| rdfs:comment | - The Tithe Grade is a bureaucratic designation of the Adeptus Terra that determines the amount of raw materials, resources or soldiers an Imperial world must supply to the Administratum as taxes or tithes to keep the Imperium of Man's interstellar government functioning and to fill the ranks of the Imperial Guard or provide human psykers to the Black Ships of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. The size and nature of the tithe depends on the type of world it is applied to, as a large Hive World like Necromunda will be expected to provide a much larger tithe than a pre-industrial Feudal World. A tithe can be any type of resource: food, weapons, minerals, manufactured goods, people, etc. Space Marine Chapter Homeworlds do not normally provide tithes to the Imperium since their resources are to be
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| abstract | - The Tithe Grade is a bureaucratic designation of the Adeptus Terra that determines the amount of raw materials, resources or soldiers an Imperial world must supply to the Administratum as taxes or tithes to keep the Imperium of Man's interstellar government functioning and to fill the ranks of the Imperial Guard or provide human psykers to the Black Ships of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. The size and nature of the tithe depends on the type of world it is applied to, as a large Hive World like Necromunda will be expected to provide a much larger tithe than a pre-industrial Feudal World. A tithe can be any type of resource: food, weapons, minerals, manufactured goods, people, etc. Space Marine Chapter Homeworlds do not normally provide tithes to the Imperium since their resources are to be used to maintain the Space Marine Chapter that controls them, and are given the tithe grade Aptus Non. Agri-World tithes generally refer to how much of the planet's food production must be supplied to the Imperium. Also called "Terra's Due" or the "Grand Harvest," the Imperial Tithe is a complicated contract worked out according to each planet's ability to pay. A great many branches of the Adeptus Administratum are involved in the process, and different organisations might be tasked with sacred duties such as assessing tithe rates, measuring collections, and monitoring any fluctuations. It is the duty of each Planetary Governor to ensure the Imperial Tithe is paid. Such ministrations are tyrannically enforced, but as long as all tithe responsibilities are met and enemies of the Imperium are rejected, a Planetary Governor may rule his planet in any fashion he sees fit with little or no interference from Terra. In return for this fealty, the Planetary Governor can call upon the Adeptus Terra in times of need to request aid. Over the long centuries, many planets have established their own unique customs and traditions for how they supply their tithes. For instance, Vostroya, a manufacturing planet, supplies every firstborn son to service in the Imperial Guard, while the four planets of the Nepstrum System take volunteers from the established family-holds for the Imperial Navy and press-gang the remaining numbers from the worker class. Failure to deliver the Imperial Tithe is met harshly. Even the slightest breach in protocol will often result in the execution of the Planetary Governor and a swift and thorough regime change. Despite the number of Adepta tracking tithes, sometimes it takes time for discrepancies to surface and be acted upon. This is inevitable given the difficulties of space travel and communications, to say nothing of the vast bureaucracy within each of the many organisations that make up the Adeptus Administratum. Once tithe anomalies are spotted, however, the Imperium moves with brutal finality. None can say how many worlds' rulers are unfairly replaced due to minor accounting errors, but the Imperium is at war, battling not for planets or even star systems, but for the survival of the human race itself.
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