The Tyrantine Cabal is an organisation within the Calixian Conclave of the Inquisition in the Calixis Sector which was commissioned many years ago in response to the dread prophecy of the Tyrant Star. Its members are known as Tyrantites or Spectarians (or more dismissively as star gazers), for they are charged with investigating apparitions of the spectral sun and the influence of the baleful Tyrant Star. The Tyrantine Cabal is based at the Bastion Serpentis, a bleak fortress of age-polished black stone jutting from the surface of Scintilla’s moon Lachesis. The Bastion is typical of the Inquisition waystations and local fortresses peppered across the Calixis Sector. The Spectarians were granted sole discretionary use of the Bastion Serpentis at the inception of their cabal. Lord Sector Hax, Chief Astropath Xiao and a few others know of its existence, and those who do not are kept away from the moon by dire warnings about geological instability. Lord Inquisitor Anton Zerbe can normally be found at the Bastion and it is there in its grand audience chamber that he holds the semi-regular meetings with all the Cabal’s Inquisitors, at which they report on their activities and share information. These gatherings are as much a venue for making allies and enemies as they are a forum for exchanging intelligence on the sector’s various threats and power groups.

As the threat of the Tyrant Star is felt across the Calixis Sector, the membership of the Cabal is not formally fixed. Some Inquisitors have stayed in the Calixis Sector for some time and accept Zerbe’s authority (although they do not all obey him by any means). Other Inquisitors might join on a temporary basis, especially if an investigation elsewhere brings them to the Calixis Sector in matters intersecting the Hereticus Tenebrae, while some simply come to lend their support while they tap the expertise of the Cabal’s most experienced Inquisitors.

The Tyrantine Cabal and the Current Campaign

The acolytes of Inquisitor Sand first ran into agents of the Tyrantine Cabal during their investigation of mysterious murders on the planet of Sinophia. This investigation revealed a plot orchastrated by a daemon that was trapped in a mirror by Eramus Haarlock that was attempting to free itself to escape the Rogue Trader’s return. Acolytes of Inquisitor Herrod and Sand’s acolytes crossed paths for benefit and bane.

The incident on Sinophia, and Red Cell’s continued coincidental exposure to the Tyrant Star would lead the Tyrantine Cabal to take interest in the acolytes. This would eventually lead to the secret recruitment of some of the acolytes into the Cabal and this would come to light during the investigation on the planet of Mara when members of Red Cell and Inquisitor Herrod were able to free Eramus Haarlock from the Tyrant Star’s hold. Free, with the power of the Tyrant Star at his command, the Cabal needs to further investigate Haarlock’s hold on the power and is in the process of sending agents to pursue the Rogue Trader to the Kronus Expanse.