Order of His Amethyst Heart

[sitnam]

Order name

Order of His Amethyst Heart

 

Home planet

Shrineworld of Tartus (Formerly)

The frigate Sickles Edge(current)

 

Name of its Founder

Cardinal Tirpin

 

Notable Sisters

Cannoness Anjelica Mobles – With the previous Cannoness killed offworld when the rebellion began, Anjelica took command rallied the Amethyst Heart forces on Tartus. She held the temple citadel until the arrival of other Imperial forces, and her decision to counterattack during the landings proved crucial in regaining a foothold on Tartus. Her era was shortlived however, as she was slain alongside her Celestian squad during the counterattack. Her noble efforts and bravery would earn her sainthood.

 

Mistress Milene Sochin – Milene commanded the Amethyst hearts sole Repentia squad during the raid on Pecina. After the shock of facing Chaos Marines blunted the attack, several Sororitas were isolated and pinned down during a renegade counter attack. Milene and her Repentia lead a brutal charge in the enemy center, backed by packs of Arco-Flagellants and Penitent Engines. Milene herself saves the lives of several injured sisters, and personally slays a Chaos Marine in close combat.

 

History

The Order of His Amethyst Heart are a lesser order that split from the Order of the Bloody Rose in early M39. The founding sisters of the Amethyst Heart were members of a commandery fighting in the Kermos Hrud Migration. This xenos invasion devastated several Imperial systems, and it was only through the sacrifice of millions of Imperial lives that this threat was ended. To honor the sacrifice of those slain Cardinal Tirpin of Tartus proclaimed a massive memorial on his planet. The surviving Bloody Rose sisters were formed into the Order of His Amethyst Heart, taking their name after a holy relic located on Tartus.

 

Originally the order was supposed to be a small mission dedicated to protecting the faith on Tartus and its neighboring systems. However Ministorum officials, including the Cardinal of Tartus, soon found the order to be a useful tool in expanding their power throughout the sector. Using the Amethyst Heart as enforcers, the priesthood in the Texkan subsector formed a significant power base, cleansing nearby worlds of heretical cults and gaining the loyalty of local Planetary Governors. The order was expanded to a thousand strong force complete with armored units, artillery and auxilia militia with small shrine garrisons across half a dozen worlds. The Amethyst Heart was a major factor in the defense of the subsector, its purple-clad Battle Sister a feared sight to the Imperiums enemies.

 

Everything changed for the Amethyst Heart in 518.M41. At this time seven once-loyal Imperial worlds across subsector Texka began an open rebellion in the name of chaos; in a shock to Imperial defense planners, the holy world of Tartus was one of these rebelling planets. Caught off guard, Imperial forces were left reeling. With its various elements cut off from each other and its headquarters besieged, the Amethyst Heart was put on the defensive for much of the Seven Worlds Rebellion. Not only that, but it seemed the rebellion was initiated by corrupt members of the Ecclesiarchy, who used their knowledge of the Sororitas operations and tactics to inflict significant casualties on the Order.

 

Despite their initial victories, the forces of Chaos could not consolidate their gains across the subsector. With local Imperial forces bloodied but not beaten, the war became a meatgrinder across seven planets. The Amethyst Heart was instrumental in rallying Imperial forces, especially on their home world of Tartus. Trapped within their temple citadel, the Sisters held out as the primary pocket of resistance for months. Within a large number of trapped pilgrims were turned into a well trained Frateris Militia, and captured enemy elements were bound to Penitent Engines or turned into Arco-Flaggelant murder servitors. When Imperial reinforcements reached Tartus the sisters and their auxilia launched a massive assault on traitor forces, disrupting their planetary defences and allowing allies to land unmolested. The war would last for another three years before all seven planets were cleansed of the taint of Chaos.

 

In the aftermath of the war the Amethyst Heart was a shadow of its former strength. Numbering but a few dozen Sisters, it was unclear at first what was to happen to the Order. The widespread corruption in the Texkan subsector priesthood brought the attention of the Ordo Hereticus. At the end of it all the Order of the Amethyst Heart was one of the only Ecclesiastical organizations of the subsector found free of any corruption. However, while the Sisters of the Amethyst Heart showed great courage in their actions during the war, many were quick to blame them for allowing the corruption to spread as it did. Many called for the organizations disbandment; others for the execution of the survivors.

 

Fortunately, the Order had several allies that opposed any such punitive measures; most notable were the Astartes of the Dancing Scythes Chapter and Inquisitor Hector Aurus of the Ordo Hereticus. Aurus offered a compromise to the dissenting parties: The Order would relinquish its duties to another Order Militiant and embark on a eternal crusade to root out heresy in the sector. This solution pleased all parties involved, especially the Sisters of the Amethyst Heart. Hungry for vengeance and seeking redemption, the battle hardened sisters of the Order had become a deadly force. With the legal backing of the Convocation of Nephilim the Amethyst Heart has become a permament fixture of the Ordo Hereticus in the subsector.

 

With a new structure of around one hundred elite Sororitas and its hunter-killer mission, the Amethyst Heart is a small but elite task force, used by the Ordo Hereticus as shock troops against traitor cultists. One particular oddity is their home base, the frigate Sickle Edge. This ship, while officially listed as a Inquisitorial 'Black Ship' is in reality an escort ship of the Dancing Scythes Chapter gifted to the Order of His Amethyst Heart and Ordo Hereticus. During the war on Tartus the Dancing Scythes and Amethyst Heart (formerly bitter rivals in the subsector) formed friendship under fire. After Hector Aurus gave the compromise on behalf of the Order, the Dancing Scythes chapter master gifted the Inquisition use of the frigate; the only condition that it be used to facilitate the redemption of the Amethyst Heart.

 

Significant battles joined

075 to 079.M38: Kermos Hrud Migration – A commandery from the Order of the Bloody Rose are involved in a massive Imperial effort to defeat the Hrud in the Kermos subsector of the Segmentum Pacificus. After the Imperium attains victory a massive shrine is built on the Cardinal World of Tartus. Cardinal Tirpin proclaims the creation of a new minor order dedicated to protecting this shrine and keeping the faith in nearby systems. The survivors of the Bloody Rose commandery are formed into the core of the new Order of His Amethyst Heart.

 

518 to 521.M41: Seven Worlds Rebellion - Seven major planets in the Subsector Texka rise up in the name of Chaos, including the holy world of Tartus. The Imperium was eventually victorious, but not without great loss of life. The Amethyst Heart was left at a fraction of its strength and came dangerously close to censure for their failure to maintain the faith. Only their allies among the Dancing Scythes Chapter and the Ordo Hereticus were able to convince the naysayers otherwise.

 

553 to 554.M41: Prevos Hive Hunt- The Amethyst Hearts' first major action since their reformation. On the Hiveworld of Prevos the scum and mutants underneath the main hive rebel and take large portions of the upper hive. Under the behest of the Ordo Hereticus the Amethyst Heart deploys in Repressor and Immolater tanks to brutally cleanse the hive of all traitors, killing indiscriminately at the lower levels. The campaign soon evolves into a genocidal hunt, cleansing the entire under-croft of mutants.

 

667.M41: Dark Magi of Pecina - Of the course of decades Mechanicus ships in the subsector had been disappearing at an abnormally high rate; these were advanced explorator vessels whose assignments were very sensitive to the tech priests. Fearing betrayal from the inside, the Mechanicus seek outside help from the Ordo Hereticus. After a five year investigation Inquisitor Blaise Niom had uncovered an insidious Chaos cult spread across the Mechanicus in the subsector. The leadership to this cult were found on the airless moon of Pecina in an uninhabited system; a small fleet of missing explorator vessels were found there as well. The Amethyst Heart were sent alongside their allies the Dancing Scythes (a chapter with close ties to the Mechanicus) to destroy this remote outpost and retake or scuttle the ships. Here they encountered a well trained and equipped force of renegade militia alongside a small group of Chaos Marines. Bloodied but not broken the forces of Chaos escaped on a explorator ship; this incident would not be the first encounter the Dancing Scythes or Amethyst Heart had with the Fiends of the Apocalypse

 

Specialty

The Sisters of the Amethyst Heart were at one time a fairly large minor order; they were well known in particular for their aggressive armored tactics. After their near extermination on Tartus the Amethyst Heart was reformed into a much different force. Embarking on an endless pertinent crusade, the Order now acts as the executioners axe for the Ordo Hereticus. The Order hunts down the cults even normal Hereticus forces would have trouble facing. Overall the Amethyst Heart uses much the same squad types and equipment of any similar size Sororitas force, though they do have a larger number of Celestians in their ranks.

 

The Amethyst Heart does diverge in two significant ways. First, the Order uses armed Aquila landers as dropships, allowing them to launch decapitation strikes on heretical leadership elements. Secondly large numbers of combat servictors are often deployed alongside the Battle Sisters; this mostly consists of heavily armed gun servitors, Arco-Flagellants , and Pentinent Engines. This serves both a practical and a spiritual purpose. It boosts the limited numbers of the small Order, allowing them to project disproportionate force for their size. This is especially useful in situations where a quick strike has failed and the enemy has become entrenched. This also fits into the belief system of the Amerthyst Heart sisters, who seek to find redemption for all who have fallen from the Emperors graces. Just as they were re-purposed to hunt the wicked for Him, so to are their former enemies re-purposed into weapons of war.

 

 

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Edited May 24, 2015 by sitnam

[sitnam]

Hope everyone likes my Liber challenge entry; these ideas had been floating in my head for a while but I never had a reason to put them to paper. C&C welcome!