The Hide of Bureaucracy
In the vast machine of the Imperium, where edicts endure longer than stars and contracts outlive the bloodlines that signed them, there exists no more trusted medium than Imperial Parchment—crafted from the tanned and sanctified hides of gene-standard pigs bred on Agri-worlds for this sacred duty.
These parchment sheets are inscribed with law, liturgy, and condemnation, and used in contexts where digital storage is deemed insecure, untrustworthy, or unworthy of permanence.
Biological Security: Unique Origins
What makes Imperial parchment invaluable is not only its durability, but its biological authenticity:
- Each agri-world breeds parchment-stock pigs with genetically distinct markers, making each sheet traceable by DNA patterning.
- The DNA structure remains intact through the tanning process, ensuring anti-forgery integrity.
- This genetic signature is used by Lexmechanics and Notarial Gene-Adepts to confirm a document’s planetary origin and authenticity.
Synthetic replication of this tissue is impossible.
Durability of the Tanned Hide
Treated using ferrite-natrium salting, rite-searing, and gene-binding, pig-skin parchment becomes:
- Resistant to fire, mold, and time decay
- Stable under warp-adjacent influence
- Ideal for use in deep-vault tithe archives, cathedral libraria, and Imperial contracts.
Some parchments have survived planetary extinction events, still bearing their original script even when thoroughly scorched.
Fungal and Vermin Threats
Even blessed parchment can fall victim to biological corruption:
Scriborrhiza Archivora – The Ink-Eater Fungus
- Targets organic oil residues in the tanned skin
- Corrupts ink channels and fingerprints, causes textual misinterpretation
- Controlled by regular censer fuming and sulfur sanctification
Formicex Libravoris – The Parchment Wyrm
- Burrows into parchment stacks, feeding on residual protein and seal-wax
- Identified by hairline text warping and mottled edges
- Nest purging is required every 100 cycles in deep-stack archives, either by hand-picking or intermediate radiation.
Sacred Usage
Imperial parchment is mandated for:
- Planetary oaths and decrees
- Imperial Tithe documentation
- Ecclesiarchy proclamations
- Imperial contracts
- Saint reliquary authentications
Every stack of sheets is co-signed by a Parchment Warden, who verifies its genetic code before inscription.
Ignis Aeternus WH 40K campaign notes 