Inquisitor

Magic and Law in Harmony

The idea of the inquisitor is one that naturally elicits a response of disdain and contempt, and evokes images of violence, torture, execution, and persecution. However, Iocrade's inquisitors represent all stripes. While some certainly do represent draconian religious law, many more still are merely law enforcement agents who employ divine magic. Some even work for distinctly secularized organizations and are responsible for enforcing and protecting completely worldly laws. This is the natural result of the mechanics of this world - magic is useful for all kinds of tasks, not the least of which is law enforcement.
It is hard to know what one will get when dealing with an Inquisitor - perhaps a dull bureaucratic type who will cast a Discern Lies spell and ask a few questions. Perhaps they will bust down the door, pin you to the wall, and cuff you in manacles before dragging you back to a dungeon in chains. Perhaps you'll only see a pistol appearing as a Renepalian Street Warden takes you out the moment before you can attack someone. Either way, the only thing to be expected is that they will almost certainly be effective.

Definition & Activities

There are two primary definitions of an Inquisitor - the first is that of a law enforcement agent who directly uses some form of divine magic in their work. This is true of Inquisitors in service to secular or religious law enforcement. Where an Inquisitor may be considered a specialist or an elite unit in a secular police force, the entire active-duty force of a religious law force may be composed of Inquisitors. Their ability to both use magic to manipulate the thoughts, memories, and behaviours of suspects for interrogation and information gathering, and their ability to track, inhibit, attack, and capture suspects makes them effective in the field.
The other definition of an inquisitor is any staff responsible for combat, administration, or interrogation that works for an Inquisition. This includes completely non-magical individuals, such as the Renepalian Street Wardens mentioned above who are entirely trained as non-magical gunslingers. Most Inquisitions have plenty of petty bureaucrats who are considered inquisitors under this definition - for this reason, the term 'inquisitorial staff' is considered more appropriate by many.
Inquisitors are most commonly known for a selection of enforcement duties - infiltration, undercover work, assaulting criminal positions, gathering information and evidence, arresting suspects, interrogation, and even prosecution in some jurisdictions. Of course, certain inquisitions have their agents make use of torture and other more questionable tactics. Of course, as mentioned above, most any work can be inquisitorial so long as it's for an Inquisition.

National Variations

The most famous Inquisition in the world is the Ekopakan Inquisition. These represent both a full conventional police force for heavy enforcement and a secret police force responsible for the integrity and security of the state and its religion. The latter are much more feared and renowned, though very little is truly known about them, even to the members of the ruling coalition of the Dominion of Ekopaka, excluding the Grand Inquisitor themselves. The Inquisition of Ekopaka represents the very apex of power that an Inquisition organization has achieved, not only having a seat on the ruling council but one that is de facto the most powerful.
One of the most secularized examples of an Inquisition is the Inquisitorial Revenue Soldiers of the Most Serene Republic of Renepalia - while devoted to the ideas of honest commerce and business that praise and honour their God Pater Imperia, the religious pomp and ceremony have mostly become window-dressing to a rather straightforward organization responsible for investigating financial crime - fraud, counterfeiting, smuggling, tax evasion, usury, money laundering, bribery, and more still. Their enforcement duties rarely involve combat of any real intensity, as most criminals they tend to are more financially savvy than combat-capable. They do, however, have plenty of skilled combatants to eliminate larger threats.
Another wing of the IRS is the Street Wardens, non-magical gunslingers who patrol the streets of major urban centers. Their instincts and reaction time are trained to a razor edge, and their expertise with firearms is nearly peerless. The moment they identify a criminal act in progress, they can quickdraw their pistol and eliminate the target, though their actions almost always go for the kill unless they are close enough to the target to fire rock salt scattershot instead.
Finally, there is the decentralized network of inquisitors in Katha Kavad - the scattered tribes of the region are plagued by wendigos and the last thing any given village needs when they are already sacrificing a number of their own annually to appease them is to have new cannibals emerge. For this reason, many villages have seen volunteers with draconian senses of law and keen investigative skills step up to the plate in lean times, to ensure that no villagers are eating the dead. Those found to be cannibals are thrown out at as sacrifices to the wendigos. While the nature of these groups and individuals has meant that their quality has wildly varied, their efforts are much-needed, and most tribes take evidence in these cases very seriously and thus see the incompetent, or those with vendettas, discredited as inquisitors.
There are many other examples of inquisitors, of both kinds, working across the world, and most law enforcement in the world employs some inquisitors. Most of these are relatively unexceptional compared to one another, and their sheer number makes explaining these impractical and superfluous.

Information

Type: Law Enforcement, Magical, Religious
Locations: Worldwide
Activities: Law Enforcement, Interrogation, Combat, Investigation, etc.

Type

Legal