"What would you have me say to them?" He asks, and to his credit his voice remains steady even in the face of revelation, "There will be a great many questions that need answering…"
You shake your head, not in anger but in sorrow, and cross the space between you in three lengthy strides. You place one hand upon his shoulder, and when you look him in the eyes it is to find a gaze that waters before the brilliance of your divinity.
"I have no word for them, and no message for you," you say softly, "tell them what you wish, but do not imagine you do so at my behest, or as my agent in the world beyond. You are not worthy of such regard."
the MC got shot with an Inferno Pistol and somehow that wasn't even the biggest burn today
[X]
Muster the Clergy. You are Cardinal of this world, and within the priesthood your authority is beyond question. Summon the other priests and holy men on this world to your side, that you might lay the foundation for your future success.
It's an angle that hasn't been brought up yet but it's definitely Concerning: Inquisitorial investigations don't happen for no reason, the guy had to have testimony, corroborating concerns from our peers and parts of our flock. You don't move against a Cardinal without support from above, but you also don't move against them without support from
below either. I think it's highly likely, probable even, that some of the senior members of the Clergy Sanguis betrayed us, whether out of greed (control of all that pilgrim cash is a pretty juicy prize), fear (nobody wants to be on the wrong side of a potential heresy, especially in an environment like the Imperium that fucks you for choosing wrong or not choosing at all), or doctrinal disagreement (probably the easiest to solve at this point tbh).
Hell, it's pretty probable that one of our immediate subordinates was going to be tapped for our position. Sure you can always ship a new Cardinal in from somewhere closer to the Pacifica but Ultima Segmentum's kinda Out There and drawing from the ranks of Sanguis itself would help preserve stability on a super-valuable Shrine World.
Beyond that we really excel at Bureaucracy and getting all the levers of the local administration firmly under our thumb is going to prove useful when we start dealing with the Navy on Solus (who'll probably be the first ones called upon to contain us), other dioceses, or the AdMech. We said we'd address our flock in a few days and the Sororitas, while historically a pretty spectacular check on rogue members of the Ecclesiarchy, are also more...mystical I think? Than a lot of the scholar-bureaucrat-priests. We've got at least some time with them, they'll probably gather together of their own accord to pray, meditate, and hash this out.
Also something I missed:
Sanguis is a world of martyrs. Internal records and planetary legend claim that the world was liberated from some vast alien threat by the Space Marines of the Blood Angels legion during the days of the Great Crusade, during which the Astartes suffered heavy casualties. Specific dates and the identity of this nameless foe have never been verified and the records of the Blood Angels themselves make no mention of the world.
Lol there is 100% Chaos Marine shit buried in the catacombs of this world and it's
probably been somewhat deliberately contained/quarantined by the raw holy power suffusing the planet. I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up at some point and man we are definitely going to get a Visit from the Blood Angels or one of their successor chapters. A Cardinal goes all weird and golden and glowy on a world dedicated to
their founder? Best bet they'll fucking make time to come see us.
Why the AdMech?
They usually stay out of Ecclesiarchy-issues, same from the other side.
As long as we don't mess with the cogboys they are the least likely faction in the Imperium to mess with us.
There's a lot of bad blood between the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Ecclesiarchy iirc and it stretches back millennia and encompasses, like, a whole host of grudges and conflicts and petty battles. At it's root though the AdMech have always been a sorta sub-Empire within the Imperium who largely get to govern shit as they like, utterly unbeholden to the Ecclesiarchy in terms of doctrine or administration. Which is double-galling from a priest's perspective because they are
borderline heretical with their Omnissiah-is-totally-the-Emperor-we-swear shit. And by the same turn the AdMech is jealous of its power and privilege, loath to part with any of it, and all but actively goes out of their way to goad the Clergy because fuck you you aren't
my boss.
From a more humanist perspective, which is way more relevant to this PC than some others, the AdMech are also hugely problematic. Slavery and serfdom is rampant in the Imperium and the boys in red are some of the worst perpetrators, working their thralls to death in Forge Worlds by the millions (and sure not
every Forge World but still, as an organization they've got Issues). They also hold a lot of tools for improving quality of life but due to a combination of institutional trauma, ego, and personal weirdness resent parting with any of it.
Integrating any part of the AdMech into our fledgeling Thing is probably going to be our biggest challenge and potentially biggest boon, outside of getting, like, literal Space Marines onboard.
