Imperial Services?

By Tassyr, in Dark Heresy General Discussion

Okay, I got asked by a newer player interested in playing a priestly type what imperial services- like, actual religious services- would be like. Structure, how often, et cetera. And... I was embarrassed to admit that, as a fan of this stuff for almost fifteen years, I was drawing a complete and utter blank. I have no idea what actually happens in Imperial religious services.

I haven't run into any depiction in any of the books, and I know it's supposed to vary wildly by world and tradition and whatnot, but...

Has there ever actually been a description of what -happens- in Imperial services?

Essentially think Catholic Liturgies - readings from assorted saints and ecclesiarchs (the Scriptures of Sebastian Thor are a big one), plus Hymns and Prayers. Some in Low Gothic (i.e. understandable to the plebs in the back) and some in High Gothic (so terribly holy and important sounding but could be a laundry list for all they know).

There are blessings, and incense (Ciaphas Caine disparagingly refers to 'full-dress' eccleasiarchal services as 'the full-blown Songs & Pongs').

The big 'well known' prayer - the equivalent of the Lord's Prayer - is called the Fede Imperialis . You can find the text of it floating around (it was printed on the purity seal on the.....I wanna say 5th edition 40k collectors rulebook?).

Outside of big services, confessions is a big part of expected behaviour, as is donations via a formal tithe or on-and-off to a 'poor box'.

Proper ecclesiarchal ceremonies appear in the following books that I can think of:

  • Old Soldiers Never Die (Ciaphas Caine, Funeral Ceremony)
  • Ravenor Returned (Eisenhorn/Ravenor, Weekly Prayers - note that these swiftly diverge from the 'official' form!)
  • Double Eagle (Phantine Airborne, Lighting a candle for the dead/missing)
  • Crossfire (Shiria Calpurnia, The Sanguinalia*)
  • Hammer & Anvil/Fire & Faith (Adepta Sororitas, Various)

Note that you get a lot of 'open air' prayer meets and public confessions/scourgings that the more fanatical types (confessors, inquisitors and redemptionist cults) lean towards.

The Catholic imagery is pretty much the standard inspiration for the Adeptus Ministorum as an organisation, which is probably why a lot of the outsourced material focuses on it. It's worth pointing out, though, that it also depends on what world exactly you're looking at.

The Ecclesiarchy's Missionaries have (again much like early Christianity) sped up expansion of the Creed by absorbing and supplanting native local beliefs, adapting their teachings to existing forms of faith. As such, you could probably expect to see this reflected on at least the less civilised worlds, whereas more advanced populations such as Hive denizens probably did not have a pre-existing religion, so this is where you may see the Imperial Cult in its purest form, though the millennia and the massive distance between worlds has probably led to some differences between individual Hives as well. Nevertheless, surely there would be some holy texts that would have universal meaning, even if they would at times have to be adapted to fit into "absorbed" faiths.

On a sidenote, the aforementioned Fede Imperialis may be most well known among fans of the franchise (as it is the only prayer ever written out in detail), but its source - 2E Codex SoB - has pretty much defined it as being a Sororitas thing. Not that you couldn't just adapt it to a normal mass, of course, if you can't come up with something else. I'm sure that over the many years of its existence it may have spread.

My general recommendation for religious background on the setting would be the 2nd Edition Codex Sisters of Battle, as it contains a rather detailed section about how the Adeptus Ministorum is organised, how it came to be, and how it works, including brief descriptions of its various branches such as the Frateris Clergy, the Frateris Templar, the Schola Progenium and the Missionarius Galaxia. No details about the service, but as mentioned before this would be mainly due to how much it would differ between worlds. There is a pretty good definition of the core tenets of the Imperial Creed, though, which you could use as inspiration for coming up with your own mass!

And as far as I know, the Ministorum tolerates various systems of worship, as long as the people are worshiping the God-Emperor.

So you could have the service look like basically whatever you want I suppose, as long as it's not heretical in some way. That being said, I like to imagine that services on many more populous worlds look a lot like a catholic mass. :P

Edited by Servant of Dante