Scintilla - Cathedral of Illumination: Hive Tarsus is also the site of one of Scintilla's sector-famous landmarks. The Cathedral of Illumination is the most important place of worship of the divine Emperor of Mankind in the whole Calixis Sector. It is the base of operations for Cardinal Ignato, the sector's most senior Adeptus Ministorum clergyman, who leads the Synod Calixis from the cathedral's lavish auditorium. The cathedral is an extraordinary collection of spires surrounding a cavernous central nave, topped with an enormous stained glass dome, through which the scorching light of Scintilla's equatorial sun blazes.The decoration on the cathedral is paid for by nobles and prominent citizens from across the sector, all eager to purchase a piece of the God-Emperor's grace. The outside of the cathedral is covered in statues, depicting scenes of Imperial history and images of the Imperial Saints, all gleaming gold in the fierce sunlight. It is said that some of the cathedral's least accessible places conceal bizarre statues, like grotesque monsters or scenes of bizarre occult rituals. The area around the cathedral is a forest of statues of saints and important citizens of Scintilla, the most impressive of these being an enormous statue of Saint Drusus that has pride of place outside the main doors to the nave.Inside, the cathedral is just as magnificent. The cavernous nave's glass dome is supported by columns carved into the likenesses of past cardinals of the Synod Calixis and there are enough pews to sit tens of thousands of worshippers. The nave is dominated by an altar that sits in front of a triple portrait in gold and silver, depicting the Emperor (with His face turned from the congregation) flanked by Saint Drusus and Lord Militant Golgenna Angevin, as well as effigies of several saints.Behind the altar is a choir of two thousand servitors filling the nave with soaring choruses. A pulpit overlooks the nave, and it is from here that Cardinal Ignato and the other Ministorum preachers speak the Word of the Emperor. On days of religious importance, such as the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension (the day celebrating the Emperor's "ascension" to the Golden Throne at the end of the Siege of Terra), many thousands of nobles and adepts from across Scintilla fill the nave, while lesser citizens crowd outside in the hope of glimpsing some of the splendour within.The cathedral also contains the cardinal's quarters, the Synod Auditorium, where the sector's cardinals meet to discuss spiritual issues, and the Hall of Relics where holy items are kept for safekeeping and study. These include relics of Saint Drusus' life, including bones purported to be from Drusus' own body (enough to reconstruct several skeletons).The Archivum Spiritual, a library of theological works and religious records, also resides below the cathedral, as do the extensive catacombs where members of the sector's Ecclesiarchy are buried. The cathedral has a huge staff made up of both lay volunteers (mostly ex-pilgrims) and members of the Ecclesiarchy. Armed laymen of the Frateris Militia protect the cathedral, assisted by a single squad of Sisters of Battle from the Order of the Ebon Chalice.The presence of the cathedral means that the Ecclesiarchy has immense influence in Hive Tarsus, to the extent that Cardinal Ignato has more power here than the hive's nobles and the Frateris Militia have a stronger presence on the streets than the Magistratum. All the trade and warehousing halls of the middle hive have lay clergy preaching to the workers about the sacred nature of obedience and the heinous sins of leisure and curiosity.A large proportion of Hive Tarsus' population is made up of pilgrims who are journeying through the hive city to reach the Cathedral of Illumination. Queues of pilgrims snake from the cathedral throughout the middle hive, sometimes spending Terran years waiting for a glimpse of the cathedral while surviving off the efforts of Ecclesiarchy handouts, lay volunteers and unscrupulous traders.The pilgrims are an essential part of Hive Tarsus' economy and most never leave, finding themselves among the labourers of the middle hive or, for a lucky few, working as volunteers among the glittering majesty of the cathedral itself. Hive Sibellus may be the seat of power in the Calixis Sector, but Hive Tarsus is the seat of faith, despite many attempts to shift the Ecclesiarchy's base to the ruling hive city. Almost single-handedly, the cathedral accounts for Hive Tarsus' continued importance and influence in the shadow of its giant rival.