Interview - Bronislaw Czevak and Doctor Who

This is Part 3 of my serialised interview. In this section I respond to questions regarding Czevak’s enemies in Atlas Infernal and comparisons between the Inquisitor and the Doctor.

4) Czevak’s attitude to danger, his often ingenious solutions to trying situations, his reverse aging and his cadre of followers cannot help but bring to mind a certain television time traveller. How do you feel about comparisons between Inquisitor Czevak and Doctor Who?

I have no problem with those comparisons at all. Doctor Who is immensely popular and well loved and it is not an unfair comparison to make. Inquisitor Czevak has in his possession the Atlas Infernal: an ancient tome of long forgotten construction and genius that allows him to navigate the labyrinthine expanse of the Webway – a network of interdimensional tunnels utilised for faster-than-light travel across the galaxy. The Webway was left behind by an ancient race that millions of years before the evolution of humanity, left behind gates on millions of planets across the cosmos. With the Atlas Infernal, Czevak can traverse the Webway and move between far flung worlds and across the empires of the galaxy’s dominant species. The combination of these capabilities, as well as the secrets of the Black Library of Chaos at his disposal (the location from which the inquisitor originally stole the Atlas Infernal) means that Czevak would certainly give the Doctor a run for his money. Like the Doctor, Czevak is everywhere – blasting back and forth across the galaxy, a bane to his powerful enemies and combating evil in many forms.

Although there are some similarities in terms of situation, Czevak and the Doctor are two very different characters. Czevak does not share the Time Lord’s sentimentality and has a true genius’ dispassionate outlook. Czevak does what has to be done, regardless of the cost to himself, those around him and the galaxy as a whole. Whereas the Doctor seems to have a weakness for twentieth century Brits, Inquisitor Czevak surrounds himself with witches, heretics and daemonhosts. He is not a tour guide: he invites into his retinue only those who might survive his lethal adventures – those that have the power and talents to help him defeat potent enemies and save the galaxy, one world at a time.

The comparisons are well observed, however. It think it is fair to say that if you enjoy Doctor Who then you’ll enjoy Atlas Infernal.


5) Czevak and his motley band of associates take on a diverse range of foes in Atlas Infernal – from Chaos space marines and daemons to loyal servants of the Imperium – did you have a ‘shopping list’ of baddies you wanted to include from the outset?

Inquisitor Czevak is one of the only humans to have been allowed access to an alien
repository of forbidden lore and knowledge of galactic evil called The Black Library of Chaos. Czevak is afflicted with a meme-virus - an illness resulting in a voracious hunger for knowledge and the equivalent of a photographic memory. This makes him very much like an information addict. Spending time in the Black Library with such an affliction means that he soaks up arcane lore and detail from thousands of alien and corrupt books, tracts and artefacts like a sponge. Retaining this information is both a blessing and a curse for the inquisitor. Everyone wants the information locked away in his mind: the servants of dark gods, daemonic entities, the Imperial Inquisition to which Czevak himself belongs and even the ancient alien guardians of the Black Library, that regard the knowledge in his possession as a galactic liability. A long shopping list of enemies who will all stop at nothing to acquire Czevak and these secrets. Putting his knowledge to good use, Czevak uses what he has learned to stay one step ahead of his myriad enemies and turn their ambitions to dust.

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