Benedictions
Benedictions (often labeled "Thought for the day" or similar) are those slogans and soundbites you see everywhere in 40k media on Imperial paperwork, reports and other material. Equal parts Biblical proverb and Quotations from Chairman Mao, these little nuggets of grimdark act as a candid window into the philosophy of the Imperium of Man: mindless adoration of the Emperor, endless toil and obedience to authority in His name, and burning hatred of anything the previous two groups tell you is heresy. More than anything else it's these snippets that show us how miserable life in the Imperium is for the average person and how utterly brainwashed everybody is from being fed a steady diet of this twaddle from birth.
In Dark Heresy you roll for one on a d100 "Divination" table for a small bonus or penalty as the last step of character creation, fluffed as a reading from the Emperor's Tarot on your new Acolyte's future as an Inquisitorial meatshield. Depending on how well you rolled you could get anything from a "free" mutation to an extra Fate Point. The various 40k video games also like them as a way to hammer in the grimdark early: Space Marine has Mark Strong recite one every time you die, and Darktide uses them as "hints" during loading screens.
An incomplete list[edit | edit source]
- Only in death does duty end.
- Thought begets Heresy; Heresy begets Retribution.
- Kill the alien before it can speak its lies.
- Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.
- Success is measured in blood; yours or your enemy's.
- Hope is the beginning of unhappiness.
- The Emperor asks only that you hate.
- Compromise is akin to treachery.
- Better crippled in body than corrupt in mind.
- Even a man who has nothing can still offer his life.
- Fear is the Mind Killer.
- Accept your lot!
- Serve the Emperor today; tomorrow, you may be dead.
- Carry the Emperor's will as your torch. With it, destroy the shadows.
- A moment of laxity spawns a lifetime of heresy.
- Forgiveness is a sign of weakness.
- If a job is worth doing it is worth dying for.
- The rewards of tolerance are treachery and betrayal.
- A suspicious mind is a healthy mind.
- Violence solves everything.
- Do not ask why you serve the Emperor; only ask how.