquisitors then there are 'Normal' (if ANY Inquisitor can be!) Inquisitor.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

I'll have to hunt down the Source, but apparently, there are 169 (13*13) Inquisitor Lords who make up the Conclave.

This Site agrees with me (Search for "169", minus quotes), as does the Wikia. I think it could also be mentioned in the Slaves to Darkness/Realm of Chaos.

For the none Malleus Inquisitors, it's any bodies guess.


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## Major Strombardt (Feb 22, 2009)

Vaz said:


> I'll have to hunt down the Source, but apparently, there are 169 (13*13) Inquisitor Lords who make up the Conclave.
> 
> This Site agrees with me (Search for "169", minus quotes), as does the Wikia. I think it could also be mentioned in the Slaves to Darkness/Realm of Chaos.
> 
> For the none Malleus Inquisitors, it's any bodies guess.



But I thought the question was "How many 'Inquisitors' there are"...?

It is highly likely that all Lord Inquistors are not of the conclave either due to age or even 'favourablility' within the Inquistion itself. Hell...some even may object to the conclave in principle. 
In game terms however the 40k world is what we all want it to be. :grin:


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

I didn't have any knowledge over the Inquisitors, so I put down what I did know, as it might help in anyway 

If there are 169, then that's going to mean that there are probably 169 in each of the other Ordo's - so perhaps 507 Inquisitor Lords, and then there are going to be many more Inquisitors to Inquisitor Lords (as each Inquisitor is mentored by an Inquisitor Lord while they are Acolytes).


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

We're talking in the Millions I imagine, I sincerely doubt that there are fewer Inquisitors that there are Space marines. 

As for a Sector's size I imagine it's like any arbitrarily defined space, differing from example to example- but my understanding is that a Sub-Sector comprises a handful of inhabited star systems, with a Sector being a handful of Sub-Sectors (so the Sector might be comprised of as little as a dozen to over 100 hundred star systems).

It's very difficult to picture how many Inquisitors there are but if you were to say that a plausible ratio could be 1 Inquisitor: 100,000,000 Imperial Citizens you,d still be left with ALOT of the buggers.


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## Major Strombardt (Feb 22, 2009)

Baron Spikey said:


> We're talking in the Millions I imagine, I sincerely doubt that there are fewer Inquisitors that there are Space marines.
> 
> As for a Sector's size I imagine it's like any arbitrarily defined space, differing from example to example- but my understanding is that a Sub-Sector comprises a handful of inhabited star systems, with a Sector being a handful of Sub-Sectors (so the Sector might be comprised of as little as a dozen to over 100 hundred star systems).
> 
> It's very difficult to picture how many Inquisitors there are but if you were to say that a plausible ratio could be 1 Inquisitor: 100,000,000 Imperial Citizens you,d still be left with ALOT of the buggers.


I must disagree here! There MUST be fewer Inquisitors then there are Space Marines! (I hope I understood you right!).

I don't believe you can say there is ratio of Inquisitors to citizens/sectors/sub-sectors...For the Ordos to be effective they must be flexible as well as dynamic...therefore strong where they need to be (if possible) and negligent where possible (to their detriment of course!).

There really is no number you can put on the Iquisition...for that matter do we really think the Grey Knights would adhere strictly to the Chapter codex of a 1000 Bothers especially when such men as Inquistors ar in direct command and control of them?:mrgreen:


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

It wouldn't make sense for there to be as many inquisitors as space marines since an inquisitor is a elite unit which might find 1-2 of in an army list while you could man an army list of hundreds of marines. 

If inquisitors were so abundant, where is my inquisitor troop choice? Further evidence of this is the fact the Adepta Sororitas makes up the Chambers Militant of the Ordo Hereticas. Meaning, the inquisitors are few enough in numbers to needs Sisters of Battle to fill up thier ranks for an all out assault.


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## lomaxxdurang (Jun 24, 2008)

*iNQUISITORS = TO SPACE MARINE NUMBERS*

Functionally I would say thats very possible if not self evident. 
If there are say 10,000 chapters of space marines (which according to fluff it is supposedly only 1,000 chapters) and each chapter is made up of ~1000 marines that totals to only 10 million marines. Our planet currently has something like 4-6 billion depending on statistic living on it. Ok now say that the average planet in the imperium with hives and all its crazy slum like super tech averages oh say 90 billion that is still a lot of freaking people. 
Lets say that the Imperium is only 100 million worlds and only half of those worlds have an inquisitor on them at any given time that means 50,000,000 inquisitors and lords. 
Now the reason you don't have Inquisitor troop choices but you have adeptus astartes and Adeptus Soriatas troops choices is because they are in concentrated groups. Inquisitors are loners within their own order. They are not a unified group. They requisition resources with Inquisitorial Remit. They don't need to band together as troops and generally speaking say you did have them band together as such. In all practicality they are too fractured a party, they would be incapable of such a thing and would in turn have political and physical infighting. It is much simpler for the inquisition to have them run alone or very small elite groups along with their retinues. This allows them to protect the imperium from heretic, xenos, and daemon alike.
LMD


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

@Major Strombardt- I wasn't necessarily referring to the ratio of Inquisitors as that being present in a sector but rather existing at one time.

I think lomaxxdurang summed up my beliefs in a coherent fashion, there a countless Trillions of Imperial Citizens and the Space Marines occupy a ratio of at best 1:1,000,000,000 (billion). I refuse to believe that the Inquisition has less Inquisitors than the Astartes has Marines.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

One of the simple reasons it doesn't make sense is that a regiment of marines can have all kinds of positions from scouts to terminators to tank pilots to gunners to basic troops to bikers to snipers etc. Inquisitors just have inquisitors and their lords. By nature the Marines would need more men simply to be able to handle the logistics behind running a completely self sustained fighting force. The Inquisition on the other hand is very not self sufficient, or why else would they need the Sororitas to be their fighting force? 

If we were to compare the Inquisition to the FBI and the the SM to Marines of our world, then the numbers would be apparent. That may not be a good representation of the SM but it certainly gives an idea of the Inquisition.


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## lomaxxdurang (Jun 24, 2008)

No think about this... with all the diverse belief systems of the Inquisition and all its political infighting of course there will be a damn ton of them. If you go on the belief that their are only a 1000 chapters then thats only a a million marines. Are you saying the imperium with its billion or so planets would have less then a million inquisitors... thats preposterous. You would never be able to secure the Imperium from heretic, xenos, and daemon. Most Inquisitors work alone or with their retinues. They use the Soriatas and the Astartes as main fighting forces because unlike the Soriatas and the Astartes the Inquisition is designed to a) investigate, b) control, c) eliminate the issues threatening the Imperium.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

It seems more likely to me that rather than having millions of inquisitors, they would utilize strategy laid down in the Codex to work with intelligence over numbers. By pinpointing groups of mutant etc, they wouldn't have to have one inquisitor for every human, since every human enclave is going to have a limited number of strongly mutant upstarts. 

The very nature of the Inquisitors commandeering things promotes the notion that they would work in tandem with local authorities, much like the FBI does in our modern day. They don't need numbers because when they sense a corruption in need of purging, they would command the local Imperial troopers to his aid, or roll up in a rhino. 

The codex also implies that out of millions of humans, only very few are psychers and out of every thousand psychers only one might be allowed to live and join the inquisition. Since all Inquisitors are psych able, if not actual users due to being puritans, that implies that their numbers are very small. If we said there was 1 psycher in every 100,000, and out of every 1000 psychers are Inquisitors, then there would be 100,000,000 humans for every Inquisitor. For there to be over a million Inquisitors there would have to be over 100,000,000,000,000 people in the Empire, of which I have no rough numbers on. Are there a hundred trillion humans?

Hell, lets say there is a psycher for every 10,000 people, which is rather absurd. You still need 10,000,000 people for each Inquisitor. That means to have over a million of them, you need more than 10 Trillion people in the Empire. Of course, that is possible, but I do not know how many there are for certain.


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Probably more than 100 trillion Humans in the Imperium, and not all Inquisitors are psykers, some are it's true but not the majority.

The analogy between the Inquisition and the Astartes, and the FBI and the Marines is not a terribly good one- whilst you're more likely to find Marines acting in concert with each other they're so incredibly rare that you are still far less likely to come across them than a member of the Inquisition.
Your argument that the Space Marines have more roles and so there would be more of them...well it doesn't make sense, why would that mean there were more Marines?


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Baron Spikey said:


> why would that mean there were more Marines?


Simple logistics. You need more people with the more positions that have to be filled. If you only have one position, then you need less people. 

All Inquisitors count as Psychers and can take psychic powers, in that case, it is safe to assume most all of Inquisitors at the very least show some sign of minor psycher attributes. Now, that isn't even counting all the psychers that work the warp gates, handle the Emperor himself etc etc, so in essence you would have to assume that if there are more Inquisitors than Marines, you are telling me that there are more psychers than there are Marines in the Imperium. Now that doesn't seem to make very much sense.

Logistics, Who is driving that SM rhino? A Marine. Who is loading those shells into that cannon, another Marine. You actually need more Marines because they need to do all these things. If an Inquisitor is taking a Rhino, he gets some pion to man the bolter and has some Imperial load the shells. The Inquisitors don't need nearly as many men and when they do, they call upon the Ordo Sororitas.

Hell, by the very nature of it, if each Inquisitor can have a Blessed Weapon and Inferno Pistol that there are just millions of these weapons floating around the Imperium when infact they are all rare artifacts.


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Well we already know there are more Psykers in the Imperium than there are Marines- that's a given.
But fluff-wise not all Inquisitors are psykers, and whilst the 'job' title of Inquisitor might seem to be a single role nothing could be further from the truth, even if we were only to go by the generalised Ordos as a means to distinguish between the various Inquisitors that would still leave alot of diferent areas that came under each Individual's purview.

I suppose an analogy would be having a member of the FBI, Mossad, and MI6 compared to each other- they're all members of the Intelligence Services but I certainly wouldn't say they all did the same thing.

EDIT: SOME Inquisitors call upon the Adeptus Sororitas, but they're the Ministorum's and Ordo Hereticus' militant chamber rather than being the Inquisition's main body of troops.


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## admiraldick (Sep 9, 2008)

Abbo said:


> In the Eisenhorn series they all seem to know(or at least heard about) each other that are active in the same sector.
> How big is a average sector anyway?
> Is it save to assume that on any given hive world there is at least one active?


how many Jedi are there? it seems that the two have roughly eqivellant roles and work in universes of approximately the same size and population.

i doubt seriously that most Hiveworlds have at least one inquisitor on them at any one time. i doubt that many hiveworlds would be have serious issues with imperial doctrine, that could potential cause catastrophic damage to the political system. Inquisitors are not petty policemen that follow up every possible crime, that is down to the other forces at the Emperor's disposal.

i would doubt seriously that anyone could put an exact number on the total of the inquisition, because i don't believe it works like that. it is hidden and secretive even from itself. its recruiting methods are far more like a cult or club than a company.



Vaz said:


> For the none Malleus Inquisitors, it's any bodies guess.


have we ever been told exactly how the schools of the inquisiton work? is one's Ordo an official markation or just a note of the inquisitors personal interest? can one be part of more than one Ordo? can Inquisitors pick up and drop Ordos as they see fit?



Baron Spikey said:


> We're talking in the Millions I imagine, I sincerely doubt that there are fewer Inquisitors that there are Space marines.


i see no logical reason as to why there should be more Inquisitors than SM. it only takes a single Inquisitor to command any number of SM, IG and SoB forces to commence fighting. if there were more Inquisitors than SMs the phones would be ringing off the hook with 'urgent' requests for help.



lomaxxdurang said:


> If there are say 10,000 chapters of space marines (which according to fluff it is supposedly only 1,000 chapters) and each chapter is made up of ~1000 marines that totals to only 10 million marines.


the background only says there are 'more than 1000 chapters'. it never mentions just how many more than that there are. i imagine that the 1000 is simply a historic reference and isn't really ment to help gauge acurate numerical values. that or it indicates just how much bureaucracy there is within the imperium, and thus how difficult it is to get any helpful information.



lomaxxdurang said:


> Our planet currently has something like 4-6 billion depending on statistic living on it. Ok now say that the average planet in the imperium with hives and all its crazy slum like super tech averages oh say 90 billion that is still a lot of freaking people.


most statistics that i have seen put the Earth's current population at nearly 7 billion, and in terms of planetary populations, that is truly vast. irrespective of technologies, there are vastly more people on the Earth than can be supported by its resources, so it would be more sensible to assume that the average population of an Earthlike (non-hive world) planet would be more like 1 billion. this would make sense with the fairly meagre, dark-age like lives that we are told the average imperial citizen and world has.

obviously there would be massive variences depending on the size and suitability of the planet, but a Hive World would certainly not be the norm. there would be plenty of space for people to spread out and the only logical reason for a hive world to exist would be some common resource that was required (this would likely be political or communal rather than physical), and such resources would not be omnipresent; in exactly the same way that not everyone in the world lives in a city.

there isn't much background information given over to the state of the Imperium and the lives of its citizens any more, but back in RT, when such things were more common, it was quite clear that the human race was spread out so thinly over such a vast area that the Imperium simply could not survive as it currently is. were often given the impression that the universe is a very crowded place, but i think that that is a phantom because we tend to only look at heavily crowded areas in the game.



lomaxxdurang said:


> You would never be able to secure the Imperium from heretic, xenos, and daemon. Most Inquisitors work alone or with their retinues. They use the Soriatas and the Astartes as main fighting forces because unlike the Soriatas and the Astartes the Inquisition is designed to a) investigate, b) control, c) eliminate the issues threatening the Imperium.


that doesn't make any sense.

the inquisition are there to investigate situations, nip them in the bud if possible and call in the armies of the Imperium if not. they don't personally take on every Ork horde they hear about themselves.


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## G_Morgan (Mar 3, 2008)

Firstly these wild estimates of the number of planets in the Imperium are way off. At its height just before the heresy it had 2m planets. In 40k there are 1m planets.

As for the inquisition. Most of the members are not fully fledged inquisitors. You have the various interrogators and executors who form by far the bulk of the inquisitorial family.


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## Major Strombardt (Feb 22, 2009)

*Interesting Stuff*

Very interesting comments so far! It just goes to show how we all view the world...this world and the 40k world!

Just to clarify something...I never used my FBI comparison at all to a unit or army of marines. I suggested that the FBI and Stasi and simmilar Secret Police Organisations could be the model of the Inquisition. I would never say that there are to be a certain number of FBI to citizen ratio...never. Even in their deployment and where there are offices...more agents and bases where the FBI sees them better used...

The Inquisition are the Elite of the Elite in the Imperium with the clout to prove it. The Rosettes prove this. The SM are respected and of course elite themselves but I think there is a distinction and role to play. Both know the riole...though they may disagree as to the method!

I agree with those who say that there cannot be more Inquisitors then there are SM...that is a given as far as I am concerned.

As for Inquisitors knowing eachother...I would say reputation is more like it. Infamy and rep go a long way and for every well known Inquisitor there is there must be dozens who do the work of the Emperor in camoflaged bliss! The les known you are the better and more effective you probably are...:grin:

Number of Inquisitors?...Unknown...Secret...as it should be!!!:grin:


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## lomaxxdurang (Jun 24, 2008)

Ok... 
I just looked over the imperial guard codex it says a million worlds. So G_Morgan is right.
I admit that I misremembered it at a billion, that or it was just one of the random authors from the Black Library with their strange auguring of facts. 
As to the simple fact is Inquisition agents are more common then space marines. 
No Inquisitors don't fight every little ork incursion themselves. 
Seriously though... the Inquisition is going to be larger than the Adeptus Astartes simply on the basis of their varied requirements and ordos.


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## Major Strombardt (Feb 22, 2009)

lomaxxdurang said:


> Ok...
> I just looked over the imperial guard codex it says a million worlds. So G_Morgan is right.
> I admit that I misremembered it at a billion, that or it was just one of the random authors from the Black Library with their strange auguring of facts.
> As to the simple fact is Inquisition agents are more common then space marines.
> ...


Ahhh..I see a slight deviation in your argument...

Are you saying that the "Inquisition" is larger then the Adeptus Astartes? If so you may be right. As an organisation (complete) that may well be so but I still cannot believe that there are more Inquisitors then there are Space Marines!

Give me an example of any Secret Police Force/Intelligence or Counter Intelligence agency in History (and I know we are dealing with the 41st Milleniumn...) that can boast being larger then the militant side of power?

If there were more Inquisitors then there were Space Marines...the Forge Worlds that supply them could not keep up!:grin:


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

An Inquisitor itself is something that you see in Table Top, as an all powerful, with the Decree of the Emperor, with the ability to order an Exterminatus, and able to command the Imperial Guard, Navy, and all other Civilian and Military Imperial Doctrines (with the Astartes and Custodes not included). However, to get there, you need to prove your worth. This means being tutored, and gaining an apprenticeship through the other Inquisitors. An Acolyte, however, is still an Inquisitor, although without the Decree.


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## lomaxxdurang (Jun 24, 2008)

No I still think that there are so few space marines that their would be more Inquisitors then there are marines simply on the basis of how rare marines are.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Vaz said:


> An Inquisitor itself is something that you see in Table Top, as an all powerful, with the Decree of the Emperor, with the ability to order an Exterminatus, and able to command the Imperial Guard, Navy, and all other Civilian and Military Imperial Doctrines (with the Astartes and Custodes not included). However, to get there, you need to prove your worth. This means being tutored, and gaining an apprenticeship through the other Inquisitors. An Acolyte, however, is still an Inquisitor, although without the Decree.


I think in that case we need clarification. I was arguing about actual, full fledged independent and licensed Inquisitors with their hat and everything. 

I agree whole heartedly that the Inquisition as an institution may be larger than the Space Marines. However, full fledged, hat wearing, inferno pistol toting Inquisitors are far less than Marines. It would be physicly impossible for the Imperium to churn out enough psykers, force weapons and inferno pistols (not to mention the HATS!) to outfit more of them then there are Marines. :grin:


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## killmaimburn (Mar 19, 2008)

No, there have to be many inquisitors because they tend to operate as individuals. They are elites choices because in ONE given army they are not likely to be common, and a massive gathering of inquisitors is rare. But there needs to be a fairly large number "behind the scenes" in games terms. The FOC represents the ratio of a units presence within the army its played in, not in the whole WH40k universe. Inquisitors are only ever in command situations and so only take elites or HQ sections (for now)


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Arcane said:


> I think in that case we need clarification. I was arguing about actual, full fledged independent and licensed Inquisitors with their hat and everything.
> 
> I agree whole heartedly that the Inquisition as an institution may be larger than the Space Marines. However, full fledged, hat wearing, inferno pistol toting Inquisitors are far less than Marines. It would be physicly impossible for the Imperium to churn out enough psykers, force weapons and inferno pistols (not to mention the HATS!) to outfit more of them then there are Marines. :grin:


I'm not sure where you're getting your info but not all Inquisitors ARE psykers (nor do they all have exotic equipment like Force Weapons and Inferno Pistols), plus there is a vastly larger number of psykers in the Imperium than there are Space Marines.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Baron Spikey said:


> I'm not sure where you're getting your info but not all Inquisitors ARE psykers (nor do they all have exotic equipment like Force Weapons and Inferno Pistols), plus there is a vastly larger number of psykers in the Imperium than there are Space Marines.


It's not that they -are- psykers that matters. What matters is that they could be, and could have rare weapons/equipment. You simply would not have an inquisitor who didn't have some kind of special equipment of some kind or have some special abilities. Otherwise, how would they have gotten into the position they are in now... 

As stated before, there wouldn't be enough Forge Worlds to equip them. And if their numbers are secret, having more actual full fledged Inquisitors than there are Space Marines detracts from the entire idea of a secret organization. Hell, by that logic, the Marines are more secretive than the Inquisition, which is entirely based upon misinformation and self inspection. 

And if Inquisitors are only ever in command positions and there are so many of them, that goes against any basic logic of chain of command. You would have ten bosses for every employee. The very statement that they are in command gives the impression that they would be less in number, just like any other pyramid structured command chain.


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## Abbo (May 30, 2008)

Arcane said:


> As stated before, there wouldn't be enough Forge Worlds to equip them. And if their numbers are secret, having more actual full fledged Inquisitors than there are Space Marines detracts from the entire idea of a secret organization. Hell, by that logic, the Marines are more secretive than the Inquisition, which is entirely based upon misinformation and self inspection.


Yet in the novel "Farseer" a Rogue trader ship could only leave the system after clearance from starport, customs and the inquisition.
Your forge world argument does not seem that logical to me, even if there were let's say 2 million inquisitors, that does not seem like allot to arm including retinues when you compare it to a whole planet dedicated too making weapons 
Inquisitors probably can confiscate almost anything they like anyway from rich people.


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## Da Joka (Feb 20, 2009)

I tend to agree with Arcane on this one...

What hes trying to say (in a complex way) is that there has to be more SM then Inquistors, mainly because we have a SM army and no Inquistor army

If they had an army there would no need to requisition all those troops and equipment as they would have their own stuff


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## NewtonPulsifer (May 2, 2009)

This doesn't necessarily follow. The Imperial Guard outnumber Space Marines 250,000 to 1 - does that mean fan tabletop armies also are in that ratio? No, people concentrate on the Space Marines because they're cooler and fight more interesting battles more often, it says nothing to their gameworld rarity.

The Administratum doesn't have an army either - does that somehow make their bureaucrats less numerous than Space Marines?

The Inquisition is not a military organization. Space Marines are. Plus not all Inquisitors have great combat skills or operate in the field, tabletop wargames are going to concentrate on the combat oriented inquisitors. A noncombatant Inquisitor with his army of Data Savants and building full of cogitators can be just as valuable to rooting out problems as a field Inquisitor - it is just not as glamorous, so of course gaming isn't going to focus on them.

That all being said it seems to be about one full Inquisitor for each 1 to 2 billion humans in the Imperium, and they can have hundreds of operatives below them that are full Acolytes of the Inquisition, or just a hardened kill team of half a dozen - so total variance. Space Marines number about a million in a galaxy of perhaps a quadrillion or two, so that actually makes their numbers just about equal.

Keep in mind the guys who operate the 1-800-WITCHES 1-800-XENOSCM and 1-800-DAEMONS phone lines call banks serve the Inquisition, too, and there's probably a quite a lot of information processing/analyst types, the above being the lowliest example.

There's plenty of information on this in various novels and the role-playing game - has anybody on this thread read them?


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## Alexious (Apr 13, 2009)

Interesting topic of conversation....

Some things which you can mull over to point toward a smaller INQ number vs the SM.

1). The number of Chapters and foundings for SM is really unknown. After 10,000 years even at the rate of one per 1 per century founded, we are looking at a large ammount of marines. Its also more than probable that foundings come in batches to smooth the progress and also economics of scale. Why get Mars to equip just 1 chapter when we can equip 20 using the same equipment at the same time. Its a bit like making a meal, it takes 1 person to cook a meal for 1, it takes 1 person to cook a meal for 4. We are also completely in the dark over how many non codex chapters are really out there with forces larger than 1,000 marines. Black Templars jump to mind, and who really knows how many Ultramarine variants are really out there from lost foundings or foundings which we are unaware.

2). The INQ is such a unknown quantity. The INQ are very much as has been discussed like the secret state police, but take look at history and you will find that such organizations are not always as large as you might imagine. In the 21st century every war film or drama about the 2nd World War has so many Gestapo agents running around as villians you end up thinking their must be agents on every street corner... the truth was far from that. That said what we are classing as an INQ and what we are not is also debateable. I note that we are looking at the entire INQ organization, but in reality as in troops able to raise a bolter and fight like the stats in the game.... would be smaller. If we go down that path... in reality the marines would have it. The Ultramarines home world produces many PDF and Guard regiments according to fluff, not to mention the retainer families that have been in their employ for generations as well or support staff. It probably takes 10 men to support a battle brother in the field from the logistical and economic point of view. Who feeds him, who repairs his armor, who provides and creates his ammunition, his tactical data etc. The INQ is the same, they may be part of the same organization, but are the people manning those hotlines front rank power fist wielding zealots? They might think and be indoctrinated like INQ but they probably dont have the combat capabilties.

3). The INQ itself may not know how many INQ there are. With Imperial history as it is, its entirely possible for secret orders to exsist that were founded in past centuries which the current INQ is unaware of. A Grand Master founds a secret group of INQ to investigate or watch over a certain problem brewing or from something they saw in the Imperial Tarot.. they never tell anyone to keep the enemies of mankind knowing, purge all the data and records after creation and give orders to the founders of what to do then they die never passing on the information. The order is still there waiting and watching for the event for which it has been created from watching for the birth of certain psyker, to when certain stars move into postion and open a warp gate. The problem with some secret organizations is they become so secretative is that they themselves don't really know what the left hand is doing compared to the right hand. 

4). Space Marines are the face of the Imperium, the poster boys, they are the symbol for the entire Imperial legacy. They fight, they move, they extoll their exploits. INQ don't usually. It makes little sense for the general population of the Imperium to even be aware of the actions of the INQ at large. But SM triumphs make excellent propaganda for the masses. I am well aware the Grey Knights are basically unknown outside of the INQ itself, and we have no idea of their numbers at all. 

With the above in mind, and everyone elses comments, I tend to think that altough its possible for the INQ to have thousands of agents, and be spread out, its not really likely that the war gaming style INQ is going to outnumber the SM. SM can be produced enmasse and are when the Imperium needs it. Its permissable that 20-30 chapters are founded at once to deal with certain problems in the Imperium at any time and then are sent off to deal with an issue or problem. The INQ does not have the need for such ammounts of forces when they are able to demand compliance from any nearby world. I am sure that at times INQ can raise armies or SM companies to do their will, but why would they have standing armies? To combat the threat of Chaos... well thats what the Grey Knights are for.... to combat the xeno and mutant... thats what the SM are for.... to deal with traitors.... thats what the Ass Temples are for... to keep the faithful... thats the Sisters and priesthood. The INQ role is to investigate and then remove the cancer of subversion in all its forms, that doesnt take an army everytime, for what the SM do.... yes that usually requires a display of overwhelming force.


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## kaled (Jun 24, 2008)

If you're looking for information on the Inquisition, the best places are material for the games _Inquisitor_ and _Dark Heresy_ - both deal with Inquisitors in their 'natural element' as it were rather than on the battlefield. The Inquisition is not a military organisation and most of their work is done behind the scenes - a shadowy war for the Emperor's soul rather than on the front-lines of a warzone. Their role on the battlefield, such as we see in games of 40k, is a miniscule part of their work.

If you want actual figures, there are about 200 Inquisitors operating in the Calixis sector which has about 200 systems/planets/orbital facilities of note, however the sector is not really representative of Imperial space as a whole.

Overall, I'd go with there being no more than about half a million Inquisitors, probably less. That's based on the fact that almost all Inquisitors run huge networks of agents, contacts, informants and acolytes - some of whom are trusted operatives, and others don't even know they work for the Inquisition. Inquisitors will delegate operations to trusted acolytes, who may operate independently for years on end. The Inquisition also has its armies of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers and the Chambers Militant to call on if military force is required, as well as it's own fleet of ships. In addition, many Inquisitors maintain their own forces, mercenary armies, household troops and the like. Then of course there are all those people employed by the Inquisition - scribes, archivists, medicae personel, savants, administrators etc etc. Thus, although the number of Inquisitors is quite small, the Inquisition as a whole is huge and probably does have a presence on every world and its agents are hidden everywhere (at least, that's what the Inquisition wants you to think!).

I also agree with the point that no one, not even the Inquisitorial Representative knows how many Inquisitors there are. To be raised to the rank of Inquisitor simply takes the word of three Inquisitors or one Lord - there doesn't need to be a big ceremony or anything. I imagine there are some scribes somewhere whose job it is to keep a list of all active Inquisitors, but given the vast size of the Imperium, the lack of reliable communications and the fact that the Inquisition operates in secrecy means their job is literally impossible.

The thing to remember though when talking about the Inquisition, is that unlike other branches of the Imperium, it is not a monolithic organisation. There is no command structure, no series of ranks each bringing with it greater authority as you have in the military. An Inquisitor Lord has no more authority than a newly promoted Inquisitor, however his greater political power, influence and respect means he can wield far greater power. Inquisitors are free-roaming agents with the authority to act as they see fit, and their methods, objectives and philosophies are varied and incompatible. Therefore the Inquisition is divided amongst itself - each keeping their activities secret from one another. The secrecy and lack of centralised control means that their efforts are not spread evenly across the threats facing mankind - you might get half a dozen Inquisitors working on one problem, and none on another.


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## inquisitoryorei (Nov 25, 2007)

Officially, the number of Inquisitors is unknown. There is no set number of Lord Inquisitors. To become a Lord you need to be nominated by another Lord and then approved by 2 others, that is it. However, this IS an extremely rare occurrence. 

Most Inquisitors have large numbers of contacts and followers known as acolytes who are spread throughout the sector that they usually operate in. These acolytes and contacts help keep an eye out for the various threats to the Imperium. 

The Inquisition's numbers are, obviously, continuously changing due to infighting and other causes of death, and, on occasion, betrayal.


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## NewtonPulsifer (May 2, 2009)

*Sci-Fi writers have no sense of scale*

The reason why this doesn't compute is Sci-Fi writers don't always have a good grasp of scale.

Take the ship sizes for example. 2-3km strike cruisers, with, what, like 200 Space Marines in them?

Ludicrous. A 173m long present-day Ticonderoga-class Destroyer has 360 crew and officers. Expand that out 15 times in each direction (height, length, depth) to scale gives a crew of 1 million 215 thousand. Even if you shaved it down 90% by saying it was highly automated, the power plant is huge etc. that still gives you over a 100 thousand. Yet we see Strike Cruisers holding but one or two Space Marine companies. You could put *all* of the Space Marines in the Imperium in one Strike Cruiser.

Likewise a totally hived over planet like Necromunda with a population of 1 trillion is going to have 2 billion Imperial Guard members - that's 200,000 regiments of 5000 each if half are fighting men and a half are logistics/support. And then another 2 billion in the Planetary Defense Force. Full time professional military, not Gang member 'part timers' or re-purposed police.

The problem is GW didn't make a realistic number of Space Marines for a Galaxy of 1 million worlds. Whole chapters of Space Marines could die off in a week and the Imperium shouldn't notice, its that huge.

If it makes your brain hurt you just have to ignore the official fluff and say there's more Space Marines (and that ships are smaller :grin: ) Otherwise just accept that they really are *that* rare, and easily outnumbered by any of the other tabletop factions, yes even non-military ones like the Inquisition.


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## kaled (Jun 24, 2008)

NewtonPulsifer said:


> Take the ship sizes for example. 2-3km strike cruisers, with, what, like 200 Space Marines in them?
> ...
> You could put *all* of the Space Marines in the Imperium in one Strike Cruiser.


You could, but it's not a question of how many marines can you cram into a strike cruiser in an attempt to break the galactic record - it's about how many marines can be supported by a cruiser and remain an effective fighting unit with all the supplies etc needed to support them. In any case, the crews of Imperial ships are huge (a single lance turret has a crew of 1500 IIRC) - of course on Astartes ships they're mainly servitors, with chapter serfs as the officers and usually a marine in overall command.


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## Gavalon the Great (Jan 1, 2009)

"Ten Imperial inquisitors
Standing by a wall;
Ten Imperial inquisitors
Standing by a wall.
And if one Imperial inquisitor
Should accidently fall -
*There'd be Nine Tzeetch Sorcerors
Standing by that wall!*"

:taunt::victory::grin:


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## inquisitoryorei (Nov 25, 2007)

dont you just love it when someone decides to go completely off subject and discuss something different in the middle of a thread?


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