Variation Within the Adepta Sororitas

[Chengar Qordath]

Somewhat inspired by my ongoing project in HGR, I'm curious to find out to what degree the different orders within the Adepta Sororitas are actually different from each other. We do know that different orders specifically revere different imperial saints tied to their own order, such as the Order of Our Martyred Lady's reverence for St. Katherine, and also have holy icons/relics that are specifically tied to their own order. However, other than having their own individual saints/relics, are all orders more-or-less equivalent in terms of what they believe (The Imperial Creed is very broad, after all). Might different orders disagree on what constitutes a proper relic, or hold different opinions about what qualifies a person to be an Imperial Saint?

 

Also on the topic of variation, do all orders within the Adepta Sororitas use essentially the same methods when putting their practical skills to use? Do all sisters of battle fight the same way, or do different orders have different fields of emphasis in their combat doctrine, similar to how the Space Marines and Imperial Guard work?

[Eltnot]

Between different orders, you will find that they focus on different objectives. I don't have my 2nd ed codex on me at the moment, but I believe it details how different orders focus on different tasks, order militant, order hospitallier, etc.

 

Different orders militant might fight slightly differently depending on their resources, but not overly significant I would imagine.

[Algesan]

How different do you want them to be? It is a big galaxy.

 

Besides the major listed divisions, there are comments about various minor orders that are not listed. Soooo, you could have a Commandery (~200 Sisters) or Preceptory (~1000 Sisters) sized minor order built a bit different. Say a Canoness Commander (Commandery) got sucked into an Ordo Xenos campaign and then took an extra vow against dirty xenos.

 

<poof> A group of Sisters who act with Deathwatch vs xenos.

[chaplain belisarius]

good question! im imagining they have different religious doctrine (but only slightly). Maybe they hate witches more (or perhaps they tolerate them more?)

 

GW really need to do a new sob dex and some plastic sisters...:D

[chaplain belisarius]

oops! :D

[Warsmith Aznable]

I think one idea that would be interesting was if there were orders minoris dedicated wholly to confronting a particular aspect of Chaos. Like maybe an order tooled up to fight Nurgle, so that Plague Marines and their heretical cultists would be their primary archenemy. Or a really fast, shooty army designed to deny close-combat to Khornate cultists. If there aren't enough rules to work with the reflect the theme in the game play, it's at least the basis for interesting DIY fluff and modeling.