You know you're a Sister of Battle player when...

[Knight of the Raven]

You know you're a Sisters of Battle player when you throw the nearest blunt object (the cat will do) at the television because they just announced a nostalgy marathon of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

[Servant of Dante]

You know you're a Sisters of Battle player when you throw the nearest blunt object (the cat will do) at the television because they just announced a nostalgy marathon of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

A name that veritably oozes heresy. Not that I have any idea what that show is, but one does not need to understand the Heretic to recognize them as such!

Edited July 21, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Servant of Dante]

Eh, what the heck. I didn't put this hear at first, since it's rather off topic, but what the heck.

Oh, and I ended up spending about 15 hours on this.

I swapped all the Corruption points she started with to Insanity points, resulting in a Minor Disorder.

The result is that she constantly whispers to her Chaplet Ecclesiasticus (look at her Forbidden Lore skills to see what she talks about - It's enough to drive even a Space Marine mad, or so I've been told)

And, between her WP, Interrogation Skill, and Excruciator Kit, she has a 108 for Interrogation (tests are rolled on a d100)

and here's the bit of background I came up with. It got a little longer than I expected.

The girl who would become Sister Inellia was born deep in the bowels of a cruiser of Battlefleet Bakka in the Segmentum Tempestus. Her parents where two amongst tens of thousands of crewman native to the ship, born within its hull and invisible to the great men and women who ruled their lives and commanded their fate. Her tremendously pale skin and pink eyes marked her as an albino, not entirely uncommon aboard the ship of her birth, where she lived as normal a life as any child ever does aboard an Imperial Navy vessel.

It was not the simple news of new arrivals that had caught the attention of the girl, now thirteen years old. Thousands of troops and other personal came and went every day that the ship was in realspace. No, it was who these new arrivals where that had piqued her interest. It seemed that over five hundred Sisters of the Adepta Sororitas had taken up residence in one of the ship’s many barracks for transport from one warzone to another.

At first, the news of the Battle Sisters arrival was no more than a curiosity to the girl, but as the days passed she thought of them more and more. She had no idea what they looked like, and had heard only vague and fanciful tales of the deeds of the Emperor’s most faithful servants. The pull toward these righteous protectors of mankind grew in the girl’s mind daily. Finally, one night, or rather, during one of the shifts when the group of habs in which she lived was darkened, the girl pried open a large ventilation panel in a corridor and began to climb her way up from the depths of the ship.

It was twelve hours later when she arrived at an air vent that looked into barracks where the Battle Sisters where quartered. She sat behind the large grate and watched the Sisters. At first, they seemed not to notice her, but as the hours passed they began to take note. Some frowned or glared at the girl, while a few smiled. Eventually, she fell asleep where she sat.

The next day, a few of the Sisters spoke to her. They where kind to the girl, curious as to why she was sitting behind the grate. One even gave her a portion of her simple lunch. When it was once again time to begin the night cycle that portion of the ship, a woman with a scarred face and a bionic eye came to the girl. She introduced herself as a Palatine of the Order of the Valorous Heart, and asked why the girl was here. The girl said that she had to go with the Sisters when they left the ship. The Palatine smiled and asked why she had to go with them. The girl told her that it was because she knew that it was the Emperor’s will that she follow the Sisters. After staring into the girl’s eyes for an eternity, the Palatine removed the grate and wordlessly ushered the girl to a vacant bunk in the barracks.

A few months later, when the Sisters returned to Celestine VII, the girl was inducted into the Order of the Valorous Heart as a Novice. She took the name of Inellia, one of the Sisters martyred in silence before the blinded eyes of Saint Lucia before her death. Despite being several years behind the other Novices of her age, Inellia progressed admirably through her training, showing a sharp intellect, and a natural aptitude for the use of a Boltgun.

Besides her martial training, Inellia studied the Imperial Creed in great depth, and spent hours rehearsing hymns to the Emperor with the other Novices. She was content, and her tutors where quite impressed with her progress. Inellia was received fully into the Sisterhood, swearing her holy vows to the Emperor and her Canoness at the age of twenty-two. Then, an Inquisitor came calling.

He was of the Ordo Hereticus, and he requested that five newly minted Sisters be transferred into his care. The Canoness could not refuse the Inquisitor, and just three days after receiving her Chaplet Ecclesiasticus, Sister Inellia left Ophelia VII, along with four of her fellow Sisters. The five Sisters where quickly separated, and Inellia was put to work investigating and crushing heresy in the name of the Emperor’s holy Ordos. Her Inquisitor seemed to have a proclivity for seeking out the most twisted and insidious of Chaos cults, and throwing Inellia and her fellow Acolytes into their jaws time and again.

As the years passed, Inellia faced the servants of all four Chaos Gods, human and otherwise. Those around her fell away - killed, driven insane, or dawn into the festering corruption which they sought to snuff out - but she endured. She learned to protect her mind from the foulness she encountered, and to rebuke the onslaught of the witch. Eventually, she found herself once more before the Inquisitor.

Inellia was sixty-one years old, though through the Emperors grace and impeccable gene therapy, she had maintained the physical ability and appearance of one in her third decade, while serving the Ordo Hereticus for thirty-nine years. The Inquisitor told Inellia that he was immensely pleased with her work, and that she was a remarkable individual. He said that she would be given more freedom to act as she saw fit in the future, and that the filing process for her new position would take some time. She was to do as she pleased for the time being, and to return when she was prepared to continue her work in the Emperor’s name.

It was the first time in her life that she had had the freedom to go where she willed. At first, Inellia did not know what to do, but the answer came to her quickly. With the help of her Inquisitorial identification, she gained passage to the world where Saint Lucia, the patron saint of her Order, had been martyred millennia before. The Saint’s eyes had been gouged out, and she had been forced to listen to the screams of one thousand innocents being tortured to death before her. She had not known that some of her Sisters where among that thousand, for they had died silently to keep from adding to the Saint’s torment.

Eventually, Inellia found herself in the cathedral built on the site of Saint Lucia’s martyrdom. The Inquisition had changed Inellia. She had witnessed things that would, and had, driven men and women mad at their mere mention, but she had remained faithful, if not completely sane. The training forced upon her by her Inquisitorial handlers had been almost as painful as the horrors of Chaos and heresy that had clawed at her psyche. She had mastered the art of interrogation, and was a capable hunter of men. She could make even the most deluded of cultists cry for mercy as she ripped the truth of their heresy from their twitching bodies, and it made the young girl singing righteous hymns inside of her scream in agony.

But here she was, at this, her final test. If she could complete the task set before her, there could be no doubt that the Emperor held her worthy of the Sisterhood that she held so dear. Inellia stared into the eyes of the statue of Saint Lucia, drawing strength from her likeness. Reverently, she drew her power blade from its sheath, and activated its power field. Exhaling slowly, and refusing to close her eyes or utter a single sound, she slowly sliced off her left arm just below the elbow. Tears of triumphant pain running down her face, she sheathed the blade, and applied a tourniquet to her upper arm. The throng of stupefied pilgrims that filled the cathedral parted quickly as Inellia walked, smiling, from the building, not unchanged, but unbowed.

Well, I guess you know you're a Sisters of Battle player when you do all of the above

Edited July 24, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Servant of Dante]

When you are disappointed that the Rush song "Heresy" (off of Roll the Bones) isn't relevant to 40k.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

When you have a Sisters of Sigmar Mordheim warband and name your Maiden Saint Celestine

[bluntblade]

When you are disappointed that the Rush song "Heresy" (off of Roll the Bones) isn't relevant to 40k.

Come to think of it, there's a Nine Inch Nails song called Heresy, which would probably be considered heretical in its own right in 40k.

[Interrogator-Chaplain Ezra]

When you have a Sisters of Sigmar Mordheim warband and name your Maiden Saint Celestine

Witches! Burn them!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

 

     But here she was, at this, her final test. If she could complete the task set before her, there could be no doubt that the Emperor held her worthy of the Sisterhood that she held so dear. Inellia stared into the eyes of the statue of Saint Lucia, drawing strength from her likeness. Reverently, she drew her power blade from its sheath, and activated its power field. Exhaling slowly, and refusing to close her eyes or utter a single sound, she slowly sliced off her left arm just below the elbow. Tears of triumphant pain running down her face, she sheathed the blade, and applied a tourniquet to her upper arm. The throng of stupefied pilgrims that filled the cathedral parted quickly as Inellia walked, smiling, from the building, not unchanged, but unbowed.

 

Well, I guess you know you're a Sisters of Battle player when you do all of the above

Inellia's personal history certainly fits the setting of 'Warhammer 40,000', but I wonder WHY she amputated her own arm. Did it mutate, or something happened that made her suspect it mutated (maybe a cancerous tumor developed there, due to her handling toxic substances- maybe using these substances to torture a heretic into confessing- during her service with the Inquisition), and she amputated the arm to "purify her flesh"? Did she do it to better understand the pain Saint Lucia endured, the way contemporary Christians undergo crucifixion to better understand the pain Jesus Christ endured (see crucifixion in the Philippines)? Did she do it so a strong, metallic augmetic may replace the weak, fleshy limb, i.e., she shares the Iron Hands' beliefs that "the flesh is weak"? Or did she do it because she's a masochist (an attitude that will alarm anyone with basic understanding of Slaanesh's influence)?

[Servant of Dante]

 

 

 

 

But here she was, at this, her final test. If she could complete the task set before her, there could be no doubt that the Emperor held her worthy of the Sisterhood that she held so dear. Inellia stared into the eyes of the statue of Saint Lucia, drawing strength from her likeness. Reverently, she drew her power blade from its sheath, and activated its power field. Exhaling slowly, and refusing to close her eyes or utter a single sound, she slowly sliced off her left arm just below the elbow. Tears of triumphant pain running down her face, she sheathed the blade, and applied a tourniquet to her upper arm. The throng of stupefied pilgrims that filled the cathedral parted quickly as Inellia walked, smiling, from the building, not unchanged, but unbowed.

 

Well, I guess you know you're a Sisters of Battle player when you do all of the above

Inellia's personal history certainly fits the setting of 'Warhammer 40,000', but I wonder WHY she amputated her own arm. Did it mutate, or something happened that made her suspect it mutated (maybe a cancerous tumor developed there, due to her handling toxic substances- maybe using these substances to torture a heretic into confessing- during her service with the Inquisition), and she amputated the arm to "purify her flesh"? Did she do it to better understand the pain Saint Lucia endured, the way contemporary Christians undergo crucifixion to better understand the pain Jesus Christ endured (see crucifixion in the Philippines)? Did she do it so a strong, metallic augmetic may replace the weak, fleshy limb, i.e., she shares the Iron Hands' beliefs that "the flesh is weak"? Or did she do it because she's a masochist (an attitude that will alarm anyone with basic understanding of Slaanesh's influence)?

It has to do with the story of St Lucia, who was captured, blinded, then forced to listen as 1000 innocent people where tortured to death before her. Lucia didn't know it, but some of the battle sisters under her command where among that 1000, and they refused to make any sound as they died, so that they wouldn't add to the saint's pain. Lucia is the patron saint of the order of the valorous heart. Intellia was mirroring the suffering and sacrifice of her predecessors by enduring such great pain in silence. She feels that if she can do at least some part of what those sisters did for St. Lucia, she can continue her service to the Emperor, no matter what she sees, and what she has to do. In a sense, her whole service to the inquisition has been one long pennance (very fitting, given the order she's a part of) and this act is her reaffirming her purity and faith.

 

So it wasn't to understand St Lucia, she would never put herself on the level of a Saint such as Lucia, but she wishes to prove herself worthy of her sisterhood.

I find the story about St Lucia incredibly compelling, which is why I had it play such a large role in Inellia's background

Edited July 25, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Bjorn Firewalker]

So Inellia is better compared to the Filipinos who willingly endure crucifixion in order to better understand Jesus Christ. Fair enough.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

So Inellia is better compared to the Filipinos who willingly endure crucifixion in order to better understand Jesus Christ. Fair enough.

 

That tradition is not just Filipino or even Christian, there is an Islamic sect that undergo voluntary and bloody self-flagellation.

 

Several catholic traditions undergo willing self-flagellation and there are Native American traditions that involve a willing supplicant being suspended by hooks in their flesh to undergo pain-inspired spiritual events.

 

It's interesting how many religions involve pain.

[Knight of the Raven]

You know you're a Sisters of Battle player when you just know that any rumor mentioning plastic sisters is a hoax.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

You know you're a Sisters of Battle player when you just know that any rumor mentioning plastic sisters is a hoax.

 

Sadly true.

 

One of the most popular armies and least supported. Ward and Cruddace saw to that.

[*Furyou Miko]

If you mean they saw it it being one of the most popular armies, then yes - the white dwarf codex was powerful. The lack of support really isn't their fault.

 

The horrible nerfing of St. Silvia and St. Arabella's fluff, however... ugh.

[Servant of Dante]

So Inellia is better compared to the Filipinos who willingly endure crucifixion in order to better understand Jesus Christ. Fair enough.

No! I just said she's mirroring the sacrifice of other normal sisters! She's making her sacrifice before St. Lucia. And she isn't trying to understand them, as I've said, she's trying to prove she is worthy of being a part of their order.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Interrogator-Chaplain Ezra]

You know you're a Sisters of Battle player when you just know that any rumor mentioning plastic sisters is a hoax.

The Emperor will provide for His faithful.

[MrFlutterPie]

You know you are a sister's player when the raving hordes of Chaos players continue to whip themselves into more of a frenzy over how neglected they are.  Ever increasing in volume and angst.  While the sister players have become more calm and patient accepting their trials secure with the knowledge that the Emperor rewards the faithful. 

 

 

Have you guys noticed this too? Am I the only one?

[Servant of Dante]

You know you are a sister's player when the raving hordes of Chaos players continue to whip themselves into more of a frenzy over how neglected they are.  Ever increasing in volume and angst.  While the sister players have become more calm and patient accepting their trials secure with the knowledge that the Emperor rewards the faithful. 

 

 

Have you guys noticed this too? Am I the only one?

Honestly, we've had longer to let it sink in (well, not me personally, but the sisters community at large), and sometimes it feels like chaos is SO CLOSE to an update, while Sisters have a slowly shrinking range. Everyone expects chaos to get an update (I mean, they are the main antagonists in this setting). And our codex is still better the CSM.

 

I think those kinds of things contribute, but I would vouch for the superiority of the Sisters player base

 

And, of course, we have our Faith! Truly we know that the Emperor will provide for our needs (just look at the all-caps bright red line in my signature)!

Edited July 25, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Brother Captain Kezef]

You know you are a sister's player when the raving hordes of Chaos players continue to whip themselves into more of a frenzy over how neglected they are.  Ever increasing in volume and angst.  While the sister players have become more calm and patient accepting their trials secure with the knowledge that the Emperor rewards the faithful. 

 

 

Have you guys noticed this too? Am I the only one?

 

It is known

[WarriorFish]

Look at you novitiates, talking about Faith. Some of us where there when the Sisters first appeared, and are still here

 

Plastics will come one day, until then I simply wait. Render unto Chaos what is Chaos's and unto the Sisters what is His will...

[Servant of Dante]

Look at you novitiates, talking about Faith. Some of us where there when the Sisters first appeared, and are still here

 

Plastics will come one day, until then I simply wait. Render unto Chaos what is Chaos's and unto the Sisters what is His will...

I'll just add that to my ever-growing list of reasons I should have been born sooner . . .

 

I think it's a testament that I began my sisters army within 2 years of starting 40K. They aren't easy to get into, in many respects.

[WarriorFish]

There's no good to be made on wishes or whatever other codices are doing. There is only the codex you have and what you can do to make the best of it :) Always better late than never.

 

When the time comes your collection of metal will stand you as a veteran, who started collecting at the hardest of times no less ;)

[Servant of Dante]

There's no good to be made on wishes or whatever other codices are doing. There is only the codex you have and what you can do to make the best of it Always better late than never.

 

When the time comes your collection of metal will stand you as a veteran, who started collecting at the hardest of times no less

That is certainly true. I can say for certain that there has never been a darker day for the grand Ecclesiarchy, but in this day it's light shines all the brighter!

 

May the Emperor smile upon us all!

Edited July 25, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Servant of Dante]

I went on a bit of a rant in the GK forum . . . I like to be extra forceful in crushing the heresy and misconceptions in other forums here on the B&C.

 

 

Some good ideas/concepts out there guys! Let's keep it goin!

One thing I think would be cool is some type of demon (for lack of a better word) aligned tovthe emperor. Like a psychic manifestation of his will that battles alongside the grey Knights. It's stated that through constant veneration of the emperor by the imperium that he is powerful enough to rival the chaos gods, so why shouldn't there be "Demon like" things??

Something along the lines of fallen spirits of battle brothers who have died in service of the emperor? I would make them more shooting based then CC oriented because we lack a lot of shooting options.

Thoughts?

 

you mean like saints? those do exists, but are for the most part in the sob/church fluff. What would be interesting though is some sort of special branch of GK[like purifires are] made out of psychic nulls.

HERESY! HERESY! HERESY!

 

Can't say that loud enough! Living Saints (like Celestine) are NOT Daemons. They are normal humans empowered by our Immortal God-Emperor, not warp manifestations of the emotions of sentient beings.

 

That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing ACTUAL "daemons of the Emperor" for GK, since we all know they are filthy witches already . And those would be some amazing models (with some, hopefully, amazing rules).

 

Just know that they would NOT be "basically living saints." *righteous shiver* The Sanguinor would be the comparison you are looking for.

 

[Kriegsmacht]

You know you are a sister's player when the raving hordes of Chaos players continue to whip themselves into more of a frenzy over how neglected they are.  Ever increasing in volume and angst.  While the sister players have become more calm and patient accepting their trials secure with the knowledge that the Emperor rewards the faithful. 

 

 

Have you guys noticed this too? Am I the only one?

 

There is no faith in Chaos.