Vostroya, the Ecclesiarchy and the Imperial Creed

[Corbeau]

I'm afraid I haven't read Rebel Winter yet, which I probably should. But I was recently browsing the 40k Wiki and discovered this quote in the Vostroya article:

"Vostroyans are a deeply religious people who hold tightly to the orthodoxies of the Imperial Creed. They are particularly devoted to Saint Nadalya, the Grey Lady, the patron saint of Vostroya in the Imperial Cult. Her sacred text, the Treatis Elatii, is a common sight in the homes of many Vostroyans and is commonly quoted from to provide wisdom in many different situations."

Now, I was rather under the impression that Vostroya has had very close ties with the Martian Mechanicum since the Age of Strife, aligining themselves with Mars rather than Terra and the Imperium proper. And of course we all know that they are ruled by the Techtriarchy, which has Priests of Mars and Imperial Officials upon it - it being the closest to being a Mechanicus-ruled Forge World without being one.

It would seem more logical that there are quite few adherents of the Omnissiah on the world. Or if they are followers of the Imperial Creed how do they reconcile the two? Is it the usual, "well the Emperor is/was the Omnissiah." I suppose this would be more likely if they weren't supposed to be deeply religious and holding tightly to the orthodoxies of the Imperial Creed. They are seemingly, Imperial fundamentalists partly ruled by deeply religious peoples of essentially another faith. Wouldn't this present an interesting picture... perhaps something like the states of the Middle East, where religious adherence is much stronger amongst the populace than the rulers, or vice versa in the case of Iran (of course, this is a simplification).

All in all though, don't the high-ranking Techpriests (whether Magi, Arch-Magi or whatever) on the Techtriarchy get a bit miffed at the general populaces' strong adherence to the Imperial Cult? Maybe I'm missing something, maybe this piece opf fluff was added on the inspiration of Imperial Russia without quite thinking about the connotations. Either way, how do we corroborate it

[Corbeau]

Found an answer myself if anyone is interested, from a 2 year old thread that didn't come up in my initial search (thread here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...oyan-Firstborn). The answer is a response from Steve Parker, author of Rebel Winter, and states the position that I was going in for my custom fluff which takes the syncretic approach mentioned above:

This is a tough one. The planet is ruled by the Mechanicus, but strongly pressed into the more orthodox Imperial religion by the Imperium itself. The two belief systems can only co-exist when those who worship the Machine Spirit (aka. The Omnissiah) see him (it?) as an aspect or alternate face of The God-Emperor of Mankind (much in the way that many Christians believe in the Holy Trinity). Saint Nadalya's visit to Vostroya cemented the Vostroyan acceptance of this 'fused' belief system, but the Ecclesiarchy has never been overly happy about it. The Mechanicus probably don't like it either, but they're smart enough not to 'rock the boat'. With the Mechanicus and the Imperium needing each other, there is little alternative. Steve Parker