BCTheEntity

Warhammer 40k: Sons of Titan - A Grey Knight RP

Sure, I'll give it a go. Are we only doing baseline GK, or will you be allowing specialist positions like Purifier as well?

The Emperor's Duty: A Warhammer 40K RP

Justicar Hektor Autark

It had been a while since Hektor had been tasked with active enforcement duties, let alone on the world he'd spent time presiding over as a Judge. He was pleased to say that, since his latest promotion, he'd not been a necessary component of the process beyond the natural administrative duties that came with governing an orbital system's force of Arbites - though he of course made time to keep himself in fighting shape, as was merely natural, and which suitable cybernetics further assisted with: a cybernetic eye bolstering his senses, a potent bionic heart and lungs for the body, and a Mind-Impulse Unit linked to his bolt pistol. It would never do to embarrass oneself by attempting to perform an execution with an empty weapon, after all.

That being said, when an Inquisitor declares an entire hive city in one's precinct Damnatio Memoriae, you don't send an Enforcer to lead the charge. Aside from anything else, Hektor knew for a fact that there were but five or six actual Arbites on-world, including the presiding Magistrate and at least one Verispex Adept. For the sake of certainty, and to facilitate interrogation and examination of the facts, another seven Verispexii accompanied him planetside, along with seven Arbitrators, a presiding Marshal by the name of Darius Lance (and the paperwork he'd have to fill out for requisitioning a Marshal for an execution team after the fact was going to be lengthy, certainly), and a cyber-mastiff handler who would not shut her damn mouth the entire way down. Really, was this the sort of thing to get excited about, a hive's inevitable destruction? Or was it just the fact she'd "finally", as she put it, get to put her "precious hounds" to use? She was a useful asset, not an inexpendable one.

Regardless, it was shortly after they landed and assessed the ground forces - Magistrate and Adept as expected, plus two Judges and two Arbitrators to spare - that the presiding official of the Adeptus Arbites was requested by the Inquisitor herself, a madame Hera by name. Nominally, that presiding official would have been the Magistrate, one Rheanna Kowl; with Hektor's arrival, the duty fell to him, which he suspected put her off a fair bit. Apparently, she sought to take her frustration out on Marshal Lance by claiming his lack of mind for the cases she presided over, and he in kind chose to take potshots at her lack of field skill compared to him.

That was something he had neither the time nor inclination to manage; leaving them to their bellyaching, he ordered the Arbitrators and Judges to decide who'd be staying behind to keep charge of the precinct-fortress, to arm up everyone else, including the Lockshields for this mission, and yes he knew they had Lockshields don't give him that lip; and the Verispex Adepts to follow on, before he accompanied the servitor calling for his attention to the intelligence room. Fond memories that he had of the location as a whole, this particular space was a bit barren compared to what they had in the orbital facility: nothing but matte surfaces, holo-screens, diagnostic tools and, after they had been put to work, a number of new Verispex Adepts working over what they knew of the situation in Hive IV so far, alongside the one who had been present already.

He allowed them their collaboration, and positioned himself before the largest screen in the room. Not long after, he found himself face to face with Inquisitor Hera; a number of other unknowns could see her face as well, though they were presumably all tied to the situation at hand if so. She provided a standard introduction for herself and thanks for their timely arrivals - though Hektor disagreed internally that martyrdom was the best fate, for in letting oneself die one could no longer protect His domain, His laws - and then got down to business. Amongst other, less crucial roles, the Inquisitor required a location to launch a more protracted assault of the Hive from, somewhere within the city proper; it transpired that one of the former governor's mansions suited this role perfectly, but that it was being guarded by... eugh. Enforcers.

Those louts. The precinct had taken steps to try and minimise corruption amongst them, notably by ensuring a given Enforcer did not serve on their own home planet as so many did, but it seemed the lax standards amongst them and the abstraction committed by the prior Justicar had taken their toll nonetheless. For if a superior could be seen committing such crimes of spirit freely, what stopped any but the most dutiful from doing the same? And when it came to planetary law and the minds of the corruptible, money often spoke louder than justice.

'I'll be sure to lay down the verdict they've earned for themselves,' he agreed, his tone a deep growl and his face nothing but contempt. With the backup of none other than the Imperial Guard and, it seemed, a group of assassins to boot, there was no chance the mansion would go unclaimed, though it'd need to be clarified to the Guard once they arrived that the Enforcers in question were likely armed and armoured similarly to the Arbites proper. The assassins would be better prepared by default, he imagined. With that, and he assumed announcements along similar lines from the other assorted leaders, the briefing ended there.

Now, the question was thus: what had caused this Hive to fall so far? What evidence could be gathered to ensure proper practice was being followed? And, at the back of his mind, the question every proper Arbites should ask themselves: did they actually have a case, or was this a framejob?

And even more quietly: if it was, then who should be punished for the framing?

Before he could consider these details in too much depth, he received another message. This time, it was keyed to him. Him personally, rather, given that it appeared on a much smaller wrist projector - quickly snatched up, put on, and finally tapped to receive a message of great apparent importance. And yet it was merely a message from the assassin in question, presumably their leader at that, essentially suggesting that all three members of the mansion assault would be prepared to kill the targets on sight, and that the assassins would assist in putting down the enforcers where they could. And, of course, the images of the three targets again, thankfully in a distinct file for reference. Whilst he was at a level where knowledge of the Assassin Temples was appropriate to possess - and if they'd made their way into official Arbites comms, they were surely no mere death cultists - he could only imagine how many perfectly good Arbitrators might find themselves unwittingly deceased if they learned too much.

On to other matters, though. The data needed to be passed on, and he needed somebody to assess the evidence. Who better than the Verispex who'd been here to start with? Seeking the face that hadn't accompanied him on the shuttle- one he knew, in fact, which hadn't aged as much as he'd have expected at that- he approached the man in question, who noticed belatedly, and promptly made a noise like some sort of strangled bird before composing himself.

'Verispex Adept Frea. Michael.'

'Justicar Autark- uh, Hektor, rather? Juh... erk. Emperor, I thought I was never going to see you again.' To his credit, he was clearly pleased. Despite his eccentricities, Hektor did fondly recall time spent examining cases as a Magistrate alongside Michael. The man was reliable, at least when it came to examination of evidence, and occasionally made some wry observations to boot; for now, however, it had to be business in full, and his own expression clearly showed that to the man.

'Do you know who these three are?' Hektor showed the three images, to which Michael's face immediately lit up with recognition.

'Ah, yeah, they're the governor's three children, sir! Well, former governor, is what I imagine, else the Hive wouldn't be marked as Damnatio Memoriae.'

'Indeed. Former children, too; they've been marked for death.'

'...ueh? Uh, oh-'

'You keep making those noises. They're as grating as ever. Anyway, follow me, you'll be joining us on the field.' Before the Verispex could fully process the order, Hektor had turned and walked off, making his way out of the intelligence room and back toward the central hall of the precinct-fortress. Verispex Frea ultimately found himself trailing after Hektor at about a meter's distance, and apparently couldn't help but ask 'Uh, Justicar Autark, is my presence needed?'

'You know better than to ask that question, Michael,' came a harsh reprimand. 'Even if an Inquisitor has declared an entire world unfit to exist, let alone a singular hive, we as adjudicators of Imperial law are bound to seek the evidence that damns it so. Such is our remit, lest we fall into the trap of abstraction, as you are aware.'

'Right, yea- yes, sir.' The reminder of their last case together was clearly sobering for the Adept, though it did not stop his mind working at incredible rates as always. 'And, well, since I am in that role... only, if the verdict's been passed already, sir, doesn't that mean the evidence has been gathered by the Inquisitor?'

'It may. This doesn't mean we cannot make certain. And if the evidence is missing, then we need to ask why.'

'...ohhh. Right, because if it's not-'

'And keep that thought to yourself, Verispex,' Hektor suggested, quieting down the conversation until they returned to the rest of the team. By now, all the Judges were armoured up, and all save one Arbitrator was armed to boot. Lance, having come down with it, was not overly out of place with a heavy stubber at his hip - they were, after all, on their way to fight a full hive city. By contrast, Kowl... had a bolt cannon. He recognised the design, for certain - the Vengeance bolt cannon, a Yunnalin-specific weapon with origins on the nearby forge world of Destructor. And not to mention the two-handed version of his own power maul pattern, which precluded use of a suppression shield... what was Rheanna playing at?

'Sir, all Arbites are equipped and ready to proceed, two Lockshields spare for yourself and Verispex Frea,' she announced, grinning widely beneath her helmet's visor. She seemed to relish the idea of heading out and cracking some skulls, if Hektor had to guess. 'Three Rumblers and a Repressor have been equipped for transport into the Hive City, and Arbitrator Vimes will be holding the fort along with the servitor and Verispex contingents; just tell us who's going in what, and we can be on our way.'

'Well done. Well done to you all,' he declared, folding his arms behind his back authoritively. 'Our work over the coming days and weeks will be tough, and against the multitudes of lawbreakers, even we may die. But, to die upholding the Lex Imperialis is to die protecting the Imperium itself, and it is to die doing the God-Emperor's will. Thus, it is up to us to ascertain Hive IV's crimes, and to pass our judgement upon it even at risk of our own lives. Mere heretics will not sway us; they will not bow our backs; they will not get away with defrauding the Emperor's own laws. Are we clear?'

'Yes, sir!' came the unified response.

'I said, are we clear?'

'YES, SIR!'

'Then,' he concluded, 'let us move out.'

Persona ~ The Beholder

Talking with Kirsty @Lugubrious and Liam @CriticalHit

Alina Sanford

As the white-haired girl decided to talk to her, instead of not doing that, Alina forced herself to suppress a deep sigh. Grand, she'd gotten an overly-chatty person. She had Mary for that already, if she decided that was what she wanted at any stage. Then again, how would she be able to tell from the off-set?

By waiting, apparently. Some guy showed up, and immediately began having a talk with the other girl. Were they friends? No, because the guy had apparently never chatted with her before. He just wanted to thank her for some freshers she talked to earlier, because they were both just nice like that, evidently. Good for them!

That sigh did come out, and Alina huddled further into her corner of the sofa to avoid the situation as much as possible. They were probably going to be blathering for ages now. For pity's sake, she just wanted to do some studying. She had chemistry to refresh herself on and everything.

The Emperor's Duty: A Warhammer 40K RP

@vFear Here's a fresh link.

The Emperor's Duty: A Warhammer 40K RP

The Adeptus Arbites of the Yunnalin Precinct

Faction Name: Adeptus Arbites
Force Name: Yunnalin Precinct Arbites Execution Team
Why Were They Selected: The Yunnalin system is part of a larger, sector-spanning precinct. Ergo, it falls to the Adeptus Arbites of the precinct to enforce Imperial rule of law when the system is threatened with rebellion or worse.

Leader Name: Justicar Hektor Autark
Direct Superior: Lord Marshal Alesha Noren

Leader Bio: Born into a small but noble family, Hektor's life's course would be decided in part by a rebellion of his home planet, his parents perishing to its masses when he was just four. Consequent to this, and to the rebellion being quelled by Imperial forces not long after, he was taken into the Schola Progenium, the memory of the untenable masses who slaughtered his parents burned into his mind, and with it the idea that such awful people had to be brought to justice somehow.

Thus, he found himself growing into a young man obsessed with keeping the peace through any means necessary. In combination with his keen attention to detail and, when appropriate, aggressive application of punishment to those who might act in poor fashion outside the eye of the Drill Abbots, he was a fine candidate for the Adeptus Arbites, and swiftly rose to the rank of Arbitrator, working within the Yunnalin Precinct far from his own homeworld.

Yunnalin, as both a system and a precinct, is not often taken to be contentious as far as Imperial Law goes. Consequently, for the majority of planets in at least the system, the permanent installation of Arbitrators and Judges on a planet's precinct-fortress is limited, often to ten, five, or even fewer ordained Arbites; most law enforcement is left to Enforcers recruited from the system's population, though not necessarily that of the planet they operate upon for the same reason Arbitrators never operate on their own homeworld. Even so, Yunnalin's Enforcers are not necessarily incorruptible in the same way, relatively unskilled as they are.

All this is needed to say that, as an Arbitrator and later as Investigator and Proctor, Hektor spent far less time on any given planet than one might expect. The true precinct-fortress of the Yunnalin System orbits the system's star, and operating from there, he saw concerted field work for a good fifty years in environments ranging from hive cities to agri-farms of all sorts. In that time, he grew to develop a nuanced understanding of the nature of criminal activity, the behaviours they'd take and the hideouts an Imperial criminal might make use of both likely and, for the especially clever, unlikely; but further than this, he developed a deep interest in the Lex Imperialis proper, to the point that he'd quote the specific laws pertaining to the most common criminal cases frequently during the arrest and execution of perps. Hence, after assessment by the Lord Marshal at the time, he was given leave to visit Holy Terra, to enter into the sacred Hall of Judgement, and to learn what he needed to become a Judge.

A decade hence, he returned to his precinct, was declared fit for duty after a fresh course of rejuvenat treatments and cybernetic implants, and was subsequently installed upon Yunnalin V, presiding over many a case where judgement could not be immediately passed. In addition, he continued to deepen his knowledge of the Law ever further, with the help of both implanted knowledge and a great many servitors installed in the fortress for the purpose of retaining such knowledge long-term. This was not to say he never saw field work again, either; many times a year, he would find himself travelling to one of Yunnalin's many hives or even to other planets in the system, equipped to lead an execution team or snatch squad in apprehending or executing the Imperium's enemies. This combination would eventually lead to his promotion to the position of Marshal-Magistrate: a formal recognition of the fact that the two separate roles of Marshal and Magistrate often overlapped at higher levels, with the combined consequent authority of both to those who earned it, and thus the highest authority on-planet.

What raised him up to the position of Justicar, however, was the eventual realisation that the presiding Justicar of the Yunnalin System was working, not based on the Lex Imperialis and Book of Judgement, but on his own self-righteous hunches. The ultimate crime of abstraction: they who pursue the law thinking themselves fit to work beyond the letter of the law, traitors to the oath of the Arbites and worthy of nothing but a traitor's death. It was Hektor who gathered the evidence of abstractionism within the Yunnalin system; it was Hektor who presented it in secret to those Marshals and Magistrates who would not ally with the Justicar, and eventually to Lord Marshal Alesha Noren; and ultimately, it was Hektor who sentenced the Justicar to death for his failure and treachery, a protracted execution following, and Hektor's promotion to Justicar of the Yunnalin System following after that, his new office taken in the system's orbiting precinct-fortress.

Alas, it seems as though the former Justicar's failure has dug its roots in deep. Criminal action has increased manyfold on the world Hektor formally presided over, the Enforcers have failed in their duties time and again despite precautions taken, and with the announcement of Inquisitor Hera declaring Hive IV Damnatio Memoriae, the Arbites will have to do their part, not only to purge the hive of its populus, but to prove that the hive is as irredeemable as the Inquisitor proclaimed. Such lengthy proceedings will require the presence of the Justicar himself to confirm, as well as a reliable force of Arbitrators and specialists - and if the evidence does not match the proclamation, then the question to answer next will be who is to blame for this misguided purge...

Troops:
Unit Count: 15, including 8 Arbitrators and 2 Judges
Extraordinary Troops:

• Justicar Hektor Autark (force leader, off-world but familiar with Yunnalin V, personalised weaponry)
• Magistrate Rheanna Kowl (high-ranking judge, on-world, personalised weaponry)
• Marshal Darius Lance (high-ranking arbitrator, off-world, personalised weaponry)
• Verispex Adept Michael Frea (investigation and forensics specialist, on-world, supported by multiple Verispex Adepts stationed at Yunnalin V's precinct-fortress, possesses AdMech training as part of role)
• Cyber-Mastiff Handler Victoria Ceras (cyber-mastiff controller, off-world)

Equipment:
Basic:

• Ultima Pattern Arbites power maul
• Yunnalin Pattern Arbites combat shotgun (8-gauge, pellets and slugs, 8 shell capacity)
• Yunnalin-Destructor Pattern Arbites autopistol (.45 ammo, 20 round capacity)
• Arbites carapace armour
• Judge armour (carapace armour for Judges and Magistrate Kowl, functionally identical to standard Arbites carapace but gaudily decorated to display the power and majesty of the Arbites)
• Repressor (Rhino-esque APC fitted with a dozer blade, transport capacity of 10 people, 6 can shoot out of slots in the sides, equipped with non-lethal water cannons and grenade launchers firing gas and stun grenades)
• Rumbler x3 (fully enclosed and heavily armoured combat bikes, chassis mounted assault cannons, topped with vox casters and flashing lights, doubles as transport for those not in the Repressor)

Extraordinary:

• Synford Pattern "Lockshield" (special issue to all Arbites for this mission, mag-strips on edges of suppression shield to hold perps in magnacuffs or, more usefully for this situation, to lock together into a barricade of ceramite, also possess vox-hailers linked to senior Arbites' vox-torcs for communication with subordinates and rebuke toward rioters)
• Executioner shells (a form of target-tracking and homing ammunition for combat shotguns, used by Judges)
• Yunnalin "Witness" cyber-mastiffs (mechanical dogs with a cloned and imprinted canine brain and nervous system, equipped with various systems to track hidden perps, bite patterns presently include mono-molecular blades, armour-piercing spike teeth, and chain-thresher maw, two are used by Handler Ceras)
• Verispex armour (lighter than Arbites carapace, contains various tools for scanning the environment and finding evidence, as well as submitting evidence back to the fortress-precinct for further analysis, used by Verispex Frea)
• Yunnalin Pattern heavy stubber (relatively standard heavy stubber, belt- or drum magazine-fed (50-round capacity), gyro-mounted on hip, used by Marshal Lance)
• Yunnalin-Destructor Pattern "Vengeance" bolt cannon (Yunnalin Sector weapon firing .998 heavy bolts with slide rack and recoil absorbers, much longer range and firepower than standard shotgun, 6 bolt capacity, used by Magistrate Kowl)
• Destructor Pattern power maul (Yunnalin Sector weapon, design options for one- or two-handed grip, power field can be greatly overcharged to inflict massive damage to surroundings and people alike, to the point of killing nearby victims with the indirect shockwave from striking the intended target, used by Magistrate Kowl (2H variant) and Justicar Autark (1H variant))
• Yunnalin Pattern "Justice" bolt pistol (Yunnalin Sector variant of standard .50 bolt pistol, high power at short range, 10 bolt capacity, used by Marshal Lance and Justicar Autark)

Relationships:

• Inquisitor Hera: None specifically. Nominally, an Inquisitor is beyond the power of the Arbites, and so their word is beyond its interpretation... though if it transpires that Hera's word is false in its loyalty, even she may not be above judgement.
• Adeptus Arbites: WE ARE THE LAW. More precisely, the Arbites represent the final bastion of Imperial law when all else fails; beyond them, the planet's issues will need to be dealt with by the wider masses of the Imperium, something sadly evident here and now.
• Adepta Sororitas: Zealots. The embodiment of abstractionism: killing those they feel are heretical without question, even at the expense of the Lex Imperialis. Without evidence and due process, "heretic" and "traitor" are meaningless words that can be applied to anything and everything.
• Militarum Tempestus: More elite than the Imperial Guard, thus more well-equipped for a Hive cleansing. Nonetheless, they are likely to be out of their element, like house cats suddenly thrown out into a forest to fend for themselves.
• Temple Assassins: Few in the Arbites will know of them. Those who have may well consider them an antithesis to the idea of justice, for though they technically only slay those found guilty already, their very existence is extra-judicial in nature.
• Astra Militarum: The Hammer of the Emperor - what the Arbites do within, they do without. Penal legions aside, the soldiers of the Militarum are noble in spirit, but not suited for cleansing a Hive.
• Skitarii: Mere soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and largely unaware at that. Nonetheless, valuable for their association; mechanical knowledge is appreciated regardless of its source.

The Emperor's Duty: A Warhammer 40K RP

The Adeptus Arbites of the Yunnalin System

Faction Name: Adeptus Arbites
Force Name: Yunnalin Precinct Arbites Execution Team
Why Were They Selected: The Yunnalin system is part of a larger, sector-spanning precinct. Ergo, it falls to the Adeptus Arbites of the precinct to enforce Imperial rule of law when the system is threatened with rebellion or worse.

Leader Name: Justicar Hektor Autark
Direct Superior: Lord Marshal Alesha Noren
Leader Bio: Born into a small but noble family, Hektor's life's course would be decided in part by a rebellion of his home planet, his parents perishing to its masses when he was just four. Consequent to this, and to the rebellion being quelled by Imperial forces not long after, he was taken into the Schola Progenium, the memory of the untenable masses who slaughtered his parents burned into his mind, and with it the idea that such awful people had to be brought to justice somehow.
Thus, he found himself growing into a young man obsessed with keeping the peace through any means necessary. In combination with his keen attention to detail and, when appropriate, aggressive application of punishment to those who might act in poor fashion outside the eye of the Drill Abbots, he was a fine candidate for the Adeptus Arbites, and swiftly rose to the rank of Arbitrator, working within the Yunnalin Precinct far from his own homeworld.
Yunnalin, as both a system and a precinct, is not often taken to be contentious as far as Imperial Law goes. Consequently, for the majority of planets in at least the system, the permanent installation of Arbitrators and Judges on a planet's precinct-fortress is limited, often to ten, five, or even fewer ordained Arbites; most law enforcement is left to Enforcers recruited from the system's population, though not necessarily that of the planet they operate upon for the same reason Arbitrators never operate on their own homeworld. Even so, Yunnalin's Enforcers are not necessarily incorruptible in the same way, relatively unskilled as they are.
All this is needed to say that, as an Arbitrator and later as Investigator and Proctor, Hektor spent far less time on any given planet than one might expect. The true precinct-fortress of the Yunnalin System orbits the system's star, and operating from there, he saw concerted field work for a good fifty years in environments ranging from hive cities to agri-farms of all sorts. In that time, he grew to develop a nuanced understanding of the nature of criminal activity, the behaviours they'd take and the hideouts an Imperial criminal might make use of both likely and, for the especially clever, unlikely; but further than this, he developed a deep interest in the Lex Imperialis proper, to the point that he'd quote the specific laws pertaining to the most common criminal cases frequently during the arrest and execution of perps. Hence, after assessment by the Lord Marshal at the time, he was given leave to visit Holy Terra, to enter into the sacred Hall of Judgement, and to learn what he needed to become a Judge.
A decade hence, he returned to his precinct, was declared fit for duty after a fresh course of rejuvenat treatments and cybernetic implants, and was subsequently installed upon Yunnalin V, presiding over many a case where judgement could not be immediately passed. In addition, he continued to deepen his knowledge of the Law ever further, with the help of both implanted knowledge and a great many servitors installed in the fortress for the purpose of retaining such knowledge long-term. This was not to say he never saw field work again, either; many times a year, he would find himself travelling to one of Yunnalin's many hives or even to other planets in the system, equipped to lead an execution team or snatch squad in apprehending or executing the Imperium's enemies. This combination would eventually lead to his promotion to the position of Marshal-Magistrate: a formal recognition of the fact that the two separate roles of Marshal and Magistrate often overlapped at higher levels, with the combined consequent authority of both to those who earned it, and thus the highest authority on-planet.
What raised him up to the position of Justicar, however, was the eventual realisation that the presiding Justicar of the Yunnalin System was working, not based on the Lex Imperialis and Book of Judgement, but on his own self-righteous hunches. The ultimate crime of abstraction: they who pursue the law thinking themselves fit to work beyond the letter of the law, traitors to the oath of the Arbites and worthy of nothing but a traitor's death. It was Hektor who gathered the evidence of abstractionism within the Yunnalin system; it was Hektor who presented it in secret to those Marshals and Magistrates who would not ally with the Justicar, and eventually to Lord Marshal Alesha Noren; and ultimately, it was Hektor who sentenced the Justicar to death for his failure and treachery, a protracted execution following, and Hektor's promotion to Justicar of the Yunnalin System following after that, his new office taken in the system's orbiting precinct-fortress.
Alas, it seems as though the former Justicar's failure has dug its roots in deep. Criminal action has increased manyfold on the world Hektor formally presided over, the Enforcers have failed in their duties time and again despite precautions taken, and with the announcement of Inquisitor Hera declaring Hive IV Damnatio Memoriae, the Arbites will have to do their part, not only to purge the hive of its populus, but to prove that the hive is as irredeemable as the Inquisitor proclaimed. Such lengthy proceedings will require the presence of the Justicar himself to confirm, as well as a reliable force of Arbitrators and specialists - and if the evidence does not match the proclamation, then the question to answer next will be who is to blame for this misguided purge...

Troops:
Unit Count: 15, including 8 Arbitrators and 2 Judges
Extraordinary Troops:

• Justicar Hektor Autark (force leader, off-world but familiar with Yunnalin V, personalised weaponry)
• Magistrate Rheanna Kowl (high-ranking judge, on-world, personalised weaponry)
• Marshal Darius Lance (high-ranking arbitrator, off-world, personalised weaponry)
• Verispex Adept Michael Frea (investigation and forensics specialist, on-world, supported by multiple Verispex Adepts stationed at Yunnalin V's precinct-fortress, possesses AdMech training as part of role)
• Cyber-Mastiff Handler Victoria Ceras (cyber-mastiff controller, off-world)

Equipment:
Basic:

• Ultima Pattern Arbites power maul
• Yunnalin Pattern Arbites combat shotgun (8-gauge, pellets and slugs, 8 shell capacity)
• Yunnalin-Destructor Pattern Arbites autopistol (.45 ammo, 20 round capacity)
• Arbites carapace armour
• Judge armour (carapace armour for Judges and Magistrate Kowl, functionally identical to standard Arbites carapace but gaudily decorated to display the power and majesty of the Arbites)
• Repressor (Rhino-esque APC fitted with a dozer blade, transport capacity of 10 people, 6 can shoot out of slots in the sides, equipped with non-lethal water cannons and grenade launchers firing gas and stun grenades)
• Rumbler x3 (fully enclosed and heavily armoured combat bikes, chassis mounted assault cannons, topped with vox casters and flashing lights, doubles as transport for those not in the Repressor)

Extraordinary:

• Synford Pattern "Lockshield" (special issue to all Arbites for this mission, mag-strips on edges of suppression shield to hold perps in magnacuffs or, more usefully for this situation, to lock together into a barricade of ceramite)
• Executioner shells (a form of target-tracking and homing ammunition for combat shotguns, used by Judges)
• Yunnalin "Witness" cyber-mastiffs (mechanical dogs with a cloned and imprinted canine brain and nervous system, equipped with various systems to track hidden perps, bite patterns presently include mono-molecular blades, armour-piercing spike teeth, and chain-thresher maw, two are used by Handler Ceras)
• Verispex armour (lighter than Arbites carapace, contains various tools for scanning the environment and finding evidence, as well as submitting evidence back to the fortress-precinct for further analysis, used by Verispex Frea)
• Yunnalin Pattern heavy stubber (relatively standard heavy stubber, belt- or drum magazine-fed (50-round capacity), gyro-mounted on hip, used by Marshal Lance)
• Yunnalin-Destructor Pattern "Vengeance" bolt cannon (Yunnalin Sector weapon firing .998 heavy bolts with slide rack and recoil absorbers, much longer range and firepower than standard shotgun, 6 bolt capacity, used by Magistrate Kowl)
• Destructor Pattern power maul (Yunnalin Sector weapon, design options for one- or two-handed grip, power field can be greatly overcharged to inflict massive damage to surroundings and people alike, to the point of killing nearby victims with the indirect shockwave from striking the intended target, used by Magistrate Kowl (2H variant) and Justicar Autark (1H variant))
• Yunnalin Pattern "Justice" bolt pistol (Yunnalin Sector variant of standard .50 bolt pistol, high power at short range, 10 bolt capacity, used by Marshal Lance and Justicar Autark)

Relationships:
Inquisitor Hera: None specifically. Nominally, an Inquisitor is beyond the power of the Arbites, and so their word is beyond its interpretation... though if it transpires that Hera's word is false in its loyalty, even she may not be above judgement.
Adeptus Arbites: WE ARE THE LAW. More precisely, the Arbites represent the final bastion of Imperial law when all else fails; beyond them, the planet's issues will need to be dealt with by the wider masses of the Imperium, something sadly evident here and now.
Adepta Sororitas: Zealots. The embodiment of abstractionism: killing those they feel are heretical without question, even at the expense of the Lex Imperialis. Without evidence and due process, "heretic" and "traitor" are meaningless words that can be applied to anything and everything.
Militarum Tempestus: More elite than the Imperial Guard, thus more well-equipped for a Hive cleansing. Nonetheless, they are likely to be out of their element, like house cats suddenly thrown out into a forest to fend for themselves.
Temple Assassins: Few in the Arbites will know of them. Those who have may well consider them an antithesis to the idea of justice, for though they technically only slay those found guilty already, their very existence is extra-judicial in nature.
Astra Militarum: The Hammer of the Emperor - what the Arbites do within, they do without. Penal legions aside, the soldiers of the Militarum are noble in spirit, but not suited for cleansing a Hive.
Skitarii: Mere soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and largely unaware at that. Nonetheless, valuable for their association; mechanical knowledge is appreciated regardless of its source.

Persona ~ The Beholder

Alina Sanford

After the incident with Mary, Alina gradually made her way to the nearest common room, turning the thought over in her mind repeatedly. Mary had a crush on her. Mary would ask her to play eroge games. Mary had hugged her tightly, for extended periods, more than once before. Mary had a crush on her. She had a crush on Alina.

Why in the ever-loving fuck did Mary have a crush on her?

Ugh. There was no reasonable explanation she could think of, and in her current mood, she'd never figure it out. She was already burnt out on, like... people today. Studying, lecture, home. That was her new plan. Hell with it all, she'd figure it out tomorrow. For now, she did need to do some actual work.

There was drama going on with some fox-eared kid, and two other people. Wait, fox-eared? No, that was just hair, at a second glance. He was cute, sure, but she was not interested in that. What else... hell. There were folks scattered everywhere, because of course. The only vaguely-isolated place had some pretty-girl lounging on the sofa. And it wasn't just that she was physically pretty; she literally had white hair and, on closer inspection, red eyes, like some actual anime prettygirl had stepped off the screen. Or like an albino person. Was she albino? Didn't seem like it, given her skin tone. Was that racist to note mentally? That sort of hair-skin combo wasn't too common, and to Alina's understanding it tied into a specific subculture in Japan. Though, this girl wasn't even that dark- okay, she needed to stop there before actual bad thoughts started up.

Fine. The single pretty anime girl could be dealt with discreetly. Alina walked over to the sofa, placing her own laptop on the nearby table and, as she pulled it out of its bag, briskly stating her case.

'I don't desperately want to talk to anybody right now. That's not an insult to you specifically. I'm just not in the mood to do much talking, and I need to get some work done anyway. Please don't have a go at me for it.'

There. Situation sorted, no need to elaborate further. With the computer extracted, she turned on the laptop and started to do whatever work she could bring herself to. Probably research, mostly.

Persona ~ The Beholder

Alina Sanford

Alina was quite lucky to live on the ground floor of the student accommodation. It meant she didn't have to spend long stretches of time climbing up and down stairs with a heavy bag - and with a relatively late class today, she could afford to relax a bit. Great. She needed some time to herself, after that weird half-remembered dream left her in a state. And she... didn't feel much like talking to the other people in the dorm right now, either. She'd do a bit of interacting later, probably.

So today was gonna be a bad one, huh? Wonderful.

She couldn't stay in bed forever, though. She had coursework, and she had a class just before lunch at that. At about ten, she finally dragged herself out of bed, and made a quick meal for herself. Cornflakes in milk, a banana, glass of water. Simple stuff. She tended not to spend much on food; she physically didn't need a lot, did she? Didn't want to get fat. After that, she brushed her teeth, got showered and dressed for the day - a simple yellow dress, this time - and pre-made lunch in the shape of a Marmite sandwich, a peeled carrot, and a bag of Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps. Again, light fare. She'd make something heavier for dinner, perhaps. Pasta? A salad to go with? Maybe.

She didn't pass anybody on the way out.

---

'Hey Aliiiinaaa!' Mary called out, running up behind as she did. Ah, Mary. Tall, blonde, friend to everybody. Alina's closest friend, funnily. Embarassingly better at Chemistry than Alina. And they were right outside the gates by now, too, mostly devoid of other students.

'Hey, Mary. How's coursework going?'

'Ah, pretty swell, actually!' she replied, tossing her hair back behind her ear. 'I'm mostly done on the latest assignment; I could probably help you with it, if you wanted to come over later?' There was the ask, the request for her to come over.

'...maybe. I still need to think about dinner, too.'

'Yeah, perfect! We'll have something solid to fuel us, and crank it out in no time!' she cried, pumping her fist energetically. She hadn't said it yet...

'And then?'

'And, uh... and then we can, um, play some of this new game... it's, uh, pretty fun, you're a girl in an all-boy's school... they, uh...'

There it was. The perverse part of the query. Because, turned out, Mary was also very into pornographic games.

'Why do you keep asking me to play eroge games with you, Mary?'

'It's not ero-! It's not smut,' she whispered back intensely, blushing a little after her initial outburst. 'These are highly story-intensive visual novels with a lot of depth and plenty of paths to follow, like TellTale did before they went under. Sure, these ones involve some, you know, plot-based intercourse, for the sake of advancing the story and stuff, but you know that's not the sort of thing I'd show just anyone, Alina!' Yeah, like she hadn't asked- well, to Alina's knowledge, Mary really hadn't asked anyone else to play those sorts of games. Rumours spread like wildfire, and she suspected even she might have heard something about it.

'Besides,' Mary continued with just a hint of either mothering or smarminess, 'you'll get behind on the work again if you don't get on with it. Remember last year, with the second-to-last project?'

'Yeah. That was right after grandad died.'

'Mm. Not to remind you of that, I'm sorry. You were in a right state, though, and I've seen you slowing down even after that. I do care about you, Alina, you know?' she uttered, hugging the girl affectionately. 'I want you to do your best work, and why not get help from somebody close to you?' Well, that did make sense when she considered it... she shrugged the arms away as they continued walking, they'd been there a while now.

Alina stiffened up a bit as she stopped. Close to her? She cared about her, the hugs? She- no. No way. How had she not seen it before?

'...Mary?'

'Yeah?' Mary asked, already sensing something was up in Alina's head.

'Do... do you have a crush on me?'

Mary's expression fell like a rock. Or rather, it expanded like a cloud. Or an explosion? The point being, it went from smiling and slightly worried to pure, unadulterated panic in less than a second, and less than a second after that-

'Wait a minute-!'

'OKAY I'LL SEE YOU IN CLASS ALINA BYEEEE!' Mary yelled behind her as she sprinted, full-speed, into the building and out of sight, leaving her on her own again. Then either the very thought of being attracted to Alina was deeply disturbing; or Alina was exactly right, and Mary was crushing on her something bad. She suspected the latter, and sighed deeply over the idea.

'Well, shit.'

The Grim Crusade - A Warhammer 30000 RP

@JrVader There are a couple of slots still available at the moment, yes. Feel free to join the Discord server, and we can discuss your ideas in detail.

Static Tabs Do Not Take Up Internet - BCTheEntity's Character Links

#44 - Flyboy

Mark Antony Collier, A.K.A. "Fly Guy"

Age: 13
Nationality: America, Land of the Free! Specifically, the city of New York in the state of New York.
Rank: 44

Appearance: One could imagine Mark would be a fairly normal guy, if not for his Quirk. One could imagine he'd be fairly light-skinned, and one can tell regardless that he has brown hair on his head, kept short enough to stay out of his eyes, and a fairly decent figure about five feet in height with, if one were to witness them, particularly well-built back muscles for his age. However, if one were not aware of who he was, the first idea of what he might look like would come from his regular shirts, which not only have an extra pair of sleeves underneath the usuals, but two large slits up the back, as if to allow for wings to pass through... and perhaps something else beneath those.
Costume: Things only get stranger as one witnesses his costume. Black jeans are simple enough a covering for his lower half, but the upper half could easily be mistaken for part of a knight's plate armour, albeit crafted from titanium and a padded leather lining with a peculiar metallic blue coat of paint over top, alongside further reinforcement of all six limbs - six, as that is the only explanation for the extra arm sleeves and gauntlets. The same slits from before are also present on the back of the breastplate, but part of it is composed of two solid metallic orb-like structures, complete with holes letting air in, as if to allow two small-ish objects to nestle inside with room to freely move about. Most strange is the two-piece helm - the upper half of which seems to be comprised mostly of black-tinted bullet-resistant plastic, solid enough to deflect quite firm strikes, yet covering the majority of the wearer's head with room to spare, especially over the face; and the lower half a facemask of the same metallic blue-coated titanium covering mouth and nose both, strapping on round the back of the wearer's head, but allowing room for... a large metal spike? Hollow, but clearly very sharp... what the hell does the person wearing this need that for?!

Quirk: Dipteran

Type: Mutant
Effect: Mark's Quirk causes him to look very much like a fly - a large pair of transparent insectile wings and a pair of orb-like halteres have sprouted from his back around his shoulder blades; a second pair of arms has erupted from just beneath his armpits; his eyes have transformed into large compound lenses, red with an oil-slick sheen, taking up much of his upper face; most of his body is coated in stiff black hairs, wings and all, with a metallic blue sheen to his skin; and a sturdy proboscis protrudes from between his nose and upper lip, evidently intended to pierce into things.

The primary drawback of this quirk, evidently, is social, given that the vast majority of people will be utterly repulsed by such a visage, made worse by the long-term mental effects of such rejection. The quirk itself, however, is fairly substantial: there is an obvious benefit to wings in the form of flight, something Mark has practiced for a long time to actually achieve the physical strength needed, but this is massively enhanced by his halteres, which essentially act as miniature gyroscopes to pinpoint his position in space relative to other nearby objects, particularly in the horizontal plane, giving him pinpoint accuracy. Further flight effectiveness is achieved by the nature of his eyes giving him a very wide field of view, and the fact that his brain essentially processes the world in slow motion, letting him perceive events that normal people would not react to in time. The potential to detect both infra-red radiation and carbon dioxide emissions is also present in him, though he has yet to discover these properties.

Beyond flight-assisting benefits, his skin is actually somewhat chitinous whilst remaining flexible, and sturdier than one might give it credit for at a glance. Extra arms, evidently, are useful for greater ability to grab or indeed punch things, and can incidentally let him taste objects by placing his hands on them; a power not yet discovered is the capacity to cling to most surfaces by his hands, though he has experienced hints of this through occasional "sweaty hand" mishaps. Lastly, his proboscis is sharp and solid enough to impale flesh, and can both spew out a greenish enzyme-laden acid that is highly effective at breaking down and dissolving proteins, and suck up fluids such as blood and dissolved biomass for sustenance.

Whilst all of these add up to a very substantial powerset, it stands to reason that such extreme physical changes merit obvious weak points. His wings and eyes are large targets, and can be damaged quite easily if a hit lands on them, requiring a fair bit of time to recover from harm; much less obviously, his halteres are extremely sensitive organs, and in fact necessary for him to fly at all: a solid hit to them is debilitating in the same fashion as a kick to the testicles, and if they are destroyed or removed outright, Mark will become utterly unable to fly. Thankfully, he's quite a difficult target to hit and can weather harm to the rest of his body to some extent, further assisted by his costume, but contrariwise, he is in fact very lacking offensively, with just an extra pair of arms and a stabby implement that can spit up acid to his name, and the acid is at present entirely ineffective against non-biological material - a major factor in his initial low rank, evidently. Finally, whilst perhaps a minor issue by comparison, he requires a fair bit of energy to fly properly, usually supplementing a standard diet with plenty of sugar and starch.

Personality: Mark's early life has not been generally easy, and consequently, he developed into a very aggressive person to protect himself. This has not generally helped him to make friends, unsubtle as he is, and in fact it has led to a great deal of problems actually integrating into society over time, to the point of requiring specialised support as a child to acclimate and be somewhat more social in general. He is still prone to sullenness and grudge-holding alike, and might bite your head off with a long rant about how much you suck if you intentionally upset him, but he's at least not likely to hit you with an insult just because you made a comment about his eyes.

That being said, underneath this outer layer of anger is a heavy dose of legitimate loneliness. He knows full-well how his appearance factors in to his social interactions, which contributes greatly to a decent lack of confidence on his part; more specifically, he struggles to let people in even when he isn't taking out his frustration on them, and has had few acquaintances and even fewer friends in his thirteen years of life. Consequently, his hobbies tend to be solo in nature - reading both fiction and non-fiction, computer games, flying practice, and the occasional piece of short fiction, albeit with the level of writing quality one might expect of a thirteen-year-old - but this need to be legitimised has also helped fuel a degree of geniality to those who haven't upset him, and indeed a tendency to help those in need at the drop of a hat. Unusually, he's also gained a degree of knowledge about forging techniques, thanks to circumstances that arose just prior to his acceptance into New Heights.

History: As already stated, Mark's early life has not been generally easy. His father's Quirk, a benign little transformation number he called Bluebottle, mixed with his mother's needle-producing Quirk to produce a setup that seemed only marginally different from the former, save that Mark himself was born looking like a fly, instead of simply transforming into one. The change from Transformation to Mutant rather set the course of Mark's life to be highly negative: despite his best efforts, quite significant smarts, and a name evocative of one of the most well-known public figures in history, he was often bullied in elementary school, with few people willing to talk to him much, and only two other Mutants he could even call friends - and even with them, his behaviour and reputation steadily degraded until they split away for their own sakes when he was about eight.

It was also around this time he first suspected and, with all the gumption of an angry fly child, voiced his concerns that even his parents didn't really love him or even like him. Evidently, loving as they actually were, this was conclusive evidence to them that he needed some form of long-term support, and shortly after, he began seeing a counsellor with quite a positive track record. Between education and therapy sessions, as well as a brief period of time Mark spent on adderall that ended when his parents insisted it was ill-advised, Mark also attended a number of regularly-scheduled groups designed for those living in unfortunate circumstances - say, being part of an impoverished family, or looking like a fly person. Despite everything, these groups did actually help him somewhat, and whilst he never exactly made friends with anybody in them, he could at least talk to them every week or so.

It was one of those children that sparked something resembling interest in hero work - they, naturally, were convinced they'd become a hero, and went on at length about how they'd use their power and how they'd train it every day to get the spot they wanted. Something about that appealed greatly to him - maybe he'd even be liked by people, if he saved them! After getting his therapist's approval, and his parent's encouragement, he began to practice using his powers on a regular basis - part of which was figuring out what flies could do to begin with, before practicing to make proper use of them, including time spent on karate as a martial art, which he excelled in with his enhanced and increasingly-potent precision and slowed temporal perception allowing him to mimic stances and target weak points with ease. In particular, three years were spent furiously flapping his wings on a regular basis, seeming to make little to no progress beyond hovering, only to suddenly take off several feet one morning before school, as it transpired his wing muscles had grown exceptionally strong in the process of all that practice. This power was promptly used to show off in front of one of his bullies, and then to kick said bully in the face for years of humiliation. He maintains to this day that the detention was entirely worth it, even as he recognises the "cool factor" didn't make him any further friends.

Nonetheless, as he grew closer to the typical acceptance age for hero training schools, his father used his connections in construction to get Mark working alongside a local craftsman, helping to forge himself an outfit to enter into heroics with: lightweight, yet tough enough to protect him, and especially to ensure his most important body parts were shielded without being hindered to the greatest possible extent. Both parents also worked with him to start putting applications into as many hero schools as they could, and it was, perhaps, a great deal of good luck that one of those which confirmed his acceptance was within the United States, specifically Hawaii - sun, sand, high-quality education, exclusivity, and he didn't even need a Visa to head there. It pretty much settled the matter: once his last year of standard schooling was over, he headed to New Heights Academy.

Exam Report: Given Markus' flight capacity, and his clear preparation for the exam and future education, it was expected that he would achieve quite positive results. Indeed, his ribbon collecting seemed to go well initially, and he readily evaded most attacks from those robots which targeted him, displaying his Quirk's abilities very efficiently.

However, it became abundantly clear after attempting to help a fellow student in a difficult fight that he was entirely unprepared to fight artificial foes - his fists dealt minimal damage despite targeting weak points, his mouthparts could barely scratch the surface of any metal surfaces he attempted to puncture regardless of its extra reinforcement, and he seemed to shy away from most such fights as a result, panicking when forced into them. Even when he succeeded in puncturing the joints of the one robot he managed to defeat, the acidic substance later found in its systems had hardly corroded the materials at all despite clear danger to biological matter; the machine's disabling was largely due to a combination of physical tearing and short circuiting. Furthermore, he was unfortunate enough to be targeted by Hiroki Sakimoto partway through the exam, being disoriented and grounded by the fellow trainee's Quirk, and losing most of the ribbons he had collected up to that point, leading to reduced performance for the remainder of the exam due to apparent frustration.

It is hardly fair to suggest that Markus is incompetent, nor that he would not be capable of succeeding as a professional hero. Certainly, the theft of so many ribbons so late into the exam could be called "sheer bad luck", given the presence of a Quirk that almost directly countered his own. However, the rules of the examination are clear: preparation to defeat any foe is key, maintaining the right mindset is equally important, and luck must always be a factor considered in a real scenario, though points are given for helping another student without question. Regardless of his starting rank, Markus will have plenty of opportunities to prove himself more effectively throughout the remainder of his education, and we expect that he will rise to match his potential accordingly.