Ideas or fluff on ecclesiarchy organizations or groups to use against players.

By Joeker, in Dark Heresy General Discussion

Rereading the planetary descriptions, it seems as though the Port World and Munitorum World are actually described, but both beg the question: why make up a new designation?

Port World: Actually a system with a bunch of planets, each one fairly decent (as far as 40k goes) covered with small cities/towns run by myriad Great Houses that used to back risky trade ventures, now is decrepit, decadent, falling apart, blah blah blah it isn't as cool as it used to be.

Munitorum World: Boot Camp Planet, essentially. Whole cities of supply depots, bunkers, barracks. Lots of staging grounds and training maneuvers, but actual wars between the IG regiments flare up regularly.

So basically Nal Hutta and Carida. :P

I'd just treat those planetary designations as "subtypes". They're nice to have in that they sum up their role and purpose than if you'd just use the umbrella name.

Edited by Lynata

I'm thinking about leaving the Sisters out of it until late in the adventure, I always had trouble with a higher up sister allowing other sisters to be killed. The cardinals own men not so much, in fact it would make sense if a rival was officiating the the saints disinterment and that rival priest was killed Killing three birds with one stone, the shimmer, a rival, getting an artifact. I'm thinking that the rival priest is a moderate and is the one who wants to put everything of the saints back in the ground and get along with the shimmered. The sisters are are scheduled to arrive for the reinterment ceremony, but when that doesn't happen he uses them as an attack force to kill the shimmered. I like this, very Machiavellian. I still like the idea of Fredina being a proto saint. It makes it more difficult for the acolytes to choose sides. Like when I gave my players the ability to Exterminatas Novabella, just because you can do something and it is easier doesn't mean you should.

In the first edition of dark heresy were a faction introduced, german name was "Tempeltendenz"

The source book was Disciples of the Dark Gods: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Heresy:_Disciples_of_the_Dark_Gods

If I remember right it was a not legimated view which said that the leaders in the church (the priests) are like god (the emperor) himself.

If you like to play with the different aspects of religion (I compare it with christ church that has abondant for example the ariansim; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism) it is maybe something for you.

Ah, yeah -- the Temple Tendency.

Personally, I considered it as described to be a little too widespread, but I suppose this depends on how one interprets the Thorian Reformation. Either way, this group is an interesting idea with quite a bit of potential for various uses.

On a sidenote, as far as I recall the Temple Tendency is really just b**thurt about the modern day Ecclesiarchy being in power rather than their own people, because the concept of the Emperor speaking through its "appointed servants" (read: High Lords and sanctioned clergy of the Adeptus Ministorum) is the same. But perhaps this is part of the great irony: the Ecclesiarchy of M41 being rather similar to the Ecclesiarchy of Vandire's times, with many of Sebastian Thor's ideas having been sidelined in favour of rejuvenated greed and lust for power from the individual clerics -- with the only real difference being that the current Ecclesiarch isn't a mad usurper who manages to throw half the Imperium into rebellion.

Of course, for a group of religious terrorists it makes sense to not see this truth and rather cling to alleged doctrinal differences (which may actually exist in detail, but are not the real source of this conflict).

Edited by Lynata