Imperial Cult - Cult of the Emperor: The Cult Imperialis is one of the few common factors that link the disparate worlds of the Imperium together. No matter what conditions prevail upon a world within the Imperium, the Imperial Cult will be found there. The ways in which the Emperor is worshipped are multitudinous. To some He is revered as a distant patriarchal and Human figure. Others identify Him with some aspect of nature or, like the primitive Epheisians of Dwimlicht, regard Him as a star-god, for His agents only visit occasionally and they descend from the heavens when they do so.But all the creeds of the cult agree upon this one thing: there is only one Emperor. To worship a pantheon of gods and put other gods alongside Him is heresy. However, there have been many individuals over the millennia who have been seen as His Saints, people visibly touched by the Emperor, and they are venerated all over the Imperium. There are Saints for every aspect of life and there is a thriving trade in their relics on many worlds.The worship of the Emperor is, in the main, highly organised. Cathedral complexes can be found in the capitals of all worlds of any meaningful populations. On the densely populated, teeming Hive Worlds, these can occupy entire spires of a hive city. The graceful structure of the Emperor Triumphant, constructed after the Second War for Armageddon at Hive Primus on Armageddon, climbs delicately skyward, its main tower nearly a full kilometre in height. The statue of the Emperor at the top brushes the troposphere, looking benignly down upon the seething, polluted world below. Most towns will have a church or temple to the Emperor, and even the crudest village of the most primitive tribesmen will sport a sacred cave or grove dedicated to His name.Of course, in some places, the worship of the Emperor supersedes all other aspects of life -- these are the Shrine Worlds of the Imperium, where perhaps one of the great Saints, or even, in the distant past, the Emperor Himself, performed a great deed. These planets can be single, vast religious complexes, or huge Cemetery Worlds such as Granithor, where the wealthy spend vast fortunes bringing the dead scions of their families for burial, usually those who have perished in the service of the Emperor. Then there are the Cardinal Worlds, which attract millions of pilgrims and are the strongholds of the cult. These planets are directly governed by the Ecclesiarchy and are the seats of functionaries high in the Ministorum, responsible for the spiritual health of vast areas of Imperial space.The Ecclesiarchy maintains and promotes the cult galaxy-wide and, where possible, tries to sanction the worship of the Emperor no matter how bizarre it may seem. Very few practices are proscribed, and even such abominations as Human sacrifice to the Emperor are useful to the Imperium, for it is easy to convince a newly encountered culture that approves of such custom to give up its psykers to the Black Ships.One of the Ecclesiarchy's tasks is to record this multiplicity of tradition with which the Emperor is honoured. In that way, two Preachers from opposite sides of the galaxy will know, no matter what their title or manner of expressing their devotion might be, that neither is a Heretic. The Ecclesiarchy sends out mission fleets for precisely this purpose, and its flotillas of blessed voidcraft slowly circle a particular part of the galaxy, recording new variants of the cult, correcting serious heresies and proselytizing to newly discovered populations of Humans.To all, the Emperor is a living god. He may be tens of thousands of light years away, but that He exists, the inhabitants of the Imperium know, so faith is an easy thing. Some amongst the Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition may argue that men should be more ardent in their devotion to Him, but though some may be lax in their adulation and may blaspheme or heretically curse the Master of Mankind for their lot, it is nevertheless rare to meet a man who would dare to deny the Emperor's divinity.