The Imperial Creed
The first prayer every Imperial citizen learns to speak
Context
From the highest cardinal in the Ecclesiarchy to the poorest hive-dweller in the lowest underground district, every loyal citizen of the Imperium can speak the Creed. It is taught before reading, before walking, before any other prayer. To not know it is suspicious. To refuse it is heretical. To recite it badly may be the first sign of corruption.
This is the simple Creed in its most common form — there are longer variants, regional variants, and esoteric variants known only to specific sub-cults. The skeleton, however, is always the same: the Emperor lives, the Emperor protects, the Emperor demands that we serve.
The Litany
The Emperor of Mankind is the Light and the Way.
All thought, all deed, all life is His.
He is the Lord of Terra and the Father of the Imperium.
He bleeds for us, daily, upon the Golden Throne.
We thank Him with our labours.
We thank Him with our oaths.
We thank Him with our deaths, should He require them.
Ave Imperator. Long shall He reign.
Have you sworn an oath fit for the Ecclesiarchy?
Speak your vow at the shrine