Covenant

Inquisitor Covenant of the Ordo Malleus

Covenant is an Inquisitor of the daemon-hunting Ordo Malleus. He is one of a new breed of fiery, determined individuals dedicated to purging perceived corruption within the Inquisition itself. As a member of the Ordo Malleus, he has access to specific daemon-hunting equipment, such as a Psycannon, and makes a particular point of destroying the daemonhosts created by his less puritanical cohorts. Currently Covenant is scouring the southern rim of the galaxy of the taint of Chaos. In recent years, Covenant's actions have been focussed on the Caradryan Sector of the Segmentum Tempestus, where his investigations have revealed the existence of a powerful Horusian fraction within theInquisition.

History

The driven and charismatic Covenant is the foremost of a movement of young firebrand Inquisitors emerging from the Ordo Malleus conclaves of the galactic South, focused not on the broad Imperium but upon the ranks of the Inquisition itself. Initially dismissed as over-zealous novices promoted too early, Covenant and his colleagues have answered this cynicism with brutal purges of their brethren. Rumour has it that their crusade through their own corridors of power is a reaction to a series of betrayals along the southern rim, where Inquisitors gave in to despair in the depths of the Second Tyrannic War and turned to forbidden arts to combat the menace of Hive Fleet Kraken. There are even claims of a secret pact wherein the young and hot-blooded Inquisitors swore to punish the crimes of the old and misguided, and that Covenant renamed himself for that pact to honour it. But he and his fellows refuse to discuss their pasts, only the work they have yet to do and the justice they have yet to mete out.

Piercing the veil of secrecy Covenant has surrounded himself with is no easy task, and what is known about him is highly fragmentary at best. Covenant's true identity and origins are unknown. In fact, the Imperial and the Inquisitorial Archives have been purged of any mention of him before his admission within the ranks of the Holy Ordos. According to these informations, Inquisitor Covenant performed his apprenticeship under the notorious Thorian Inquisitor Argento, which has believed many of his peers to mark Covenant as a Thorian himself, a status that  has not been confirmed so far. Covenant and Argento's second Interrogator, the later Inquisitor Idris, both simultaneously reached the rank of Inquisitor, a painful transition that perhaps heralded much of his future career. Although the exact extent of Argento's treachery has been redacted, what is known is that Argento diverted from the Thorian dogma and did not contend himself with merely searching for the Emperor's new host-body, but actively sought to create a Living Saint capable of harbouring the Emperor's entire conscience. Highly reminiscent of the blasphemous methods employed by Radicals to create Daemonhosts, Argento's efforts were deemed heretical by Covenant and Idris which confronted their master and ultimately thwarted his plans and slayed him. It was in recognition of this act that both former Interrogators were confirmed by the Inquisitorial Conclave in their rights as fully-fledged Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus.

In recent years, Covenant has concentrated his efforts on hunting those Inquisitors he deemed corrupted by the taint of radicalism, zeroing in on Inquisitor Goldoran Talicto, which he formally denounced as a heretic at the great Inquisitorial Conclave on Ero. By sheer luck, Inquisitor Idris was also present at the Conclave and immediately supported Covenant's accusations against Talicto. However, unforeseen to both Inquisitors, the Renegade Talicto had secretly planned to kill those members of the Inquisitorial Conclave present and assume formal command of the gathering Imperial Crusade. Covenant's effort, while sufficient to disrupt Taclito's plans failed to apprehend the renegade Inquisitor or indeed prevent the Massacre of the Reliquary Tower, as Taclito had covertly smuggled a highly effective band of assassins - a resurrectionnist Cult later revealed as the Renewed - onto Ero. In the fierce fighting that ensued, Inquisitor Idris was slain while trying to evacuate the sacred Reliquary Tower before its Plasma Generators overloaded. Suspected of being a Traitor himself, Covenant was confronted by Lord Inquisitor Vult, the highest ranking member of the Inquisition in the Caradryan Sector before gaining his trust and joining forces with him. Covenant's investigations soon revealed that the man posing as Goldoran Talicto was in fact a usurper, the real Inquisitor having been found slain on the distant planet of Iago. Convinced that the imposter was in fact a mere agent for a more powerful organisation, a trio of Horusian Inquisitors called "the triumvirate" in Taclito's notes, Covenant and Lord Vult were investigating a secret asteroid base referred to as "the Archive" when they were directly attacked by those they were hunting down. Their opponents not hesitating to open a portal into the Warp and unleash a tide of Daemons at them in a desperate attempt to stop them. Through the heroic sacrifice of Lord Vult, Covenant and his retinue escaped the asteroid-base before the Archive itself was destroyed by a volley of Plasma Torpedoes fired from the Traitor's ship, the Falchion-class Frigate Truth Eternal. Cleared of all the charges pending against him in a formal Inquisitorial Trial, Covenant now hunts for the Truth Eternal in the vain hope that it would lead him to its dark masters.

Covenant's Retinue

• Cleander von Castellan - Duke von Castellan is the scion of a wealthy family on Xarxis Plethis. Having inherited the von Castellan hereditary trade license, he sold the family estates to buy a starship in order to start out as a merchant. His travels took him further and further towards the Southern rim, and he encountered no less than four non-Imperial worlds, with which he opened exclusive trade negotiations. It was at this point that Inquisitor Covenant caught up with him. In return for not being punished for failing to disclose the whereabouts of aliens, the Duke signed an agreement pledging himself and his ship to Covenant, and has subsequently answered the Inquisitor's call on several occasions. Von Castellan has little sense of honour or duty, but is scared of reprisals should he renege on his oath.
• Viola von Castellan
• Glavius-4-Rho

• Ivixia Dannica - Covenant recruited the notable Inquisitor, the Daemonhuntress Ivixia Dannica, from one of the Schola Progenium on Alena-Mora. She was the daughter of the Imperial Guard Colonel Dannica whose regiment had been seconded to service with Inquisitor Grainne of the Ordo Hereticus during his Examinations into the Cardinal of Alena-Mora during the Sargossa Schism. Following the successful persecution of the Cardinal for his apostate teachings and the prescribed punishment of both him and his world, Colonel Dannica's regiment was granted feudal rights over the ashes of this world. The tales of the executed Cardinal's wickedness filled her with a righteous loathing of all things heretical and evil. Such was her fervour in this pious hatred that many believed she would take her vows and become a member of one of the militant orders of the Adepta Sororitas. This was not to be. On Ivixia's eighteenth birthday, Inquisitor Covenant appeared at her family's estate and demanded to see the young girl. The Colonel obeyed the mysterious robed figure and allowed him to speak with his daughter. Covenant was convinced that Ivixia would make an ideal recruit for his retinue and began subjecting her to a lengthy series of ordeals to prove her spiritual purity and physical suitability. Ivixia passed each one with ease, but as she continued with the tests, an act of base treachery reaching back to the examination of Inquisitor Grainne was to come to fruition. Those that had escaped the initial purges of Colonel Dannica's regiment had clandestinely continued following the apostate teachings of the planet's formal ruler. A network of daemon-hunting cults existed throughout the planet, slowly gathering power until such time as they were ready to avenge their master and regain control of their world. As Ivixia's tests continued, the Chaos Cultists struck at the Colonel as his family attended a regimental ball. A Daemon from the darkest regions of the Warp manifested in a blazing pyre of blood, slaughtering the guests in a frenzy of bloodletting. Schooled in the mystical arts of the Daemonhunter, Covenant was able to hold the daemon at bay, but not before it slew the Colonel with a sweep of a warp-forged blade. The Colonel's body burst into flames, immolating in a heartbeat until nothing but his charred skull remained. At the sight of her father's murder, Ivixia screamed at the daemon and the power of her words staggered the daemon for the briefest instant. It was all the opening Covenant needed and he was able to destroy the daemon's form and send it back from whence it came. In the aftermath of the massacre, Inquisitor Covenant led the purges of the cults with Ivixia at his side, convinced more than ever that Ivixia was the right choice for his acolyte. Six months to the day following her father's death, Inquisitor Covenant left Alena-Mora with Ivixia Dannica as his latest Acolyte. Recalling the teachings of her father, Ivixia had his skull modified by the lexmechanics of Inquisitor Covenant and turned into a weapon carrying Servo-skull. Now her father would remain with her wherever she went and could continue to serve the Emperor beyond death. Together Covenant and Ivixia continued to travel around the southern rim of the galaxy, stamping out many blasphemous sects dedicated to the worship of daemons and other warp-spawned abominations.
• Josef Khoriv
• Koleg
• Mylasa
• Severita

Wargear

• Carapace Armour
• Flak Armour
• Power Falchion
• MIU-Linked Shoulder Mounted Psycannon
• Pump Action Combat Shotgun
• Scatter Shells
• Hellfire Shells
• Bolt Pistol

Sources

• Dark Heresy: Enemies Beyond (2nd Edition) (RPG), pg. 20
• Inquisitor: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 97, 107
• Specialist Games - Inquisitor Ivixia Dannica by Graham McNeill
• The Horusian Wars: Resurrection (Novel) by John French