What are the sisters of battle's role in the universe?

[TheReclusiarch]

Hello everyone!

 

After reading a thread about how Imperial Guard are the real workhorse of the Empire and the Space Marines are more like special forces, I came to wonder, what are the Sisters of Battle?

The space marines move in to secure an area and take out vital targets while the Imperial guard land heavy drop ships and push forth the frontline, slowly grinding the enemy to dust.

 

But what of the sisters? Are they only hunters of heretics? Do they deploy on the front, or do they go all "special forces" like the adeptus astartes? They are well trained and well equipped after all!

 

I'd really like to be enlightened about this. :wallbash:

 

Thanks!

[andrewm9]

While its true one of thier primary roles is to function as the militant arm of the Ordo Hereticus, they also are at the head of any war of faith declared by the Ecclesiarchy. The defend sacred sites as well. Since the Ecclesiarchy is forbidden men under arms, they have the Sisters of Battle to function as guards and crusaders.

[ArmouredWing]

While its true one of thier primary roles is to function as the militant arm of the Ordo Hereticus, they also are at the head of any war of faith declared by the Ecclesiarchy. The defend sacred sites as well. Since the Ecclesiarchy is forbidden men under arms, they have the Sisters of Battle to function as guards and crusaders.

I gotta say that, IMO, this isn't far off the mark. For me Sisters represent seomthing between the elite space marines and the massed force of the imperial guard.

 

Looking at the way that sisters can be deployed (minimum squad size of 10) and some of the equipment that they use (immolators, repressors & a lack of long range ordnance) I believe that they are best suited to policing, occupying and enforcing imperial law in known trouble spots throughout the imperium, something like the current situation in Iraq. Yes they are often mobilised to wage holy war in the name of the imperial church but for all out war there are better options available to imperial generals, even if they aren't available to the ecclesiarchy.

[Inquisitor Fox]

Sisters of Battle perform several primary functions. In no particular order they are:

 

1. To be the armed forces of the Ecclesiarchy, as under the Decree Passive the church is forbidden Men under arms, but not Women.

 

2. To police the Ecclesiarchy for signs of corruption to prevent another incident like Vandire's Reign of Blood. (Yes, they serve them as well as police them)

 

3. To act as the Chamber Militant for the Ordo Hereticus (reference the history of Vandire, the Thorians and the Convocation of Nephilim).

 

4. To monitor other Imperial organizations for signs of purity, physical mutation, heresy, etc.

 

5. To assist their minor orders (Sisters Hospitaller, Sisters Dialogus, Sisters umm.. the noble ones...) and such.

 

This puts them in a strange position of being like the police, FBI, commissars, as well as being religious warriors similar to say, the Knights Templar and other european warriors of the Crusades. Even more than Space Marines they are members of a religious organization, but they also have darker duties which they perform zealously and are more immune to corruption because of their upbringing, training, and faith.

[GlauG]

Personally, I see them as somewhere between Military and Religious police, with an emphasis on things like escort and defense work. Defending shrine worlds and Ecclesiarchy VIPs, heavy support for Ecclesiastical Expeditions... That kind of thing. Generally speaking I only see them being deployed offensively at Inquisitorial behest, for recapturing lost holy sites, or when there are internal struggles in the Ecclesiarchy. Your mileage may Vary. :lol:

[Obliterator]

To me, they seem to have a lot in common with the Arbites, but where the Arbites is upholding Imperial law, the Sororitas will look at things in the light of the Ecclesiarchy. I see them guarding points of interest of the Ecclesiarchy (temples, shrines, offices), function as bodyguard of the higher ranking officials of the Ecclesiarchy, act as armed escort of relics, prisoners, etc. and when push comes to shove they act as the gauntleted hand of the Ecclesiarchy, going for the kill/capture themselves. Because be honest: you can't trust Joe Guardsman with an important relic, and Marines are probably pursuing their own agenda :lol: ...

[drazz]

Personally, I see them as somewhere between Military and Religious police, with an emphasis on things like escort and defense work. Defending shrine worlds and Ecclesiarchy VIPs, heavy support for Ecclesiastical Expeditions... That kind of thing. Generally speaking I only see them being deployed offensively at Inquisitorial behest, for recapturing lost holy sites, or when there are internal struggles in the Ecclesiarchy. Your mileage may Vary. ;)

 

This is pretty much the way I see it as well.

 

Think of the Imperial Forces in this manner:

IG is the US army. Good tech, fair training (with specialists called when needed), deployed units can take a number of varying forms

 

Space Marines are the hard-corps special forces. Delta Force, elite ranger units, the guys you call in only when you really want something done right and quickly.

 

Inquisition forces are the Federal Agents (DEA, Secret Service, FBI, CIA). Sisters, in particular, serve to uphold the Imperial Truth (not the Imperial Law), and act as the military forces for the Imperial Church.

 

Daily activities would include bodyguard work, escorting VIP's and relics, guarding shrines and shrine worlds, hunting down heretics, protecting the faith.

 

Special military movements might occur in recovering relics/VIP's, destroying cults, serving to aid the faith of a full scale military movement (most major campaigns like the Armageddon Wars have a SoB contingent), or leading a Crusade.

[Melissia]

The Sisters of Battle are the official army of the Church first and foremost-- ontop of that, they have an agreement to assist the Ordo Hereticus should the need arise.

 

Essentially, think of them as being similar to the knights sent on the holy crusades to liberate Jerusalem back in the medieval time periods. They defend places important to the faith and perform crusades and holy wars in the name of the Emperor against heretics and xenos. These holy wars are most assuredly NOT infrequent, and in fact the Ecclesiarchy might declare a holy war to support a non-religious crusade by the Marines or Imperial Guard. Somewhat infrequently, they are called upon to assist the Ordo Hereticus as per the agreement at the Convocation of Nephilim-- but the Ordo Hereticus does not often have uses for them because the Ordo Hereticus is more of an investigation force, and rarely needs such an army as the Sisters.

 

 

As for their best purpose? I would actually say they'd be best in roles of urban warfare. Their heavy armor and numbers, combiend with their short ranged weaponry (flamers, meltaguns, bolters) make them ideal in this kind of combat. Bring a group of Sororitas to assault a city, and the enemy will know fear.

[Marshal Rohr]

The Church's SS for lack of a better analogy. And the SS was still a very capable fighting force, despite its obvious elephant in the room.

 

The second edition codex has them as a fighting force in their own right at the command of the Ecclesiarchy. While they are capable of conducting Wars of Faith they are not autonomous like Space Marines, a Canoness cannot pick her own missions.

[Melissia]

The codex does not specifically state taht, however-- how influential a Canoness is, I think, depends on her own achievements and force of personality.

[TheReclusiarch]

Thanks for all the answers! I feel like I know more about the sisters and their place in the warhammer universe now.

[Marshal Rohr]

'The Adepta Sororitas comes under the auspices of the Ecclesiarch,' -C:SoB, pg. 18

 

Wait, I stand corrected, Canoness' are at the command of the Prioress. She commands the Sororitas FOR the Ecclesiarch, so in fact they are autonomous. I need to read more...

[Melissia]

I immagine they are given a set of duties that they are to fulfill. General duties, such as "Defend this shrine".

 

Now, one could hunker down in the shrine and create a fortress out of it. Or one could decide "This shrine would be a lot safer if I went and burned down that Ork encampment on the other side of this continent." and go on the offense.

 

My own Canoness Emelia Stone is doing something liek that taken to the extreme in her "canon" storyline, so to speak. She was told "Defend the Shrine of the Sapphire Blade STC", a valuable power sword STC that's kept on the planet. And so she uses that as an excuse to go on a crusade, after all it won't be safe if nearby planets and star systems are infested with chaos, orks, and pirates. Naturally she does keep a contingent of her best troops in the shrine itself, veterans of many wars of faith and so on, but her view is that offense is the best defense.

[Prathios]

The Church's SS for lack of a better analogy. And the SS was still a very capable fighting force, despite its obvious elephant in the room.

 

The second edition codex has them as a fighting force in their own right at the command of the Ecclesiarchy. While they are capable of conducting Wars of Faith they are not autonomous like Space Marines, a Canoness cannot pick her own missions.

 

Never heard this before. This is a strikingly accurate comparison. The Sisters really are the SS of the Ecclesiarchy. Nice work Marshal2!

[Eltnot]

The Church's SS for lack of a better analogy. And the SS was still a very capable fighting force, despite its obvious elephant in the room.

 

The second edition codex has them as a fighting force in their own right at the command of the Ecclesiarchy. While they are capable of conducting Wars of Faith they are not autonomous like Space Marines, a Canoness cannot pick her own missions.

 

Never heard this before. This is a strikingly accurate comparison. The Sisters really are the SS of the Ecclesiarchy. Nice work Marshal2!

And now all of a sudden it clicks that the standard paint scheme is red black and white.....

 

Agreed that is probably one of the best analogies of heard for them.

[Thaelion Hexis]

Obliterator and Mellisia hit the nail on the head for me.

 

Trying to work out the Sororitas role by comparing to present day military may be folly, due to the psuedo-medieval realm that is the far future.

[ArmouredWing]

Trying to work out the Sororitas role by comparing to present day military may be folly, due to the psuedo-medieval real that is the far future.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this statement. Regardless of era there are constants throughout the way war has been waged through the ages and will be right on into the distant future. Technology doesn't really change the fundamental strategies that the human race uses to engage in war, just the scope and the timescales.

[Dragons]

Technology doesn't really change the fundamental strategies that the human race uses to engage in war, just the scope and the timescales.

 

 

I must respectfully dissagree!

 

The United States has changed the fundamental strategies of war twice so far.. And I expect it will again at least once or twice.

 

The Revolutionary War fundamentally changed the way war had been conducted for 1500 years or so. And soon after (historically speaking) every military of substance on earth had matched. The 'War on Terror' is being prosecuted in a completely different way because the enemies NEEDED a different style of warfare to deal with the standing juggernauts of the established militaries of the world. The worlds militaries are adapting to fight the war against terrorism/terrorists with completely different 'fundamental strategies'.

 

The availability of DIFFERENT technology and different mindsets in application of that technology is absolutely fundamental in the application of warfare. It has changed a score of times in human history so far. I expect it to change more.

 

Now 40K has a quasimedeval style of warfare and organization with an amazing juxtaposition of High and 'not-so-high' technology is odd in it's application and needs to be taken on it's own. The different technologies of it's 'war machine' (organization not tanks!) make it's fighting 'style' and the strategies it uses uniquely it's own.

 

 

-Dragons

[the jeske]

I see sob in two type of armies . Guard or convent armies . Where they are a form of a police force . Or crusade armies when they work more or less like sm worked durning the great crusade. Huge formations of tens of thousands of sob , with support from warmachines .

[number6]

Real life issues are starting to bleed far too heavily into this topic. Discussion of politics is explicitly prohibited under the B&C's rules. Please keep any further discussions of "war" to the made-up realm of Warhammer 40,000 or I will be forced to shut this topic down.

[DevianID]

I think that, like some others, sister's duties fall into a few roles.

 

First, they wage holy wars, and such a force would be spotted in the armageddon war for example. Here is where they roll out the exercist and immolator welcome mat.

 

Second, they defend shrines and relics, and certian members of the church, either during transport or at a particular place. Defense can take many forms, as melissa notes... they may feel that requsting the imperial navy to ferry them to nearby worlds to pacify them is the best way to defend something in tumultuous space.

 

Third, they engage in missions to hunt heretics/witches in their hole. This, i feel, is what really seperates sisters from other organizations. If you have some dissident heretics in a hive city, who you gonna call? First, the ghost busters; second, the sisters of battle. Repressors are fantastic vehicles to ride around an unfriendly city in, and all the weapons in a sisters force speak 'urban pacification.' Add in power armor to shrug off the weapons that heretics are likely to find in a hive city, and you have the perfect force.

 

For me, if you were the administrator of an imperial world, and a latent witch begain manifesting powers and laying waste to anything nearby, and you had to request aid to deal with this threat, the sisters are the best option to use. The IG would never respond in time, and the space marines may likely lay waste to the continent that the witch was on 'just to be sure.' The sisters not only have the tools to deal with the threat, but have the resources on a shrine close enough to quickly respond, and will kill fewer bystanders in the process. Sure, flamers and meltas can be pretty indiscriminate, but they are nothing compared to a bombardment cannon from a strike cruiser.