Inquisitor Viktor Cushing - Ordo Sepulturum[]
Viktor Cushing was a promising young doctor in a medicae facility on Galinost Secundus, a populous Imperial World close to the Cadian Gate, where he headed the Department of Communicable Diseases. When Inquisitor Kaldoon arrived unexpectedly at the facility, everyone assumed the worst - that someone at the facility had knowingly or unknowingly committed heresy, and they were all about to lose their lives in the subsequent purge. The truth was rather different, Kaldoon was looking to recruit a bright young doctor and it transpired that Cushing had exactly the kind of moral flexibility that Kaldoon was looking for.
Kaldoon revealed himself as a member of the Revivicator movement investigating the effect the Zombie Plague has on the body and soul of the victim. The last head of his medical staff had died during an outbreak of a virus on Vigilar IV, and Cushing was to be his replacement. At first Cushing baulked at the prospect of deliberately infecting innocent people with plagues and contagions but his distaste soon turned to curiosity (as Kaldoon knew it would) and Cushing threw himself into the work. For the next twenty-five years, Cushing headed Kaldoon's research staff in his laboratory aboard the Azure Dictum. His formidable intellect, backed by the vast resources of the Inquisition resulted in several advances in the understanding of the Zombie Plague.
In the early days Cushing preferred to remain behind the scenes, but it soon became clear that his sharp mind, hitherto used to investigate the course of infectious diseases, made him an excellent Inquisitorial acolyte. As time progressed he was entrusted with the prosecution of several of Kaldoon's investigations. When Kaldoon contracted Vash Syndrome in his 163rd year, he knew the disease disease was incurable and would slowly rob him of his faculties, eventually rendering him unable to continue his work. As one of his final acts as an Inquisitor he petitioned for Cushing to be promoted to Inquisitorial rank. This done, Kaldoon retired to the garden world Sagittar Prime; from there he continued to guide and assist his protege, but never returned to active service.
Cushing acquired many of his mentor's contacts and much of his equipment, including the Azure Dictum, but he never adopted Kaldoon's Revivicator beliefs. Much of the time Cushing appears more like a seasoned doctor or worldly wise academic, than an Inquisitor; but he is surprisingly atheltic and has been well trained in the arts of combat by Sergeant Yeovil, the commander of the Azure Dictum's stormtrooper contingent.
Over the years, Cushing investigations have halted no less than seven outbreaks of the Zombie Plague; he was also instrumental in the containment of an epidemic of the Obliterator Virus on Agripinaa, and the prevention of numerous other plagues that have afflicted Imperial worlds. His finest hour came, when he led a squad of Grey Knights and banished the Plague Daemon Grollenhorst whose foul minions had condemned the entire populace of the Melnox system to a slow and lingering death.
Known Associates[]
- Marcus Yeovil - Inquisitorial Stormtrooper
- Sister Eleanor - Order of the Eternal Candle
- Randal Neild - Bounty Hunter