Steel Inquisitor

A Steel Inquisitor, image by Inkthinker

The Steel Inquisitors were a race of Hemalurgic creatures on Scadrial.

Steel inquisitors were created and mentally controlled by the Lord Ruler. They were generally charged with hunting down and capturing skaa Mistings in order to create more Inquisitors.

Because of their Hemalurgic origins, all Steel Inquisitors were able to hear the voice of Ruin.

Although created from humans, they were physiologically and mentally distinct. They could, however, mate with humans.

Steel Inquisitors were identifiable by the series of large, metallic spikes protruding from various points on their bodies, most notably the eyes. They also had a large number of tattoos around their eyes, usually signifying rank in the Steel Ministry. Some of their tattoos also indicated what kind of Allomancer they had been before they became an Inquisitor.

Creation

To create an Inquisitor, several Hemalurgicly charged spikes were inserted at various points in the subject's body. Steel spikes are inserted into eye sockets, allowing the Inquisitor to navigate via the blue traces from nearby metals.

Weaknesses

Steel Inquisitors were very powerful. With gold spikes, they become nearly invincible.

Removing spikes from an Inquisitor could effectively kill it, most notably the lynchpin spike located between their shoulder blades. Beheading was also an effective method for killing Steel Inquisitors.

Another major weakness in Inquisitors came from the Hemalurgic spikes they bore. They created a weakness in the defenses of the Inquisitor's mind, allowing them to be controled by Ruin or with emotional Allomancy. The more spikes they had, the greater the weakness was.

Powers

Depending on which Hemalurgic spikes the Inquisitor had, their abilities could vary immensely. Not all Inquisitors had an atium spike, nor could all of them tap health. During the time of Kelsier, however, most had those spikes.

• Iron/Steel Savant: Inquisitors lacked eyes, so they saw via the blue lines from burning iron or steel. They burned this constantly, thus becoming savants.
• Healing: The gold spike offered extremely effective, almost immediate healing.
• Strength and Speed: An Inquisitor's pewter spike offered dramatically increased strength and speed.

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 out how to Compound, gaining more power from their metalminds. This is not something the Lord Ruler taught the Inquisitors, any who knew how to Compound had figured it out themselves.

Canton of Inquisition

During the Final Empire the Canton of Inquisition of the Steel Ministry was tasked with the organisation of Steel Inquisitors, and acted as law enforcement, especially over the magical elements of society. Obligators of the Canton of Inquisition were marked by the regular Ministry tattoos with the addition of a stark red line.

In addition to dealing with anyone that went against Ministry protocol, the Canton of Inquisition also had bases all around the city of Luthadel, called Soothing stations. These were to dampen the emotions of everyone is the area, calming and depressing them. In addition, it is possible that many Inquisitors found skaa Mistings this way.

By revealing that Vin was the daughter of the Lord Prelan Tevidian, shortly before the death of the Lord Ruler, the Canton of Inquisition gained dominance over the other Cantons.

Notable Steel Inquisitors

Marsh

Infiltrated the Canton of Inquisition to aid the Skaa Rebellion^{[citation needed]} and was eventually turned into a Steel Inquisitor. Brother of Kelsier and former leader of the Skaa Rebellion.

Kar

The Steel Inquisitor that captured Vin, presented charges Tevidian, and became the head of the Steel Ministry for a short time before Marsh killed him.

Bendal

The Steel Inquisitor that originally hunted Reen and Vin because he was convinced Tevidian sired an illegitimate child and was eventually killed by Kelsier.