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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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→The Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition
===The Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition===
Conflict has always existed between the Adeptus Astartes and the [[Ecclesiarchy|Adeptus Ministorum]], going back all the way to the very start of the [[Imperial Creed]] on Terra. Though rivalry is ever present between and among all the factions within the [[Adeptus Terra]], this friction goes to an even deeper level. Space Marines can rightfully be called the "Sons of the Emperor" - they are the Emperor's direct creation, carrying his blood, as well as being undying loyal defenders of humanity, the Imperium, and the Emperor's honour. Despite all this, conflict arises in that they do not adhere to the Imperial Creed nor (typically) worship the Emperor as a divine god as preached by the Ecclesiarchy, instead venerating him as a gifted, powerful man. Indeed, given the wide variation of chapter cults some chapter cult practices are very barbaric - many including blood sacrifices - and some traditions could easily be considered [[Heresy| heretical]]{{Fn|21}} in comparison to the orderly masses of the Ecclesiarchy. Added to this, the sheer differences between baseline humans and these genetically engineered monstrous giants capable of spitting acid or crushing men's skulls, are enough for some consider them as separate race entirely.{{Fn|21}}{{Fn|29}} Staunch puritans of the Ecclesiarchy preach the adage "suffer not the mutant to live", and in the Imperium the purity of the human form is lauded as much as whilst all other species are reviled. {{Fn|24}}
The Ecclesiarchy and the Astartes have reached an uneasy compromise over the millenia, which can generally be thought of as an agreement to differ. In general, the Ecclesiarchy does not send its [[Confessor]]s and [[Missionary|Missionaries]] to Space Marine worlds, and the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes do not interfer with the Church. Space marine chaplains are given their sacred [[rosarius]] by the Ecclesiarchy, a symbolic link between the Adeptus Astartes and the Adeptus Ministorum, but ultimately the chaplains still preach their own version of the Imperial Creed to their brethren. This uneasey truce has been shattered by particularly zealous Cardinals or Confessors that have roused the wrath of a chapter either through words or deeds.{{Fn|21}}{{Fn|29}}
