I know the whole "Depends on the world" arguement will be thrown in here. But what are the Imperiums, the Ecclissarchy, and the cults of the Imperial Creed stances on marrage?

(Note: This is a pure "Out of Curiousity" question, and has no bearing on any campaign that I have, or am playing now. However it may be useful for the future of our wonderful rollplaying setting)

Man and woman you are now joined under the emperors blessing now add to the human tithe as much as possible we need all the workers we can get. and i dont think they would allow same sex marriages because of the whole you cant make babies argument

The idea of romance and soul mates would be rather a quaint concept for many (though not all) in the Imperium. Marriage would be for children. This is not to say same sex partners and so forth wouldn't happen or even that it would be persecuted its just that many in the Imperium probably wouldn't see the point of needing any kind of ceromony.

Indeed I would imagine that for many living in a teaming Hive or in the pressed conditions of a Minign colony they might not even know their parents and the idea of marriage is an alien concept. Meanwhile amongst the nobility marriage is simply used as a way of binding one Noble family to another.

Amongst the nobility I could see poligamy being not uncommon, and a noble might have partners of both sexes.

There is nothing in he WH40K universe that suggests the sexual morality found on any given world is necessarily anything like ours. And even the term 'like ours' is a vast generalisation given everybody has their own opinions and thoughts on what is and isn't acceptable sexually.

Basically as long as children are produced somehow I doubt the Imperial cult has anything official to say about sex.

Y'see, I tend to disagree with this oft-presented notion that the Imperium absolutely requires people to breed in abundance. Quite frankly, I don't see a need for it. Humans will fornicate and procreate as they have done since before recorded history, and the Imperium really have no need to influence it further.

The idea of "you will breed because we need workers" suggests a climate where human life is not sufficiently numerous for the task, rather than one where human life is the ultimate in expendable and self-replenishing resources - the latter being the situation we're frequently presented with by the background.

My view on the matter is that the Adeptus Terra - that is, the government of the Imperium - is best described as brutally indifferent. So long as you pay your tithes, revere and worship the Emperor, have no dealings with the Enemies of Man and generally do as you're told, the Imperium does not care how you live. On the one hand, this leads to diversity in culture between worlds. On the other, it leads to oppression and slavery as the tithes the Imperium requires compel individual Imperial Commanders to work the populace of their worlds to death in order to meet those tithes and not suffer the wrath of those further up the food chain. The Administratum calls for another trillion litres a year of unrefined promethium from your refineries, and you do it or find yourself at gunpoint as the Adeptus Arbites deal with your insubordination... ask how you could possibly achieve such a tithe, and the Administratum will respond "we don't care how, just do it".

The crux of this is that, save for the intensity of work required by the demanding tithes of the Adeptus Terra and the sermons of the Ecclesiarchy, if you're a normal human being (and not a psyker or mutant), you're pretty much left alone by the Imperium. Matters of national or planetary law and culture are more pertinent than the Lex Imperialis .

This topic puts my mind to work.

I see a world where marriage as we know it has been outlawed. The first settlers of this planet were puritanical in their interpretation of The Creed. They took the phrase "Thou shalt love and honour no one over thyne God-Emperor!" very seriously. As a result, they see marriage between humans as a sin, as it puts the participants in a position where they may love an individual more than they love The Master of Mankind. By their reasoning, to love anything other than the God-Emperor is heresy. As a result, all women on the planet are symbolically married to the God-Emperor when they come of age. For most women, the marriage is a mass ceremony, with hundreds, if not thousands of brides gathered before a massive statue of the Emperor. A priest conducts the ceremony over loudspeakers, the women chanting the oaths of marriage in a mighty chorus. When the oaths are taken, the women line up and make obeisance to the statue. Each bride is also given a ring to symbolize the commitment of the marriage.

The ceremony is a bit different when conducted for the aristocracy and the wealthy. When such a woman comes of age the ceremony is a more private affair, attended by family and friends and conducted by a senior priest or spiritual advisor. The massive statue of the Emperor is replaced with a statue or icon from a private shrine. In some cases, the marriage is a gala celebration and a major social event.

The men of this planet almost never marry, as all the available women are claimed for The Emperor. However, the Ecclesiarchy does offer one potential alternative. The men of this world often organize themselves into devotional societies dedicated to the veneration, worship, and teachings of female saints. As a man rises through the ranks of such a devotional society they may undertake a symbolic marriage ceremony of their own and wed the saint to which they have dedicated their lives. Such a man, typically referred to as a Husband (short for Saint's Husband, or Husband of The Creed) gains much respect and social standing.

Reproduction is a delicate matter upon this planet. It would be a sin of the worst order for any man to bed a bride of the Emperor. How, then, do the people of this world conceive children? The answer is a yearly ritual known as The Festival of Consummation. This festival, which traditionally lasts from mid-day to the following dawn, is marked by much celebration. Work ends, and the streets are filled with music, feasts are held in town squares, the sounds of game and sport fill every field. During the Festival, certain men are selected from the community by virtue of their strength, piety, valour, and other admirable traits. These men are blessed, then adorned in fine robes and elaborate masks each designed to exemplify a different virtue of the Emperor. These men are then carried into the town square where they join with the revelers. These men have been selected to act as proxies for The Emperor, and it is their duty to a Bride and consummate her marriage in the Emperor's stead. It is important to note that the masks are donned and doffed in secret, under the supervision of priests and community elders. As a result, no bride knows the identity of her child's father. It is also considered ill omened for a man to reveal the identity of any bride with home he has copulated during the Festival of Consummation.

The above arrangement makes tracking genealogy and mutation a logistical nightmare, and the local Adminustratum census takers have all but given up. However, it does have the advantage of given the planet predictable reproduction cycles, making it a simple thing to track population growth and calculate the annual tithe of soldiers for the Imperial war machine.

Human nature being what it is, there are many who do not wait for the Festival of Consummation to sate their lusts. Any children born out of the standard reproductive cycle are considered ill omened and shunned by the community, most often eking out a living as beggars or criminals. Needless to say, to the people of this world the word bastard is particularly insulting.

When a woman of this world dies, her ring is collected by special agents of the local Depatmento Munitorum. The rings, blessed as they are by the Ecclesiarchy and symbolizing a lifelong commitment to the God-Emperor, are considered to be holy relics. Each ring is melted down and cast into a single bullet, given to the local planetary defense forces and any Imperial Guard regiments raised from the world. These sacred rounds of ammunition, referred to as the Bride's Bullet, are believed to be proof against the armors of Mankind's enemies and, when fired by a bachelor, always fly straight and true into the hearts of the God-Emperor's foes.

Attila-IV said:

i like the idea of a holy bachelor bullet and the idea for this planet gives me a good idea for an adventure, perhaps one of the brides is not married to the Emperor but, instead married an aspect of chaos and is corrupting the seed of all the other emperor proxies by sateing her lust before the ceremony...hehehe chaos babies "OH MY GOD EMPEOROR ITS GOT MY ANKLE ITS GOT MY ANKLE!!!"

interesting question. i like these ones.

i don't think there is an official stance on marriage pertaining to Imperial organizations even the Ecclesiarchy. do u serve and love the Emperor? are you committed to your efforts in serving the Imperial Good? do you follow and obey Imperial laws? are your properly subservient to your betters? the Ecclesiarchy will probably charge for Marriage Rites (giving the Emperor his due for His Benevolence in granting your union) and the Administratum (because they want their cut too and for data purposes)...all marriages must be logged to be considered legal unions. the Arbites for example would need this data for affiliation purposes and next of kin issues for example.so marriages are recognised for a number of purposes but there would be no huge push for it.

as stated earlier, the Imperium has no need to push procreation. there are already staggering levels of unemployment. they have more ppl than they know what to do with. hence humans being expendable and life cheap.

as for same sex marriage. i don't see them caring very much either about that by and large. they have much bigger and deadly fish to fry...every man and woman can serve the Emperor unto death.

ThenDoctor said:

Actually, this would be a great "moral delema scenario". Such a thing happens, and the acolytes orders are to kill the heretical infant. On appearance he/she is just a normal healthy baby, and the group needs to decide weather or not to kill him/her or put him/her into hidding. Good times.

I'm still thinking. Place this on the hive world of your choice.

The One Day Brides of Hive Rutilus Prodigium

Hive Rutilus Prodigium is one of the busiest trading posts in the Calyxis sector. Unlike most hive cities, which climb ever higher as to pierce the distant stars like a jagged and rusty blade, Rutilus bares the distinction of being one of the few "flat" hives of Imperial space. The hive itself consists of nearly endless runways, massive landing pads, jutting gantries and deep-sunk launch bays that provide birthing for the cargo lifters, bulk freighters, shuttles and warp cutters that ply their trade within the sector. Just below the surface is and endless complex of warehouses, processing stations and brokerage offices that handle the never ending streams of cargo coming in from off world. Finally, built into the very support struts and load bearing foundations of the massive docking complex are the habitation levels, where the common citizens of Rutilus make their home. Hidden between the habitation levels and the warehouse sectors are the storied Marriage Houses and the infamous One Day Brides of Rutilus Prodigium.

The Marriage Houses have their origins in the hive-wide civil war that nearly destroyed Rutilus in 563.M41. The war, fought between several feuding noble houses, a trade syndicate, and three rival sects of the Ecclesiarchy, lasted a quarter of a century and forever altered the political landscape of the planet. During the hight of chaos, the hive city fell under the control of The Threefold Scourge, a sect of redemptionists obsessed with physical purity. During the red reign of the Scourge, the redemptionists lead a bloody crusade against the physically corrupt. The mutated, the diseased, and the promiscuous were all put to the flames. The Threefold Purge of Rutilus (as the crusade is now known) utterly wiped out the hive's mutant population and laid waste to the port city's thriving prostitution industry.

The unrest came to an end when an alliance was struck between Baron Gorderic Vulpex and Archimandrite Bromus The Chaste. The noble and the warrior monk united their forces, cast down their enemies, and brought order to the hive. When the dust had settled and peace was at last reached, the Baron became Lord Governor of the hive city and Bromus ascended to the within the Ecclesiarchy and became High Bishop and master of the holy see of Rutilus Prodigium. This was all as the two had planned.

Gorderic Vulpex was a man of grand political ambition who had his sights on the Governorship of the planet entire. However, these ambitions were kept in check by his wife, Lady Heldigard. Shortly after the end of the civil war the newly appointed High Bishop Bromus granted Lord Vulpex what he had longed for during the entire body affair: a divorce. Now free from the constraints of his former marriage, Lord Vulpex set about wooing Lady Petronela Zhar, daughter of the Planetary Governor. In time the two were wed. Vulpex, having been made Lord Zhar's heir, ascended to the position of Planetary Governor when Lord Zhar was found accidentally crushed under a cargo macro-pod that had been poorly secured and accidental fell from low orbit. But what of Bishop Bromus?

Bromus The Chaste was a puritanical thinker that shared many of the beliefs, if not the practices, or The Threefold Scourge. He detested carriers of disease, going so far as having his heart replaced with a blood-scrubbing augmentic pump and being forever followed by two acolytes, one bearing pest repelling incense, the other carrying medical oils and unguents with which the Bishop's hands were repeatedly cleansed. Bishop Bromus was also a harsh of wonton lust. The augment with which he combated that particular weakness of the flesh is best left undiscussed. However, in the many prostitutes of Rutilus he saw his twin enemies of fornication and disease united. In exchange for granting Lord Vulpex, and by extent the rest of the citizens, the right to divorce, the newly appointed governor past sweeping reforms, outlawing prostitution and seeing that the new laws were strictly enforced. The once thriving sex trade on Rutilus Hive would have never recovered from the Threefold Purge and the reforms of Lord Vulpex had it not been for a strange alliance of clever criminals, priests and adepts.

The civil war had left many Ecclesiarchy priests disgraced but not defrocked. Though they had no place within the political structure of Bishop Bromus' Ecclesiarchy, they still commanded a certain respect in the lower habitation stacks and could still be found tending to the needs of the faithful. This included rights of birth, death, and marriage. Due to the sloppy wording of the decree that granted Lord Vulpex the right to divorce, any ordained priest of the Ecclesiarchy could likewise grant the right of divorce and perform a ritual of annulment. It was this matter of theological law that would allow a cadre of destitute priests and ambitious hive gangers to invent a new form of prostitution. Thus was born the institution of The Marriage House and the One Day Bride.

Hive Rutilus is now peppered with Marriage houses. These institutions, resembling a cross between a chapel and an inn, can be found wherever starship ratings, longshoremen and traders congregate. The typical Marriage House can be identified by it's doorway, lit by twin lamps of white and red. A barker dressed in the robes of a junior priest will drum up business by extolling the virtues of married life and describing "the many blessed attributes" of the potential brides that await within. In many cases the barker will indeed be ordained.

Within the a Marriage House a Groom (as clients are called) can find refreshment and a selection of eager women. After making his choice, the Groom is then married to the Bride of his choice. The two are then escorted to a room where the marriage is consummated. The following day, or sooner, the two are divorced, absolved of any remaining sins, and go their separate ways.

The rapid influx of money and influence the disgraced priests of the lower habs gained allowed them to organize themselves into a mostly unified faction. Their voice within the local Ecclesiarchy prevents the decree of the long dead Bishop Bromus from being rescinded, and their political influence ensures that Lord Vulpex's reforms are kept in place, this keeping prostitution illegal and giving the Marriage Houses a monopoly on the flesh trade. Though they would never put it in such crude terms.

Infamous Marriage Houses

The Chapel of Lo e: So named because of a malfunctioning hololithic sign, The Chapel of Lo e is one of the most rundown and low rent Marriage Houses in Hive Rutilus. What makes The Chapel stand out is that it is the only Marriage House where one can find a mutant Bride. Many Grooms of specialized tastes are know to pay top thrones to spend a night of marital bliss with abhuman woman or scavvie virgin.

The Red Stable: The red stable is a rarity among Marriage Houses in that its clientele is almost exclusively female. The Red Stable traffics in eligible young men, or Husbands of The Hour as they are sometimes known. Many a noble Lady or heiress to a Rogue Trader's dynasty have whiled away evenings within The Red Stable's gilded walls.

The Matrimonium: The Matrimonium is the largest and most successful of the Marriage Houses, having been in continuos operation since Bishop Bromus' decree. What was once a two room chapel has expended over the centuries, absorbing much of the surrounding real estate. It is said that any kind of Bride or Groom can be found within. Father Clovus Drax, deacon and master of the Matrimonium, is a fat and jovial man enamored with the pageantry of high society weddings. Grand cakes are served to guests, champaign flows freely, and and entire gaggle of well-wishers are kept on staff to attend the weddings of the House's many guests. Hidden behind Drax's laughing face is a screwed political mind. It is rumored the master of the Matrimonium is planning to make a bid for power. With the health of the current Bishop of Rutilus failing, it is said that Drax wishes the seat for himself. Such a lofty position is higher than any Marriage House proprietor has risen within the Ecclesiarchy since the aftermath of The Threefold Purge.

As an addition to the wonderful ideas above I would like to draw your attention to Hive Kirdem.

Hive Kirdem have long been a major tradehub for raw materials in its sector. As all big space ports it attracts many people who come from more rural planets in order to seek fame, fortune or just a job to put food on the table. The major structure of the hive is unfortunately in a rather worn down state, and beginning in the year 443.M41 a series of hivequakes all but destroyed the underhive and drove the vast numbers of survivors up to the lower hive. This led to a slow domino effect of mass migration upwards as people strived to stay above those that smelled worse. The series of hivequakes was finally stopped in 446.M41 by decisive action performed by the planetary governor Lady Elsebeth Juno. She called upon her considerable contacts among the miners and oretraders in the sector and managed to have the lower levels of the hive more or less filled with whatever materials could be scrounged from the poisoned bedrock around the hive. This gave her a very strong following among the common inhabitants, and a rumor as something of a saint among the workers in the sector.

Ironically this legend about Saint* Elsebeth and the Miracle of Kirdem increased the problem of overpopulation as humans from all over the sector heard stories about this benevolent lady and moved in even greater numbers to Kirdem in order to be allowed to serve under her rule. As soon as it became apparent that this was indeed not only a fad but more of an ongoing tradition Lady Juno took stern measures to protect her hive from all these eager workers. Tougher passport checks. Bioscanning ships on docking and leaving port, and fining the captain for any missing crew. Requiring writs of descendancy to allow work. These were just a few of the methods tried, and all of them found hard to apply in significant amounts without strangling trade and forcing ship captains to other ports in the sector. Also smuggling of immigrants and trading with forged documents became such a lucrative bussiness that organised crime and bribery grew to quite horrifying levels.

Lady Elsebeth Juno was however a very wise ruler, so having found that restrictions by law could not help with her beloved citys problem of overpopulation she considered methods of using her reputation among the people to limit the birthrate. Campaigns of mass sterilisations were considered and abandoned as requiring too many surgically competent personel to be practical. Let it be noted that this author will give no credit to the malignant rumors that talk about the "Mallet-and-anvil-kit" that were to be created in large numbers and distributed among the people as a mean to sterilise males without having to break the skin, thus greatly reducing the risk for infection and requiring very little medical knowledge on behalf of the user.

The solution was finally found in the form of same gendered marriage and fornication. In the year 452.M41 Lady Elsebeth Juno declared that every citicen that truly loved this Hive and the Emperor were to engage in romantic and sexual activities only with individuals that they had no biological compatibility for reproduction with. Let it be noted that this author will give no credit to the malignant rumours that claim this wording was chosen to allow the Lady to keep her extensive harem of male Tau lovers. She lead this reformation by personal example by divorcing her husband of 34 years, Lord Elsebeth Mikols (born Lord Redansor Mikols) in a great and pompous public ceremony, where they both pronounced their undying love to hive Kirdem. In his place she married Lady Elsebeth Kinna (born Lady Spathevs Kinna).

In her wisdom Lady Elsebeth Juno did not forbid the practice of cross-gendered love or marriages. She did however significantly improve the pension, healthcare and benefit programs for citicens that registered only same-gender relations. No effort were spared in encouraging the positive depiction of same gendered relations in all forms of media. A quite large group of historicans and ecclesiarchy personel were tasked with editing historical material and imperial legends to be more supportive of the Kirdem-values. This included editing out unwanted historical figures [cross reference: Iolaus] subtly changing the description of cross-gendered love relations to seem more like a warriors brothership or a close friendship [cross reference: Jonathan] and all in all put forward the virtues of non-reproductive sex. Note that this author will in no way comment theories regarding the nature of the relation between Horus and our Holy Emperor prior to the Heresy. A conciderable impact were done by the citicens themselves who showed considerable enthusiasm in pointing out others as "deviants from the Kirdem way of life".

In present day Hive Kirdem is the leading tradehub for gross amounts of raw materials and a stable source of tithes to the Imperium. The Elsebeth line is still governing the planet, succession is ensured by the ruler choosing one or two younger brides who will take over her duties and in turn marry younger as the ruler grows old. Children are born, but in very manageable numbers (average birthrate is approimately 0.08-0.12 children per ovipositor-carrier) and immigration continues at a steady pace. Two- or threesome relations are still in majority (54%) while mono-genered tribes, linemarriage and other versions of group marriages claim roughly the same popularity that they had before the Elsebeth Reformation (just below 20%). The remaining population encompasses different ways of life, such as Unmarrieds, CGs (cross-gender lovers) Editors note: These no longer carry any legal meaning, but some citicens persists in claiming to be cross-gendered-married despite this. There are even a few small ecclesiastical sects that perform marriage rites for CG-couples . and of couse individuals not yet of the age of majority.

It is my sincere belief that hive Kirdem with their willingness to adapt their lives to the needs of their community can serve as an example to us all in how we adapt to the needs of the Empire.

-~~~[ Thought for the day: True happiness stems only from obedience ]~~~-

* Lady Elsebeth Juno was indeed canonised as a Saint by at least 33 of the local sects of the ecclesiarchy. Several petitions of officially recognised Sainthood was sent following the proscribed channels to the Ecclesiarchal temple at Holy Terra. The petition that has to date progressed the longest were last logged in 281.988.M41 as being scheduled for discussion over approval by the seal of the Assistant Arch Dominators Congress of Sector XXIV.

Wow, great info here guys. Keep it up!

The Inscribed Husbands of Ozma's Prize

The developing feudal world Ozma's Pride, named for the legendary rogue trader Ozma Grillix who supposedly won the planet from a sect of Eldar Exodites in a game of riddles, is a idilic world far from the eternal warfare that marks the 41st Millennium. A gem of a world, her rolling green hills hide rich mineral resources (primary mineral exports: iron, orichalcum & radioactives), her level valleys bring forth rich harvest (primary produce exports: corn, razorwheat & chaffapples), and her sweeping plains nurture hardy livestock (primary livestock exports: gelded bull grox, muttonox, ozmaian draft horse). But the two most striking features of this world are her predominantly female population and intricately marked men.

Shortly after the initial settlement of Ozma's Pride the colony was struck by misfortune. For reasons that could not at the time be explained, the planetary population sported an abnormally high mutant birthrate, especially for a pre-industrial world. At first it was though that the mutations were caused by some trick of the Eldar, furious to have lost an entire world to the cunning of a human rake. When no strain of Xenos taint could be found, it was then suggested that some feature of the planet's ecosystem encouraged mutation within the colonists. However, the Explorator fleet that had been called in to investigate could find no toxin or virus within the environment of Ozma's Prize to account for the mutations. The world was, just as Ozma promised, a flawless pearl of a world. For generations the cause of the mutations remained a mystery. The population of Ozma's Pride continued to grow, and her citizens increasingly failed to breed true.

The cause of the mutations was at last found in 328.M41 by Lord Inquisitor Alabar Greel and Magus-Biologis Isaac Mitocon. By this point in the history of Ozma' Pride the mutant birthrate had reached a critical level, the colonists turning to mass infanticide in an effort to control the ever-growing mutant population. The situation had at last attracted the attention of The Emperor's Inquisition, with Lord Inquisitor Greel and his advisor Magus Mitocon arriving on the scene to personally survey the situation. Rumors of Exterminatus were rampant. Indeed, it is said that Inquisitor Greel touched down on Ozma's Prize with a Writ of Exterminatus in hand, only awaiting his signature. If such a document existed, it is assumed it was destroyed by Greel after the Hangedman's Night.

After nearly two decades of study, Magus-Biologis Isaac Mitocon isolated the cause of the mutations. Each and every mutant child that had been born over the centuries could be traced back to a single common ancestor. As Lord Inquisitor Alabar Greel reveals in his memoir To Serve is To Live , the initial Ozma's Prize colony had a population woefully inadequate to the task of taming a virgin world. However, finding themselves in such a lush and stable world, the population boomed, growing from a limited gene pool. Greel goes on to report that a single colonists was a mutant of decidedly human appearance. This mutant, which Mitocon's official report dubs Colonist X but which the citizens of Ozma's Prize spitefully call The Scumsire, bred prodigiously with the first generation colonists. The second generation colonists did likewise, as did the third and fourth colonists. Within a handful of decades the Scumsire's aberrant genes had spread to the entire population. But this was not the only discovery.

Magus Mitocon determined that just as the all of the mutant births could be traced to the advent of Colonist X, so too could all of the emerging mutations be traced to a single gene cluster located within the Y chromosome of the typical Ozmaian male. Indeed, in the vast majority of cases, mutations were only found within male children. How this had gone unnoticed for centuries is unclear, though legend has it that the extreme deformity found within the typical Ozmaian mutant made it all but impossible to determine the wretch's gender. Once this defective gene cluster was isolated, it was a simple matter to begin screening the population. It was only then that the extent of the population's corruption was laid bare.

The ensuing civil panic and resulting purge came to be known as The Hangedman's Night, though the in truth, the global patricide lasted for months as it spread across Ozma's Pride with news of Mitocon's discovery. Men, boys, and elder gentlemen were rounded up by the millions and hanged. When the grim work was done, the entire male population of Ozma's Pride was no more, except for a few.

During their investigation, Greel and Mitocon had discovered a rare few Ozmaian men who did not carry the Scumsire's defective gene cluster. These few, recorded in the story and song as the Grandseeds, were gathered by the Inquisition and held in stasis until the purge of the Hangedman's Night had past. It was during these tense months that Greel, Mitocon, and Lord Governor Rex Grillix envisioned the program of Paternal Inscription.

It was clear to the learned agents of The Emperor that without a breeding population the Ozmaian civilization would collapse within a generation, and with it the economy and exports upon which so many planets depended. To incentivize and import male colonists in sufficient number was deemed to be a waste of resources and a logistical impossibility, especially considering the mass genetic screening it would take to ensure any new colonists were without treat of mutation. Ozma's Prize would have to work with the males it had on hand, those preserved by the Inquisition. However, it was also clear that a mere twenty-three men would not be sufficient to the task of repopulating and entire world. Likewise, the resulting gene pool would be shallow indeed, leading to mutations of a different, though no less devastating sort though inbreeding. The program of Inscription, once fully implemented, would address these issues.

Paternal Inscription, or Ozmaian Marriage as it is known to offworlders, is part genealogy, part genetic safeguard, and part reproductive contract. Every Ozmaian male is tattooed at birth. This tattoo, the Inscription of Primogeniture, is a shorthand family tree, showing the male's genetic lineage going back at least seven generations. Any Ozmaian woman need only look upon a man's face, were the Inscription is proudly displayed, and know immediately if he is a suitable mate. Should a woman wish to take the man as a husband, she must petition her case to the local Council of Familial Scribes, an organization founded Magus Mitocon to continue the work of safely repopulating the planet. The Council reviews the lineage of the woman and the man of her choice and compared them to the dominant bloodlines within the community. Should the Council judge the match to be favorable, the man shall be awarded to the woman as her husband. Her name and clanscript shall be tattooed upon her husband's body, and she shall have exclusive right to his seed for five years. During this period the husband lived in the wife's household. The two are expected to produce at least two children by tradition, though three-to-four is common. It is the husband's duty to teach his lineage to the children and oversee the Inscription of any sons brought forth. Once the five year period has passed, the marriage is dissolved and the man is assigned as the husband of another woman.

Despite the best efforts of The Council of Familiar Scribes, the population of Ozma's Prize has yet to match its former size. Also, it is clear that a small handful of the Scumsire's many-times-removed grandsons survived the Hangedman's Night as a number of male mutants are born every year. The Ozmaian tradition of superstition and infanticide also curtails the growth of the male population. As a result, there is an estimated ratio of one man to every twenty women. Only time will tell if the program of Paternal Inscription restores the population of Ozma's Prize. Until then the people are ever watchful, left the polluted seed of the Scumsire reap ruin upon the world a second time.

This is my new favorite thread! Attila and Mellon, keep it up -you have come up with pure gold!

I thank you good sir. There will be more to follow.

Thank you for your appreciation. It is a great source of inspiration! Here is my latest idea:

From: Scribe Sacellus Tertius
To: Lady Inquisitor Tivendar
Subject: RE: Query on the nature of the “Markes squads”

122.770.M41 Hive Sibellus, Green level, Fifth district, [access denied] block, [access denied] street, the mauve room.

My Lady.

In reply to my Ladys query regarding the impressive record of the so called “Markes Squads” it is this writers, ever your humble servant, intention to reveal the nature of the source of their remarkable track record.

First, some background I am certain you are at least in part familiar with. At the year 765.M41 Lord Argilluam Markes, governor of the Pon-Pe system, received an offical, exulting but further unspecified note of approval and thanks from lord Inquisitor Batista Krinn. It is a commonly known secret that this was in light of the use Krinn had made of the cells of acolytes recruited singularily form the Pon-Pe system and trained and conditioned by Lord Markes. [cross references: Tiran uprising, the cleansing of Maat, Skivv IX rebellion]

In addition to a solid but in no way extraordinary training in matters both military, investigative and social the most impressive ability of the Markes Squads are their exceedingly high morale and resistance to all the horrors of the mind that the duty of an acolyte brings with it. During the outbreak of the Plague of Flies at the [access denied] system in the year 768.M41 one of my Ladys acolytes made a most astounding and rare observation of a Markes squads in a situation of great peril and conflicting interests. I will here reprint the relevant part of her report, in the rare occasion that my ladyship might have again mislaid a document.

***
Assignment day 32, early morning, Slidder reporting. [recorded by autoquill aq554-39]
For five days now citicens have been spontaneously bursting into clouds of flies all over the city. Our rooftop observation posts are still unchallenged by the raging masses of what we assume are Nurgle followers, but we have abandoned our two listening posts in the sewers. Increasingly large waves of attacks made it clear that yesterdays encounter was not random, but rather a scouting force. These buggers don't seem as mindless as we first thought! In accordance with your orders we sealed the manholes up into the medicae facility, to limit access for the tainted ones.

Inq Krinns acolytes are still holding out in the medicae facility, apparently researching a vaccine, or possibly an antidote, to the plague. Since nightfall yesterday the five of them (mr Rassac of course excluded) have repelled six determined attempts to storm the building. I assume they are running low on prometheum, since they have taken to burning the bodies using desinfectant spirits for fuel. Their guns still fire in controlled bursts and with great precision, showing no sign of disheartened spirits or lack of discipline. Hit rates are approximated by TT-23 to be above 55% and observed behavior shows no sign of despair, but numerous affirmation of each others ability and the groups certainty of success. Much of their communication is done by bodily contact, such as strokes and hugs. This makes the loss of our voice recordings less of an issue.

Assignment day 32, afternoon, Slidder reporting. [recorded by autoquill aq554-39]
They made a break for it! We observed the Krinns placing explosives at the small rear stairwell earlier today, we assumed it was part of upgrading their defence grid but apparently it was to open up a hole large enough to transport a life-support stretcher. As the fourth wave of stinkers breached the front door into the killing field the Krinns blew open the rear stairwell, lowered the stretcher, repelled down and regrouped in the civilian truck that I mentioned in my day 30 report. The stretcher was covered, but we believe that it was mr Rassac being transported in it as he was infected by the plague four days ago and kept on heavy infectionretardant drugs in the med lab. Mr Sigvard and mr Polemn slowed down the stairwell assault by heavy stubber and fire bombs until they got the all clear from the stretcher team. Then they used a demo charge to raze the south side of the building and rapelled down through the north former stairwell. I am certain my lady will forgive Scopes minor infraction against your no-interaction-policy as he used his considerable marksman skills to take down a few of the stinkers that were climbing down from the facilitys roof to flank the Krinns during this smooth move. We just couldn't stand letting them get away with that!

As the rearguard landed a group of stinkers broke out of the ground floor and assaulted them. At this moment the stretcher was secured and the three Krinns in the truck were set to leave, but seeing their mates asaulted by owerwhelming numbers mr Serritan took a defensive postion on the truck while mr Paathmo and ms Livir charged the stinkers. They fought with a gusto I rarely see, apart from when father Reepion and his pneumo-hammer discusses articles of faith with mutants.

Sacellus note: We later learned that Mr Rassac had developed an immunity to the plague, and was being transported to a suitable pickup point for liftoff and analysis at the medical facility aboard Eternal Grace in orbit. It is almost certain that Krinns team were aware of the implications of this, and willingly choose to set the wellbeing of mr Sigvard and Polemn above their mission, and in effect the wellbeing of the entire system. It seemed to me, at the time of beginning this studies, to be an apparent sign of a flaw in the Markes conditioning. I am now more hesistant to call it a flaw.

As the fray died down, it was apprent that mr Sigvard were mortally wounded, and mr Polemn had sustained major debiliating injuries. The Krinns carried mr S over to the truck and gathered around. Then each of them gave him a kiss. And I don't mean the kind of kiss that father Reepion places on our foreheads as he prepares us for battle, I mean a kiss like I give my husband of twentyone years when I'm called away to serve you and I expect I won't get back home to ever kiss him again. They even breached the atmospheric seal on the medivac unit so the barely conscious mr Rassac could hold the dying mr Sigvards hand. When they had all said their goodbyes ms Livir administered the Emperors final grace using her boltpistol.

TT-23 addendum: At this moment several of my more fleshbound and neurologically “controlled” associates shed tears. I first admired and envied their outraged crying over such a blatant display of waste of the Emperors resources and time. Although I must concede the possibility that I might have, in my chemically and mechanically enhanced state of mind, missinterpreted their reactions. I recommend to have them overseen by a magus neurologis for signs of lingering damage from this incident.

Scopes addendum [invectives edited by auto-quill subroutine Fairspeech; Honour the Emperor in all your writing]: You f-kkin machine, where the f-kk is your f-kking heart? Did they rip that out through the hole they left when they cut out your ovaries? I thought I was the coldblooded f-kking killer. But YOU, you are a f-kking pariah! If I didnt need your sick twisted machine-in-place-of-brains to get my ass of this stinking planet I'd push you off this f-kking roof and piss on your twitching remains! If you werent a f-kking vatgrown monstrosity I'd even kill your f-kking papa for f-kking you up in the first place! [unclear: is this in refence to an assumed substandard upbringing or to the actual act of inception?] I gonna f-kking have your [further comment purged from this archive due to irrelevancy and repetition of already stated themes]

Slidders resumes reporting: That's enough. Now shut the the f-kk up Scopes. We got a job to do here! Lady Tivendar is counting on us. [sounds of Slidders snivelling, blowing a nose and taking a deep breath] When mr Sigvard had been given peace and they drove east towards spaceport Theta. We lost visual contact with them after five blocks.
***

It was theorised that the Markes squads powerful groupdynamic was produced by selct mixes of combat drugs and psychological conditioning. So your Ladyships acolytes gathered bloodsamples, both from the medical lab and from the weapons of the stinkers team. I have taken part of extensive analyses of these samples and the only substances alien to the human body were small amount of stimm-drugs, some particles consistent with habitual lho-stic use and about 0.4 parts per thousand of alcohol in the blood of mr Polemn. It was only when magus biologis TT-14 noticed heightened levels of certain feromones and hormones in all the blood samples that we suspected we had missed something important. These substances are indeed naturally produced by the human body, most noticeably during moments of intense appreciation of ones personal qualities and consensual sexual activities. This, together with new interpretations of the recordings we made from within the lab, supports a theory that each Markes squad is indeed a family unit that shares deep emotional bonds with eachother.

Further investigations, including a personal trip to the Pon-Pe system have shown me that their population is generally living in family-groups of four to twelve members of usually the same age-span and zero to twenty children. I have a very small sample of genetic tests, but it seems most children are biologically descendants of at least one member of their household. These family groups usually forms at the higher educational institutions of Pon-Pe, and transfers between groups later in life is rather uncommon. Approx 30% of citicens over the age of 60 Standard Terran Years claimed to having changed family at least once. Approx 20% of families claimed to be unchanged since legal registration. As I did not want to draw attention to my research by gaining access to official census data, this is purely based on my associates and mine conversations with Pon-Pe citicens. Biological representation of sexual organs or socially coded expressions of genders seems to have no or little influence on the composition of these groups. This is apparent both in the statistical spread of different groupings, as well as the interviewed citicens apparent lack of interest in the subject.

Each citicens concern for the wellbeing of their family members is great indeed. Most are willing to go to quite extreme levels of discomfort or personal loss to cause even a slight increase in comfort for a spouse. I can see the usefullness of this, but I must warn that even if Pon-Pe is a system loyal to the Emperor and the ecclesiarchy is well represented in all straits of society, most citicens seems to unconsciously place his Immortal Holyness on a level of concern equal to or slightly lower than that of their family members! It is indeed a sly and dangerous move by inquisitor Krinn to take advantage of this could-be-heresy. I can only advice my Lady to take caution in your no doubt very enthusiastic further inquiries into this matter.

Yours in eternal service.
Sacellus

Background package:
Markes family squad . 100xp
This must be taken by every character in the party at creation. Your party is a family from the Pon-Pe system, recruited as a unit by your inquistor in cooperation with governor Markes, both because of your considerable skills in different fields, but also because of the strong family bond you share.

Use the Imperial homeworld rules and replace Superior Origins with the following rules. The Adeptus Mechanicus are generally not a part of the family tradition of Pon-Pe, so the Tech-Priest career is not a valid choice for this background package.

A love greater than that to the Emperor
You have one extra temporary fatepoint that regenerates each round. This temporary fatepoint is useable only to gain a direct and considerable benefit for at least one of your family members. This temporary fatepoint may specifically not be used to regain wounds. Each time you use this ability you gain one corruption point.

A history together
As you have already prioritized Slanee... eh... the love to your family over the Emperor a few times, you start play with 1d10 corruption points.

Heart broken
Each time one of your family members dies or is irrevocably (as far as you can tell) lost to you, you gain 1d10 insanity points. If you should fail to give a proper farewell to the dead or lost individual, you gain an additional 1d10 insanity points.

Opting in
A willing character that has lived in closeness with the family for a period of at least several months can be opted into the family by a suitable ceremony, performed by an ordained priest of the ecclesiarchy. She or he will have to spend 100xp and is then subject to these rules, except A history together . Surviving stressful situations, showing considerable care for the wellbeing of the family or engaging in romantic activities with one or more family members can speed this process.

This background package is ment to cause interesting roleplaying around close emotional bonds; a theme that is seldom explored in regular groups of acolytes. It is unlikely that any of the familymembers are underaged. Unless the inquisitor thinks that a 13 year old kid makes for a good cover story when investigating cults that recruit families. The Slaanesh corruption bits are included in order avoid making 40k into a sloppy pink and rainbowcoloured anime about the power of love, suitable only for selling plastic toys to 12 year old girls. Love should be to your duty and your Emperor.

That is beautiful, you need to keep this going!

Attila-IV, Mellon, I bow to your EXTREMELY well written work. In just a few days, you've taken a topic in 40k that had been completely barren, unknown, and generally ignored and breathed such wonderful detail and life into it. I highly recommend these stories be collected and posted as an official article.

In short, you've fueled by DH campaigns for months to come! Please keep going!

Thank you for your kind Jareddm. I'm already planning my next post for this thread, and I've made a few notes on expanding the world of Ozma's Prize. There are still a few ideas to be shared here.

Thank you very much for your appreciating feedback. And special thanks to Attila IV for your wonderful creativity. *tips my hat* I'm currently working on another report from Scribe Sacellus as I got quite attached to this character. It seems like the subject of this letter will be the representation of genders, how they relate to the reproductive organs and what a expectations different genders brings. Well illustrated by means of a few case descriptions of interesting customs and spiced with a few snide remarks.

The Matchmaker of Cantus

I'm sorry about the last post. I'm not sure what is making it so hard to read, but so far editing the post has not fixed the problem. I'm going to try to get that all posted with without the need to be highlighted.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Treskilian Matrimonial Bands

Throughout the domains of the God-Emperor the ring, or wedding band, has long been the preferred symbol of the sacred bond of matrimony. Adminustratum and Ecclesiarchy studies indicate that the tradition of the wedding ring is extant in some form or another upon over 85% of worlds within the Calixis sector alone. But when it comes to the case of the Treskilian Matrimonial Bands (also known as Lifeshackles or Reaping Rings), this grand tradition becomes part of a larger heresy.

These infamous rings are named for Antonidas Treskil, Graff of Spectoris. Indeed, most of the information the Inquisition has gathered on these relics comes from A Life of Broken Triumph , the Graff's scandalous tell-all biography, though curiously, the rings are only mentioned twice despite the role they played in his life. It is suggested that the published work was heavily expurgated. How much information was removed from the original manuscript may never be known, as both the Graff and the manuscript met their ends in a mysterious house fire on the Treskil estate during a gala to mark the book's publication.

Antonidas describes the rings as "two loops of tarnished, corrosion pitted metal, like copper or pyrite. They were neither cold nor hot to the touch. They had no temperature at all. Thinking them unsightly, I made a vane attempt to polish the odd jewelry, only to find that the metal stubbornly refused to shine." How the Graff came by these rings in unknown, though it is suspected that an unexpurgated copy of A Life of Broken Triumph would reveals such details.

It was with these rings that Antonidas cemented took oaths of marriage with his second wife Lady Cil, the Duchess of the port city of Touchfall. He remarks in his biography that when the ring was on the finger of his wife, and the other upon his own, he felt a brief prickling pain followed by a moment of euphoria, though he attributed this to the elation of his wedding day. The reason the Graff sought out these rings for his second marriage has much to do with the ending of his first, and the properties of the rings themselves.

Antonidas' first wife was Baroness Endive Vel, a woman of remarkable beauty and powerful temper. Though the Graff loved his first wife dearly, it is said that she did not love him in return. Her true love was Sir Bransom Ter, master of the planet guard. When word of this affair broke, the Graff was humiliated. Though he longed for revenge, the Baroness and her lover fled Spectoris, supposedly to begin new lives in the Hazeroth Abyss. Fearing the specter of infidelity might strike him again, Antonidas Treskil sought out a means of enforcing his next wife's vows of fidelity. He found his solution in the rings that now bare his name.

Treskilian Matrimonial Bands are always found in pairs, one for the husband to-be, and the other for the wife. When used in a ceremony of marriage and worn, the rings seal the fates of the married couple. Should a wearer of a Treskilian Ring betray a marriage vow, they shall die. Such was the fate of Lady Cil, found dead in her private landspeeder. Her lover was found frozen to death several meters away, having fled from the speeder at the moment of Lady Cil's death, a victim of a harsh Spectoris winder.

Antonidas Treskil would live for another fifty years, though he never took a third wife. It is known that he recovered his wife's wedding ring, and at some point returned the pair to a "broker."

It must be noted that when a Lifeshackle is worn, it cannot be removed until a marriage vow is broken. At that point the rings appear to loose all power. The ring can easily be removed from the corpse of the offending spouse, and the spouse betrayed will find his or her own ring will fall from their finger at the moment of betrayal. Once removed, the only sign that a Reaping Ring has ever been worn is a blotchy discoloration of the skin, a mottled and sickly band marking where the ring was worn. It is worth noting that this mark is much more pronounced upon the finger of one who has betrayed a marriage vow.

Treskilian Matrimonial Bands have resurfaced several more times in the sordid history of Imperial nobility. The scions of high Imperial society seek these fabled relics for many reasons. To enslave another in a rigid and complex marriage oath. Or enforce loyalty. To bring about an end to loneliness by binding another to their presence on pain of death. These cursed rings come at a high price, and those who desire them most are also the most likely to be able to pay.

Other Sightings

Sir Tobin and Lady Beatrix Zkel of Ichovor were known to have wed each other with a pair of Lifeshackles. The untimely and sudden death of Sir Tobin triggered a full investigation by the Holy Ordos. Unfortunatly, Lady Kzel's premature death at the hands of overzealous Junior Interogators of the Ordo Xenos prevented the Inqusition from learning the origins of the rings or even weather they were Sir Tobin or Lady Beatrix's idea. Sir Tobin himself died of a sudden and unaccountable wasting illness that ravaged his body after he cut off his own ring finger.

Treskilian Rings play a significant role in the opera The Marriage and Death of Dextorid Portum, wherein the wealthy but jealous King Dextorid Portum wishes to take Princess Estrella as his bride. Dextorid overwhelms the princess with gaudy displays of wealth and kindness, but once the two are wed with a pair of "wondrous and portentous rings" his true colors are revealed. Through the use of an exceedingly complex marriage vow (which takes over fifteen minutes to sing, and is sung twice in the full version of the opera) the Princess is kept confined to the upper levels of Dextorid's estate, forbidden from speaking to another human being or even making eye contact with another man. After five years within the palace, the Princess discovered that Dextorid had two previous wives, each one killed by the enchantment upon their wedding rings at the moment they broke one of their vows. Guided by the tormented ghosts of the former wives, Estrella learns the truth about her wedding ring and vow she has taken. At the opera's climax, Estrella uses her cunning to defeat her husband, tricking him into braking his single marriage vow, thus killing him and knowing freedom. But her freedom is short lived, as one of her own vows forbid her from taking any action that bout bring harm upon her husband. With her last breath, Astrella sings out praises to the God-Emperor for allowing her to end the life of a man as wicked as her husband, even at the cost of her own.

It is possible that The Marriage and Death of Dextorid Portum offers some clue as to the origin of the Treskilian rings. In the opera, Dextorid bargains with a cloaked figure referred to in the aria as "He, The Tongue of Worms." It is known that the opera was based on the life and death of Dexus Forg, who's grandson, the late Villium Forg commissioned the opera in 241.M41. Could it be that Treskil's mysterious broker and The Tongue of Worms are one and the same?

It is still unclear just what the Reaping Rings are. Though some have speculated they are relics of xenotechnology, others point to cunning warpcraft in their manufacture. It is also unknown how many rings exist. Is there only one pair, passed from couple to couple by parties unknown? Or do many exist scattered across the Imperium?

One final note. Those who make use of Treskilian Rings have grown cunning in their use. Where one a tarnished ring and an intricately worded marriage vow was enough to alert the attention of the Inquisition, the reputation of these rings have grown with time, and those who make use of their power have learned to disguise their presence. Before his untimely death, Duke Ediskol of Tranch drunkenly boasted that he made use of such rings, and that the Inquisition would be none the wiser as he had plated the rings with gold and set gaudy gems in the now-gleaming surface. Some have gone on to conjecture that the rings maintain their power when worn on parts of the body other than the ring finger. If this is the case, then suspected barriers of the ring must be prepared for searched of the most humiliating order.

any way to fix the Matchmaker of Cantus one?

I just tried re-posting the Matchmaker. For some reason it keeps coming out in that same unreadable text box. You can still see it if the text is highlighted, but it's a bit of a strain. Anyway, I've posted it to a blog I'm working on.

The Matchmaker of Cantus