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I wanted to know the level of seriousness that the average person has in the Imperial Creed.

A lot. If you think the Religious Fundamentalists of the United States are bad, they got *nothing* on the religious zealotry of the average Imperial Citizen.

 Psienesis wrote:
A lot. If you think the Religious Fundamentalists of the United States are bad, they got *nothing* on the religious zealotry of the average Imperial Citizen.

I don't know really. I mean the books all say they are. But do you really think an undercity person would ever care about the emperor during a gang war?

Nah.

In one of the ciaphis cain books the tallarn were depicted as devout to the max, with a priest in each squad. Most regiments have one priest and from what i can tell attitudes range from extreme zealot fanatical almost the most devout sister of battle to outright cynical, just like real life.

Though the zealots are obviously very zealous, the average person has very little faith.

Warlords of the Dark Millenium: Typhus wrote:The Zombie Plague is a Warp-disease, and it can only infect those who have no hope or faith in their hearts. In the uncaring grind of Imperial life, the vast majority of the populace can be counted amongst that number.

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
A lot. If you think the Religious Fundamentalists of the United States are bad, they got *nothing* on the religious zealotry of the average Imperial Citizen.

I don't know really. I mean the books all say they are. But do you really think an undercity person would ever care about the emperor during a gang war?

Nah.

The real-world people involved in inner-city gang wars are often very religious individuals so, yes, I do think the Hive Gangers pay more than lip-service to the Imperial Creed.

The God Emperor hasn't been ruling the galaxy since yesterday, he has been ruling it for 10,000 years. That's a pretty strong argument. The best counter a would-be skeptic could come up with is , " Maybe the Emperor isn't alive, maybe that's a fiction ? " Pretty weak. Then who the heck is keeping the Astronomicon going ? Not to mention you have DEMONS rampaging publicly on the 6 o'clock news.

People are apparently quite dogmatically committed to institutions that are only 500 , or 200, or 20 years old, that don't keep up an entire galaxy but really just a handful of acres, for which the most you can say about them is maybe they keep the potholes in the road filled, or maybe Burger King could do a better job of road maintenance ?

By that measure, in that context, the 21st century was an era of mindlessly backward and fantastic superstition, to an utterly insane degree of fanaticism.

 Psienesis wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
A lot. If you think the Religious Fundamentalists of the United States are bad, they got *nothing* on the religious zealotry of the average Imperial Citizen.

I don't know really. I mean the books all say they are. But do you really think an undercity person would ever care about the emperor during a gang war?

Nah.

The real-world people involved in inner-city gang wars are often very religious individuals so, yes, I do think the Hive Gangers pay more than lip-service to the Imperial Creed.

Don't forget the gangs that are basically just mobs of religious fanatics!

KesaAnna wrote:
The God Emperor hasn't been ruling the galaxy since yesterday, he has been ruling it for 10,000 years. That's a pretty strong argument. The best counter a would-be skeptic could come up with is , " Maybe the Emperor isn't alive, maybe that's a fiction ? " Pretty weak. Then who the heck is keeping the Astronomicon going ? Not to mention you have DEMONS rampaging publicly on the 6 o'clock news.

People are apparently quite dogmatically committed to institutions that are only 500 , or 200, or 20 years old, that don't keep up an entire galaxy but really just a handful of acres, for which the most you can say about them is maybe they keep the potholes in the road filled, or maybe Burger King could do a better job of road maintenance ?

By that measure, in that context, the 21st century was an era of mindlessly backward and fantastic superstition, to an utterly insane degree of fanaticism.

The vast majority of imperial citizens don't know what the Astronomicon is. They've never heard of it and never will. They don't know that demons LITERALLY exist, and will never see one or hear stories of one told by anyone other than the religious preachers at their friendly Chapel of the Holy Emperor.

The average imperial citizen has very little contact or knowledge of the galaxy beyond the world they live on, or even of the world they live on. Lots of citizens think that the Imperium is just a story and that the God Emporer is a legend, only upper management know. There are worlds where this isn't the case, but they're the exception rather than the rule.

heck most worlds don't know the actual story of the Emperor. the Imperial cult just co-ops the local faith and slides the Emperor into it.

Very serious. Although they always swear using the emperors name

 morganfreeman wrote:


The vast majority of imperial citizens don't know what the Astronomicon is. They've never heard of it and never will. They don't know that demons LITERALLY exist, and will never see one or hear stories of one told by anyone other than the religious preachers at their friendly Chapel of the Holy Emperor.

The average imperial citizen has very little contact or knowledge of the galaxy beyond the world they live on, or even of the world they live on. Lots of citizens think that the Imperium is just a story and that the God Emporer is a legend, only upper management know. There are worlds where this isn't the case, but they're the exception rather than the rule.

So, basically, the vast majority of imperial citizens, the average imperial citizen, is a prisoner of inchoate secularist materialist fuzzy zealotry, sacrificing his life of quiet desperation for the sake of the rice bowl right in front of him, no better than a dog or a horse, except he isn't a dog or a horse, but otherwise, for the sake of.............nothing ?

Geez, no wonder there is so much " Is GW going to go down ? " -talk.

You don't need a very expensive game for that. Just find the nearest TV and watch the 6 o'clock news , and spend your dough on Prozac instead.

The average Imperial citizen who never leaves their world would not question the Imperial Creed, in much the same way the medieval European peasant would not question the truth of Christianity. They might question the authority or the moral purity of the Ecclesiarchy (i.e. the medieval Church) but the existence of God would not be questioned. However just as this non-questioning did not entirely stop "sinful" actions in the Middle Ages, neither would this stop Imperial citizens. After all you have gangs and crimes on all sorts of Imperial worlds, even though technically those are still crimes against the Emperor since the Emperor claims governance over all of humanity and all worlds.

The God-Emperor is far away, the afterlife distant and remote, and the temptation is immediate. Even if they did acknowledge what they were doing is wrong, they could try to justify it as they are human and will make amends in the afterlife.

In 40K, the only ones likely to question would be those educated and exposed to a wide range of ideas and cultures (including alien), such as Rogue Traders and Inquisitors.