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Description
Inquisitor class General Offensive Unit.

The ships based on the Inquisitor class prototype built by the GSV Sleeper Service in Excession are described (chapter 11) as longer and fatter than the GCU Grey Area, pointed at both ends, with large spherical weapon pods mounted on those points. I don't remember the size of the Grey Area being stated, but I do remember seeing a suggestion purporting to have come from Banks himself that the GCU Arbitrary (from State of the Art) was similar in length to the GOU Limiting Factor (~330m). I therefore suggest that the Inquisitor might be of order 400m long. This also seems consistent with the Sleeper Service making ships based on the 1.6 km long Abominator in numbers one quarter of those in which it makes ships based on the Inquisitor.

I classify the ship as a GOU, despite this not being specified, for two reasons. First, it is bigger than a GCU, and therefore unlikely to be Limited (unless 'nominatively camouflaged' like the Troublemaker). Secondly, ships based on the type were constructed by the Sleeper Service in the same numbers as those based on the Torturer class. I therefore assume that the types are of similar size, but because the Inquisitor has two weapon pods to the Torturer's one, it might be more heavily armed but not as fast (hence GOU, not ROU).

I have tried to suggest a similarity to my Abominator and Troublemaker classes and the Mistake Not... (particularly in the detailing of the spheres) because the Inquisitor appears to exist only in prototypical form at the time of the Excession. It is therefore clearly not one of the legacy warships dating from the Idiran War (Killer, Murderer, Torturer etc.), so I have tried to give it only a more distant kinship to those types.

Description
Inquisitor class General Offensive Unit.

The ships based on the Inquisitor class prototype built by the GSV Sleeper Service in Excession are described (chapter 11) as longer and fatter than the GCU Grey Area, pointed at both ends, with large spherical weapon pods mounted on those points. I don't remember the size of the Grey Area being stated, but I do remember seeing a suggestion purporting to have come from Banks himself that the GCU Arbitrary (from State of the Art) was similar in length to the GOU Limiting Factor (~330m). I therefore suggest that the Inquisitor might be of order 400m long. This also seems consistent with the Sleeper Service making ships based on the 1.6 km long Abominator in numbers one quarter of those in which it makes ships based on the Inquisitor.

I classify the ship as a GOU, despite this not being specified, for two reasons. First, it is bigger than a GCU, and therefore unlikely to be Limited (unless 'nominatively camouflaged' like the Troublemaker). Secondly, ships based on the type were constructed by the Sleeper Service in the same numbers as those based on the Torturer class. I therefore assume that the types are of similar size, but because the Inquisitor has two weapon pods to the Torturer's one, it might be more heavily armed but not as fast (hence GOU, not ROU).

I have tried to suggest a similarity to my Abominator and Troublemaker classes and the Mistake Not... (particularly in the detailing of the spheres) because the Inquisitor appears to exist only in prototypical form at the time of the Excession. It is therefore clearly not one of the legacy warships dating from the Idiran War (Killer, Murderer, Torturer etc.), so I have tried to give it only a more distant kinship to those types.