Sisters Organization

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

How is a convent/abbey/whatchamacallit(the thing the various Orders inhabit) organized. I know there would be a canoness, but how many sisters of each type in there?

[Chengar Qordath]

As far as I know, there's no real consistent rule when it comes to the size of a convent; some are relatively small outposts with only a couple hundred sisters, and others are massive complexes that house thousands of sisters (not to mention the primary convents of major orders on Terra and Ophelia, which are presumably even bigger).

 

How many sisters of which types would presumably also vary massively depending on local conditions/availability. There's no "Codex Sororitas" that sets consistent rules everyone is supposed to follow for that kind of thing.

[Fredegar Kadere]

The Adepta Sororitas article on the Lexicanum would be a good place to start.

 

The structure of the Orders Militant and Orders Non-Militant would be similiar, but they would differ in how the Sisters are deployed.

 

All the Orders are originally based from Convent Sanctorum (Ophelia VII) or Convent Prioris (Terra), each of which is run by a Prioress and her staff. Each Convent if broken down into a variety of Orders (The Bloody Rose, Argent Shroud, etc) that are led by a Canoness Superior and her Sister Superiors. These Orders can range from a small mission of 50 Sisters guarding a holy site on a backwards feral world to 15000 Sisters engaged in a Holy War. The six major Orders Militant currently number between 3000 to 4000 warriors total. The Minor Orders Militant (your homebrew Sisters) could number as small or large as you see fit. Depending on the size of the Order, it can be further broken down into three sub-groups; a Preceptory, Commandery, Mission, or all or any of the three. Preceptories are led by a Canoness Preceptor and usually numbers up to a 1000 Sisters. Commanderies are led by a Canoness Commander and usually numbers up to 200 Sisters. Missions are led by a Palatine or senior Canoness and consists of a handful of squads.

 

The 2nd Edition Codex mentions that roughly 1/6 of all Sisters are trained as Seraphim, the angelic and elite fighters of the Sisterhood. The Seraphim would be the most devout, battle-hardened, and experienced Sisters. The elites of the Seraphim eventually become the bodyguards of the Palatines and Canonesses, these woman are known as Celestians. The 3rd Edition Codex splits the Seraphim from the Celestians, having them both near equal in training but differing in combat styles.

 

Fantasy Flights Dark Heresy series helps to expand the lore of the Sisterhood in "The Inquisitor's Handbook" and in the upcoming "Blood of Martyrs." I'll try and look at the Handbook tomorrow and add what it mentions about weapons training.

[Algesan]

The six major Orders Militant currently number between 3000 to 4000 warriors total.

 

IMO, that is a serious misprint, even assuming that it would be 3k-4k per major Order. With ~1k Chapters of SM, I'd bet there are more suits of (the supposedly precious and extremely rare) Terminator armor than there are Sisters with those numbers. Heh, there might even be more of the even rarer Dreadnoughts available than there are Sisters.

 

There really needs to be at least one more zero in there (30k-40k) for the major Orders Militant, if not two (300k-400k). Otherwise there won't be enough Sisters in the major Orders Militant to perform the guard and escort duties listed for them in the Witch Hunters fluff.

 

Oh, you could pile a lot of that stuff off on minor Orders Militant, but then you'd be looking at "minor" Orders who would rival the size of the "major" Orders. Given the bigger numbers (and I'd actually go for 3-4 million Sisters per major Order), it makes the minor Orders (represented by a player's forces) more reasonable with a Canoness Preceptor or Canoness Commander leading a Preceptory (1000 Sisters) or Commandery (200 Sisters) sized force.

 

 

Fantasy Flights Dark Heresy series helps to expand the lore of the Sisterhood in "The Inquisitor's Handbook" and in the upcoming "Blood of Martyrs." I'll try and look at the Handbook tomorrow and add what it mentions about weapons training.

 

The path from Battle Sister to Celestian only goes by Seraphim if you decide to take the skills for Jump Pack pilot and the twin pistol use skills. What you might find interesting is that at the rank before the split into the militant and non-militant paths, a generic Sister has the training to serve in the firing line of a Battle Sister squad. Which means that if you jump a "non-militant" facility it would be "Praise the Emperor and pass the ammunition" time.

[Fredegar Kadere]

The 3000 to 4000 number is taken from the 2nd edition Codex and is meant per Order. I imagine that the number in recent years would have been bolstered to accomodate the change in GW's game design philosophy. Cheaper troops (point wise) means more troops sold and greater numbers in the 'lore' to match up to the new tabletop truth.

 

The following comes from the Dark Heresy "Inquisitor's Handbook" and deals with the Militant side of things.

Once a Sister has left the robes of the noviciate behind and joined and donned the power armour of the full Sisterhood of a Militant Order she is able to receive training in the use of Meltas, Flamers, Heavy Bolters, Heavy Flamers, and Multi-meltas. The Sisters who have seen battle and shed blood in the name of the Emperor will generally begin leading a squad of their own or be chosen to join one of the specialized battle formations in the Sisterhood; the Dominions, Seraphim, or Retributors. The Sisters who have excelled and are considered the most experienced, generally having been involved in hundreds of engagements, are given the honorific of Celestian.