In 1252, Pope Innocent IV approved the use of physical torture in the Papel Inquisition. However, use of various torture methods had been practiced for well over a decade before the proclamation; indeed, for many Inquisitiors it was a way of life. Suspected heretics could be subject to these methods for months, at times even years on end. They endured the torture, all the while being exhorted to confess their heretical teachings. Many innocent prisoners gave false confessions simply to end the assault against their being. While the effect of some of the methods descibed here are doubtful on Cainties, others (particularly those involving fire) have proven extraordinarily effective.

Methods of Torture

• The Rack

The prisoner is bound by the ankles and wrists, and the ropes pulled in opposite directions. Eventually, the arms and legs are pulled from their sockets.

 

• Scavenger's Daughter

The Rack's counterpart, this device slowly compresses a prisoner's body, causing bones to break and rupture, and severe hemorrhaging to occur.

 

• The Vise

Much like the Scavenger's Daughter, excepted used specifically on the heretic's head.

 

• The Madonna (Iron Maiden)

Often fashioned after the Blessed Virgin, this statue is covered with protruding spikes on the front. The prisoner is placed in the statue's embrace, and levers pulled to cause the statue to pull the prisoner towards it, simultaneously crushing and impaling.

 

• Tormentum Insomniae

The victim is kept from sleeping, often for days at a time, causing delirium and severe disorientation.

 

• The Spanish Chair

Prisoners are bound to an iron chair and their feet, covered in fat, are placed near an open fire and roasted. Fat must be continually applied, lest the flesh burn too quickly.

 

• The Spanish Horse

The heretic is impaled through the anus by a large wooden polearm, which is then stood on end; the victim is slowly impaled by her own body weight.

 

• Kranz

A metal band that may be tighted around a prisoner's head.

 

• The Wooden Donkey

Heretics are placed on an inverted "V" structure, as if on a horse. Weights are then hung from the victim's feet, causing them to be split into halves.

 

• The Hook

The victim is hung by a hook and placed in public as a reminder to others.

 

• The Jaw

The Jaw is a metal device placed in a prisoner's mouth. The device is then opened, forcing the mouth open to painful extremes. Crafty Inquisitors find other orifices to place this device.

 

• Time

Often, time can be a torture in and of itself. Held and deprived of freedom for months at a time, prisoners can be broken by nothing more than the promise of endless captivity.