Warhammer 40,000
"True faith is blind and justified."
— Confessor Faust
Fotens terribilitas, adjuva me in extremis!note
— "Prayer to the Emperor"
"I tread the path of Righteousness. Though it be paved with broken glass, I shall walk it barefoot; though it crosses rivers of fire, I will pass over them; though it wanders wide, the light of the Emperor guides my step."
— Confessor Dolan of Chiros, "Sermon on the road to Gathalamor"
"Blessed is the mind too small for doubt."
— Commissar Groden Bevro
"Death in service to the Emperor is its own reward. Life in failure to Him is its own condemnation."
— Uriah Jacobus, Epistles (Verse 93)
"Every man, even the greatest man, is but a ripple in space-time. In an empire of a million worlds, how much can one man truly matter? Only one being is truly essential to its continued existence, hail his name, the Master of Mankind. Serve the Emperor today, for tomorrow you may be dead.
Prayer may cleanse the soul, but pain cleanses the body. Both are necessary for the survival of humanity."
Prayer may cleanse the soul, but pain cleanses the body. Both are necessary for the survival of humanity."
— Confessor Ganinimus
"Give me a gun that never fires! Give me sword that is ever blunt! Give me a weapon that deals no wound as long as it always strikes awe!"
— Ecclesiarch Sebastian Thor
Other
"Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding."
— Martin Luther
"The sexual instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science.
There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."
There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."
— O'Brien, Nineteen Eighty-Four
"What attracted my grandfather to the island, apart from the profuse source of wiry labor that it promised, was the unique combination of volcanic soil and the warm gulf stream that surrounded it. You see, his experiments had led him to believe that it was possible to induce here the successful growth of certain new strains of fruit that he had developed. So, with typical mid-Victorian zeal, he set to work. The best way of accomplishing this, so it seemed to him, was to rouse the people from their apathy by giving them back their joyous old gods, and it is as a result of this worship the barren island would burgeon and bring forth fruit in great abundance. What he did, of course, was to develop new cultivars of hardy fruits suited to local conditions. But, of course, to begin with, they worked for him because he fed them and clothed them. But then later, when the trees starting fruiting, it became a very different matter, and the ministers fled the island, never to return. What my grandfather had started out of expediency, my father continued out of... love."
— Lord Summerisle, The Wicker Man (1973)
Odo: Has it ever occurred to you that you believe the Founders are gods because that's what they want you to believe? That they built that into your genetic code?
Weyoun: Of course they did. That's what gods do. After all, why be a god if there's no one to worship you?
Weyoun: Of course they did. That's what gods do. After all, why be a god if there's no one to worship you?
"Mr. Muller, let me show you an endless trail of sunsets. Let me save you."
— Brother Jeofrey Vita, The Electric Church
"Intercepting voice recording... 'Hello and welcome. You've reached the Fear Nothing Foundation. Free your potential. See what lies trapped under your fear.'
The commercials are so bright. The message is so positive. To cut away all fear. The teenagers came in. They did not come out. Fear is human. They cut away all the human bits."
The commercials are so bright. The message is so positive. To cut away all fear. The teenagers came in. They did not come out. Fear is human. They cut away all the human bits."
— The Buzzing, The Secret World
"I HAD NOT THOUGHT SELF-HELP HAD UNDONE SO MANY."
— The Buzzing, The Secret World
"Andrew Ryan left us wandering, confused and alone amongst yesterday's wreckage. But Sofia Lamb shows us that we are not alone: we are together, as a family. So when you see a man brought to his knees, recognize that he is your brother and pull him up. Sofia Lamb teaches us: What is in common is good. What is irreducible is right. She guides us all to the indivisible, along a river of ADAM. Rapture's Daughter, Eleanor, shall be our vessel. In her we shall be reborn!"
— Father Simon Wales, BioShock 2
"The fish does not seek to fly, and the raptor does not swim. Each life is a lesson, and you must live the life you have been given if you hope to rise in the next. Follow the path, and do not stray. Help your neighbors, and call on them when you are in need. And above all, trust the Inspired, whose wisdom guides us all."
— Excerpt from the Path of Inspiration, Eberron
"Brotherhood. Unity. Peace. One Vision, One Purpose. Peace Through Power!"
— Motto of the Brotherhood of Nod, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series
"Abstract: The greatest challenge GDI faces in battling the Brotherhood of Nod is that while its military forces can be defeated and its leaders killed, as long as the fundamental idea of the Brotherhood persists, it cannot truly be defeated. Nod is as much a religion and a concept as it is an economic, political, and military entity, and the general prevalence of the belief of the right to religious freedom that is in GDI's charter means that we cannot directly attack the religious aspects of Nod. Furthermore, the basic principles of the Brotherhood of Nod's religion make it even more difficult to overcome.
At the most basic level, Nod's religion is based on optimism. Nod believes in the concept of human ascension, and holds this very goal as a divine and holy task. Anything that will further the cause of human ascension is a divine tool, and those who progress the cause of human ascension are regarded as divine prophets. Quite naturally, Kane has shaped the Brotherhood so that they view him as its greatest prophet, and thus as its generally unquestioned divine leader — though by the beliefs of certain fringe elements of Nod, even Kane is not above reproach, and if a "more" divine leader can be found, they would flock to that leader instead. We have, in the past, attempted to use this oddly fractious nature of Nod, in the form of the Black Hand Confessor Marcion, to limited effect.
Tiberium is considered by Nod to be the greatest catalyst for human ascension and evolution, and thus a highly sacred substance. This has, in turn, resulted in Nod's continuous hardening and opposition to our attempts to eradicate Tiberium; GDI's attempts to save the Earth from the ravages of the alien crystal are considered "blasphemy" by Nod. The cult's fixation on Tiberium is extreme, and there have been numerous recorded instances where Nod personnel have taken "grafted" tattoos of processed Tiberium into their skin, or chemical infusions of Tiberium-based drugs to boost their physical abilities.
Of particular concern for our analysts is the fact that Nod's religion is fundamentally compatible with many other religions. The basic belief in helping humanity ascend beyond its limits — "Peace Through Power" — hits a humanitarian chord that is part and parcel of most other major religions. Of particular concern is how easily Nod's beliefs can coincide with those of religions such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Tao, and Shinto, and how it can connect with Christian and Muslim imagery of heaven and the Rapture. A vast portion of Nod troops are Islamic, Eastern Orthodox, or of Far Eastern religions. Of additional concern are those Nod soldiers who have taken on a suicidal bent; these fanatical Nod soldiers generally do not believe in any sort of divine reward waiting for them after death. Rather, they are willing to commit suicide as part of the greater cause of human ascension; this makes them even more dangerous, as they act not out of selfish motives, but selfless ones, to help their fellow humans..."
At the most basic level, Nod's religion is based on optimism. Nod believes in the concept of human ascension, and holds this very goal as a divine and holy task. Anything that will further the cause of human ascension is a divine tool, and those who progress the cause of human ascension are regarded as divine prophets. Quite naturally, Kane has shaped the Brotherhood so that they view him as its greatest prophet, and thus as its generally unquestioned divine leader — though by the beliefs of certain fringe elements of Nod, even Kane is not above reproach, and if a "more" divine leader can be found, they would flock to that leader instead. We have, in the past, attempted to use this oddly fractious nature of Nod, in the form of the Black Hand Confessor Marcion, to limited effect.
Tiberium is considered by Nod to be the greatest catalyst for human ascension and evolution, and thus a highly sacred substance. This has, in turn, resulted in Nod's continuous hardening and opposition to our attempts to eradicate Tiberium; GDI's attempts to save the Earth from the ravages of the alien crystal are considered "blasphemy" by Nod. The cult's fixation on Tiberium is extreme, and there have been numerous recorded instances where Nod personnel have taken "grafted" tattoos of processed Tiberium into their skin, or chemical infusions of Tiberium-based drugs to boost their physical abilities.
Of particular concern for our analysts is the fact that Nod's religion is fundamentally compatible with many other religions. The basic belief in helping humanity ascend beyond its limits — "Peace Through Power" — hits a humanitarian chord that is part and parcel of most other major religions. Of particular concern is how easily Nod's beliefs can coincide with those of religions such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Tao, and Shinto, and how it can connect with Christian and Muslim imagery of heaven and the Rapture. A vast portion of Nod troops are Islamic, Eastern Orthodox, or of Far Eastern religions. Of additional concern are those Nod soldiers who have taken on a suicidal bent; these fanatical Nod soldiers generally do not believe in any sort of divine reward waiting for them after death. Rather, they are willing to commit suicide as part of the greater cause of human ascension; this makes them even more dangerous, as they act not out of selfish motives, but selfless ones, to help their fellow humans..."
— In-Ops Report: Brotherhood of Nod Belief System and Its Challenges, Tiberium Wars
