How do the people of the 40K universe view sex?(this is a flavor/fluff question)

Do they practice polygamy/polyandry?, Is prostitution legal or illegal in the imperium of man?, Is homosexuality accepted?

Does the imperium of man have a legal age of consent?, Do priest have to be celibate?, Can a Rogue Trader have a harem? and so on.

Well for starters: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/95298-my-rogue-trader-wants-a-harem/

How do the people of the 40K universe view sex?(this is a flavor/fluff question)

Do they practice polygamy/polyandry?, Is prostitution legal or illegal in the imperium of man?, Is homosexuality accepted?

Does the imperium of man have a legal age of consent?, Do priest have to be celibate?, Can a Rogue Trader have a harem? and so on.

There are zillions of worlds and trillions of people. The answer to every question is "Yes." Now, are those answers ever universal? Probably not.

The Imperium of Man has 3 strict laws that apply to every world: pay your tithes (in riches, material or lives), don't consort with the enemy, and accept the Emperor as your lord and master. There are also Imperial laws that deal with interplanetary trade, not assaulting or hindering members of the Adepta, etc. Beyond that, every world has its own traditions - some of which the Ecclesiarchy or other parties may dislike, but which still persist. The galaxy is a pretty large place, so nearly everything can exist somewhere. It is all a matter of how common is it.

To the best of my knowledge, the answer of the first three questions would be "depends on the planet/station/ship", and on some planets different societies can also be different. The answer to the fifth one would be "depends on the order or cult of the priest" - the Ecclesiarchy has to mind and coordinate countless cults and ideologies that sometimes conflict. A big part of the Ecclesiarchy's job is minimizing internal violence of the sort of the Mnemonites deciding that the Ejavite ideas about female clergy is an abomination against the Emperor and have them recant or burn for their heresy, or the Gallians deciding that the Marcians' use of elaborate vestments is excessive corporal comfort that shows veneration of Slaanesh and acting accordingly. Finally, the answer to the last one is "depends on the Rogue Trader" - as peers of the Imperium with incredible resources and rights, and routinely acting beyond its reach, Rogue Traders often act in ways that would shock most every Imperial Citizen, and they get away with it. Personally, I would imagine most have an entire court of favourites, concubines and the like.

If there is any near-universal rule: the people in the Imperium are people. The vast majority of them of the respective age like and occasionally want sex, and sometimes do unwise things to get it.

Indeed. Even on our one planet, stuff like polygamy, age of consent, or acceptance of homosexuality and prostitution is heavily dependent on the country and the timeframe. Now multiply this by the million planets in the Imperium.

You could probably come up with some "averages" depending on world types and comparing them to human history - for example, the strictest regulation may exist on Civilised and Shrine worlds where the clergy commands a lot of influence over the local population and the concept of purity is strong, whereas on Feral worlds people sleep how they want (might makes right) and Feudal worlds are somewhere between Feral and Civilised with a strong focus on tradition (though this could take any form -- see homosexuality being common in the warrior classes of Ancient Greece and Feudal Japan). Lastly, most Hive worlds may be modern urban cities dialed up to eleven with lots of sexualisation and decadence as people seek relief from their daily toil in vast cityscapes so overpopulated and hard to police that you can get almost anything at any corner.

Of course, planetary nobility tends to be "above the law" where their own pleasures are concerned, too. One older codex even mentioned how they could mail-order sex slaves right out of the Schola Progenium during the Age of Apostasy, before the Thorian Reforms. By M41, I assume they are mostly limited to "local stocks".

Hard and fast!

Upon reflection, it strikes me as a little weird that the Ecclesiarchy doesn't take an incredibly oppressive and repressive hardline view on sex. Not because it's a conservative religious organization (although it is ) but because Slaanesh. The measures the Imperium takes to combat Chaos are, uh, extreme. So why not go so far as to outlaw sex altogether and mandate that all babies must be test tube babies? Why not sterilize most/all of the population at birth? That's right pleasure god, we've removed all sexual organs from our people and thereby closed off one avenue of corruption! Praise the Emperor, etc.

And so on. I dunno, maybe it's too resource intensive and you can't have infinite hordes of Guardsmen if you have to grow them all in tubes. Maybe it's just not possible to maintain the requisite iron grip on all the worlds of the Imperium. Maybe the writers never thought about it. Whatever.

If an Imperial world is filling its living space with people of suitable genetic standard (or holding steady at that point) then the Adeptus Terra is not likely to care *how* they do it. Krieg is suspected of using cloning technology to round out the numbers but is still regarded as a fantastic source of guardsmen.

Upon reflection, it strikes me as a little weird that the Ecclesiarchy doesn't take an incredibly oppressive and repressive hardline view on sex. Not because it's a conservative religious organization (although it is ) but because Slaanesh. The measures the Imperium takes to combat Chaos are, uh, extreme. So why not go so far as to outlaw sex altogether and mandate that all babies must be test tube babies? Why not sterilize most/all of the population at birth? That's right pleasure god, we've removed all sexual organs from our people and thereby closed off one avenue of corruption! Praise the Emperor, etc.

And so on. I dunno, maybe it's too resource intensive and you can't have infinite hordes of Guardsmen if you have to grow them all in tubes. Maybe it's just not possible to maintain the requisite iron grip on all the worlds of the Imperium. Maybe the writers never thought about it. Whatever.

People are one resource the Imperium is not short of. Why jeopardise that with technology that may not be entirely understood or reliable? Cloning is used on a much smaller scale, but it is not looked upon favourably.

Indeed, technology of that sort is valuable and precious. If the Imperium can solve a problem with prodigious use of manpower, it will .

Don´t forget, the Ecclesiarchy isn´t omnipotent so that it can have everyone - least of all the AdMech genetors - dance to their tune. Plus, ideas like that are the sort of ideas that may raise more than a few eyebrows among certain circles, making some very important people start drawing comparisons with how it was the LAST time the Ecclesiarchy had such strong opinions and the means to execute them. Now, extolling the faithful for higher production quotas (so the plebs on the planet will have less time and energy for pointless excess), that the Ecclesiarchy has no problem with, and such a motion is likely to be approved wholeheartedly by the authorities.

I also assume this is because of how the Ecclesiarchy spreads its beliefs. Most of the time, they simply supplant local beliefs by telling people "oh, but it was the Emperor all along!" -- and this may well mean having to publicly embrace both repressive as well as liberal stances on sex, depending on culture and tradition of the individual member world.

Another factor could be the Ecclesiarchy's age and lack of knowledge. Born from a Terran cult known as the Temple of the Saviour Emperor, its founder was a senior officer of the Imperial Navy, at a time where humanity did not know a lot about Chaos or the Chaos Gods. The Inquisition had just come into existence, and was at this time still focused on preventing the Emperor's resurrection rather than investigating the daemon threat.

(note: this part is based on material written directly by GW -- there are officially licensed products telling different stories, which would also alter the nature of these organisations)

So the church was effectively founded by a man of moderate origins, and at a time where the Imperium didn't know anything about Slaanesh. Needless to say, both the moderate nature as well as knowledge about Chaos changed over the centuries and millennia, but perhaps the relaxed attitude towards sex remained.

On the other hand, parts of the Ecclesiarchy do acknowledge the value of purity and abstinence, as can be seen in the Thorian Reforms enacted upon the Schola Progenium, or the isolationism practiced by the Adepta Sororitas. So as with all of 40k, I suppose you could say "it depends". I could very much imagine firebrand priests condemning any sort of sexuality outside procreation via the only permissible position to ensure pleasure is kept to a minimum, just as much as I could see a world where the priests are turning a blind eye to polygamy and other excesses. And of course with 40k being a setting of clichés, there is also always room for the archetypical hypocrite bishop who preaches purity whilst taking advantage of the choir singers.

I am sure polygamy was mentioned in a space marine codex on the planet of the white scars so it must be pretty common and considering that its been common on earth I would suspect that such things are all the rage on some planets

This will give you some background on the side of heresy with excess.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/114762/Black-Crusade-The-Tome-of-Excess

I haven´t seen many BC books, but overall I imagine you need to go quite far in your enjoyment of sex to actually court Slaanesh. Some of the clergy may either err on the side of caution or just insert their own biases into their judgments.

I would watch - if your looking for the dark side - a movie with Nicolas Cage called 8mm (now this isn't high cinema) - it can offer you that flavor one could/would expect from those more debase - like that found among the throngs and secreted individuals of the chaos inspired... Not sure if your concern is romance, mere procreation, or chaos / evil people stuff (I would say the two are different in scope).

Otherwise - consider all the wonders one can imagine with the invention of cybernetics and the sex practices and the trade itself...
(as soon as my character walks in - roll initiative! LMFAO)

Also - cultural expressions - like those found in some tribes who celebrate the wedding then sit outside the tent while the couple makes union within.

There's all sort of stuff - I guess like anything else it depends on what aspect or flavor of fluff you're looking to deliver content wise to your player audience.

Stay GAMING

Morbid

Upon reflection, it strikes me as a little weird that the Ecclesiarchy doesn't take an incredibly oppressive and repressive hardline view on sex. Not because it's a conservative religious organization (although it is ) but because Slaanesh. The measures the Imperium takes to combat Chaos are, uh, extreme. So why not go so far as to outlaw sex altogether and mandate that all babies must be test tube babies? Why not sterilize most/all of the population at birth? That's right pleasure god, we've removed all sexual organs from our people and thereby closed off one avenue of corruption! Praise the Emperor, etc.

And so on. I dunno, maybe it's too resource intensive and you can't have infinite hordes of Guardsmen if you have to grow them all in tubes. Maybe it's just not possible to maintain the requisite iron grip on all the worlds of the Imperium. Maybe the writers never thought about it. Whatever.

What does the Ecclesiarchy know of Slaanesh? What do they know of the goings-on of the warp? I'm not buying the argument. The control factor is a possibility, though, since the Church is big into control I don't see why they'd leave marriage up to the people to decide. "Bless the mind too small for doubt!"

https://en . wikipedia .org/ wiki /The_ birds _and_the_ bees

I wish to point out that this thread isn't mine , just to say so. I think the reference link up there is...

I would think that, like several other things, the Imperium takes a hands-off approach to this issue, because they HAVE to. Like so many issues, the Imperium is far to byzantine, massive, and ponderous to control virtually any aspects of the lives of people on a given world; they lack the attention-monitoring to see it, the military strength to police it, and even the give a **** to care; so long as a world provides its tithes, and appears to venerate the God-Emperor, the Imperium has bigger things to watch for, and allows the world's "local level" leader (Planetary Governor) to run these things however they see fit, both for themselves, and their peoples. If they choose poorly, then their tithes will slip, and then the Imperium will come looking, possibly with a Guard detachment, and maybe a new satrap to administer the world. For things like Chaos, that's what Inquisitors, and their networks of spies, are for, and the PDF, with Arbites on hand, if the issue grows to a "threaten the world's ability to be part of the Imperium" level. If the planet's populace wants to be polygamous/polyandrous, or monogamous, they'll decide, and see if it works. As for homosexuality, I expect the same "do what you want" mentality, coupled with cultural differences. So long as the planet doesn't suffer population declines because either the populace is choosing to be gay, to the majority, that it hurts their growth, or has an overwhelming prevalence of that genetic disposition, nothing will have to be done. If they slip, BOOM!!!

As I've said other times, on worlds where I imagine a serf waking up, slaving at their station for hours, with the occasional food brought, a very short break, and then to sleep, as their parent did at this station, before them, I don't know where some people in the Imperium can find time to have, or raise kids.

Onto Rogue Traders, they can do just about anything. As you'll note, I've got two NPC RTs who have harems, and one is gay, and their money, power, and distance from the Imperium makes it easy for them; to their fellows, they are "silly curiosities" until crossed, and then one has to remember that they are Rogue Traders, and a power unto themselves. Like royalty, they get away with what they want, so long as they don't piss off "other royalty".

As I've said other times, on worlds where I imagine a serf waking up, slaving at their station for hours, with the occasional food brought, a very short break, and then to sleep, as their parent did at this station, before them, I don't know where some people in the Imperium can find time to have, or raise kids.

In fairness, this did happen on Earth during the Industrial Revolution.

Onto Rogue Traders, they can do just about anything. As you'll note, I've got two NPC RTs who have harems, and one is gay, and their money, power, and distance from the Imperium makes it easy for them; to their fellows, they are "silly curiosities" until crossed, and then one has to remember that they are Rogue Traders, and a power unto themselves. Like royalty, they get away with what they want, so long as they don't piss off "other royalty".

Daemonettes

choosing to be gay

Uh...

Daemonettes

I actually hate this guy. He and the Bigfoot Hunters who always talk like they have already proven that their hypothesis is, in fact, "fact", and that they had tea with Martians/Bigfoot just this morning. If you don't believe, then you are just stupid. Sorry guy, I like to believe there are aliens, too, but the only thing you have proven is that your hair probably works as a deterrent to keep aliens FROM our planet. His hair would probably scare daemonettes, too

This is me bantering like an idiot a bit. You can skip it if you like; it adds nothing to this thread.

LoneKharnivore: yeah, I wasn't fond of typing it, either. I left the sentence "open to interpretation", so whichever side of that one finds themselves on, I wasn't just saying "you're wrong!" Don't want to be like the people I was just belittling, do I? Without going off on a tangent that this thread wasn't about, I do know various people who would say that some people who are homosexual DO choose to be, especially those who are bisexual, as certainly as I know many more who would claim it is a genetic thing, or some other factors beyond one's control. I'm going to refrain from discussing it further, personally, in either direction, because this forum can blow up into a burn-war about issues involving a fun, little minis war game, who said what about it, when, and some role-playing materials loosely based off of it; I don't want to be the guy who started this war, in its place.

How do the people of the 40K universe view sex?(this is a flavor/fluff question)

Do they practice polygamy/polyandry?, Is prostitution legal or illegal in the imperium of man?, Is homosexuality accepted?

Does the imperium of man have a legal age of consent?, Do priest have to be celibate?, Can a Rogue Trader have a harem? and so on.

Well, son... I was hoping you'd be a little older when we had this talk, but I suppose it can no longer wait...

Sometimes, when a girl and boy love really like don't loathe each other...

Ah yes, not hating someone , such a strange sensation

I would imagine some firebrand local versions of the Ecclesiarchy could actual be quite strong on the need for sex, not for pleasure but for bringing forth more soldiers to cleanse the Xenos and Chaos filth and ensure mankind's manifest destiny to rule the galaxy is reached.