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Credos

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Map Basic Data Planetary Image
px Name: Credos Unknown.jpg
Segmentum: Ultima Segmentum[1]
Sector: Jericho Reach[1]
Subsector:
System:
Population: 1,500
Affiliation: Deathwatch
Class:
Tithe Grade: Adeptus Non

Credos is a world located in the Jericho Reach's Orpheus Salient region.[1] The single settlement on Credos is a monastery maintained by Deathwatch serfs.

History

Landscape of Credos

The world has seen many changes in the long millennia of its existence. The structure known as the Theopticon is said to have existed upon Credos’ only continental mass since before the Horus Heresy, the statues of the Emperor and the Primarchs dominating the skyline with their size and majesty.[2]

In the wake of the Horus Heresy, Credos became a world of specific importance in the Sector. As belief in the God Emperor spread across the Imperium, temples and shrines were constructed to celebrate that faith, and worlds came together to share it. When the Temple of the Saviour Emperor became the official religion of the Imperium, the many priests and clerics of the Emperor within the Jericho Sector embarked upon a pilgrimage to Credos, to stand beneath the gaze of the Emperor and His sons and consider the faith that they all shared. Over the course of many years, these priests resolved many disputes and came to many conclusions, determining the Sector’s first Saints, the core tenets of faith, and the structure of the Sector’s dioceses and which worlds would fall within them—in short, the entire religious landscape of the Jericho Sector.[2]

Notable Locations

The Theopticon

The only structure of any significance upon Credos is a range of colossal statues depicting the likeness of the Emperor and the Primarchs, collectively known as the Theopticon. Believed to predate the Horus Heresy, the Theopticon appears to have once consisted of twenty-one statues, with eleven of them—clearly those depicting the lost and traitor Primarchs—having been reduced to nothing more than rubble, leaving only empty spaces and shattered rock as testament to their presence.[2]

Each statue is some six kilometres high, carved from the hard yellow-brown stone of their surroundings, maintained by ancient and cunning technologies to help them endure the ages and stand under their own immense weight. The statues are arranged in a vast arc, all facing inwards with each statue gazing at the same point as all the others—the highest peak on the small, mountainous continent. Into this peak is built a temple to the might of the Emperor, now maintained by forces loyal to the Deathwatch. Deathwatch personnel frequently make pilgrimages to Credos as a way of reconnecting with their spiritual and genetic fathers, though there are some outside the Deathwatch—amongst those few who know of Credos—who suspect some motive for the Deathwatch beyond Astartes spiritualism in their continued maintenance of the Theopticon and its temple.[2]

The Temple of the Vigilant Emperor

Significantly younger than the statues that gaze upon it, the Temple of the Vigilant Emperor was originally little more than an observation balcony, a habitation area and a small landing platform. Over the millennia, it has steadily expanded, initially into a sizeable monastery sufficient to house several thousand monks long-term, and keep several high-ranking priests in their accustomed manner for months at a time. As the wealth of the Jericho Sector Arch-Diocese grew, so did the size and opulence of the Temple of the Vigilant Emperor, as it has become known, eventually reaching a point where it rivalled some of the Sector’s smaller cathedrals in size.[2]

After the reign and death of Arch-Cardinal Asterus, the Temple of the Vigilant Emperor was ignored, becoming a footnote in history and a mausoleum for the monks who had dwelt there. However, the Deathwatch was not content to let such a fate befall Credos, and their efforts saw the Temple renewed. This time, military practicality and the spartan beliefs of the Adeptus Astartes prevailed over the greed and indolence once endemic amongst the Adeptus Ministorum, and the Temple became a fortress, reinforced against external attack, with many of its lower chambers repurposed to serve the Temple’s new masters.[2]

The Temple today is a bastion designed to be held by a small number of warriors against many, fitted with batteries of emplaced sentry-guns and servitor-crewed anti-aircraft weaponry. That, however, is only the surface of the Temple of the Vigilant Emperor. Beneath the mountain, and connected to a series of winding passages that lead into the statues themselves, the Temple’s purpose becomes clearer. Vast quantities of arcane cogitators and sophisticated logic engines, connected to a colossal array of augurs, auspex feeds and a choir of astropaths fill the deeper chambers of the Temple, gazing upon the void and sending information back to Watch Fortress Erioch continuously. Deeper still, the secure vaults within the statues themselves are often employed to store the most valuable and most dangerous of artefacts, hidden away from all but a chosen few. Every so often, a matter of importance detected by the Temple’s equipment requires the presence of a member of the Deathwatch to confirm and report on, a voyage often referred to as a pilgrimage. Indeed, many amongst the Deathwatch take the opportunity to reaffirm their oaths of service under the gaze of the Emperor and His loyal sons, while waiting for a Battle-Brother to return from the Temple’s depths. While not a Watch Station in the traditional sense, the Temple of the Vigilant Emperor on Credos serves a similar purpose, ensuring that the Deathwatch are aware of threats in the region and giving them the opportunity to prepare.[2]

At present, Credos’ isolation and relative lack of Tyranid presence allows it to continue functioning, barely, but it is an asset so significant and valuable to the Deathwatch that the prospect of losing it to alien invasion is one that few wish to contemplate.[2]

See Also

Sources