Most Holy Society for the Preservation of Sacred Knowledge

The Inquisition serves as the ecclesiastical enforcement arm of the Holy Church of Mankind's Redemption. Its official role is to root out sorcery and heresy, which is a task it performs with enthusiasm and great effectiveness. However it is an open secret that the Inquisition is very much an instrument of secular policy projection for the Church – when a lord of some kind does not toe the line, it is a simple matter to have the Inquisition “take an interest in the lord’s unwholesome academic pursuits.” In places where the Church does not hold complete political sway, it must obtain the local sovereign’s permission to operate in any given jurisdiction, but that permission is rarely, if ever, withheld. One notable exception is that the Inquisition is not officially allowed to operate in the Slavers’ Quarter of Three Sisters. Likewise The Inquisition is not officially present in Noctile. But the Inquisition habitually ignores laws regarding jurisdiction; while it is often easier to operate openly, the Inquisition has found that it is often easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, especially if that forgiveness can be extorted.   To preserve a veneer of legality, the Inquisition generally issues Warrants of Question, Warrants of Execution and Warrants of Dispossession to local judiciaries for approval. Warrants of Question permit the Inquisition to use any means deemed necessary to extract a confession from an individual. Warrants of Execution are issued when an individual has confessed to the Inquisitor’s satisfaction, and permits the Inquisition to execute the individual. Warrants of Dispossession are often issued at the same time as those of Question or Execution, and cause the individual’s entire fortune and estate – including all incomes, loans, and other assets – to be forfeit to the Church. Many lords take a dim view of Warrants of Dispossession, but none dare defy the Church – especially as there is always a rival willing to sign such a warrant directed at the lord in question in turn.