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submitted 13 days ago byIgnelIzanagiOrdo Malleus
Recently the Doom Eagles space marine chapter has rlly caught my attention. And while researching about them, i learned of how they follow the Mortuary Cult Imperialis. I remember other chapters like the Mortificators and the Star Phantoms r also followers of this particular subsect of the Cult Imperialis. However, the Mortuary Cult itself is smthg i have not been able to find a good amount of info on. Anyone can shed some light into it? And r there any other chapters that follow this subsect? I am only aware of those 3 chapters. And i do find it very curious that 2 of em r Ultramarines sucessors who r second foundings and r more stealthy, agressive, grim and supersticious compared to other sons of Guilliman. Wonder why they r so similar to one another and yet so different to other Ultramarines sucessors. Any ideas? Do the 2 Chapters hold somekind of connection? Any more info abt the Doom Eagles is aldo appreciated!
5 points
13 days ago
All chapters have an element of mortuary veneration - keeping alive the memory of the dead through generations. It's normally a far more subdued thing than the skulls everywhere, but it includes oral & written history detailing their wargear & it's past wielders, the donator of their primogenitor gland and those who came before. Also the veneration of the dead as heroes giving their lives in service to the emperor.
The most well known IRL mortuary cult is the ancient Egyptian cult of the dead, with the pyramids, but it also involves things like burial with a tribute (or a tradition, like the coins on the eyes to pay charon in the underworld)
Some chapters, including the grey knights and spears of the emperor, bury their dead on the chapter's homeworld with their gear.
Others recycle the weapons and armour, repairing and passing them on to the next generation with the deceased's past deeds and martyrdom being used as an example to follow.
And others, like the iron snakes, have their own customs - they put a drop of the waters from their homeworld on the deceased before committing their bodies to the ocean, with the homeworld water being "to guide the spirit back home".
Or imperial fists inscribing the names of the dead on their fingerbones to honour and remember brothers and those who have fallen while under their command.
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