The Inquisitorial Rosette of the Imperial Inquisition.
The Revivificators are a Radical faction of the Inquisition who descend partly from the Puritan Thorians' beliefs. Unlike other factions who seek the resurrection of the Emperor into a new morta form that can once more interact on a daily basis with His people, the Revivificators have few ties with the Adeptus Ministorum. Their goal is the study of the transition of the Human soul to the Warp at the moment of death. Though their studies of the soul are very similar to those of the Casophilians and the Anomolian Beholders, the Revivificators seek a means through which death can be slowed or even halted and ultimately the individual can be resurrected.
This peculiar field means that Inquisitors that follow this philosophy tend to be found on the battlefield or in plague areas where they conduct investigations on those that are nearing death. In addition to such locales, they are also common visitors to tombs and mausoleums which leads to a certain amount of disrespect to the practices of the Ecclesiarchy. This has led to Revivificators gaining a reputation as "ghouls" and "ravens" due to the morbid nature of their practices.
Revivificators are known to have learned much from the capture of various Aeldari over the centuries. This is because they find the Aeldari soul to be a fascinating object of study because of that xenos species' ancient ability to reincarnate themselves after death and their other necromantic practices in the wake of Slaanesh's birth and the fall of their lost empire. These Inquisitors have conducted numerous experiments in replicating the Asuryani's practice of capturing a departing soul in a Spirit Stone. However, all these attempts have been unsuccessful as Humanity's psychic technology is far inferior to the psychic engineering properties of Aeldari wraithbone.
In addition, there are also those who follow this belief who have read Inquisitor Lord Van Hinkel's Treatise on the Soultheft Methods of Eldar Pirates which was written in the 39th Millennium. The detailed text contains a report of the Inquisitor's interrogation of a captured Drukhari which also contained collated information from many other sources which were previously scattered in various libraries and datafiles that were present throughout the Inquisition's fortresses and void stations. The least scrupulous of the Revivificators have attempted to make use of the torturous practices of the Drukhari on Heretics and other criminals. There are few within the Inquisition who are aware of the grisly dungeons that are staffed by Revivificator telepaths and which are wired to arcane machinery for the detection as well as the extraction of psychic energy.
The ultimate goal of these Inquisitors is to study the mechanisms of the Golden Throne itself and find a means of altering its functions in order for the Emperor's physical body to be restored. As such, they study not only the passage of a soul into the Warp but also the means through which a corpse can be maintained in a state of readiness for a possible re-infusion of the soul. Access to such knowledge and technologies often mean that the Revivificators live far longer than other Inquisitors. The oldest is Inquisitor Lord Verinath who was shot and killed whilst hale and hearty at the age of seven hundred and sixty-three Terran years.
Notable Revivificators[]
- Inquisitor Lord Van Hinkel - Van Hinkle was an Inquisitor Lord and notable member of the Radical Revivificators faction. He wrote the Treatise on the Soultheft Methods of Eldar Pirates in the late 39th Millennium, with information gathered from interrogations conducted on a captured Drukhari concerning his people's means of consuming the psychic emissions of pain and suffering from their pret to fortify their own souls against the hunger of Slaanesh. This knowledge later led to experimentation with Drukhari techniques by other Revivificator Inquisitors on Human Heretics and criminals.
- Inquisitor Lord Verinath - Verinath was the oldest known Revivificator, who was slain while still fully healthy and in command of all of his faculties at the age of 763 standard years. This is an example of how the Revivificators' research often leads to the acquisition of technolgies and other methods to dramatically increase the baseline Human lifespan.
Sources[]
- Inquisitor - The Thorians (Specialty Game), pg. 7
- The Inquisition (Background Book), pg. 91