Editing Nobledark Imperium Imperial Society and Culture (section)

== Religions ==

=== Priestesses of Isha ===

The Discipleship of Isha is the most unifying force among the craftworlds and Exodites, as each of them — bar Dorhai and other warmongering malcontents — are under their nurturing influence. This is not to say that the Priestesses are themselves a unified force — indeed no they are not — but rather that they work to inspire some minimal unity in others. Temples are present on every craftworld, Exodite colony, and even in most of the larger Eldar enclaves on predominantly other-xeno worlds — including predominantly human worlds.

The gutter media of the Imperium insists on depicting these temples as places of carnal excess and licentiousness; there’s an entire movie genre based on it on some worlds, full of light-hearted innuendos and harmless-if-slightly-titillating shenanigans. They depict the Temples of Isha as places of light-hearted revelry and some degree of irreverent fun. This is usually quite far from the truth. Typically they never include the dying.

The Temples of Isha All-Mother are, among other things, the hospitals of the craftworlds. Eldar usually right themselves and heal on their own, if given enough time and somewhere safe and quiet. But for those times the pain is too much and the wounds too deep, there is always the Disciples of the All-Mother. Missing limbs, sucking chest wounds, infection, and innumerable other afflictions and maladies are brought to the temples; to the soft light, the fragrant smell of leaves, and gentle hands. For some, for far too many — though, if truth be told, any number equalling or greater than one is too many — nothing can be done beyond rendering the comfort of the dying. Hold them close and sing songs of soothing summers past and springtimes yet to come, as their souls join the Infinity Circuit where their pains can’t follow them.

The All-Mother’s blessings on her priesthood are potent and there is much they can heal — but only on her children. Many believe that with the birth of the Impossible Child the strict divide between man and Eldar will fade away, and that the strange magics of healing will work on humans as they mingle with the Eldar. Maybe they will, who can say?

The fertility aspect of the Disciples is not as exciting as bawdy tales make it out to be — with maybe the exception of the Saim-Hann branches of the following. On Exodite worlds, particularly, the locals are more interested in the effects the Disciples have on the land than what it has on themselves. The rituals of procreation are typically preceded by at least one, often more than one, local day/s of fasting, prayer, and meditation. Real fasting. If the rituals take days, you had better have had a nourishing meal beforehand because this is not going to be pleasant for you. And maybe that’s the point. It is not unknown for inexperienced Eldar to pass out from hunger, then have to start again. 

Following the fasting is a meal of fruit and leaf-vegetables. Each item of food has some symbolic value or mention in some scripture. Scriptures are recited over the ritual meal. Scriptures of the old days in innocent times, when all was new and vibrant and the gods walked among their progeny and found them full of joy and the cause of joy.

Then is the typically extremely unpleasant cleansing and bathing. The skin of the entire body is covered in ashes and cinders. Then the supplicant must walk through fire, and after is washed in a mixture of saltwater and herbs administered by an abrasive brush.

Finally the supplicant is permitted to engage in sexual activities with a member of the temple for the purpose of procreation. They are not typically permitted to choose who with.

The exact details of the proceedings vary between temples as there isn’t a very strict hierarchy. In theory, each priestess is an authority unto themselves, with only Macha-Isha — the High Priestess and Avatar of the All-Mother — above them. Priestesses typically congregate with like-minded members of their vocation for practical concerns and the most senior priestesses takes control as needed, though nothing is written down anywhere formally stating that the senior priestesses have a right to dictate the practice of their faith, beyond the wisdom of their years.

Typically, each priestess has acolytes that she will train up in her own image, to share her philosophies and interpretations of the scriptures. The training is demanding, as each acolyte must know — in great detail and surety — the workings of the Eldar form, how to protect the Eldar body from all that could ail it, and repair it when protections fail. There are no priests or male acolytes; though there are adherents who are valued assistants in the arts of healing, they are not ordained in any way. The security of the temples is typically the jurisdiction of the Aspect Warriors of Khaine; by his own offer, as the nearest he could manage to an apology for killing uncountable numbers of Isha’s children in centuries past.

The only exception to the above is Saim-Hann, whose priestesses offer themselves in reward to those of greatest in accomplishment and whose rituals are few and lax. The temples of more respectable craftworlds look down on them, but Macha-Isha has inspected them and approved of their practices.

Exodite priestesses, in contrast, are less preoccupied with birth rates. The Exodites live in harder and more resource-poor environments than the Craftworlds, and don't age very much either. Every new mouth to feed is not a successor as is with humans, but is instead competition in times of poverty and little.

Due to the Exodites' low birth rate and long lifespan, marriages are rare occasions. Exodite priestesses would be the ones conducting those very auspicious events, preferably under the wraith-tree/s or by the standing stones if the colony is too remote. The exact nature of the ceremony varies from priestess to priestess, as they don't have any sort of standardization.

Exodite Priestesses don't typically own more than they can carry. Beyond the clothes on their back, often their worldly possessions consist of a backpack full of herbs and long-lasting emergency food, bandages, needle and thread, and maybe some clean undergarments. They often have a sturdy stick to lean on, often adorned with paint or tokens, but other than for leaning on their sticks hold no great significance. Typically, the priestesses will stay with and look after the local populace, and are looked after by them in return. It is considered a great honour to have one stay in your home.

When two Exodite priestesses meet, they exchange traditional pleasantries and tell each other where they intend to travel so that they can avoid one another. They are not gregarious, at least not with their own kind. Typically, you will never see more than two — a Priestess and an Acolyte — in any given place unless it's a special occasion. They might meet up for solstice and equinox celebrations, they might not. People dedicated to Isha tend to live closer to the upper end of the Eldar's natural life expectancy, and her chosen are no exception to this. And many of them are very, very old indeed, old and knowledgeable. They tend not to mix well with their Craftworlder equivalents, seeing them as soft and foolish women.

===Religio Mortem===
The Religio Mortem is a loose group of cults and sects that worship death in some capacity, typically believed to have either one god that comes in the form of three figures or three gods acting as one. The first and oldest of the three is Hal — a mistranslation of the word Hell, itself an older mistranslation of the name Hel. In the form of Hal, the god is a female human who wears a pitch black hood with matching cloak that light cannot escape. It is she who reaps the dead, to be tortured for eternity or to lay them to rest in eternal peace. It is anybody's guess how accurate Hal is, and whether she's based off of Aza'gorod — although the Death Cultists do worship and welcome death. The second form is Apepoatl the Dark Serpent, with shadowy feathers that devour those who refused to transition from limbo to death. The name is thought to be from somewhere near Merika and Nord Afrika, though again it is a probable mistranslation. Said to follow the shadow of the sun, the Dark Serpent brings with it war and chaos to those near the unwilling to die. The very nature of Apepoatl has made some jurisdictions outlaw its worship, not helped by the common belief that the Dark Serpent requires blood sacrifice from a heart to be summoned. Last is Germberus the Guard Hound, the fiery-red dog who protects the dead from being disturbed and acts as the first and last barrier between the living and the dead. Some sects say Germberus has multiple heads, but this detail changes from planet to planet. It is thought Germberus originated from the tales of Astral Hounds and myths of Ancient Terra. Almost no Space Marines and Eldar worship Germberus, as the core tenet of this god is to never revive the dead in any way.

Though the religion itself had its foundations on Terra, the Religio Mortem became increasingly decentralized as it followed the expedition fleets of the Great Crusade. By M40, there are a multitude of different interpretations and variations regarding the depiction of the gods, but there are common features most sects agree on and the Death Cults do collectively tend to attract the suicidal, insane, and serene zealots of the Imperium. Commonly, the cultists themselves either wish to die, spread death in the most efficient way possible, comes to terms with death to find peace, or some combination of the three. The most infamous Death Cultist is believed to have been Mortarion, but the question of whether he actually worshiped the Death Gods or simply believed in their existence is entirely up in the air. Some worlds have also associated the Religio Mortem with Chaos — specifically to Mala, Nurgle, and Khorne. It is not unusual for the Death Cults to be driven underground when a jurisdiction outlaws them.

Unsurprisingly, the Assassin Temples prefer to recruit from the Death Cults, as there is a strong historic association between the Assassins of the Salt Wastes and the Religio Mortem, notwithstanding the considerable overlap in practices and traditions. This preference seems to have borne fruit, as the cultists have proven time and again that they are willing go to great lengths to kill a target. The criminal elements of a Death Cult will likewise tend to work as assassins for hire. The most famous use of Death Cultists as assassins is the failed assassination attempt of the Traveling Court by Inquisitor Fyodor Karamazov; where — after seeing how using Death Cultists worked so well for the Imperium [[Nobledark_Imperium_Imperial_Forces#The_Assassins|when they turned the Assassins of the Salt Wastes into the Officio Assassinorum]] — the rogue Inquisitor convinced an isolated sect of Death Cultists into trying to kill the Imperial Family. The Imperial Army frowns upon Death Cult practices and beliefs within its ranks, as there is a stigma that the tenets of the Religio Mortem turns soldiers' wills weak and convinces them into acting as suicidal cannon fodder instead of effective warriors. This stigma is not entirely true, as even when Death Cultists are suicidal, they will try to kill as many enemies as possible whilst dying.