Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes.

Chapter 290 Up and Down, Unavoidable Questions
Morality and law, like two weapons shaped by social consensus, safeguard the basic order needed for a stable society.

They represent the upper limit of social consensus and are the standards advocated by this social group;
The other one represents the lower limit that the social consensus can tolerate. If you dare to go one step further, you will definitely receive the strongest punishment.

The morality of the empire was once the imperial truth advocated by the emperor;

However, during the thousands of years of the emperor's silence, the truth of the empire lost its most important guide, and the truth that spread across the land of the empire also lost its loud voice.

The truth is dimming, but the people of the Empire still need guidance.

The belief of the state religion came into being at this time.

It is like a spark, born in the wilderness, after suffering, but finally burning irresistibly on the land of the entire empire.

After nearly 500 years of development, countless believers and saints have fought for it.

When the Holy Crown of the Pope was sent into the gate of the Terra Senate little by little by the believers who accounted for one-third of the empire's population, with 500 years of continuous death and dedication of hundreds of millions.

The concept of the state religion of the empire officially replaced the position of the truth of the empire.

The upper limit of the consensus of the empire group is the product of such bottom-up changes.

What about the lower bound?
The law of the empire is limited by the dispersion of governance power, and it also has different interpretations in various planetary worlds in the vast galaxy. It also failed to protect the bottom line of human consensus.

So as to make up for this lack, it is the Throne Chamber, Assassin Chamber, and Judgment Chamber, these three powerful departments, are silently guarding the final bottom line allowed by the survival of the human empire through their own involvement in the business of the entire empire.

But this, too, is not set in stone.

After the end of the Great Rebellion in the Throne Court, the mainstream consciousness of the Custodians fell into self-blame for the negligence of the Emperor's guards;
It happened that the guards of the Imperial Army suffered heavy casualties after the Battle of the Internet Road, so the subsequent Marshals of the Imperial Army all restrained their minions and chose to guard the palace, falling into a long period of recovery and rest.

The Assassins have also experienced huge changes. This group of simple people believes too much in the role of violence, while ignoring the basic role of rules in the political ecology.

The incident of Supreme Minister Van Dier made this department with profound background flourish to the extreme in just 200 years, then turned from prosperity to decline, and finally became a puppet of the Tribunal after losing the trust of all departments.

So, only the Tribunal was left.

This secret organization, which was ordered by the emperor and established by Prime Minister Malcador, became the last guarantee for the empire to maintain its operation after several twists and turns.

Its intelligence system, derived from the knight-errants of the original Great Crusade era, was finally handed over to the four first mortal inquisitors appointed by the Emperor himself;
And its armed force was originally composed of eight gray knights who were transformed by the emperor himself.

This is the origin of the members of the Twelve Councils of the First Tribunal, and also the initial composition of the original Demon Tribunal.

For the next 1000 years, the Devil Tribunal was presided over by four judges, and it was originally a private intelligence agency subordinate to the chief minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prime Minister (Prime Minister). giant. (After the death of Ma Xiang, the trial court became only responsible to the emperor himself because the successor prime minister was a mortal and no longer had the special prestige of his predecessor.)
The orc war made the empire learn from it.

Therefore, the tribunal, which initially entered the field of vision of the ruling class of the empire, was also able to add a dual organization of the alien tribunal that specialized in facing alien civilizations from a purely single function of the subspace organization.

The subsequent war of faith plunged the empire into a 200-year split.

Therefore, in the face of the current situation of ideological division within the empire caused by the dispute over the doctrine of the state religion, the Heresy Inquisition, which mainly monitored the state religion, came into being.

The Holy Hammer, Fight Against Foreigners, and Fight Against Rebellion, the three major religious orders have now begun to take shape, and the three special forces with the interests of the empire at their core began to operate under the banner of the Tribunal.

But as the old saying goes: When you look into the abyss, the abyss also silently watches you.

The three branches of the Tribunal, whose personnel are fighting against the forces that destroy the foundation of the empire, such as chaos, aliens, heresy, etc., due to their understanding, learning and summarization of the enemy, they will inevitably go to the place that the subjects of the empire see. Darkness beyond reach.

The taboo knowledge about chaos and aliens has also become their counterattack weapon against these enemies, and it has also become an indelible curse rooted in them.

This was the situation that Calvin was facing. After he truly entered the core power circle of the trial court, these unspeakable taboos that were hidden in the dark were also placed in front of him.

The time on board the Angel of Retribution has quietly fallen into the night, and in the dim office, only the candlelight of holy oil is shining on the desk in his hand.

Calvin sat quietly on the blood-red velvet armchair, repeatedly reading these top-secret files that represented the interior of the trial court.

"Really, arrogant and brave..."

Putting the finished document at hand on the left side as usual, Calvin covered his face with his hands, and murmured whispers came from the corner of his mouth.

The taboo research these mortals are conducting, and the souls of the pioneers who know how to die, but dare to face it.It shocked him, and made him who had been thinking alone feel that he is not alone.

"Are they still there?"

Calvin's voice echoed in the empty hall, and the giant in the shadows responded to his inquiry, waking up from the sculptural silence.

"Now, the three chief judges have been standing outside the door for 20 hours after the documents were delivered."

Alan Janus' voice is still quiet, just like what he said, with the unique awareness of human beings in this era.

"Never left?" Calvin asked.

"Never left, they are waiting for your call."

Alan Janus responded to Calvin's words, and he already had a three-meter-high burly body, and he kept preparing [-]/[-] and wholeheartedly in front of his genetic father.

"No, they're not waiting to be called."

Calvin rejected his own eldest son's judgment and explained it later.

Facing the latter's puzzled eyes, he thought for a while and said mockingly:
"They are waiting for my response..."

"They have no authority to force the will of our Lord!"

Amidst the steel blade and the hum of the servo, Allen stood up with his sword in one hand and walked out the door, preparing to expel these mortals who dared to offend the Primarch.

"No, nothing more terrifying than death can scare them. What can they do with a sharp sword in their hands?

Let them in. "

Calvin looked at Allen and said with a wry smile.

"Your will..."

Allen understood the meaning of Calvin's words. Although he didn't know much about the specific incident, he still followed Calvin's will and walked towards the three people outside the door.

Calvin was also thinking rapidly in his brain at this time.

Among the dark side information of the Inquisition Chamber, the collection of intelligence and technological data of alien civilizations by the Religious Aliens is the closest to the normal scope of work in his eyes.

The cognition of the enemy and the exploration of technology beyond his own are tasks that can also be recognized in his original world.

Except for some individual details of designing human experiments, he has some reservations, he has no doubts about the overall work direction of the Alien Tribunal.

The business of the Heresy Tribunal is relatively complicated in comparison, and their internal cleansing goals often coincide with those of the Devil Tribunal and the Alien Tribunal.

On the contrary, it is their research work. In addition to the above two levels, the research on the harmlessness of ideology within the empire occupies the main part.

In the end it was his home.

Calvin felt very complicated and contradictory about the information given by the Devil Tribunal this time.

On the one hand, he admired these madmen who tried to understand the mysteries of the gods with mortal bodies;
On the one hand, as an existence with a divine soul, he clearly knows that the essence of some knowledge is simply beyond the understanding of mortals' physiological capabilities.

How should he explain to these warriors who face the darkness?
Is it necessary to deny the precious knowledge they have acquired based on countless sacrifices over the past ten thousand years?
Or support them wandering beyond the gates of nature and continue to sacrifice countless brave souls?

This kind of thinking is destined to not produce results in a short time, and when he came back to his senses, the three judges in front of him had been standing for an unknown amount of time.

"Sorry... everyone." He looked at the three representatives from the backbone of the Tribunal in front of him, and started the conversation with apologetic words.

"You don't need to apologize, it's our presence that troubled you."

The three judges looked at each other and tacitly understood Calvin's apology.

"Then tell me why you are here."

After waving his hand, he lifted the corner seat from the air and put it behind the three of them. Calvin nodded to them, and then continued the topic just now.

"I don't believe you guys are here to ask for my permission, nor do I have the arrogance to think you're trying to get my support.

Your secret undertakings have been going on for nearly ten thousand years, and the lack of my support must not affect their continuation. "

Calvin seemed to be speaking freely and freely of the facts that everyone present knew, but behind his words was the torture of the souls of the three people.

As Calvin said: Under the huge institution of the Tribunal, rights are by no means a bargaining chip that can make people obey unconditionally.

On the contrary, when an organization whose spiritual core is to doubt everything is conquered by power, then its mission as the last mirror of the empire's self-examination will also come to an end.

Calvin certainly did not want to change this fact, nor could he change it.

Therefore, he was also very curious about the true intention of the three of them.

"You underestimate your own importance. And we need your support."

After a long silence, Nathaniel, the Grand Inquisitor from the Order of the Hammer, spoke first.

The old man with white beard and hair straightened his hunched back, looked at the demigod who appeared in front of him like a myth, and said in a tone that was beyond Calvin's expectations.

"During the Antarctic Charter meeting, the representatives of the Gray Knights did not deliberately publicize your identity.

But as your staff directly under you, we were fortunate to be specially informed of your identity before we left..."

　Update, a terrible headache.No hypocrisy, no explanation.I will try to guarantee full attendance from next month...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)