A shrineworld is bedeviled with scarcity, conflict and peril in the aftermath of the Great Rift

Continuing a series of posts on how the opening of the Great Rift has affected the Gilead system, which has ended up in Imperium Nihilus, let's turn our attention to the state of Holy Enoch, a shrine world:

Holy Enoch

Picture an emerald whose lustre has faded. A world of vast oceans and narrow desert land masses entirely covered in temples and shantytowns, with whole mountain ranges carved into the likenesses of heroes and saints. The 4th sphere spinning about Gilead’s sullen star. Holy Enoch: a shrine world, one teeming with life… too much life.

Enoch was once a pilgrimage destination that oversaw the passage of billions of off-worlders every decade. At any given time, millions of wayfarers travelled between Enoch’s many holy sites from the shoals of Inish to the Temple of the Emperor’s Archangel, Tygranas Dalir.

When the Great Rift opened, millions of pilgrims were suddenly trapped on the surface, even as millions more were stuck in their transport vessels in the midst of either recently arriving or attempting to leave — all of which were soon dropped off on the planet as well.

Enoch was a place of holy visitation, designed to cater only to a transitory population. The spaceports were swiftly overrun. The population of the boarding houses swelled, then overflowed, as did the countless churches, cathedrals, temples, monasteries, shrines, and abbeys. Promises that such accommodations were only temporary, that things would soon return to ‘normal’ proved false. Numberless tent-settlements soon sprang up about every marbled city and as the months drew on, became seemingly permanent slums that stretched across the planet’s sparse continents.

Now, three years on from the Great Rift’s first appearance, Enoch is divided into two distinct castes: the Ecclesiarchy, priesthood of the shrine world, and the refugees. The castes unite in their collective misery.

The majority of Enoch’s population is on the edge of starvation. While the Ecclesiarchy consistently provides subsistence rations to the starving masses, they continually fall short. The situation is so dire that one year ago, before the arrival of Jakel Varonius, the Enochian Synod voted to take grim action. The Sisters of Battle, elite army of the Ecclesiarchy, were dispatched en masse to eliminate several heretical cults said to be amongst the refugee pilgrims, the fools tempted in their hunger by whispers of daemonic power emanating from the Great Rift.

Though the Adepta Sororitas did their duty and slaughtered many, rumours abound that the evidence of heresy was manufactured — a foul sham to keep the population under control. The Sisters of Battle now hold frequent masses in penitence for the potential tragedy, referring to it as the ‘Night of Tears’. This only stokes hearsay that the Ecclesiarchy are becoming more and more corrupt and callous as they look down on the populace from their armoured cathedrals.

Enoch’s wealthy live in barricaded towns filled with ornate, dilapidated churches, fortified towers, and armoured cathedrals. If they must venture out, they are accompanied by heavily armed bodyguards. Priests give their sermons from behind armoured glasscrete. The shantytowns are a seemingly endless mass of ragged lean-tos, and poorly built hovels. Violence is sudden and frequent. Gangs and criminal syndicates rule many districts, where even the sternest Ministorum Enforcers fear to tread. Misery breeds heresy. Cannibalistic cults are common, with darker cults still lurking in the shadows. Newly awakened Psykers and daemonic possessions are appearing with greater frequency throughout the slums, the few that know of their malevolent existence believe that the Enoch Synod is deliberately slow to stop or prevent such atrocities , in the hope that they’ll slaughter ‘excess’ population.

Inspired ‘Industries’

The majority of the stranded pilgrims originally came from prosperous families that could afford travel to a shrine world. While some carried enough wealth or had sufficient connections to establish themselves within the towns; most became destitute and were cast quickly into the slums. Many discovered that their former occupations were of little or no use on Enoch.

To survive in Enoch’s changed culture, many swiftly turned to dubious new enterprises. Before the opening of the Great Rift, Enoch did a brisk trade in souvenir relics, mostly counterfeit. The relic counterfeiters quickly turned their arts towards smith work, creating needed tools and weapons. Guns remain incredibly rare on Enoch, but blades are common. It’s considered foolhardy to not carry one at all times within the slums.

Most pilgrims previously left Enoch with a simple ornamental skinplant memento — a sophisticated tattoo using subcutaneous crystalline circuitry. These tattoos are most commonly laced with light emitting diodes that the bearer can control. The criminals, gangs, and even some cults of Enoch’s slums now use them to denote membership, leading to a number of startling appearances for different groups, who cover themselves with intricate glyphs and brilliant, shifting symbols, from the holy to the heretical. The most clever and technically advanced use their skinplants to broadcast secret messages to those ‘in the know’.

With the equivalent of ‘thin tasteless gruel’ making up the majority of the food available on Enoch, any other food is precious. Entire criminal enterprises exist to smuggle choice cuisine out of the secured towns. Many poor families attempt to supplement their meagre rations with small gardens, generally yielding mixed results. Even so, seeds, more than coin, are a valuable commodity in many parts of Enoch. Spices of every kind are in high demand, and groups sell a wide variety of seasonings, legal and otherwise. A small pouch of flavourful herbs is worth more than a Human life in the shantytowns.

The Sea’s Bounty

The hard-working coastal folk are one of the more privileged groups across Enoch’s continents’ shores. Outside the fortified towns, these fishing village folk are viewed with envy by the slum dwellers. By ancient tradition, Enoch’s fish and sea materials belong to the Ecclesiarchy; however, those that haul them from the oceans are allowed to first provide for themselves and their families, before passing on the rest of their harvest to the Adepts.

In the first few years after the Great Rift opened, the stranded pilgrims could easily wade into the shore and return with a few fish, using no more than their bare hands. As time passed though, under the baleful light of the Great Rift, Enoch’s sea creatures changed. ‘Casual’ fishermen were increasingly injured over the passing years, until eventually, they were torn to pieces. Enoch’s traditional fisherfolk had to armour their boats from attacks from increasingly deadly sea life, and finally had no choice but to move on from their simple nets, instead employing specially armoured lattices, reinforced lines, and harpoons — in some cases, explosive-tipped ones.

To defend against the ravenous refugees, fishing villages became walled, heavily armed strongholds with insular hereditary membership mostly limited to ancient Enochian lines. They still pass the majority of their increasingly difficult-to-catch hauls on to the Ecclesiarchy, but with each year, their catches have grown progressively stranger, and they fear the day the bounty of Enoch’s seas is declared tainted. The fisherfolk also make what produce they can from dried sea plants, and some dabble in trade goods made from sea material.

Wrath & Glory: Rain of Mercy (2020), pp. 6-8.

Jakel Varonius, who is mentioned, is a Rogue Trader at the head of a fleet, which fortuitously arrived in the system three years after the Rift opened. Without his miraculous arrival, we are told, the Gilead system would likely have collapsed, as most of the ships in the system had been destroyed or damaged in the years of strife and conflict which followed the Rift appearing.

Holy Enoch is another very interesting setting, but what can we learn from this about the Imperium and the impact of the Rift?

• The impact of the Rift on the ability to travel has caused major issues in general, but also very specific issues for certain types of planet: such as shrine worlds, which might now be full of pilgrims which they are unable to support, and who - understandably - come into conflict with the locals...
• Enoch, likely like many shrine worlds, was seemingly not previously full of poverty (though I'm guessing plenty of the lower ranking members of the Ministorum still led very austere lives) - a perk of being an Ecclesiarchy world which has resources pumped into it by the faithful, no doubt. Not anymore, as shanty towns have sprung up to house the stranded pilgrims, and the world is no longer connected to the old Warp routes, and thus new, wealthy pilgrims no longer arrive. We can surmise that the pilgrims were usually offering gifts given that they are described as carrying wealth with them - or maybe that the shrine world made its profits from the selling of skinplants.
• In a recurring theme seen on many other planets, the desparate situation has led to rising tensions and ever more pronounced internal divisions - in this case been the priesthood and the stranded masses.
• And we have another recurring theme here too: lack of food. In this case because of the larger than normal population, but also because of the general issues the Gilead system has with a lack of food and resources due to being cut off from the rest of the Imperium. This has led to increasing, unsustainable pressure being placed on the local agriworld, Ostia, as covered here: https://madministratum.blogspot.com/2025/06/an-agri-world-community-serves-as-neat.html
• Criminal gangs have appeared (or perhaps massively increased in scope and number) on Holy Enoch, and much of their activity is focused on food. Of course, organised crime is a fact of life of many of the worlds of the Imperium - most definitely on most hiveworlds. But perhaps not usually on shrineworlds. (That is, if you don't view the Ecclesiarchy as a bunch of criminals, I guess...)
• As has been the case in the aftermath of the Rift, and most especially in systems close to it such as Gilead, there has been an upsurge in cult acivity (some of it Chaotic in nature). And when combined with the lack of food, cannibalism has now become an issue. And yes, you do encounter a cannibal cult during the course of the mission.
• It is interesting that guns aren't that common on Holy Enoch - another legacy of it being shrineworld, perhaps? But the slums are dangerous places (so dangerous in places that the Ministorum Enforcers dare not enter), so you better carry a bladed weapon to protect yourself. The local elites, meanwhile, have armed guards, nd lived in fortified compounds.
• Of course, there are increasingly forces in the slums that you would be unable to fend off anyway: awakened psykers and daemonic possessions, another result of being so close to the Rift.
• Eventually, the local Sisters of Battle were used to purge large numbers of pligrims. A necessary act, to destory dangerous cults? Or an excuse to get rid of some hungry mouths and troublemakers? The masses certainly think it could have been the later, while the Sisters themselves hold masses to seek penitence for their actions. This has only served to stoke mistrust of the Ecclesiarchy, and many now believe local authorities are allowing cults, psykers and the possessed to run rampant to justify future purges... the feeling that the church officials are corrupt (which, given what we know of the Ecclesiarchy more general was likely true) is becoming more widespread.
• We see an interesting dynamic whereby the planet's fishermen would get to keep some of their hauls, but that they would have to hand over the rest to the church, as it is deemed the Ecclesiarchy's property. With the food shortages, these fishing communities have risen in status - but have had to increasingly introduce defensive measures against the pligrims... and the ever more warped and vicious sealive, which is seemingly another effect of the Rift.
• And those poor pilgrims... some of them were wading into the sea to get some fish, but started to get maimed and then ripped to shreds by the mutating sea creatures.
• There are fears that the sea creatures may be declared tainted - which would only worsen the food shortages even more. And if they continue to become more deadly, that will be a major issue too.
• So, this is another planet in the system which is full of increasing tensions, resource scarcity and poverty, and unforseen new dangers (the last of which was also the case on the local forgeworld, Avacharus, which is home to a different threat: https://madministratum.blogspot.com/2025/06/servitor-manufactorum-struggles-to-meet.html)

Once again, there is some great worldbuilding here, with a very detailed and beliveable society being sketched out. And the impact of the Rift is very well-thought out. I particularly like the focus on how the loss of Warp routes had affected large numbers of pilgrims, and the knock-on effects of this on the local society.

This was originally a post on Reddit, here: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/1imiruz/extract_a_shrineworld_is_bedeviled_with_scarcity/