Death Cult

"Death has come for you, and will not be denied."

—Tallan Quot, Order of the Stilled Flesh

A "Death Cult" is a group within the Imperium that expresses their worship of the divine God-Emperor through the art and exploration of the granting of death. Such cults produce some of the finest assassins in the galaxy, which are sometimes employed even by the servants of the Emperor, such as the Inquisition, the Ecclesiarchy and Rogue Trader dynasties.

Death and blood underpin Human existence. It is a common truism that only through continued blood-sacrifice in the face of a hostile universe will Mankind prevail, a sacrifice likened in the Imperial Creed to the bodily sacrifice of the Emperor Himself during the Siege of Terra.

So it is in these beliefs that Death Cults flourish within the Imperium, a dark shadow of the more readily recognised sects of the Imperial Cult, making them some of the most dangerous heretical cults that the Inquisition can encounter. Some are no doubt deluded, corrupted by the Ruinous Powers or swayed by far older and more terrible influences, but many are in fact truly devout followers of the Golden Throne.

To these individuals, every death, every cut, every welling of blood is an act of worship to the immortal Emperor of Mankind. Such Death Cults can vary widely in purpose, creed, makeup, and scope, but even the least of their adherents walk something of a tightrope between the sublime and the damned.

Role[]

"Let this death be sacred to the Emperor, let this blood be His sacrament. With this blade, I bless thee…"

— Dakloss, Assassin of the Inner Circle of the Thrice Blessed

Uncounted Death Cults are known to exist, scattered across the length and breadth of the Imperium, from the densely populous worlds of the Segmentum Solar to the most isolated of frontier planets. Death Cults are essentially religious sects composed of utterly ruthless killers dedicated to shedding the blood of the enemies of Mankind in honour of the blood of martyrs (the seed of the Imperium) and the Emperor.

All such cults are highly secretive, and indulge in a wide range of ritual practices. As such, most Death Cults walk a perilous line between fanatical dedication to the Imperial Creed (albeit expressed in a quite singular manner) and outright doctrinal heresy. Many, in fact, step over an invisible line. Thus, they become pawns, knowingly or ignorantly, of the Ruinous Powers. Many are the cults that have stumbled into the arms of Khorne or Slaanesh through increasingly extreme ritualistic practice. It is little wonder that the Ecclesiarchy views the Death Cults with great distrust, and that the Inquisition keeps a very close eye on them.

The life of a Death Cult assassin is utterly dedicated to ritualised death. No two Death Cults are exactly alike, but all share the belief that the ultimate worship of the Emperor is to carry on the work of the slaying of the enemies of Humanity. Cult assassins train endlessly in a wide range of weapons, honing their skills so that every stroke of the blade, every drip of blood spilled is an offering to the Emperor.

Often, Death Cultists have many deviant practices, including devouring Human flesh in cannibalistic rituals and performing ceremonies focused around the drinking of blood. The vast majority of Death Cult assassins eschew the use of ranged weapons, though a number make use of short-ranged weaponry such as throwing stars, stilettos, and the like. Many Death Cults prefer to use a number of highly-specialised and lovingly maintained melee weapons, including punchdaggers, rending claws shaped like eagle talons, or even entire blades carved from the bones of the Imperial faithful.

The targets of the Death Cult assassins are those deemed by the cult's leadership to be deserving of death. Few cults engage in indiscriminate murder, for local authorities would soon challenge them, although those in more isolated regions may occasionally do so. Most instead concentrate their efforts on a particular group of enemies. Some hunt down those they have deemed heretical in the eyes of the Emperor, perhaps adherents of a rival Death Cult or natives of a planet that once defied the will of the Emperor. Others hunt down particular species of alien. Some cults defend a specific territory, believing perhaps that the Emperor Himself once trod there and any who trespass upon such holy ground must be slain.

KibellahRogueTrader — Kibellah, a Death Cult assassin of the Bloodspun Web cult in service to the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius in the Koronus Expanse, attacks the members of the Genestealer Cult that had inadvertently taken up residence in the bowels of the von Valancius flagship.

Many Death Cultists believe themselves purified by consuming the corpse of an enemy. Drinking the enemy's blood claims the enemy's strength and skill for themselves. Many offerings of blood are drained from the dead and presented by such cultists to the Emperor during a pilgrimage to a great cathedral of the Ecclesiarchy.

In addition to the specifics of those they hunt, many Death Cults are equally discerning in those they employ as hunters. Some Death Cults recruit only from a particular region, or from a specific socioeconomic class. Others recruit assassins from those who have no hope, such as the dispossessed orphans of hive city gangs or refugee communities. Still more recruit exclusively from the followers of a particular strand of the Imperial Creed, creating in effect an invisible core within the faithful.

It is rumoured that some cults abduct would-be assassins at a young age, stealing babes away in the dead of night to be raised by hooded strangers until inducted into the cult. Some cults employ only men, others only women, citing a myriad of theological reasons as varied as the cults themselves.

When not engaged in the hunt, a Death Cult assassin either hones their martial skills, meditates upon some aspect of the cult's dogma, or engages in one of the cult's bloody rituals. Most of these rituals involve the shedding of blood in some manner. Sometimes, it is the blood of the cult's adherents that is spilled, in remembrance of that shed by the Emperor in the name of Mankind. Others conduct grisly ritual sacrifices of captured foes, and these often stray perilously close to heresy and excommunication.

Because of their prodigious skills at combat and murder, many Death Cult assassins end up in the service of individual Inquisitors. It appears that there is no formal connection between the two groups. Rather, the Inquisitors strike some manner of pact with individual Death Cults, perhaps overlooking a doctrinal transgression in return for the services of a Death Cult assassin in their retinue. In some cases, an Inquisitor has been known to be inducted into the cult's membership or to have persuaded the cult to take on a trusted Acolyte and teach them the arts of death in which it specialises.

To become a Death Cult assassin, an individual must display both exquisite martial skills and an utter dedication to the Emperor. It is this unique blend of deathly expertise and religious fervour that makes Death Cult assassins the utterly lethal weapon they are. In a Death Cult assassin, an Inquisitor can be certain they have the services of one dedicated to a singular cause from which they may never be knowingly turned.

Notable Death Cult Variants[]

Most so-called "Death Cults," despite their differences, can be divided into four broad categories: Sanguinary Cults, Necrophagic Cults, Resurrectionist Cults and Ecclesiarchy Cults.

Sanguinary Cults[]

Perhaps the most commonplace and famed sub-division of the Death Cults, Sanguinary Cults focus on the act of bloodshed itself -- the manifold art of killing and the moment of extinction of life. Often honing the skills of the assassin beyond the ken of normal men and women, such cults are tolerated or at least wilfully ignored by the Imperial authorities despite their heretical and even vampiric tendencies.

This tolerance is because they are known to be implacable in their hatred of Mankind's enemies, supplying the Adeptus Ministorum and the Inquisition with invaluable adepts of murder and fanatical killers loyal to the cause. Some have even more shadowy connections to the mysterious Officio Assassinorum, the secret organisation that provides unparalleled adepts of murder for the High Lords of Terra.

Many Sanguinary Cults spring into being in the fertile soil provided by the harsh conditions found on many Feral and Feudal Worlds. However, the shadows of the underhive, the viperous intrigues of the noble's court, and even the travails of deep space can equally create the conditions where ritualistic secret societies dedicated to the deadly arts of the blade, bullet, and poison can flourish.

The Calixis Sector has numerous such Sanguinary Cults and sacrificial societies present scattered across many worlds, and indeed, the population of the outcast Feudal World of Fervious is largely governed by them. The most famous of the Calixian Death Cultists, without doubt, are the assassin-mystics of the Moritat, which has sub-cults and cells operating right across the sector and indeed beyond.

Necrophagic Cults[]

Necrophagic Cults are the most blatantly heretical and terrible of all Death Cults, with sects often springing up on worlds ravaged by incessant warfare or planet-wide famine, pandemic disease, or other terrible disasters. In desperation and often goaded by outside influence, the people's once laudable faith in and devotion to the Emperor take on an increasingly malign turn, with Human sacrifice, cannibalism, and necrotic rituals becoming widespread.

In such cases the members of these cults rapidly become irretrievably insane and physically corrupt, and are often the playthings of Warp entities like the Daemonic servants of Khorne and Slaanesh, while the vile leaders of such cults walk a tightrope between burgeoning malefic power and utter madness. Necrophagic Cults that are discovered are never tolerated by the Imperial authorities and are hounded to destruction wherever uncovered.

Within the Calixis Sector, Necrophagic Cults have been known to spring up in the wake of long-burning wars (as has happened on Tranch and Malice in recent years), on isolated and savage worlds such as Endrite, and in the dark space hulks and other vessels in space where stricken survivors or desperate stowaways devolve into a form of mutant cannibal known to the voiders as Ghillam or Hold-gaunts.

But of all these tales, none can compare to the ancient stories of the appalling Saynay Clan of Dusk, whose half-mythic ghoulish histories have given the children of the Calixis Sector nightmares for many standard centuries.

Resurrectionist or Revivicator Cults[]

Rarely encountered but insidious in nature, Resurrectionist Cults ultimately seek to conquer the secrets of life and death itself.

Some Resurrectionist Cults preach a doctrine of the Emperor's triumph over death and the conquest of Human weakness, while others entreat darker masters, pursue utterly forbidden sciences, or hide baleful xenos or Warp-spawned influences at their hearts. Often they espouse the goal of attaining physical immortality for the faithful of the Imperial Cult and will go to unspeakable lengths to obtain their ends.

More so than even the Sanguinary Cults, these groups attract insane and desperate individuals to their ranks, those who have lost everything, become the most degenerate Heretics or follow the wildest of deviant religious creeds. Some Resurrectionists even practice ritual revivification to indoctrinate their members.

The most extreme examples of such sects believe that the Emperor's plan is for Humanity to follow Him into a blessed "immortality of the flesh." They even claim that it is possible through the use of utterly forbidden archeotech to free the Emperor from the Golden Throne to walk among His people, "dead-but-alive-everlasting" to quote the darkly renowned Credo Mortifex.

Such cults are hated by both the Adeptus Ministorum and the Adeptus Mechanicus and must throw up a murderous veil of secrecy and superstition in order to survive.

Ecclesiarchy Cults[]

Across the galaxy there exist many cults and minor creeds that worship death. Some of these are savage and heretical religions, corrupted by the worship of the Dark Gods, but some are fully devoted to the Imperial Creed, offering up the corpses of slaughtered foes of the Imperium as repayment for the great debt that Humanity owes the God-Emperor for His eternal sacrifice upon the Golden Throne.

The Death Cult assassins that hail from these aggressive cults are highly prized as companions by Adeptus Ministorum priests, for they are entirely obsessed by the need to spill the blood of the unclean, and have devoted their short, violent lives to mastery of the blade in order to better pursue this holy task.

Clad in simple leather armour and wielding twin Power Swords, Death Cult assassins loyal to these cults leap fearlessly into the ranks of their foes, twirling and spinning in a dervish dance, severed limbs and heads tumbling in their wake. This carnage may seem crude and artless to the uninformed observer, but in fact every slice and stab carries a ritualistic element. The manner of demise and the weapon used to deliver the killing blow both have a special significance when offering the victim's soul up to the God-Emperor for judgement.

Such is the fearlessness and devotion of the Death Cult assassins allied to the Ecclesiarchy that minor discrepancies or deviations from the Imperial Creed are overlooked by members of the Adeptus Ministorum eager to make use of their singular talents. These blade-wielding fanatics are viewed by the priesthood in much the same way that they view the Adeptus Astartes -- misguided in their practices, but righteous in their fervour.

Notable Death Cults[]

Emperor's Blades - One of the oldest Death Cults in the Imperium, the Emperor's Blades are only found on the world of Acanon, not far from the Sol System. The legends of the cult claim that it was founded when the Emperor still walked as a man. He fought a great battle against the forces of Chaos on Acanon, and millions died in the conflict. It is supposedly after this battle that the Emperor said, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of Humanity's future," more commonly misquoted as the "seed of the Imperium." The Emperor's Blades are the archetypal Death Cult, revering the use of the blade in combat. They are a hereditary cult, in that no one can be inducted; only those born to previous cult members can join in their worship. The cultists themselves use only a sign language to communicate, having neither speech nor written word. Their ceremonies of devotion are thus eerily silent, the stillness broken only by the scrape of blade on whetstone and the drip of blood into the offering cups.

Sons of Dispater - The Sons of Dispater care only for money. For them, every life has its price and only the station of the target and the ease of the kill mitigate the cost. The Sons of Dispater started life as a mercenary company taking part in the vicious trade wars that flared up in the Calixis Sector. It slowly coalesced into its present shape, but with this refinement, it evolved to become a freelance guild of assassins, providing skilled murderers, duellists and saboteurs to anyone who could afford them. Over the years, the Sons of Dispater have built up a well-deserved reputation for reliability and lethality and their reach extends outwards from their centre of operations on Malfi to almost every important world in the sector. While their only loyalty is to the gelt they have been paid, the organisation does consider its contracts to be inviolate, realising long ago that an organisation of turncoat assassins would have a very short life expectancy. Thus, any member of the Sons of Dispater that betrays a contract had better hide their tracks very carefully or risk the wrath of their own. The Inquisition is not above hiring an assassin trained by the Sons of Dispater, valuing their skills and predicable motivations. Likewise, the assassin may have fallen foul of the Inquisition unwittingly (a member of the Holy Ordos is one of the few targets the Sons of Dispater consider off-limits), and now has little option but to make amends.

Astral Knives - As members of a proscribed Imperial Death Cult, the Astral Knives must keep their beliefs secret to all but their most trusted confidants. A secret society within the closed society of the Voidborn, the Astral Knives cult takes it upon themselves, as a sacred duty, to keep Mankind safe during voyages through the Warp. If a voyage suffers, dark portents are witnessed or danger draws close in the Warp, the Astral Knives carry out a sacrifice to ensure the Emperor's divine protection. Those most obviously "unclean" targets, such as mutants and psykers, are selected first, but almost anyone might be selected in consultation with ritual foretelling. Some fifty standard years ago, the Ordos Calixis declared the Astral Knives a heretical sect after it was found that worshippers of the Ruinous Powers had infiltrated large parts of the cult, and a concerted purge was undertaken. Despite this, the entrenched and widely dispersed Death Cult lives on, although scattered and in far fewer numbers than before. An Astral Knife cultist is usually born rather than made, with certain Voidborn families having long traditions of involvement with the cult, either as assassins themselves or in tacitly providing support. Nor are they ravening killers. They are taught instead that their murders, often arranged to seem as accidents, are a dreadful but necessary divine duty. Some members grieve over their victims when appropriate, although many seek to hone their skills further by taking payment for the use of their skills among the Voidborn, particularly if the target is a "dirtsider" or not of the ship. Some more Radical elements of the Inquisition have chosen, where possible, to absorb the surviving untainted Astral Knives into their service as skilled spies and killers, and the Astral Knives for their part are keen to prove their faith.

Moritat - The Moritat is an Imperial Death Cult, far older than the Calixis Sector itself. Some legends say it was brought to Calixis by adherents secreted among the forces of the Angevin Crusade who carved the sector into being. Others claim it was already seeded in place, waiting for the Imperials when they came. Regardless, the Moritat leans heavily on the Imperial Creed, albeit with a very bloody and mystical interpretation of its dogma. It teaches that only through the merciless application of violence and death can the Imperium be sustained, the weak and corrupt winnowed out and the Emperor's own great sacrifice honoured. In organisation, the Moritat is supremely difficult to infiltrate or pin down, operating in independent cells each led by a single master or mistress seeded in recruiting grounds such as underhives, Feral World wildernesses and war zones. The Moritat selects those who have already been "marked" by tragedy and bloodshed to serve the Emperor as a bringer of death to His enemies. They take these individuals from a young age and forge their bitterness and hate into a weapon. Training recruits relentlessly in the arts of destruction, deception and bloodletting, while at the same time indoctrinating them into their own brand of the Imperial faith and the mysteries of the cult. Moritat aspirants who survive this education become full members of the cult and are sent out alone into the wider Imperium -- a process they call the "travail" to hone their skills as assassins, vigilantes and peerless duellists, believing that only through continuous conflict and bloody experience can they become supreme in their arts and worthy to serve the Emperor. The existence of the Moritat is something of an open secret in the hierarchy of the Calixian noble houses and the Imperial adepta of the sector, although facts about them are scarce in the extreme. The cult's existence also seems to benefit from some measure of toleration by the Imperium's higher powers, a fact that leads some to whisper that the Moritat's true sponsorship lies with the distant and dreaded temples of the Officio Assassinorum itself. For a Moritat assassin, the chance to serve the Inquisition is a blessed thing -- dealing death to the God-Emperor's enemies first-hand and also a proving ground where they can test their skills against the most dire and powerful opposition imaginable. Many Inquisitors regard Moritat assassins as invaluable resources, monsters of their own to fight the many monsters they must challenge.

Winged Skull - The Winged Skull is a Death Cult of the Imperium. It is the cult to which the Death Cultist executioner Knosso Prond belonged. Its governing priestess required Prond to swear that she would not speak another word nor return to the hidden temple of the cult until she had slain a single individual from each of 1,000 designated xenos species that were hostile to Humanity.

Bloodspun Web - The Imperium is founded upon death and bloodshed, and maintained only by the further sacrifices of Humanity. There are those for whom death is a way of life, and Death Cults of many types can be found on worlds across the Imperium. They revel in holy slaughter, dedicating their victims' souls to the God-Emperor, offering up blood sacrifices to Him of his many enemies so that He might answer their prayers. The practices of these Death Cults are dark and terrifying. Common folk maintain a superstitious fear of ruthless assassins who specialise in ritual murder, self-mutilation and bloody communion. Vague omens can make these zealots of the Imperial Cult target seemingly innocent people just as easily as obvious enemies of the Imperium. One such cult lurks within the bowels of the Rogue Trader House von Valancius' flagship in the Koronus Expanse. For standard years, the ascetic and inscrutable servants of the Death Cult known as the "Bloodspun Web" have protected the dynasty from enemies aboard the vessel, stalking the threats hiding in lower decks and spraying the bulkheads with the blood of their victims. One of the cult's greatest assassins, Kibellah, "Second Spinner of the Bloodspun Web," was tasked with serving as her Lord Captain's bodyguard after a foul Genestealer Cult was revealed to have taken up residence in the bowels of the von Valancius flagship. Kibellah proved invaluable in helping her patron eliminate the foul xenophiles.

Notable Death Cultists[]

Severina and Sevora Devout - Raised from birth by an ancient sect known as the Emperor's Blades, Severina and Sevora Devout are identical twin sisters who have been taught to wield a blade with astonishing speed, but are unable to read, write or speak. They communicate with an intricate sign language developed by the cult, and, when not actively hunting, they hone the ritual deathblows taught to them by the ancient masters and mistresses of the sect. Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn once investigated the Emperor's Blades, but found nothing but puritanical devotion to the God-Emperor. He hired the mysterious twins, taking three solar months to learn their peculiar language. The price he paid? At least one phial of blood from each of the twins' victims must be sent back to the cult's temple to be dedicated to the Emperor. A small price to pay for such lethal talents.

Xurris Clorr - Born on a Feral World, this Death Cultist serves the Radical Inquisitor Thaddeus Hakk. She was sent by her master to find and retrieve his previous Acolyte, Interrogator Thirl. The tracker's mission failed, Thirl's prodigious psychic powers granting him full knowledge of the mission and allowing him to ambush his assassins before they even knew of their own doom. Xurris was the lone survivor of the ambush. Despite this, she refuses to acknowledge her failure, and continues to track the heretical Acolyte until she is victorious or dead.

Seraph - The assassin known only as "Seraph" is a mind-wiped former Acolyte of Radical Inquisitor Antonia Mesmeron. Seraph knows very little about herself; only a few hints of her past remain before her service to the Inquisitor. What is clear is that Seraph was once a member of the Moritat cult before she was possessed by a sinister Daemon during the Inquisitor's involvement in the Foulmind conspiracy on Protasia. The skills she learned as both an Acolyte and a Death Cultist have made Seraph doubly-feared, and at Inquisitor Mesmeron's side she claimed many lives with her specially-made lathe blades. After her possession, Seraph tore through the depths of Sender Hive on Laskin, weaving a bloody rampage that left no level of Imperial society unstained. Seraph's trail of destruction was halted only by the sacrifice of a squad of Storm Troopers and the personal intervention of Inquisitor Mesmeron, who arranged for a full exorcism of her valued Acolyte. This action was not taken lightly, for Mesmeron intended to use this exorcism to validate her own Oblationist views, and in this, she succeeded. After the exorcism, Seraph became stronger, colder, little more than a tool for her mistress' commands. Those who glimpse the Chaos-brand upon the woman's face find it is usually the last thing they ever see. Recently, Seraph has become more and more battle-hungry, seeking out ever more dangerous foes to fight in her mistress' service. Whether this activity is sanctioned by Inquisitor Mesmeron or a sign of something darker reemerging has yet to become clear.

Knosso Prond - Knosso Prond is a member of the Winged Skull Death Cult (see above) who served under the command of the Rogue Trader Elucia Vhane. Prond was forced by the political maneuverings of her cult's governing priestess to take a vow that she would not say another word aloud or return to her temple until she had slain a member from each of 1,000 xenos species deemed to be hostile to Humanity and enemies of the Emperor. Thus, joining Elucia Vhane's Elucidian Starstriders Rogue Trader fleet proved to be an optimal way to begin to make headway on this goal. Though always silent, Prond is loyal to Vhane and acts as her martial champion. When the Chaos God Nurgle's Gellerpox plague struck Elucia's flagship, the New Dawn, Prond was one of the few members of the crew left uninfected. She now fights besides Vhane to escape from the mutant hordes the supernatural Warp plague has created.

KibellahConceptArt — Concept art for the Death Cult assassin Kibellah of the Bloodspun Web cult created for *Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader*.

Kibellah - Unknown to the Rogue Trader who commands the vessel, a Death Cult lurks within the bowels of House von Valancius' flagship in the Koronus Expanse. For standard years, the ascetic and inscrutable servants of the Death Cult known as the "Bloodspun Web" have protected the dynasty from enemies aboard the vessel, stalking the threats hiding in lower decks and spraying the bulkheads with the blood of their victims. Kibellah is a masterful assassin whose talent and fanatical devotion to the Undying Emperor has earned her the title of the "Second Spinner of the Bloodspun Web." Since childhood, she has dedicated herself to rigorous training of mind and body, perfecting the art of the blade dance and mollifying her emotions. Kibellah has no desires, only duty; no fear, only purpose. She is the perfect instrument of death, and this undying servant of the Undying Emperor has left the shadows to become the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius' personal bodyguard. Her specialised blades and ritualistic arts are at the Lord Captain's service, as is her sophisticated mind. She recognises the divine signs sent by the Emperor, even through the veil of mundane reality. Her world is a realm of riddles and blood that interweave and resolve into momentous insight. To that end, she bears the greatest relic of the cult: a sacred deck of the Emperor's Tarot. The cards speak the will of the Undying One and reveal the names of those who must depart. Every new reading reveals ever more clearly that the greatest moment of her life is at hand. The Immortal Emperor holds an exceptional destiny in store for His servant, who is now ready to step into the future.

Sources[]

Codex: Adepta Sororitas (8th Edition), pg. 57
Codex: Elucidean Starstriders (8th Edition), pg. 18
Dark Heresy: Ascension (RPG), pg. 54
Dark Heresy: Radical's Handbook (RPG), pg. 234
Dark Heresy: Beta Core Rulebook (2nd Edition) (RPG), pg. 43
Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods (RPG), pp. 22-25, 30-31
Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook (RPG), pg. 74
Deathwatch: Ark of the Lost Souls (RPG), pg. 74
Inquisitor Rulebook (Specialty Game), pp. 140-141
White Dwarf 261 (US), "Chosen of the Gods", pg. 56
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, Void Shadows DLC (PC Game)
Owlcat Games X Feed
Knosso Prond Facebook description