User blog comment:Solomus-BlackWing/A Legacy (Pt. 3)/@comment-2253300-20140423073356

Alright. Now I have been brainstorming on some ideas for the general organization and activities of the Vitores Tenebras, and I would like to run them by everyone. Now my thought is that the organization as a whole is lead by the Tenebrous Ones, the three renegade Inquisitors that founded the organization. The three of them are technically equal partners in controlling the organization, but the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor is the de facto leader, and I will explain why in a moment. Now each of these Tenenbrous Ones is the head of their own Branch of the Vitores Tenebras. Each Branch has its own chain of command, and unique organization to a certain extant. The Branches are Corpus, Animus and Spiritus.

Animus is the Branch lead by the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, and is the largest and most active of the three Branches. Where Corpus and Spiritus hope to create revolution through progress in their individual areas of study, revolution itself is the priority for Animus. THe primary goal of Animus is to attain political/social/economic power, and subvert the rule of the Imperium by primarily clandestine means. Animus tries to infiltrate Imperial worlds and instituions so that they can recruit important assets for the cause. They make use of various spies, agents, assets and assassins to reach their objectives. They also have ties with a great many sypathizers within the Imperium, whether they be part of the Imperial Adepts, or part of the underground. Animus tries to convert others to their cause, and gain support of various kinds for their cause. Thus they more actively recruit new members than the other two branches, and given their active nature they are often the first elements of the Vitores Tenebras that outsiders come in contact with. They also work to support various rebel groups behind the scenes. They are called Animus (mind) because they are trying to destroy the philosophies and ideology of the Imperium, and the institutions that represent them in order to make room for a superior civilization that they will have a hand in making.

Corpus is the Branch lead by the Ordo Xenos traitor. The Tenebrous One in charge believes that mankind is holding itself back by denying the use of certain methods and tools for its victory, and thus believes that Mankind needs to broaden its horizons in order to attain victory. Thus the branch has an overall mentality of "Progress no matter what", and primarily concerns itself with discovering or developing new technology for the glory of Vitores Tenebras and Mankind as a whole. It is the second largest branch of the organization, and has a higher number of Hereteks and Adeptus Mechanicus supporters by proportion to its size than the other two. It concerns itself with developing and making use of new technologies, such as Xenos Technology, science that would normally be considered Tech-Heresy, and relics from the Dark Age of Technology. The branch might experiemtn with cybernetic and/or genetic enhancement, or splicing to create better soldiers and operatives. It might also believe that it is fine to make use of Xenos to achieve their goals, and thus might make use of captured Xenos slave, test subject and may even have ties with certain shadyt Xenos organizations. It is called Corpus (body) because it's area of interest is primarily study of the physical world, and because it creates and maintain equipment for the use fo the Vitores Tenebras, providing material support.

The third Branch, Spiritus is lead by the Ordo Malleus traitor. It's also the smallest and most insular of the three Branches. Spiritus leader believes that mastering the power of the Warp is the key to Mankind's supremacy and survival. Thus Spiritus concerns itself with recruitingand training  Psykers, obtaining new Psychic or Warp lore, and bending the power of Chaos to its will. This Branch has a higher proportion of Psykers than the other two given its size. Unbeknownst to most outside of the Branch, and many within it as well, their master and his Inner circle have been corrupted by Chaos, and now worship the Dark Gods, placing a Chaos Cult at the center of the Branch. This is of course kept secret from others lest they turn on them. It is called Spiritus (spirit) because it's primary focus is studying the Warp, aka the Sea of Souls and those spritual entities that live within it.

Now while each Branch answers primarily to itself, and its own officers that isn't to say that they do not work together. Corpus provides Technolgy and specialists for the other two branches, Spiritus often trains Psykers and provides access to powerful psychic tools and abilities, and Animus provides funds, raw materials and intelligence to its compatriots. In addition occasionally personnel is exchanged between the branches if it is believed that their skills would be of more use elsewhere. However it should also be noted that all three branches have the necessary resources to operate indepdenently of each other if need be. Corpus and Spiritus can arrange assasinations and act covertly if need be. Animus and Spiritus can deal with Xenos, and acquire new technology. Corpus and Animus can recruit and train Psykers or acquire Warp Lore. It simply a matter of priotirties. Each Branch prioritizes a certain set of activities over other based on the personal agendas of their individual masters. In many ways it like three groups allied to one another, and sworn to each other's support.

Finally there is a forth Branch called Gladius. Gladius is indepdendent of the chain of command of the other three branches, but supports them all. Now each Branch will have personnel trained in combat, and can often deal with threats themselves. Though Sometimes the organization needs to wage overt warfare. usually it does this through outside forces. Backing rebel armies, directing Xenos to attack a target, using Chaos Warbands and Cults to fight, or simply just unleashing Daemonic Hell upon their enemies based on the situation and who's in charge. However sometimes these forces are unavailable or untrustworthy, or the objective in question is deemed to important to delegate to an outside force. This is when they call in Gladius. Gladius is the Vitore Tenebras' paramilitary branch. You could think of them as their Chamber Militant. The Branch is maintained by all three of the other Branches, and supports each of them. Usually calling in Gladius forces requires the authorization of a high standing member of the organization. Anyway Vitores Tenebras does nothave the resources to be fielding massive armies for the most part, and given the fact that they try to remain secretive they wouldn't want to anyway. Thus Gladius focuses on quality over quantity, fielding small armies of elite, well trained, and well equiped soldiers. Gladius often also fields auxillaries from the other branches. For instance, enslaved Xenos, ehanced solders, war robots and Xenos specialist from Corpus, assassins and covert operatives from Animus, and Psykers and other Warp powered assets from Spiritus. Gladius is at the disposal of all three branches, but is closest with Animus since they are the most active.

Whew! That was a mouthful!. Any thoughts?