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The might of the Adeptus Asteres is monumental. Imperial scholars theorize their legend has entered the warp and impressed itself upon the consciousnesses of mankind as a whole - pointing to crude cave paintings of power armored warriors found on feral worlds untouched by Imperial servants.

Only slightly less famous are the inexhaustible Imperial Guard, the zealous Adepta Soritas, the stalwart Arbites, the shadowy Inquisition, the arcane Adeptus Mechanicus, the bold Imperial Knights and the numberless Planetary Defense Forces.

But in an Imperium of a million worlds and humanity beyond counting these alone do not account for the might of the Imperium so now let us turn our eyes towards other Chambers Militant of the greatest empire the galaxy has ever seen...

(this is a just for fun list of ideas for RPGs, fanfic or whatever, no plans for rules or models, basically taking the dullest government agencies and grim darking them to 11!)

The Imperial Revenue Service

Charged with assessing, collecting and, if necessary impressing the tithes each world owes the Imperium the IRS is the bedrock the structure of the Imperium rests upon. Alas it has been known for some worlds to be less-than-diligent in their payments requiring the IRS to sternly remind them of their obligations.

Tax Marines - shock troops cross trained in the arts of war and finance, a Tax Marine can assess the value of everything in a room at a glance. In their pinstriped grey armor they drop onto a delinquent world and secure assets for evaluation and possible confiscation.

Storm Auditors - Arriving next are the Storm Auditors who secure government offices and trade houses meticulous examining their records and noting any sign of discrepancy.

Supreme Adjudicators - The ultimate decision is left to the Supreme Adjudicators who may decide on confiscation of assets, imprisonment of leaders or even invoke their supreme power to demand a pound of flesh from those who have evaded taxes. Armed with Chain Styluses and Power Balances they leave a trail of crippled or dead merchants and officials in their wake.

The Grand Imperial Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry

Charged with maintaining the integrity of Imperial food quality and the security of the gigatons of food moving each day to feed the hungry trillions on hive worlds, the Grand Imperial Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry must sometimes take extreme measures against bandits, strikers, local fauna and anything else that may threaten the very food that fills the Imperium's countless stomachs.

Farmer militias - armed with shot guns, pitchforks and torches these militias work through sheer numbers to wear down their foes.

Clearance Teams - normally their heavy flamers clear fields of detritus and undergrowth. But chaff is not the only thing that burns...

Harvest Servitors - Their hands replaced by keen blades and power snippers it is a simple matter to retask Harvest Servitors from snipping stalks and stems to slicing limbs and necks.

Macro Harvesters - Massive machines with whirling cutting blades, lifter claws the size of a Rhino APC and crushing tracks undeterred by boulders or trees, a Macro Harvester is a fearsome sight when turned against you.

Blight Adepts - Members of the Adeptus Mechanicus Biologicus they normally study the many blights and diseases that affect the flora and fauna of Imperial agricultural worlds. But their requires keeping samples, samples that can prove just as deadly to their foes as to grain or meat.

Grox - These normally docile creatures provide the bulk of the fresh meat and milk to the Imperium's subjects. But a simple application of wardrugs and grox prods can turn a herd of grox into a nigh-unstoppable stampede of meat, scale and hoof.

The Adeptus Meteoralogicus is a thing.

I wonder who delivers their packages, and how heavily armed they would need to be. Neither acid rain, nor psysleet nor stellar wind nor hrud will stop the Adeptus Postales.

The Pan-Humanity Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage

For many years this Ministry was neglected and as the so-called Dark Millennium of M41 dawned there were fears it would finally be eliminated entirely. However under the leadership of Archmarquis Donatien Alphonse François the Ministry adopted the new philosophy that "The highest of arts are the arts of Thanatos, the arts of pain and death". Thus humanity's arts entered a new golden age with impromptu performances sponsored across the whole of the Imperium for the enlightenment of all.

The Dance Macabe - A fine display of the beauty of human movement, performed by augmented triple-jointed dancers carrying monofiliment blades. Surprise performances are held in public plazas, markets and even temples as a reminder that violent death can strike anywhere at any time.

The M38Y012 Overture - A stirring example of human martial music noted for its innovated use of Earthshaker artillery to provide the bass. Generally performed at the front lines of existing warzones but sometimes staged in Imperial Cities to remind every subject of his duty to die for the Emperor.

The 1001 Agonies of Chamberlain Arthur - Once the Imperial Commander of a prosperous world, Chamberlain Arthur's weakness caused it to descend into war. It was the duty of Confessor Torquar to show him the error of his ways and return him to the path of strength through the rite of 1001 Agonies. Performances are held throughout the Imperium. To ensure verisimilitude the principal performer is usually a Planetary Governor though Continental Barons or City-State Lords are sometimes used. The principal, of course, is never informed in advance of his key role, thus ensuring the veracity in his performance and authentic expressions of emotion.

The Million Worlds of the Imperium - Performed before an audience of one million and one subjects, recitation of The Million Worlds of the Imperium generally takes upwards of 5 days. As the stanza for each world is concluded an audience member (usually the least attentive) is shot by snipers to remind all of the sacrifices endured for each world. At its conclusion the sole remaining audience member is accepted by the ministry to be trained to recite the next performance.

I figure that somewhere in the dark depth of the Administratum there is a Board of Interstellar Zoning, entrusted with the sacred duty of divining where amidst the cosmos different sorts of space stations, mining operations, shipyards, and colonies may be constructed, and strictly punishing those who dare to commence building any such facility without the proper permits.

How about my fanmade Chapter that's not codex compliant and has a super mysterious past and says suck it to the higher powers of the Imperium yet gets respect from everyone at the same time and their Chapter Master is like the strategic equivalent of Calgar but can even duel Abbadon to a stalemate?

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
How about my fanmade Chapter that's not codex compliant and has a super mysterious past and says suck it to the higher powers of the Imperium yet gets respect from everyone at the same time and their Chapter Master is like the strategic equivalent of Calgar but can even duel Abbadon to a stalemate?

Sounds like they are Alpha Legion infiltrators with a pretty powerful propaganda arm to me.

Here's one you forgot:

The Adeptus Inclusio exists to ensure a respect for differences in age, gender, ethnicity, disability, orientation, education, and planetary origin amongst Imperial citizens. They serve to ensure the Inquisition adheres to the Emperor's own values of social and economic equity and are recognized throughout the Imperium for ensuring purges are fair and representative of all classes. Their history dates back to the earliest days of the Imperium and the Adeptus Astartes, claiming responsibility for the ultimate dispensation of the II and XI legions.

Adeptus Sanitarius. Becuase who else is going to fight and exterminate the giant sewer rats that would exist in the bowels of hive cities?

The Adeptus Obscurus is a sub-branch of the Administratum tasked to keep information about the more secretive organization in the galaxy as vague and contradictory as possible. Their employees tirelessly cover up reports of heretical Dark Angels, erase records of conflicts with the Alpha Legion, release contradictory reports on how many Black Templars there actually are at any given time, repeatedly alter Inquisistion protocols on when to execute guardsmen who have fought Chaos, randomize standards of production for Imperial armor and weaponry, etc. theirs is a thankless job, for no one else understands why they actually exist and what purpose they accomplish, but they strive on, powered by arguments about historical events on distant forums and the existence of individuals and organizations whose existence doesn’t at all square up with the Administratum’s records. What the feth even is a Pariah, anyway?

What exactly makes this a background thread?

 SickSix wrote:
Adeptus Sanitarius. Becuase who else is going to fight and exterminate the giant sewer rats that would exist in the bowels of hive cities?

Funny you should mention that, some of my insipiration for this was an old article (by Jervis) speculating what a hive city window washer would be like. He imagined legs replaced with suckers or claws, hands with squeegees, and of course weapons to fight off the vermin and carrion eaters they would encounter. Basically anything in 40k can be cranked up to 11 and grimdarked...

And maybe someone will get an army idea, RPG session or story out of these.

Case in point:

Central Directorate for Publishing, Broadcast and Information

Charged with regulating, controlling and, when needed, removing damaging information before it can harm Imperial interests the Directorate has a broad mandate to look into anything published, broadcast or otherwise communicated on a planet. Notable offices include:

Division F451 - The Firemen of F451 are charged with the confiscation and incineration of suspect books from the homes of Imperial subjects. Subjects found to posses more than 300 pages of suspect publications are themselves subjected to incineration. After the unfortunate Montag incident, only illiterate Firemen are recruited with blind Firemen being preferred.

Songbirds - The Imperium recognizes that access to communication is essential for efficiency in many fields, especially for subjects designated Beta+ or higher. However personal vox devices and access to the Emperor's Broadcast Spectrum are privileges not to be abused. It is the duty of the Songbird Corps to monitor vox communications and, from time to time, place calls to vox-set holders. They use their modified vocal cords to imitate the voices of spouses, children and other loved ones to tempt vox-users into abuse of their privlages, enticing them into discussions of meteorological conditions, recent passion plays or events at the Schola Progenium. Resilient vox-users are later revised with conversations involving the injury or illness of a family member, offers of financial gain or offering of carnal relations. Violators are subjected to fine, flogging or loss of privileges as appropriate. Especially resilient vox users are abducted and impressed into duty as Songbirds themselves as they clearly live up to the highest ideals of limited vox usage.

High Silencers - Forgoing the elaborate robes and regalia of Imperial officials High Censors walk among the vast multitude wearing the drab coarse robes of a scribe or the coveralls of a laborer. They rarely speak but only listen to the din of conversation that fills the marketplaces, meal halls and workplaces of the Imperium. They listen for words of dissent, unrest or false and malicious rumors. They are empowered to perform on-the-spot glossectomies on the offenders as a warning to others.

I love that there are at least three different Inquisitorial Ordos responsible for maintaining the calendar AND that they're constantly at war with each other because nobody knows what year it really is on Terra.

Adeptus Fidicius - actual auditors they go after accounting fraud in the imperium.
Ordo Excorium - the minor inquisitorial order in charge of monitoring exterminatus
Ordo Redactus - censor and classify inquisitorial records
Ordo Originatus - seek to uncensor and declassify inquisitorial records

Ordo Draigo- they provide the hams

Snow Crash has the pizza made and delivered by the Mafia. I would like to think there.was.some similarly publically visible organisation that can either feed you.or.break your kneecaps depending on the situation.