Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 903

Chapter 896, Conflict between state religion

and the Saints. The Saints are one of the nine founding Chapters of the Imperium.

This Chapter is inextricably linked to religion. The Words of the Emperor, the most widely circulated text in the Imperium and revered as the Holy Bible by the State Religion, were recorded, composed, and interpreted by the Gene-Father of the Saints, the Son of God.

Ten thousand years ago, after the Emperor’s Ascension, during the civil war that determined the fate of the Imperium, the Saints supported the Loyalists. They prided themselves on being the staunchest believers in the Emperor’s will. They worshipped the Emperor as a deity, followed His will, and firmly believed that the Imperium should be ruled by mortals themselves.

After the Civil War, the Saints accepted the Space Marine Codex written by Robert the Son of God and split off.

Although not as large as the Infinite Chapter, they still had the second-largest number of successor Chapters in the Imperium.

Besides them, there was the Punisher Legion, which had spawned a similar number of successor Chapters as the Saints. The Golden Knights ranked fourth. Together, these four successor chapters account for nearly 70% of the Imperium’s Chapters. The remaining five chapters account for less than 30%.

The Saints, including their successor chapters, possess several distinct characteristics.

They are fervent religious zealots with extremely close ties to the Ecclesiarchy. While few Space Marines are canonized as “Living Saints” by the Ecclesiarchy, nearly 80% of the Saints’ Chapter Masters are. The remaining 20% have less favorable, or even hostile, relations with the Ecclesiarchy. Despite this, they are posthumously canonized.

The Saints and their successor chapters always fight for the interests of the Ecclesiarchy, and in return, the Ecclesiarchy always provides support to the Saints and their successor chapters.

The Saints Chapter is also one of the most friendly of all Chapters with mortals.

However, this friendship is conditional.

This Chapter is deeply committed to proselytizing. It is said that during the Great Crusade, when the Empire was founded, the Saints were too obsessed with missionary work, which resulted in the expedition progress not meeting expectations and they were even reprimanded by the Emperor. Afterwards, they learned from their mistakes and understood that fighting for God was the best way to spread faith, and so they began to strive for progress.

Therefore, when facing mortals, it depends on whether the other party is a believer. If they are believers of the state religion and believe in the God-Emperor, then the Saints will be more friendly, and the more devout, the friendlier they will be.

But if they are not believers, then the Saints are not just indifferent. They believe that all humans in the Empire should be believers of the God-Emperor, and those who do not believe in the God-Emperor are considered heretics.

However, different Saints have slightly different attitudes towards this aspect.

Taking the Saints, the parent group, as a baseline, they consider themselves neutral: they have requirements for the State Religion, but they don’t care about the specific denomination they adhere to, as long as they don’t tamper with, distort, or even abandon the Word of the Emperor. They don’t care about potential believers, at most they’ll be indifferent. They show respect for the Mechanicus, believing that the God of Mechanics they believe in is also the Emperor, so it’s not a big deal. Non-believers are given good persuasion and evangelism, but those who refuse to listen are considered stubborn enemies and will be physically eliminated.

Well… that’s the middle ground. Fortunately, those who don’t believe in the State Religion or the God-Emperor are few and far between within the Imperium. After all, they’re indifferent to even the most casual believers. If you do encounter one… just pretend a little; the Saints generally don’t bother to argue with mortals. If they insist on pretending and stubbornly insist, they’ll simply assume they don’t want to die.

By their standards, some successor groups are more “enlightened” than the Saints. Their ties to the State Religion are minimal, making them more like ordinary chapters—particularly devout and interested in proselytizing, but not obsessed with demons or interference in the outside world, their primary focus being their own piety.

There are also those who are even more obsessed, devoting their lives to proselytizing or purging heretics, committing numerous acts that would be considered outrageous within the Empire.

Others fall into various categories, such as those with exceptionally close ties to the State Religion, practically acting as its lackeys.

The Saints have numerous sub-chapters, naturally encompassing all types.

Regardless of their type, they all share one defining characteristic: religious faith.

Whether they are obsessed with demons, engaged in self-cultivation, or deeply connected to the State Religion, these are all manifestations of this religious foundation.

This is true even for new chapters formed by the Alliance using Saints’ gene-seed.

It seems this is ingrained in their genes.

This presents the Saints’ greatest challenge in integrating into the Alliance.

Gu Hang had assumed that, after signing a series of cooperation agreements, the Saints were already within his grasp.

But in reality, the Saints didn’t appear in the chapter interface.

Clearly, simply signing an agreement and submitting to the Alliance’s military command wasn’t enough for the system to recognize them.

The Saints still maintained a strong degree of independence.

Politically, they partnered with the Alliance;

economically and in terms of their own development, they remained the masters of the Mersiphat Sector. Unlike the other chapters reclaimed by the Alliance, which suffered greatly, the Mersiphat Sector was quickly reclaimed by the Saints after the Cataclysm and continued to provide a steady supply of resources. Whether they needed reinforcements or equipment, they could obtain them locally, so their need for the Alliance wasn’t that high.

Their current cooperation with the Alliance was essentially driven by self-interest. Whether for the Chapter’s own benefit, the Empire’s, or humanity’s overall interests, close cooperation with the Alliance and participation in its expeditions was the most valuable.

However, this didn’t mean they had become part of the Alliance.

This was also evident in the system. They didn’t appear in the battle group interface, but instead appeared in the Alliance’s ally list.

Gu Hang was quite patient about this.

He didn’t have to obtain Saints right away.

But he had a series of plans and would slowly move forward.

The core starting point was the religion where the two sides had the greatest difference in values.

The Alliance also had a state religion, but it was quite suppressed.

Or, rather than “suppressed,” it would be better to say “transformed.”

Within the Alliance, this system was called “Protestantism.”

It still followed the “Word of the Emperor,” but the main emphasis was on its many positive moral qualities: guiding people to good, calling for unity, and dedication. Some of the ritualistic and extremist aspects of religion were weakened. The organization of religious groups was dismantled, and religion was restricted to the scope of religion, thought, and community services, weakening its influence on society.

Are these heresies?

But it is not heretical, and even adheres to the originalism of the Holy Scriptures, excluding many other religious scriptures and interpretations of the Holy Scriptures written by many so-called saints or theologians.

The core conflict between the various factions within the state religion was over the right to interpret the scriptures. Controlling the right to interpret the scriptures led to further control of influence, thereby gaining greater divine authority and, ultimately, secular power.

What the Alliance did was to sever this portion of the right to interpret the Scriptures. This right now rests solely with the official Alliance and the Protestant Church. And both the official Alliance and the Protestant Church only recognize the “Word of the Emperor.”

Honestly, the Ecclesiarchy is generally unhappy about this—it’s a threat to their political survival!

However, it’s difficult to say so publicly.

What political survival do religious groups need?

This is a lesson from the days of apostasy, and Imperial law directly addresses this. Many of the Ecclesiarchy’s current actions, strictly speaking, skirt the line.

This cannot be publicly stated. The only way to criticize the Protestant Church is to accuse them of heresy. Essentially, it’s a reversion to the struggle for the right to interpret the Scriptures, and thus for influence, divine authority, and secular power.

This is the Ecclesiarchy’s most adept strategy.

However, in areas controlled by the Alliance, this strategy has failed.

Attacking the Protestant Church’s right to interpret the Scriptures is difficult, so they insist on the “Word of the Emperor,” and it has a large number of Protestant pastors and priests trained in the Alliance’s seminaries to help refute it. The Alliance’s seminary, also established by Gu Hang using his grace points, is similar in nature to Zhongsi Academy, and the priests it trains are quite capable.

Furthermore, Gu Hang has also used a considerable amount of grace points to enlighten and upgrade religious personnel. If

they can’t even achieve a significant advantage in debate, then there’s no chance of competing in other areas.

The Alliance’s official laws favor Protestantism; its military is more than capable of suppressing rebellion; and its administrative measures strengthen grassroots control, facilitating Protestant missionary work while hindering traditional state religions.

This balance of power has made religious issues manageable within the Alliance.

Under Gu Hang’s direction, this approach was quickly applied to the Mersiphat star system.

After the conflict in the Seven Star Corridor stabilized, the Western Expeditionary Force assembled three advance fleets and entered Mersiphat.

Under the framework of the agreement signed with the Saints, the Alliance quickly seized a significant degree of administrative power in the Mersiphat star system.

Soon after, as the Alliance’s armies, along with the Saints’ Chapters, numerous Saints’ Sub-Chapters, and the Crusades, began their expedition beyond the Mercifat Sector, the Alliance also began developing its economic, political, and religious infrastructure.

Economic development was smooth and sound,

and investment was welcome.

However, the Alliance’s economic system differed from Mercifat’s existing system.

The Saints’ style reflected the Mercifat Sector’s character—the hundreds of worlds there were, in some sense, religious worlds. Their hallmarks lay in the integration of church and state, with theocracy guiding the government.

This required changes.

To accommodate economic investment, political development naturally had to keep pace.

By this point, numerous conflicts had already emerged.

These conflicts were generally manageable, at least while the two sides were still enjoying a relatively harmonious relationship.

However, once the Alliance’s Protestant Church began to integrate through economic and political reforms, conflicts began to intensify.

Raymond Weiss, fighting on the front lines, witnessed many of these clashes.

Honestly, upon receiving this news, he had mixed feelings.

On the one hand, he had no desire to disrupt the cooperation between the Saints and the Alliance.

Only after leaving his homeland did he realize the precarious situation facing the entire empire. His earlier disappointment with Holy Terra had been completely justified. This, in turn, deepened his understanding that the only way to save the empire was to closely follow the Alliance’s lead and the instructions of High Lord Gu Hang.

But at the same time, the actions of the Alliance’s Protestant followers in Mesiphat left him feeling uneasy.

Amidst this conflicting sentiment, all he could do was play the role of a wall-hanger, diligently mediating between the two sides—primarily by appeasing those on his side.

The bishops and priests who ruled the numerous worlds of the Mesiphat star system were slowly dying politically.

Unable to secure support from Raymond Weiss, some began to take desperate measures.

A large-scale rebellion broke out in Mesifat – of course, according to the rebels, they were carrying out a “holy war”, expelling heretics, and restoring the sanctity of the Mesifat star field.

The rebellion was eventually suppressed.

But the impact of this incident was very far-reaching.

Among those who participated in the rebellion, many were Raymond Weiss’s own people.

Many different voices began to appear within the regiment.

Raymond Weiss finally couldn’t continue to be this paperhanger.

The contradictions were so obvious in front of him that it was impossible to continue to turn a blind eye.

He had to have a conversation with Gu Hang.

And this conversation was exactly what Gu Hang expected.

From the emergence of religious contradictions, to intensification, to rebellion, to Raymond Weiss’s change of mentality, these are all what Gu Hang hopes to see.

How can real changes be brought about if these things are not brought to the surface?

(End of this chapter)