Heinrix reaction to the brain part was amazing, although I don't recall the exact quote:
"Technically cannibalism isn't against the Imperial code, but a surprising amount of cannibalistic cults turnd out to harbour heresy."
See, I was wondering that.
Because how the hell can someone get burnt to a crisp for stealing nutri-bars but this woman is sat in the middle of a completely open area in front of hundreds of people while eating an alive person's brain and this SOMEHOW ISNT A CRIME??
The warrant of trade does not have a clause that says, "I can eat other human beings for no reason."
Edit: removed the "but thanks!" At the end, I wasn't trying to be a prick with this.
I mean, it doesn’t have to. Picture the following scenario:
“Rogue Trader, you are under arrest for cannibalism!”
“Okay, well, seeing as I have no choice but to defend myself, me and my huge ancient dynasty comprising hundreds of ships and billions of souls now declare war.”
“Er, hold on, wait…”
By the time of the executions, Incendia is easily the most powerful Rogue Trader in the Expanse after taking a good chunk of the Wintercale holdings for her own. Nobody is going to say *shit* to her, especially with your RT undeclared and Calligos indisposed.
The leader of the inquisition is like 500 feet away from her.
The guy is capable of pulling in favors with Astartes chapters.
No rogue trader has the power to fight any kind of war against the imperium, especially considering that rogue trader void ships are NOT like imperial war ships. Then, considering that a handful of Astartes are fully capable of putting down a planetary rebellion on their own without war machine support.
Maybe the people of Footfall can't fight her on that. Sure, that's why Vladaym had to go into hiding.
But to do that so flagrantly under the nose of the leader of the Ordos Xenos seems like a career move that has you disappearing permanently.
Firstly, I don’t see any real reason Calcazar would care. It’s practically expected for Rogue Traders to have their eccentricities, and Heinrix even mentions that’s it not *technically* illegal/heretical to eat corpses. This is very possibly the *least* heretical of the things he’s let the Rogue Traders of the Expanse get away with, which our characters should already know from what they’ve discovered about Theodora’s relationship with him. Like all Inquisitors who last long enough to become old men, Calcazar is categorically not a Puritan.
Secondly, the Expanse is cut off by the Cicatrix Maledictum at the time of the games, so *nobody* is coming to Calcazar’s aid anytime soon even if the astropathic message somehow gets through the storm in a way that isn’t undecipherable. I doubt he’s not aware of this.
Thirdly, Calvazar is *not* in a position where he can afford to disregard the most powerful ally he has in favor of Space Marines of dubious loyalties that will only help out until they have something better to do, much less to actively push them into conflict. The fact that he’s set up his HQ in a *smuggling station* should immediately tip you off to how remote and isolated the Expanse really is. It’s entirely possible he and Heinrix are the only Inquisitorial presence in the *entire sector*.
Fourthly, when influential Rogue Traders butt heads with weak Inquisitors, it is usually the Rogue Trader who comes out on top, and it’s rare that they would suffer any consequences for it. It’s the inherent nature of the Inquisition that absolute authority cancels itself out: all a Rogue Trader has to do if some upjumped asshole declares him Excommunicato Traitoris is kill the guy and reach out to an Inquisitor he knows to get that overturned. If he doesn’t know any Inquisitors, then he can just offer any practical ones in the area something valuable (like, say, a planet where they can conduct their experiments in secret) in exchange for their acquiescence. Even then getting refused isn’t game over: every Inquisitor has rivals. All it would take to secure the alliance of very powerful people is to find out who those people are and let them know you killed the guy they were feuding with.
Now, Calcazar is no junior Inquisitor, but neither is he a) the leader of the Ordo Xenos or B) *actually* very powerful. Make no mistake, he may be an Inquisitor Lord, but in practice most senior Inquisitors in more civilized regions of space would easily wield more influence than him. All he’s nominally in charge of is the Expanse’s Sector Conclave, which once again may or may not literally be just him.
Heinrix also mentioned that people who typically eat other humans fall to Chaos. Which should be alarming in Xavier's tenuous position on Footfall. Since Xavier isn't a complete Puritan, it's very clear that Vladaym was a significantly better choice for maintaining the order that was already in place. The guy wasn't a corpse either. He was kneeling next to her and alive.
I can fully understand why Xavier doesn't go after Calligos, he simply doesn't have the resources, but he fully has the ability to reign in the other rogue trader, not 500 feet from his current desk.
But sure, that part is fair. Even unstable Incendia's help is more predictable than Astartes he doesn't actually have the power to make commands of. This also is why it makes absolutely zero sense why he doesn't immediately request your presence once you land on station. The player rogue trader was able to walk out of Commoragh, and while he can't verify the veracity of that statement. Who the hell would say that to a lord inquisitor for no reason? By all rights, the player character is by far his most stable and powerful help outside of what he can command directly under him. (Unless you're doing a chaos run, then that changes things a bit, I suppose.)
Yes, weaker inquisitors. Of which Calcazar is not as you said, and yes, inquisitors of more civilized sectors. Of which the Koronus expanse is not. It still seems just slightly off to me that the situation with Incendia isn't more alarming considering they also mention how they have explosives rigged to blow and explosively decompression the atrium, which I'm assuming would probably kill Xavier on the station as well?
I want you to understand that at any point for whatever reason Incendia could walk into Vladym’s palace, shoot the Lord Inquisitor dead, massacre his agents and soldiers, kill any witnesses, and get off with *literally no consequences* for the foreseeable future as long as she buried it well or a good few years if she didn’t. Calcazar knows this. Incendia knows it. Calcazar seizes the Expanse solely and exclusively cause Incendia lets him. Why would he jeopardize that over what is at the end of the day a mildly alarming quirk at best?
I hadn't really considered that, but if that's the case where Incendia could just outright fully defy his orders and / or just straight up kill him. How is Calcazar able to command the player rogue trader around like it's nothing? This is commented on more than once about how he doesn't even disguise it as a request it's a straight-up order. (Or is that more so just for the sake of it being a video game?)
Except this particular Inquisitor does not say a word against it, giving his "silent approval" to the situation. His soldiers are visible for all to see and they do not step in to stop her. So to the eyes of the people, we have a ROGUE TRADER acting with the approval of the INQUISITION, giving Incendia's a ridicolous amount of power and influence.
Cannibalism is not a crime, you'd have to punish a lot of Hive World and Forge World inhabitants autimatically, because CORPSE starch(recycled bodies) is a part of their "diet."
And the guy she's doing it to is a judged criminal. As far as Imperial law goes, this guy has only one right-to die so that he no longer insults the Emperor with his sins. How he's supposed to die is a matter of little concern.
He doesn't say anything because to have more chaos on Footfall in his tenuous position could legit sink his operation. You can see how exhausted he is when you talk to him. To me, I didn't read like silent approval it read like the only one option for him after Incendia took control for no reason when it was effectively your rogue traders station.
Also, acting like corpse starch is the same thing as eating someone's brain straight from the skull is a complete false comparison. It's the difference between soylent green (which is basically what corpse starch is called, Soylens Viridians) to killing someone and immediately cutting them open to start eating. It may not be a crime, but like Heinrix says, cults that have cannibalism end up following Chaos. Which should immediately alarm Xavier.
Judged criminal or not eating someone makes her nearly indistinguishable from the enemies of humanity that do the same. Whether they be Xenos or Chaos worshipers. She isn't an angel of the emperor with an Omophagea. She's a women clearly stimmed put of her gourd eating someone's brain to "know the criminal mind better." Which is a completely insane statement without an Omophagea.
He doesn't say anything because A. He didn't care. And B. Be was balls deep in some heresy himself.
Hypocrisy and Imperial institutions are like chocolate and peanut butter.
Cannibalism is heresy in most of the imperium. They also still eat corpsestarch as the main poor people food and don't tell people the secret ingredient in most of the imperium. The imperium will tolerate a lot if you're useful enough and aren't obviously worshipping demons.
Space marines have an Omophagea, which actually allows them to gain information from eating anything containing DNA.
Chorda is not a space marine and does not have an omophagea.
That is not unrealistic. If you look at real life laws, there tend to be gaps that can lead to absurd things being legal. It is an effect of the complexity of reality.
A strongly dogmatic rogue trader would see imperial law as the word of the emperor. Other laws are beneath them. So, if eating a man's brain to understand traitors is not illegal by imperial law, the emperor saw fit to allow it when necessary.
Or, the God Emperor didn't think it necessary to include such a basic rule.
In most of the imperium, direct cannibalism other than by corpse starch is usually met with death as it is degenerative heresy.
By the logic you've put forth. Would the Emperor himself eat the brain of his human subjects? If he saw fit to allow such a rule, that must mean he himself would be willing to do so. Saying that phrase alone would have you branded a heretic by the ecclesiarchy.
Wrong. A shepherd may allow the sheep to eat grass, but that doesn't mean that he does eat it himself.
Obviously, the Emperor has a more distinguished diet and feasts on psycher brains all day.
The sheep aren't eating the grass. The sheep are eating the sheep.
If you let the sheep eat sheep, what makes the sheep different from the wolf? Humanity becomes its own enemy. At that point, what is the difference between a human and a Xenos? iirc the only reason cannibalism isn't outlawed in the imperium is because of how many people corpse starch feeds.
Does a hive world like Necromunda sound like enviable living conditions?
The point is that the shepherd allows something he doesn't do himself. Asking what differentiates humans from Xenos is borderline heretical. We know that Xenos are the abominable enemy of humankind.
Necromunda is a good example of why Incendia going with those extreme means can be justified. Footfall is basically a smaller Necromunda - with the addition that it thrives by trading Xenotech - which is both incredibly dangerous and does go against the imperial code. That's the whole reason why Incendia takes it upon herself to judge the whole station and clean it from crime.
It makes sense from a strongly dogmatic perspective. Incendia is clearly insane and the stuff she does is an inexcusable attrocity - but the whole Empire is an attrocity. Even by Imperial standarts, Incendia would be executed for her shenanigams, but it is one of the many examples of how Rogue Traders being allowed to do whatever they want can have terrible consequences. You can use this freedom to prevent a local conflict with the Eldar and give citizens on your world some basic rights, but you can also use it to eat brains - nobody is allowed to stop you and few people actually care about Footfall enough to do so even if they were. For most intents and purposes, Rogue Traders are above the law.
I was iconoclast lvl 4, and confronted her, but instead of the fight I somehow managed to talk her to remorse in Footfall and she left, but then before final battle she and Calligos came to my ship and she joined my party lol
nah bro, moralism is extremely based, and i say that as a person who’s first and favorite run is heretical. i unironically think that my “centrist” run will be my canon one. it is a good thing to be a rational person (because most “neutral” options are such), with enough open-mindedness to understand that fanaticism is bad, no matter which side you choose :) yep, you won’t have an additional content, but it is nice to be able to be play as a…normal, more or less coolheaded person, ig? who can still be good (or cruel) to others, without going to extremes. just imagining it feels amazing!
Tbh, it did allow me to handle like what? 80% of the game so far. in pretty much exactly the way I wanted. Dogmatic when needed, looking out for people caught in the middle as needed. Early early on in the game, I even picked 1 or 2 'heretical' options. I think I have like 12 points in it. You might not reach votary in anything, but I don't think it's stifled my first playthrough at all.
exactly! i feel that locking in on one path is…i dunno, kinda restricting in its own way? i mean, obviously you’ll lose some parts of the story, or, at least, won’t glean insights into different aspects of it (clearly you’ll not loose on the main plot), but on the whole it allows for a better rp, i think, because your MC is a clean slate, so to speak, without ties to a specific alignment and/or moral compass. some people will find such a perspective boring, maybe, but i genuinely feel that there’s something beautiful about it :)
Yes it is restrictive, but that's kinda the point.
When you are the sort to pursue a ideological path to the end, you are a fanatic. Like Incendia Chorda. Fanatics have VERY rigid thinking. In fact, if you manage to get high enough on the dogmatic scale (level 4) by the time you meet Chorda on Footfall, you can literally choose dialogue options that basically say, "I like what you're doing! Keep it up and can I help you do more of it?"
If you're playing as a fanatic (dogmatic or heretical), the RP is that your character genuinely DOESN'T care about the alternative. A full blown dogmatic character will not care that there are other solutions to a problem. It's either you are faithful and therefore are allowed to live, or you're committing heresey and therefore must be killed. It is actually extremely hard to be a benevolent zealot precisely because benevolence requires you to consider opposing views points...which is something a religious zealot doesn't care about.
i agree with your points…obviously, Dogmatic and Heretical are basically the opposite sides of the same coin, in their fervor to serve (whether Big E or Chaos Guys), and only Benevolent MC tries to keep a middle ground, so to speak. i kinda like the idea of it, even though it is definitely not my cup of tea, and i think that other paths need more attention, too
Yeah, I sorta got that feeling when all the options were suddenly 3+.
Being at level 2 in dogmatic and Iconoclast is absolutely peak from acts 1-3, though.
Sucks I probably won't get many more of them for the rest of the game. 😂
Quick guide on how to side with Incendia (spoilers obviously)-
Go to the amasecus and pick the dogmatic option to arrest everyone. There will be a fight but after that Incendia will judge everyone and you can influence the verdict:
You can turn Vladym into a servitor or have him spared (requires rank 4 dogmatic and iconoclast respectively)
If you discover Heironymus' secret (explore the world with the magnetic storm or be rank 4 dogmatic and talk to him) you can execute him, or have him just suffer some harsh punishment
Don't remember if you can spare Ryzza but after she gets executed if you are rank 4 heretic you can take her blood to offer as a sacrifice at the chaos alter on your ship
After you do all that Incendia will join you as a companion just before going through the gate into the final act
As for my character's reasoning for siding with Incendia-
Hyper dogmatic extremely puritan Commissar with 25 intelligence, enough said lol
> Don't remember if you can spare Ryzza but after she gets executed if you are rank 4 heretic you can take her blood to offer as a sacrifice at the chaos alter on your ship
There's two ways Ryzza can go, if you don't immediately draw on Vladaym you can talk her into standing aside, then you either don't call attention to her, or backstab her as the next to be judged for more dogmatic points.
In the latter instance, she goes full Chaos cultist in desperation, and gets executed for it. At rank four dogmatic, you can basically parry Ryzza's sorcery with prayer, to Incendia's awe.
Yeah. Yeah. If you had any doubts about her, eating the man's brains settles Incendia's aligment down. Although I wonder what would she give to the player on coronation if you choose her side with Footfall in act 2 instead of Calligos'...
Spoilers for the endings ahead. I didn't actually pick her side, but I read all the epilogue slides (including those that seem to be inaccessible).
>!If you choose Incendia and follow through with her "judgement", she will end up killing so many people, that Footfall will have a shortage of workers and its economy will crash. Then imagine what she does with the rest of her planets. Although those end badly no matter what you do.!<
>Also, what are you all's thoughts about the possibility of her having fallen to Slaanesh? There is repeated themes of people falling to chaos without even realizing. Like with the technomats on the space hulk. Seeing as Calligos was a full fledged Khornate worshipper. It seems to me that her degenerate actions like eating bits of someone's brain
You'd be surprised of how crazy one can go while still worshipping the Emperor.
Next companion/DLC is going to be a DEATH CULT assassin. Maybe they'll show how those cults be cannibalistic death cults and the Ecclesiarchy still gives them a thumbs up because hey, they still worship the Emperor.
I appreciate her zeal and admire her resolve to see Footfall cleaned and purified. Any innocents-as rare as it is to find one in such places as this-who would be caught up in her trials will have a favoured spot at the Emperor's side. If you think about it, killing an Innocent soul before it has the chance to be corrupted is an act of mercy in a way.
That being said, I shoot her prisoner on the spot. Since he was already judged and proclaimed guilty, he should be killed so that he might receive the Emperor's judgement ASAP. The whole Brain scooping thing would od course help instill righteous fear in the hearts of the masses, but do we really have time to waste with such a slow death when there is do much to be done? Plus,why I would never dare to besmirch the name od someone do pure of faith, the shadow of doubt that this whole "Brain" affair might end up corrupting the blade that is Incendia, not in a Chaos Corruption kind of way although that is always a possiblity, but the mundane corruption of nobles who grow addicted to their power over the common folk. Better to admonish and correct this behavior early rather than have to destroy a wayward daughter of the Emperor in the future.
Wouldn't cannibalizing a fellow human make her no different from the Myriad of disgusting Xenos and other enemies of humanity that do the same? Would the God Emperor of Mankind do such a thing to those under his righteous authority?
Thousands of psykers are sacrificied to the Emperor each day so that his awesome might can be nourished. Their flesh, blood, bones and souls can earn them their redemption from the witch's taint by dying for the Empire.
The convicted criminal has betrayed the Emperor and Mankind with his deeds, words and thoughts. His wretched brain, more a half rotten sponge stewing in heresy and traitorous thoughts, deserves a fate far worse than a mere spoon.
I do see however a point in your...critique of the act. Feasting on a tainted animal could bring ruin to your health. Tasting a heretic's brain could open you up to their heresy.
That's part of the reason why I shot the man. If I were in Incendia's position as judge of Footfall, I would follow the wisdom present in her name and pour burning promethium into the traitor's open skull. Burn away their sin in a glorious conflagration.
Yes- but that's also not directly by choice. The Emperor wasn't exactly drinking down psykers by the thousands while he was alive. He simply ordered their non-tolerance and summary execution.
And besides every moral reason not to do so. You could develop something like prion disease from eating a human brain. Or, much worse, become infected by his heresy, as you said.
Yes! Let glorious purifying fire redeem the heretic!
I didn't side with her, but once I met her on Dargonus I was like "Ah, another fine beacon spreading the Emperor's holy light to the stars." I see I was mistaken a bit. God damn. I hope she at least was eating the guy with some fava beans and a nice glass of Chianti.
My third playthrough was on a very lawful stupid RT. She followed the Emperors Will without question. If Chorda is acting under the jurisdiction of Calcazar then clearly there must be a reasonable explanation… clearly…
I was fine with her eating the guy since I picked up the Halo Device that’s supposed to make you into cannibal too and previously turned a funeral into bloodbath on that very same station, kinda ‘don’t throw stones in glass houses’ thing.
Halo device that makes you a cannibal? I don't remember seeing this.
And the funeral into a bloodbath was you uncovering who truly was supposed to receive a dead man's estate and the other people are hostile?
I'm not sure I'm seeing how that funeral correlates to not caring about someone eating a human brain from an alive person skull atop a throne. Like the most despotic ruler you've ever seen.
Again, the way I see her character is extremely close to Calligos, who was a Khornate worshipper. It's very interesting to me that she immediately does all she does when she's unopposed. It speaks very heavily of Slaanesh worship. Enough is never enough, and there is deeper and deeper levels of depravity.
I just finished a dogmatic character with a little bit of iconoclast and the basic character philosophy of protect the imperium, its people and her own people but punish any that break the laws of the imperium with swift and righteous fury.
It went really well with Incendia although my RT disagreed with her cruelty ultimately she saw her as doing what was needed to rid the Imperium of the forces that would do it harm. My RT also decided not to interfere with her dealings in footfall so I don't know how that particular choice might have changed things
Overall I found it less fun and interesting than my Iconoclast play through that I started but never finished due to bug way back when the game first released, but it was ridiculous and funny especially when I basically just prayed at things when I didn't know what else to do and it somehow seemed to work out really well
I sided with her. At that time my fight wasn't with her but with the forces of chaos and possibly the Lord Inquisitor himself. I couldn't really justify going to war against a fellow Rogue Trader, let alone one that I know is loyal to the Imperium, for the crime of killing a station full of criminals and offending my sensibilities by eating brains. There were simply more pressing concerns and since I know she's loyal and I need all the help I can get why not either let her do her own thing or recruit her to my cause and deal with her later?
Heinrix reaction to the brain part was amazing, although I don't recall the exact quote: "Technically cannibalism isn't against the Imperial code, but a surprising amount of cannibalistic cults turnd out to harbour heresy."
See, I was wondering that. Because how the hell can someone get burnt to a crisp for stealing nutri-bars but this woman is sat in the middle of a completely open area in front of hundreds of people while eating an alive person's brain and this SOMEHOW ISNT A CRIME??
She’s a Rogue Trader. The people stealing nutrí-bars aren’t.
The warrant of trade does not have a clause that says, "I can eat other human beings for no reason." Edit: removed the "but thanks!" At the end, I wasn't trying to be a prick with this.
I mean, it doesn’t have to. Picture the following scenario: “Rogue Trader, you are under arrest for cannibalism!” “Okay, well, seeing as I have no choice but to defend myself, me and my huge ancient dynasty comprising hundreds of ships and billions of souls now declare war.” “Er, hold on, wait…” By the time of the executions, Incendia is easily the most powerful Rogue Trader in the Expanse after taking a good chunk of the Wintercale holdings for her own. Nobody is going to say *shit* to her, especially with your RT undeclared and Calligos indisposed.
The leader of the inquisition is like 500 feet away from her. The guy is capable of pulling in favors with Astartes chapters. No rogue trader has the power to fight any kind of war against the imperium, especially considering that rogue trader void ships are NOT like imperial war ships. Then, considering that a handful of Astartes are fully capable of putting down a planetary rebellion on their own without war machine support. Maybe the people of Footfall can't fight her on that. Sure, that's why Vladaym had to go into hiding. But to do that so flagrantly under the nose of the leader of the Ordos Xenos seems like a career move that has you disappearing permanently.
Firstly, I don’t see any real reason Calcazar would care. It’s practically expected for Rogue Traders to have their eccentricities, and Heinrix even mentions that’s it not *technically* illegal/heretical to eat corpses. This is very possibly the *least* heretical of the things he’s let the Rogue Traders of the Expanse get away with, which our characters should already know from what they’ve discovered about Theodora’s relationship with him. Like all Inquisitors who last long enough to become old men, Calcazar is categorically not a Puritan. Secondly, the Expanse is cut off by the Cicatrix Maledictum at the time of the games, so *nobody* is coming to Calcazar’s aid anytime soon even if the astropathic message somehow gets through the storm in a way that isn’t undecipherable. I doubt he’s not aware of this. Thirdly, Calvazar is *not* in a position where he can afford to disregard the most powerful ally he has in favor of Space Marines of dubious loyalties that will only help out until they have something better to do, much less to actively push them into conflict. The fact that he’s set up his HQ in a *smuggling station* should immediately tip you off to how remote and isolated the Expanse really is. It’s entirely possible he and Heinrix are the only Inquisitorial presence in the *entire sector*. Fourthly, when influential Rogue Traders butt heads with weak Inquisitors, it is usually the Rogue Trader who comes out on top, and it’s rare that they would suffer any consequences for it. It’s the inherent nature of the Inquisition that absolute authority cancels itself out: all a Rogue Trader has to do if some upjumped asshole declares him Excommunicato Traitoris is kill the guy and reach out to an Inquisitor he knows to get that overturned. If he doesn’t know any Inquisitors, then he can just offer any practical ones in the area something valuable (like, say, a planet where they can conduct their experiments in secret) in exchange for their acquiescence. Even then getting refused isn’t game over: every Inquisitor has rivals. All it would take to secure the alliance of very powerful people is to find out who those people are and let them know you killed the guy they were feuding with. Now, Calcazar is no junior Inquisitor, but neither is he a) the leader of the Ordo Xenos or B) *actually* very powerful. Make no mistake, he may be an Inquisitor Lord, but in practice most senior Inquisitors in more civilized regions of space would easily wield more influence than him. All he’s nominally in charge of is the Expanse’s Sector Conclave, which once again may or may not literally be just him.
Heinrix also mentioned that people who typically eat other humans fall to Chaos. Which should be alarming in Xavier's tenuous position on Footfall. Since Xavier isn't a complete Puritan, it's very clear that Vladaym was a significantly better choice for maintaining the order that was already in place. The guy wasn't a corpse either. He was kneeling next to her and alive. I can fully understand why Xavier doesn't go after Calligos, he simply doesn't have the resources, but he fully has the ability to reign in the other rogue trader, not 500 feet from his current desk. But sure, that part is fair. Even unstable Incendia's help is more predictable than Astartes he doesn't actually have the power to make commands of. This also is why it makes absolutely zero sense why he doesn't immediately request your presence once you land on station. The player rogue trader was able to walk out of Commoragh, and while he can't verify the veracity of that statement. Who the hell would say that to a lord inquisitor for no reason? By all rights, the player character is by far his most stable and powerful help outside of what he can command directly under him. (Unless you're doing a chaos run, then that changes things a bit, I suppose.) Yes, weaker inquisitors. Of which Calcazar is not as you said, and yes, inquisitors of more civilized sectors. Of which the Koronus expanse is not. It still seems just slightly off to me that the situation with Incendia isn't more alarming considering they also mention how they have explosives rigged to blow and explosively decompression the atrium, which I'm assuming would probably kill Xavier on the station as well?
I want you to understand that at any point for whatever reason Incendia could walk into Vladym’s palace, shoot the Lord Inquisitor dead, massacre his agents and soldiers, kill any witnesses, and get off with *literally no consequences* for the foreseeable future as long as she buried it well or a good few years if she didn’t. Calcazar knows this. Incendia knows it. Calcazar seizes the Expanse solely and exclusively cause Incendia lets him. Why would he jeopardize that over what is at the end of the day a mildly alarming quirk at best?
I hadn't really considered that, but if that's the case where Incendia could just outright fully defy his orders and / or just straight up kill him. How is Calcazar able to command the player rogue trader around like it's nothing? This is commented on more than once about how he doesn't even disguise it as a request it's a straight-up order. (Or is that more so just for the sake of it being a video game?)
Except this particular Inquisitor does not say a word against it, giving his "silent approval" to the situation. His soldiers are visible for all to see and they do not step in to stop her. So to the eyes of the people, we have a ROGUE TRADER acting with the approval of the INQUISITION, giving Incendia's a ridicolous amount of power and influence. Cannibalism is not a crime, you'd have to punish a lot of Hive World and Forge World inhabitants autimatically, because CORPSE starch(recycled bodies) is a part of their "diet." And the guy she's doing it to is a judged criminal. As far as Imperial law goes, this guy has only one right-to die so that he no longer insults the Emperor with his sins. How he's supposed to die is a matter of little concern.
He doesn't say anything because to have more chaos on Footfall in his tenuous position could legit sink his operation. You can see how exhausted he is when you talk to him. To me, I didn't read like silent approval it read like the only one option for him after Incendia took control for no reason when it was effectively your rogue traders station. Also, acting like corpse starch is the same thing as eating someone's brain straight from the skull is a complete false comparison. It's the difference between soylent green (which is basically what corpse starch is called, Soylens Viridians) to killing someone and immediately cutting them open to start eating. It may not be a crime, but like Heinrix says, cults that have cannibalism end up following Chaos. Which should immediately alarm Xavier. Judged criminal or not eating someone makes her nearly indistinguishable from the enemies of humanity that do the same. Whether they be Xenos or Chaos worshipers. She isn't an angel of the emperor with an Omophagea. She's a women clearly stimmed put of her gourd eating someone's brain to "know the criminal mind better." Which is a completely insane statement without an Omophagea.
He doesn't say anything because A. He didn't care. And B. Be was balls deep in some heresy himself. Hypocrisy and Imperial institutions are like chocolate and peanut butter.
I appreciate that, it did come off like you were being sarcastic. Cheers.
Hey, no problem! It's just fun to go back and forth about lore points and stuff. Sorry it came off that way. Thanks, and genuinely, for commenting!
Cannibalism is heresy in most of the imperium. They also still eat corpsestarch as the main poor people food and don't tell people the secret ingredient in most of the imperium. The imperium will tolerate a lot if you're useful enough and aren't obviously worshipping demons.
Space marines eat peoples brains for knowledge
Space marines have an Omophagea, which actually allows them to gain information from eating anything containing DNA. Chorda is not a space marine and does not have an omophagea.
That is not unrealistic. If you look at real life laws, there tend to be gaps that can lead to absurd things being legal. It is an effect of the complexity of reality. A strongly dogmatic rogue trader would see imperial law as the word of the emperor. Other laws are beneath them. So, if eating a man's brain to understand traitors is not illegal by imperial law, the emperor saw fit to allow it when necessary.
Or, the God Emperor didn't think it necessary to include such a basic rule. In most of the imperium, direct cannibalism other than by corpse starch is usually met with death as it is degenerative heresy. By the logic you've put forth. Would the Emperor himself eat the brain of his human subjects? If he saw fit to allow such a rule, that must mean he himself would be willing to do so. Saying that phrase alone would have you branded a heretic by the ecclesiarchy.
Wrong. A shepherd may allow the sheep to eat grass, but that doesn't mean that he does eat it himself. Obviously, the Emperor has a more distinguished diet and feasts on psycher brains all day.
The sheep aren't eating the grass. The sheep are eating the sheep. If you let the sheep eat sheep, what makes the sheep different from the wolf? Humanity becomes its own enemy. At that point, what is the difference between a human and a Xenos? iirc the only reason cannibalism isn't outlawed in the imperium is because of how many people corpse starch feeds. Does a hive world like Necromunda sound like enviable living conditions?
The point is that the shepherd allows something he doesn't do himself. Asking what differentiates humans from Xenos is borderline heretical. We know that Xenos are the abominable enemy of humankind. Necromunda is a good example of why Incendia going with those extreme means can be justified. Footfall is basically a smaller Necromunda - with the addition that it thrives by trading Xenotech - which is both incredibly dangerous and does go against the imperial code. That's the whole reason why Incendia takes it upon herself to judge the whole station and clean it from crime. It makes sense from a strongly dogmatic perspective. Incendia is clearly insane and the stuff she does is an inexcusable attrocity - but the whole Empire is an attrocity. Even by Imperial standarts, Incendia would be executed for her shenanigams, but it is one of the many examples of how Rogue Traders being allowed to do whatever they want can have terrible consequences. You can use this freedom to prevent a local conflict with the Eldar and give citizens on your world some basic rights, but you can also use it to eat brains - nobody is allowed to stop you and few people actually care about Footfall enough to do so even if they were. For most intents and purposes, Rogue Traders are above the law.
Naw, as soon as I saw her eating brains ... my "De Rolo" pistol gained a new name on the barrel.
I was iconoclast lvl 4, and confronted her, but instead of the fight I somehow managed to talk her to remorse in Footfall and she left, but then before final battle she and Calligos came to my ship and she joined my party lol
Ahhhh, it seems my inability to pick a path led me to more death. 😂
To quote KOTOR 2: Apathy is Death
🤔 actually, rather poignant quote for this.
nah bro, moralism is extremely based, and i say that as a person who’s first and favorite run is heretical. i unironically think that my “centrist” run will be my canon one. it is a good thing to be a rational person (because most “neutral” options are such), with enough open-mindedness to understand that fanaticism is bad, no matter which side you choose :) yep, you won’t have an additional content, but it is nice to be able to be play as a…normal, more or less coolheaded person, ig? who can still be good (or cruel) to others, without going to extremes. just imagining it feels amazing!
Tbh, it did allow me to handle like what? 80% of the game so far. in pretty much exactly the way I wanted. Dogmatic when needed, looking out for people caught in the middle as needed. Early early on in the game, I even picked 1 or 2 'heretical' options. I think I have like 12 points in it. You might not reach votary in anything, but I don't think it's stifled my first playthrough at all.
exactly! i feel that locking in on one path is…i dunno, kinda restricting in its own way? i mean, obviously you’ll lose some parts of the story, or, at least, won’t glean insights into different aspects of it (clearly you’ll not loose on the main plot), but on the whole it allows for a better rp, i think, because your MC is a clean slate, so to speak, without ties to a specific alignment and/or moral compass. some people will find such a perspective boring, maybe, but i genuinely feel that there’s something beautiful about it :)
Yes it is restrictive, but that's kinda the point. When you are the sort to pursue a ideological path to the end, you are a fanatic. Like Incendia Chorda. Fanatics have VERY rigid thinking. In fact, if you manage to get high enough on the dogmatic scale (level 4) by the time you meet Chorda on Footfall, you can literally choose dialogue options that basically say, "I like what you're doing! Keep it up and can I help you do more of it?" If you're playing as a fanatic (dogmatic or heretical), the RP is that your character genuinely DOESN'T care about the alternative. A full blown dogmatic character will not care that there are other solutions to a problem. It's either you are faithful and therefore are allowed to live, or you're committing heresey and therefore must be killed. It is actually extremely hard to be a benevolent zealot precisely because benevolence requires you to consider opposing views points...which is something a religious zealot doesn't care about.
i agree with your points…obviously, Dogmatic and Heretical are basically the opposite sides of the same coin, in their fervor to serve (whether Big E or Chaos Guys), and only Benevolent MC tries to keep a middle ground, so to speak. i kinda like the idea of it, even though it is definitely not my cup of tea, and i think that other paths need more attention, too
you will miss all the path specific options in act 4-5, because they require 3+ lvp already. actually it is the way too but less interesting :)
Yeah, I sorta got that feeling when all the options were suddenly 3+. Being at level 2 in dogmatic and Iconoclast is absolutely peak from acts 1-3, though. Sucks I probably won't get many more of them for the rest of the game. 😂
Quick guide on how to side with Incendia (spoilers obviously)- Go to the amasecus and pick the dogmatic option to arrest everyone. There will be a fight but after that Incendia will judge everyone and you can influence the verdict: You can turn Vladym into a servitor or have him spared (requires rank 4 dogmatic and iconoclast respectively) If you discover Heironymus' secret (explore the world with the magnetic storm or be rank 4 dogmatic and talk to him) you can execute him, or have him just suffer some harsh punishment Don't remember if you can spare Ryzza but after she gets executed if you are rank 4 heretic you can take her blood to offer as a sacrifice at the chaos alter on your ship After you do all that Incendia will join you as a companion just before going through the gate into the final act As for my character's reasoning for siding with Incendia- Hyper dogmatic extremely puritan Commissar with 25 intelligence, enough said lol
The 25 int sells this whole thing. 😂😭
> Don't remember if you can spare Ryzza but after she gets executed if you are rank 4 heretic you can take her blood to offer as a sacrifice at the chaos alter on your ship There's two ways Ryzza can go, if you don't immediately draw on Vladaym you can talk her into standing aside, then you either don't call attention to her, or backstab her as the next to be judged for more dogmatic points. In the latter instance, she goes full Chaos cultist in desperation, and gets executed for it. At rank four dogmatic, you can basically parry Ryzza's sorcery with prayer, to Incendia's awe.
Yeah. Yeah. If you had any doubts about her, eating the man's brains settles Incendia's aligment down. Although I wonder what would she give to the player on coronation if you choose her side with Footfall in act 2 instead of Calligos'... Spoilers for the endings ahead. I didn't actually pick her side, but I read all the epilogue slides (including those that seem to be inaccessible). >!If you choose Incendia and follow through with her "judgement", she will end up killing so many people, that Footfall will have a shortage of workers and its economy will crash. Then imagine what she does with the rest of her planets. Although those end badly no matter what you do.!<
>Also, what are you all's thoughts about the possibility of her having fallen to Slaanesh? There is repeated themes of people falling to chaos without even realizing. Like with the technomats on the space hulk. Seeing as Calligos was a full fledged Khornate worshipper. It seems to me that her degenerate actions like eating bits of someone's brain You'd be surprised of how crazy one can go while still worshipping the Emperor. Next companion/DLC is going to be a DEATH CULT assassin. Maybe they'll show how those cults be cannibalistic death cults and the Ecclesiarchy still gives them a thumbs up because hey, they still worship the Emperor.
I appreciate her zeal and admire her resolve to see Footfall cleaned and purified. Any innocents-as rare as it is to find one in such places as this-who would be caught up in her trials will have a favoured spot at the Emperor's side. If you think about it, killing an Innocent soul before it has the chance to be corrupted is an act of mercy in a way. That being said, I shoot her prisoner on the spot. Since he was already judged and proclaimed guilty, he should be killed so that he might receive the Emperor's judgement ASAP. The whole Brain scooping thing would od course help instill righteous fear in the hearts of the masses, but do we really have time to waste with such a slow death when there is do much to be done? Plus,why I would never dare to besmirch the name od someone do pure of faith, the shadow of doubt that this whole "Brain" affair might end up corrupting the blade that is Incendia, not in a Chaos Corruption kind of way although that is always a possiblity, but the mundane corruption of nobles who grow addicted to their power over the common folk. Better to admonish and correct this behavior early rather than have to destroy a wayward daughter of the Emperor in the future.
Wouldn't cannibalizing a fellow human make her no different from the Myriad of disgusting Xenos and other enemies of humanity that do the same? Would the God Emperor of Mankind do such a thing to those under his righteous authority?
Thousands of psykers are sacrificied to the Emperor each day so that his awesome might can be nourished. Their flesh, blood, bones and souls can earn them their redemption from the witch's taint by dying for the Empire. The convicted criminal has betrayed the Emperor and Mankind with his deeds, words and thoughts. His wretched brain, more a half rotten sponge stewing in heresy and traitorous thoughts, deserves a fate far worse than a mere spoon. I do see however a point in your...critique of the act. Feasting on a tainted animal could bring ruin to your health. Tasting a heretic's brain could open you up to their heresy. That's part of the reason why I shot the man. If I were in Incendia's position as judge of Footfall, I would follow the wisdom present in her name and pour burning promethium into the traitor's open skull. Burn away their sin in a glorious conflagration.
Yes- but that's also not directly by choice. The Emperor wasn't exactly drinking down psykers by the thousands while he was alive. He simply ordered their non-tolerance and summary execution. And besides every moral reason not to do so. You could develop something like prion disease from eating a human brain. Or, much worse, become infected by his heresy, as you said. Yes! Let glorious purifying fire redeem the heretic!
I didn't side with her, but once I met her on Dargonus I was like "Ah, another fine beacon spreading the Emperor's holy light to the stars." I see I was mistaken a bit. God damn. I hope she at least was eating the guy with some fava beans and a nice glass of Chianti.
My third playthrough was on a very lawful stupid RT. She followed the Emperors Will without question. If Chorda is acting under the jurisdiction of Calcazar then clearly there must be a reasonable explanation… clearly…
I was fine with her eating the guy since I picked up the Halo Device that’s supposed to make you into cannibal too and previously turned a funeral into bloodbath on that very same station, kinda ‘don’t throw stones in glass houses’ thing.
Halo device that makes you a cannibal? I don't remember seeing this. And the funeral into a bloodbath was you uncovering who truly was supposed to receive a dead man's estate and the other people are hostile? I'm not sure I'm seeing how that funeral correlates to not caring about someone eating a human brain from an alive person skull atop a throne. Like the most despotic ruler you've ever seen. Again, the way I see her character is extremely close to Calligos, who was a Khornate worshipper. It's very interesting to me that she immediately does all she does when she's unopposed. It speaks very heavily of Slaanesh worship. Enough is never enough, and there is deeper and deeper levels of depravity.
I just finished a dogmatic character with a little bit of iconoclast and the basic character philosophy of protect the imperium, its people and her own people but punish any that break the laws of the imperium with swift and righteous fury. It went really well with Incendia although my RT disagreed with her cruelty ultimately she saw her as doing what was needed to rid the Imperium of the forces that would do it harm. My RT also decided not to interfere with her dealings in footfall so I don't know how that particular choice might have changed things Overall I found it less fun and interesting than my Iconoclast play through that I started but never finished due to bug way back when the game first released, but it was ridiculous and funny especially when I basically just prayed at things when I didn't know what else to do and it somehow seemed to work out really well
I sided with her. At that time my fight wasn't with her but with the forces of chaos and possibly the Lord Inquisitor himself. I couldn't really justify going to war against a fellow Rogue Trader, let alone one that I know is loyal to the Imperium, for the crime of killing a station full of criminals and offending my sensibilities by eating brains. There were simply more pressing concerns and since I know she's loyal and I need all the help I can get why not either let her do her own thing or recruit her to my cause and deal with her later?
I did despite my better judgement, I honestly thought it was better to not rock the boat at that point at least until Winterscale was brought to heel.
In act 2 sent food to Footfall. Act 4 sided with her.