The Ecclesiarchy Sects of the Prosperitas Sector

The Priesthood

The Priesthood of the Prosperitas Sector has always been fragmented; central rule from the, now largely former, Shrine World of Nivalis was weak and many sects and planetary priesthoods were used to governing themselves. Grulge's arrival in the Prosperitas Sector marked a change in this as religious clamp-downs were initiated by the more tyrannical Cardinal as he sought to consolidate his power over them. He brought unity, many agreed, but his restrictions on religious freedoms were a stranglehold. It was dangerous for a long time for divergent sects to practice their beliefs openly; in hindsight, this grew the seeds of the proscribed beliefs of the Temple.

In some ways this has ensured that those loyal Priests and Sects that survived the Temple Uprising are the most canny and strong-willed examples of their kind.

The War for the Soul of Prosperitas

It is an ugly and ill-kept secret that a majority of Priests across the Sector swore loyalty to the Temple of the Saviour Emperor during Grulge's brief but divisive rule. Opinion is divided on how precisely to deal with those who committed the crime of following the Heresiarch's beliefs - especially those who have now recanted their views and pledge to loyally follow the Ecclesiarchy. While the Ordo Hereticus purged Templars from posts in the great Imperial institutions, the Temple briefly held considerable power on many of the besieged worlds of Subsector Secundus where its Fidelis Templar were - and are often still - the first line of defence alongside their PDF forces. Many worlds accepted the tyranny of the Apostate Cardinal in exchange for his protection and were hesitant to demonstrate their duties to the Ecclesiarchy by acting against him; opinion is divided on what penalties should be levied for this collaboration. If all those who cooperated with Grulge were purged, some murmur, there would be precious little Ecclesiarchy left in the sector.

The Quadripartite Schism

No longer unified against the Temple of the Saviour Emperor or under the ruthless heel of a Cardinal of the Faith forcing it to unite, the Ecclesiastical factions within the Prosperitas Sector’s Priesthood following a disastrous summit between the various religious groups on begin to align behind three powerful factions of the Faith with many other minor sects drawing enough to support to deny any of the three total dominance should a Sector Synod be formed;

Nongentist Omnicult

Priest who come from both the Imperial Cult and the Cult of Mars and seek to unify both faiths, Nongentists follow the teachings of Saint Nongentae of Ferraeus who straddled the two faiths and was canonised for her loyalty to the God-Emperor and part in the construction of the Great Cathedrals of Nivalis. A fusion of both Cults, the Nongentists are an anomaly - they are favoured greatly by the Loyalist Priesthood because their technical skills are of great aid given the traditional friction with the machine cult, but their loyalties to Mars and obsessions with bionic modification (each member of the sect strives to be in perfect balance a hybrid of exactly 50% organic/machine) and their somewhat deviant fusion of Mechanicus designs and Ecclesiastical religious art do upset more traditionalist priests of both cults.

To make matters more complicated the Omnicult has been known to educate those of the Imperial Faith in the mysteries of technology, inducting them into the Machine Cult in contradiction of the oaths of Tech-Priests to Mars and Priests of the Imperial Cult to the Ecclesiarchy. This strange fusion sect, who have appeared on many worlds since the breaking of loyalties with Cardinal Grulge, originates from Ferraeus and might well have been stamped out by other Priests there due to their unacceptably emotive faith compared to the machine-like ordered society promoted by the Machine Cult, singing loud hymns as they work. But their fanatical efficiency compensates for whatever upset their deviation from the norm occurs.

The Omnicult has long grown its power despite opposition from within both the Machine Cult and the Imperial Cult. Its members persecuted by the religious enforcers of the Ordo Malagra and those of the Imperial Cult alike, but with the upheaval from the annexation of Castellum the Nongentists have found purchase amongst many displaced Tech-Priests adapting to the new order among the Sector Mechanicus.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Omnicult has also found newly-fertile ground on Merewald, where its Omnissian-Emperor fusion-rites have found receptive ears amongst both Serfs and Nobility after the technophobic Followers of Saint Ludlam lost the faith of the population during the Silence. The bionic modifications adopted by the Omnicult’s followers in their pursuit of a perfect balance of machine and humanity might be no more disturbing than those of the Machine-Cult proper - but their Macro-Temples, raised as edifices of the Emperor-Omnissiah with their tableaux vivant filled with electively servitorised devotees posed in religious scenes are unsettling to many.

The Nongentists have their heaviest presence amongst the worlds outside of Subsector Primus, where the Omnicult’s Tech-Wrights are valued greatly for maintaining critical machinery. Their Priests’ willingness to encourage adoption of bionics to weather the extreme conditions on many worlds on the fringe make a deal of sense to allow humans to adapt to unexpected environments their bodies were not made for, and engender a groundswell of support on the frontiers.

The Voluntas Concedists

find their support amongst the Nobility of the Prosperitas Sector. Often considered the worst excesses of the union of the Imperial Faith and the Imperial State, the Concedists’ doctrine strongly reinforces amongst their flocks the “divine right” of the bloodlines of the Imperial Nobility. Their opponents call them cynical and corrupt, saying that Concedist Priests are the tame ‘pets’ of the Nobility, seeking only to benefit from wealth and indulgences offered by their noble patrons and putting their political ambitions before their duties to the Creed. Concedists would argue that their close bonds with the Imperial Nobility are enshrine in the core hierarchical values of the Imperial faith; and that the Ministorum’s role is consequently to minister to the purity of the Nobility, that their moral virtue in leadership will be in turn conferred on the souls under their stewardship.

It cannot be denied that the Concedists are the most wealthy of the preeminent sects of the Prosperitas Sector, but they are also the least religiously philosophical one at the same time and have little purchase amongst the myriad of Priests found on the colony-worlds of the Sector - many of whom found themselves assigned as missionaries for their lack of support of the state-aligned hierarchy of the Eccliesarchy proper.

Although the sect finds its greatest support in Subsector Primus, it often finds it easier to found temples in the outlying colonies of the Prosperitas Sector thanks to its relative wealth and welcomeness amongst the nobility. These displays of wealth and power have not helped it win over its enemies within the Priesthood, reminding many of the Temple of the Saviour Emperor’s priorities and trappings even as it treads on their toes; and its greatest weakness is how vehemently it is disliked by the Adepta Sororitas, especially the Order of His Sanguine tears.

The Hierocratic Orthodoxy

Based on the Ecclesiastic Enclave on Gaudium the Orthodoxy represents what could be called closest to what a traveller from outside of the Prosperitas Sector would consider the 'typical' Ecclesiarchy. Though their number tend to be ultra-orthodox by the standards of their galactic peers due to their need to demonstrate their loyalty to doctrine and canon in the wake of how so thoroughly compromised their number were by the Temple of the Saviour Emperor. Owing to how freely the faith has been allowed to splinter on so many worlds both before and after the fall of the Temple the Orthodoxy lacks a great deal of numbers and while it can usually rely on the distant support of the Ecclesiarch on Terra it struggles amongst the most major factions of the Cult Prosperitas for both significant numbers of Priests and followers. It might naturally find a home in the more traditionally Imperial Worlds of Subsector Primus but the noble-sponsored Voluntas Concedists have edged them out of many spaces where once-grand temples have been rebuild with the coin of the Great Houses Concedist Priests have tended to, via clear corruption, secure the leadership within them, with the lack of a central Ecclesiastic Authority to enforce any meaningful religious beaurocracy.

Though the Orthodoxy lack in numbers and wealth though they can rely on the support of traditional arms of the Faith and the Imperium not obedient to the influence of the Nobility. In the most part the Sisters Militant of the Order of His Sanguine Tears and Other Adepta Sororitas, as well as the Ordo Hereticus of the Inquisition, favour the pre-eminence of this section of the Priesthood and its number have been able to secure further supplies and support from Tera. It remains to be seen, however, how much this will count for, the Battle Sister's role in the rise of the Temple has not earned them much favour with the wider Adepta Sororita and Tera has little direct influence over the frontier space of Prosperitas.

The Myriad Sects

Not a unified faction in and of themselves, the myriad of minor sects of the Prosperitas Sector represent an important factor in sector religious politics. The Prosperitas Sector has attracted a great number of divergent religious beliefs in the God-Emperor, ones that would face persecution in more established regions of the Imperium. While the Nongentist Omnicult has been the most successful of these, it is not to say others lack followers; many simply aren’t focused on securing power like the other factions of the ecclesiarchy.

The Gearwrights

Main Article: The Gearwrights

Uncomfortably not yet officially recognised by the Sector Ecclesiarchy, the Gearwrights are neverthless an increasingly popular Sect found across the Sector since their refugee origins fleeing their home planet of Olethros Secunda. They devote their worship to their 'Saint' Callum Gearwright, who they claim to have been miraculously returned to life by the will of the God-Emperor. Relentlessly persecuted during the Temple Uprising, the Gearwrights are now to be found across the Sector, and have been particularly active in the restoration of Nivalis after its bloody civil conflict drew to a close in 597.M41.

The Redemption

The Redemption is an ultra-fanatical sect within the Imperial Cult, thought it is largely divorced from the guidance of the Ecclesiarchy. This violent cult was imported in the holds of Imperial colony ships bound from Segementum Solar and has holdouts across the Imperium. Its initiates dehumanise themselves, wearing masks and hoods to hide their faces, an act they believe turns them into ‘weapons’ of the faith. Dressed in red robes the shade of blood and fire, Redemptionists believe that the only redemption from sin is death, and their rampages against perceived ‘sinners’ more often than not consume innocent lives.

While the Ecclesiarchy admires virtues of fanaticism, xenophobia and hatred, the Redemption of the Prosperitas Sector is often uncontrollable. It shows little respect to the leadership of the Ecclesiarchy and the Imperium, and is just as likely to turn its acts of violence on them as it is on the enemies of the Imperium. To this end, the Cult is largely outlawed on most planets in the sector and suppressed by Ecclesiarchy and Adeptus Arbites alike.

Despite this, the Redemption's general distrust of the social order has kept it largely free of the influence of Cardinal Grulge and while Ecclesiarchy Loyalists have as many issues with the Redemption as the Temple, it serves to provide them with a useful hoard of fanatics who are violently opposed to Grulges tyranny and decadence.

The Qawm'Aljibal

Main Article: History of Nivalis

On the ancient shrine-world of Nivalis, the native Ruwwad population have practiced worship of a figure they associated with the God-Emperor for generations before the coming of the Prosperitas Crusade. The ancient shrines of Nivalis are home to a sect which honours the twin disciplines of hunting and healing, finding both to be sacred practices. It has been declared orthodox by the Sector Ecclesiarchy, despite its unusual roots.

The Raivan Sun-Cult

Main Article: Raivan Culture

The religious practices the Raivan worship of the God Emperor evolved separate to the challenges that have faced the Imperial Cult through its long and tumultuous history. Unchanged for millennia, the Raivan religion is a rare example of elements of the 'original' Imperial faith, though it has evolved entirely along its own lines. Solar worship is central to the aspect of the Imperial Cult found on Shadowglow. The world sees light one standard Terran daily cycle once every ten years, and a huge amount of focus is placed onto that day.

The Midsummer Harvest Cult

The Tomb-Priests of Amenophis IV

The Death Cults of the Prosperitas Sector

Main Article: Death Cults of the Prosperitas Sector

Notable Figures of the Prosperitas Ecclesiarchy

Canoness Asenath Dinah is the single most powerful Soror in the Prosperitas Sector, commanding the Sector’s only Convent-Garrison on Nivalis. , and having been newly-created as the Head of the Order of His Sanguine Tears. She is a grizzled, veteran Soror who has lost much in the line of duty, and is more heavily augmented then some lesser members of the Machine Cult. Initially an ally of Cardinal-Emissarius Grulge, the Order of His Sanguine Tears was responsible for stabilizing Nivalis and enforcing the Cardinal’s iron rule until his attempted purge of his opponents in the Ecclesiarchy in 593.M41 where she interposed her Sorors between his Fidelis Militia and his foes in the Priesthood. Since the unmasking of the Cardinal as a heretic, the Canoness and her order have taken rites of penitence in shame for their part in the rise of the so-called Heresiarch.

Archconfessor Pietr Thrane [deceased 593.M41] was the Archconfessor of Duroverum (the highest Ecclesiastical station on that planet). Thrane was the leader of a moderate faction within the Ecclesiarchy opposed to Cardinal-Emissarius Grulge until his assassination in 593.M41. Initially his death was blamed on non-Imperial elements; however, subsequently, Cardinal Grulge was accused of masterminding it.

Archdeacon Ingrid Dunkeld [missing since 594.M41] is head of the Ecclesiarchy on Lerwick and wife of Alice, the Planetary Governor. Known for being a friendly, bubbly personality, who sits neatly within the orthodox factions of the Ecclesiarchy, Ingrid is more charming then her wife, relying more on convincing others to her way of thinking than using threats. Since the Rising Flame uprising and Archenemy invasion in 594.M41, Ingrid Dunkeld has not been seen in public and is believed to have gone into hiding as-yet untraced by Imperial forces.

Prelate Hadrian Grulge is the widower of disgraced heretic Ignatius Grulge. Officially pardoned for his husband's crimes in 597.M41, he now acts as a Coordinating Chaplain for the Fidelis Militia.