Adeptus Ministorum

The Adeptus Ministorum, more commonly known as the Ecclesiarchy, is the sole official state church of the Imperium of Man, which maintains and promotes the worship of the Emperor of Mankind as the one, true God of Humanity. It maintains and spreads the Imperial Cult throughout the Imperium. Although the interpretation of particular dogmas of the Imperial Creed varies across the many worlds of the Imperium, any extreme deviance from its strictures and theology is considered heresy and dealt with with great severity by the Ecclesiarchy or, in extreme cases, the Ordo Hereticus of the Imperial Inquisition. The Adeptus Ministorum is based on Terra, its urban Ecclesiarchal Palace covering nearly all of the southernmost continent of Antarctica.

Origins
During the Great Crusade, many different religious cults, drawing on the book written by the Primarch Lorgar known as the Lectitio Divinitatus that first proclaimed that the Emperor of Mankind was actually the incarnate God of Humanity, first appeared throughout the Imperium of Man, though each had its own subtle variations and differences in basic theology. These forms of worship appeared first on those primitive planets of the Imperium that had regressed technologically during the long, terror-filled years of the Age of Strife. The number of these cults multiplied exponentially following the Emperor's ultimate sacrifice to save Mankind from the rule of the Warmaster Horus and the Dark Gods at the end of the Horus Heresy and his subsequent internment within the Golden Throne. This event was hailed by believers as the Emperor's "ascension" back to full divinity within the Immaterium. Most of these cults would gradually fade away, while others prospered, eventually absorbing the weaker ones. The more successful Emperor-worship cults spread their forms of worship to other planets.

The strongest of all the early Imperial cults of the Lectitio Divinitatus was called the Temple of the Savior Emperor. This cult had the advantage over the others in that it was based on Terra and that its leader had been a successful and respected officer of the Imperial Army who had fought at the Siege of the Imperial Palace, defending the heart of the Imperium in its darkest hour. This holy man had re-named himself Fatidicus and had begun to preach his teachings concerning the divinity of the Emperor to anyone who would listen. This faith spread among the members of the reformed Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy who had seen first hand the horrors of Chaos, but also to lowly scribes and minor Adepts of the Adeptus Terra (the Administratum). The faith was then spread by these individuals to other planets. When Fatidicus died at the age of 120 standard Terran years, the Temple had more than a billion followers on Terra and untold faithful throughout the Imperium's Segmentum Solar.

In the wake of the chaos and anarchy of the Horus Heresy, the Temple of the Savior Emperor provided a message of hope and reunification through a common faith. Cults who rejected being absorbed, or who couldn't be absorbed, saw themselves being persecuted by fanatical mobs who preferred the Savior Emperor's increasingly "orthodox" theology. Officially, the Temple rejected this violence performed in its name. This development culminated in the 32nd Millennium by which time almost two-thirds of the Imperium's population followed the teachings of the Temple of the Savior Emperor, the exceptions being the Space Marines, who have never formally acknowledged the divinity of the Emperor in a nod to his wishes and the lost Imperial Truth and the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars, who had their own form of worship in the Cult Mechanicus. The Temple's importance, influence, and power rapidly outmatched that of any other Lectitio Divinitatus cult dedicated to Emperor-worship.

The Adeptus Ministorum
In the early 32nd Millennium, in recognition of its unprecedented political power over the minds of Men, the Temple of the Savior Emperor was officially recognized by the High Lords of Terra as the state religion of the Imperium of Man. It also became an official Adepta of the Imperium's government as the Adeptus Ministorum. A few centuries later, the Ecclesiarch Veneris II received a seat on the Senatorum Imperialis and joined the ranks of the High Lords of Terra, and after 300 years, this seat was made permanent. The power of the Ecclesiarchy continued to grow, increasing its hold over the minds and beliefs of the Imperial citizenry. Those who wouldn't follow its teachings were declared unbelievers, ostracized, and on occasion even executed. The vast territories of the Imperium were organised into different dioceses led by the Ecclesiarchy's Cardinals. These powerful religious and political figures were responsible for the hordes of Imperial Missionaries and Preachers that were released to tend to the spiritual needs of the faithful on hundreds of worlds. Lavish shrines, impressive temples, and majestic cathedrals dedicated to the God-Emperor of Mankind were built throughout the Imperium. Millions of religious pilgrims soon began making their way across the galaxy to visit particularly important religious locations, such as the world where a particular Imperial Saint had performed their most famous miracle. In time, the sheer number of pilgrims who arrived on certain worlds became an economic activity in ad of itself for the Ecclesiarchy and entire planets were dedicated to worship and directly ruled by the Adeptus Ministorum as Shrine Worlds. Particularly important Shrine Worlds might become the religious seat of an entire diocese stretching across a Sub-sector or Sector and so a Cardinal would take up residence there. These planets became known as Cardinal Worlds.

The Confederation of Light
The only threat to the Ecclesiarchy's spiritual and political dominance in the Imperium was the Confederation of Light. Based upon the planet Dimmamar, this penitent faith's ideals of poverty and humble living clearly contradicted the teachings of the Ecclesiarchy, whose view was that sacrifices of wealth and money to the Adeptus Ministorum in taxes, tithes and other gifts were necessary to enhance the citizens of the Imperium's access to salvation and ensure that the Emperor's light reached every corner of the galaxy through his Missions. The Confederation proved too difficult for Ministorum agents to infiltrate, and the Ecclesiarchy turned to violence, supported in this effort by the unanimous vote of the High Lords of Terra, who declared the onset of the first War of Faith, largely to ensure that Imperial political stability was not damaged by the emergence of religious plurality and possible religious violence. The entire Confederation was declared heretical and the forces of the Imperial Guard, the Imperial Navy, and thousands of fanatical zealots from the Frateris Militia were unleashed upon it, bent on its destruction. Only a few cells and hidden shrines of the Confederation managed to survive and the power of the Ecclesiarchy over the minds of men, for better or worse, was made unassailable.

By the end of the 33rd Millennium every civilised Imperial world was furnished with its own cathedral and the coffers of the Ecclesiarchy were filled with the offerings and tithes from the teeming billions of the God-Emperor's faithful. This wealth was squandered in building increasing numbers of larger and more lavish cathedrals and to fund more Wars of Faith intended not to save the souls of humanity but to secure the Ecclesiarchy's political power and wealth.

Reign of Blood
The Age of Apostasy in the 36th Millennium was one of the most destabilising periods in Imperial history after the Horus Heresy, beginning during the long struggle between the Ecclesiarchy and the Administratum for ultimate political power over the Imperium. The High Lord Goge Vandire, the 361st Master of the Administratum, was a power-hungry tyrant who eventually gained direct control over the Ecclesiarchy as well as the Administratum by usurping the position of the Ecclesiarch. This made him the single most powerful individual in the Imperium since the Great Crusade, and allowed him to place his own rule above that of the Emperor. His time in power became known as the Reign of Blood, consisting of massive purges of the Ecclesiarchy, and the killings and assassinations of countless perceived Traitors, Heretics and conspirators. This period was eventually ended by the Ecclesiarch Sebastian Thor's reborn Confederation of Light, a sect of the Imperial Cult based on the previous Confederation of Light's banned teachings that sought to end Goge Vandire's corruption of Imperial theology. The end of the Reign of Blood resulted in a major reformation of the Ecclesiarchy, the creation of the Imperial Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus to police those enemies of the Imperium who lay within its own structures and the creation of the Adepta Sororitas to serve as both the Eccelsiarchy's new military forces and the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus.

The Plague of Unbelief
The Plague of Unbelief is considered to be a part of the Age of Apostasy by Imperial historians, although it occurred several decades after Sebastian Thor's ascension to the position of Ecclesiarch. The main perpetrator of the Plague of Unbelief was the traitorous Apostate Cardinal Bucharis, who for a time controlled vast swathes of the Imperium under his heretical rule until he was finally brought to the Emperor's justice by the Space Wolves Space Marines and a betrayal by his own enraged people.

Organisation
The Ecclesiarchy is not officially part of the Adeptus Terra, but is organised as a wholly separate Imperial Adepta. At its head is the leader of the Imperial Cult, the Ecclesiarch, who, by tradition since the 32nd Millennium, is always one of the Imperium's ruling High Lords of Terra. Below him are the Cardinals, of which there are several thousand, each of whom oversees the Ecclesiarchy's operations and properties in a diocese comprising a Sector, Sub-sector or even a single world of Imperial space. Below the Cardinals are the Pontifices, Confessors, Missionaries and Preachers, in that order, respectively. The clerical orders of the Ecclesiarchy are open to men and women alike, though men seem to have an advantage in achieving high posiiton because many believe that as men, they are closer to the perfection of the God-Emperor, whose perfect embodied form was that of a perfect human male.

The Adeptus Ministorum's own governing body is the Holy Synod, which is a council composed of the Ecclesiarchy's most powerful Cardinals. The Ministorum divides the Imperium's territory across the galaxy into thousands of dioceses, each generally encompassing an entire Imperial world -- the exception being Terra, the heart of the Imperium, which possesses several dioceses because of its sheer population size and political improtance. Some dioceses can encompass several worlds or even an entire Sector in the case of the officials granted the extremely powerful rank of Cardinal-Astra. A diocese is further divided into parishes centered around a shrine or church. Each diocese is headed by a Cardinal, while each parish is headed by an Imperial priest with the title of Preacher. Ranking between these individuals are priests known as Pontifices whose authority extends over several parishes to serve as administrative go-betweens in large dioceses between Preachers and their ruling Cardinal. Priests known as Missionaries have no administrative duties within a single diocese but can be deployed to spread the faith of the Imperial Cult to newly rediscovered human-settled worlds. They are always part of the Ecclesiarchy's missionary wing that is called the Missionaria Galaxia.

Confessors are evangelical zealots who possess a rank within the Ecclesiarchy somewhere between Preacher and Cardinal. Their oratory skill can stir the emotions of entire worlds, leading them to confess personal heresies and mutations, and to betray their neighbours as psykers, Heretics, mutants or other deviants. They are free to wander within an entire diocese and preach amongst the population. They often work on Imperial colonies and are especially useful on worlds where faith is lacking and the people are rebellious against the Imperium. With special dispensation from the Ecclesiarchy, they may even gather armies of Frateris Militia or the Sisters of Battle and lead Wars of Faith against the enemies of the Imperium. Confessors often wear the Rosarius as both protection and a symbol of their rank.

The Adeptus Ministorum also includes an administrative bureaucracy, headed by priests called Arch-Deacons, who control all secular business within the Ecclesiarchy. Arch-Deacons are the administrative counterparts to Cardinals, responsible for the temporal affairs of an entire diocese. The Arch-Deacon's servants, known as Deacons, deal with the money entering and leaving a specific diocese or parish, regulate the construction of new shrines and temples and deal with the other secular requirements of running a galaxy-spanning religion.

Adepta Sororitas
The military arm of the Ecclesiarchy are the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas, who are dedicated to eradicating heresy across the Imperium. The Ecclesiarchy also often works with the Inquisition, especially the Ordo Hereticus, to achieve its goals. The priests of the Ecclesiarchy will, however, often see Radical Inquisitors as little more than Heretics themselves and actively oppose their missions. The Sisterhood, as it is generally known, is expected to maintain a close watch on all servants and departments of the Imperium for heresy, but especially the Ecclesiarchy itself. The Adepta Sororitas' Militant Orders act as the military arm of the Ecclesiarchy defending shrine and Cardinal worlds from attacks by xenos like the Orks or the Forces of Chaos, but are also tasked to serve as the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus of the Imperial Inquisition when so order by an Inquisitor.

Frateris Templar
The Frateris Templar were the original, all-male army of High Lord Goge Vandire during the Age of Apostasy's Reign of Blood in the 36th Millennium. They were destroyed by a Warp Storm while en route to Dimmamar to pacify the rebellious reborn Confederation of Light raised by Sebastian Thor. The Warp Storm, which is still raging to this day, became known as the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath and many believe that it was created within the Warp by the Emperor to show his anger at Vandire's usurpation of his will. The Frateris Templar have since been disbanded, and their role has instead been assumed by the Sisters of Battle since the Ecclesiarch who ended the Reign of Blood and Goge Vandire's tyrannical rule of the Imperium, Sebastian Thor, declared that no man would ever again bear arms for the Adeptus Ministorum.

Frateris Militia
The Frateris Militia are the unofficial armies of the Ministorum made up of religious zealots who will fight for their faith. The religiously-motivated Frateris fight Wars of Faith against the enemies of the Imperium, often led by a particularly fanatical Confessor, though these forces are rarely well-trained or equipped.

Missionaria Galaxia
Missionary work is an important activity of the Ecclesiarchy, and its purpose is to bring rediscovered human-settled worlds into the full fold of the Imperial Cult and the worship of the God-Emperor of Mankind. For this purpose, the Missionaries of the Ecclesiarchy's Missionaria Galaxia organisation always accompany Imperial Explorators or even Rogue Traders on their voyages into unknown space in case human worlds are rediscovered. Missionaries of the Missionaria Galaxia also run charitable Missions, which are schools or hospitals on newly discovered Feral or Feudal Worlds that lack advanced technology. When human worlds are rediscovered, Imperial Missions are immediately established alongside any Imperial planetary government. Part of the purpose of these Missions is to further the worship of the Emperor and spread the ideals and culture of Imperial civilisation. They are also vital in evaluating newly-discovered planetary populations for signs of psychic and genetic mutation or the corruption of Chaos.

Schola Progenium
The Schola Progenium are the orphanages run by the Ministorum specifically to raise and train the sons and daughters of Imperial servants who have given their lives in the service of the Emperor. The orphans receive a strict orthodox education in the Imperial Creed, and soon come to regard the Emperor as their spiritual father. Their upbringing will have made them absolutely loyal and devoted servants of the Imperial cause and will have instilled in them a selfless ambition to serve the Imperium and Mankind as a whole just as the Emperor does. These qualities make them well-suited to service in many of the governmental and military branches of the Imperium -- the schools of the Schola Progenium provide a large portion of the officers of the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, Imperial Guard Commissars, Assassins, the Judges and Arbitrators of the Adeptus Arbites and even, eventually, new members of the Inquisition. Female Progena often enter the Adepta Sororitas. Other Progena become members of the Adeptus Ministorum's clergy, which is open to men and woman alike.