First the INQUISITORIAL warband gets overtaken by some Commissar acting like we are there to serve at her pleasure, now we are getting surprised and bossed around by some Arbites?
What the hell is this? The Lex is Important but not more important than an Inquisitorial Rosette. ABSOLUTE Authority is what that seal means. Really disappointed in the constant belittling of the Inquisition. The only person would could strut in and act like a boss could be either a Custodes or some extra powerful Rogue Trader waving his Warrant of Trade in front of his face.
But it looks like Fatshark thinks every other imperial institution can simply roll up on Grendyls Warband.
An alternate narrative could have been, “With Grendyl’s successful warband operations diminishing the strength of the Moebian Sixth, the Adeptus Arbites have been ordered to return to Tertium and resume collection of the tithe”. There, Grendyl status intact, Inquisition still respected and feared.
That being said, our merry band of rejects are likely a pretty low rank within the hierarchy of Inquisitorial warbands so it wouldn’t be far fetched to assume Grendyl himself isn’t a very high status Inquisitor, rather he may have been assigned Tertium as a punishment.
Pretty common thread in all of the Dan Abnett books I’ve read (which is a lot of them) is that it’s all political. The Inquisition often bends to local forces to get things done. None of the stuff in the game is out of step with the lore as seen in Abnett’s books.
I don’t want to Akshully you for no reason, but this isn’t entirely correct.
Might Makes Right here. If Grendyl wanted to kill Dukane, he has the right “technically”. He could “technically” shoot Grand Marshall Zorin into space if he wanted to, as well.
Everyone following Dukane and Zorin could also launch a bunch of torpedoes into the Mourning Star until it becomes space debris… and there’d be f*ckall anyone present could do about it.
This doesn’t happen because, beyond the egos, everyone knows they’re on the same team and have a bigger problem. It’s politics, man. Dukane and Zorin have both a reason and a platoon’s worth of guns to back their causes. Their egos and authority are likely earned and their faith isn’t in question, Grendyl would be a fool to pull rank.
For such slavish devotion to GW standards, this is a remarkable thing to screw up.
Nothing supercedes or is outside the purview of the Inquisition’s authority other than the Custodes and the other two Talons of The Emperor, the office of the primarchs (as well as a couple new agencies Guilliman set up), and to a certain extent the Adeptus Mechanicus at the higher levels, all of whom can make a greater claim to be acting on The Emperor’s will and command more of his authority.
Even then you’ll get silly headstrong inquisitors who try to throw their weight around with them and get smacked down hard. So the idea that a commisar would take command of an Inquisitorial warband is lunacy and in need of correction.
“But my patience isn’t limitless… unlike my authority”
Inquisitor Eisenhorn - Dan Abbnets books.
It’s one thing to make you life easier by working with the locals or other imperial institutions, entirely another is whatever happens on the deck of the Mourningstar where everyone thinks they can boss us around like we’re the local yokels barely competent enough to follow their orders.
Of all the valid complaints towards this game, this isn’t one of them; what is going on is actually quite common in the lore, particularly across the various Inquisition-focused roleplaying games.
It is a matter of hard versus soft power: While Grendyl would be within their rights as an Inquisitor to usurp control or otherwise override the whims of the Commissar and Arbites, an inquisitor also has to consider the realities of the scenario - do they want to try to strongarm a Commissar who is their contact with the entirety of loyal military forces on Atoma? Do they want to put off the Arbites and risk having them interfere by taking matters into their own hands or actually prosecuting our rejects for the crimes real and imagined we have been convicted for?
Grendyl’s hard resources in the system amount to a single ship, a decorated command staff, and a hold full of disposable rejects (along with a handful of mortis-level operatives and some number of infiltrators/spies). So yes, while they would indeed by within their rights to swing their holographic stick left and right and undermine these figures and forces from doing their own specialized jobs, I would imagine the good inquisitor and/or their delegate Rannick have the prudence not to cause unnecessary friction among loyalist forces while outnumbered and outgunned during a hive-wide insurrection/Chaos incursion just to avoid a bit of disrespect from harried but otherwise upstanding and influential Imperial servants.
Plus, no Commissar or Arbitrator is going to stop Rannick and Zola from doing whatever they feel is necessary for victory with their mere presence on board. They can play the Inquisitor card down the line when and if things actually come to a head between the various factions.
TL;DR, Grendyl’s warband has enough on their plate to be causing internal conflict at any perceived disrespect from Atoma’s representatives. That’s small picture crap.
Maybe this can be explained by the chains of command and communication getting so disrupted following the opening of the Great Rift. I’d like to think this isn’t something that would be tolerated under more normal circumstances.
The Great Rift has become a bit of a plot point for excusing incongruous happenstances, after all.
I’m sorry, I know that you’re trying to rationalize hard, but this isnt a good argument you’re making. For context I’ve been reading 40k novels since 2004 and I’ve come across dozens of inquisitors and and universal response to the Inquisitorial seal is “Oh God Emperor…” Nor is this an argument that Dukane or Zorin should fall on their knees in front of Rannick and ask for orders. This is a Issue of them overstepping their bounds in a way that is at best stupid and at worst heretical. It’s like if in Space Marine 2 the Ultramarines showed up on the battlefield and the local Cadian commander started telling them what to do, and you coping with that saying, what you’re gonna take on a Cadian Regiment with your 3 Space Marines, while a Tyranid invasion is taking place? Just follow his orders. Nah man. This aint how it goes. Fatshark simply has a bad narrative going.
The Rift is why we’re light on resources and assistance, and the fight for Atoma isn’t going great, so things are definitely strained. And people are stressed. And everyone is trying to cover their own butts and look good and all the human stuff that comes up in Abnett’s books. It’s actually one of my favorite parts of the books and the game’s narrative. Stuff with humans is messy, and the rules are always grey.
Nothing has to be set in stone with story telling, If anything is to be taken from all these Tithe demanders and Logistics maintainers is they have fancy hats.
but seriously, This is all a reflection on Grendyls character, IMO. Grendyl is being walked over by all “these people” showing up. Sure they do not want to ruffle any feathers neaty portrayed on the imperiums hats but It brings up bigger questions like why is Grendyl so afraid to reveal their face, even to Rannick!
Remember the Mourningstar isnt Grendyls ship, its Shipmaster Brahams, even in some Ravenor books people show on the ships take it over and murder the shipmaster spoiler.
Haven’t gotten into the game to see the new stuff yet. That said, the Imperium us a huge place with overlapping authorities and institutions, and always in the background different Inquisitorial factions, so who know what may be going on. I’ll have to log in and see what’s up.
Also, many games flub something, there’s always a head-scratcher moment somewhere. Watching the guardsmen fawning Spehse Muhreen fanservice in Space Marine 2 was both painful and absurd given that the Cadian 8th have most decidedly seen Space Marines before…and killed them.
I see most of the counter argumes can be condensed into “We just don’t want to rock the boat man that’s why we’re getting dogwalked by every other Imperial institution even tho were supposed to be the supreme authority”
Sure guys.
I wonder what other imperial organisation will show up barking orders at us?
An Ecclesiarchy Confessor showing up with a Sorortitas Class maybe?