
                               Chapter 12 - The Imperium
                               =========================

12.1  Introduction
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 Thsi chapter is about the culture and organisations of the Imperium of 
Mankind.  It aims to present an overview of its organisation, laws, 
traditions and principal organisations.  It is supplemented by other 
chapters which cover specific topics or organisations in greater detail, 
in particular the Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy, Space Marines and Adeptus 
Monetorum.  Its history is discussed in other chapters supplemental to 
this one.  A general history of the Imperium and its formation can be 
found in the chapter entitled "Rough Guide to the Galaxy".


12.2  History
=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 Long ago, mankind colonised the galaxy.  He found races already ancient in 
history, but soon spread to it's furthest reaches.  Mans technological 
expertise, held by the tech adepts of Mars, prospered.  An electronic system 
was set up, designed to provide all colonised worlds access to the technology 
they required.  This was the Standard Template Construct system, and all 
colonised worlds had an STC terminal.  Then something, noone knows what, went 
tragically wrong.  The galaxy was sent spinning into war and anarchy.  Into 
the Age of Strife and the Dark Age of Technology.  The STC network was largely
destroyed.  Out of the Age of Strife rose a man of power.  His name is 
unrecorded, lost in the mists of legend.  He is known only by the title he 
later took: the Emperor.

 The Emperor was, and still is, a powerful psyker (psychic power user), the 
most powerful humanity has ever seen.  The Emperor knew of a universe 
coexistant with the physical universe that mankind inhabited.  This alternate 
universe is known by many names, the most common being Warpspace, the Void 
and the Warp.  The Warp is a universe of chaos, ever shifting currents of 
energy, and all people have a presence in the Warp.  Warp energy *is* psychic 
energy, and while ordinary humans are but a tiny spark in that vast space, 
psykers shine like stars and none more so than the Emperor himself.  
Warpspace has inhabitants all its own: all dangers to human psykers, and none 
more so than the four great Powers of Chaos.  The powers of chaos could 
manipulate humanity to further their own anarchic goals, and even enter 
material space through the mind of a psyker.  But not any psyker - not the
Emperor.

 Warp energy flowed through the Emperor harmlessly, he was in a very real way 
the antithesis of that which the Chaos Powers stood for.  The Emperor knew the 
Chaos Powers for the great threat to humanity they are, and the Chaos Powers 
knew the Emperor for a god among men.  An implacable foe who would stand 
against them.

 As mankind left the Age of Strife, many human worlds, with their technology 
lost, had withdrawn to feral states.  Planetary rulers were feudal lords, with 
their own territory.  The Emperor declared the Great Crusade to regalvanise 
human space into a whole once more.  To aid him he genetically engineered 20 
super humans, almost immortal with almost godlike powers compared to ordinary 
men.  These were the Primarchs.  As much as the Emperor strove to keep the 
project hidden from the Powers of Chaos, they caught wind of it.  Unable to
destroy the infant Primarchs in their capsules, the Chaos Gods spread them far 
and wide across the galaxy.  Suffering this setback and unable to repeat the 
work, the Emperor took the gene codes used to create the Primarchs and 
prepared a set of implantable organs that could transform an ordinary human 
into a super human warrior.  These warriors, the first Space Marines, were 
still nowhere near as powerful as their genetic forebears, the Primarchs.

 And so, with 20 legions of Space Marines, the Emperor set out on the Great 
Crusade.  Human worlds were reconquered and brought into the Imperial fold 
and, one by one, the Emperor rediscovered the lost Primarchs.  Each had landed 
on a planet, somewhere, grown to adulthood among men and often one of the most 
powerful men of the planet.  And each had been touched by the dark kiss of 
Chaos, the seeds of rebellion set in their minds.  Fully half of them failed 
to remain true to the Emperor and the greatest of the fallen was Horus, the 
Emperors most trusted friend, confident and general.  And so it was that 
humanity was thrown into a state of civil war - the loyal Space Marine legions 
of the Emperor fighting the rebel legions of Horus.  Slowly the rebels gained 
ground, eventually massing for the final assault on Earth.  But Horus made one 
mistake.  He lowered the shields to his battle barge.  As soon as he did so he 
became known to the Emperors psychic senses and the Emperor, with loyal 
Primarchs Sanguinius and Rogal Dorn, teleported aboard the barge.

 It was Sanguinius that found Horus first, and was no match for Horus with his 
Chaos enhanced powers.  The Emperor found Horus with the broken body of 
Sanguinius dead at his feet and a fight to the death ensued.  The Emperor was 
triumphant, but at terrible cost.  The broken, charred body of the Emperor of 
Mankind was found close to the defeated body of Horus by Rogal Dorn.

 The rebel Space Marines fled in defeat to the Eye of Terror, an area of the 
galaxy where Warpspace and physical space coexist and flow together.  The 
centre of the Daemon Worlds.  Meanwhile, the Emperors body, while technically 
dead, still held a link to his immortal soul as long as some cells still 
lived.  At first the link was strong enough for the Emperor to partially 
animate the body, supervising the construction of a special life support 
machine - the Golden Throne.  Now, 10,000 years on, strapped into the Golden 
Throne, the link between the Emperors soul and body grows increasingly 
tenuous.  He has not spoken now for over 10,000 years.

 The Imperium is now ruled by a council of 12 of the most influential men in 
the Imperium, the High Lords of Terra.  The Emperor is worshipped as a god, 
with a whole department of the Imperium, the Adeptus Ministorum, dedicated to 
that purpose.  Mankind is under attack from all sides by alien races and, 
worse, from the inside by the insidious influence of Chaos.  Humanity is still 
evolving as a psychic race and only rigorous control by the Inquisition keeps 
the increasing number of emerging psykers, each a potential doorway into the 
physical plane for chaos daemons, from being too much of a weakness.  The 
Imperium relies on the Warp, and on its' psykers, for its continued existance.  
Only telepathic communication is practical across the countless light years 
the Imperium covers, and only super-light speed travel using the Warp keeps 
the Imperium from fragmenting.  Worse, only the spirit of the Emperor in the 
Warp stands between mankind and certain destruction at the hands of the Chaos 
Powers.  His will is beginning to fail and chaos sowing doubts in his ancient 
mind.

 For mankind, it is constant war.  The war to survive, and continued survival 
the reward of each victory.


12.3  Geography
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 The physical limits of the Imperium are defined by where Imperial craft 
can safely reach by Warp travel.  This, in turn, is defined by the edges of 
the Astronomican.  Within this area, the Imperium is divided, apparently by 
some long gone political or arbitrary reasoning, into 5 Segmentum Majoris 
whose borders are clearly defined.

 Closest to the Earth, and centred on it, is the Segmentum Solar.  Around 
this are arrayed the other four segments, Segmentum Obscuras, Segmentum 
Tempestus, Segmentum Pacificus and Ultima Segmentum, covering the galactic 
North, South, West and East respectively (relative to Earth).

 Human inhabited space is further broken down into sectors, usually cubes of 
space approximately 200 Light Years to a side.  Each sector is sub-divided 
further into sub-sectors ranging from ten to twenty Light Years in diameter 
and centred on densely populated star clusters, important worlds, or meeting 
points of various trade routes through the Warp.  The areas between 
sub-sectors and sectors - unexplored or uninhabited regions, alien empires, 
areas inaccessible by the Warp, etc. - are known as Wilderness space or 
Wilderness zones and make up a far greater portion of the Galaxy than that 
controlled by Humanity.

 A picture, however, speaks a thousand words.  I refer you to the map file, 
"map.gif", you should receive with this file or find on the same site you 
found this.  With "map.gif" is a text file, "map.txt" which acts as a key to 
the map.

 As a rule, worlds of the Galaxy, and most notably those of the Imperium, can 
be classified into one of the following categories, as they are summarised in 
Imperial records:

 * Gamma class - Civilised Worlds
   Population: between 15,000,000 and 10,000,000,000
   Tithe grade: Solutio Extremis - Exactis Tertius
   Aggregate: 3,500
   Aestimare: A50-F1000
   Comments: This is the widest category comprising any world, generally 
self-sufficient, with a contemporary technology-base that does not comply with 
other specification.  Includes major sub-categories Cardinal worlds [cc], 
Garden worlds [cg], Mining Worlds [cm].
   Examples: Desedna, Espanor, Korsk II, Luxor, Rhanda, Tallarn

 * Alpha class - Agri Worlds
   Population: between 15,000 and 10,000,000
   Tithe grade: Exactis Prima - Exactis Particular
   Aggregate: 2,000
   Aestimare: C500-B50
   Comments: No less than 850 parts per 1000 given over to the cultivation of 
crops, hydroponics, animal fodder or animal husbandry.  Few conurbanations, 
population spread widely across planet surface.
   Examples: Bellis XIV, Chiros, Kabaal II, Silvanos II, Verdan III

 * Eta class - Hive Worlds
   Population: between 100,000,000,000 and 500,000,000,000
   Tithe grade: Decuma Particular - Exactis Extremis
   Aggregate: 1,400
   Aestimare: B50-E400
   Comments: Surface generally inhospitable, even deadly, to Human life after 
centuries of processing.  Urban conglomerations called Hives, many miles in 
height, are principle population centres.  Factory, mining and atmosphere 
processing are main industries.  High import/export ratio, particularly 
foodstuffs and fresh water incoming.
   Examples: Armageddon, Avellorn, Ichar IV, Kado, Lastrati, Modia, 
Necromunda, Vanaheim

 * Phi-Lambda class - Feral Worlds
   Population: between 100,000 and 5,000,000
   Tithe grade: Solutio Tertius
   Aggregate: 800
   Aestimare: F400-G800
   Comments: Technical base considerably pre-black powder, even pre-ferrous 
or lithic state in most regressed cases.  Sometimes good source of army and 
Adeptus Astartes recruits if culture shock survived.  Low tithe due to 
unfocussed production processes.  Imperial Commanders often distant, in orbit 
usually, with infrequent surface forays to establish purges of psychic talent 
and mutation.
   Examples: Belami, Davin, Fenris, Forman C2, Kimmeria, Oran

 * Delta class - Dead Worlds
   Population: zero
   Tithe grade: Aptus Non
   Aggregate: 200
   Aestimare: G500-G1000
   Comments: These worlds have minimal, even non-existent, life traces.  This 
results from ecological catastrophe, devastating internecine war, Imperial or 
alien intervention or no attributable cause.
   Examples: Istvaan III, Naogeddon, Prandium, Truan IX, Zhoros

 * Delta-Tau class - Death Worlds
   Population: between 1,000 and 15,000,000
   Tithe grade: Solutio Tertius - Solutio Primus
   Aggregate: 600
   Aestimare: D500-G50
   Comments: Planets which are too dangerous to support widespread Human 
settlement.  Types vary from world-wide jungles that harbour carnivorous 
plants and animals to barren rockscapes strewn with volcanos and wracked by 
ion storms.  These worlds are near-impossible to colonise but must be properly 
explored where neccesitates the provision of outposts and other facilities.  
Some harbour rich mineral, vegetable, animal or gaseous resources.
   Examples: Canak, Catachan, Cthelle, Lost Hope, Miral, Piscina V

 * Rho class - Research Stations
   Population: between 100 and 500,000
   Tithe grade: Aptus Non
   Aggregate: 100
   Aestimare: A760-D45
   Comments: Includes wide variety of locations, such as orbital stations, 
asteroidal emplacements and other major facilities of dead worlds, death 
worlds or on other planets.  Responsible for wide variety of research, from 
animal breeding and domestication to weapons testing and genetic engineering.  
Also listening and watch posts for planetary and system defence of major 
planets [Aest. B200 or greater].
   Examples: A1709, Arx, Fornoth, Lucan, Purgatory, Sentinel V, Ymgarl

 * Mu class - Feudal Worlds
   Population: between 10,000,000 and 500,000,000
   Tithe grade: Solutio Primus - Solutio Extremis
   Aggregate: 400
   Aestimare: C750-F1000
   Comments: Technical base just prior or just post black powder state.  
Establishment of wide surface cultural and political organisations.  Some 
useful recruiting for Imperial Guard and Adeptus Astartes.  Slightly higher 
tithes than Feral worlds, compensating for wider farming and animal husbandry.
   Examples: Atilla, Boras Minor, Chbal, Molov, Solstice, Yamnan

 * Phi class - Forge Worlds
   Population: between 1,000,000 and 15,000,000,000
   Tithe grade: Aptus Non
   Aggregate: 1000
   Aestimare: A1-C500
   Comments: Sovereign Domains of the Adeptus Mechanicus, these are planet-
wide factories.  A Forge world often serves as a base of operations for one of 
the Titan Legions.  Forge worlds are essential for the supply of arms and 
armour to the Imperiums combat forces.
   Examples: Esteban VII, Gryphonne IV, Lucius, Mars, Ryza, Triplex Phall


12.4  Organisation
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

12.4.1  The High Lords of Terra
-------------------------------

 The Imperium is ruled by 12 powerful men from its centre, called Earth or 
Terra.  These men are known as the High Lords of Terra, and the group the 
Council of High Lords, or Senatorum Imperialis.

 Each High Lord is the leader of one of the most powerful organisations in the 
Imperium.  A complex web of political skullduggery, promises of support, and 
considerations of mutual interests, binds them together and determines who 
will hold office and who will not.  In practise, some of the Imperiums 
organisations are so powerful that it would be unthinkable for their leader 
not to be a High Lord.  Others would lose a great deal of power if their 
leader lost the right to sit on the Council.  Over the millenia different 
organisations have provided High Lords depending upon which was the most 
powerful at the time.  Ruthless ambition and rivalry characterises all of 
these great men, and their organisations vie against each other for portions 
of the Imperial power.

 The following offices are almost invariably represented as High Lords because 
they are the cornerstones of the Imperium, the most important of its ancient 
institutions:

  The Master of the Administratum
  The Inquisitorial Representative
  The Ecclesiarch of the Adeptus Ministorum
  The Fabricator General of the Adeptus Mechanicus
  The Grand Provost Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites
  The Paternal Envoy of the Navigators
  The Master of the Astronomican
  The Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum
  The Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica

 These nine posts are virtually sacrosanct.  Should they become empty due to 
death or retirement, it is usual for the sucessor to the title to become High 
Lord.  The position of Inquisitorial Representative is not held by any 
specific Inquisitor, but the seat is retained for whichever individual is sent 
on behalf of the Inquisition.  Similarly, the place of the Paternal Envoy is 
open to whoever might be the Envoy of the current ruling family of 
Navigators.  The remaining three posts are most likely to be filled from 
amongst the following mighty officials:

  The Lord Commander of the Segmentum Solar
  The Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Guard
  The Chancellor of the Adeptus Monetorum
  Cardinal(s) of the Holy Synod of Terra
  The Abbess Sanctorum of the Adepta Sororitas
  The Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes
  The Chancellor of the Imperial Estate
  The Speaker for the Chartist Captains


12.4.2  The Adeptus Terra
-------------------------

 Terra is also the site of the Imperial Palace, a vast structure many miles 
long with corridors among which it is all to easy to get lost.  Men have been 
known to die of thirst and hunger looking for a way out, never seeing another 
person in the endless corridors.  Worse are the Imperial Vaults, whose vast 
collection of information is kept on shelves stretching many thousands of 
kilometres.  The Imperium is over 40,000 years old, and so vast are its 
records that specially made robots are used to find information - many such 
robots sent into the vaults never return, perhaps running out of battery 
power, perhaps falling fowl of a long collapsed walkway.  Most of those 
wishing to find information in the Vaults send at least two or three robots, 
lest one or more of them succumb to the Vaults hazards.

 Most day to day running of the Imperium is done by the Adeptus Terra, based 
in the Imperial Palace on Terra, or one of its sub-organisations.  The Adeptus 
Terra is also known simply as the 'Adeptus'.  The core of the Adeptus Terra is 
called the Administratum, an organisation whose head, the Master of the 
Administratum, is highly influential.  Imperial tithes and spending are 
enforced and regulated by the branch of the Adeptus called the Adeptus 
Monetorum (see the 'Consumer Guide' chapter for more information.

 The departments and organisations that run the Imperium and keep its giant 
cogs moving use many thousands of staff, of varying rank.  From the lowest 
traditional serf to the highest manager, however, all are allowed to use the 
title of "Adeptus" or "Adept".  This is a great honour, and many low ranking 
staff whose families have traditionally worked for the Adeptus continue to do 
so in order to pass the title on to their children.

 The title of "Master" is reserved for departmental heads of the 
Administratum, those in charge of an entire office or division.  Most of the 
Masters of subordinate divisions have an additional title such as the 
Chancellor of the Estate Imperium, and the Historicus of the Historical 
Revision Unit.

 Officers and officials of the Adeptus Terra are entitled to use the title 
"Prefect" or "Prefectus".  There are three basic levels of command which are, 
in order of seniority, "Prefectus Primus", "Prefectus Secundus" and 
"Prefectus Tertius".  These qualifying titles are sometimes used on their own 
as a form of informal address (that is, simply using the title "Primus").

 "Ordinates" are minor administrative officials.  They deal with much of the 
routine work of the Imperium.  Ordinates are the most common type of worker.  
They command those titled, surprisingly enough, "Subordinates".  Both 
Ordinates and Subordinates are hereditary titles passed onto the workers 
children.  "Scribes" are lowly functionaries roughly equivalent to a clerk.  
The title of "Scribe" too is hereditary.  "Ciphers" are messengers, trained to 
memorise dictation and repeat whole texts after a single scan.  They achieve 
this by self-hypnosis, the secret of which passed down from parent to child.  
Ciphers have no knowledge of the message they carry, but mechanistically chant 
their information when they reach their destination.  "Curators" are 
responsible for maintaining the ancient records of the Imperium.  They must 
understand a variety of ancient tongues and scripts, the knowledge of which 
are passed on through the generations.  "Menials" are among the lowest 
workers, non-specialised workers shifted from job to job and serving as 
drivers, labourers, sanitisers, and other non-skilled tasks.  They take the 
title of "Adept" as do all workers of the Adeptus Terra, but the position of 
a Menial is not hereditary.

 The spiritual health of the Imperium is represented by the Adeptus Ministorum, 
or Ecclesiarchy.  More information on this highly influential organisation, 
its history and organisation can be found in the 'Light of the Emperor' 
chapter.

 The technical and scientific aspects of the Imperium are controlled, 
researched and developed by the Adeptus Mechanicus.  The Adeptus Mechanicus 
is covered in more detail in the Technology chapter.

 The Adeptus Arbites provides the police force of the Imperium, with Arbites 
outposts on virtually all populated Imperial planets.  Its membership is 
for the most part composed of Arbites footmen, or Arbiters.  Higher in rank 
are the Arbitrators, and commanding them are the Judges.  The Adeptus Arbites 
is used to handling mass riot situations, with specialist equipment available 
to them for the purpose, such as the Storm Shield.  Arbites footmen carry 
specialised arms known as Power Mauls, hand held batons capable of anything 
from a simple stun to blasting a whole in a thick wall (or serious injury... 
even death).  Also available to Arbites staff are special shotguns capable of 
taking a variety of ammunition, from conventional ammo to special 
'executioner' arms.  Executioner arms are capable of penetrating armour and 
killing in a single shot.
 Often, in times of rebellion and uprising, the Adeptus Arbites are the first 
to respond to the situation.  In cases where Chaos or Genestealer cults are 
the root of the uprising, the Adeptus Arbites are the first line of defence 
until reinforcements from the Adeptus Sororitas, Space Marines or Imperial 
Guard can arrive.
 Adeptus Arbites footmen are never posted to any system within many light 
years of their home world or system, lest individual bias toward subjects 
creep in.  Arbites footmen are encouraged not to become too acquainted with 
the locals, remaining aloof, leaving their fortress or outpost only if 
embarking on a patrol or to make an arrest.
 Apart from the Adeptus Arbites military wing on the ground, Arbitrators 
belong to a complex organisation - an army divided into many ranks and 
specialised roles.  Its individual Precincts stretch across the Galaxy.  On 
many worlds the Arbitrators fortified Courthouse is the only point of contact 
between that planet and the Imperium.  Each Precinct is the base for an army, 
complete unto itself, led by Marshals of the Court, and supported by an array 
of highly trained warriors of justice.  Patrol groups prowl the underways of 
city hives, shock troops break up the vicious queue wars which develop outside 
governmental buildings, execution teams hound the guilty through barren wastes 
and labyrinthine tunnels, and detectives sift the holo-records, tracking 
cyber-criminals through the computer matrix of the Administratum.

 The Adeptus Custodes are the bodyguard of the Emperor, the legendary founder 
of the Imperium whose all but lifeless carcass rests deep in the Imperial 
Palace.  None may look on the Emperor except the Adeptus Custodes, whose 
members are all sworn never to utter a word as long as they serve in the 
Emperors bodyguard.

 The Inquisition is one of the most feared organisations in the Imperium.  Its 
officers, called Inquisitors, travel the Galaxy, their only mission to protect 
the Imperium from anything that does, could or might threaten the Imperium and 
its continued survival.  This mandate is an extremely wide one, and there are 
no limits to the fields the Inquisition can investigate, from unsanctioned 
psykers to rebellion and Planetary Governors ceceding from the Imperiums 
rule.  The Inquisition has a direct mandate from the Emperor himself, and 
Inquisitors are fully entitled to demand whatever assistance they require, to 
be delivered without condition and with no explanation necessary.  The 
Inquisition has within its ranks organisations dedicated to quietly monitoring 
the Ecclesiarchy and, perhaps surprisingly, the Inquisition itself.  Even 
those organisations above the law - *especially* those organisations - must 
have someone watch them for corruption.

 The Officio Assassinorum is the assassins guild of the Imperium.  If an 
important official or planetary governor is causing trouble to the Imperium, 
an agent of the Officio Assassinorum will be sent to "eliminate" him.  More 
information on the Officio Assassinorum can be found below.


12.5  Fighting Forces
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 The Imperium employs four chief fighting forces:

 1) The Imperial Guard
 2) The Imperial Navy
 3) The Adeptus Sororitas
and
 4) The Adeptus Astartes (aka Space Marines)

 Related to the Imperial Guard and Navy, but independent of those bodies, is 
the Commisariat, the body that monitors the Guard and Navy and ensures 
military laws are enforced.  Commissars assess the actions and decisions of 
officers, and none, not even the Commander of the Fleet and the Lord Commander 
of the Imperial Guard, are above their scrutiny.  The Commisariat also fight 
in campaigns alongside those they watch, and can be inspirational figures.  
The legendary Commissar Yarrick, who saved Armageddon from Ork attack, is one 
example.  The failed commander of the local forces, Lord Herman Von Straub, 
was was found guilty of negligence under military law.

12.5.1  The Imperial Guard
--------------------------

 The Imperial Guard is the most numerous of the Imperial forces, with units 
never far from any given world, ready to respond at need.  Made up of 
ordinary humans (unlike some of the other Imperial forces, most notably the 
Space Marines), an individual guardsman is relatively weak one on one with 
most other alien races.  It is the vast numbers the Imperial Guard can muster 
which make it one of the most effective forces the Imperium has, able to 
attack and defend along an otherwise impossibly large battle line.

 Every world or system in the Imperium must train its own planetary or system 
wide defence force, and a percentage of those trained must be enlisted into 
the Imperial Guard.  With the vast numbers of worlds the Imperium controls, 
this makes for a huge number of guardsmen.  Guardsmen come from very differing 
backgrounds, some coming from cold, icy worlds, others from hot, tropical 
deathworlds or deserts.  When a military campaign calls for Imperial Guard 
involvement, Guardsmen from worlds within hundreds of Light Years are brought 
together into a huge fighting force, by Navy ships that visit each such system 
in turn, expecting them to provide their share of the Imperial Guard force for 
the forthcoming conflict.

 The Imperial Guard makes heavy use of heavy tanks and vehicles, tanks with 
famous names such as the Predator and Leman Russ.  Between its vast manpower 
and heavy support, the Imperial Guard is highly robust.  Also, because each 
force is assembled as and when required from within about 200 Light Years, 
large forces can be assembled relatively quickly to meet whatever threat 
presents itself.


12.5.2  The Imperial Navy
-------------------------

 Operating parallel to the Imperial Guard is the Imperial Navy.  The Navy 
keeps and maintains the Imperiums battle fleet, providing transport to the 
Imperial Guard and others throughout the Galaxy.  Navy bases are found in all 
segments of the Imperium, with the main ones being:

  * Earth (Imperial Navy base of Battlefleet Solar), Segmentum Solar
  * Cypra Mundi (Imperial Navy base of Battlefleet Obscuras),
    Segmentum Obscuras
  * Hydraphur (Imperial Navy base of Battlefleet Pacificus), 
    Segmentum Pacificus
  * Kar Duniash (Imperial Navy base of Battlefleet Ultima), 
    Ultima Segmentum
  * Bakka (Imperial Navy base of Battlefleet Tempestus), Segmentum Tempestus

 The Navy is run, at the top level, by the Commander of the Fleet, with 
overall control and resposibility for all Imperial Navy craft.  The Commander 
of the Fleet sometimes enjoys a spell sitting on the Council of High Lords.

 For all practical purposes, the largest operation naval unit is the 
battlefleet of a Sector, each of which is under the command of a Lord 
Admiral.  Each batlefleet is made up of a number of battlegroups - temporary 
task forces, convey escorts, patrol flotillas and other fleets that have been 
assembled to fulfil particular functions.  A few battlegroups are almost 
permanent institutions, such as the famous 1st Terran Battlecruiser Armada, 
but most are gathered and dispersed as necessity dictates.  Depending on its 
size and role, a battlegroup may be commanded by an experienced ships Captain 
or Commodore, a Fleet Admiral or Admiral, or sometimes even the Lord Admiral 
himself.

 Battlefleets normally comprise of between 50 and 75 warships of varying size, 
though this will vary depending on the importance of the Sector and the 
enemies the Sector generally faces.  In addition to these destroyers, 
frigates, cruisers and battleships, each has access to countless smaller 
vessels such as transports, shuttles, messenger craft and long-range patrol 
craft.  A fleet will also have access to a number of craft incapable of Warp 
travel such as system patrol ships and defence monitors.  All this is backed 
up by other stationary craft and devices such as space stations, orbital 
defence platforms, ground based defence lasers and missile silos and orbital 
mines.

 This may sound like a considerable arsenal, but it isn't.  it must cover an 
area of (on average) about 8,000,000 cubic Light Years, in which only a 
fraction of systems will have planets and a small portion of these be 
inhabited.  The fleet must provide escorts for merchant ships (especially 
along dangerous routes), transport and escort Imperial Guard forces, provide 
orbital support for ground based armies, have sufficient slack to build 
exploration fleets as and when required and, with all of this, still make 
constant routine patrols of the Sector, a huge area, so as to scour out any 
hidden enemy.


12.5.3  The Adeptus Sororitas
-----------------------------

 The Adeptus Sororitas, or Sisters of Battle, are the official armed might of 
the Ecclesiarchy, fighting aliens, Heresy and unbelief throughout the Galaxy.  
Under the terms of the Decree Passive, the Ecclesiarchy is banned from keeping 
any 'men under arms' and, indeed, all members of the Adeptus Sororitas are 
female.  In addition to their martial prowess, the Adeptus Sororitas provides 
a useful tool in keeping a finger on the pulse of Imperial citizens beliefs 
and feelings, and a careful watch on their own parent organisation of the 
Ecclesiarchy.

 The Adeptus Sororitas is described in greater detail in the 'Light of the 
Emperor' chapter.


12.5.4  The Adeptus Astartes (aka Space Marines)
------------------------------------------------

 Of all the Imperiums fighting forces, the Space Marines stand apart.  
Organised into 'chapters' spread across the Galaxy, each and every Space 
Marine is a super-human, genetically modified and enhanced to be the 
ultimate warrior.  The Space Marines are the crack marine force of the 
Imperium, its ace in the hole against alien invaders and internal 
threats such as Chaos and Genestealer cults.

 The Adeptus Astartes is described in greater detail in the 'Space Marines' 
chapter.


12.6  Officio Assassinorum
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 The Officio Assassinorum is the assassins guild of the Imperium.  If an 
important official or planetary governor is causing trouble to the Imperium, 
an agent of the Officio Assassinorum will be sent to "eliminate" him.  All 
Imperially sanctioned assassins belong to one of the temples of the Officio 
Assassinorum, of which the main ones are the Vindicare, Callidus, Eversor and 
Culexus.

 Details on Assassins and the Officio can be found in the Assassins chapter.


12.7  Language
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 The Imperium uses three principal languages:

  * Low Gothic
  * High Gothic
  * Lingua-Technis

 Low Gothic is the standard language of the common people of the Imperium.  
The Imperium, however, is a big place and in many places the dialect of Low 
Gothic used is slightly different to "standard" Gothic, in some places almost 
unrecognisable as the same language.  Imperial linguists and the sisters of 
the Orders Dialogous of the Adeptus Sororitas (see the chapter on the 
Ecclesiarchy for more information) help to bridge the gap.

 High Gothic, in contrast, is an older, more pure, form of the language.  It 
is rarely, if ever, known at all by the common people of the Imperium, and 
akin to Latin or Greek in our own world.  Most importantly to those learned 
people who use it, most worlds have at least one scholarly group or sect who 
use it, and the language is highly uniform - the High Gothic used by scholars 
on one side of the Galaxy is exactly the same as on the opposite edge of the 
Galaxy.

 Lingua-Technis is the specialist language used by the Tech-priesthood of 
Mars and the Tech-priests of the many Space Marine chapters.  It is never 
taught to anyone outside the Cult of the Machine God - consider it a form of 
jargon no-one outside the Cult is allowed to understand.  Bits and snippets of 
Lingua-Technis describing common technology often finds its way into the 
Low Gothic speech used on technologically aware planets, to the chagrin of the 
Martian Tech-priests.  Like High Gothic, Lingua-Technis is highly precise and 
the same form of Lingua-Technis is used by Tech-adepts all over the Galaxy.


12.8  Interstellar Travel and Communication
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 For the Imperium to thrive and continue, interstellar travel and 
communication are crucial.  To travel much further than a few Light Years at 
any reasonable speed, a ship must travel through the Warp, or Warpspace.  
Warpspace is dangerous at the best of times, a parallel universe with 
different laws and fluid currents.  Should a craft allow itself to get lost 
in the energy currents, it becomes much more dangerous still.  The only safe 
way to travel through the Warp is to be guided by one commonly referred to as 
a Navigator.  These are not the Astrogators and pilots who guide the ship 
through normal space (though they may do that as well), but individuals with 
the special psychic ability to navigate the currents of the Warp.  Perhaps 
most dangerous in travelling through Warpspace is the ever present threat of 
running into a sudden Warpstorm.  Navigators are versed in spotting the signs 
of a coming Warpstorm and navigating round it if possible, even so thousands 
have been killed, engulfed in a sudden Warpstorm that literally tore apart 
their ship.  More information on Navigators can be found in the chapter on 
Psionics.

 If you don't have the privilege to own your own private cruiser, travelling 
between the stars means buying passage on a Merchant Trader ship travelling 
your way.  Most will give travel to those unable to pay their way also, so 
long as they work their passage.  Apart from their role providing interstellar 
travel for the masses, Merchant ships travel from planet to planet, buying and 
selling, making a living.  The fees they charge for passage help there also, 
and those unable to pay for passage provide cheap labour to temporarily fill 
the nasty and demening jobs.

 Interstellar communication is also vital for the continued survival of the 
Imperium, and, with distances of Light Years to cross, radio and other 
electromagnetic forms of communication just won't cut it.  The answer lies in 
Mankinds evolution as a psychic species.  Some psykers are specially trained 
as Astropaths, whose job it is to form nodes of the Telepathica Matrix.  What 
approximately happens is an Astropath sends out a psychic message, which is 
picked up and sent on by other nodes of the Telepathica Matrix in as many 
jumps as necessary until it reaches its eventual destination.  One such 
Matrix Node is Thandros, near the Macragge system.  Again, more about 
Astropaths can be found in the chapter on Psionics.

