Adeptus Arbites

The Adeptus Arbites are the galactic police force of the Imperium, responsible for enforcing the Imperial Law throughout the Imperial worlds.

Role
While every Imperial planet has its own local police forces and its own local laws, the Arbites are responsible for enforcing the broader laws of the Imperium, and ensuring Imperial governors do not plot against Imperial rule, and that all Imperial laws and decrees are followed. The enforcement of a planet's local laws is not the concern of the Adeptus Arbites. These are left to the local agencies.

The Adeptus Arbites also serves to keep planetary governors in check; if a governor decides to skip his tithes for a year or ignore requests for troops from an embattled neighbor, one glance at the armored courthouse of the Adeptus Arbites is usually more than enough to make him reconsider.

Organization
Although the organization's headquarters is the Hall of Judgement on Terra, the Arbitrators are stationed on almost every Imperial world in fortified fortress-precincts.

Arbitrators are recruited from the Ministorum's Schola Progenium facilities (the Ecclesiarchy's schools for the orphans of Imperial servants who have given their lives in service) across the Imperium.

In the event of a planetwide collapse of Imperial control, the Arbites can decree martial law and take control until a suitable command can be established, generally under an Imperial Guard force. Even in circumstances that are not as extreme, Arbitrators have power over most people in the Imperium. They are authorized to arrest, interrogate, and execute Planetary, Sub-Sector, or even Sector Governors should the occasion warrant it, and can do the same to officers of the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy (although custom dictates that they must seek permission from the Commissariat, the organization responsible for military law). Only the very highest ranking people and institutions are above Imperial Law (The Inquisition, the Adeptus Astartes, the Navis Nobilite, etc), something that reflects powerfully on the mutual awe and terror in which they are held across the galaxy.

Commanded by the Grand Provost Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites, one of the High Lords of Terra, the Arbites maintains an uncompromising attitude towards crime and hands out harsh sentences for violations, including summary execution, helping to make its officers in their dreaded black uniforms into symbols of fear across the Imperium. The Arbites is, for all intents and purposes, the practical militant arm of the Adeptus Terra. It presents a united legal front across the galaxy - it is concerned only with citizens following Imperial Law, and remains separate from enforcing local (planetary) laws. Arbitrators go to great lengths to remain aloof and separate from the populations they police, often only appearing to patrol and drag some poor unfortunate back to their terrifying Precincts.

History
The Adeptus Arbites tends to remain in the background and shadows of everyday Imperial existence, however, when necessary it comes to the forefront.

Ichar IV
During the beginning of Hive Fleet Kraken's approach, rioting began to consume planets near the south eastern fringe of the Imperium. Inquisitor Agmar investigated these strange riots for signs of treasonous thoughts or heretical influence.

On Ichar IV, a religious fundamentalist group called the Brotherhood was the cause of the rioting. Although they preached a faith like that of the Emperor, they refused to obey Imperial commands or pay their tithe. Soon after this act of defiance they started instigating riots among the masses. While trying to break up one such riot, the Arbitrators of the planet were quickly surrounded by what seemed to be mobs organized from the complete population of the planet. When the local Planetary Defense Force was called to help, it was quickly made apparent that they, too, had sided with the mobs.

After the assassination of the planetary governor, the Brotherhood established itself as sole controlling force on Ichar IV. Inquisitor Agmar arrived on Ichar a few weeks after the outbreak of rebellion and on the same day that the Arbites precinct fortress in the capital, Lomas, was finally overrun. The Arbitrators were not defeated and most of their number escaped along a secret tunnel and captured the city's four main power generators. Inquisitor Agmar led assaults on the capital, but he was unable to rescue the Arbitrators who were overrun just six days after his arrival. With their final act, they destroyed the city's power generators.

Because of the destruction of the city's power grid, the Ultramarines (who arrived just 39 days later) were able to retake the planet. It was later revealed that the Brotherhood was controlled by Genestealers.

Pavonis
During the worker's riots on Pavonis, the entire Adeptus Arbites force stationed at the planetary governor's palace was destroyed (save one who had been tasked by inquisitor Ario Barzano with the personal protection of the governor), but only after holding out for several hours and fighting a rearguard action in the secret palace tunnels. They succeeded in destroying Pavonis' largest weaponry and munitions cache, denying its supplies to the traitor PDF legions.

Imperial Law
Unlike the Inquisition, the Arbitrators of the Adeptus Arbites are unable to freely rule upon others. The only mandate an Arbitrator can enforce, and to the letter, is the Dictates Imperialis; local laws are not their concern, nor do they fall under their jurisdiction, and those are left to be enforced by local agencies. Likewise, they owe no allegiance to any local commander and are above any local law.

The Dictates Imperialis, or Imperial Law, is a collection of laws, rules, precedents, and other legal protocols collected from the Emperor and the High Lords of Terra. An Arbitrator could spend decades researching and studying the law for one case.

The Imperial Law that the Arbites enforce is thousands of years old and, in some cases, is potentially irrational and oppressive. It could be as much a crime to be kidnapped as it is to kidnap an individual.

Any crime which concerns the Arbites is already severe, and punishment is ultimately death, either through execution or conscription into a Penal Legion. The common citizen has no right to a trial. Other punishments include public lashings, death by burning, and with the permission of the Ecclesiarchy, (for heretical crimes) arco-flagellation.

Organisation
Arbites installations are known as precincts, each of which includes an armored courthouse that serves as an armory, training ground, barracks, prison and judgment hall. In order to remain fully aloof and separate from the populations they patrol, Precincts are as close to fully-enclosed cities as they can be. They include all possible resources that the Arbitrators require - including their own Astropath facilities and access to orbital docks. Arbitrators and Judges operate in parallel organizations within the Adeptus Arbites, the two separate organizations joining at their highest ranks.

Amongst the most highly trained and disciplined individuals in the Imperium, Arbitrators may find themselves commissioned to the retinue of an Inquisitor. The organization has strong ties with the Ordo Hereticus, and the two can often be found working towards common goals. Arbitrators in these retinues are often known as "Enforcers", having being released from their single-world jurisdiction, and free to punish law-breakers wherever they may be.

Arbitrator Squads
A standard Arbites combat squad will either consist of five, ten, fifteen or twenty Arbitrators, led by a squad leader (included in the number of the squad, and usually called a 'proctor') and armed with shotguns, suppression shields and power mauls, as well as an array of grenades (frag, krak, smoke, blind, and several other types, depending on the situation). Arbitrators are trained to intermingle in the event of casualties, meaning that even if one squad loses several members, it can easily disperse to fill the gaps in nearby units, or fall back for reinforcements and resupply before plunging back into the fighting once more.

Traditionally larger squads of fifteen to twenty are only used in extended combat actions; where greater numbers are needed for tougher jobs such as storming a gatehouse or defending a vital area. In serious attacks, shock squads (Arbitrators trained to break enemy positions), organized into units of ten, will lead the way. Although these grim-faced men and women are equipped in exactly the same way as combat squads (albeit with larger grenade and ammunition stores, since they cannot be expected to fall back and restock as frequently as their more mundane counterparts) they probably receive extra training, as they are considered the elite of an Arbites force.

Other Branches
• Verispex Squads: Equivalent to modern-day forensic teams.

• Arbitrator Detectives: Spend the most time in the field of any of the Arbites, usually within deep cover. A rare few may be psykers.

• Chasteners: Their task is to interrogate prisoners by any means they might see as necessary, including mental and physical torture. Treatment at the hands of these men and women usually ends in death, although a death in which one is absolved of one's sins against the God-Emperor, provided one confesses.

• Chaplains: The spiritual overseers of the Adeptus Arbites. A number of Chaplains are always to be found in Arbites installations.

• Judges: They work closely with Arbites Chasteners and pronounce sentences over prisoners (Any Arbitrator has the authority to place and execute sentences in the field).

• Cyber Mastiffs: The sniffer dogs of the Adeptus Arbites. These form their own squads, consisting of a paired cyber mastiff and its handler, but there are no specifics as to how many pairs form a squad. Cyber mastiffs are often employed to sniff out any hostiles that might have hidden themselves in the wake of an Arbites advance, but are still fully capable of defending themselves and their handlers. They are controlled by verbal commands from whoever is paired up with them, and are keyed to their owners' voices/smells to prevent enemies from giving them counter-acting commands. Mastiffs can be biological or mechanical creatures (Though the information on them is from Enforcers, who aren't actually Arbites but local versions who, gamewise, aren't as tough). .

Equipment
The closest real life equivalent of the Adeptus Arbites - disregarding the Arbitrator's right to suspend habeas corpus - is a SWAT team or a national paramilitary force such as the Spanish GEO or French GIGN, and their equipment reflects this homage. Often operating in dense urban environments, Arbites are equipped with shotguns and bolters with Executioner rounds; special ammunition with homing capabilities. They are also generally armed with power mauls for melee combat, electro-net launchers and pulse-charged bolas for capturing perpetrators alive, grapplehooks and stingers, and escorted by cybernetically enhanced mastiffs for hunting hidden criminals.

For protection, Arbitrators wear black carapace armor with signature jaw-exposed helmets. Arbites make use of combat motorcycles for patrols and Repressors, a variant of the Rhino, for riot response and heavy patrols, as well as heavier tanks such as the Leman Russ.

Jeremiah Pavo
Judge Pavo gained his place among the Adeptus Arbites after revealing a plot to corrupt fellow members of his Schola Progenium on Avellorn. After containing the Bureau of Standard Measures Queue Wars and detaining over 10,000 participants, he was asked to join the retinue of Inquisitor Tannenburg of the Ordo Hereticus. He has proven to be a valuable asset to the Inquisition and an example of the skill and determination of all Arbitrators.

Captain Virgil Ortega of Pavonis
Wielding a shock maul and combat shotgun, Captain Virgil Ortega commanded the Adeptus Arbites on the planet of Pavonis during a time of great riots and disorder against the planetary governor and her cartel. When the situation led to the arrival of a company of Ultramarines and an Inquisitor's investigation, the Planetary Defense Force openly attacked the capital city, starting with the bombing of the precinct house. Ortega led his fellow Judges into battle, charging from the ruins into the city square, in front of a statue of the Emperor himself. The battle that followed was the stuff of legend, the few and faithful fighting against those who would betray the Emperor, however the sheer number of tanks and soldiers of the traitor PDF legions however slowly began to whittle away at the Arbites numbers. Holding his few remaining men together, Captain Ortega slowly fell back to the weapons cache located beneath the precint house. They were able to hold back their pursuers for a while there, having an almost limitless supply of heavy weapons and ammunition, but when it became apparent that they were fighting a losing battle, Captain Ortega and his loyal Arbites came to the decision that the precious store of weapons and ammunition could not fall into the hands of the enemy. Fighting back waves of PDF troops, Captain Ortega and his remaining Arbites wired and readied all of the explosives in the cache. They came very close to failure as their position was nearly overrun, but with his remaining judge, Sergeant Collix, covering his advance, he ran into enemy fire and as his life slipped away he detonated the munitions, dying with the rest of his men.

Sergeant Collix of Pavonis
Collix served on Pavonis fresh from the academy until the day of his death. When Pavonis could not produce tithe taxes to the Imperium, a force of Ultramarines led by Uriel Ventris traveled to the planet, accompanied by a young adept by the name of Ario Barzano, who in turn was actually a high ranking Inquisitor investigating heresy and the presence of Necrons. The planet's separate factions rebelled against the governor and the Arbites, striking hard in the city square and the Arbites precinct house. Some two hundred Judges survived the initial attack, and fought the renegade PDF troopers in a bloody battle. Together with his comrades, Sergeant Collix held a weapons cache and defended it to the last man. Never yielding in his faith though mortally wounded, Sergeant Collix continued firing a Heavy Stubber into charging masses of traitors and heretics as he lay dying, buying time for Captain Ortega to detonate the munitions stores, leveling the cache, along with the entire renegade force in the city.

Judge Jenna Sharben of Pavonis
Jenna Sharben served alongside Captain Virgil Ortega and Sergeant Collix on Pavonis. She was kidnapped along with the planetary governor and an inquisitor. She was the only member of the Adeptus Arbites team on Pavonis to survive after the rebellion. She was later killed in a Tau invasion of Pavonis.

Shira Calpurnia (Iax, Ultramar)
The lead character of her own Black Library novel series, Shira is an atypical Arbitrator, considering the behaviors and processes normally involved in the Adeptus.(Source: Shira Calpurnia series, by Matthew Farrer - Published by Games Workshop/BL Publishing).

Game history
Borrowing heavily from Judge Dredd imagery, the Adeptus Arbites were first mentioned in Rogue Trader, but were introduced as a playable force in the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000, and have since appeared in the spin-off games Necromunda and Inquisitor. They appear as "play-as" equivalents to Inquisitorial Storm Troopers (although armed with shotguns) in the Witch Hunters supplement.

Also, the organization is the focus of three novels by Matthew Farrer, Cross Fire (Farrer, 2003) Legacy (Farrer, 2004) and Blind (Farrer, 2006).