Gregor Eisenhorn

Gregor Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos. Initially a Puritan of the Amalathian faction, Eisenhorn's Inquisitorial ideology would alter over the course of his career so dramatically towards the philosophy of Radical Xanthism that other members of the Inquisition consider him a possible heretic. Indeed, Eisenhorn has officially been considered a rogue agent by the Inquisition at least twice in his Inquisitorial career, only to be proved a righteous servant of the Emperor of Mankind both times.

History
Born in 198.M41, on DeKere's World, Gregor Eisenhorn became an Acolyte of Inquisitor Hapshant at a young age. He studied alongside fellow Inquisition apprentice Titus Endor and was elevated to the rank of full Inquisitor in 222.M41, at the incredibly young age of 24. His first successful persecution was that of the heretic Lemete Syre.

Carving out a stable and competent career, Eisenhorn eventually found himself being drawn into events that would change the course of his life in the year 240.M41. During this year Eisenhorn succeeded in ending the menace of the mass-murderer Murdin Eyeclone, an investigation that is notable not only for bringing Godwyn Fischig and Alizebeth Bequin into his employ as Acolytes, but also for setting him in pursuit of both Pontius Glaw and the Necroteuch.

Following leads from the Eyeclone investigation, Eisenhorn became tangled up with a heretical cabal on the world of Gudrun, and in fact was briefly captured and tortured by one of their members, Gorgone Locke. The cabal was eventually broken by a full Inquisitorial purge led by Inquisitor Voke. Eisenhorn was able to recover a device known as the Pontius from the cabal, and it later transpired that this device held the encoded brain-engrams of the infamous and long-dead heretic Pontius Glaw; one of the cabal's schemes had involved arranging his resurrection. Eisenhorn held Pontius Glaw captive and interrogated him regularly, before finally choosing to have the Pontius device incarcerated by Magos Bure of the Adeptus Mechanicus. This decision would ultimately have a profound effect on Eisenhorn's future.

Following up further leads from the cabal purge led Eisenhorn into one of his most famous investigations; the affair of the Necroteuch - a tome of Chaotic knowledge. Eisenhorn tracked the survivors of the heretical Gudrun cabal to a colony world inhabited by the xenos Saruthi. The Saruthi had come into the possession of a copy of the Necroteuch, and had translated it into their own language, creating two versions of this powerful Chaotic tome and a translating tool. The human Necroteuch tome written in High Gothic was quickly found and destroyed by Eisenhorn himself. Some Radical Inquisitors deemed this a heretical act, and damned Eisenhorn for it. However, the majority of the local Inquisitorial conclave, which was dominated by Puritans, supported Eisenhorn's decision to burn the tome, outvoting the Radicals. Eisenhorn was therefore spared from censure and was in fact instrumental in planning a raid on the Saruthi homeworld during which the remaining tainted items were destroyed. It was during this attack that Eisenhorn also first met Cherubael, a powerful daemonhost who would plague Eisenhorn and the Imperium in later endeavours.

The following year, 241.M41, Eisenhorn investigated the apparent ritual murders on the world of Sameter, at first believing the killings to be the work of some Chaos Cult. Soon, however, it was revealed that the culprits were actually ex-soldiers of the Imperial Guard. These former soldiers of the Sameter 9th Infantry Regiment had been driven mad by the horrors they had faced in war, and were ritually killing regular citizens. Backed up by the Arbitrators of the local Adeptus Arbites, Eisenhorn managed to corner and eliminate the fanatics in an abandoned and decaying building. During the resultant firefight, Eisenhorn lost his left hand to an experienced former-sharpshooter. He was offered a bionic prosthetic but declined, making do with a fused stump until he could have a vat-grown hand grafted on two years later.

In 312.M41, Eisenhorn's best friend and Acolyte, Midas Betancore, was killed by the heretic Fayde Thuring during an investigation. Thuring escaped, and Eisenhorn promised to keep a watchful eye on Midas' infant daughter, Medea. Years later, when she came of age, she would follow the path of her father and join the retinue of Inquisitor Eisenhorn as his pilot.

Twenty-six years later, in 338.M41, Eisenhorn began the investigation that he would become most famous for across the Imperium; the elimination of the heretic Inquisitor Quixos. The investigation took place in the aftermath of the disaster of the Thracian Primaris Triumph (where Eisenhorn's Interrogator, Gideon Ravenor, was horrifically injured), an atrocity that appeared to have been engineered to free several Alpha+ class rogue psykers from Imperial detention.

Eisenhorn's investigation took him to the world of Eechan, where, posing as mutants, he and his team discovered that there was Inquisitorial collusion in the scheme that had freed the rogue psykers. Inquisitor Lyko was discovered in the company of the daemonhost Cherubael. Taken aback by the reappearance of Cherubael, Eisenhorn focussed his investigations upon the creature. This led him to the fortress world of Cadia, where he discovered another daemonhost, Prophaniti, and ties between these daemonhosts and the missing Radical Inquisitor Quixos. However, Eisenhorn's investigation was sidelined for some time by his arrest by Inquisitor Osma for allegedly consorting with daemons. Escaping, he was declared outcast by the Inquisition and forced to operate as a rogue for the remainder of the investigation. Eisenhorn sojurned with his Adeptus Mechanicus associate Magos Bure on the world of Cinchare for some time, where he conferred with his prisoner, Pontius Glaw. During this period, he defeated a Chaos Cult that existed on the world and gained master-crafted Force Weapons.

Eisenhorn next assembled a small strike group of three other Inquisitors, and acting in concert with them, tracked down and confronted the renegade Inquisitor Quixos. Eisenhorn himself was the one who killed Quixos, recovered his heretical book, the Malus Codicium, and banished both Prophaniti and Cherubael to the Warp. Eisenhorn was cleared of all charges against him at the conclusion of the investigation.

In 345.M41, Eisenhorn succeeded in secretly summoning the daemon Cherubael and trapping him in the physical universe for interrogation and study. In 355.M41 he dealt with a minor Warp incursion of daemons on Gudrun.

It was in the year 386.M41 that Eisenhorn was able to avenge the death of Midas Betancore, but it came at considerable cost. Killing the heretic Fayde Thuring cost him the lives of several associates, placed Bequin into a coma, resulted in the destruction of his personal starship, his gun-cutter, and forced him to use the daemon Cherubael as an ally.

Shortly afterwards, Eisenhorn was the victim of a carefully planned attack orchestrated by Pontius Glaw, who had escaped the Inquisition's captivity and decided to punish and torment his captors. Almost every facet of Eisenhorn's life was brought crashing down around him, including his career, as he was once again declared an outcast by Inquisitors Osma and Heldane. His organisation shattered, his own body broken and much of his retinue dead, Eisenhorn was eventually able to call on the aid of his former pupil, Gideon Ravenor, who was now a full Inquisitor. With Ravenor's assistance, Eisenhorn was able to track Pontius down and eliminate him for good. However, the Pontius affair did more than deplete Eisenhorn's physical resources, it also finally broke down his resistance to employing Radical methods of fighting Chaos and the Imperium's other enemies - he began to travel with Cherubael as his constant companion.

Eisenhorn largely dropped out of sight after the Pontius affair, despite his outcast status apparently being rescinded once again by the Inquisition. He has reappeared for only brief moments in the years following, to recruit new Acolytes or confer with past associates, such as warning Gideon Ravenor about the intentions of the Chaos Cult known as the Divine Fratery. Later members of the cult discussed Eisenhorn and they suggested that he may have been killed fighting their followers, as he was inside a building that they bombed, and Eisenhorn subsequently vanished from their psychic foresight. The truth of his death can be disputed.

Appearance and Abilities
An Imperial Sanctioned Psyker, Eisenhorn possesses considerable natural willpower and resolve, which combined with his pool of psychic power, makes him a potent telepath. He normally channels his psychic talent through his voice, compelling people to follow his instructions. He can focus this talent upon distinct individuals in a crowd, or upon many people at once.

The most obvious physical attribute of Inqusitor Eisenhorn is his crude augmetic assist system, which can be seen projecting from the back of his head and encasing his lower limbs. This cybernetic implantion was done in a hurry near the end of the Pontius affair and appeared to both be permanent and sub-par. The augmetic rig allows him reasonable movement, but he has taken to using a swordstick to aid his balance. Several centuries old, Eisenhorn only looks roughly middle-aged to the casual observer as his aging process has been retarded by Inquisitorial juvenat treatments. The torture inflicted by Gorgone Locke resulted in the permanent destruction of many of the nerves in Eisenhorn's face. As a result, he has limited facial expressions and movement and notably can no longer smile. Once clean-shaven and dark-haired, Eisenhorn was forced to permanently shave his head when accepting his augmetic system. He normally wears sober suits of dark greys or blacks under long blue or black high-collared coats. Underneath the coat could once be found his sword, sheathed at his hip. It is now fashioned into a sword-stick, with the scabbard forming a walking-cane. Also under his coat is the chest-rig for his sidearm, normally holstered under his left shoulder. His Inquisitorial rosette is normally placed in an inside pocket. While Eisenhorn typically plays down his Inquisitorial station, he occasionally chooses to proudly display the full majesty of his office. In such circumstances he dresses more ornately and colourfully, if still in the same basic pattern of suit and long coat. His Inquisitorial rosette is then pinned to the front of his jacket, alongside other Imperial symbols and distinctions he is eligible to wear.

In the early part of his career, Eisenhorn carried a Power Sword of unusual design; instead of having a conventional metal blade as the focus of its energy-field, the blade was itself made of pure energy. This antique, graceful and deadly blade had been blessed by the Provost of Inx. In contrast to this priceless weapon, his standard sidearm during most of the same period was a cheap Imperial Naval-pattern Scipio stub-pistol that had been crudely gang-marked by Lores Vibben, an ex-ganger employed by Eisenhorn as his bodyguard and personal aide. The grips had been replaced with ivory, upon which was etched an entwined skull and rose; droplets of blood from the rose thorns were represented by inlaid carmine gems. Eisenhorn was initially rather embarrassed by this customisation to his pistol, but later realised that he was being honoured by Vibben's marking of his weapon in her gang-colours. When Vibben was killed by agents of Murdin Eyeclone, Eisenhorn made sure to use the pistol she had altered to execute Eyeclone. It was then buried with her.

Eisenhorn's next signature weapon was a heavily customised Bolt Pistol given to him by a Librarian of the Ordo Xenos Deathwatch Space Marines. Made of green-hued chased steel, it was hand-crafted to be of compact dimensions so that a normal-sized man could wirld it and had a magazine housing in the handgrip. It was lost during the Quixos investigation and never replaced with another particular favourite handgun.

Eisenhorn's Power Sword was destroyed in battle with Cherubael so Eisenhorn had Magos Bure craft him two powerful Force Weapons; a Force Staff topped by a powerful psychic lodestone carved to resemble Eisenhorn's own skull and a Force Sword based on Barbariaster, a blade once carried by Arianhrod Esw Sweydyr, one of Eisenhorn's deceased retainers. A very old weapon, the blade had been folded over 900 times and enhanced by potent pentagrammatic wards. Originally a long, double-handed, single-edged, saber-like weapon, Barbariaster was straightened and reforged into a single-handed sword after it was broken in battle against the rogue Inquisitor Quixos. Eisenhorn's Force Staff is slung across his back when not in use.

Beside his sanction inquisitorial weapons Eisenhorn held the only known copy of a proscribed grimoire, the Malus Codicium, which he took from the corpse of the rouge inquisitor Quixos. This accursed book details a vast array of powerful warp ritual. With the book as his teacher Eisenhorn learnt how to create deamonhosts, undead thralls and explosive warp vortexes, among other things. In the hands of a chaos sorcerer these spells could cause the destruction of a whole planet. In time Eisenhorn start to suspected that the book had a mind of it’s own, which lead him further and further towards damnation. During his final confrontation with the arch-heretic Pontius Glaw Eisenhorn destroyed the priceless book as a diversion. At that point Eisenhorn knew much of the book by heart, and he continue to use this knowledge to control the daemon Cherubael and to battle the forces of chaos.

The most powerful conventional weapon in his arsenal was his gun-cutter, a personal spacecraft capable of atmospheric flight, if not independent Warp-travel. Large enough to contain cabins and crew-quarters for a half-dozen people as well as a sizable cargo deck, the cutter was fast, agile and well-armed with several autocannon turrets.

Eisenhorn and his retinue also employed their own personal form of coded language, named Glossia. The basic format was created by Eisenhorn when he was 32 years of age, but it grew organically with use over the years, with several of his Acolytes contributing to its form.

Retinue
Inquisitor Eisenhorn created a considerable organisation of Acolytes and retainers during the first part of his career, starting out with a bare handful of hired hands and eventually employing dozens of retainers, including the Distaff, a group of psychic Blanks. This star-spanning organisation was destroyed by the machinations of Pontius Glaw, who also ensured the deaths of most of Eisenhorn's retinue. With Eisenhorn missing at the end of the Pontius affair, his surviving followers became part of the retinue of Inquisitor Ravenor. Eisenhorn largely avoided acquiring servants and Acolytes other than the daemon Cherubael for some time, but eventually began assembling a small retinue around himself once more. His notable employees and associates are listed below:
 * Uber Aemos (Savant)
 * Alizebeth Bequin (Untouchable)
 * Medea Betancore (Pilot)
 * Midas Betancore (Pilot)
 * Magos Bure (Tech-Priest)
 * Cherubael (Daemonhost)
 * Lucius 'Slick' Devlan (Gunfighter)
 * Severina and Sevora Devout (Death Cultist Assassins)
 * Godwyn Fischig (Adeptus Arbite Arbitrator)
 * Nathun Inshabel (Interrogator)
 * Tobias Maxilla (Merchant Captain)
 * Harlon Nayl (Bounty-Hunter)
 * Quovandius (Warrior)
 * Gideon Ravenor (Interrogator, later Inquisitor)
 * Arianhrod Esw Sweydyr (Swordswoman)
 * Kara Swole (Warrior)
 * Lores Vibben (Bodyguard)