This, of course, doesn’t fit in with the Imperial Creed that the Emperor is a god. They are strictly loyal, but they fall short of actual worship. Rather, they often believe that he is simply the greatest man who has ever lived and who will ever live. While every loyalist Space Marine is loyal to the Emperor, they may not necessarily believe that the Emperor is indeed a god. There is also a third, semi-questionable group in the psykers.

The first is the Adeptus Mecahnicus machine worship, and the second is the Chapter cults of the Space Marines. There are two big exceptions when it comes to the definition of heresy in the Warhammer 40k world. Exceptions to The Laws of Heresy in Warhammer 40k

It is this blanket policy of wiping out everyone tainted simply by making accusations that leads many lower-tier Imperial subjects look the other way when heresy is present, lest the Inquisition burn the whole place to the ground. (“Purge the witch! Burn the heretic!”)īut accusations of heresy in Warhammer 40k are so common as to be a two-edged sword, often glancing back at the accuser and brining the Inquisition or Adepta Sororitas down swiftly on the heads of both the accuser and the accused. Worshipping any god other than the Emperor is punishable by death, and extreme lengths are gone to to root out and exterminate heretics.

True heresy is when a person or group (heretical cults) choose to worship gods other than the God Emperor of Mankind, and especially when people choose to turn to the Chaos Gods (though believing in Xenos gods is bad as well, it’s just not as common). While any differing religious viewpoint from the Ecclesiarchy’s Imperial Cult can be heresy, simply having a single “wrong” idea is not often enough to be labeled a heretic. So what is heresy in Warhammer 40k? Who decides what counts as heresy, and what is done in the case of heresy? Definitions of Heresy in Warhammer 40k Heresy in Warhammer 40k can be one of any number of things (it’s not hard to get accused of heresy) but it is best defined as believing in ideas that go against the Imperium Cult of the God Emperor of Mankind, as defined by the Ecclesiarchy.īut as much as it’s easy to say that there is no room for tolerance of heresy within the Imperial Cult– Inquisitors and Sisters of Battle exist to root out heresy–there are conflicts within the system, most notably the machine worship of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and also the individual cults of certain Space Marine chapters. We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

Punishment of heretic game