Deus Pater (Exalted/40k)

[X] The Sororitas. You are a Sister of Battle, and your skin bears the scars of many wars. You have slain the enemies of the faith on countless battlefields, advanced far in the service to the Church... and found the worth of those you are supposed to serve lacking. They feast on the victuals of a hundred worlds and drink wine from golden chalices, while you stand guard and know your sisters die in muddy holes with every passing day. No more.

For six thousand years the Daughters of the Emperor have fought to keep His Faith alive. A thin line of purity and hope in the howling darkness. With their first breath they heard the sweet song of the Emperor in their hearts and they burnt out the treacherous lies of the Usurper Vandire and ended the Age of Apostaty.

Now the Church as a whole has fallen prey to human fallible. It has become a monstrous beast, veins slick with corruption and the blood of countless innocents. Once again it must fall to the Sisterhood to save Humanity from itself. To cast out this sickness with fire and faith, to grant the Church the reckoning it so justly deserves.

Ave Sororitas

Ave Imperator

[X] The Street Preacher. You walked out of the temple long ago, seeking service of a more worthy kind. The alleys are your church, the forgotten wretches your congregation, the warmth of a full belly the sacrament you offer. You have seen a thousand worthy souls clad in rags and ground into the dust by the Church's imperious neglect, while on the horizon the gilded towers grew ever higher. You cannot turn a blind eye anymore; if your onetime brethren have forgotten those who dwell beneath their feet, then it will be your duty and your pleasure to remind them.

Street Preacher is just ripe for leading a torch-and-pitchforks mob.

[X] The Sororitas. You are a Sister of Battle, and your skin bears the scars of many wars. You have slain the enemies of the faith on countless battlefields, advanced far in the service to the Church... and found the worth of those you are supposed to serve lacking. They feast on the victuals of a hundred worlds and drink wine from golden chalices, while you stand guard and know your sisters die in muddy holes with every passing day. No more.

Time to burn out the corruption, Exalted style. By which I mean: literally burn out the corruption, but then flounder in the act of actually creating a working replacement, thus trapping yourself in an endless hell of cyclical revolutions.

[X] The Cardinal. You have a position of rank and power within the Ecclesiarchy, and you have done what you can to use it for good. Your teachings were always somewhat unorthodox, but you spoke to people's hearts and your support grew ever greater. Now, though, your superiors have rendered judgement, and those who trusted in your words are being condemned as heretics and sent to the pyre. Your position protects you from harm so long as you do not intervene... but you cannot stand aside and let your children burn.
[X] The Theologian. You graduated top of your class at the Schola, and donned the cassock of a priest with a smile on your face. You had studied the many and varied forms of the Imperial Faith for years on end, only to find that not one of the them reflected the actual truth. The horrors you have witnessed in your service to the mighty have strained your mind, and in the end you knew you were faced with a choice; do the sensible, pragmatic thing, or take a stand on a matter of principle few of your peers even cared to name. Put like that, it isn't really a choice at all, is it?

[X] The Sororitas. You are a Sister of Battle, and your skin bears the scars of many wars. You have slain the enemies of the faith on countless battlefields, advanced far in the service to the Church... and found the worth of those you are supposed to serve lacking. They feast on the victuals of a hundred worlds and drink wine from golden chalices, while you stand guard and know your sisters die in muddy holes with every passing day. No more.

[X] The Street Preacher. You walked out of the temple long ago, seeking service of a more worthy kind. The alleys are your church, the forgotten wretches your congregation, the warmth of a full belly the sacrament you offer. You have seen a thousand worthy souls clad in rags and ground into the dust by the Church's imperious neglect, while on the horizon the gilded towers grew ever higher. You cannot turn a blind eye anymore; if your onetime brethren have forgotten those who dwell beneath their feet, then it will be your duty and your pleasure to remind them.

[X] The Cardinal. You have a position of rank and power within the Ecclesiarchy, and you have done what you can to use it for good. Your teachings were always somewhat unorthodox, but you spoke to people's hearts and your support grew ever greater. Now, though, your superiors have rendered judgement, and those who trusted in your words are being condemned as heretics and sent to the pyre. Your position protects you from harm so long as you do not intervene... but you cannot stand aside and let your children burn.
[X] The Sororitas. You are a Sister of Battle, and your skin bears the scars of many wars. You have slain the enemies of the faith on countless battlefields, advanced far in the service to the Church... and found the worth of those you are supposed to serve lacking. They feast on the victuals of a hundred worlds and drink wine from golden chalices, while you stand guard and know your sisters die in muddy holes with every passing day. No more.

DarknessSmiles said:

Personal power, definitely not. Political power is a different story. The imperium moves slowly.

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Yes, but Exalts don't. Especially not Solars with Bureaucracy Charms.

More to the point, I think people are misunderstanding what the Cardinal background suggests. Take another look at it; "You have a position of rank and power within the Ecclesiarchy, and you have done what you can to use it for good. Your teachings were always somewhat unorthodox, but you spoke to people's hearts and your support grew ever greater. Now, though, your superiors have rendered judgement, and those who trusted in your words are being condemned as heretics and sent to the pyre. Your position protects you from harm so long as you do not intervene... but you cannot stand aside and let your children burn."

This reads like we were this close to being branded an Apostate, to the point that our flock is now being executed en masse, and we are only being saved from the pyre by the privilege of our position... if we recant, stand aside, and let the witch hunters do their grisly work. And we're not going to. This is not a story of working within the system to effect reforms. This is, if anything, the most militant of the options, just one where we play a deeply religious general presiding over the rebellion of a planet from a war room, rather than a holy champion who personally smites the corrupt. And if that's what you want, sure, I can dig that, I always like a good general on the hill in their command tent. But that's what it is.

If you want to wield political power within the system, I'd say you want the Theologian, the scholar who's about to be Martin Luther and stand on principle over a matter of doctrine in an internal Ecclesiarchical matter. Personally, I'm sticking with the Street Preacher and the Drill Abbot for some good old torches-and-pitchfork action.

[X] The Drill-Abbot. You served on the frontlines, and in reward were permitted to retire to the Schola Progenum, there to teach the next generation of Imperial servants how they might best serve the Emperor. For decades you have nurtured their minds and sent them forth into the galaxy. Most died, their lives spent like copper coins, and those who survived highlighted your every failure in the doing. Now you pick up your hammer and set forth to confront your old students, and perhaps in the process teach them one final lesson.
[X] The Street Preacher. You walked out of the temple long ago, seeking service of a more worthy kind. The alleys are your church, the forgotten wretches your congregation, the warmth of a full belly the sacrament you offer. You have seen a thousand worthy souls clad in rags and ground into the dust by the Church's imperious neglect, while on the horizon the gilded towers grew ever higher. You cannot turn a blind eye anymore; if your onetime brethren have forgotten those who dwell beneath their feet, then it will be your duty and your pleasure to remind them.

[X] The Rebel - The Imperium has always proclaimed itself protector and steward of the million worlds beneath its heel, but you know better. You have seen what the servants of the Aquila have done to your world, heard what they intend if left unchecked, and you have decided; enough. You are a faithful man, but loyalty to a God does not demand loyalty to those who pervert his name, and in the glory of your Exaltation your words are proven right at last. (Dawn)

[X] The Firebrand - The Ecclesiarchy is a putrid corpse, rotted from within by the venal corruption of those who should know better. They have gathered wealth and power and proclaimed their politics sanctioned by the Emperor himself… as though the Saviour of Man would ever debase himself with such base corruption. You spoke out against it, fully expecting to be struck down for your words, only to find that the oldest saying is true indeed; the Emperor protects the virtuous. (Zenith)


[X] The Envoy - Mankind is not alone in the universe, much as some might wish it so, and while the Ecclesiarchy preaches total intolerance of that which is alien you have always known such a stance to be dangerously shortsighted. The xenos must be studied, must be understood, must even at times be treated with as something approaching a peer, and it is in this capacity that you serve the Emperor Above All. To have your service rewarded is an unexpected honour, but one you will strive to repay. (Eclipse)

Señor Salsa said:

[X] The Rebel - The Imperium has always proclaimed itself protector and steward of the million worlds beneath its heel, but you know better. You have seen what the servants of the Aquila have done to your world, heard what they intend if left unchecked, and you have decided; enough. You are a faithful man, but loyalty to a God does not demand loyalty to those who pervert his name, and in the glory of your Exaltation your words are proven right at last. (Dawn)

[X] The Firebrand - The Ecclesiarchy is a putrid corpse, rotted from within by the venal corruption of those who should know better. They have gathered wealth and power and proclaimed their politics sanctioned by the Emperor himself… as though the Saviour of Man would ever debase himself with such base corruption. You spoke out against it, fully expecting to be struck down for your words, only to find that the oldest saying is true indeed; the Emperor protects the virtuous. (Zenith)


[X] The Envoy - Mankind is not alone in the universe, much as some might wish it so, and while the Ecclesiarchy preaches total intolerance of that which is alien you have always known such a stance to be dangerously shortsighted. The xenos must be studied, must be understood, must even at times be treated with as something approaching a peer, and it is in this capacity that you serve the Emperor Above All. To have your service rewarded is an unexpected honour, but one you will strive to repay. (Eclipse)

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You're a vote behind I fear.

[X] The Cardinal. You have a position of rank and power within the Ecclesiarchy, and you have done what you can to use it for good. Your teachings were always somewhat unorthodox, but you spoke to people's hearts and your support grew ever greater. Now, though, your superiors have rendered judgement, and those who trusted in your words are being condemned as heretics and sent to the pyre. Your position protects you from harm so long as you do not intervene... but you cannot stand aside and let your children burn.

Ngl this is really the only one that super appeals to me I think. It strikes that great blend of privilege and power and then just douses it in disillusionment in a way that the Sororitas or Street Preacher don't really match. The character concept is someone who was part of the system, who worked their way up and compromised and kissed ass and feigned a smile when they saw fucked up shit because they promised themselves, promised, that once they were at the top they could make it better. That it didn't matter how many years it took or how hard they had to work or what shame they had to swallow, it didn't even matter if they were old and grey by the time it happened. Once they were Cardinal they could make themselves young again. Once they were Cardinal they could begin again, start the true work of their second life. Once they were Cardinal they could reform the system, salvage it, save it from itself.

And then the half-rotting hand of the Imperium just settled on their shoulder and went "well what's all this then?"

This is someone who's seen, firsthand, the Ecclesiarchies excess and potential for good and knows its hidden sins. This is someone who, like, doesn't abstractly know that money is wasted on gold ceiling that could feed thousands, they've seen the bills and had to choke it down and sign off on it for the sake of making it to this position, to this post. This is someone with a tangible, grounded investment in a given world and a solid understanding of what that, precisely, entails. It's someone who, in the teeming mess of the Imperium, was already able to stand a bit above the crowd and take a look around.

Also it means that we probably start the quest off throwing down with an Inquisitor from the Ordo Hereticus and fuck yes.

Imrix said:

Yes, but Exalts don't. Especially not Solars with Bureaucracy Charms.

More to the point, I think people are misunderstanding what the Cardinal background suggests. Take another look at it; "You have a position of rank and power within the Ecclesiarchy, and you have done what you can to use it for good. Your teachings were always somewhat unorthodox, but you spoke to people's hearts and your support grew ever greater. Now, though, your superiors have rendered judgement, and those who trusted in your words are being condemned as heretics and sent to the pyre. Your position protects you from harm so long as you do not intervene... but you cannot stand aside and let your children burn."

This reads like we were this close to being branded an Apostate, to the point that our flock is now being executed en masse, and we are only being saved from the pyre by the privilege of our position... if we recant, stand aside, and let the witch hunters do their grisly work. And we're not going to. This is not a story of working within the system to effect reforms. This is, if anything, the most militant of the options, just one where we play a deeply religious general presiding over the rebellion of a planet from a war room, rather than a holy champion who personally smites the corrupt. And if that's what you want, sure, I can dig that, I always like a good general on the hill in their command tent. But that's what it is.

If you want to wield political power within the system, I'd say you want the Theologian, the scholar who's about to be Martin Luther and stand on principle over a matter of doctrine in an internal Ecclesiarchical matter. Personally, I'm sticking with the Street Preacher and the Drill Abbot for some good old torches-and-pitchfork action.

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Well shit, shows me what I get for not reading the options closely enough.

[X] The Cardinal. You have a position of rank and power within the Ecclesiarchy, and you have done what you can to use it for good. Your teachings were always somewhat unorthodox, but you spoke to people's hearts and your support grew ever greater. Now, though, your superiors have rendered judgement, and those who trusted in your words are being condemned as heretics and sent to the pyre. Your position protects you from harm so long as you do not intervene... but you cannot stand aside and let your children burn.

[X] The Sororitas. You are a Sister of Battle, and your skin bears the scars of many wars. You have slain the enemies of the faith on countless battlefields, advanced far in the service to the Church... and found the worth of those you are supposed to serve lacking. They feast on the victuals of a hundred worlds and drink wine from golden chalices, while you stand guard and know your sisters die in muddy holes with every passing day. No more.

Really hard to choose between Sororitas or Street Preacher.

[X] The Cardinal.

[X] The Drill-Abbot

[X] The Cardinal
[X] The Missionary

Frankly I'd like to do faith based stuff that isn't a Sororitas since that always seems to be the case with 40k quests.

[X] The Theologian. You graduated top of your class at the Schola, and donned the cassock of a priest with a smile on your face. You had studied the many and varied forms of the Imperial Faith for years on end, only to find that not one of the them reflected the actual truth. The horrors you have witnessed in your service to the mighty have strained your mind, and in the end you knew you were faced with a choice; do the sensible, pragmatic thing, or take a stand on a matter of principle few of your peers even cared to name. Put like that, it isn't really a choice at all, is it?

[X] The Sororitas. You are a Sister of Battle, and your skin bears the scars of many wars. You have slain the enemies of the faith on countless battlefields, advanced far in the service to the Church... and found the worth of those you are supposed to serve lacking. They feast on the victuals of a hundred worlds and drink wine from golden chalices, while you stand guard and know your sisters die in muddy holes with every passing day. No more.

Torch and pitchforks...IDK, sounds like a flame all too easily snuffed out to me but I digress.

[X] The Drill-Abbot. You served on the frontlines, and in reward were permitted to retire to the Schola Progenum, there to teach the next generation of Imperial servants how they might best serve the Emperor. For decades you have nurtured their minds and sent them forth into the galaxy. Most died, their lives spent like copper coins, and those who survived highlighted your every failure in the doing. Now you pick up your hammer and set forth to confront your old students, and perhaps in the process teach them one final lesson.

[X] The Sororitas. You are a Sister of Battle, and your skin bears the scars of many wars. You have slain the enemies of the faith on countless battlefields, advanced far in the service to the Church... and found the worth of those you are supposed to serve lacking. They feast on the victuals of a hundred worlds and drink wine from golden chalices, while you stand guard and know your sisters die in muddy holes with every passing day. No more.

[X] The Cardinal. You have a position of rank and power within the Ecclesiarchy, and you have done what you can to use it for good. Your teachings were always somewhat unorthodox, but you spoke to people's hearts and your support grew ever greater. Now, though, your superiors have rendered judgement, and those who trusted in your words are being condemned as heretics and sent to the pyre. Your position protects you from harm so long as you do not intervene... but you cannot stand aside and let your children burn.

Fwiw I think the reason I'm kinda...not cold exactly but sorta muted on the Sororitas is that there isn't -well maybe there is in the future- but fundamentally the character's just kinda doing what she's always done. Just pointed in a different direction. There isn't that, like, deep fracture or significant revision, and what she's doing isn't fundamentally at conflict with the core tenets of her unshakable faith I think. The Cardinal option has much more...guilt involved, self-doubt, self-reflection. It's someone consciously setting aside everything they've worked for and starting again for what's essentially the second time.

[X] The Cardinal. You have a position of rank and power within the Ecclesiarchy, and you have done what you can to use it for good. Your teachings were always somewhat unorthodox, but you spoke to people's hearts and your support grew ever greater. Now, though, your superiors have rendered judgement, and those who trusted in your words are being condemned as heretics and sent to the pyre. Your position protects you from harm so long as you do not intervene... but you cannot stand aside and let your children burn.

[X] The Theologian. You graduated top of your class at the Schola, and donned the cassock of a priest with a smile on your face. You had studied the many and varied forms of the Imperial Faith for years on end, only to find that not one of the them reflected the actual truth. The horrors you have witnessed in your service to the mighty have strained your mind, and in the end you knew you were faced with a choice; do the sensible, pragmatic thing, or take a stand on a matter of principle few of your peers even cared to name. Put like that, it isn't really a choice at all, is it?

[X] The Cardinal
[X] The Street Preacher

TenfoldShields said:

The Cardinal option has much more...guilt involved, self-doubt, self-reflection.

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Ah, yes, of course, I should've realised that option would be like catnip for you. Dragon-nip?

Considering that the emperor, primarchs and space-marines are all male, I really hope Sororitas wins. NOT because I see gender balance as an end in itself in this instance, but because I'm sure the author can do some great stuff with the concept of the first emperor-empowered woman in history. I'm interested in what it'll do to the whole institution of the Sororitas, for one.

[X] The Sororitas. You are a Sister of Battle, and your skin bears the scars of many wars. You have slain the enemies of the faith on countless battlefields, advanced far in the service to the Church... and found the worth of those you are supposed to serve lacking. They feast on the victuals of a hundred worlds and drink wine from golden chalices, while you stand guard and know your sisters die in muddy holes with every passing day. No more.

[X] The Street Preacher. You walked out of the temple long ago, seeking service of a more worthy kind. The alleys are your church, the forgotten wretches your congregation, the warmth of a full belly the sacrament you offer. You have seen a thousand worthy souls clad in rags and ground into the dust by the Church's imperious neglect, while on the horizon the gilded towers grew ever higher. You cannot turn a blind eye anymore; if your onetime brethren have forgotten those who dwell beneath their feet, then it will be your duty and your pleasure to remind them.

[X] The Drill-Abbot. You served on the frontlines, and in reward were permitted to retire to the Schola Progenum, there to teach the next generation of Imperial servants how they might best serve the Emperor. For decades you have nurtured their minds and sent them forth into the galaxy. Most died, their lives spent like copper coins, and those who survived highlighted your every failure in the doing. Now you pick up your hammer and set forth to confront your old students, and perhaps in the process teach them one final lesson.

[X] The Street Preacher. You walked out of the temple long ago, seeking service of a more worthy kind. The alleys are your church, the forgotten wretches your congregation, the warmth of a full belly the sacrament you offer. You have seen a thousand worthy souls clad in rags and ground into the dust by the Church's imperious neglect, while on the horizon the gilded towers grew ever higher. You cannot turn a blind eye anymore; if your onetime brethren have forgotten those who dwell beneath their feet, then it will be your duty and your pleasure to remind them.

Phyrexian said:

Considering that the emperor, primarchs and space-marines are all male, I really hope Sororitas wins. NOT because I see gender balance as an end in itself in this instance, but because I'm sure the author can do some great stuff with the concept of the first emperor-empowered woman in history. I'm interested in what it'll do to the whole institution of the Sororitas, for one.

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Note a lot of the Living Saints are actually women (and in fact come from the Sororitas) it's just well...focusing on that would actually require GW to have given a shit about the Sororitas at some point before six months ago.

Can confirm, Cardinal archetype would see the quest open with you decking a Hereticus Inquisitor in the face on the steps of your own cathedral.

Drill Abbot would likely involve stepping out of a congregation in front of one of your former pupils and causing the ground to ice over from the sound of your "Boy.".

Street Preacher would see you standing in the way of an Imperial Triumph and backhanding the local Ecclesiarch and his giant golden pope-mobile through the air.

Sororitas seems likely to recreate the judgement of Vandire during a major speech being broadcast to an audience of millions.

Missionary would see you march into the palace-church of the mighty and get your Moses on.

Theologian may possibly involve going wildly off-script in the opening acts to one of those aforementioned grand ceremonies broadcast to millions. Insults may be involved.

Imrix said:

Ah, yes, of course, I should've realised that option would be like catnip for you. Dragon-nip?

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Hey you're the one who was talking about how cool it'd be to have someone who grew up in a position of privilege and then came to see how vile and wretched it all was! Why aren't you all over this?

Maugan Ra said:

Can confirm, Cardinal archetype would see the quest open with you decking a Hereticus Inquisitor in the face on the steps of your own cathedral.

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oh

fuck

yes

just haul off and slap a motherfucker with a golden bible, i'm down