The Dark Priesthood

"The Dark Priesthood is the design of our Dark Prophet, the Messenger of the Great Urizen. It is our duty to guide Mankind to the Light. The destruction of the Imperium is inevitable, but it is our responsibility to make sure the stage is set for what comes next." The Dark Priesthood is a massive Conglomerate of Mortal and Astartes followers of Chaos, created by their Dark Prophet, Azunar, to facilitate the Grand Design of the Dark Gods. They believe that the Destruction of the Imperium must be a delicate and precise process, and that if the Emperor dies in the wrong circumstances, then Mankind is doomed.

Azunar, Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers and Lord of Chaos, knew the obvious truth that the Warp was affected by the emotions of Mortals. So rather than simply enslaving Mortals as his brothers normally would, he gave the mortal followers of Chaos a promise: that they would have a Church to shelter them and to guide them to Enlightenment. This amount of respect and patience that Azunar shows to his mortal flock inspires more Mortals to come to him, considering him far more forgiving than most Chaos Lords (That in no way says he is a soft figure.) This had the desired effect, as not only the religious fanaticism, but the genuine hope that Azunar instilled in his followers began to change the Warp, slowly turning it more symbiotic with Mankind than the parasitic, destructive normality of Chaos.

The Dark Priesthood is a twisted mirror image of the Ecclesiarchy, functioning with a very similar hierarchy and organization. Where the Ecclesiarchy seeks to convert the masses to the worship of the Emperor and to maintain that religious control, the Priesthood seeks to do the exact same thing, except in the name of the Dark Gods and the Word of Lorgar. They hold the Book of Lorgar as their greatest and most sacred writing. It fulfills it's purpose not through open warfare, but by playing the game of the Alpha Legion: Seeding Daemon Cults and painstakingly cultivating the seeds of Heresy.

Astartes Cells
These are the Warbands who have pledged allegiance to the Consecrated Warband and their ideology.

The Iconoclasts
The Iconoclasts are a warband of Chaos Space Marines. They were once a Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines of unknown origin and Founding, known as the Altar Brethren. They were corrupted after entering the Eye of Terror in 321.M37 as part of the Imperial Abyssal Crusade. It is unknown what they endured during their sojourn into the Eye, but by the time they made their way back into realspace, they had become the warband of Chaos Space Marines known as the Iconoclasts. Their warband color, badge, battlecry and leader is unknown

Beasts of Anihilation
The Beasts of Annihilation are a warband of Chaos Space Marines that were once the Loyalist Space Marine Chapter known as the Annihilators. Corrupted beyond recognition, these once-proud warriors are sworn to the service of the Dark Gods, and allow the daemons of the Warp to possess their superhuman Astartes bodies. As a result, this warband fields an unusually large number of Possessed Chaos Space Marine squads. They were led into damnation by their corrupt Chaplains, who themselves were corrupted by the enigmatic Azunar, who haunted their dreams until they succumbed to his words.

Disciples of Destruction
The Disciples are those Astartes that wanted to become members of the Consecrated warband, but were unable to because of the fact that they were not Children of the Urizen. They were formed into the Disciples by Azunar, and he gave them his blessing before sending them to war. They now serve alongside the Consecrated in the Long War.

The Invocators
The Invocators are a warband of Chaos Space Marines. They were once a Loyalist Chapter of Space Marines of unknown origin and Founding, known as the Clerics of Steel. They were corrupted after entering the Eye of Terror in 321.M37 as part of the Imperial Abyssal Crusade. It is unknown what they endured during their sojourn into the Eye, but by the time they made their way back into realspace, they had become the warband of Chaos Space Marines known as the Invocators.

Prophets of the Blighted Path
The Prophets of the Blighted Path are a warband of Chaos Space Marines drawn from the Word Bearers Traitor Legion who currently reside within the permanent Warp Storm, known as the Screaming Vortex, on the boundary of the Great Warp Storms that separate the Calixis Sector from the Koronus Expanse. The Screaming Vortex is a known haven for Chaos Renegades and Heretics. It is one of the zones within the region of the Halo Stars known as the Great Warp Storms, which takes the form of a vast, seething cauldron of Empyreal energies, every bit as intense as those that spew from the Eye of Terror and the Maelstrom. These frightening warriors have long maintained their presence within the Screaming Vortex. The Prophets maintain a potent force within their fastness, an orbital fortress trailing the world known as the Flaming Tomb, as close to the Inner Vortex region of the Screaming Vortex as any have gone. However, under the guidance of the Dark Apostle Naberus they have abstained from the constant warfare that grips the many other Chaos warbands of the Vortex. Instead, it is said they desire to see the rise of a great leader in the Screaming Vortex, one who can lead a war of destruction on the Imperium and allow them to follow in his or her wake, converting the survivors to the worship of the Dark Gods.

Dark Apostle Naberus, leader of the Prophets, was in fact a close Battle-Brother of Azunar's during the Horus Heresy, and the two remain close allies to this day.

(Feel free to add your own, the Priesthood is always accepting new additions. Just explain how you learned of the Priesthood and why you joined.)

Mortal Cults or Allies
The Priesthood, while it's own body, is also composed of many different cults spread throughout the Galaxy. The following Cults are either part of the Priesthood, or simply aligned/aided by them.

Carnibales
The Carnibales are an insurgency native to the planet Solo-Baston which began when the Ecclesiarchy began appropriating land from the indigenous population. When the Ecclesiarchy, the ruling power on the shrine world of Solo-Baston, began appropriating the lands of the various tribes to turn over to agricultural use what first appeared to be a grass roots insurgency began to trouble the planet. In reality the rebellion was instigated by the Dos Pares, members of the Blood Gorgons Chaos Space Marines. The Carnibales were able to very quickly massacre the Solo-Baston Planetary Defense Force (PDF) who had not expected the insurgency. Eventually the Imperial Guard was called in to put down the rebellion, however their efforts proved futile because the carnibales had captured the super heavy Earthwrecker siege gun, which allowed them to thwart any attempt to land on the main olo-Baston landmass. Though initially none of the Imperial authorities suspected the insurgency was aided by the forces of Chaos the increasing number of mutants among the Carnibales fighters and the growing number of shrines to the Dark Gods made this fact blatantly obvious. Due to the very nature of the Priesthood and their Consecrated masters, it is likely the Carnibale cult was seeded by them in one of their hidden conspiracies.

The Brotherhood of the Knife
The Brotherhood of the Knife, or the Crimson Brotherhood, was present at the Battle of Calth as well as many other battles across Ultramar. Though it suffered almost complete losses, those that survived followed Azunar into the Eye of Terror. Now they are a cell of the Priesthood, still loyal to their original Ideologies and ever fervent in their loyalty to Azunar, their patron saint and spiritual liege.

Cognitae
The Cognitae was a Chaos Cult which took the form of an academy, run by its founder, Lilean Chase. The Cognitae's aim was to develop, "by means psychic, eugenic and noetic," a generation of individuals who would work to further the aims of Chaos in the Scarus Sector. Every graduate of the Cognitae was both highly intelligent and extremely dangerous. According to Criol Fowst, a senior member of the Ushmetar Kaul in 31st Millennium, known also as "the Brotherhood of the Knife," the Cognitae, or some similar version of it, has existed within the Imperium for millennia, as far back as before the Great Crusade. The Cognitae also spawned several offshoots and imitators. It was later revealed that Lilean Chase was a Missionary of the Priesthood, a free-roaming agent sent to travel the galaxy and advance the aims of Chaos in any way they pleased.

The Eightfold Regiment
The Eightfold Regiment is the main military power of the mortal aspect of the Dark Priesthood. It is, essentially, a Regiment of Traitor Guardsman that was once eight separate regiments, each with their own military focus, combined into a single, many-faceted army. They are ruled by Gideon Argus, a Traitor Commisar and a faithful follower of the Priesthood's Creed.

Divine Fratery
The Chaos Cult known as the Divine Fratery that comprised several thousand members and had spread throughout the Angelus, Antimar, Helican and Ophidian sub-sectors by the 400s.M41. As worshipers of the Ruinous Powers their primary goals were to spread, by any means necessary, anarchy and chaos in order to facilitate the disintegration of the Imperium. They were obsessed with the art of divination in order to discern possible futures, and, whenever one promised disaster, the Cult did everything in its power to ensure that the tragic event came to pass and to maximize consequences. As part of their initiation, members of the cult had to remove one of their eyes, and then craft a patch to cover their remaining one, made of special material and to exact specifications, before they could receive medical treatment. If they survived this stage of their initiation, the missing eye was replaced with an augmetic version for everyday use, while the remaining eye was left covered, to be used only during divination rituals. The Divine Fratery anticipated the coming of the Daemon Prince Slyte, who clashed several times with Inquisitors Gregor Eisenhorn and his pupil, Gideon Ravenor. They willingly added their strength to the Priesthood when one of their seers predicted that they would do so.

The Menagerie (?)
Of all the threats facing the Ordo Malleus in the Calixis Sector, few are more dangerous, stranger, or as little understood as that posed by the cult known as the Menagerie. There are even those within the Inquisition that insist the cult is a phantom - a paper threat, a thing without substance, a conjecture woven from half truths and overactive fear. This, in turn, has led to fears by some that even the Holy Ordos has not been beyond the cult's corrupting reach, and a few Daemonhunters have engaged in unsanctioned operations in order to destroy it. The horrific truth is far worse. The Menagerie is very real, and its threat goes far beyond that of a few hundred lost lives, or a thousand or a billion. It seeks to undermine the very nature of reality itself with its revelations and to pitch the Calixis Sector into an abyss of Chaos from which none shall escape. The Menagerie has such sights to show, and all are invited to come and see. While it is unknown weather or not they are aligned with the Priesthood or not, the two forces have been seen working in collaboration before, and the very nature of the Menagerie is very similar to the nature of Azunar, the Priesthood's master. It is theorized by few within the Ordo Malleus that the original Revelator, the one who corrupted House Orsini of the planet Malfi, was in fact either Azunar himself or a far-traveling Missionary of the Priesthood.

Pilgrims of Hayte (?)
An apocalyptic murder cult as insidious as it is cruel, the Pilgrims of Hayte have plagued the Calixis Sector for nearly three centuries. During that time, they have risen to levels of infamy unrivaled by any other. Such is their well-founded reputation for horror and atrocity with the sector's powers that be that mere rumor of the cult's presence in a particular area is enough to generate near-panic among the nobility and prompt immediate, and brutal crackdowns by local authorities. The cult's ultimate goal is a simple one—the destruction of the Imperium. More specifically, it is the tearing down of the Imperial faith and the slaying of all those who serve the God-Emperor -- one soul damned and one murder done at a time if need be. To this end, the cult seeks to twist and corrupt the minds of the unsuspecting, the downtrodden, and the weak of faith and to carry out acts of mass-murder and sow despair and terror on as a wide a scale as possible. The cult's masters, known as the False Prophets, wield the powers of the daemon and the baleful energies of the warp with fearful abandon, driving on their coteries of madmen, lost souls, and hell-spawned monsters as living weapons in their unholy crusade to destroy the rule of the Golden Throne. It is unknown weather or not these Cults are members or even allies of the Priesthood, but evidence suggests that the Priesthood has supplied them with weapons and daemonic lore in the past.

(Feel free to add your own, the Priesthood is always accepting new additions. Just explain how you learned of the Priesthood and why you joined.)

Organization and Hierarchy
(TO BE ADDED LATER)

Religious Cult and Culture
(TO BE ADDED LATER)

Relics of Importance
(TO BE ADDED LATER)

Notable Events/Battles
(TO BE ADDED LATER)

By
(TO BE ADDED LATER)

About
(Feel free to add your own)"One of the most horrific enemies of Mankind. They're everywhere, I tell you, everywhere! They're probably listening to me talk right now. No one believes me. They ask 'How can a threat that great even exist!? You must be a fool, or a Heretic trying to incite fear!' They never listen. None of my colleagues listen, but they'll find out. By the Emperor, I hope they realize what's happening."

- Anonymous member of the Ordo Malleus, executed the next day for spreading lies.