Warhammer 40K Fluff Discussion XV: You Must Be THIS Tall To Witness The Grimdark

[Cheesegear]

A Rogue Trader is a Peer of the Imperium.

An Inquisitor is a Peer of the Imperium.

A Space Marine Chapter Master is a Peer of the Imperium.

An Imperial Guard Lord Commander is a Peer of the Imperium.

A Canoness of the Sisters of Battle is a Peer of the Imperium.

An Admiral of the Imperial Navy is a Peer of the Imperium.

And yet every single one of them relies on whatever is backing them. Rank is one thing. Experience, age and renown (and resources) is another.
Hence Lord Admiral Hawke shooting a Lord General in the head.
Hence Chapter Master Shrike, and Kor'sarro Khan of all people, taking orders from said Hawke.

If a Chapter Master tells a Lord Commander to move and the Lord Commander says no, then either the Marine blinks or it's war.

Yeah. I remember during the Fall of Cadia when none of the Chapter Masters in the theatre was listening to Creed.

Same thing with the Inquisition and Rogue Traders, or the Inquisition and Chapter Masters, or the Imperial Navy and Sector Governors, or whoever.

No. Things are not equal.
Take any number of people who will kneel to (Lord) Commander Dante, who will absolutely not kneel to Gabriel Seth. Both are Chapter Masters. But one clearly has more authority than the other.

So the question simply can't be 'does the Inquisition outrank a Rogue Trader' - no, they're both Peers.

A whole bunch of Inquisitors would absolutely outrank the Rogue Trader.
Hell, Inquisitors canonically don't outrank Deathwatch Watch Masters, or Grey Knight Chapter Masters. And like Hell does anyone outrank the Captain-General of the Custodes - not even Rogal Dorn did.

Roboute Guilliman is a special case, and Trajann Valoris is doing a thing.

It's like asking if the army outranks the navy.

The Navy outranks the Guard. Every time. Because the Navy pretty much outranks everything - I already said that.

If some newly minted Inquisitor fresh out of Inquisitor school tries to pull rank on a Lord General in the heart of the General's strategy room

You mean like Coteaz did?