Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

== Religion ==
The Imperium is officially secular, providing a limited freedom of religion, as long as you don't worship Chaos or Oscar.
Known Sector Relevant Religions:
*Katholian Church - basically Catholicism with the Emperor seen as some sort of saint. Good old Olly Pious and Lorgar were members back in the day. Terrain branch and off-world branches reunited by Word Bearers. Implied to be a far-flung descendant of an Abrahamic religion that changed over the centuries due to exchange of ideas with other creeds like Zoroastrianism or Buddhism to the point it is barely recognizable. Had a nasty sister branch, Kartharanism, which was formerly the state religion of the Yndonesian Bloc and had thing for omens and believed that only through suffering (whether self-inflicted or otherwise) was any worth found in the world. One of the primarch Lorgar’s biggest accomplishments was the writing of the ''Lectatio Divinitatus'', which reunified the two branches into a single whole.
*Promethian Creed - An old faith predating the Unification but united into a cohesive whole by Vulkan. They view the Emperor as a perfect human but still human and therefore flawed. Strong focus on community strength.
*Fenris Paganism - A loose collection of polytheistic tribal faiths. Each tribe has a slightly different pantheon but most have some sort of overlap. Ulfrik the Slayer is the nominal head of the religion.
*Yechudism - Presumably pseudo-Jewish, and somehow related to the Katholian faith
*Eldar - Let's work on that
*Cults of Oscar - Working on them (Sangy Guardsman)
*Omnissiah* - Y'ALL WORSHIPPIN' THE VOID DRAGON NOW (ahem)
*"Death Cults"/Religio Mortem* - 
*Tanith Small Gods* - 
*Catachan gods of blood and wood* - A bunch of nutters with their old deep forest gods. Every god is an asshole who kills you with various flora and fauna if you fuck up or offend them. According to the Catachans, it's really easy to do so. Catachans worship them by going to church once a week and just fucking screaming at the alters cursing them out.
*Armageddon Outrider Ancestor Worship - Have some kind of ancestor worship setup where they demand that their ancestors "witness them" before performing some deed worthy of mention.
*Cadia - A variety of beliefs are practiced on Cadia, but the most common is a predominantly maltheist and misotheist belief derived from Old Cadian customs. Believe the gods exist, how could you not on Cadia, but that it is every man, woman, and child’s duty to do the exact opposite of what they want and give the finger to them. Interestingly they don't believe Isha is a god because she's 1) in realspace, 2) looks mortal, and 3) not actively malicious. It's worth noting that Old Cadian uses the same word for "god" and "daemon", the closest distinction being made is "god" sometimes more literally translated as "big daemon".
*Prosperine Hermeticism* - Dominant religion on Prospero and by extension the descendants of the Prosperine refugees on Old Earth. Has a big focus on syncreticism and learning all the things. Divided up into several "schools" which despite differing often radically in their philosophies all consider each other sects of the same religion, a worldview that drives outsiders batty. According to legend, the religion started during the Age of Strife when the greatest sages on Prospero met to try and understand the meaning of the universe. Pooling their powers to try to see the fabric of reality, they were all struck with a vision, though no two people saw the same thing. Each founded their own school based around this (think Ancient Greek "air is the center of the universe", "no water is" and so on) hence their worldview of the different schools as sects of the same religion. Though the Prosperans were usually pretty careful about not delving too deep into some stuff (if the Warp was the Great Ocean, it was certainly one full of sharks), the fact that they tended to pick up traditions from other worlds led people to worry about Prosperine Hermeticism as a gateway for Tzeentch, and in a few cases Tzeentch did get in.
*Classical Ancestor Worship*
*Murphyism - Worshippers of the concept of Murphy's Law via an imperfect interpretation of historical documents leading to the view of Murphy being a metaphorical personification of the phenomenon of "everything goes sideways sometimes" rather than a general observation. Believe Murphyism got a huge boost in popularity after [[Nobledark_Imperium_Writing#The_Month_of_Murphy|Cegorach admitted that the power of Murphy's Law probably exceeds even himself or the Chaos Gods (though he considers Murphy's Law to be a universal concept rather than an actual being), and "Murphy" made an absolute fool out of the Emperor]].
Innumerable other Faiths are practiced from world to world

=== Yechudism ===
(WIP. Author notes in parentheses)
Yechudism is a cousin to the Katholian Faith, in that they pull from the same initial source: The Prophet of The Book, who produced a divinely-inspired text concerning the place of man in God’s Universe, called the Codices of Duality, in about 798.M26 during the Age of Strife. The difference is that the ancient Yechudites merged it with their native beliefs, while the Katholians replaced theirs entirely with the Codices. (note: the Codices of Duality is not, unlike the Bible/Torah or even the Kojiki, a mytho-historical legitimization text. It is more like a body of laws with a mythological reward/punishment section)

Yechudism is a multi-worship, dualistic, ritualistic faith. Beginning with Quolious (The sacred name permitted to mortal mouths), their deity of goodness and creation, who is forever locked in a battle to maintain universal purity with the Great Adversary, whose name is forbidden; it then fuses ancestor guidance with animism in an almost non-existent religious hierarchy.  (Basically a Zoroastrianism basis mixed with Shinto beliefs and Jewish leadership)

The religious leaders are the Rabuni (singular Rabun), who are common to both faiths as sacred scholars. However, the Katholians place them to the side of the religious hierarchy, putting in place a complex structure of priests, cardinals, bishops, various other titles, and the Church Father (space pope!). To the Yechudim, above the Rabuni is only Quolious, and the Rabun is equal to the common person in the eyes of Quolious. 

To live in the Yechudite faith is to live in ritual. There are prayers for everything, an attempt to bind your action to furthering Quolious’ Great Plan. Many of the rituals are shared with the Katholians, but their context is not: The Katholians allow only a few rituals to be performed by the individual, with the rest requiring the guidance of a priest in a sacred space. A Yechudite can perform any ritual he wishes, as he is considered to carry sacred space with him. Only a few require more than the individual, and the requirement is to simply have a group of ten adults of the faith participate.

Quolious does not provide guidance: They are too busy dealing with big stuff for that. For help, a Yechudite turns to his Ancestors, the Sacred Ancestors, and the Spirits. His Ancestors are just that: his line of ancestors who were of the faith, lending advice and aid to his efforts. The Sacred Ancestors are considered the Ancestors of every person of the faith; these are people who became shining paragons of what the faithful can be. The Spirits live in every object, being the spiritual form of reality, and are less worshipped and more bartered with in a very ritualistic fashion. The Rabuni can dispense with formality, part of their training involving learning to speak with them (can they? Can they not? Who knows?), and it is from these interactions that the rituals for dealing with spirits are derived.

===Eldar Polytheism===

Overall, Eldar polytheism is rather similar to ancient Greek polytheism, where you have a core group of more powerful immortals and then a wider group of less powerful gods. However, one major difference is that in Eldar polytheism you have one god, Asuryan, who is superior to all gods rather than merely the most powerful among the older generation (as shown by his ability to make a decree and actually make it stick). Another major difference is the gods don't seem to be organized by generation, where you have an older generation of more powerful immortals (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter), who represent more primordial concepts and a younger, "closer to mortals" generation that represent more human concepts (Athena, Hephaestus, Ares). Eldar polytheisms Big Three were Isha, Kurnous, and Khaine, whereas Lileath, Morai-Heg, Vaul, and the like filled out the pantheon. Morai-Heg was definitely among the older gods (being Isha's mother), whereas Isha, Kurnous and Khaine are in many ways associated with more mortal concepts (The Mother, The Hunter, The Warrior).

Isha and Morai-Heg are both earth deities, but in different ways. Isha represents fertility, family, healing/heath, plantlife, and the harvest (i.e., the stuff on top of the earth), whereas Morai-Heg is a more [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chthonic| chthonic] earth deity that represents the earth itself (often being associated with Shaa-Dome itself). Lileath is typically associated with the moons (both moons in general and the white moon of Shaa-Dome that is named after her).

There is significant debate as to where Cegorach fits into this paradigm. Some say he is the fourth member of the Mother, Hunter, Murderer trio but at the same time is more powerful and influential than the other lesser gods but still not operating on the same level as the other 3. Other say that as a trickster deity Cegorach is by nature a liminal being and therefore outside the traditional pantheon structure. When asked directly by eldar in more Cegorach gave the straightforward and yet completely unhelpful answer. "I'm the Cosmic Jester that runs an interdimensional carnival and my followers are ninja clowns. I defy sensible classification".

Eldar polytheism is, as one might expect, mostly an eldar thing, though it exists in a minority form among human populations on many worlds and is actually a majority religion among humans on places like [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Colchis|Colchis]].

'''Isha Worship'''

Like Ishtar, Isha priestesses are known to engage in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sacred_prostitution| sacred prostitution], and *ahem* ''[[PROMOTIONS|motivational]]'' pictures of Isha exist, despite the eldar normally frowning on such things. This causes most humans no end of confusion, though to eldar the difference is perfectly clear. Pictures of Isha and those blessed by Isha aren't bawdy, they're religious art displaying the miracles of the goddess and her power. It just so happens that Isha's realm is that of fertility. Most non-eldar just chalk it up to a weird xenos thing.

Vulkan (who along with Magnus spent the most time with the Steward out of any of the primarchs due to living several millenia) really didn't like Isha because of this, because he saw it as an affront to the Promethean Creed and traditional family values. The fact that Isha was the goddess of motherhood and family as well as fertility was quietly glossed over, because the more weird and unusual aspects of Isha worship were what was more immediately obvious (kind of like how Romans saw early Christians as cannibals). Vulkan habitually referred to the Disciples of Isha as Temple Whores and Isha as Queen of the Whores although he stopped that after Oscar had a quiet word with him. When Vulkan's opinion on the eldar changed from "the Eldar can go to hell" to "well-meaning, but insensitive and racist", Vulkan tried to encourage Isha to play up the "matron" side of her portfolio and downplay the "fertility", ignoring the fact that doing so would be like asking her to suppress a part of her.

Isha priest/priestesses perform several important duties in Eldar society. Their role in sacred prostitution is one of the factors resulting in the glacial increase in the Imperial eldar population, and they tend to have multiple births in an even higher ratio than the average eldar. They sometimes act as healers in cases where normal healing isn't good enough. They are also the only ones other than Isha herself who can synthesize new soul stones, which means no more costly and dangerous expeditions to the ruins of the Old Empire(which in this universe have very pissed off inhabitants).

=== Baalite Wheel Faith ===

The Blood Angels and the majority faith for the people of Baal is that there is a wheel of fate and that the world goes in cycles of birth and death and rebirth. Everything is bound to this cycle, the cycle continues.

Gods are as bound to the cycle as mortals, possibly more so. There is no way off of Mr Bone's Wild Ride. Your only hope is to make it to either selfishly cut all ties to everything so you can become light of soul enough to get to the middle where shit is less animate and the lack of reaction causes you to achieve a state of Nirvāṇa because nothing is bothering you.

The other way of doing things correctly is the selfless giving of your time, effort and life to making the eternal journey on the wheel less awful. The result is a better world than there should have been for the next time around.

Souls are endlessly recycled but the indifference or cruelty of the wheel strips away all things from one life as it enters the next so unless you are selfless and leave something behind to make it less shit the journey is harder and unless you record your wisdom increases in ignorance.

By good works and the preservation of knowledge the cycle is made bearable.

It is theoretically possible to remain in Nirvāṇa indefinitely if you cut every single tie to life before the moment of death and made it to the total stillness of the absolute centre of the wheel. Sadly the exact centre is by definition a single point so can only have one occupant and it is held by Death. He is not moving. He is eternal, the one constant, the ur-god.

To the Blood Angels there is not Heaven, there is not Hell, there is no Judgement after death, there is just the Wheel upon which we are all imprisoned seemingly eternally. There is, therefore, ultimate incentive to make the imprisonment as good as possible.

They follow the teachings of their ancient masters in the knowledge that somewhere out there they have been born again in ignorance. By the propagation of their teachings and the imparting of recorded wisdom they can be brought out of their ignorance again.

They do not see Saint Celestine as special merely because she is a possible reincarnation of Sanguinius. There have undoubtedly been thousands of reincarnations of good ol' Sangy down the ages. They consider her special because of the wings, they are a clear and unmistakable omen that shit is going to get real in her lifetime because the last time Sangy's soul wore wings was the founding of the Imperium.

They acknowledge that the other gods of the other faiths in the Imperium are probably real, not that this makes them special and any god claiming to be all knowing is, in their eyes, either a liar or stupid.

To the people of Baal the gods of Chaos are indeed gods. They are also abominations that are going against their purpose on the Wheel and as such need to die. And yes, gods can die, only Death reigns eternal.

Ynnead they don't know of, not yet. They would consider that it is either an aspect of the ur-god reflected in the minds of mortals like an image in a gently moving stream or they would consider it to be a god taking the image of Death. They would not take offense as imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Nightbringer they do know. Given Mephiston alone how could they not? There's imitation and then there's a sick fucking mockery. Nightbringer is a stain upon the galaxy trying to imitate something it doesn't understand to justify atrocities.

In any case Nightbringer, Ynnead and Impossible Child would not to them be the ur-god made flesh. The ur-god is already made manifest, you're standing in it.

They see Emperor Oscar as exactly what he is in that he is an artificial construct of the Dark Age. They also see him as a very enlightened heathen. Some of them think he is a god, some do not. Those that do are spared the Emperor's ire as to the Baalites the difference between gods and plebs is not so great.

=== Ultramarian Polytheism ===

Despite being mostly Greco-Roman inspired, the Ultramarian pantheon looks more like Hellenized Egyptian polytheism than anything else. Though the gods are often depicted as wearing togas. The chief deity in Ultramarian polytheism is Hera, goddess of the sun, life, light, law, and order. Given that the denizens of Ultramar are a space-faring society her position as defender of the sun is often depicted in a figurative light, the sun representing the light of civilization around which society is nurtured. She is often associated with lionesses, or depicted with the head of a lioness. Other times she is depicted as blindfolded to represent that justice is impartial and holding a set of scales in one hand and a sword in the other as justice means nothing if people aren't willing to enforce it. The other deities in the Ultramar Pantheon are subservient to her and usually her offspring because it is only from this light and the willingness to protect this light and warmth that the very basics of humanity, not a a civilization, but as a functioning species can arise. She is worshiped extensively by the PDFs and the IG Regiments raised in Ultramar, they do not typically pray for her to protect them but that they might protect others. Basically Ma'at meets Ra with a dash of Sekhmet.

Thanatus is another deity worshiped, if worshiped is the word. Some of the more fringe worlds might raise a regiment or two into which they can dump them as a containment measure. They are, the ones that are born on the ground, Ultramar's local branch of the Religio Mortis usually referred to as Morites. They do enlist to protect. They are typically those who have lost too much to want to stay and now pray that they can get even. They demand the chance to honour their Pale Lord, to be his hands in this world and take some fucker out before he claims them. Often depicted as like a spider sitting at the heart of a galactic web. He is also worshiped by the Void Born of the Eastern Fringe as one of their tribal gods. They do not share their traditions with outsiders