Editing Steel Inquisitor

{{lifeform
|image=Steel Inquisitor.jpg
|type={{tag+|Hemalurgic construct}}
|sapient=Yes
|world=Scadrial
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[Mistborn (series)|Mistborn]]
}}
The '''Steel Inquisitors''' were a type of [[Hemalurgic]] construct on [[Scadrial]] created from humans. Steel Inquisitors were created and controlled by the [[Lord Ruler]] as the policing force for his ministries. The Steel Inquisitors made up the [[Steel Ministry#Canton of Inquisition|Canton of Inquisition]] whose job it was to control the use and spread of [[Allomancy]].

== Description and Physiology  ==
{{image|Inquisitor by Connor Chamberlain.jpg|side=left|width=300px}}
{{for|/Gallery|more images}}
The most notable feature is the large steel spikes where their eyes should be. These spikes fill the eye socket and protrude out the back of the head by several inches. Steel Inquisitors, like the obligators from which they were created, are bald with a large number of tattoos spreading from their eye sockets across their heads. These tattoos indicate many things, including rank and what kind of [[Allomancer]] the obligator was before recruitment. The Lord Ruler's Steel Inquisitors have eleven spikes in all: two through the eye sockets, one in the middle of the spine on the back, and eight--one for each known Allomantic power--in the torso.

Although created from humans, they are physiologically and mentally distinct.{{wob ref|7713}}{{wob ref|2615}} They can, however, still mate with humans.{{wob ref|5530}} Children from Steel Inquisitors are more likely to be Allomancers compared to children from two humans, but the strength of Allomancy and Feruchemy would still weaken over time.{{wob ref|4148}}{{wob ref|12858}} There are also complications that can happen with the children of an Inquisitor.{{wob ref|4148}} Steel Inquisitors have slightly longer lifespans compared to humans.{{wob ref|5532}}

== Creation ==
{{image|Inquisitor.jpg|Common binding points for creating a Steel Inquisitor|side=right|width=250px}}
According to [[Aradan Yomen]], one of the ways in which the number 16 made itself known in their time was that the [[Lord Ruler]] had originally made 16 Steel Inquisitors.{{book ref|mb3|70}} The number 16 in relation to the Inquisitors showed up once again, as [[Ruin]] created or otherwise used 16 Inquisitors to further his goals during the time after the [[Collapse]] (as there were 13 during the final battle, while [[Elend]] and [[Vin]] had already dispatched 3 previously).{{book ref|mb3|55}}{{book ref|mb3|73}}

To create an Inquisitor, metal spikes are inserted at various points in the subject's body by hammering the metal spike through the heart of a [[Misting]] or [[Feruchemist]] into the new Inquisitor; this reduces the loss of power through the Hemalurgic process due to the spike spending a minimal amount of time outside of a body. These spikes, now Hemalurgically charged, tear into and forcibly splice information from the victim to the subject's [[spiritweb]]. This process moves vital organs, allowing the spikes to be inserted practically anywhere without fatally wounding the subject.{{book ref|mb3|41}} The process is not painless for either person involved, as both violent changes to the spiritweb and having metal spikes driven into one's body causes pain. The [[steel]] spikes inserted into eye sockets allow the Inquisitor to navigate via the blue Allomantic lines from the traces of metals in everything. The spikes create a chain in an Inquisitor's body, and there is a central spike or 'linchpin' that acts as a connector to the lower and upper spikes. If this spike is removed, the Inquisitor dies. A linchpin is needed to avoid deadly side effects if four or more spikes are used on an Inquisitor.{{file ref|Hemalurgy table.jpg|Hemalurgy Table}}

Inquisitors are typically granted many Allomantic and some Feruchemical abilities (detailed [[Steel Inquisitor#Powers|below]]). These abilities are granted on top of the Inquisitor's own natural Allomantic powers (if any), and any abilities the subject had prior to the transformation are augmented by the spikes. As such, Mistborn and Seekers were the preferred subjects, as their increased Seeking ability would allow them to pierce [[coppercloud|copperclouds]].{{book ref|mb3|37}}{{book ref|mb3|45}}

There are forty-seven known bindpoints that can be used for an Inquisitor. Eleven are physical, twelve are mental, twelve are temporal, and twelve are spiritual.{{file ref|Hemalurgy table.jpg|Hemalurgy Table}} There are no differences in bindpoints between males and females.{{wob ref|5533}} To grant every possible Allomantic and Feruchemical power, it would take thirty two spikes (one for each power) plus a linchpin, leaving room for fourteen extra spikes.

Regular humans who were turned into Inquisitors could fully remember who they were and what life had been like before their transformation.{{book ref|mb3|40}}

During the days after the Collapse, Ruin gave his Inquisitors several advantages which the Lord Ruler had never allowed them, lest they become too strong. This included extra spikes to give them additional [[Feruchemy|Feruchemical]] powers, as well as a metal plate which would cover the linchpin spike between their shoulder blades.{{book ref|mb3|3}}{{book ref|mb3|6}}

== Weaknesses ==
Steel Inquisitors were very powerful and - with Feruchemical healing - nearly invincible. Rumors in the skaa underground held that Inquisitors were immortal, that they could see into people's souls, and that they were warriors with no equal.{{book ref|mb1|3}} However, removing spikes from an Inquisitor could effectively kill them, most notably the linchpin spike located between the shoulder blades. This was a weakness built into them by The Lord Ruler. Similarly, Inquisitors could not survive a beheading. Removing one eye spike is not enough to kill most Inquisitors. Inquisitors also require much more rest and sleep than a normal human would, which may be related to the burden placed upon their souls by the nature of their transformations.{{book ref|mb7|part=ars}}

Another major weakness in Inquisitors came from the Hemalurgic spikes, though this was not a problem before Ruin was released. Any spike in a person allows for influence to be more easily pushed on them via the tears in their spiritweb. These tears allow certain Allomancers to control a Hemalurgic construct. This weakness is also present in both [[kandra]] and [[koloss]]. This weakness allowed them to be controlled by [[Ruin]] - the more spikes they had, the greater the weakness was. However, the stronger a creature's will, the more it can resist that influence or even break free from it for a time. Because of their Hemalurgic origins, all Steel Inquisitors were able to hear the voice of Ruin.

== Powers ==
{{image|Hemalurgy table.jpg|Possible bind points and abilities for Inquisitors{{file ref|Hemalurgy table.jpg|Hemalurgy Table}}|side=right|height=300px}}
All Inquisitors exhibit a high tolerance to pain and most forms of physical damage. Depending on which Hemalurgic spikes the Inquisitor had, their abilities could vary immensely. The number of spikes varied; Marsh had eleven pre-Collapse, and after the Collapse an Inquisitor at Vetitan had a new one. After Ruin took control of them, Marsh was given 10 more spikes, making him the most powerful Inquisitor.{{book ref|mb3|13}}

* Steel spikes: Inquisitors had five steel spikes.  They had one spike in their back between their shoulder blades, which sealed together all the other spikes.  Then they had one spike in each eye and two between the ribs, to give them the four Allomantic Physical Powers (iron, steel, tin, and pewter).{{book ref|mb3|5}}  With the spike through their eyes, Inquisitors weren't able to see normally, but they could see via the blue lines that appeared when they burned iron or steel.
* Bronze spikes: Inquisitors had four bronze spikes between the ribs, to give them the four Allomantic Mental Powers (zinc, brass, copper, and bronze).{{book ref|mb3|5}}  The Ministry often made Inquisitors from people who already had the power to reveal Allomancy by burning bronze (either [[Allomancer#Mistborn|Mistborn]] or [[Seeker]]s), so that the spike would enhance that power beyond the normal amount, and allow them to pierce copperclouds.{{epigraph ref|mb3|45}}
* Atium spike: Most Inquisitors were able to see into other people's futures by burning atium.{{book ref|mb1|34}}  This would've been gained by an atium spike.  It was located in their chest.{{book ref|mb1|Epilogue}}  Not all Inquisitors had this spike.
* Gold spike: Most Inquisitors had a gold spike between the ribs to give them the Hybrid Feruchemy ability to store health.{{ref|text=The early editions of the books said Feruchemical healing was granted by pewter spikes{{epigraph ref|mb3|36}}, even though the hemalurgy table says pewter spikes only give Physical Feruchemical abilities.{{file ref|Hemalurgy table.jpg|Hemalurgy Table}}  And the early editions didn't mention the health spike in The Hero of Ages chapter 5.{{book ref|mb3|5}}  Later editions of the books changed that to a gold spike in both places.}}  Not all Inquisitors had this ability;{{wob ref|10123}} those who did often spent much of their time resting so as to store up reserves of health.{{epigraph ref|mb3|36}}
* Pewter spikes: Gained after Ruin's release, the Inquisitor at Vetitan had a pewter spike through his heart which granted the Physical Feruchemical ability to store physical speed.{{book ref|mb3|5}}
* Brass spikes: Gained after Ruin's release, granted Cognitive Feruchemical abilities, such as mental speed.{{wob ref|3868}}
* Electrum spikes: Gained after Ruin's release, granted Enhancement Allomantic abilities, such as [[duralumin]]. Only a few, such as Marsh, were given these, and they had to be taken from Mistborn.{{book ref|mb3|72}}

Inquisitors who had been made from Mistborn were notably more powerful, having their Allomantic abilities almost doubled. Some of the Inquisitors who obtained Feruchemical spikes also discovered how to compound, gaining more power from their [[metalmind]]s. This is not something the Lord Ruler taught the Inquisitors. Compounding was something they had to figure out themselves.{{wob ref|5484}}

== Known Steel Inquisitors ==
{{for|:Category: Steel Inquisitors|a full list}}
* [[Marsh]]
* [[Kar (Scadrial)|Kar]]
* [[Bendal]]

== Inquisitors After the Final Ascension ==
The Inquisitors' spikes were melted down by [[Harmony]] to make earrings, and given to members of the Path by assorted kandra. [[MeLaan]] gave [[Waxillium Ladrian]] his earring.

Marsh is the only known surviving Inquisitor.

Inquisitors are often depicted as ravens in post-Catacendre artwork and are known as the Lord Ruler's wraiths "of whom only death himself remained."{{book ref|mb6|12}}

==Trivia==
* The early editions of the books said Feruchemical healing was granted by pewter spikes{{epigraph ref|mb3|36}}, even though the Hemalurgic table says pewter spikes only give Physical Feruchemical abilities.{{file ref|Hemalurgy table.jpg|Hemalurgy Table}} The early editions didn't mention the health spike in The Hero of Ages chapter 5.{{book ref|mb3|5}} Later editions of the books changed that to a gold spike in both places.
* A group of Inquisitors is called a murder.{{msh ref|6|7}}
* Kelsier was not the first person to kill a Steel Inquisitor.{{wob ref|15168}}

== Notes ==
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{{Mistborn|metals}}
[[category: Steel Inquisitors| ]]
[[category: Steel Ministry]]