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Torquemada Coteaz is a Puritan Inquisitor Lord of the Ordo Malleus, a psyker devoted to destroying daemons wherever they manifest. He often fights at the head of Grey Knights strike forces, with a psyber-eagle familiar at his side.
He fights with an anointed daemonhammer in modified artificer armour, attended by a twin-headed Glovodan psyber-eagle, a gift from the Adeptus Mechanicus after he destroyed the daemon-engineers of Forge World Glovoda. Thousands of acolytes and Throne Agents serve him. Few Inquisitors command such resources or such popularity. Torquemada Coteaz is an Ordo Malleus inquisitor and the master of a vast network of informants and agents. He works closely with the Grey Knights and has expanded his domain over the decades. Now an old man, he fears dying before finding a worthy successor and has begun searching for ways to extend his life by any means but one.
Origins
Coteaz refused to harness the Warp, even when his peers did. His own mentor, Inquisitor Lord Laredian, died at his student's hand for dabbling in forbidden arts.
His long career is a list of purges: the Xethorites of the Lorgamar Rebellions, which earned him the title Scourge of the Xethorites; the Medarean Nebula; and the Great Cleansing of Opridia's hive cities in 972.M41. Each campaign built the network of agents, informants and allies that make him so formidable today.
Guy Haley's Daemonhammer tells his childhood. He grew up in an Ecclesiarchy facility with his parents, brother and sisters. When he was ten, the Chapel Master pardoned a group of idolaters, who used their reprieve to stage a coup and sacrificed the congregation, including his whole family, to the Ruinous Powers. Inquisitor Laredian's forces saved the boy. His faith impressed the Stormtroopers enough that they did not execute him with the others. He learned that mercy and tolerance are the forerunners of heresy.
Key events
- Executed his mentor Laredian for Radical practices.
- Exterminated the Xethorite heretics during the Lorgamar Rebellions.
- Cast daemons out of a vast number of daemonhosts during the Cleansing of Opridia, slaying the daemon prince Karpathi the Occludor with the Exorcists Chapter.
- Led Grey Knights strike forces against daemonic outbreaks during the 13th Black Crusade.
- Received an Aeldari warning about Abaddon's Arks of Omen, leading to Imperial operations against the Despoiler.
Codex: Daemonhunters (3rd edition) describes how he made his name. At the Conclave of Varoth, his old saviour Laredian, then High Protector of Formosa, showed off a daemon-bound crystal taken from a cult and argued that it could be used to hunt heretics. Coteaz walked to the centre of the hall, smashed the crystal with his daemonhammer and declared Laredian Extremis Diabolus. Over the uproar he set down an hourglass and promised to prove the charge before the sand ran out. Laredian had sanctioned daemonhosts and read forbidden texts. Coteaz executed him, fired the ashes into a star and took the office of High Protector he had long wanted.
Old age now haunts him. Codex: Inquisition says he searches for cloning lore and alien rejuvenation techniques, anything but daemonic means, so that his work will not die unfinished. In Daemonhammer, after a vision of the Golden Throne in flames, he follows a lead on the Soul Glass, an artefact that might grant immortality, to Novalis. There he is forced to work with his radical former acolyte Castra Sato, now an Inquisitor serving his rival Zamorin. When his longtime interrogator Voltas is corrupted and turns on Sato, Coteaz kills him, and the pair defeat a Great Unclean One together. When Sato hands him the Soul Glass, the cause of the planet's ruin, he chooses not to use it.
Battles & campaigns
- 13th Black Crusade: He led Grey Knights strike forces against daemonic outbreaks in the Agripinaa Sector, on Kasr Holn and on Xersia.
- His spy network: He has rooted out countless cults and daemonic threats.
- Era Indomitus: He continues his work in a galaxy rocked by daemonic incursions.
Personality
Righteous and cunning. He trusts no one completely and is willing to use traitors as pawns in his hunts.
He is consumed by his task, seldom sleeping and spending every waking hour sifting reports or leading his forces. He is a Puritan in conviction but pragmatic in method, ready to use heretics as bait. His suspicion extends even to his allies, whom he watches closely.
Weapons & Vehicles
A massive warhammer whose head releases a deafening concussive shockwave and disruption blast on impact, shattering Terminator plate an…
The signature .75-calibre rocket-propelled mass-reactive firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, firing self-propelled explosive bolts that de…
Psychically attuned silvered blades, halberds and daemon hammers forged exclusively for the Grey Knights of Titan, channelling the wiel…
The elite champions of the Grey Knights, who must complete eight deadly quests before taking their seat in Titan's Hall of Champions.
Storm troopers raised from childhood by the Schola Progenium, the finest unaugmented human soldiers in the Imperium.
Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.
Connections
Characters (2)
Abaddon the Despoiler enemy · Black LegionCoteaz received the Aeldari warning about Abaddon's Arks of Omen.
Factions
- The Inquisition primary faction
Related units (3)
Also in this faction
Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.
Legacy
Coteaz runs an informant network that reaches across the Segmentum. His zeal against daemons and his ruthless use of agents make him one of the Inquisition's most effective and dangerous servants. Styled Lord Inquisitor and protector of the Formosa Sector, he commands thousands of acolytes and Throne Agents, and his twin-headed Glovodan psyber-eagle serves as an extra pair of eyes for a hunter who is always watching. Coteaz is the model of an inquisitor who rules through information, fear and the Grey Knights.
Appearances & sources
- Codex: Grey Knights background
- Codex: Imperial Agents background
- The Gathering Storm I: Fall of Cadia