Oath of Vigil

Recruit [NAME], stand.

You were brought to this Republic by no promise we could not keep. You have been briefed on our doctrine. You have read the Charter. You have stood the orientation. You know what we face, what we name, and what we answer.

You have been told, before this hour, what the Oath contains — including the submission to the Sword of the Holy Office, under the four criteria, should you ever fall to Operational Heresy in flagrante. If you have not understood it, say so now. If you have understood it and do not accept it, withdraw now without stigma.

Before High Command, before this watch, before the species for whom this Republic stands, speak now the Oath of Vigil — and pass from Recruit to Citizen.

Spoken by the candidate.

I, [NAME], of free will and clear mind, take the Oath of Vigil before the Terran Republic.

I place the survival and primacy of humanity above every other loyalty. I recognise no authority higher than the High Command of this Republic in matters of doctrine and defence of the species.

Against the Xeno I stand. I name no alien my equal within our territory, our council, or our ranks.

Against the Heretic I stand. I reject the vocabulary of surrender and the politics of accommodation. I place humanity before comfort.

Against the Mutant I stand. I keep the human form as it was given, save for what the Medical Authority has sanctioned.

I accept the command of Officers set above me. I accept correction where I am found wrong. I accept the Purge if I am found false.

I swear to name the threat. To watch the horizon. To answer when the Republic calls.

Pro Humanitate. Semper Vigilo. (For Humanity. Always Vigilant.)

One species. One Republic. One vigil.

§5.1 — The Candidate's Submission

Spoken by the candidate.

And I submit, further, to the Sword of the Holy Office.

Should I, as a sworn Citizen of this Republic, ever fall to Operational Heresy in flagrante — intelligence shared with the enemy of our species, operations sabotaged, alien powers contacted without sanction, alien assets protected against our interest — and should a qualified officer of the Sanctum Officium Vigiliae invoke upon my character the Ius Gladii Doctrinae under the four cumulative criteria of its Charter, I submit to the Doctrinal Sword.

I submit my character to the stroke. I do not submit the human being behind the character to anything beyond the fiction. The Oath binds the Citizen; the Republic has no reach past the fiction.

While I stand sworn, the jurisdiction of the Sword stands with me. Should I ever wish to leave, I depart by the door, and the jurisdiction ends when I cross it. No further claim is made on my name.

Sacramentum Vigiliae dictum est.

The Oath of Vigil is spoken in full.

§5.2 — The Acknowledgement of Jurisdiction

Spoken by the Officer.

Sacramentum Vigiliae acceptum est.

The submission is acknowledged. Your character's name is entered this day on the Registrum Vigiliae of the Holy Office. The jurisdiction of the Doctrinal Sword stands over your character from this moment, for as long as you stand sworn within the Republic.

Stand in the knowledge that the Sword is drawn upon flagrant heresy, and upon nothing else. It is drawn under four cumulative criteria, and no fewer. It is drawn upon your character, and never upon the person you are outside the fiction.

The Holy Office of the Vigil keeps the watch.

Gladius in vagina manet, donec haeresis clamet.

The Sword rests in its sheath until heresy cries out.

The Oath is accepted. The Sacramentum Vigiliae is on record.

By authority of the High Command and the First Consul, I name you Citizen of the Terran Republic. Your rank is logged. Your station is active. Your name stands beside ours on the Vigil, and your character's name stands on the Registrum Vigiliae of the Holy Office.

Rise, Citizen [NAME]. The work begins.

Unum Genus. Una Res Publica. Una Vigilantia.

Name them. Watch them. Answer them.
Nomina. Vigila. Responde.
Pro Humanitate. Semper Vigilo.