See topic. It would be very VERY nice to have some list with

1. all the adeptus organizations

2. a list of individual functions and what that entails

Does something (partially) exist?? I know that a lot of information can already be gathered from the books for eg the arbites, but is this already done and if so where can I find such a thing?

Maybe this is of help.

While Luthor's link shows the most important parts of the Adeptus Terra branches there are no doubt hundreds of lesser ones and probably thousands of sub-divisions, collegias, departments etc. to handle an almost infinite number of tasks.

I'd always wondered about the status of some of the branches of the Adeptus Terra...why, for example, is the Officio Assassinorum not the Adeptus Assassinorum? Do Assassins not have Adeptus status?

And what does Adeptus status actually mean when applied to an individual?

I personally had always read it as meaning "servant of the Imperium" as opposed to simple "citizen of the Imperium." The Book of Judgement tells us that the Arbites investigate crimes by and against the Adeptus', whereas crimes by and against citizens are investigated at a planetary level by enforcers. So I guess in practical terms that the Adeptus have more legal rights than "normal" citizens... or at least operate under a different legal system.

Perhaps one way to look at it is that they're a bit like members of the official ruling party, like members of the communist party in the Soviet Union.

Lightbringer said:

Some random musings:

It's officio assassinorum because no one really knows about them. It's not like it's common knowledge that the Imperium uses specialized assassin cadres. Only the top strata of the society would know or suspect that. Besides, the assassins never have the need to use badges and other recognition symbols to do their work. And they would have adpetus status but it wouldn't change anything, because they aren't going to get questioned by an enforcer or arbites.

About legal rights, yes and no. They would necessarily have more rights when doing their jobs, but I wouldn't go as fas as say they always have more rights than non-adeptus, especially powerful ones.

In my opinion the difference between adeptus and similar planetary offices, is a question of tiers. The adeptus deal with the big picture, they don't stoop down to deal with trifles like production mishaps or serial killers. They go in only when the situation starts threatening the important stuff like the planetary tithe, the balance of power between political groups or even the Imperium's grip on a world.

Luthor Harkon said:

Thanks I was already aware of this and yes that *is* a very helpfull website. And yes I *know* that there are thousands upon thousands different functions careers divisions, subdivisions, all with their own name, likely varying per sector or even per planet... but that's not what I meant.

What I mean is a reasonably short compilation of the most usual officials you would encounter and a short description. Basically if I copy paste and edit all the adeptus arbites careers from the core rulebook and add some fluff from ascension and cross ref with the lexicanum then 'Arbites' would be done.

Ideally:

Rank (1 is highest n the lowest) Titel (name of that rank) Jurisdiction (description)

And yes I can and will do this myself, however I do not like to create a wheel when 50 others already created that before me. Hence the question.

And of course there are the other adeptus... eventually if the acolytes run in e.g. the Adeptus Ministerum it would be nice to have an overview as above list.

I Don't think a document like that exists- but it would certainly be very useful.

Edit- The closest I've seen was one documenting the Mechanicus... I think you can find it on the forums around here. But that's not the Adeptus, is it ...

Lightbringer said:

As far as I recall (from the old diagram in the Codex Imperialis), the Officio Assassinorum isn't a distinct organisation. Rather, it (like the Departmento Munitorum) exists as a sub-section of the Adeptus Administratum. The different sections within the Administratum are variously prefixed Divisio, Departmento and Officio, and each overseen by a Master (who commonly has other titles as appropriate to his or her particular remit). In the case of the Munitorum, this is quite apt - the Administratum controls the tithe of the Imperium's worlds, which in turn determines the available resources (including fighting men), which in turn influences logistics, which impacts all military matters.

One other thing to remember about the Officio Assassinorum is that while their deployment currently requires majority ruling from the Senatorum Imperialis (the High Lords of Terra), this particular restriction only came into force in the aftermath of the Wars of Vindication (which happened roughly alongside Vandire's Reign of Blood), being devised at around the same time that the Ecclesiarchy was being reformed and the Ordo Hereticus came into being. Before that, as a small but potent part of the Administratum, they would have been a powerful tool in the hands of whomever was the Master of the Administratum at the time, and anyone else who could secure their services through political manoeuvring.

Nice one. That all makes sense. So an assassin would have Adept status (for whatever that's worth in practice) as their organisation is technically a division (or office) of the Adeptus Terra.

I wonder what the practical difference betwen a Departmento, an Officio and a Divisio are? Are they interchangeable terms for what is in essence the same thing, or is there are formal distinction between them? Knowing how large organisations work, it's quite conceivable there wasa reason for the difference in title a long time ago, but no one now remembers...

Lightbringer said:

I see these being used as a designator for the level of independence of the group as they relate to the parent organization.

The way I view them:
Departmento = a distinct large group that is directly controlled by the parent organization.
Officio = effectively a subsidiary that must report to the parent, but is independently run with little to no interference from the parent.
Divisio = a distinct sub-group within a part of an organization that focuses on a unique area but is not independent from the parent.

A real world example might be: General Motors > Departmento Trucks > Divisio Commercial Trucks

Lightbringer said:

I think of it as "federal". They work for the government, but that does not necessarily carry any additional status. Think postal worker or janitor at a govenment facility.

Lightbringer said:

Yeah, as Alpha Chaos says, it's more like Federal. The Arbites work a bit like the FBI. When they say they investigate crime by and against the Adeptus they basically mean they investigate crimes that breach Imperial (rather than local) rules. If a local fisherman is murdered the enforcers might investigate it, if an Adeptus Administrator is murdered the arbites would probably investigate it, assuming that the crime may have been due to his adeptus status.