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Hey everyone,

I'm still relatively new to 40K and haven't got all the fluff figured out, so I have these questions:
How does a church service work in the Imperium? Do they go to churches (or similar holy places)? Do they sermons there like we do today? Do they have one or several holy book(s)? Do they actively recite from them or only use them for a few quotes and guidelines? Etc.

I'm playing a priest in my lgs' Dark Heresy campaign, so I need to know this stuff

For the most part, they do all of that but it can vary depending on the planet.

that and the church itself (the building) is often really, really big.... like a stadium sized cathedral (or larger). Some are smaller like in small towns and settlements but the ones in more populated areas are truly massive effigies to the Emprah with enormous statues or symbols of worship.



I don't know how a normal service would run, but I would imagine it would be similar to one here on earth, but again it depends on the culture of the planet.

That is one HUGE cathedral... But given the size of the cities surely there must be dozens if not hundreds of smaller ones scattered around the city for those living too far away?

It varies, much like Christian churches today. People worship in their own (sanctioned) way, so you might have a ton of books you pull quotes from, you might just preach the word off the top of your head.

I recall there being a church service in one of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels, and it worked fairly similarly to your stereotypical church service today.

TL;DR version: Pretty much the same (it varies, whatever you decide goes down will probably be fine), yes, yes, yes, both.

The attention spent on services could probably make even most of our more ritual-obsessed cults seem pretty lax by comparison. After all, the populace owe the God-Emperor not only their own lives but those of Humanity itself!

But this will ofc vary depending on whether it's a Cathedral, a local church, the chapel on a naval vessel or a field service for the Imperial Guard. Stationary churches can do the long ritual stuff, it's not like the plebes doing 12-hour work days need to sleep all the 12 hours off is it? A naval vessel or guard base will have to make sermons shorter and more to the point so the men can carry out their duties (to the God-Emperor) properly.

And it depends on the priest too, and how many superiors are looking over his shoulder at the time. As I told my group when we started a Rogue Trader campaign - the priest could ofc be a total nutjob who wants everyone to pray all the time. But the Rogue Trader might space him at some point (in an unfortunate accident) for dragging down crew efficiency. The priest could as well be a very indifferent preacher, someone who joined just for a shot at stealing a comfy high office on some paradise world. Or maybe he's a Brother Tuck, a bear of a man who likes brawls, wine and women but is a bit fuzzy on the finer points of liturgy? He's more comfortable guiding the men by example (swinging a big stick) than telling them about eternal rewards later.

It would vary massively depending on the culture of the planet in question.
Services on a feral death world would be completely different from those on a civilized hive world.

Basically, play your Priest how you will, but hold the key tenets of 40k in your mind:

Abhor the witch, the mutant and the heretic.

Suffer not the xeno.

Hold the Emperor above all.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

The priest I'll be playing comes from a comparatively recently colonized feral world. The planet has a messed-up climate that leaves it inaccessible half of the time due to thunderstorms lasting 2-5 years each, and even when it is accessible nobody really cares for this middle of nowhere backwater planet. As a result, he'll be a priest whose beliefs have become somewhat mixed-up with local superstitions (of course, anyone who claims this is a heretic). The local religion (which is, of course, now replaced with proper worship of the Emperor) is the worship of fire, as it is the opposite of the ceaseless rain they really, really hate. The key element in game terms is that he believes nobody is really dead until they have been burnt, and thus he always carries around a compact hand flamer to provide some personal incineration when necessary.

Anyway, I plan on writing down a few one-page sermons, in case I spontaneously need them for some reason (like right now, where I offered the local priest to help around in a chapel for food and lodging). I'll probably be posting them here so that people can review them for fluff-inconsistency.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, how's this:

Brother Michael wrote:
Thanks for the advice everyone!

The priest I'll be playing comes from a comparatively recently colonized feral world. The planet has a messed-up climate that leaves it inaccessible half of the time due to thunderstorms lasting 2-5 years each, and even when it is accessible nobody really cares for this middle of nowhere backwater planet. As a result, he'll be a priest whose beliefs have become somewhat mixed-up with local superstitions (of course, anyone who claims this is a heretic). The local religion (which is, of course, now replaced with proper worship of the Emperor) is the worship of fire, as it is the opposite of the ceaseless rain they really, really hate. The key element in game terms is that he believes nobody is really dead until they have been burnt, and thus he always carries around a compact hand flamer to provide some personal incineration when necessary.

Anyway, I plan on writing down a few one-page sermons, in case I spontaneously need them for some reason (like right now, where I offered the local priest to help around in a chapel for food and lodging). I'll probably be posting them here so that people can review them for fluff-inconsistency.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, how's this:

Spoiler:

“Citizens of the Imperium! Sons and daughters of our Holy Emperor! Gather round and listen to His holy word!

From birth, you are told you are subjects of the Emperor. You are his servants, his lackeys, a gear in the endless machinery of the Imperium. And this is true. You are his servants. Yet you, my fellows, you are so much more! Just as the blood, sweat and tears of our Holy Lord won us the Imperium, so does yours sustain it! All of you are more than a single soul in a numberless population! You are the lifeblood, the very soul of the Imperium!

Our lives are all touched by war and darkness. Look to the men and women around you. None of them haven’t been influenced by warfare. None of them haven’t suffered under the vile machinations of the heretic. It is a grim age. But all isn’t lost! Lesser men might have their faith falter, have their trust in the Emperor fail, and invite eternal damnation upon themselves and others, but not you fine people! Your faith is what keeps the heretic and the alien at bay! Your reverence of the Holy Emperor keeps you save, for He looks down upon the faithful!

You, brothers and sisters, you are the Emperors finest! You are the might of the Imperium! You are so much more than servants! You are the Emperors champions! Follow His guidance and spread His holy light!”

It's great. A little more feel good than I would make it. "Emperor's Champions" could have them getting ideas above their station. I'd have more duty and hate in there, myself. This is not a Christian religion! But well written and if his intent is to inspire and rouse, it's good.

It would differ from the real world with more skulls, more grimdark and much, much much more zealous rage

 Trondheim wrote:
It would differ from the real world with more skulls, more grimdark and much, much much more zealous rage

*righteous -- righteous rage!

Lots of lobotomies and baby corpses.

 lcmiracle wrote:

 Trondheim wrote:
It would differ from the real world with more skulls, more grimdark and much, much much more zealous rage

*righteous -- righteous rage!

Or that if you wish to call it by a more fancy name. But i imagien no living soul today except for a few of the really hard core Mullas of the Middle East could stir up a crowd into such zealous and all out blind fury like a Imperial preacher at his peak.

This is when the GLORIOUS Imperial Infantryman's uplifting primer is used.
On the pink pages at the back it instructs you how to pray off battle and it includes all prayers for your daily needs.

As for the civilians.

GO TO CHURCH OR THE INQUISITION IS COMING.


But in the end it really depends on the planet.

And also…
If you worship another religion other than the divine Emprah's…your a official heretic.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Great bit of Fluff there by the way OP.

A million worlds, a million cultures to draw from and blend into a not-all-that-seamless whole.

Acts of devotion could be as varied as anything you can imagine. For example, in my DH campaign, I have seven Imperial Saints who are based on the Elder Gods of the Simon Edition of the Necronomicon, and thus on the seven Sumerian/Babylonian gods that inspired them.

I looked into how the Sumerians and Babylonians revered these seven gods, and adapted it to flavor the seven aspects of the Ecclesiarchy that has sprung up around these venerated Saints on the planet.

One of them, that of the Saint Inanna, is basically an Imperial Pleasure Cult.

I suspect falling asleep or laughing during the sermon earns you a visit from some large men in the middle of the night as opposed to tutting and stern looks from the rest of the congregation.

The Shia Calpurnia novels imply that there are "Church Police" who fine or otherwise punish such offenses... so you're really not that far off there.

Try applying the structure of the medieval church instead of the modern, the parallels are much closer and the effects on daily life better documented.