Editing Ophelia VII (section)

==Overview and History==

Ophelia VII was rediscovered by the Imperium during the [[Great Crusade]] and was personally reconquered by the [[Emperor]] himself, leading a force of one hundred [[Adeptus Custodes|Custodians]] and ten thousand [[Imperial Fists]].

After the end of the [[Horus Heresy]] and the rise of the [[Imperial Cult]], Ophelia became one of the wealthiest planets in the Imperium, and was the diocese of Benedin IV as a cardinal prior to his assumption of the office of Ecclesiarch in the mid-36th Millennium. When Benedin decided that the High Lords of Terra were cramping the Adeptus Ministorum's style, he decided to pack up and move the entire thing off Terra and onto a new world. Ophelia VII was a natural choice, for several reasons: Benedin was already familiar with the planet from his time as its cardinal, it was wealthy beyond belief, and it was far enough away from Terra that the High Lords wouldn't be able to muck around with the Ministorum. It was during this time that Ophelia came into its own as a Cardinal World. Benedin ordered the construction of unbelievably huge cathedrals on the planet to cement its new status as the center of the Ministorum's power. [[What|These cathedrals covered over 90,000 square miles of land and were four kilometers high. For reference, that's three times the size of Portugal and almost enough to cover the entirety of Great Britain.]] This was only the start, however.
Ophelia's distance from Terra allowed Benedin and his successors to raise vast amounts of money through tithing, much of which they poured into turning the planet into the single largest shrine to the Emperor in Imperial space. More enormous cathedrals, bell towers, shrines, and monuments were built, linked by massive avenues lined with statues of Imperial saints. Further, the Ecclesiarchs encouraged cardinals on other worlds to outdo each other in dropping colossal sums of money on their own mega-cathedrals, statues, and shrines. Deviant cults and heretics were rooted out and exterminated with extreme prejudice, and the Ministorum slowly consolidated its power over all matters spiritual in the Imperium. After three hundred years, Ecclesiarch Greigor XI decided to move the whole production back to Terra for no apparent reason. It took twelve years and a decent chunk of the money in the Ministorum's treasuries, but the Ecclesiarchal Palace was once again made ready to host the spiritual leaders of the Imperium.