Hello all!

Being quite new to the W40K setting, I need a quick history lesson.

Everywhere I read about the main (well only) GOD of man: The Emperor God. There are even player Career totally dedicated to his cause (Missionaries and in some sense the Explorators of Mars as they see him as the Omnissiah).

But...what's the Emperor God's religion? What's its doctrine? What are all those preacher preaching?

I guess its only important on a roleplaying aspect, but one of my player seems quite interested by the Missionary career and he wanted to know more about the "teaching" he should bring...

Any source of information I may consult?

Thanks!

I would suggest you check out Lexicanum, as that website has a lot of info about the 40k setting.

Otherwise, I'd suggest you grab "Blood of Martyrs", a Dark Heresy supplement, when it is released in the next couple of months, as that'll be the first 40k book released that gives a big in-depth coverage of the workings of the Imperial Cult.

Would some representative verses be useful, or do you have specific questions on what the Imperium does and does not consider appropriate behaviour for priests and followers?

• "A spiritu dominatus,
• Domine, libera nos.
• From the lightening and the tempest,
• Our Emperor, deliver us.
• From plague, deceit, temptation and war,
• Our Emperor, deliver us.
• From the scourge of the Kraken
• Our Emperor, deliver us.
• From the blasphemy of the fallen,
• Our Emperor, deliver us.
• From the begetting of daemons,
• Our Emperor, deliver us.
• From the curse of the mutant,
• Our Emperor, deliver us.
• A morte perpetua,
• Domine, libera nos.
• That thou wouldst bring them only death,
• That thou would spare none,
• That thou would pardon none,
• Wee beseech thee, destroy them."
-Invocation of the Fede Imperialis. Commonly known as the Battle Prayer of the Adepta Sororitas.

"The Daemonic leads to two crimes. You turn from the path of righteousness and you abandon the Emperor as the object of your devotion. For the first, death is merely a just retribution. The second is a Heresy so terrible that no punishment can be sufficient. Yet the search for an appropriate penalty continues, and it shall be found."
Malleus Daemonicus, The Decleration of Eclesiarch Issus XLVII

"Prayer may cleanse the soul, but pain cleanses the body. Both are necessary for the survival of humanity."
-Confessor Ganinimus.

“The Emperor is our father and our guardian. But we must also guard the Emperor. For He is all Humankind, and Humankind is no more than its faith and diligence in the Emperor's name. An injury to that faith is an injury to the Emperor and to every citizen of the Imperium. It is through affirmation of that faith that our greatest duty lies, but sometimes mere affirmation does not suffice and we must act against those who would harm the faith of humanity through heresy. For we are engaged in an unending war for the soul of the Imperium. Though it may seem the fight will never end, there is victory even in the defeat we see threatening all around. There is no greater proclamation of faith than to offer up our very lives to guard the soul of humanity. In this we win a victory greater in magnitude than the harm that any heretic can inflict, and so every battle is a shining triumph that the traitor and the apostate can never take away from us.”
-Dying words of Saint Mina, patron of the Order of the Bloody Rose

"The weak will always be lead by the strong. Where the strong find purpose and act, the weak will follow. Where the strong cry out against fate, the weak bow their heads and succumb. There are many who are weak and many are their temptations. Despise the weak for they flock to the call of the Daemon and the Renegade. Pity them not and scorn their cries of innocence - it is better that one hundred innocents fall before the wrath of the Emperor than one kneels before the Daemon."
-The first book of Indoctrinations.

And yes, the first of those is pretty much a straight riff of Cantacle for Lebowitz, but it's straight out of the Sisters of Battle codex.

Madmacabre said:

Depends on the planet in question. The basic parts are:

- Hate the alien

- Hate the mutant

- Hate the witch

- Worship The Emperor as a god. The Imperium speaks with his voice

- When the Imperium demands a tithe, it is your holy duty to pay it.

The rest of the details can, and do, differ widely as they don't matter much. From areas where you're looking at an actual monotheistic religion, with the god replaced with The God Emperor. At the other extreme you have death cults, who worship with the act of killing His foes. Some planets even have groups fighting over which is the best way to worship Him.

Have a close look at the Missionary (page 56) description, describing how they convert planets.

The Emperor is not the Omnissiah, or perhaps that is debatable.

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

The Emperor is the Omnisiah, or at least in all orthodox branches of the Mechanicus. The question is the relation of the Omnisiah to the Omniscenti.

It's something of a Yaweh / Christ relationship, with a range of opinions of the same spread as the first few centuries of what became Christianity as we know it.