I don't think the ecclesiarchy believes in "turning the other cheek".

Ofcourse ezekiel 25 17 would still be awesome!

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the ine quities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

Also this one:

"And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him."
(Revelations 6:7-8)

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the ine quities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

One Inquisitor to another: "And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese on Mars?"

[ Inquisitor shoots the man on the couch ] I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do that. Please, continue, you were saying something about best intentions. What's the matter? Oh, you were finished! Well, allow me to retort. What does The Emperor look like?

What?

What world are you from?

What? What? Wh - ?

"What" ain't no world I've ever heard of. They speak Low Gothic on What?

What?

Gothic , motherf*cker, do you speak it?

Yes! Yes!

Then you know what I'm sayin'!

Yes!

Describe what the Emperor looks like!

What?

Say 'what' again. Say 'what' again, I dare you, I double dare you motherf*cker, say what one more Goddamn time!

Does He look like a B**CH?!

What?! No!

Then why you trying to fak Him like one?!

The next inquisitor I have will have two interrogators that pal around with the acolytes like this.

"We should have storm bolters for this kinda deal."

"We should have storm bolters for this kinda deal."

And fire, lots and lots of it.

This was Divine Intervention! You know what "divine intervention" is?

Yeah, I think so. That means the Emperor came down from the Golden Throne and stopped the bullets.

Yeah, man, that's what it means. That's exactly what it means! The Emperor came down from The Golden Throne and stopped the bullets.

I think we should be going now.

First Dark Heresy character I ever rolled up was a preacher-man. Just rerolled him through the 2nd edition system, actually. Here's a couple paragraphs on him I wrote up and just refined a bit.

Father Nixios Quintos Eli, "Papa Nix," cleric of 47 Kapella in the Drusus Marches

Were he not given to a mercurial, stubborn, and undisciplined nature, Nixios might be of a reasonably high rank given his age, skills, and depth of faith; he might be toiling away on Malfi after the manner of so many there, tallying and embellishing the endeavors and triumphs of Saint Drusus, extolling Malfi's eventual and just reward of sector governance. Were his rebellious qualities not so pronounced and conspicuous, he might never have been taken in by the Inquisition; Nixios would likely be dead.

On Malfi his utter disdain for politicking and outspoken acceptance of Scintilla's right to rule led to his reassignment to 47 Kapella, the exile to which, it was hoped, would see to his being humbled or killed (the latter, preferably). Until a certain incident, the ongoing war and the terrors of preaching the Creed in the din of battle had merely afforded him a number of proud-won scars and a nervous tic in his right eye. A favorite of the regiment, he joined the men in bawdy songs and ballads at night which raised morale as surely as his plainsong and hymns on the charge in the mornings. His men would ask him daily, "Papa Nix, whose skull is that?" and as he doubts the validity of the relic entrusted to him, the name and deeds of its owner changed with each recounting. The dubious honor of being reputed to cook the best trench-stew was also given him by his unit, though they weren't about to ask what was in it.

His uncompromising self-righteousness, however, got him into a duel with an imperious senior officer over orders; Nixios' critique managed to insult the officer's tactical acumen, moral character, and noble pedigree in one curt sentence. The officer suffered a loss to Nixios, who dared fight back after a chainsword slash to his right shoulder and arm; an investigation followed in which he was accused of striking a senior officer (a death sentence), and further with treason, sedition, and fraternizing with the enemy (warranting much worse). Nixios' colleagues, already distant from him due to political differences, abandoned him, but the eyes and ears of the Emperor considered his actions justified and the officer at fault. Said officer having suffered a broken pelvis and ribs, dealt by Nixios' inertia-multiplied hammer, and a crushing defeat on the field, dealt by the enemy, Nixios was spirited away to his new, smaller flock, and his skull of dubious origin was given concrete purpose, refashioned as a servo-skull with a laud hailer to aid Nixios when his voice begins to fade.

Upon induction into the Acolytum of the Ordos, Nixios was harassed repeatedly by Hamraby the Mad, a wizened old doomsday preacher whose diminishing moments of clarity justify his continued service to the Ordos. His words at every time Nixios met him, "Die if you must, but not with your spirit broken!" seem an odd admonition to a man so devoted to the truth of matters of faith and justice. Nixios sees the Inquisition as a means to bring the Emperor's Light to the masses- and whether it illuminates or consumes them is a matter of their own concern. No temporal pain or poverty will discourage him, though he hopes to suffer corruption in himself as little as he does his charges. He is judgemental and intolerant, as befits a Defender of the Faith, and particularly despises the corrupt, greedy, incompetent sycophants and political animals he sees infesting the Adepta, particularly the Ministorum. His deepest regret is the vindication of his disagreement with the officer of his regiment; his unit was slain to a man in the disastrous action he failed to stop (though in his mind, it is more the officer's incomprehensible idiocy and not his own rashness which brought about their demise), and Nixios often foregoes penitence for amasec on lonely nights.

That was a joy to read. Hats off to you, sir - you've certainly got talent.

The flavor quotes describing each rank of Cleric and Adepta Sororitas are worth repeating in game. A Dialogous I was playing once got in a shouting match with a Black Templar sergeant about what to do with a book of dubious nature. The BT wanted to burn it while I was under orders to secure it for Ordo Malleus.

I reared my head back and began reciting the first oath of the Orders Dialogous, poking his chest plate with my finger.

"With His divine grace, I shall

read that which should not be

written, see that which should

not be witnessed and endure

that which cannot be borne. His

radiance shineth on me and my

soul shall remain pure.”

The Templar put his hand on his sword hilt.

"Would you raise your weapon to the God Emperor's bride? Strike true, I would rather be a martyr than a cripple. But know this, grandson of Dorn: My death would only add your Chapter's name to the list of those that have been purged by my Sisters."

The sergeant wisened up. I got 250 xp for my Sister's "titan-scale adamantine balls", my Xanthite inquisitor got his book of True Names. Everyone won.

Xanthite inquisitor got his book of True Names.

Such purity working for such filth.

Ironically, I was playing a semi-radical Ardentite Sister and kind of playing up the dramatic irony of the scene. But in the words of Abbadon, what the Black Templars don't know can't hurt you.

The MAJOR problem with Ministorum characters is that we don't actually have any clue what they are supposed to be doing. At least the AdMech has the Quest for Knowledge Mysteries and Warnings to give you something to work with.

I've still yet to see anything that sets out what the Minstorum Orthodoxy is. So its almost impossible therefore to define what is herectical.

That makes roleplaying one of these characters almost impossible, which is why i stay well away from the Ecclesiarchy in my games.

I played a fairly moderate Ministorum priest for over 4 years. He started out as a fairly naive priest and as he was exposed more and more to chaos and corruption, he became darker and more grim in his administration of justice. I myself am not that religious, but I had a blast playing this character.