Like any organization of great size, the Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition is riven with its own internal politics and certain factions sharing commonality of belief have formed within its power structure.  These factions can be broadly grouped into two opposing viewpoints classified as Puritans and Radicals.  Within these very broad categories there are many shades of grey and it is said that there are more differences of opinion within the Inquisition than there are planets in the galaxy.  The Radicals, according to Puritan doctrines, show little regard for the holy teachings of the Divine Emperor, believing that their ends justify the means.  Puritan Inquisitors are those who hold true to the lore first taught to them by the Masters of the Inquisition.

The Puritans are the defenders of Humanity from the filth and abominations that lurk in the darkness of a hostile universe.  Seen as the holy protectors of Mankind, they uphold the traditional values of the Imperium and that taught by Ministorum, appearing to the common masses as true defenders of the faith.  They purge the witch, castigate the wicked and destroy the Daemon wherever they may be found.  Such is the force of their faith in the Emperor that the Daemons and other blasphemies find it physically painful to approach them and their faith can command entire armies.  Puritan Inquisitors believe that the only way to fight the abominations of Chaos is to tread the path of righteousness and avoid the pitfalls of radicalism.  Chaos insidiously destroys all that it touches and it is not possible for an Inquisitor to use the weapons or power of the Great Enemy without becoming corrupted himself.

Yet even with such pure-hearted warriors, there exist different philosophies of how best to serve the Emperor.  The Thorians take their name from Sebastian Thor, the saint who overthrew the insane Lord Vandire during the Age of Apostasy.  They believe that the Emperor acted through Thor and that the Emperor's soul can be reborn again if another person of suitable piety and holiness can be discovered.  The Amalathian creed seeks t maintain the status quo of the Imperium, believing that change (if change is necessary at all) should be slowed and measured.  They decry the philosophies that espouse violent change and upheaval, accusing their adherents of colossal arrogance in claiming to know the will of the Emperor.  Far better to allow His divine plan to unfold as He has decreed it.  In this way the Amalathians are less stringent in persecuting the traditional crimes against the Imperium and are more concerned with keeping political infighting between disparate Imperial organizations to a minimum, holding true to the Inquisition's original creed of strength through unity.

Most extreme of all the Puritan factions are the Monodominants, who believe that it is Mankind's manifest destiny to rule the galaxy and that the only way this can be achieved is by the extermination of every one of the Emperor's enemies.  They brook no exceptions and are rigorous in the extreme of their persecutions of those they perceive as their foes.  Xenos, mutation, heresy, witchery, blasphemy and civil disobedience are all crimes punishable by death to a Monodominant and there is no reprieve should an Imperial citizen be declared guilty.

Thus, while the overall cohesion of the Puritan creed may be as fractured as that of the Radicals, they will countenance no doubts as to the righteous purity of their methods.  Where the Radical risks his eternal soul, the Puritan knows that his own path is true and the only way to serve the Emperor is to enforce His will in as rigid a fashion as possible.

The Price Of Failure

The threat that Chaos poses to Humanity far outweighs that of the most malevolent alien race or cataclysmic war.  Chaos, being in part the dark shadow of the Human race, has the potential to fester in every corner of the Imperium.  One individual's lapse in vigilance can allow countless Daemons to spill from the Warp into the material universe.

Chaos can be compared to a dormant infection present in every vein and tissue of its host, with only a thin protective layer keeping it from bleeding out into the universe.  The psychic awakening of an untutored psyker or the conducting of forbidden rites tears a grievous wound in this layer.  If this is not dealt with in the most immediate and final way, the wound will open further and the infection will spread unchecked like a cancer, leading to daemonic infestation.  The Ordo Malleus has long served as Humanity's defense against such occurrences.

The corruption of an area affected by Chaos is not purely physical.  Even once the servants of Chaos have been destroyed, the affected area must be thoroughly cleansed with righteous fire and holy incantations in order to prevent any recurrent threat.  It is testament to the threat of Chaos that the Ordo Malleus will not hesitate to declare Exterminatus upon a world tainted by its touch, eradicating all life forms with a devastating barrage of virus bombs or cyclonic torpedoes.  More often than not this will consign billions of souls to death but given the alternative, this is a merciful reprieve.  If the forces of Chaos should rise to claim the galaxy, every living thing under their thrall would be irrevocably defiled.  The barrier between real space and the Warp would collapse completely and the stigma of Chaos would pollute everything that was once pure

Radical Inquisitors

And yet, there are  those within the Inquisition that seek to turn Chaos against itself.  Even within the staunch ranks of the Ordo Malleus there exist those who have successfully harnessed the power of the Warp in the fight against Chaos.  These individuals are generally termed Radicals (among other less savory terms such as heretic and traitor) and are largely denounced by the Puritan factions of the Inquisition, who outnumber them many time over.  Nonetheless, a number of the most respected members of the Inquisition either belong to one of the Radical factions or allow them to proceed in their exhaustive investigations into the powers of Chaos, for they believe that to fight Chaos one must first understand it.

These investigations have not been without success and many Inquisitors in the Ordo Malleus foster their own psychic abilities in order to better combat the foe.  Although this viewed as dangerous at best and heresy at worst by the more traditional Inquisitors, in this matter it is they who are in the minority.  The psychic potential of the human race has been successfully harnessed time and time again and many of its most influential institutions rely on its use, such as the Adeptus Telepathica and the Navis Nobilite

Further down the path of the Radical are those who utilize Chaos-tainted artifacts they have wrested from their quarry.  There are even those who make use of the daemonic weapons taken from their defeated foes, for their potency is unquestionable.  It is even rumored amongst the highest orders of the Inquisition that there are those among the Adeptus Astartes that employ such methods.

But there are those who have gone further still in their search to bend the daemonic to their will by creating entities known as Daemonhosts.  This Incredibly dangerous procedure is only attempted by the most knowledgeable or foolhardy of Radical Inquisitors, for it binds a daemon from the Warp into a human body, displacing the soul within as the possession takes place.  Withy lengthy and careful ritual, a host body can be prepared that can trap a summoned daemon within a prison of flesh, held in place by potent sigils, blessed chains and canticle of binding.  The resultant Daemonhost is theoretically bound to serve its captor and obey his commands, although this far from absolute.

The creation of such blasphemous entities is enough for an Inquisitor to be declared Excommunicate Traitoris and hunted until death by a jury of his peers.  These Inquisitors are reviled as traitors where ever they turn and expelled from their Ordo.  Inquisitors Quixos, Lichtenstein and Kessel are all examples of those who have created Daemonhosts and paid the price, being hated like no other for having betrayed all that the Ordo Malleus stands for.  For even the most dedicated Inquisitor, the true threat of Chaos lies not on the battlefield but in insidious whispers in the minds of the pure that slowly and by the tiniest increments, lead them onto the path of damnation.