Can a comissar boss a sister around

[ZONKEY]

Can a comissar boss a sister of battle around, does the sister have to take order from a comissar

[boreas]

I think there's no obligation for a sister to obey a Commissar. But on the battlefield, it would usually boil down to personnality and political power. I can't see a sister openly defying Commissar Yarrick. I'm pretty sure even most SM captain would obey him.

 

Phil

[Chengar Qordath]

Commissars only have authority over the Imperial Guard or Navy formations they're assigned to; they have no power outside of the Guard or Navy.

 

As boreas said, a commissar might have the reputation, political power and/or persuasive ability to persuade a Sister of Battle to go along with his plans, but he has no direct authority over her. This particular situation comes up in Ciaphas Cain: Duty Calls, and the sister's refused to go along with Cain's battle-plan until he convinced them that he was right.

[Inquisitor Fox]

Like Chengar Qordath stated, technically the Commissar has no official authority over anyone not a part of the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy. However, keep in mind that if overall tactical command of the operation in question lay with the Imperial Guard, then in my own opinion the Sister should keep that in mind and not rock the boat, so to speak.

 

It's a similar situation to "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal" in a sense. The chain of command needs to be followed, but it's important to remember who owes allegiance to whom. The sister reports to her superior, the Commissar reports to his superiors, and if the two of them are running a joint operation and it was never made clear which branch was in charge.. well.. now there's issues.

 

Take a real world example. If a bunch of Marines are on a Navy vessal, the vessal is commanded by whichever Navy personnel are of the highest rank and it does not extend into Marine command unless every Navy officer entirely is dead and gone. You may well have an Ensign issuing orders to a Marine General, and so long as he is on that boat that General better darn well follow them! Will there be reports and investigations after the fact? You betcha... but as long as he is on the boat, you obey the Captain of the boat, whomever he may be.

[stoopicus]

Can a comissar boss a sister of battle around, ...

 

He can try, once.

[Brother_Kaelgrim]

Do you want to argue with a fanatical soldier who is driven by her hatred of heresy and deep need to burn things? I don't think so.

 

I think Mr. Commissar would see the end of his long career. Heck, Cain points out that overzealous Commissars have trouble with plain guardsmen killing them when no one is looking, what makes you think a sister would let him get away with it?

[Brother Hadafix]

G

Like Chengar Qordath stated, technically the Commissar has no official authority over anyone not a part of the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy. However, keep in mind that if overall tactical command of the operation in question lay with the Imperial Guard, then in my own opinion the Sister should keep that in mind and not rock the boat, so to speak.

 

It's a similar situation to "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal" in a sense. The chain of command needs to be followed, but it's important to remember who owes allegiance to whom. The sister reports to her superior, the Commissar reports to his superiors, and if the two of them are running a joint operation and it was never made clear which branch was in charge.. well.. now there's issues.

 

Take a real world example. If a bunch of Marines are on a Navy vessal, the vessal is commanded by whichever Navy personnel are of the highest rank and it does not extend into Marine command unless every Navy officer entirely is dead and gone. You may well have an Ensign issuing orders to a Marine General, and so long as he is on that boat that General better darn well follow them! Will there be reports and investigations after the fact? You betcha... but as long as he is on the boat, you obey the Captain of the boat, whomever he may be.

Nice example, if not true (depending on whose navy and marines you are talking about. HM and US forces do not work the same way.)

 

Given that in 40K all the military is separated and inderpendent from each other, I doubt that a Commissar has a rank above a Sister, but they are generally educated in the same place, so the higher ups probably know something of eachother.

[I am the Stig]

I can't see a sister openly defying Commissar Yarrick. I'm pretty sure even most SM captain would obey him.

Examining this point for a moment, I expect Space Marine captains would not 'obey' Yarrick as such, but rather co-operate with him out of respect. I know that High marshal Helbrecht, for instance, holds the ageing Commisar in great esteem.

To hazard a guess at the answer to your question Zonkey, I believe that the Adepta Sororitas are a seperate organisation from the Departmo Munitorum, which effectively "runs" the Imperial guard, giving a Commissars voice little power over a Sister of battle.

[Grand Master Tyrak]

I believe that the Adepta Sororitas are a seperate organisation from the Departmo Munitorum, which effectively "runs" the Imperial guard, giving a Commissars voice little power over a Sister of battle.

 

They are, but just to muddy the waters further, the Sisters Hospitallers (one of the non-Militant orders) provide medical care to all arms of the Imperial Military bar the Astartes. I'm not sure whose authority they'd come under.

[Heru]

I believe that the Adepta Sororitas are a seperate organisation from the Departmo Munitorum, which effectively "runs" the Imperial guard, giving a Commissars voice little power over a Sister of battle.

 

They are, but just to muddy the waters further, the Sisters Hospitallers (one of the non-Militant orders) provide medical care to all arms of the Imperial Military bar the Astartes. I'm not sure whose authority they'd come under.

To muddy the waters even more: Sisters, and Commissars are both trained by the Schola Progenium (along with Storm Troopers, Inquisitors, Assassins and Adeptus Arbites).

[Inquisitor Lord Reilly]

I believe that the Adepta Sororitas are a seperate organisation from the Departmo Munitorum, which effectively "runs" the Imperial guard, giving a Commissars voice little power over a Sister of battle.

 

They are, but just to muddy the waters further, the Sisters Hospitallers (one of the non-Militant orders) provide medical care to all arms of the Imperial Military bar the Astartes. I'm not sure whose authority they'd come under.

To muddy the waters even more: Sisters, and Commissars are both trained by the Schola Progenium (along with Storm Troopers, Inquisitors, Assassins and Adeptus Arbites).

 

You are right about the Arbites and Storm Troopers, but Inquisitors are not trained to BE inquisitors, they are chosen by other inquisitors usually later on in life. And Assassins are trained by the various assassin temples.

[Adam_R]

Actually it varies with Inquisitors, young psykers which pass the Inquisition's tests but are not sent off to fuel the Astronomicon will be trained aboard the Inquisition's Black Ships before being assigned to an Inquisitor if they seem capable.

 

In some rarer cases a fully fledged Inquisitor may come across a Henchman which they believe may have the mental aptitude and physical qualities to be an inquisitor. Moreover Gregor Eisenhorn notes that Chastener Gogwin Fishchig would have made an Inquisitior except for his hatred of book learning.

 

On Topic: I don't believe a commissar would have any authority over a Sororitas. Different power structures.