"There are amongst our Ordo those who say that I seek advancement for my own purposes, and they are correct. My purpose is to destroy the Daemonic and if I must rise to command an entire sector to do so, then so be it. I am a servant of the Emperor and only those who consort with Warp-spawn need fear my ambition."
- —Inquisitor Lord Torquemada Coteaz
Inquisitor Lord Torquemada Coteaz and his Psyber-eagle familiar.
Torquemada Coteaz is a Puritan Inquisitor Lord and psyker of the Ordo Malleus who gained his reputation for being a fearsome Daemonhunter through solar decades of action against the forces of Chaos. He is now known as the High Protector of the Formosa Sector.
With his power and popularity, he is served by literally thousands of Acolytes and Throne Agents, and he arms himself with rare weapons and wargear like his Anointed Daemonhammer, Artificer Armour, a twin-headed Glovodan Psyber-eagle familiar, and various potent relics of the Inquisition.
History[]
Origins[]
Torquemada Coteaz has ever been driven by a single consuming passion: to destroy Daemons wheresoever they manifest. Unlike many of his fellow Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus who pursue the Radical path, Coteaz always refused to contemplate harnessing the power of the Warp for his own ends, and aggressively prosecuted those who lacked his purity. So perished Coteaz's mentor, Inquisitor Lord Laredian, an old man executed at his own student's hand for dabbling in forbidden arts.
The Puritan Inquisitor Lord Torquemada Coteaz of the Ordo Malleus unleashes his righteous wrath upon the servants of the Ruinous Powers.
He became infamous for this betrayal of his former master. During one of the Inquisitorial conclaves on the planet Varoth, Coteaz's erstwhile mentor, Inquisitor Lord Laredian, presented a Warp-tainted crystal to the conclave, which he claimed was a potential useful item to track and root out other, similarly-tainted items. He hoped to harness similar Chaos relics in the name of Mankind, and pleaded for the Ordo Malleus to study the artefact. As Laredian finished his plea, Coteaz stood up, and brought down his Daemonhammer on the crystal, shattering it utterly while levelling an accusation of Extremis Diabolus against Laredian, denouncing him as a blasphemer and trafficker with abominations.
The conclave erupted and castigated Coteaz for his disrespect of proper protocol, but the unfazed Coteaz merely produced a small hourglass, and stated he would prove his accusation in only the time necessary for the small device to empty. Coteaz proceeded to bring to light multiple occasions where Laredian had used Daemonhosts or other Warp magicks in order to fight the Archenemy.
Coteaz ended his demonstration of guilt by executing the Heretic himself on the spot. This decisive act, combined with his absolute intransigence against using anything ever touched by the Archenemy, ensured that Coteaz was promoted to the rank of Inquisitor Lord himself to fill the place of the man he had just executed by the shocked conclave.
After Laredian's death, Coteaz assumed his responsibilities as High Protector of the Formosa Sector. Through alliance, coercion and outright intimidation, Coteaz formed a spy network of contacts, henchmen and infiltrators throughout the sector's inhabited worlds. Not for Coteaz is the way of the Inquisitorial Mandate, of requisitioning Imperial troops when need presents itself; instead, he sought to build an army of his own, ever at his beck and call.
Inquisitor Lord Coteaz and his retinue of Acolytes
As its High Protector, Coteaz has thousands of followers in the Formosa Sector, of many different dispositions. His base of operations is the Inquisitorial fortress of Nemesis Tessera. It is not known how many of the Formosa Sector's Planetary Defence Forces are as much Coteaz's sworn men as they are those of their commanders. Or how many hive city gangs act under Coteaz's control, given license to pursue their own petty activities so long as they act as his eyes. People disappear easily in Formosa, and its citizens know better than to inquire.
At first glance, Coteaz's stranglehold on the sector would seem merely another cautionary tale concerning the temptations of absolute power, yet he does not seek to rule, and the sector's planetary governors are left to oversee their duties largely without oversight or interference.
Coteaz's network of informants exists only to provide warning of any threat overtaking Formosa. It is a most efficient form of protection; after all, in a sector where any gathering of three citizens contains at least two of Coteaz's informants, it is nearly impossible for a Traitor to gather a following. Thus has Coteaz's domain prospered in an age when the Imperium is increasingly brought to ruin by the enemy within.
Few other men could hope to replicate this success, for Coteaz is a man consumed by his chosen task. He seldom sleeps, and spends every waking hour sifting through reports delivered by his faithful Glovodan Psyber-eagle, or personally leading his forces against Daemons, Heretics or xenos foolish enough to trespass on his realm.
Lately, Coteaz has cast his pall of influence over worlds bordering the Formosa Sector, bringing yet more planets under his protection. Yet even as his borders expand, Coteaz's worries grow. He is now an old man, and like all old men he fears leaving his work undone without a successor to continue it; of all the many Acolytes Coteaz has cultivated, none have had the necessary drive or strength of will. Thusly, Coteaz has begun a search for forgotten fragments of cloning lore and alien rejuvenation technology, any means of extending his life, or rather, any means bar one.
Coteaz knows that the boon he seeks could easily be granted by a Daemon, should he summon and bind it according to the proper rituals. Part of him longs to embrace this small evil, that it may firm up the foundations of his righteous work. It is a temptation that grows stronger with every passing solar day, but one that Coteaz has stalwartly resisted, at least so far.
Deeds of Coteaz[]
Inquisitor Lord Torquemada Coteaz outfitted in his modified Artificer Armour and armed with his Anointed Daemonhammer and Glovodan Psyber-eagle familiar.
Inquisitor Lord Coteaz's career is long and filled with incident. Most notable amongst his many persecutions of the Daemon and the Heretic are the following: the extermination of the Xethorites during the Lorgamar Rebellions (for which Coteaz was later known as the "Scourge of the Xethorites"); the purging of the Medarean Nebula; the cleansing of the hive cities of Opridia of the taint of the Plaguelord Nurgle (known as the Great Cleansing of 972.M41), and the destruction of the Daemon-engineers of Forge World Glovoda, for which the Adeptus Mechanicus gifted him the Glovodan Eagle, a twin-headed psyber-eagle, to serve as his familiar.
During the Cleansing of Opridia in 972.M41 Coteaz cast out Daemons from a million Daemonhosts and killed the Daemon Prince Karpathi the Occludor with the aid of the Exorcists Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. In this conflict he used a Chimera of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers, which was enscribed with a line from the Exorcism Deus Abominatus.
During the 13th Black Crusade in ca. 999.M41, Coteaz led multiple strike forces of Grey Knights against Daemon outbreaks in the Agripinaa Sector as well as on Kasr Holn and Xersia.
After the birth of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus, during the Indomitus Crusade Coteaz received a mysterious message from the Craftworld Aeldari about the threat posed by the Arks of Omen now in the possession of Abaddon the Despoiler as a result of his alliance with the Daemon Vashtorr. Though Coteaz did not trust the xenos due to their well-known reputation for duplicity, Coteaz nonetheless began to investigate the recent Chaos invasions that had made use of the Arks of Omen and try to piece together the truth of the matter.
Wargear[]
Inquisitor Lord Torquemada Coteaz of the Ordo Malleus and his twin-headed psyber-eagle familiar.
- Artificer Armour - Coteaz has a specially-adapted suit of Adeptus Astartes Artificer Armour that has been specially crafted and modified to be worn by an unaugmented Human of normal stature who lacks the Black Carapace. It also incorporates a defensive refractor field.
- Master-crafted Nemesis Daemonhammer - Coteaz is one of the few Inquisitors to wield an anointed Daemonhammer, blessed by the Holy Order of the Sacred Thorn, a devotional order of the Formosa Sector and coated in sacred oils inimical to Daemons. Its power is anathema to Daemons, beyond that of even a normal Daemonhammer.
- Glovodan Psyber-Eagle - Coteaz is accompanied by a Glovodan Psyber-Eagle Familiar, a gift from the Adeptus Mechanicus for ridding the Forge World of Glovada of Daemonic taint. Through it, Coteaz can channel his potent psychic energies. Such is the link between it and its master that Coteaz can tap into its senses and achieve greater awareness of his surroundings.
Notable Associates[]
- Interrogator DuGrae (KIA) - Interrogator DuGrae was a former Thunderbolt-pilot of great talent who participated in the Third War for Armageddon against the Orks of Warboss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. Obtaining ace status against the flying heaps of junk that pass as aircraft amongst the Orks, DuGrae was noticed by Torquemada Coteaz, who made her part of his retinue as an Acolyte. Quickly rising through thne ranks of the Inquisition, the trusted acolyte was soon granted Interrogator-status and permanently despatched to the Conclave of Encaladus in the Sol System. DuGrae's skills as a fighter-pilot were put to good use as a messenger in service of the Ordo Malleus, delivering sensitive messages that were deemed too sensible to be misinterpreted or too dangerous to be sent by astropath. To ensure total security of these messages, Interrogator DuGrae had received multiple cortical cybernetic enhancements to ensure that she had no knowledge of the message she conveyed and that would fry her brain instantly if anyone tried to pry her mind open by psychic means. To complete her missions, DuGrae was granted command of a swift, Warp-capable messenger ship, a nimble and agile vessel that handled almost like a fighter and which was merely crewed by herself and her Navigator. Interrogator DuGrae was killed on a mission to the Trail of Saint Evisser.
Sources[]
- Arks of Omen: Abaddon (9th Edition), pg. 32
- Codex: Daemonhunters (3rd Edition), pp. 40, 56-57
- Codex: Grey Knights (5th Edition), pg. 45
- Dark Heresy: The Radical's Handbook (RPG), pg. 147
- Imperial Armour Volume Two, Second Edition - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 22
- The Inquisition: An Illustrated Guide, pg. 20
- Grey Knights (Novel) by Ben Counter in The Grey Knights Omnibus (Anthology), pg.195-197