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Apart from all out revolt, is there any suggestion of resistance to the Imperial cult / Imperium? I.e, demonstrations, protests, art, and deviance?

Yeah, anything outside of anonymous graffiti would be a death sentence. Imperial fanboys like to ignore the fact that the Imperium is "the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable."

I embrace it, but I was curious.

Best suggestion....
Don't do it.
Or not get caught to the greatest extent possible

If the Arbites don't beat you down. the Boots of the Imperial Guard will.

No I know that, I was asking what are the types of resistance apart from all out war?

Possibly anonimously written books, like "In Defence of the Future: A Logical Discourse", all agaisnt the high Lords, the emprah, the mechanicus..written by unknown hands

Any form of civil disobedience would just result in a bullet/lasround to the head in swift order. Full-scale revolution is the only option.

 Harriticus wrote:
Any form of civil disobedience would just result in a bullet/lasround to the head in swift order. Full-scale revolution is the only option.

In which case you have around 50-200 years before an Imperial Fleet arrives in orbit and 100 million Guardsmen descend to restore order.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:
Any form of civil disobedience would just result in a bullet/lasround to the head in swift order. Full-scale revolution is the only option.

In which case you have around 50-200 years before an Imperial Fleet arrives in orbit and 100 million Guardsmen descend to restore order.

why would the IG need to be called in? The PDF can handle all but the worst revolutions on their own.

Nah, it is always killed to a man, you should know better.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:
Any form of civil disobedience would just result in a bullet/lasround to the head in swift order. Full-scale revolution is the only option.

In which case you have around 50-200 years before an Imperial Fleet arrives in orbit and 100 million Guardsmen descend to restore order.

Well if it's 200 let the future generations deal with it!

Coolyo294 wrote:why would the IG need to be called in? The PDF can handle all but the worst revolutions on their own.

PDF are drawn from the locals, I think if conditions are bad enough they'll quickly defect (as is true in many revolutions), stranding the Arbites garrison on the planet who while capable can't take on potentially millions of PDF/Rebels.

I don't think rebellions are as necessarily doomed as many make out to be. If the Imperium is too occupied with other events and if you're too insignificant, you may not have to worry for centuries if not Millennia. Or ever, if you're simply forgotten.

^this, get with the program Coolyo

edit: damn ninjas

The existence of penal planets and penal legions shows the Imperium doesn't just kill everybody.

As for the issue of revolutions, they are not necessarily as doomed as the Imperium might have people believe. Remember the Imperium's rule rests on a foundation of oppression and ignorance. It is in their interests to make it seem that every single revolt is doomed no matter what, and to never ever concede defeat, and thus discourage others from even trying to rebel. Thus even if a world throws off the Imperium for generations, the Imperium will always still claim the world and claim that punitive forces will take the world back "some day". Or alternatively, the Imperium can suppress and re-write its records to wipe that world or sector out of history, to avoid admitting any defeat.

Never heard of Penal planets but penal legions are for combat troops who have done something wrong... so unless you have some EXTREMELY rare or needed skill theyre just going to kill you. Also what planet has ever succesfully revolted from the imperium? they do not come back "someday" ...they come as soon as they are able to and they crush the ill equipped ill led regime that the revolters have built when they get there

Pretty sure Krieg revolted in some way or another, before their self imposed atomic purging.

Yup, but they self nuked after the Imperium told e'm they wouldn't be avaiable for a while.

And when they did establish contact, Krieg has 20 something regiments ready IIRC.

So either it's all out revolt, or mass suicide in atomic flame? Did Krieg do anything prior to shooting themselves in the foot with a few kilotons of plutonium?

Actually the few loyalists in Krieg nuked it, with the idea of ''if the Imperium can't have this planet, noone can, boom''

Evened out the odds in the upcoming 500 years battle.

 Somedude593 wrote:
Never heard of Penal planets but penal legions are for combat troops who have done something wrong... so unless you have some EXTREMELY rare or needed skill theyre just going to kill you. Also what planet has ever succesfully revolted from the imperium? they do not come back "someday" ...they come as soon as they are able to and they crush the ill equipped ill led regime that the revolters have built when they get there

See the map in the BFG rulebook. Has penal planets. See the Eye of Terror campaign and the map of the Cadian system. The entire planet of St. Josmane's Hope was a penal planet that subsequently was conquered by Chaos during the campaign.

Read my post more carefully. The Imperium claims to rule the entire galaxy, yet they also in fact actually do not, with large swathes of space unknown, occupied by aliens, or separate human realms. What the Imperium claims in name, and what is actual fact can be quite different. The Imperium comes back "some day", which may be next week, next year, next century, or some time in the next 10,000 years. The Imperium can just never admit it ever lost a planet, but that doesn't mean they didn't. The Imperium shrank in number of worlds after the Heresy, compared to the Great Crusade era. It has been 10,000 years for some of those worlds and yet they are still lost to the Imperium, no matter how much the Imperium may still lie to itself about coming for them someday.

The Imperium is a propaganda state. And just like the states in 1984, the Imperium will never admit errors or setbacks. "Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia"

Well no, the crusade didn't get too far before the Heresy, and Horus primarily went after the Emperor on Terra. After the Scouring, the Imperium expanded out to the limits of Dark Age settlement. It was the Forging and it has been in several editions' rulebooks, right there in the time line.

Anyway what exactly are these people supposed to resist? To be in the Imperium worlds have to round up psykers, which are dangerous, and tithe guard regiments, which are important due to orks. The Creed is a thing, but if the locals have some weird sun cult version they can go wild, because the Ministorum doesn't have a navy. Military rebellions happen for political reasons; popular movements are aimed at popular causes instead, like the governor or all those psykers that the Imperium want to control anyway.

Well, there's a difference between rebelling against your local planetary governor and the Imperium. Whether you have freedom of speech to criticise the planetary governor and your local way of life or not is up to the system the governor is enforcing. Your planet could be a democratic system where every single member of society has their name on the ballot, or it could be a ridiculously authoritarian dictatorship, the Imperium couldn't care less so long as the Lex Imperialis is followed, psykers are turned over, the tithes are paid, and the Emperor is praised. Likewise, you could start a massive planetwide rebellion and the forces of the Imperium wouldn't bat an eyelid provided the revolution is directed against the planetary governor and it won't affect the local administratum.

However, rebelling against the Imperium can take a number of forms and vary in seriousness. Let's look at these forms:

Protesting the Imperium - your freedom of speech in regards to the Imperium can vary depending on what planet you're on. On agri-worlds, since there aren't many people around to hear it, you'll probably get away with it. On Hive Worlds, the Arbites might have all manners of pervasive surveillance and they might beat you up a bit if they catch you complaining. If you try staging a peaceful protest in front of an Administratum building, expect the Arbites to beat your arse senseless.

Withholding the tithe - this is taken seriously. If you're in charge of production of something, be it food, minerals, weapons, etc. and you feel like you're putting a lot of work in and not getting much back, you might feel like going on strike. Not while the Arbites are around though, they'll either beat you back to work, or replace your bullet-riddled body with someone alive and more willing.

Objecting conscription - also part of the tithe could be your subjection to conscription. You might not want to leave your friends and family to fight a war in an Emperor-forsaken corner of the galaxy. Again, you'll either get a beating from the Arbites, or shot in front of a crowd.

Hiding a psyker - this is pretty serious. The Imperium has jurisdiction over every single psyker born, to make sure they're not compromised by Chaos, and to put good use to them in either an Imperium job or to be fed to the Emperor. If the authorities are looking for them, and you either are one in hiding or you're helping one hide, expect immediate execution if you're found out.

Terrorism against the administratum/sabotage of the tithe - you might want to try revolution more subtly, either single-handed or with a terror cell. Expect the Arbites to shoot on sight, or if you're too good for them, the Imperial Guard or even Space Marines might be deployed.

Revolution - raising a rebellion that is aimed at the administratum. If you're a citizen leading the revolution, expect the local enforcers and PDF to be fighting you. If the local forces are the ones rebelling against the Imperium, the forces of the Imperium itself will be firing at you.

Disbelief - although atheism isn't strictly against the Imperial Cult (see Space Marines), it is only acceptable if you're on a planet that doesn't actually know about the Emperor. Some worlds are ruled by the Ecclesiarchy itself, so if you refuse to believe the Emperor is God on said worlds, your punishment can either be a religious propaganda bombardment until conversion, or being torched.

Heresy - now we come to Inquisitorial territory. Heresy is either if you're of a position susceptible to Chaos, or if you actually worship Chaos. Don't expect to live if you indulge in this. Psykers are suspected of this by default until they're cleared by the Imperium, and cases of mutation too. The Ordo Hereticus deals with cases of this.

Xenophilia - working with aliens. Although some xenology is acceptable within the Imperium, such as the C'tan Phase Sword and Jokaero weapon-smiths, fraternising with aliens and alien technology is heresy, especially those that the Imperium is at war against. The Ordo Xenos deal with this.

Daemonology - the ultimate form of rebellion against the Imperium. If you're not Cadian, a Space Marine or part of the Inquisition, just knowing about Daemons is grounds for execution. If you're part of a cult that worships Daemons, the Ordo Malleus and Grey Knights will be on your arse.

Finally, if you're not alone in the last three Inquisitorial issues, or if you're successful in getting Chaos, Xenos or Daemons running amock, expect your planet to be blown up.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

pelicaniforce wrote:
Anyway what exactly are these people supposed to resist? To be in the Imperium worlds have to round up psykers, which are dangerous, and tithe guard regiments, which are important due to orks. The Creed is a thing, but if the locals have some weird sun cult version they can go wild, because the Ministorum doesn't have a navy. Military rebellions happen for political reasons; popular movements are aimed at popular causes instead, like the governor or all those psykers that the Imperium want to control anyway.

As I've pointed out, they can resist the tithes because they might feel they're entitled to their own produce. Psykers are dangerous, yes. But if you're of a relatively uneducated background, and you're friends or family with psykers, you might not want to see them taken away. And although the Imperium is besieged by warfare, not all of it is. You might not want to be conscripted if your own planet isn't under immediate threat, and again, friends and family. And another thing to rebel against: if you know the Imperium destroys its own planets under certain circumstances, you might not feel too happy about it. But of course, rebellion against the Imperium is only feasible in a population ignorant of the Imperium's size and force, or of the dangers of trying to go it alone in the hostile universe. And let's not forget that it might be those very external factions pushing for the rebellion behind the scenes.

Do note that there are many humans under Tau (Farsight) control. The Imperium lost those worlds to Farsight, and hasn't bothered to retake them yet.

A popular revolt against the Emperor is unlikely, simply because repression is so effective. However, it's not unheard of for a planetary governor to revolt against the Emperor, taking with him his tithe soldiers and PDF forces. In these cases, the Imperium would no doubt eventually respond and with brutal force. The people may or may not be put to the sword, but if this discussion is for the sake of a story you could assume that the governor might send ships full of "colonists" to some unknown or unoccupied world. Ordinarily governor revolts are caused by chaos corruption, but it could be politically inspired (maybe he has delusions of grandeur and thinks he can set up his own little space banana republic)

There are also no doubt instances where there are still unconquered human planets.