Imperium of Man: Founders, The Primarchs, Adeptus Astartes (First Founding Chapters, Other Chapters, Characters, Primaris Marines), Astra Militarum, Adepta Sororitas, Inquisition, Mechanicus, Other factions
Forces of Chaos: Chaos Gods, Chaos Primarchs, Chaos Marines
Xeno Races: Aeldari (Asuryani, Drukhari) | Leagues of Votann | Necrons | Orks (Characters) | T'au Empire | Tyranids (Genestealer Cults)
In the name of the Emperor, thou shalt be purged, heretic!
We are beset by many terrible foes in these dark times, but we walk in the light of the Emperor, and we shall not let a single foe stay us from our duty. We are the Sisters of the great Ecclesiarchy, and we will fight to the bitter end.
— Canoness Palmiro of the Order of the Ebon Chalice
In Warhammer 40,000, the Adepta Sororitas are an organization of zealous nuns within the Ecclesiarchy. While many of their Orders provide services such as administrative support, education, and health care, their most famous Orders are the militant ones, known as the Sisters of Battle, power armor-wearing warrior nuns whose fanatical faith in the Emperor pulls them through impossible odds.
Their origins go back to the Age of Apostasy, where they were a minor but devout order of warrior women called the Daughters of the Emperor. High Lord Goge Vandire deceived them into believing that he was favored by the Emperor by using his empowered Rosarius to stop a bullet being fired at him, claiming that it was by the grace of the Emperor that he survived. He then turned them into his own personal army, renaming them to the Brides of the Emperor. As Vandire's Reign of Blood intensified, the rebellion known as the Coalition of Light rose and fought its way to Holy Terra itself, with the mad High Lord holed up in the Imperial Palace. Thinking that Vandire's army consisted only of fanatical but untrained mobs, the Coalition stormed the palace expecting it to fall easily. To the surprise of many, the well-entrenched Sisters proved more than a match to the Coalition, which included the Imperial Fists chapter and its successors, the premier siege-specialist force of the Imperium. Seeing this stalemate, the Emperor's Praetorian Guard, the Adeptus Custodes, arranged for Alicia Dominica, the leader of the Brides, to meet the God-Emperor. What happened during the meeting is unknown, but Alicia, now full of righteous fury after emerging from the Emperor's chambers, wasted no time in executing Vandire, ending the Age of Apostasy. After that, they were reorganized as the Adepta Sororitas, and continue to serve as the Ecclesiarchy's militant arm through a loophole in the Decree Passive, which forbade the Ecclesiarchy from holding "men under arms", but technically did not bar an army of womennote .
As of the 41st millennium, the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas consists of six Major Orders and numerous Minor Orders:
| Order of | Armor color | Honoured Saint | Faithully | Specialties | Convent |
| The Argent Shroud | Silver armor, white cloaks with red linings | Silvana | Selfless | Seraphim, Assault | Prioris |
| The Bloody Rose | Blood red armor, black cloaks with white linings | Mina | Aggressive | Dominions, Fast Attack | Sanctorum |
| The Ebon Chalice | Black armor, white cloaks with red linings | Alicia Dominica | Traditional | Jack of All Trades | Prioris |
| Our Martyred Lady | Black armour with dark red cloaks | Katherine | Determined | Total extermination of all enemies | Sanctorum |
| The Sacred Rose | White armour, black cloaks with red linings | Arabella | Disciplined | Retributors, Heavy Support | Prioris |
| The Valorous Heart | Black armour, black cloaks with white linings | Lucia | Atoning | Sisters Repentia | Sanctorum |
In addition to the Orders Militant, the Adepta Sororitas include a number of specialized Orders with distinct roles. Some of these are more notable than others.
Major Orders
- Orders Dialogus: Linguists and archivists, who serve varyingly as translators, code-breakers and scholars.
- Orders Famulous: Diplomats and advisors to high-ranking nobles and officials, serving to both guide their policies, subtly manipulate politics, and remind them of their ultimate loyalties.
- Orders Hospitaller: Medics on and off the battlefield, and occasionally torturers.
Minor Orders
- Orders Fenestrus: Maintain the glass paneling of Imperial shrines and cathedrals.
- Orders Madriga: Temple choirs.
- Orders Princeps: Monitor the laws and lawmaking process of the Ecclesiarchy.
- Orders Pronatus: Hunters of artifacts and relics.
- Orders Sabine: Missionaries to feral and uncontacted planets.
- Orders Tarentine: Divine the Emperor's will through patterns in clouds of space gases.
- Orders Vespila: Performers of funerary rites and forensic experts.
The Sisters of Battle were the last faction to receive a codex during the 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40,000 and were then combined with the Inquisition’s Ordo Hereticus for 3rd Edition’s Codex: Witch Hunters. 2011 saw the publication of a Chapter Approved White Dwarf Sisters of Battle army list for the game’s 5th Edition. During the 6th Edition of Warhammer 40,000, the Sisters were officially renamed the Adepta Sororitasnote and received Games Workshop’s first ever digital-only codex sourcebook, before being included alongside other Imperial sub-factions in 2016’s Codex: Imperial Agents for 7th Edition. The 8th Edition beta version of of their rules were included in the Chapter Approved 2018 rules supplement released in December 2018, with the full Codex: Adepta Sororitas given an early release as part of a limited edition Army Box in November 2019 before the full release in January 2020. They received a new codex for the 9th edition in June 2021, while their beta rules for the 10th edition (which, like the 8th edition but unlike the 9th, fully rebooted the game system) were included in the Index: Imperium post published on Warhammer Community in July 2023.
Gameplay-wise, as of the 10th edition, the Adepta Sororitas occupy a spot between the elite-focused Space Marines and the horde/vehicle-based Imperial Guard, with the average Sister having the armour and ranged firepower of the former, but the physical and melee squishiness of the latter. Their unique army ability is Acts of Faith, a Luck Manipulation Mechanic that allows them to change the results of certain die — representing the God-Emperor himself (or, alternatively, the gestalt psychic field created by the Sisters' faith) intervening to ensure that His faithful succeed. Sisters of Battle currently only have one detachment ability, The Blood of Martyrs, allowing them to become better at hitting and wounding their enemies as their units lose models or wounds — representing the Adepta Sororitas' Martyrdom Culture.
Generally, Sisters rely on masses of heavy infantry which excel in mid-range combat, with their Holy Trinity of weapons — bolters, flamers and melta-guns — all being at the most effective at a distance of 12" or less. This mid-ranged infantry is then bolstered by long-ranged firepower provided by vehicles, while units of lightly armoured but absolutely unhinged Arco-Flagellants, Repentia and Penitent Engines charge into melee. However, for all their strength, Sisters are still ordinary humans, and are therefore quite fragile, with only their power armour to protect them (and many of their units do not even have that). Fortunately, you can mitigate that fragility with Acts of Faith, or take advantage of it with The Blood of Martyrs — either your Sisters will survive against all odds by divine intervention, or their martyrdom will embolden their comrades to fight with increased ferocity.
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General Sororitas tropes
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: The blessed Blade of Admonition is a relic of the Adepta Sororitas and is the very sword used by Saint Dominica to remove the head of Goge Vandire. The silver blade of this sacred weapon is razor sharp and has taken the lives of countless heretics since. The 8th Edition Chapter Approved rules for the Blade of Admonition represent this by giving it superior Strength and Damage compared to regular power swords.
- Amazon Brigade: The Sororitas have been an all-female Order of religious warriors since their founding as the Daughters of the Emperor on San Leor. Following the end of Goge Vandire's Reign of Blood the Decree Passive barred the Ecclesiarchy from fielding "men under arms", resulting in the Order, now renamed the Adepta Sororitas, official becoming the main military force of the Adeptus Ministorum.
- The Atoner:
- The Sisters who seek to atone for their sins against their Order and the Emperor will take the path of the Sister Repentia. Stripped of their armour, branded with symbols of their faith, and wearing items of mortification, Sisters Repentia charge fearlessly into battle so that they can wash away their failures with the blood of heretics. While it is possible for them to find absolution and return to their Orders, redemption most often comes through martyrdom.
- A lesser known branch of the path of the penitent is that of the Sister Oblatia, a Sororitas who seeks to atone for the sins of another. She assumes another's sins as her ownnote , then leaves her sisters to walk the galaxy as a Knight Errant, seeking out and defeating the enemies of the Imperium so that those sins may be absolved in the eyes of the God-Emperor.
- Badass Cape: The Mantle of Ophelia is an ancient cloak that that has been anointed with the blood-like tears gathered from countless weeping statues of the Emperor. This blessing is said to protect the wearer and while the exact in-game rules vary depending on the edition all increase the survivability of the character wearing the Mantle.
- Badass Long Robe: When not wearing their Powered Armor, Battle Sisters will wear ecclesiastical or training robes. Some background material mentions that Sororitas training robes are made out of the same material as Imperial flak armour so as to prevent accidental injury while training with live ammunition.
- Badass Normal: The Adepta Sorortias are counted as one of the elite fighting forces of the Imperium, fighting against the many enemies of mankind without the bio-enhancement of the Astartes. The Battle Sisters make up for this with rigorous training, high quality equipment and a fanatical faith in the Emperor.
- Canoness Praxedes of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, who ran a hit and run campaign against a Tyranid Hive Fleet on the beleaguered Shrine world of Okassis, buying time for an evacuation. As the Tyranid creatures overwhelmed the Cardinal Palace in great number, Canoness Praxedes stayed behind and slew a Hive Tyrant in single combat. This is an ordinary human woman who is not a Space Marine or other empowered individual, armed with nothing but a boltgun and sheer Heroic Spirit and faith, fighting and killing a hyper-evolved alien monster six metres tall with claws of living chitin capable of cleaving through adamantium armour and reinforced ship bulkheads. Praxedes was posthumously sainted for her heroism.
- Bayonet Ya: The Sarissa, from the 3rd Edition rules, is a vicious spiked blade that Sororitas attach to their bolt weapons to turn them into effective close combat weapons. In game terms these combat blades gave the wielder a re-roll to wound when they charged.
- Berserk Button: While this can vary from order to order and sister to sister, their indoctrinated zealotry makes them very eager to purge heretics.
- Bodyguard Babes: They were this to Goge Vandire during the Age of Apostasy, until they finally turned on him. While they still perform this role on occasion, especially for important Ecclesiarchy clergy, they don't look back on its part in their history with much fondness.
- Carry a Big Stick: The Dogmata weilds a large, two-handed maul.
- Celibate Hero: A popular image of the Sisters of Battle is that their are chaste warriors, cloistered together and fully devoted to the Emperor to the exclusion of anything else, including physical desire. However, this isn't always the case; Sandy Mitchell points out that though the Sisters are supposed to be above base desires, they do not technically take oaths of chastity, though the kind of lifestyle they keep typically precludes intimate relations and having one exposed would be considered an embarrassment. In his retirement Ciaphas Cain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!) works alongside a senior Sister who drinks, gambles proficiently, and whom he discovered was involved with the schola progenium's bursar.
- Chainmail Bikini:
- Normal Sororitas infantry are a rare aversion, clad head to toe in Powered Armour, albeit very obviously shaped to the female form.
- Sisters Repentia play it straight, but only because they're not allowed to have armor.
- Church Militant: The primary reason for the Sisters of Battle's existence, and one of the more blatant examples of this trope in a setting where it is almost ubiquitous. The reality is slightly more complex than that though, as not every Sororitas is necessarily a Battle Sister. In addition to the Orders Militant, there are the Orders Famulous, the Orders Dialogus, and the Orders Hospitaller. Regardless of vocation, each Sororitas is expected to draw strength and courage from her faith and lay down her life if need be in the Emperor's name.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Some sources interpret the Acts of Faith as this: the Sisters' intense belief allowing them to perform superhuman feats. It's also hinted in places that the Living Saints are effectively the Emperor's equivalent to Daemons.
- Critical Status Buff: The Blood of the Martyrs detachment ability allows Sister units to get bonuses to hit and wound rolls as they lose models (or, in case a unit only has one model, wounds).
- Death Seeker: Should the sins of a Battle Sister be truly terrible, they may become the pilot of a Penitent Engine. Surgically altered to continuously feel the guilt and pain of their crime, the Sister is fanatically driven to seek death as atonement.
- Deflector Shields: High-ranking members of the Sororitas and Ecclesiarchy are often presented with a Rosarius, a religious icon incorporating a powerful Conversion Field designed to convert the energy of an attack into a blinding flash of holy light. Ironically, it was this very item that Vandire first used to convince them he was sent by the Emperor to begin with.
- Distaff Counterpart: Since women cannot become Space Marines, the Sororitas are the closest thing we have to female Astartes. Both organizations are fanatically loyal to the Imperium and are power armor-clad badasses that make the average Imperial Guardsman look like kids playing with nerf guns comparatively. The only major differences among them besides gender are the fact that Space Marines get their power through their gene-seed and augmentations, whereas the Sisters of Battle get theirs through sheer zealotry.
- Epic Flail:
- Some Mortifiers and Penitent Engines are equipped with penitent flails consisting of multiple lengths of chain with a weighted censor attached to one end and fitted to a motor. These weapons thresh their opponents with multiple blows, doing multiple hits for each successful attack.
- The Flail of Chastisement is a blessed weapon of the Adepta Sororitas from early editions of the game. This weapon is fitted with barbed and hooked chains that dig into the flesh of the victim, binding their limbs and making it more difficult for them to attack.
- Exact Words: The Sisters of Battle were established after the Ecclesiarchy were banned from having men under arms.
- Fanatical Fire: The Adepta Sororitas, and the Imperial Cult as a whole, have a near obsession with fire, installing burning braziers on their armour and vehicles, as well as wielding multiple flamer weapons as part of their holy trinity of weaponry. Many pieces of artwork for the Sororitas will also incorporate fire in some way, whether it is multiple burning brands and torches, or the smouldering corpses of heretics.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: They're this to their enemies. They were originally just a secretive cult on an obscure, backwater world. As a result of Goge Vandire deciding to recruit them, they ended up being one of the most elite forces fielded by the Imperium.
- Girl with Psycho Weapon: Aside from their lack of clothing, Sisters Repentia are also known for carrying the enormous Eviscerator model chainsword as their only weapons. If you're looking to die in battle, might as well try to puree some heretics while you're at it.
- Gun Kata: Seraphim are trained in an ancient style of combat that enables them to wield their twinned pistols in close combat with a fluid grace. Fighting with them as easily as other warriors wield a blade, Seraphim use their pistols to parry their opponents’ weapons before delivering a point-blank shot to a vital region.
- Guns Akimbo: Seraphim usually wield two bolt pistols, but they can also dual-wield hand flamers and inferno pistols.
- Heel–Face Turn: After being brought before the God-Emperor himself, the Brides of the Emperor discovered the lies and evil perpetrated by Vandire and quickly turned on the mad High Lord, with their leader, Alicia Dominica, personally removing the tyrant's head to end the Age of Apostasy.
- Heroic Spirit: Their Shield of Faith is this. Their belief in the Emperor's protection is so strong that they can shrug off the most severe wounds and resist psychic attacks.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Aside from specialists like the Grey Knights, Sororitas are one of the few forces that are trusted to fight daemonic entities, thanks in large part to the strength of their faith bolstering them against the influence of the Warp. Unlike the Grey Knights, they have absolutely nothing augmenting them to do this. They did have one of their order fall to Chaos, but compared to the vast amounts of Space Marines and Imperial Guard regiments that have done the same, that is not really saying much. The Ciaphas Cain book Cain's Last Stand features a few Battle Sisters who serve as Warmaster Varan's bodyguards, but they had their minds overwritten by his Chaos-powered Compelling Voice and immediately kill themselves when his hold is broken and they realize what happened to them.
- Internal Affairs: Early editions has them being exclusively this for the Imperium, which the later editions toned down. They still have this role within the Ecclesiarchy itself.
- Iron Maiden: An upgraded Mortifer, called an Anchorite, entombs the pilot in a thick metal casing rembing the iron maiden. Unlike the torture device this doesn't physically harm the Sister, but instead puts her into total isolation.
- Irony:
- The Ecclesiarchy and Sororitas, for all of their faith and zeal, are guilty of a minor act of heresy and treason by their own laws, as they have deals with the Mechanicus on the side for the production of Exorcists and Immolators exclusively for their forces, which is in direct violation of the Treaty of Mars created between the Emperor and the Mechanicus in pre-Crusade times.
- The Sororitas are often paralleled against the forces of Chaos, and are often presented as the counterpart to daemons. The irony is that many of their members are powered in much the same way daemons are, except that they use faith and zealotry as their inspiration. This is displayed particularly clearly during the Fall of Cadia, as, when the Eye of Terror started closing, many of the Sororitas became weaker like the daemons they fought.
- It's Raining Men: Seraphim are equipped with highly ornate jump packs that they use for fast aerial assaults from high altitude, allowing them to unleash their plethora of close-ranged weaponry as soon as they arrive on the battlefield. The Chapter Approved 2018 beta test rules represent this with the Sky Strike ability that allows them to deploy during a game almost anywhere on the battlefield.
- Jeanne d'Archétype: If the whole fleur-de-lys, fire and Martyrdom Culture didn't give it away at first...
- Kill It with Fire: Aside from the Salamanders Space Marine chapter, few other Imperial forces are more associated with flame weapons than the Battle Sisters.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Generally averted in works where they appear, although they tend to get this portrayal in the Ciaphas Cain books. Cain himself is of the opinion that the closest you can get Sororitas to follow any actual battle plan is to point at the enemy, yell "Heretic!" and get the frak out of the way.
- Legendary Weapon: The sacred plasma pistol known as Martys' Vengeancenote was carried by Saint Valpurgis and is said to unleash the divine light of the God-Emperor himself. Only carried by the most blessed sisters of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, this holy weapon is far more reliable than other plasma weapons (to the bafflement of those Tech-Priests who have studied it) and has superior in-game characteristics.
- Loophole Abuse: In a ruling that's either rather sloppily or very precisely worded, the Decree Passive bans the Ecclesiarchy from maintaining any men under arms. So, they raised an army of women. It is heavily hinted that the writing was intentional, as Sebastian Thor realized that having no militant arm would result in the Ecclesiarchy's dissolution very rapidly and chose to ignore their loophole abuse.
- Luck Manipulation Mechanic: Their unique mechanic, as of the 10th edition, is Acts of Faith, which represents the Sisters' fanatical faith allowing them to perform improbable or even miraculous feats. It allows them to roll dice beforehand and then use these rolled values (called Miracle Dice) at certain points throughout the game. This gives the Sisters the ability to succeed at critical rolls with absolute certainty, even when the probability of success would otherwise be very low — like, for example, miraculously surviving a shot from a lascannon, or wounding a tough monster with a mere boltgun.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The Exorcist missile tank is the main dedicated armoured vehicle. The tank is equipped with an ancient and temperamental missile launcher that can fire swarms of armour piercing rockets that can destroy entire squads of heavy infantry, or squadrons of vehicles in a single volley. In every edition of the game, these massed missile volleys are represented by the ability to fire a random number of shots each turn.
- Man in the Machine: A Penitent Engine is a Chicken Walker-type Mini-Mecha usually piloted by a fallen priest or disgraced Battle Sister whose crime is deemed grievous enough to deserve this fate. They are physically fused with the machine through invasive cybernetics and crucifixion, and only considered forgiven after dying in battle.
- Martyrdom Culture: Highly devout and fanatical warriors, the Battle Sisters of the Adepta Sororitas will gladly give their lives for the God-Emperor and the Imperium. The deaths of their Sisters and leaders only strengthens their resolve and drives them to greater acts of devotion, as expected from some of the Imperium's most fanatical warriors. As of the 10th edition, this is represented by Sisters gaining Miracle Dice (see above) as their units are destroyed, stratagems that allow their models to shoot or fight in melee before dying, and by the detachment The Blood of the Martyrs, which gives Sororitas units bonuses to hit and wound rolls as they lose models.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The miracles and Acts of Faith. Downplayed in that we know some of them are indeed magic (this is a Clap Your Hands If You Believe setting after all), but plenty of them could just be the Sisters pushing themselves further through sheer willpower and devotion.
- Mirroring Factions: There's quite a bit of parallel that can be drawn between the Sororitas and the Chaos forces they're fighting (especially but not only the Word Bearers). They're both ultra-fundamentalist zealots to their own respective beliefs, and go into battle decked in religious sigils, icons and artifacts, with prayers and hymns to their gods in their mouth. Most disturbingly, there's the implications that the Living Saints are basically the Imperium's equivalent to Greater Daemons or Daemon Princes. About the only difference is the direction of their belief; Chaos towards suffering and corruption, the Sororitas towards the God-Emperor and purity.
- Music for Courage: Sisters of Battle are well known for singing during battle, loudly enough to be heard over the chaotic din. They all sing Imperial hymnals in unison, often timing their shots with the song such that their bolters themselves form an instrumental backup to their lyrics. Needless to say, the sound of the Sisters chanting during a firefight has a huge positive effect on the morale of other Imperial forces in earshot.
- My Greatest Failure:
- The Sisters, and the Order of the Valorous Heart in particular, are really sorry about their role in the Age of Apostasy.
- Invoked through Penitent Engines. When not in battle, their mechanisms bombard their pilots with mental images of guilt and pain, never allowing a respite from the sin(s) that led them to that fate.
- Of Corsets Sexy: While not an actual corset, the front torso plates of Sororitas power armor are designed to resemble a metallic bustier, drawing on the trope's imagery to give the impression of the female form while still providing fully covering protection. Given the reasons for the Sororitas' existence, projecting the image of female warriors could be quite justified for reasons of doctrinal adherence.
- Off with His Head!: Alicia Domenica beheaded Goge Vandire.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: Prioris pattern Exorcists are modelled after pipe organs. Doesn't get any more ominous when said pipe organ not only sings your doom, but also delivers a Macross Missile Massacre to make sure it is.
- The Penance: If Battle Sisters fall short of the strict codes and edicts of their Order, they will seek repentance by becoming a Sister Repentia. These extremely fanatical Sisters seek to atone for their sins through self-mutilating flagellation and death in battle. If they survive, they can be welcomed back into the ranks of their order, even revered by their comrades for completing their penance.
- Powered Armor: Along with the Space Marines, the Sisters of Battle are one of the few forces in Imperial service to equip their standard infantry with powered armor, offering them substantially more protection than most other human forces. Additionally, and distinct from other unaugmented humans that wear power armor like Inquisitors or particularly affluent Rogue Traders, the updated Sisters Repentia models show that they have jacks in their skin not too dissimilar from a Black Carapace, meaning that they are physically connected to their armor like a Space Marine is.
- Praetorian Guard:
- During the Age of Apostasy, the then Brides of the Emperor served as the personal guard of Goge Vandire. The Brides used their highly developed martial skills saving the mad High Lord from a number of assassination attempts while also acting as Vandire's most elite troops on the battlefield and his personal executioners off it.
- Detachments of Sororitas are often used in this role to guard important Ecclesiarchial shrines or high-ranking Ecclesiarchial personnel.
- The most devout and skilled Sisters of an Order, the Celestians, often act as bodyguards for more senior members such as Palatines or Canonesses. In-game, these elite warriors have a superior stat line and, in 8th Edition, are able to intercept attacks aimed at nearby characters.
- Rejection Ritual: The novel Faith and Fire describes the ritual through which a Battle Sister chooses to be cast out of her Order and become a Sister Repentia. The Sister announces herself as bearing a great sin and desiring this fate as her means of absolution as her fellow Sisters strip her of her armor and weapons, clothe her in rags, and use a knife to cut off her hair, announcing their rejection of her until her sin is forgiven.
- Religion is Magic: Older lore was vague on whether the Sororitas' faith literally gave them powers or simply pushed them to achieve near superhuman feats through shear zealotry. More recent editions however, have made it unambiguously clear that they really do possess supernatural abilities.
- In the official Warhammer YouTube channel, the video Warhammer 40,000 The New Edition Cinematic Trailer a Sister has her arm zapped by a Necron Gauss weapon before making her way to a chapel. As her gauntlet and hand distintegrates she kneels and prays, this causes her arm to glow with a golden light which dispells the Gauss effect and heals her.
- On the tabletop, they can heal grievous injuriesnote , literally cause their enemies to spontaneously combust with physical blowsnote or even wordsnote and utter pronouncements that shatter the soul.note
- The Sororitas also possess supernatural holy relics, such as the Blade of Sacrifice, a sword that glows with blinding radiance capable of cutting through the toughest of foes at the cost of literally burning the wielders soul; or the Chaplet of Reverence, a string of prayer beads that emits layered forcefields around its bearer despite possessing no discernable technology capable of emitting said forcefields.
Each bead of this chaplet ecclesiasticus is a priceless relic, every one the work of a separate cardinal world — together reserved for only the most devout and senior of Sisters. Within each bead lies a sophisticated force field, layering the wearer in halos of protection to turn aside the killing blows of heretics and sinners. Troubled Tech-Priests have claimed to detect no energy signatures coming from the device. Those granted its beneficence know the protection to be a matter of faith. - Resurrective Immortality:
- Ephrael Stern the Thrice-Born got this through Super-Empowering from the 700 Sisters trapped in the Screaming Cage, which shares the pain they suffer with each other. Due to the Cage's nature, it also allowed them to share faith, and the trapped Sisters used this fact to get back at their daemon jailer by transferring their Faith to the recently-killed Stern, who then got revived, and much later got killed again only to get up again, hence the nickname.
- Saint Celestine, a special character and Living Saint who's been part of the faction since its inception, both has this and grants this. One of her abilities in most of the codecies is that she can resurrect dead Sisters on the tabletop, and canonically any time she is killed in the lore she rises anew.
- Retired Badass: Sisters can and do transfer between orders, and it is not uncommon for a Battle Sister who, through Career-Ending Injury or age, determines the remainder of her service would better be served off the battlefield. That elderly woman from one of the more scholarly orders could well have personally purged scores of heretics in her time.
- Rousing Speech:
- Many leaders of the Adepta Sororitas are talented orators, able to inspire their warriors to even greater acts of bravery with rousing sermons delivered in the heat of battle. The 8th Edition rules represent this with the Inspiring Orator Sororitas Warlord Trait that boosts the Morale of nearby units.
- It is the duty of the Sisters of the Order Dialogus to give inspiring sermons and grand speeches that praise the glory of the God-Emperor and encourage their Sisters to perform miraculous acts on the battlefield. The exact effect of these speeches varies with the edition, with the 8th Edition rules allowing a Sister Dialogus to change the number on a Miracle dicenote used by a nearby unit.
- Sacred Scripture: The Ecclesiarchy and the Adepta Sororitas hold countless books, texts and scrolls written by saints and martyrs to be sacred. While some Sororitas Orders will dedicate themselves to a single work (the Order of the Valorous Heart's obsession with the Passion of Saint Lucia for example), there are some texts, like the Litanies of Faith and the Book of Saint Lucius, that are revered by all Sororitas and reading from these works, available as wargear or relics in many editions of the game, can have in-game effects such as re-rolling certain dice or increasing the effect/range of other abilities as they inspire those around them.
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Most Sisters seem to have this. Averted, though, for the Sisters Repentia, who have their heads shaved as part of their being cast out of their Orders.
- Skip the Anesthetic: Sisters of the Valorous Heart very rarely accept or make use of painkillers, even after suffering the severe wounds their fighting style tends to throw at them or when requiring surgery or amputation, as they believe that physical pain brings them closer to their matriarch and that using painkillers is a denial of faith's power to overcome all suffering.
- Small Girl, Big Gun: Retributors, squads of Battle Sisters equipped with heavy weapons who are the equivalent of Space Marine Devastator squads. Thanks to their power armor, they can carry, brace, and fire weapons that would typically be mounted on gun carriages or tripods and crewed by at least two people. With an Ammunition Backpack, she does not even need a loader to help her.
- Staff of Authority: Some Canonesses carry a rod of office, a short staff topped with a haloed fleur-de-lis that represents her position as a commander of her Order. Introduced in the 8th Edition codex rods improve a Canoness' aura of command, increasing the range of her special ability to enhance her Sisters.
- Starfish Language: The angelic Zephyrim veterans are said to experience a direct connection with the God-Emperor and as a result are only speak in a strange, incomprehensible language that many of their Sisters believe can only be understood by those with absolute purity of faith.
- Stripperiffic: Sisters Repentia, when they're not clothed only in purity seals and scrolls, deliberately dress in tattered scraps of clothes that are essentially the inverse of normal Sororitas armor. This look is reflected in their models
◊. This has since been downplayed with their updated 8th Edition models, as they now wear more conventional underclothes like tank-tops and shorts compared to the fetishistic BDSM gear of their old models. - Taking You with Me: Sororitas Battle Sisters will fight to their last breath to bring down the enemies of the Emperor, expending their lives in a last attempt to bring death to those responsible for their martyrdom. How this is represented depends of the edition, with the 10th Edition Index: Imperium rules including the Spirit of the Martyr and Rejoice the Fallen stratagems which give slain Sisters the ability to attack one last time (in melee and ranged combat, respectively) before being removed.
- Warrior Monk: Highly trained warrior women who are fanatically dedicated to the Imperial Cult, the Adepta Sororitas are the primary military arm of the Adeptus Ministorum. The Battle Sisters of the Sororitas fight the enemies of the God-Emperor while chanting prayers and hymns, and are able to literally wield their faith as a weapon, creating miracles, known as Acts of Faith, that have the in-game effectnote of enhancing their battlefield abilities or giving them additional chances to attack their enemies.
- Weapon Specialization: The Adepta Sororitas consider bolters, flamers and meltas to be sacred weapons and almost all their squads are able to equip themselves with some combination of these three types of weapon. The Chapter Approved 2018 beta test rules reinforces this even further with the Holy Trinity Stratagem that gives squads a bonus to their wound rolls if they fire at least one of each type of weapon at a target.
- Whip of Dominance: The Mistresses of Repentance wield a pair of neural whips that deliver a psycho-shock to the target, damaging their nervous system. How these weapons work in the game varies depending on the edition with most versions making neural whip more powerful the lower the target's Leadership characteristic. They have a heavy BDSM theme, being called "Mistresses" and having outfits that resemble that of a dominatrix, though in personality they act more like flagellant fanatics. Notably, before the battle each Mistress gives a Sister of Repentia a lash to "motivate" them.
- White Magic: Depending on the Writer. While older codex fluff heavily implies that their Acts of Faith are a result of their intense belief pushing them to greater feats, other works such as Dawn of War and newer codexes portray Acts as outright magical.
- Witch Hunt: The Sisters often assist Ordo Hereticus Inquisitors in hunting heretics, to the point that some people think that the Sisters are part of the Ordo Hereticus. They also ban psykers from their ranks. Sometimes, this can come back to bite the Inquistion in the ass, as in their zeal, the Sisters frequently tend to kill targets the Inquisition would rather have brought in alive.
Order-Specific Tropes
Orders Militant
Order of the Argent Shroud
The taciturn sisters of the Argent Shroud believe that deeds speak louder than words, and consequently prefer to keep their silence as much as possible. This often proves highly aggravating to the leaders of allied forces who wish that the sisters would be a little more communicative about battle tactics. The order's armor color is silver, with white cloaks with red linings. Their honored saint is Silvana.
- Blinded by the Light: The Quicksilver Veil, a relic of the Order of the Argent Shroud introduced during 8th Edition, is made from advanced nano-fibres and reflects the ambient light of the battlefield to dazzle the wearer's opponents, who receive a penalty on their hit rolls when they attack them.
- The Quiet One: Silvana and the Sisters of the Order she founded, the Order of the Argent Shroud, don't talk much, letting their actions speak for themselves.
Order of the Bloody Rose
The Order of the Bloody Rose embraces a religious veneration of hatred, believing that the best way to serve the Emperor is to slaughter his foes as quickly and throughly as possible. This has brought them under criticism from other Imperial factions, both because their single-minded focus on killing often means that they pay very little thought to the fate of civilians they're ostensibly meant to defend and because of periodic suspicions of Khornate corruption, although nothing's ever been proven. Their armor's color is blood red, with black cloaks with white linings. Their honored saint is Mina.
- The Berserker: Their fighting style emphasizes using your hatred to bring swift, violent death to your foes as quickly as possible, and it's common for sisters of the Bloody Rose to give themselves over to unchecked battle rages as their tear bloody swathes across battlefields.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The eyes of sisters of the Bloody Rose have been known to turn bright red when they're in the throes of particularly potent battle rages.
- Red Is Violent: The Order of the Bloody Rose is characterized by embracing anger and hatred and using them to fuel extremely aggressive, melee-focused combat, and wears all-red armor.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Order of the Bloody Rose, characterized by its aggression, is the Red Oni to the Sacred Rose's cool and measured Blue.
Order of the Ebon Chalice
The Order of the Ebon Chalice is often seen as the exemplar of the Sororitas' philosophies, and its leaders are often the ones called to stand judgement over other Sisters. The order bases itself primarily in the Segmentum Solar, focusing less on expanding the Imperium's borders and more on protecting its heartlands. Their armor's color is black, with white cloaks with red linings. Their honored saint is Alicia Dominica herself.
- The Ace: They're often seen as the first among the Sororitas, the idealized example of faith and dedication that the others should strive to emulate.
Order of Our Martyred Lady
Formerly the Order of the Fiery Heart, they renamed and reinvented themselves in the wake of their founder's death in battle, and have spent the centuries since on an endless quest for vengeance and absolution. Their armor's color is black, the color of mourning, with dark red cloaks. Their honored saint is Katherine.
- Martyrdom Culture: Even compared to the Sororitas as a whole, among whom this trope is already prevalent, the sisters of Our Martyred Lady are so devoted to the idea of dying a glorious death in the Emperor's service that to outsiders they often appear to have an active death wish.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In practice, they've been doing this ever since Katherine died. Their response to her demise was to arm themselves and pour out into the Imperium to seek deadly vengeance against its enemies, and they've been doing that ever since.
Order of the Sacred Rose
The Order of the Sacred Rose strive to emulate their founder's famous calm and even temperament. In battle, they advance in structured and orderly formation, adapting fluidly to the shifting tides of battle and striving to avoid rash or intemperate responses. Their armor's color is white, with black cloaks with red linings. Their honored saint is Arabella.
- Dissonant Serenity: Their philosophy is based around being completely calm, tranquil, and at peace, even in the midst of brutal, bloody battlefields. To outsiders, this can come across as inspiring or really creepy.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Order of the Sacred Rose, characterized by its discipline, ordered tactics, and cool-headed and logical approach to problems, is the Blue Oni to the Bloody Rose vicious and aggressive Red.
Order of the Valorous Heart
The formative event in the history of the Valorous Heart was its founder's long, torturous martyrdom. In its wake, its members came to believe that enduring pain and torment is the greatest show of faith, and have thus become famous for their talent and willingness to engage in long, expensive meatgrinder engagements, as well as their penchant for scorched-earth tactics. Their armor's color is black, with black cloaks with white lining. Their honored saint is Lucia.
- And I Must Scream: After they captured every last member of the recidivist cult that tortured their founder and countless innocents to death in an attempt to break the former's spirit, the Order of the Valorous Heart then contracted a contingent of Sisters Hospitalier to use their knowledge of life extension and pain enhancement to extend the cultist's punishment for as long as possible.
- The Atoner: Of all the Orders Militant, the Order of the Valorous Heart are the most ashamed of their predecessors' actions during Goge Vandire's Reign of Blood, and even those Sisters who do not become Sisters Repentia are driven by their desire to seek atonement for the sins of their forebears.
- Determinator: The Order of the Valorous Heart is famous for its sisters' intense resolve and for their refusal to back down or concede ground, something that goes hand in hand with their tendency to charge into the worst and most brutal battlefields they can find. Its sisters determinedly fight and grind on no matter how may wounds they have taken, how bad the casualties are, how hostile the battlefield or how powerful the enemy, slowly pushing against the enemy until either the battle is won or they're all dead.
- The Penance: The Order's collective guilt complex often leads its sisters to make heavy use of mortification of the flesh during prayer, such as by praying with their hands over flames or by pressing the teeth of chainswords into their flesh.
- Salt the Earth: The Order of the Valorous Heart's traditional tactics, once the enemy is locked into battle, is to systematically destroy the infrastructure of the contested battlefield, draining water supplies, destroying fuel and food reserves, venting pipelines carrying noxious substances and burning down every field and forest that could provide sustenance until nothing is left but a barren desert the enemy cannot draw sustenance from.
- Skip the Anesthetic: Sisters of the Valorous Heart very rarely accept or make use of painkillers, even after suffering the severe wounds their fighting style tends to throw at them or when requiring surgery or amputation, as they believe that physical pain brings them closer to their matriarch and that using painkillers is a denial of faith's power to overcome all suffering.
Lesser Orders
- Back from the Dead: The Order of the Golden Light, a descendant of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, is notable for having been recorded as having been completely wiped out twice and for there being no record of its having ever recruited new members. This has led to the belief that its members are martyrs who have been brought back to life to keep fighting the Emperor's foes.
- The Berserker: The Order of the Thorn, an offshoot of the Order of the Bloody Rose, have abandoned the controlled fury practiced by their parent Order in favour of entering a berserk state that will only end when either the Sister or every enemy within reach has been slain. The Sisters of the Order believe that by unleashing their fury in this way they are recreating the martyrdom of Saint Mina. In gameplay terms, however, this berserk state simply uses the same close assault orientated rules that the Order of the Bloody Rose uses in 8th Edition.
- Fanatical Fire: The Order of the Ashen Shrine, split off from Order of the Sacred Rose, is notable for having an obsession with flames unusual even for the Sororitas, as they believe that it represent's the Emperor's holy word, and for the fire-based miracles that follow them into battle — stories about the order include volcanic fissures opening across battlefields, burning meteors raining upon their enemies, or machines targeted by their forces being consumed in fiery explosions.
- Flaying Alive: The Order of the Wounded Heart, a splinter Order of the Order of the Valorous Heart, ritually flay the skin from their right hands in imitation of the wounds suffered by Saint Lucia. By performing this act, the Sisters of the Order believe that they share the pain of their beloved Saint.
Other Orders
In addition to the Sisters of Battle of the Orders Militant, the Adeptas Sororitas include a number of specialized Orders that serve distinct functions on and off the battlefield.Order Dialogus
The Sisters of the Orders Dialogus are experts in language, both spoken and written, and some of the most learned people in the Imperium. Their orders usually keep to themselves, translating and transcribing a tremendous variety of texts, but they are often sought out by Inquisitors who wish to enlist them as advisors or translators. In war, they are often tasked with information retrieval, code-breaking, and broadcasting speeches and sermons to the troops.
- Rousing Speech: It is the duty of the Sisters of the Orders Dialogus to give inspiring sermons and grand speeches that praise the glory of the God-Emperor and encourage their Sisters to perform miraculous acts on the battlefield. The exact effect of these speeches varies with the edition, with the 8th Edition rules allowing a Sister Dialogus to change the number on a Miracle dicenote used by a nearby unit.
Orders Famulous
The Sisters-Chatelains of the Orders Famulous serve as diplomats, advisers and chamberlains to the upper ranks of Imperial rulership. They have encyclopedic knowledge of the bloodlines of those they work with, and play an important role in brokering marriages, alliances, trade deals and other political interactions. They also serve the Ecclesiarchy as spies on the governors and nobles that they nominally serve.- Expy: The Orders Famulous are very similar to the Bene Gesserit. They are peerless diplomats, advisers, and negotiators, but they are also heavily involved in maintaining the bloodlines of the Imperial households they associate with, both through record keeping and facilitating arranged marriages.
Orders Hospitaller
The Sisters of the Orders Hospitaller are medics by vocation, and are common sights from the chaos of battlefields to the depths of hive cities. Less well-known is the fact that they also serve as torturers at need. The Orders Hospitaller are notable for predating the establishment of the Adeptas Sororitas by a considerable span of time — their earliest incarnations, which included men, were active as early as the Great Crusade.
- Combat Medic: Sisters Hospitaller are expected to operate right in the middle of the nightmarish battlefields of the 40th millennium, healing grievously wounded patients on ground muddy with blood while bullets and lasers fly through the air. In extremis, they're also taught to use their bone saws and drilling implants as weapons should they need to defend themselves.
- Deadly Doctor: While their primary focus is on healing, Hospitallers can also turn their hands to torture. The Ecclesiarchy sourcebook for Dark Heresy states that Inquisitors are taught to never trust medical care for imprisoned traitors or heretics to Hospitallers. No matter how much an Inquisitor may insist their captive needs to be kept alive for the moment, Hospitallers are so zealous that they are far too likely to "accidentally" lose the patient's life.
- The Medic: The Orders Hospitaller are dedicated to the practice of healing the Emperor's devoted servants. They approach this with as much religious fervor as the Battle Sisters do combat, and become just as good as healing as their equivalents are at killing. They are one of the most widely beloved orders for this reason.
- Mercy Kill: When their patients are beyond all help, Sisters Hospitaller put them out of their suffering with a swift bolt pistol shot.
Orders Pronatus
The Orders Pronatus are charged with tracking down, recovering, repairing and protecting holy relics and important artifacts. They are also responsible for blessing the gear, banners and symbols of other Imperial forces.
- Artifact Collection Agency: Their primary task is to travel the breadth of the Galaxy to find important, useful, holy and/or dangerous artifacts and to bring them back to their bases in order to both benefit the Imperium and to keep these things out of its enemies' hands.
Revered Sisters and related Ecclesiarchal figures
Celestine, the Living Saint
She was an angel, pure as righteous destruction. She laid low the twisted and lifted the hearts of the righteous. At her passing, a million voices cried out her name. Shall we ever again see her like? No, not now, nor ever again...
— Sister Patricia of the Order Famulous, speaking of Celestine's disappearance
Celestine is one of the Living Saints, a handful of extremely important people in the Imperial faith who have displayed miraculous powers and have been canonized by a conclave of the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition. Formerly a Sister Repentia of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, she was killed during the Palatine Schism but was apparently resurrected. After undergoing a holy transformation on Sanctus Lys, Celestine was declared a Living Saint.
- Achilles' Heel: It's strongly implied that Celestine is the Imperial equivalent of a Daemon Prince. As such, anything that disrupts the presence of the Warp leaves her weakened and mortal.
- Back from the Dead: She has the ability to bring rather faithful and brave sisters of battle back to life if they are slain, as shown with Genevieve and Eleanor.
- Badass Cape: Her old model had a cape held up by cherubs, looking like Cape Wings with an angel motif.
- Bodyguard Babes: Since the battle of Kasr Kraf and the Fall of Cadia, Celestine has often been accompanied by the Geminae Superia Genevieve and Eleanor, twin Canonesses of the Order of Our Martyred Lady who were resurrected by the Living Saint during the battle.
- Chained by Fashion: In the artwork, Celestine has chains dangling from her legs with spiked balls attached to them. Her old model had her legs apparently shackled together, with a censer hanging off a chain attached to the shackles.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: She can add her name to the very short list of people who have seriously wounded Abaddon The Despoiler in close combat. Granted, she still needed the aid of Creed, Greyfax and Trazyn's collection of historical forces and she did take a rather brutal beating before managing to impale him through the spine, but still.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Her wings aren't always active, and without them, she looks like a rather typical member of the Adepta Sororitas. This quirk is mined for a bit of levity in the Our Martyred Lady audiodrama.
- Flaming Sword: Celestine's sword, The Ardent Blade, is wreathed in the flames of the Emperor's wrath. In most editions of the game, the Living Saint is able to unleash these flames in a wave of fire equivalent in power to a heavy flamer.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: Saint Celestine had often been depicted in artwork and fan conversions with a great pair of angelic wings, instead of the spread cape that her original model wore, in order to enhance her pure and holy image. When her model was redesigned in 2017, these wings were incorporated into her jump pack.
- Holy Halo: The Armour of Saint Katherine incorporates an elaborate ornamental halo. Given Celestine's status as a Living Saint, the imagery drives that point home even more.
- Logical Weakness: Being cut off from the Warp. Only logical in a meta sense, as in universe her powers are believed to be granted by the favour of the Emperor. However, whatever the origin of her powers, it's fairly clear the actual source of them is the daemonic Warp, so Emperor-granted or not, the loss of Warp presence leaves her mortal.
- Off with His Head!: In the novel Shroud of Night, Khorne is one skull richer thanks to a fight between Kharn the Betrayer and Celestine. It didn't go well for the beloved saint.
- Resurrective Immortality: Saint Celestine can rise from the dead and continue fighting (and until the 6th edition there was no limit on how many times she could do it). There is a suspicion from skeptics that either the Sisters are doing an elaborate masquerade for the sake of morale, or worse, Celestine is actually a daemon.The Fall of Cadia confirms that it's the same Celestine, but her ties to the Material plane are getting severed more and more with every death. The novel Celestine: The Living Saint, shows how these resurrection happen. Each time Celestine dies, she then wakes up atop a pile of bones in the Warp, has to find her armour and sword and pass several trials before she's allowed to come back to life.
Junith Eruita, Canoness Superior of the Order of Our Martyred Lady
The Blazing Heart
With flamer, bolter and melta do we purge our enemies. With power armour do we turn aside their cruellest blows. With doctrine and with strategy do we win our battles. Yet it is faith, Sisters, and faith alone that we shall conquer this sinful galaxy.
Noted for possessing such an intense faith that even the drill-abbots at her Schola Progenium found remarkable, Junith Eruta had been marked for greatness since her youth, and eventually rose to become the martial and spiritual leader of the Order of Our Martyred Lady during the Indomitus Crusade. A passionate and inspirational leader, Junith inspires absolute faith in the Emperor in all those around her and has put countless heretics, mutants and xenos to the touch in the years since her ascension.
- Carry a Big Stick: Junith wields the Mace of Castigation. A sanctified relic of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, the Mace is a power maul of great power that, in the 8th Edition rules, does more damage than a regular weapon of its type.
- Hover Board: Junith rides into battle on the Pulpit of Saint Holline's Basilica, the last remains of the once magnificent place of worship that has been fitted with anti-gravity motors and a pair of heavy flamers.
- Rousing Speech: Junith's fiery sermons are able to inspire all true servants of the Emperor to fight to the best of their abilities, no matter how beaten and blooded they may be. One of her most famous speeches was delivered after Canoness Superior Somnatioan was killed during the fighting in Saint Holline's Basilica. The wounded Junith gave an address of such passion that it rekindled the faith of her disheartened Sisters and inspired them to defeat their Iron Warriors enemies, and led to her being named the new Canoness Superior. This ability to inspire her followers is represented in the 8th Edition rules by the Fiery Conviction ability that grants friendly units from her Order re-rolls for their attacks.
Arch-Confessor Kyrinov, Spreader of The Word.
- Demoted to Extra: Although he is no longer a playable character, Kyrinov's background is still detailed in the most recent Codex and the Mace of Valaan is available as a wargear option for Ministorum Priests.
- Hat of Authority: Kyrinov’s aquila-decorated miter shows his high standing amongst the Ecclesiarchy.
- Rousing Speech: Kyrinov is renowned as a brilliant orator who can whip entire planetary populations into a religious fervour.
- Put on a Bus: Kyrinov was removed as a playable character as of the 6th Edition Digital Codex.
Uriah Jacobus, Protector of the Faith
Death in service to the Emperor is its own reward. Life in failure to Him is its own condemnation.
Uriah Jacobus was a missionary in the Segmentum Tempestus who received renown for converting more than 20 worlds to the Imperial Cult. He also uncovered a Genestealer cult on the planet Solstice and led the army that eventually defeated it.
- Badass Bandolier: Jacobus' model has two large bandoliers of cartridges for his shotgun that hang almost to his feet.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Jacobus’ trusty shotgun, the Redeemer, is the most powerful shotgun in the game with the range of a bolter, greater penetrating power and, in the 8th Edition rules, has a chance of doing double damage.
- Posthumous Character: Although the 2nd Edition Codex says that Jacobus is dead, this isn't mentioned in the more recent releases. In the 8E codex he is an HQ choice for Sororitas detachments. He's officially dead as of 9E, having been put in Warhammer Legends.
Canoness Veridyan
- Ascended Extra: An extreme case, as Veridyan's model is a recreation of the central figure on the Battle Sisters' first codex.
- Captain Morgan Pose: Upon a pile of bones topped with the skull of a heretic.
- Demoted to Extra: When the Warhammer 40,000 rules were updated for 8th Edition, Veridyan's special rules were left out of the Index: Imperium 2 sourcebook that included the rules for the other Sororitas characters and units but she can still be used as a generic Canoness.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: The targeter over her left eye allows her to aim with inhuman precision. The 7th Edition rules for Veridyan represented this by giving the Canoness, and all friendly units of Battle Sisters within 12" of her, the Precision Shots rule, allowing them to wound specific models when shooting.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Veridyan's armor is heavily decorated with skulls; even her targeter is connected to a skull on her armor's power pack.
- Sword and Gun: Veridyan wields a bolt pistol and power sword.
Morvenn Vahl, Abbess Sanctorum of the Adepta Sororitas
- Frontline General: Unlike prior Abbesses, Vahl personally leads her forces into battle rather than delegating from the rear, befitting her past as member of the Order of the Argent Shroud.
- Powered Armor: Vahl fights while piloting the Purgator Mirabilis, a master-crafted Paragon Warsuit forged by Mars' Fabricator General.
- The Quiet One: Fitting a former member of the Order of the Argent Shroud, Vahl rarely speaks, preferring to let her actions speak for her. Often she will leave political tedium to her aides so she can get back to leading her crusade.
- Reassignment Backfire: Her promotion to the vacant position of Abbess was done without her knowledge, partly as a PR stunt following Cadia, partly as a play by the High Lords to get a tighter grip on the Sororitas. Not only was promoting a member of the Argent Shroud as a political pawn likely the worst possible choice, Guilliman would make her a High Lord shortly after, giving her nearly unchecked authority to lead the Sororitas with zero input from the other Lords.
The Emperor is our Father and our Guardian, but we must also guard the Emperor.
