The Hand of the Light

The Whitecloaks' weapons are their sword and the Truth of the Light, as they see it: A Questioner needs only hot irons, needles, pincers, knives, and an absolute belief that their charge is guilty.

The Hand of the Light is a branch of the Children dedicated to the interrogation of suspects. Generally speaking, a Questioner – as the Hand's members are often referred to disparagingly – cares little what their captive may claim; their aggressive torture techniques are designed primarily to make their suspect confess to being a Darkfriend. There has never been a suspect the Hand have found innocent: they know which truths they wish to extract before they begin to interrogate.

There is never any refute as to where the Questioners begin and the Children proper end: notably less militaristic than their soldiering brethren, the Hand's members' general self-possession is seen with some contempt by many of the rest of Children. Even so, the threat of being sent to them keeps most of them cautious around their activities.

The Hand is headed by the High Inquisitor, who sits upon the Council of the Anointed. While he, in the chain of command, is below the Lord Captain Commander – if only slightly below – Inquisitors usually answer solely to the High Inquisitor. While all of the Hand wear on their tabard a red shepherd's crook, only the High Inquisitor wears it without the Children of the Light's sunburst beneath it, as if to suggest his separation from the main body.

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