"I believe the true horror of torture lies in the unseen and the unexpected. You know that whatever happens will be painful, but you cannot anticipate the nature and scope of the pain, its texture or duration. In its unknowing state, the mind amplifies the pain, and as the Reman scholar Lipocratus informs us, it is the pain itself, not its expectation, observation or dread, that leads the inflictee to give up his secrets. That is why I am going to start on your feet... "
- —Former Lord Protector Gamow, right before torturing a prisoner[1b]
Thaddeus Gamow, before his untimely demise, was the Lord Protector of the Order of the Silver Hammer. His ruthlessness and zeal was unmatched and he was renowned for his ability to seek out groups of Chaos Worshipers (even though most of his arrests were just groups of innocents that had been tortured so severely they would admit to pretty much anything.) Such aspects are somewhat undercut by the fact he was a secretChaos Cultist of Khorne whom experimented on the properties of mutations by feeding prisoners corrupted human-flesh in a secret prison in Altdorf.[1a]
Gamow was the man responsible for the destruction of the Untersuchung. His hatred for the agency was so great that, with the help of Sister Karin Schiffer, he forged orders from theGrand Theogonist that gave him the right to search the agency's barracks prior to declaring all of its members heretics and enemies of the Empire.[1b]
Gamow met his end by the sword of Karl Hoche, whom discovered his ties to Chaos and slayed him in the midst of enacting a great Chaos-ritual.[1c]