# Imperial afterlife beliefs



## Ardias26 (Sep 26, 2008)

would every imperal world/culture have unique beliefs on what their hereafter will be like (obviously the empy would be slotted into it somwhere).

For example would a warrior culture have a valhalla like afterlife or a merchant world have a divine treasury (ferengi of star trek) etc.

Would each world have some elements of pre imperial beleifs in their 'sanctioned' worship basically.


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## unxpekted22 (Apr 7, 2009)

i dont know if they would have "pre imperial beliefs" since they most likely colonized their world after the imperium was established. 

also I do not think mankind had much religion before the emperor came around. From various fluff i have read it seems like GW implies that humanity had pretty much forgotten about religion all together. 

There are tribes and groups of people who have cults or pagan like beliefs like the space wolves even though there aren't regular people. but all the fenrisians have pagan beliefs not just the space wolves. I think these beliefs came after imperial control. 

with the amount of humans in the galaxy on all sorts of planets it seems inevitable that many would develop their own unique beliefs.


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## Cruor99 (Mar 11, 2009)

The emperor was the one who ridded Humanity of religion. Humanity didn't need such superstition.

It was the heresy that spawned the new imperial cult, much thanks to Lorgar.

And religion is fluant. People believe what they want to believe, so yes - I think people add some of the pre-imperial stuff into the imperial creed. It's just like Christianity, I mean, Christmas is there as a nice replacement to the winter-solstice celebration or something like that.


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## dark angel (Jun 11, 2008)

If I remember correctly alot of Space Marines, from various Chapters believe that when they die they go to the Emperor's Side I cant find the source for this however but I would think that the Imperial Guard also think something like this:victory:


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## Boganius Maximal (Oct 31, 2009)

dark angel said:


> If I remember correctly alot of Space Marines, from various Chapters believe that when they die they go to the Emperor's Side I cant find the source for this however but I would think that the Imperial Guard also think something like this:victory:


I remember reading that somewhere too, they go to the Emperors side so they can prepare to fight the final battle against Chaos at the end of time or something along those lines. I read it a while ago so Im guessing the Space Wolves follow that belief but I may be wrong


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

I believe that the common Imperial belief is that you will be called before the Imperial Throne for an accounting of your sins. Beyond that, I'm hazy on the details.

Certain Astartes chapters, of which I believe that the Imperial Fists and their successors (Black Templars, Crimson Fists) are prominent, believe that they go to the Emperor's side. Whether they play hopscotch, fight the daemons of the void, or sit around "back in my day"-ing, is also not very clearly defined.

Of course, then there's the beer hall that Space Wolves think that they're going to, to quaff eternally... :wink: (don't trust me on this - I haven't read the SW omnibus)


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

The Ecclesiarchy I would imagine is very vague on strict doctrine. As long as people worship the Emperor and stay loyal to the Imperium, everything else is neither here nor there. The original and continuing purpose of the Imperial Cult was political unity; to keep the Imperium together and united following the Horus Heresy, as long as the status quo is maintained it doesn't really matter. 

As for beliefs concerning the 'Afterlife' - Im not aware that the Imperial Cult has such beliefs? Perhaps parts of the Imperial Truth were stuck to, and an Afterlife isn't largely believed in. Belief in the Emperor is all that is required, its possible after all to believe that the Emperor is a god without believing in an Afterlife.

Or perhaps as the majority of people see the Emperor as a god and pray to him for protection, they also believe that there is an afterlife based around the Emperor. 

Personally I think it all depends on the state of the Emperor's warp presence. We know that souls are connected to and in essence part of the warp, when mortals die there souls will in normal circumstances simply fizzle out (Source: Chaos Marines Codex), if the Emperor's Warp Presence (The Star Child, The God-Emperor, or whatever else you want to call it) is capable of protecting and guiding his followers souls after death then I guess a sort of 'Afterlife' is possible.



Mossy Toes said:


> I believe that the common Imperial belief is that you will be called before the Imperial Throne for an accounting of your sins. Beyond that, I'm hazy on the details.


I dont think the Ecclesiarchy enforces or even encourages any moral code. So 'sin' isn't really a concept in the Imperium. Your either loyal or your a heretic, its as clear-cut as that (well to the Ecclesiarchy anyway).



Mossy Toes said:


> Certain Astartes chapters, of which I believe that the Imperial Fists and their successors (Black Templars, Crimson Fists) are prominent, believe that they go to the Emperor's side. Whether they play hopscotch, fight the daemons of the void, or sit around "back in my day"-ing, is also not very clearly defined.
> 
> Of course, then there's the beer hall that Space Wolves think that they're going to, to quaff eternally... :wink: (don't trust me on this - I haven't read the SW omnibus)


Most Astartes Chapters (Including All of the First Founding Chapters I believe) Don't worship the Emperor as a god. Instead they revere him as the founder of the Imperium and the conquerer of the galaxy and ruler of mankind, but not as a god. Hence the rocky relationship they have with the Ecclesiarchy. To my knowledge most Astartes Chapters still roughly hold to the Emperor's original teachings of the Imperial Truth.


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## Bloody Mary (Nov 6, 2009)

As far as belief goes, it seems that at least some Imperials believe that they'll end up on the Emperor's side after death. Ciaphas Cain used "Emperor's side" as an euphemism for death as far as I can remember.

Now, this does not mean their beliefs are true.


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## piemaster (Oct 9, 2009)

I think Child-of-the-Emperor hit the nail on the head there. Although I'd like to ad, if I may, that often back-water worlds who are re-connected to the imperial realm often have their own religious cult - which the Ecclesiarchy have to jump on and somehow work the Imperial Creed into.

I think that many worlds will have similar beliefs to one another but also be different from the myriad of other faiths out there. I think that the only unifying thing between them would be the Emperor. I think there is something about religion in the 3rd ed BRB but I'm not sure 100%.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

piemaster said:


> I think Child-of-the-Emperor hit the nail on the head there. Although I'd like to ad, if I may, that often back-water worlds who are re-connected to the imperial realm often have their own religious cult - which the Ecclesiarchy have to jump on and somehow work the Imperial Creed into.
> 
> I think that many worlds will have similar beliefs to one another but also be different from the myriad of other faiths out there. I think that the only unifying thing between them would be the Emperor. I think there is something about religion in the 3rd ed BRB but I'm not sure 100%.


Exactly 

If you look at Christianity as an example, look at how its developed differently in different parts of the world, until we have several different churches each claiming to be the one catholic church.

Now compare this to the 40k Galaxy, the Imperium consists of a million worlds, each has a vastly different and rich history. Although the vast majority worship the Emperor, they will do so in different ways and under different guises. The Ecclesiarchy has to be vague in its doctrine, because it cannot enforce a strict religious, centralised doctrine over a million worlds which each have a seperate tradition of religious belief. They simply cant because it would result in religious schisms and breakaway factions emerging everywhere. 

The general point is that the Ecclesiarchy essentially says the Emperor is the founder of the Imperium and is a god. Work that somehow into your current religion and then its all good! Each planet and system will plausably have a wildly different set of beliefs, although they will all be centered around the Emperor's divinity. Some will believe in an afterlife, some won't.


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## Eliphas (Jun 23, 2009)

I think it's always dependent on the people considered. Space Marines (well, most of them anyway) believe they go to the Emperor's side. Maybe a few backwater planets have a concept of "heaven" left over from the culture they had pre-imperium.


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