Randomiser wrote:Zakharra wrote:
The Inquisition is like the Soviet Party Commissars the USSR had. Not a part of the regular military, but having power from the ruling party that superseded the USSR military chain of command. The Commissars could suggest, but those 'suggestions' had the backing of the Party behind them and woe unto any officer that stood up to a Commissar and told him no. So the CoG army officers might be officially in command, but in reality, the Inquisition is in command by their power to have -anyone- that annoys them executed at a moments notice.
That said, there are some Inquisition who actually use their heads for something besides holding their ears apart, so the circumstances of them using their power will be different, but actual command of the armies is squarely in the Inquisition's hands despite any official records.
Yes, the Inquisition controls the army, but only for as long as the army stands for it. The instant some general says, 'I don't feel like being arrested, arrest these inquisitors instead' and the troops obey him, the Inquisition's control of the army is history.
I think there have been some very wooly ideas posted about the situation after an assassination of Clyntahn. Firstly no one is going to do it randomly without preparing the ground beforehand, so the remaining GoF members are going to be well protected by loyal armed guards and will not be easily seized by the Inquisition. On the contrary elements of the Temple Guard will be attempting to arrest Rayhno and as many other high ranking Inquisitors as possible, with extreme prejudice, at Maigwair's orders. Constitutionally, the Council of Vicars elects the next Grand Inquisitor, not the Inquisition. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the remaining members of the GoF will be insisting on that, as will the Grand Vicar who is controlled by Duchairn. They will all be pulling rank on whichever Inquisitors are still around. See the Orange? You do what you are told. Maigwair's first instructions on capturing the Zion Semaphore centre will be to put the army officers back in charge of the armies and to reduce the Inquisitors to a genuine advisory role. An instruction he is perfectly entitled to give as Captain General and Vicar and which no individual can legally countermand since there would currently be no Grand Inquisitor. (Good luck trying to arrest any generals after that.)
This is still as very personal society. The Vicarate are not scared of the Inquisition so much as they are scared of Clyntahn. Once the man is dead the situation changes irrevocably, and at least some of the vicarate will recover their spines and react in fury at the lower level inquisitors who have been daring to attack them and their dependants these past few years.
That will work only to a point. Almost all of the officers and enlisted are fanatical (or at the least, very very loyal sons of the Church) CoGA men, they would be far more likely to turn on their commanders than arrest a member of the Inquisition. Also remember this, all of those officers? Their families are under the watch of the Inquisition. The higher the officer, the more the Inquisition will keep an eye on the family. So if those officers rebel, their families will be tortured and killed, and the officers know this. Also the moment an army arrested/killed its Inquisitor(s), it would be attacked by the rest as it would be seen as rebelling against the Church. So the likelihood of an army's officers arresting the Inquisition with it is rather low.
The Vicarate are afraid of the Inquisition as well as being afraid of Clyntahn. Anyone that is in line to succeed Clyntahn is about as bad as he is. The man has stocked the Inquisition with his type of people. And legally, the Inquisition has the authority to do pretty much everything it is as the guardian of the Church.
