Ash Surgeon

Of all the people in the Inquisitor’s retinue, the Ash Surgeon is the one I trust the least. Not because he is cruel, but because he spends more time than anyone else studying the precise boundary between a wounded man and a collection of useful remains. He knows how much blood may leave the body before thought begins to fade, how long a severed limb may be preserved, and which organs can be damaged without preventing a prisoner from answering questions. When he looks upon the wounded, I have never seen pity or disgust in his eyes. There is only calculation, followed by the decision of whether the body before him can still serve.

The Ash Surgeon is drawn from military infirmaries, plague wards, monastic hospitals, and the mortuaries of the Inquisition. His oath does not require him to spare suffering or preserve every life placed in his hands. It commands him to protect whatever may still be of use to the Pontifical Ash-Inquisitor. A soldier who can be returned to the line is treated. A witness who possesses necessary knowledge is kept alive regardless of pain. A condemned heretic may be sustained for days if his testimony remains incomplete. Those who can no longer march, speak, or bear witness receive a quieter and more final form of attention.

He carries his instruments in a black leather case lined with metal: scalpels, clamps, needles, bone saws, drainage tubes, cautery irons, and narrow hooks for retrieving fragments of lead from deep wounds. Glass bottles contain spirits, pain-dulling tinctures, powdered ash, and thick preparations that slow bleeding long enough for proper surgery. Kerosene is used to clean his tools, burn contaminated dressings, and destroy anything removed from bodies touched by heretical corruption. His longest surgical blade is kept separate from the others. I have seen him use it to open a man’s chest and restore his breathing; I have also seen the same blade pass between the ribs of a patient whom he judged beyond recovery.

In battle, the Ash Surgeon follows close behind the Ashward Men-at-Arms, often reaching the fallen before the firing has ceased. He works wherever a patch of ground can be held for a few minutes: inside shell holes, beneath overturned carts, behind the bodies of dead horses, or upon doors torn from ruined houses and used as operating tables. The Ashpan Lieutenant sends soldiers to protect him, though the Surgeon rarely acknowledges their presence. His hands remain steady beneath bombardment, and his voice never rises above the measured tone with which he orders the wounded to hold still. Those capable of standing are stitched, bound, dosed, and returned to their weapons. Those who cannot rise are marked for evacuation, interrogation, amputation, or death.

I once asked him whether he ever regretted choosing one patient over another. He continued washing blood from his hands and replied without looking at me:

“Faith saves souls. We are responsible for the remaining parts.”

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One model – “Ash Surgeon”, designed by Wargames Crew

Total size 47mm
Base size is 25mm

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