Known Neutral Organizations

The groups mentioned herein are those which have no particular reputation or relation with the Inquisition. While this by no means suggests they are entirely innocent of corruption or wrong-doing, they simply have not yet been found to be engaged in any activity which has resulted them being declared diabolus and dealt with accordingly. As of such, until they are found to be otherwise (for better or worse) they should be treated as what they are: powerblocks.


Falchion
The group known as Falchion has its origins in the now dispossessed noble house of Almagnis. Once one of the Great Houses of Terra Complexus, the sub-sector capital of Kelitas Run, Almagis was a wealthy and well-connected house with interests and allies all over the Expletio sector, especially in Kelitas Run, The Sarken Reach and the Quilanis sub-sectors. Somewhere in the mid-41st millenium, the house started making attempts to have the sector seat moved from Herren to Terra Complexus in order to solidify its influence of the Sector seat. Unsurprisingly it was blocked by multiple powerful noble houses, though Almagnis was quite prepared to deal with them. It was not, however, prepared for the sheer obstinance of many of the adepta and elements within the Imperial Navy. Learning too late how deep the connection between noble and bureacrat on Herren was, Almagnis found itself in a political match it couldn't hope to win. The result was predictable. With large amounts of resources expended and the the stench of failure smeared on their reputation, Almagnis soon lost its place of power on Terra Complexus. Finding itself weakened and beset on all sides by vulturous competing noble lines, the core of the house fled to Ignavus Opus.

The house sat in ignominity for several decades until a particularly canny (and some suggest sinister) scion named Caltius took the helm of Almagnis. Using the waning influence of his family in a last ditch effort to save it, he succeeded in pulling together a merchant fleet to assist in restoring the families strength. Not wanting to sully the family name by having fallen so low as to become nomads of the stars, he named the new fleet and organization after the single cruiser he had managed to collect, Falchion. It is unclear as to how he managed to leverage himself so well, beyond the obvious fact he was incredibly ruthless in his dealings. It is suspected he made use of old family secrets and information to blackmail support for a number of his endeavors. As he grew in power, the long time enemies of House Almagnis once again moved. However, he proved far too skilled to be easily derailed by their efforts. In a last ditch effort to throw him off track, they managed to get Caltius "rewarded" with a Warrant of Trade, dubbing him a Rogue Trader with the remit to begin work beyond the bounds of the Expletio sector. Effectively forced into exile, Caltius took the warrent and departed for the unknown while the powers of Herren congratulated themselves on their work.

They would soon learn it was an unwise move. Caltius was as effective a leader beyond the boundries of the Imperium as he was within them. In a mere decade he succeeded in forming a chain of colonies in the nearby Torrus cluster, gathering extraordinary wealth and influence on the edges of the Kelitas Run sub. Caltius exchanged his proprietary rights to the warp lanes and the systems for the ability to create a space station in the Terra Complexus system from which he could do business. With a foot effectively back in Expletio, a hoard of wealth and growing influence, along with the warrant, Caltius was poised to put Almagnis back on the map. It would be the interference of the nobles of Terra Complexus and the adepta once again thet dashed those plans. While the station was built successfully, the noble house succeeded in the removal of House Almagnis from the official rollcall of Expletio noble bloodlines. Although Caltius could still form a rogue trader line, he was no longer able to declare rights to his family's ancestral homeworld.

If this setback affected Caltius he never let it show, outwardly. He would spend the rest of his days spreading the influence of Falchion far and wide. By the time he died and passed the warrant of trade and the command of Falchion to his heir, he had effectively re-established the houses powerbase from its glory days a century before.

Nature of its Powerbase: Falchion is a MASSIVE merchant house that is backed by a holder of the Almagnis Trade Warrant. They have merchant fleets that run between multiple worlds throughout every sub-sector in Expletio, with particular focus in Keltias, Sarken and Quilanis. They also have a great controlling interest in the production of war material in Kelitas and as such have strong connections to the Imperial Guard and Navy and run fairly well armed themselves. And, of course, due to their warrant and connections to the lucrative Torrus cluster, they are capable of importing a vast quantity of rare minerals and special artifacts (from ancient archeotech to equipment of xenos manufacture). Falchion is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and influential forces in the Expletio Sector.

Adeptus Mechanicus
The Cult of Mars deserves special mention in the Expletio Sector due to the particular circumstances which bind them to the Inquisition. Although not outright aligned with the Ordo Expletio, the two share a mutual bond that is quite rare in the usual feudal power struggles that occur most everywhere else in the Imperium. Inquisitor's and Magos' tend to view each other with a fair deal of empathy in their endeavors and tend to, where possible, give some leeway to their partner adepts.

The reason for these peculiar relations were originally due to a matter of circumstance that has become a traditional bond between the two groups. In the first few centuries of the Expletio Sector's existence, there was a large preponderance of Cult Mechanicus members and relatively few Inquisitors. Due to the extraordinary quantities of tech-lore, ancient data-crypts, advanced constructs and even a number of complete STC's the Expletio sector has drawn large numbers of tech priests and, of course, and equally massive number of hereteks. While the Mechanicus attempted to hunt these blasphemers, the hereteks often succeeded in submerging themselves into place that they tech-priests didn't know how to handle nor follow. The Inquisition, as a result, often found many of their investigations regarding questionable activity in the Emperor's realm to be related to heretek activity. However, due to their few numbers, they could rarely spare the resources and time to hunt all the groups responsible. So, in a move that would cause most Inquisitorial Conclaves to balk, most Inquisitor's simply dropped completed case files into the Mechanicus' lap and let them get on with eliminating the actual heretek cell. This matter of convenience for the Inquisition proved to be readily acceptable to the Cult of Mars as it allowed them to deal with their faithless tech-competitors as well as give them access to whatever items or artifacts they had hidden away.
In order to make the matter of communication more efficient, the Mechanicus began to offer the services of many Magos, Cyberseers and Omniprophets to act as liasons and allow for easier transmission of information to machine worlds. The result for the Inquisitors was ready access to extraordinary amounts of information and the raw talents of the Tech-Priests themselves. With access to agents who could help them research the strange weaponry of their enemies, smuggle them through Mechanicus check points and maintain their equipment, many Inquisitors found the presence of the Mechanicus agents as a great boon indeed.
Over time their arrangement became formalized. An Inquisitor nearly always travels with a ranking Tech-Priest in their retinue (usually one getting close to the rank of Magos), even if not with them all of the time. While the Inquisitor, of course, retains command of the investigations, the Mechanicus liason is free to report back information to his superiors and it is a foolish Inquisitor who spurns their recommendations when it comes to matters of machine theology.

Though they share a strong bond, the Ordo Expletio and the Mechanicus are two seperate organizations and do not readily make requests of one another that step outside the normal bounds of their low-key partnerships. In most cases, the amount of aid and information a Throne Agent can expect to get out of the Mechanicus is determined by their personal standings with the Cult of Mars, as well as that of the Tech-Priest within their retinue.

Nature of its powerbase: Like all other Mechanicus groups throughout the Imperium, their primary purpose is the collection and maintenance of Imperial technology and the furthering of the Quest for Knowledge. The Expletio Mechanicus is in a particularly pronounced position on the latter matter, as the Expletio Sector has proven itself to be a veritable treasure trove of ancient tech-artefacts. Ranging from xenostech to Dark Age tech to Empyric lore to complex astromancy charts and cogitators, the Tech-Priests have their hands full trying to gather and catalog much of it, with the added difficulty of reclaiming (and sometimes erasing) those pieces collected by the numerous heretek groups that plague the sector. This has resulted in a surprisingly high level of technology throughout the sector (and especially in the Mechanicus' hands) and a large number of Mars security personnel, giving the Mechanicus a disproportionately strong presence in Expletio. That being said, the number of groups that exist to challenge them are not exactly far and inbetween.

The Unyielding Crusaders of Perin's Glorious War

The Unyielding Crusaders of Perin's Glorious War, known more simply Perin's Templar (or derogatorily as "Fools Martyred") is a populist movement that created something of a volunteer army at the behest of the Ministorum. As Eccleisiarchy is unable to raise nor train "men at arms" (the reason why the Adeptus Sororitas exists), they made use of another little loophole to get themselves an army. Obstensibly under the command of a collection of noble houses from the Perrin's Struggle and Sentinal Stars subs, the army is closely supervised by clerics and Ministorum agents "purely for moral support". It's name is derived from its primary battlefield: the Breach stars and coreward systems of the sub-sector wide battlefield of Perrin's Struggle. As it falls outside of Munitorum and Imperial Guard control (though members often get tithed to them anyway), it is allowed to move in any fashion it deems best. The reason that such a force would be allowed to exist rather than simply absorbed into direct Imperial service is two fold: political expendience and logistical support. The simple truth of the matter is that while these "crusaders" aren't actually part of the Adeptus Ministorum, it is informally accepted that they are a branch of that organization. Therefore any attempt to co-opt their forces would face some serious opposition from well placed cardinals and bishops. The second, and more important reason, is the simple fact that the various adepta actually can't support the inclusion of such a force into their numbers. This is because Perin's Templar are supported by "donations" from the faithful across various worlds the Eccleisiarchy has a presence on, i.e. all of them. This creates a self-sustaining army that, while something of a loose cannon in the eyes of the Imperial Guard and Navy, makes some effective fodder and whose zeal has made them useful in holding off a number of Ork and Chupix advances throughout the sub. For this reason alone are they tolerated, while the Ministorum uses their victories and power to gather prestige and territory for their own fiefdoms.

The Unyielding Crusaders of Perin' Glorious War is an organization about five decades in the making. Formed long after Perin's ultimately failed invasion of Orkish space in the trailing and coreward stars of the Expletio sector, this religious force simply makes use of his name and the ongoing struggle to draw up the necessary energy and zeal to prosecute their war. While they have managed to actually DO very little in terms of conquest, they have managed to make a name for themselves as hard and fanatically devotees to the God Emperor and his battles, where ever they may be.

Nature of its powerbase
As might be expected, the majority of its power comes from being a really large army with a lot of guns. As a strategic force, its movements are ponderous and slow; a result of being a military force without a clear chain of command. On a tactical level though, it tends to be rash and extremely responsive. The end result is a strange mismatch where the generals are slow and (largely) incompetent, while the field and squad commanders are tough, decisive and brutal in the execution of their duties. On the whole it is difficult to ally or make enemies of such a disparate group, though you can still gain a reputation one way or the other with it. An obvious "in" with the force is through the Ministorum, who effectively control it. This gives Perin's Templars a valuable connection to resources, both man and material. The force lacks most forms of heavier equipment as such things are only permitted to be in the hands of Munitorum sanctioned armies. Despite that, the martial zeal of Perin's Templars keep them moving forward. The only direction they know how to move.

As allies to any Inquisitor that might gather support from the ranks they offer two things. 1) Access to troops, crusaders and veterans some of which are equal, if not superior to, any Storm Trooper in ferocity and skill, if not discipline and knowledge of tactics. 2) Access to a detachment or force for the Inquistor's needs, no questions asked. Unlike IG and IN forces that will leave paper trails when they are employed, no such method of record keeping exists in the Unyielding Crusader's of Perin's Glorious War. They are there to do the God Emperor's work. Whatever form that might take.

The Warranted Combine

The Warranted Combine is a group that uses a play on words to describe their intention. They are a group of Rogue Traders (and thus bearers of Warrants of Trade) who believe that the Almagnis and Falchion influence in the Expletio Sector gives sufficient (warranted) cause for the combination of their resources. With a total of 7 different Trader families involved in the combine, it is an impressively arrayed opposition group.

While the families involved in the combine do not actually share resources, trade lanes or family secrets with each other, they often coordinate trade operations and economic functions to insure that it is one of their own that gains the upperhand in a given situation, rather than agents of Falchion. The combine is close to 200 years old, having joined the numerous enemies of Falchion about the time that the Almagnis line succeeded so thoroughly in taking control of the Torrus Cluster and setting itself up as a matchless rogue trader line. Ever since then they have been undoubtedly the most effective force at stemming Falchion's otherwise unmittigated growth in influence and power. While they court and make use of multiple noble houses throughout Expletio (though especially in Kelitas Run sub), it is their power that holds back the tide. For this reason, Falchion and their pets rarely get along with any that support the Warranted Combine. The result is that most of the social and economic elements of the Expletio are divided between these two powers. For any force that is interested in maintaining a diffuse power structure in the Expletio sector, the Warranted Combine are the more desirable. After all, the Warranted Combine exists only to fight Falchion. And while the Rogue Trader houses within are quite close compared to most, they would quickly split once their main opponent collapsed. Falchion in ascendance would bring the whole of Expletio within the megacorporations grasp.

Rogue Trader Houses: Reese, Lorgath, Humanik, Tol'nirith, Gornac, Julius, Scipio

Nature of its powerbase
As one might expect, the powerbase of the Warranted Combine is that of 7 fairly successful and power rogue trader houses. Their primary resources are their massive and interconnected webs of profit and favors and their fleets. If you don't want to go to Falchion for resources, information or money, the Warranted Combine offers an easy alternative. Furthermore, many of the favors and political "ins" that the Warranted Combine carries is with the Sector Seat and the older/more influential nobility. A distinct advantage that the combine has over Falchion is the quality of their capital ships. While Falchion's fleet assets are much more numerous and better supplied, they are rarely as highly upgraded, powerful or similar in ship hull size. The Warranted Combine boasts an impressive 21 cruisers to its name, while Falchion only has personal access to about 7. A much more equal ratio of light cruisers is shared between the two opposing forces.

For those looking to make allies with the Warranted Combine, their is no particular trick to it. Opposition to Falchion will make you friends within their number, though obviously more powerful opponents will be more openly recognized and assisted by the combine.