OK, so, obviously, every world in the imperium, to a greater or lesser extent, maintains a unique planetary society.

But is there an 'Imperial Society'?  An overarching, interstellar, society that defines the imperium, perhaps providing heroic, moral and societal paragons for the various disparate societies to emulate and aspire to?  If so, what is it like?  How is it constituted, structured, maintained?

The example i'm thinking of is Ancient Rome.  The various Roman provinces all had their local cultures, customs etc.  Gaul as different to Numidia.  Egypt was different to Iberia, etc.  However, they were all Roman; they all adopted Roman culture, religion, materials, building styles...Egyptians and Gauls alike wanted to 'be Roman' (not everyone of course, but many, many did).

So is the Imperium similar? 

I'd say the Roman example that you made above is the best idea of how it would work.

As I understand it any homogeneity in Imperial society comes from the teachings of the Imperial Creed which (again, to the best of my knowledge) emphasises "know your place, perform your roll for the good of Mankind."

As for things like aesthetics, classical gothic style architecture seems to be the norm.

OK, that's a skeleton of an idea, but what about the detail?

Say you were a planetary noble, moving up into the bigger pond of Interstellar society.  What would you need to know?  How would you need to act?

Who defines the 'fashions' of this Imperial Society?

Luddite said:

 The skeleton is already the answer. Thats the whole point. You can´t really compare an interstellar imperium to old rome "in detail". Worlds of the imperium do not have continous contact with other worlds, so the "mesh" holding them together culture-wise is nonexistant. Every world differs a bit or a lot, depending on how much contact they have.

Luddite said:

You would act as your own culture dictates. Then you would meet people that behave different and logically adapt or otherwise fail. And again. And over again. All the time. But this is rare, as most people, even nobles regularly don´t have different cultural encounters.

It´s been said before: the singular person is not important.

"What is important is the emperor. He literally DIED for you. So you better honor this sacrifice, even if it wasn´t your fault: He is still protecting you. So, why are you sad because your work is so hard? Hard work beats dying and suffering for mankind for an eternity, doesn´t it? So, be happy! Be happy that your son was selected for the imperial guard to kill the imperiums enemys! Mankind depends on you and your family."

I imagine it would be the High Lords of Terra and their Families.  The nobility from the home world.   It would sort of Bleed out from the interior in much the way modern fashion does. 

"Have you seen what Lady Oberron was wearing at last nights Opera?"

"You know, Lord Malcom of Hisivail was using the 'New' standard Unifiorm at the gala."

"My my, Lady Bessington.  That servitor is much closer to your tapestries in color."

"Lord Errsven, That saber is the same that they wear on Terra? How extraordinary."

People will always talk, and will always envy what is new and different.  And the people of 'lesser' stock will always try to emulate their 'betters' as much as possible in a way to alleviate their own poor status.

"Darling why are we adding the Flying Buttresses to our home?.. ah I see, Lady Olmerta of Cossington has them on her home."

The need of the Nobility to be different is simply their need to be the trendsetter.  Status.  That defines the spread of society and "culture."

Mekanitz said:

So you're agreed that there IS an imperial culture and society that exists beyond local planetary variants?

What you describe is the 'cultural trickle-down' effect, and i agree thats how an Imperial society is likely to permeate.

I like the idea that Terran culture represents the 'pinnacle' that would have the highest status and would therefore be emulated.  I also like the idea that the Fashions and cultural dictates of the High Lords would also have an effect. 

Mekanitz said:

So you see a significant part of this Imperial culture would be 'fashion'.  Not in the sense of the modern world, as an expression of 'wealth and style', but in the feudal/post-feudal sense of fashion representing proximity to those in power.

'That saber is the same that they wear on Terra' is representing that the person knows what sabres on Terra are like (because they've been there), and are therefore able to afford interstellar travel, powerful enough to move in high circles etc.

Mekanitz said:

Indeed.  So 'status' as defined by the power and wealth to understand these things is an important part of Imperial Culture / society?

That's interesting, as we can infer from that, that Imperial society is aspirational.

So what other details can we define of an Imperial Society?

Imperial society is elitist, aspirational, fashionable, and derived from Terra and other core worlds.

What activities does that society revere?

What morals, thoughts, ideas, and philosophies would it espouse?

I think there's several institutions that ensures an "Imperial Society" on the many different planets that make up the Imperium as a whole. The ministorum, administratum, ecclesiarchy, adeptus arbites etc. I think these are all represented in some way on most planets in the Imperium.

You mentioned architecture. In one of the Ciaphas Caine books(I can't remember exactly which on, but it was the one with the Tau occupation) Cain himself noticed that something was wrong withe the buildings in the city under Tau occupation. It turned out that Tau sympathisers had made alterations to their homes to show their allegiance. This included "rounded" corners and oval shapes.

So it seems the Imperium is all about har angles when it comes to architecture.

Snidesworth said:

Except, really, there isn't a single Imperial Creed either - there never has been, really. There's an overriding and unifying believe in The-Emperor-as-God, but regional variations are rife across the Imperium. The details and emphasis of 'the Creed' varies from world to world and sector to sector, sometimes to the point where those variations have sparked 'Wars of Faith' as one sector or group of sectors attempt to quell what they perceive as a heretical deviation in the Creed of a neighbouring sector...

So would this 'Imperial Creed' (whatever it is) inform or be in any way related to an overarching Imperial society?

If so, how?

What parts of the Creed would be 'universal' despite localised interpretations?

What are the general tenets of the Creed, that might form part of an Imperial society?

Luddite said:

Veneration of the Emperor, the notions of human purity, and the fear of the witch and the alien are the only significant 'constants' that I can see. The Ecclesiarchy manages to put an overarching structure on everything, but interstellar distances, untold thousands of holy books and countless millions of local saints and the minutia of politics mean that everything else is up for grabs. No one being can know everything there is to know about religion in the Imperium, simply because there's too much to know.

IMO, the notion of 'Imperial Society' isn't something deliberate or anything that can be strictly defined, but rather the natural result of cross-pollenation - the only major exceptions being in regards to Sanctioned Psykers (as they're all gathered by the League of Blackships and governed by the Adeptus Astra Telepathica), and Arbitrators (as they're all trained from the same books of law). It only exists on worlds where interstellar travel is a regular factor, and even then, it's a frail and rather marginal thing. Soldiers on Crusade bring the culture of their home with them, and may even settle worlds and perpetuate that culture elsewhere in the galaxy if the crusade is successful. Merchants bring news and fashion and goods from all over the sector. The higher echelons of society (in the church, in politics, in law enforcement) all bring with them something from off-world. It trickles down and it bleeds across, but it's still relatively minor compared to local culture.

Broadly, Imperial Culture is an echo of the Great Crusades. Worlds conquered, pacified and made compliant during the Crusades often were influenced by the culture of Terra, because Terrans made up a good portion of the civilian accompaniment to each crusade fleet. That's lingered, become tradition, and defined the cultures of those worlds ever since. As those worlds have formed the core of the Imperium, they've provided the soldiers and merchants and priests who've been sent out to claim yet other worlds in the name of the Imperium, bringing their second-hand Terran culture to newly settled worlds.

I see the Imperium (as a whole) as being more brutally indifferent than obsessively totalitarian. So long as everyone does what they're told, the Imperium does not care. The Adeptus Arbites consider murder to be a local crime rather than a crime against the Imperium, and thus not a matter for their concern. The Administratum is the only part of the Imperium that ever really looks at the individual, and even then, it looks at them from the perspective of numbers on a page, not as human beings. As a result, cultures do vary wildly, and though the societies of two neighbouring sectors may not differ that much, were a man from the Calixis Sector to travel to Ultramar, he'd see a very different Imperium indeed...

Personally I remain uncomfortable with interpretations that cite the over-arching importance of the Adeptus Ministorum, or more generally "faith in the Emperor" or somesuch, as defining Imperial society.  In many ways that is, for me, the "Cassocks in Space" approach, which while not inherently bad (if you like it, then jiggy for you) does not personally appeal.  (I like the old Imperial Cult, which was, all things said and done, a cult rather than the Church that it has become, or at least many see it as.  Admittedly, though, as some chappie from 4400 stated, "Cult is what a big parish calls a small parish," or words to that effect. )

Although Ikkaan is correct that you cannot really point to late Republican/early Imperial Rome and say, "There you have it!  That's the Imperium!" with any real success (the same lack of success, for me, that Dark Heresy enjoys by doing the same to the european Middle Ages) but it offers, for me, a more interesting, dynamic, and "successful" model to piece together as a framework of interpretation for the Imperium.  For example, I personally borrow the idea of early Roman citizenship and apply it to a specific class of nobility based out of Terra—the nobilitas imperialis. The nobility, of course, is also defined on a local level by, say, an Imperial Commander that selects a feudal form of government, or indeed by the wealthy and powerful members of society that one might find on, say, a world with a capitalist economy (the "Golden Rule"—They who have the gold, make the rules).  These are the nobilitas provincialis, whose domain extends only so far as their own influence extends it.  (Indeed, the Imperium being linked towards feudalism is less, for me, a statement about world government, but about the interaction of worlds...)

Anyway, it is to the nobility that one looks for setting fashions, and for, ultimately, defining "Imperial Culture."  Coupled with the "militant bent," as NH might have said, you get the traditional aspects of the warrior culture that you saw in ancient Rome... Again, for me. 

The idea of an expanded Senatorum Imperialis has always appealed to me, giving another dimension for competition between the Imperial nobles and a means by which the provincial nobility could be brought in on schemes, economic interests, etc.  The idea of the patron-client relationship is central to this, of course, but there we go.  Individual wealthy families contributing to their society as an expression of power and wealth, the creation of assymetrical relationships through bonds of obligation, etc.

Religion is, of course, always going to play a part in the Imperium, and would be a duller place without it, though not for me duller than defining the Imperium by it.  The Imperial Cult exists as a singular form, but its interpretation varies in numerous acculturated forms that exist either on a single world, or even in a broader astrographic region as a result of pilgrims, missionaries, or any number of other forces. 

Using Rome as a guideline, I tend to get an Imperium that I actually like to game in, thus that's how it works in Kage-verse.  Of course, you can find aspects of this in medieval society as well, but I prefer the more Roman-feel.

And in a bit of corruption to speed things up and... Well, we're back to the Golden Rule again.  

Of course, I'm aware that "YMMV" on this one, but there we go.  Kage-verse tends to be a bit more dynamic than the more static approach that we have from GW, though there are obviously reasons for the "static narrative" approach, as you have termed it Luddite.

Kage

The Cult of The Emporer and the Cult of The Machine God would be the main society that binds the Imperium together.

The single belief that the Emporer is devine and that all machines have a 'spirit' is the same no matter where you go or how educated you are.

Another possible model to look at might be that of the Mongol Empire, rather than classical Rome. In general, once they came through and claimed the area as the Khan's, the people were generally left alone to live however they had before. There wasn't really one unifying language, a single body of learning, or anything like that. The only real requirement was that you aknowleged the Khan's overall rule and paid your tributes/taxes when the collectors show up. Or else.

Which does have a certain familiarity to it, I think.

Ok, for some reason post I copy pasted from my word file can not be seen...I am obviously stupid and do not know to use this sophisticated apparatus...

If we have to look for a historical model, which can be misleading, may I suggest that we look for model in Imperial Russia or Stalin's USSR? They are less grounded in cassoky stuff but are still driven by strong ideologies (New Byzantium vs. Proleters of the World Unite!) that for me best exemplify what Imperial Creed should be, they both governed vast territories (1/6 of planet's land mass at one point), often sparsely populated, to both their greatest asset was their manpower, they both had complicated administrative and political apparatus in order and you also get to mine 2000 AD Nikolai Dante comics for ideas :)

Little bit off topic, or maybe not, one problem that you can encounter with these kind of historical comparisons is that SF authors when they use historical models, and they all do to some extent, for their work usually interchange ethnicities for aliens.

Aliens are usually nothing more but a write in for certain real-world ethnic or political group. Like Klingons were Soviets with bulky forehead, Vulcans were imperial Brits, Romulans were imperial Japs and so on and on... Imperium of Man is, and name says it all, commonwealth of man guided by its paragon - The Emperor. There are vast cultural and ethnic differences but Xeno remains Xeno and it will never be a man.

You are part of the Imperium as long as you are human and that is where things get tricky. For me whole heresy thing, especially with tech-heretics, is what constitutes a human? When human does becomes non-human, renegade, outcast someone who has been cast out of the Emperors divine light. I feel that this problem lies at the heart of defining Imperial Creed/Imperial Society.