Sally Oliva

"The authority of the Inquisitor is so often met with skepticism, as though we were endowed with our rosettes out of some whimsy on the part of our seniors. Such resentfulness is childish, but not wholly unexpected."

- Inquisitor Oliva, briefing new acolytes Sally Weisslock Oliva is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, who has been operating out of the Segmentum Pacificus in the vicinity of the Sabbath Worlds since late M41. Characterized by a violent and efficient approach to rooting out heresy, Oliva and her retinue of acolytes root out heresy while pursuing an even more insidious foe.

Background
Oliva is a classic example of an Acolyte plucked from the Schola Progenium and groomed early on to serve as her mentor's successor. Oliva was not fast-tracked to her title, but every excursion she went on with or on behalf of her mentor came coupled with a new lesson on the duties and challenges that come with the Rosette. Her mentor, a gruff old Witchhunter by the name of Fabian Kur, took after Fyodor Karamazov's stern Amalathian methods and passed them on to Oliva in turn. Hardened by her time as an acolyte, Oliva nevertheless disliked the elaborate or excessively-applied torture methods she learned as an Explicator. Rather than take a moral umbrage with these methods, Oliva found that the use of an Excruciator and a bolt-pistol was far more efficient. These methods may have been inspired by the brutal but similarly efficacious "battlefield confessions" practiced by some Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas.

Oliva drifted about for much of her early career, and the bulk of the action she saw in this time came from the tumultuous Calixis Sector. She contends, albeit quietly, that she was picking up the slack for the "layabout Calixian Ordos". Cutting her teeth as a full inquisitor in the Calixis Sector set events into motion that would change Oliva's life forever. It was in the Calixis sector, in the Gorgonid Mine on Sepheris Secundus, that Oliva first encountered a figure called the "Whisperer in the Dark"; an elusive agent of the Ruinous Powers whose techniques recall the infamous "Voice of the Emperor". The Whisperer is both skilled in sorcery and, most disturbingly, in corrupting faithful servants of the Emperor to Chaos. The Whisperer, once established, could turn faithful members of the Ecclesiarchy into wicked apostates with terrible swiftness, and wherever they could not do that they could rile the people up into a most unholy fervor against their superiors. Though Oliva managed to keep the Whisperer from rousing and uniting the various malcontent groups in the mine, she could not apprehend the wicked sorcerer. So began a chase out of the Calixis Sector and the Segmentum Obscurus altogether that has left a trail of dead across the Imperium. Now Oliva and her quarry find themselves in a sort of standoff in the Segmentum Pacificus, and Oliva fears that the Whisperer's wicked orations may be used on the Sabbat Worlds next. The threat they pose to the sector and the Imperium as a whole  vis a vis  their apostate cardinals cannot, in Oliva's mind, be overstated. They remain unhelpfully elusive despite Oliva's best attempts at subtlety.

Personality and Philosophy
Oliva is perceptive and hardheaded by necessity, though this is tempered by a wry sense of humor and a deceptively genuine sense of kindness and cordiality. Very often Oliva seems cruel or callous in spite of herself, a pattern of behavior likely picked up from her time in the Schola Progenium. Indeed, many are surprised to find such discipline behind such a small and unimposing exterior, particularly new acolytes. Oliva's prompt and messy style of 'field confession' can be turned on her allies just as quickly when they prove lacking in conviction, but it's rare for her to do so needlessly. Even so, Oliva is of the firm belief that one dead layabout is usually sufficient to whip the remainder of any group into shape. Not coincidentally, Oliva has claimed that she was in line for cadetship in the Commissariat before Kur picked her up.

In the broad philosophical sense, Oliva is Amalathian. She believes that the Imperium as a whole should change as little as possible, instead reinforcing itself and redoubling its fanaticism against the terrors of the galaxy. She believes that the Inquisition is not so much an out-and-out exception as it is an agency devoted to this preservation, and that more extreme methods are sometimes necessary to that end. As one would expect, Oliva abhors Oblationists, Xeno Hybrists, Horusians, and Xanthists among others and is cautious of Thorians and Libricars. While she is not inherently opposed to researching and occasionally utilizing the weapons and methods of the enemy, she considers these to be extreme cases that should not be undertaken lightly. Despite her more conservative views, Oliva has been known to work closely with Polypsykanists, Istvaanists, and Monodominants. Her major conflicts within the Inquisition have been with Recongregationists and Seculos Attendous, though more radical Warp-dabbling Inquisitors have also run afoul of her on occasion. She has connections with several Ordos Minoris, including the Ordo Astartes, Ordo Redactus, Ordo Scriptus, and the Ordo Excorium. Of course, such connections are temporal at best as these Ordos tend not to have much permanent membership.

In terms of her methods, Oliva privately holds Fyodor Karamazov in high regard much the same as her master did. It was his properly Amalathian inflexibility that Oliva found particularly inspiring. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Salem Proctor incident, and for Oliva it also constitutes evidence of a certain degree of intuition that Inquisitors ought to have. Unlike Karamazov, she doesn’t entirely agree with a flat refusal to permit a plea of innocence, but she does find it wise to administer declarations of innocence conservatively. In effect, Oliva applies her judgments under a presumption of guilt; if innocence can be proven beyond any doubt, then it should be declared as such, but for Oliva it is better to execute a dubiously innocent man than to set free a heretic with a decent alibi. Furthermore, Oliva believes in judging others rigidly against the Imperial Creed. A quick and clean death is a fine enough penance for those who have sinned, at least so far as Oliva is concerned, preceded by torture if the heretic in question is valuable enough. Moreover, Oliva has carefully studied the methods of Inquisitor Tyrus, in particular his arcane and elaborate methods of trial by ordeal. Oftentimes Oliva will work with local Confessors to extract confessions and conduct trials with the local populace.

More controversially, Oliva has a dim view of the Adeptus Astartes. She considers their creation a mistake on the part of the Emperor, but one made with the best of intentions. Indeed, legions of self-regulating supersoldiers with minimal oversight do not sit well with her, especially given their historical clannishness and resistance to Inquisitorial inquests. Those who would levy the same criticism at the Inquisition will be happily reminded of the Horus Heresy and all of the misery it has caused, not to mention that it was this very incident that brought the Inquisition into being. It is for this reason that she will clandestinely lend aid to the Ordo Astartes when the opportunity arises, the better to keep those uppity abhumans honest. She shares the opinion of Monodominant inquisitors that any and all mutants and abhumans should be done away with once all is made right, Astartes included. Despite this, she will work with them when the need arises and tends not to air her views unnecessarily.

Equipment

 * Inquisitorial Rosette: Oliva's badge of office and the mark of her allegiance to the Ordo Hereticus, and the reason she can demand the service and compliance of whomever she pleases.
 * Ecclesiarchal Rosarius: Many inquisitors carry a rosarius for the protective energy-field it can project around them, and Oliva is no exception. However, Oliva also has a fairly healthy relationship with the Ecclesiarchy and tends to speak very elaborately on the divinity of the Emperor and the virtues of the Imperial Creed when the mood strikes her. Part of this may also be due to her willingness to obstruct the efforts of Seculos Attendous.
 * Purgatus Crossbow: The ugly lovechild of a shotgun and a crossbow, the brutal effectiveness of this weapon against soft targets is increased exponentially against psykers. The elaborately-etched bolts play havoc with a psyker's connection to the warp, severely limiting their powers or sending them entirely out of control, obliterating them in the process.
 * Excruciator: Oliva's preferred method of interrogation. "Field interrogations" are usually short, agonizing affairs that conclude with a single shot from her boltpistol. Though Oliva does little in the way of corpse-disposal, she considers this method "clean".
 * Cinder Crag “Mauler” Boltpistol: This expensive, custom-made item was Oliva's first major expenditure as an Inquisitor. Despite its lack of Inquisitorial mark, Oliva prefers this ostentatious weapon over her standard Sacristan-pattern sidearm, either for its superior killing-power or the wealth it implies. It is rumored that Inquisitor Kur helped Oliva in her purchase of this weapon, perhaps as a sort of graduation gift.
 * Inquisitorial Mandate: Nothing short of the Rosette itself is as capable of striking fear into the hearts of Oliva's underlings. The Inquisitorial mandate is a list of the grand and terrible punishments to be levied on those who fall short in their obligations to the Emperor, so excessive that the mere sight of this publication can supposedly urge her allies to fight harder.
 * Condemnor Boltgun: Effectively a combi-crossbow, this quintessentially Inquisitorial weapon is capable of firing the same psyker-slaying bolts as the Purgatus bow with the added advantage of being a bolter. Oliva will only use this during military engagements, though she may occasionally allow her bodyguard to wield it in her stead.
 * Concealed Bolter Cane: For special occasions. This expensive-looking cane houses a single bolter round in the upper end (usually a fragmentation round) that pierces through the bottom toward whoever her unfortunate targets may be. Oliva generally uses this weapon at formal occasions, where any prospective targets are likely to be unarmored and a single good shrapnel shot might be sufficient to deal with any problems that arise. She may occasionally load it with a more exotic shot if the situation calls for it.

Retinue
Though Oliva occasionally dips into the Schola Progenium for her acolytes, the most trusted members of her retinue have come from outside.
 * Beatrice: A former member of the Adeptus Arbites, Beatrice's quiet, uncompromising personality coupled with her propensity for spectacular feats of brutality caught Oliva's interest immediately. They met on Verghast, where Beatrice single-handedly took on an untrained mob of fanatics belonging to one of the Whisperer's pawns. Those who survived the initial battering had no means to flee, and Beatrice savagely interrogated them until Oliva was able to gather herself and apply her Excruciator to the task. The two worked together to oust the Whisperer from Verghast and set the wrath of the Emperor upon their minions, during which time Oliva found every reason she needed to take Beatrice in as an enforcer in her retinue. Beatrice took to the news with her usual stony indifference, and has served as Oliva's bodyguard and partner since then. Beatrice might be the only person Oliva wholly and completely trusts with her life.
 * Euchariah 7909: An arco-flagellant who exists as both a trophy and a testament to Oliva's work. Euchariah was a confessor who had been seduced by the Whisperer's words, and he was permitted to serve his penance as an arco-flagellant after a long and bitter trial. This proceeding was part of what convinced Oliva not to leave the Whisperer's pawns alive longer than she had to, but the end result was pleasing enough. Euchariah's successor was so delighted with his position that he offered the suffering amalgam of tech to Oliva as a gift, and she accepted after some consideration. Armed with twin electroflails, Euchariah instills a brand of terror that even her bodyguard cannot match. Oliva considers him a weapon, and one she does not employ lightly or when subtlety is paramount.
 * Autosavant Sylva: One of Oliva's more notable acquisitions from the Schola Progenium, and the one she is most evidently grooming as an Inquisitor herself.

By
"If I were speaking to someone a little nearer to the Ecclesiarchy, I might say that the Astartes' greatest failure is being unable to live up to their father Emperor's expectations; though they were made in his image, they are as flawed as any man and those flaws brought about a lot of misery for the rest of us. Taking the whole of my opinion into consideration, I'll only say that the creation of the Astartes was a good decision, but not a wise one."

- Briefing Sylva before her first meeting with an Astartes chapter "Terrible and vast and seemingly inevitable. I count myself lucky I'm rooting their nasty little devotees out of the Imperium instead of out at the front lines. Even if the Emperor returns and we dredge ourselves out of this rut we're in, I have no doubts we'll still be fighting the Ruinous Powers in all their myriad forms."

- Briefing new acolytes on the nature of Chaos "I've heard there are a lot of Inquisitors who aren't fond of them. I think they're our best shot at keeping most of humanity unified under one common idea. People don't need to question and wonder and gyre in the void in days like these; they need conviction, purpose, and something singular and powerful to humble themselves beneath. If we let the commonfolk reason out their own place in the universe we'll have an Imperium of chaos cults. It is the Inquisition and those near our station who are loosed from the safety of conviction and given the burden of inquest and inquiry, and it's not a burden to be taken lightly."

- Excerpt from a message to Fabian Kur, concerning a disagreement over the Ecclesiarchy "...Who?"

- Regarding the Ordo Chronos

About
"I don't like her. I don't trust her. I don't fear her. She can wiggle her rosette in my face until the stars burn out and I won't think any more of her than I did that day on Verghast. Still, I can't deny that she gets results."

- Beatrice "For an Inquisitor, she's a damned good orator. She's got that fire in her belly, and it's good to know there's someone engaging in some good old Ecclesiarchal shouting so high in this sacred old Imperium of ours."

- Confessor Arac Bonapraxos

Trivia

 * I commissioned that image of her! It's pretty neat. Blazbaros drew it.