Imperium
Contents
History of the Imperium
The Imperium was founded by the Emperor (Master of mankind, ruler of humanity and God of the human race) and ended the "Age of Strife", a period of anarchy, lawlessness and senseless destruction that lasted for dozens of centuries and during which all but the faintest traces of the vast, advanced galactic civilization built by men in previous eras disappeared.
However, when the warpstorms of the Age of Strife subsided, the Emperor set forth to unite mankind under his rule, turning his hordes of techno-barbaric warriors into the first superhuman Space Marines.
After having secured the scientific posts and spacedocks of Luna, along with the factories and weaponshops based on Mars, the Emperor built a warfleet with which he undertook the Great Crusade, which lasted for two centuries and ended with the formal establishment of Imperial rule over all but the most scattered and distant human colonized worlds.
During this period, the Emperor employed his most potent soldiers, the Space Marines, and their born leaders, the Primarchs. These, coupled with the combined might of the Imperial Army/Navy (later the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy as separate organisations), made Mankind the pre-eminent force to contend with in the galaxy, as its teeming numbers fulfilled what many saw as Man's destiny to rule the galaxy.
The Imperium in the 41st millennium
The Imperium is nominally ruled by the most beneficent God-Emperor of Mankind. However, since his ascension to the Golden Throne following his confrontation with Horus, the duties of actually ruling the Imperium are carried out by the Senatores Imperialis, the twelve High Lords of Terra. The identities and precise responsibilities of these High Lords vary, but members include a representative of the Inquisition, the Master of the Administratum, the Fabricator General of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the Lord Commander Militant, supreme commander of the Imperial Guard.
Ultimately, the High Lords are in control of the entire Imperium, and are responsible for maintaining the functioning of the Imperium through the Adeptus Terra and the Imperial Commanders. In practice, given the galactic size of the Imperium, many of the outlying regions are left to fend for themselves without any involvement in the central government.
The Adeptus Terra
- See main article: Adeptus Terra
The Adeptus Terra is the primary organisational structure of the Imperium. It is not really an organisation in and of itself, but rather an umbrella organisation, to which all official Imperial organisations and departments belong, with the exception of the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy.
The Administratum
- See main article: Administratum
The Adeptus Administratum is the largest department of the Adeptus Terra and it is the primary logistical organisation of the Imperium, consisting of untold billions of bureaucrats and scribes. It assesses tithes, conducts population censuses, keeps records, plans infrastructure projects, and does a million other things. It is the Administratum that is primarily responsible for the continued smooth running of the Imperium.
The Ecclesiarchy
- See main article: Ecclesiarchy
The Adeptus Ministorum, also known as the Ministorum or Ecclesiarchy, is the Church of the God-Emperor. Although the Ministorum allows variations of Imperial faith to flourish, "The only cult we do not abhor is that of the Emperor", and the division between heresy and pious zeal can be hair-thin and malleable to those with power. Most versions of the Imperial faith encourage productivity ("Work is Prayer"), adherence to duty, obedience to authority, thankfulness to the Emperor and other such important virtues.
It is worth noting that the Ecclesiarchy did not exist formally until about 3000 years after the Emperor's ascension to the Golden Throne. Prior to this it was simply the largest and strongest of the various Emperor-cults in the Imperium, which eventually grew to absorb or destroy competing cults. Once several High Lords of Terra converted and joined this cult, it was only a matter of time before it became recognized, adopted, and eventually declared the state religion of the Imperium.
The Departmento Munitorum
- See main article: Departmento Munitorum
While the Adminstratum is primarily responsible for all logistical operations relating to the civilian side of the Imperium, the Departmento Munitorum is responsible for the logistics of the Imperial war machine, organising military tithes, troop movements and troop deployment. The Departmento is far more decentralised than the other divisions of the Adeptus Terra, establishing a presence on any world with a significant tithe-grade. Distress calls from an invaded world are processed by the Munitorum, and will be passed up the ladder of system-subsector-sector-Segmentum-Imperium HQ until a division with enough reach can raise the armies needed from neighbouring systems and respond. Thus, the harder a foe strikes at the Imperium, the greater the retribution will be.
The Adeptus Mechanicus
- See main article: Adeptus Mechanicus
The Adeptus Mechanicus, the Tech-Priests of Mars, are the engineers and technicians of the Imperium, and create most of the Imperium's more advanced weaponry, build and maintain the Titan Legions and so on. They are in effect a political entity by themselves, containing their own hierarchy of laws and armies.
Prior to the founding of the Imperium, the tech-priests were an independent entity unto themselves, and had already settled various worlds througout the galaxy with seed worlds for their own planned Empire. Their alliance with the Emperor was as much a matter of convenience as of conquest by him.
The Inquisition
- See main article: Inquisition
Independent of the rest of the Adeptus Terra are the Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition. They are the ultimate judicial and police authority in the Imperium, second only to the Emperor himself.
Officio Assassinorum
- See main article: Officio Assassinorum
An inconspicuous but vital part of the Imperial machinery of war, the Officio Assassinorum trains and deploys assassins all over the galaxy, to seek out and exterminate dangerous individuals. The deployment of one of their operatives must be sanctioned by the High Lords of Terra. In times of outright war, assassins are typically deployed under the watchful eye and nominal command of an Inquisitor.
The Imperial Commanders
In addition to the Adeptus Terra and the militaries, the High Lords also command the Segmentum Commanders, who each oversee one of the five galactic regions known as the Segmentae Majoris: Segmentum Solar, Segmentum Pacificus, Segmentum Obscurus, Segmentum Tempestus and Ultima Segmentum. Each Segmentum Commander oversees his sector Commanders, who in turn oversee subsector Commanders, who oversee Imperial Commanders, also known as planetary governors. The higher ranks in this system are usually combined with a basic planetary governorship as well as interplanetary duties. This system is the means by which the Imperium, which is largely a confederacy, maintains control of the separate planets that make it up.
An Imperial Commander is the Imperially instituted ruler of a world. However, because of the distances involved and the unstable nature of Warp communication, Commanders generally operate very autonomously. This allows quite a lot of variation in the governments of Imperial worlds. Many governorships are hereditary (examples of this include Segmentum Commanders of Segmentum Tempestus and the royals of Volpone), but it is also possible for a planet to have an elected Commander (such as the Electors of Tanith), a tyrant Commander who rules by force of arms, or anything in between. So long as the Commander fulfills his duties to the Imperium, his rule will generally go unquestioned by central authorities.
A rare few Commanders preside over feral or medieval worlds where the Imperium has not seen fit to introduce modern technology. These Commanders usually remain distant on orbital installations, only occasionally visiting the planet to control mutation and heresy, as well as collect the modest tithes these planets pay.
The Imperial duties of a Commander include paying the planetary tithe to the Administratum, controlling mutation, insurrections and heresy on his world and maintaining a planetary defence force capable of defending the planet in the event of invasion. The Planetary Defence Forces (abbreviated to PDF) should be able to halt attacks from most foes, or at least hold out until reinforcements arrive, which could take a period of months or even years.
A relatively small number of Imperial worlds are not ruled by a Commander, but are overseen by an alternate organisation such as the Adeptus Terra, Imperial Guard or Space Marines. These include the Forge Worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus, whose inhabitants toil without pause to manufacture the weapons of the Emperor's armies (including Mars, Gryphonne IV and Fortis Binary), the Cardinal worlds of the Ecclesiarchy, which are given entirely over to education and worship of the God-Emperor (Ignatius Cardinal, Ophelia VII), fortress worlds of the Imperial Guard (Cadia), and the Space Marine homeworlds (Fenris, Rynn's World, Macragge, Baal, Caliban, Medusa).
Forces of the Imperium
The Imperium represents mankind's only hope for survival by maintaining the vast armies that keep back the aliens. The Imperium is surrounded by alien species, and is also under continual attack by the forces of Chaos, and at least one extragalactic species (the Tyranids).
The Imperium's defence forces consist of the:
The forces of the Inquisition have absolute authority to combat enemies both within and outside the Imperium. Most Inquisitors belong to one of three orders:
- The Ordo Malleus - with the Daemonhunters as its military wing, including the Grey Knights
- The Ordo Hereticus - with the Witch Hunters as its military wing, including the Sisters of Battle
- The Ordo Xenos - with the Alienhunters as its military wing, including the Deathwatch Space Marines.
- The psychic blank Sisters of Silence
The Adeptus Mechanicus also contribute to the defense of the Imperium with:
Enemies of the Imperium
Apart from the enemies within (the heretics, traitors and mutants), the forces of the Imperium battle against the following enemies:
- The forces of Chaos
- The Eldar and Dark Eldar
- The Tyranid Hive Fleets
- The various Ork 'Waaagh!'s
- The Tau Empire
- The Necrons
Organisation
Imperial Dating
The Imperium uses a dating system to deal with the vast amount of time that it has existed. It is no less accurate than real life dating systems but extended beyond the sensible limits of real life systems. It is investigated in the Imperial Dating System.
Quotes Imperium
Quotes Imperium contains a selection of the quotes made by various Imperial officials.