"We are at war with forces too terrible to comprehend. We cannot afford mercy for any of its victims too weak to take the correct course. Mercy destroys us; it weakens us and saps our resolve. Put aside all such thoughts. They are not worthy of Inquisitors in the service of our Emperor. Praise His name for in our resolve we only reflect His purpose of will."
- —The Verses of Inquisitor Octus Enoch
A Cult-stalker of the Ordo Malleus
A Cult-stalker is an Acolyte of the Ordo Malleus or an agent of the Adeptus Arbites who serves as an undercover Imperial agent in infiltrating Chaos Cults.
They are often former members of organised criminal syndicates, or conversely, former officers of the Adeptus Arbites whose underworld connections prove extremely useful in identifying and infiltrating such cults.
Role[]
One of the greatest threats facing the Holy Inquisition within the Calixis Sector is that of recidivism. There are cults devoted to the Dark Gods hidden within all levels of Imperial society and it is the Inquisition's job to root them out. Each Chaos Cult plans its own way to escape detection until it can grow to the point of dominating society. Mere survival is particularly important on Imperial worlds, where Chaos worship is the greatest of heresies and Inquisitors are always vigilant for any taint of Chaos.
Extremist political organisations make especially good fronts for cults, since they naturally attract power-hungry and mentally unbalanced individuals, who are often well-suited to becoming cult members. A very successful cult can even gain enough power to become the governing body of its home planet without having to resort to outright rebellion.
Thus, many Calixian Adeptus Arbites precincts keep dedicated squads of Cult-hunters on hand. The Arbites' Judges prefer to take care of cult problems quickly and quietly as the knowledge of a cult's ongoing survival within their sphere of influence could lead to further civil unrest, or draw the attention of far more heavy-handed (and collateral damage-prone) Inquisitors.
Often, cults lair in unsavory parts of cities where no Arbitrator would dare go without formidable backup. As they do not want to call attention to this problem, a "troubleshooter" is occasionally brought in from the local criminal element to assist the Adeptus Arbites by infiltrating the cult. Usually this service comes at the price of a pardon for the troubleshooter's lesser crimes, but some rare street scum are willing to help with an investigation purely out of devotion to the God-Emperor.
One notable success took place on Malfi when the Adeptus Arbites conscripted several small hive city gangs to infiltrate a suspected Blood Cult. Judge Chal York coerced the troubled Kestrali noble dynasty to enter into the slave trade, selling his Cult-stalkers into the pit fights. York was assassinated shortly afterwards. The nobles of the Kestrali dynasty, unable to prove their innocence in the sanctioned operation, were put to death in the wake of the Judge's murder. The Cult-stalkers were forgotten to the Adeptus Arbites.
Nearly a solar decade later, Inquisitor Medina uncovered the same Malfian Blood Cult in her investigations. The ex-gang's numbers had dwindled to only a handful, but they were now the elite guard and some of the cult's most trusted members. Never failing in their duties or faith, these former criminals had proven that they were loyal to the God-Emperor above all else. They presented their years of meticulously gathered information to the Inquisitor, and on her authority executed over a thousand citizens in one bloody night, and presented themselves for execution. Their sacrifice ended a planned Daemonic incursion before it even began.
Becoming a Cult-stalker[]
Cult-stalkers need to have a keen eye for detail and strong, inquisitive minds. Those that come from a former criminal career are more often than not con-men who use their silver tongues to gain access to a cult and infiltrate its ranks. They pass any information they gain on to their Adeptus Arbites contacts, who can then swiftly and mercilessly destroy the cult.
Cult-stalkers often have undergone some form of indoctrination so that they may blend into a specific Chaos Cult. Depending on the type of cult they have been tasked with infiltrating, they may pursue the following preparations:
- Political - The Cult-stalker has spent solar weeks memorising the intricate relationships of local noble families, powerful local planetary governors, their cabinet advisors and local prominent military personnel.
- Heretek - The Acolyte has spent solar hours alongside Tech-priests, learning their ways and examining their mannerisms. They have been implanted with a single augmetic designed to appear "questionable" to Adeptus Mechanicus observers and thus better be opalatable to a potential cabal of Hereteks.
- Pleasure Cults - Steady doses of poison within controlled environments, chemical treatments, and dozens of surgeries have prepared the character to resist the call of a pleasure cult while simultaneously making them look like a perfect candidate.
- Infestation - These cults can be some of the hardest to infiltrate, requiring standard years of training and surgery to prepare an Acolyte to be a plausible candidate for a cult that seeks to have its members become Daemonhosts.
- Blood Cult - Endless hours of martial training and physical conditioning have prepared the Acolyte to impress Blood Cult members with their martial prowess.
- Cultural Preparation - Hypno-indoctrination and solar months of linguistic drills have prepared the Acolyte to blend seamlessly into a society alien to their own and work theirway into the halls of power.
Sources[]
- Dark Heresy: Daemon Hunter (RPG), pp. 50-51