Chapter 290: Top and Bottom, Unavoidable Questioning

Morality and law are like two weapons shaped by social consensus, defending the basic order required 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 social consensus can tolerate. Anyone who dares to go beyond the limit will definitely be punished in the strongest possible way.

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

But during the thousands of years of Emperor's silence, Imperial Truth lost its most important guide, and the truth spread across the Imperial lands also lost its resounding voice.

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

It was at this time that the faith of the state religion came into being.

It is like a spark, born in the wilderness, going through hardships, but ultimately burning unstoppably across the land of the empire.

It has lasted nearly five hundred years of development, and countless believers and saints have struggled for it.

When the Holy Crown of the Pope was sent to the gate of Terra's Senate little by little by the believers who accounted for one-third of the empire's population, it took five hundred years of continuous death and dedication of billions of people.

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

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

What about the lower limit?

The laws of the empire are limited by the decentralization of governance and have different interpretations in various planetary worlds in the vast galaxy. It also fails to play a role in protecting the bottom line of human consensus.

To make up for this lack, it is the Throne Court, the Assassin Court, and the Inquisition Court. These three powerful departments are involved in the business of the entire empire, silently guarding the last bottom line allowed for the survival of the human empire.

But this is also not set in stone.

After the Great Heresy in the Throne Chamber, the mainstream consciousness of the Custodes fell into self-blame for the failure of the Emperor's guards;

It happened that the Imperial Guards suffered heavy casualties after the Battle of the Webway, so the subsequent Imperial Guard Marshals all restrained their minions and chose to be trapped in the palace, falling into a long period of recovery and rest.

The Court of Assassins also experienced huge changes. This group of simple people believed too much in the role of violence and ignored the basic role of rules in the political ecology.

The incident of Supreme Minister Van Dier caused this department with profound foundation to flourish to the extreme in just two hundred years, then turned from prosperity to decline, and finally became a puppet of the Inquisition after losing the trust of all departments.

So, only the Inquisition remained.

This secret organization, which was established by the Emperor and Prime Minister Malcador, after many twists and turns, accidentally became the final guarantee for the empire to maintain its operations.

Its intelligence system originated from the knights errant of the original Great Crusade era, and was eventually handed over to the four first-generation mortal inquisitors appointed by the Emperor;

Its armed forces were originally composed of eight Gray Knights transformed by the Emperor himself.

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

For the next thousand years, the Demonic Tribunal was presided over by four inquisitors. It was originally a private intelligence agency subordinate to the Prime Minister (Prime Minister), the chief of the Ministry of the Interior, and later became a private intelligence agency that spanned the entire empire. of behemoth. (After the death of Prime Minister, the Inquisition no longer had the special prestige of its predecessor because the successor Prime Minister was a mortal, and became responsible only to the Emperor himself.)

The Orc War taught the Empire a painful lesson.

As a result, the Tribunal, which initially came within the sight of the empire's ruling class, was able to move from its pure single function of a subspace agency to the dual organization of the Alien Tribunal, which specifically faced alien civilizations.

The war of faith that followed plunged the empire into division for 200 years.

Therefore, in the face of the ideological fragmentation within the empire caused by disputes over the doctrine of the state religion, the Inquisition of Heretics, with the state religion as its main target of surveillance, came into being.

The Holy Hammer, the Fight against Foreigners, and the Fight against Rebellion, the three major orders have now begun to take shape, and the three special forces with the interests of the empire as their core have begun to operate under the banner of the Inquisition.

But as the old saying goes: when you look into the abyss, the abyss is also staring at you silently.

The personnel of the three major branches under the Inquisition are fighting against forces such as chaos, aliens, heretics, etc. that destroy the foundation of the empire. Due to their understanding, learning, and summary of the enemy, they inevitably move towards what the subjects of the empire see. The darkest place.

The forbidden knowledge about Chaos and Aliens has become their counterattack weapon against these enemies, and it has also become an indelible curse rooted in them.

This was the situation Calvin faced. After he truly entered the core circle of power of the Inquisition, these unspeakable taboo behaviors hidden in the dark were also placed in front of him.

It was already dark inside the Angel of Punishment, and in the dim office, only the candlelight of holy oil illuminated the desk at his hand.

Documents marked top secret in scarlet handwriting were placed in Calvin's hands. He sat quietly on the blood-red velvet armchair and repeatedly read these files, which represented top secrets within the Tribunal.

"Really, arrogant and brave..."

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

The forbidden research being conducted by these mortals, and the souls of countless pioneers who knew they were going to die but still dared to face it. He was deeply shocked, and he felt that he was not alone in his thinking.

"Are they still there?"

Calvin's voice echoed in the empty hall, and the giant in the shadows also responded to his inquiry, awakening from the silence of the sculpture.

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

Alan Janus' voice was still calm, just like what he said, with the unique awareness of humans in this era.

"Never left?" Calvin asked.

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

Alan Janus responded to Calvin's words, with a burly figure of three meters tall, and in front of his genetic father, he remained fully prepared around the clock.

"No, they are not waiting for a call."

Calvin denied his eldest son's judgment, and then explained it.

Facing the latter's puzzled eyes, he thought for a moment and said mockingly:

"They are waiting for my response..."

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

Amid the humming of steel armor and servos, Allen stood up with his sword in one hand and walked out the door, ready to expel these mortals who dared to offend the Primarch.

"No, they can't be afraid of anything more terrible than death. What can a mere sword in hand do?

Let them in."

Calvin looked at Allen and said to him with a wry smile.

"Your will..."

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

Calvin's brain was also thinking rapidly at this time.

Among the dark information of the Inquisition, the collection of intelligence and technological data of the Anti-foreign Order on alien civilizations is the closest to the normal range in his eyes.

The recognition of the enemy and the exploration of technology beyond its own are also recognized jobs in his native world.

Except for some individual details of the design of human experiments, he had some reservations, but he undoubtedly held a positive attitude towards the overall work direction of the Inquisition.

The business of the Inquisition was relatively complicated, and their internal cleansing goals often overlapped with those of the Inquisition and the Inquisition.

On the contrary, in addition to the two levels mentioned above, their research work, the harmless research of ideology within the empire, occupied a major part.

Finally, it was his family.

Calvin had a very complicated and contradictory mood about the information given by the Inquisition this time.

On the one hand, he admired these lunatics who tried to understand the secrets of the gods with mortal bodies;

On the other hand, as a being with a divine soul, he clearly knew that the essence of some knowledge was not within the scope of mortal physiological functions.

How should he explain to these warriors who faced the darkness?

Deny the precious knowledge they had acquired over the past ten thousand years based on countless sacrifices?

Or support them to linger outside the gate of the essence and continue to sacrifice countless brave souls?

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

"Sorry... everyone." He looked at the three representatives from the core of the Tribunal in front of him and started the conversation with an apologetic word.

"You don't need to apologize. Our arrival has troubled you."

The three judges looked at each other and tacitly expressed their understanding of Calvin's apology.

"Then tell me why you are here."

Waving his hand, he lifted the chair from the corner and placed it behind the three people. Calvin nodded to them and continued the previous topic.

"I don't believe that you are here to ask for my permission, nor will I arrogantly think that you are trying to get my support.

Your secret business has been going on for nearly ten thousand years. I believe that the lack of my support will not affect their continuation."

Calvin seemed to be speaking the facts that everyone present knew easily, but behind his words was a torture of the three people's souls.

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

On the contrary, when an organization with a core of suspicion of 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 does not want to change this fact, nor can it change this fact.

So he is also very curious about the true intentions of the three people.

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

After a long silence, Nathaniel, the Grand Inquisitor from the Holy Hammer Convent, spoke first.

The old man with white hair and beard straightened his hunched back, looked at the demigod in front of him who seemed to have walked out of the myth, and said in a tone that Calvin did not expect.

"At the Antarctic Charter Conference, the representatives of the Grey Knights did not deliberately publicize your identity.

But as your direct staff, we are fortunate to be specially informed of your identity before leaving..."

Update, a severe headache. No pretense, no explanation. I will try to guarantee full attendance starting next month...