The officers of “Ignis Aeternus”
“How long has it been since your last confessio, child?”
A pause. Silence answers where words should live.
“You do not need to say it. I can see the weight in your shoulders… the shadow around your eyes. It is always the same. One sin ignored becomes two… then ten. Unconfessed, they cling. They do not disappear. They dig into the soul like rust into iron.”
He walks slowly, a hand trailing across the edge of the shrine as he speaks, voice low and steady.
“Transgressions against the Emperor are not mere errors of thought or deed. They are weights. And those weights draw us down into the drowning pit of the Seven Vices. Each unchecked thought… each refusal to kneel… it adds another link to the chain.”
“Pride. Meakness. Sloth. Envy. Avarice. Gluttony. Lust.”
He names them like cuts from a blade, one by one.
“They do not burst forth. They seep. And they hollow you out from within. And it is that void, which the Enemy invades”
Malchior stops before the altar. A tall brass candelabrum glows before him, its wax slowly bleeding like martyr’s blood. He closes his eyes for a moment.
[Pauses – basking in the bright candlelight of the Imperial shrine]
“Light reveals. Light burns away corruption.”
“Confessio is the moment we step into the God-emperor’s light—not to be comforted, but to be cleansed.”
The soft hum of wings draws his gaze upward. A cherubim floats above, small vox-hymns issuing from its vox-grille throat. It spins slowly through the incense fog, its baby-face expressionless but radiant.
[Pauses – admiring the cherubim flying close, its lumen eyes casting soft gold across Malchior’s face]
“You see that cherub?”
“They do not flee the light. They exist within it. They do not lie. They do not excuse. They do not hide.”
“They sing, because they know no burden of guilt. No festering void in the soul.”
He turns his full attention on you now. His voice softens, but does not lose its edge.
“You were not built to be faultless, child. But the Emperor does not demand only an obedience. He demands purity.”
“Speak. Not for your comfort. Not for mine. But so that you may fight against the enemies of the God-emperor unshackled.”
“Speak. Before the weight pulls you under.”
The duties of a Confessor Abbot
Spiritual Leadership
- Acts as both monastic leader and spiritual father-confessor to the priests or the crew
- Offers private confessions and spiritual advice
- May be known for great wisdom or mystical insight
- Supervises the hymnals of the Grand Organ
Authority & Discipline
- Maintains religious discipline within the star vessel
- Oversees penitential practices or moral correction of priests and crew members
Royal or Political Confessor
- May serve as personal confessor to nobility or royalty
- Acts as advisor or intermediary between the ecclesiarchy and secular powers
Ignis Aeternus WH 40K campaign notes 