Order of the Broken Blade

[Olis]

Here we go, my submission for the Liber Challenge. Comments and critique welcome, although bearing in mind that I'm just squeaking under the time limit here.

= Order of the Broken Blade =

"Heresy begets heresy. It is better to be sure than sorry." – Canoness Andri Verelda

= Homeworld and Early History =

A Sister of the Order of the Broken Blade

In the early years of the 39th millennium, a series of secessions and heresies plagued the northern marches of the Eastern Fringe. Each and every crisis was put down by the Imperium, often by bolt and blade in open war. At least three worlds documented at the time were considered wholly lost and were subject to exterminatus by the bombastic Lord Inquisitor Tiberius Hax, marking the zenith of the destruction unleashed.

The problems extended throughout the military and civilians in those northern marches and it was surmised, by the residing cardinal, that faith was solely this issue. As he saw it, the two principle causes for the crises was apostasy and heresy. He petitioned the Ecclesiarch, bed-ridden at the time, for aid in combating the faithless. As part of the petition the cardinal, one Remus Do’urdescus, demanded an Order of the Adepta Sororitas to be sent to the northern marches, or they would risk yet more war and the squandering of the God-Emperor’s forces.

The Ecclesiarch, weak in mind and body, readily agreed to the demands. It is of note that this Ecclesiarch, in the last year of his life, assented to nearly every petition made to him. His successor spent the following decade keeping order in the Ecclesiarchy and reining back the excessive decrees the old man had issued day after day.

The Order of the Broken Blade, however, remained unmolested by the bureaucratic back-pedalling. Established not long after the turn of the first century on the hive world of Modesta, home to Cardinal Do’urdescus himself, the Order began by protecting the clergy of the northern marches. Housed in the vast ecclesiarchal temple dedicated to St. Abraxes, the Order dug its roots deep and prepared the temple as a bastion against unbelief.

The Order was named the ‘Broken Blade’ after the founding Canoness’, Sister Ermine’s, own shattered power sword – blunted and broken in a desperate battle against daemons far earlier in her life. That battle had seen her elevated to an Abbess and her own stump of a sword deemed holy for all the foul abominations it struck down.

Strident and vocal in her beliefs, it was thought that she would be perfect to lead a new Order in its early years. But it was not to be. Martyred four years after the Order was founded, Canoness Ermine and her blade were enshrined in the centre of the temple, on the steps leading to St. Abraxes’ own reliquary.

Fired by the Cardinal’s rhetoric and grieving for their Canoness, the Order led a pogrom in the northern marches, rooting out apostasy and heresy without mercy. Hardening by this crucible, the mindset that they had during this time would forever imprint itself on the Order and be held as the guiding philosophy in the centuries to come.

= Canoness Alsbeth Ermine =

Once a sister of the Ebon Chalice, Canoness Ermine had fought on a dozen battlefields in the name of Him on Earth. She had faced filthy xenos - Orks and Eldar alike – threatening the vulnerable worlds of the Segmentum Solar. The minions of the darkest warp had felt her fury as a sister and were the foes she would face at the time of her promotion and fame.

Chosen by an advisor to the Ecclesiarch to lead a new Order Militant, Ermine and her fellow sisters journeyed to the northern marches. There, they found much of the necessary infrastructure already in place – the cardinal, an orator by trade, had not wasted the time since his petition.

Bored of the security details insisted upon by the many minor clergy of Modesta, it wasn’t long before the canoness began authorising missions off-world. Known for her zeal and combat prowess, the desk duties of her position did not impress Ermine. In those first few years she had accompanied several of the missions abroad, if only to alleviate her own boredom.

On the cusp of the fifth year of her tenure the canoness was struck down, felled by renegade astartes boarding her ship. The official story claims that she brought down three of the attackers before succumbing to her own wounds, as written on her tomb. The cardinal and the sisters of the Broken Blade know better – the bridge was struck first and foremost, with the crew and the canoness being slaughtered within minutes. No enemy corpses were found on the ship, the canoness apparently brought low in the first fusillade. This secret story is used to fire the passions of the sisters in battle, using the canoness as an example for all those of the Broken Blade to be ready at all times.

With her life and death used as an example to her Order down the ages, the canoness has become a tragic martyr, a reminder that death can come at any time. With this in mind, the Order remains particularly zealous and aggressive, eager to face fate on their terms rather than let it claim them.

= Beliefs and Doctrines =

”In the denial of the flesh, the spirit strengthens.” – Motto of the Broken Blade

The Order of the Broken Blade is regarded as perhaps one of the most zealous branches of the Sororitas, often using violence as an answer to most problems. To them, the God-Emperor is divine and any claim otherwise is heresy.

As such, the Order has poor relations with several other Imperial agencies, namely from the Mechanicus and the Adeptus Astartes, but this hardly troubles the Order. Secure in their own faith, they regularly sermonise the masses that attend St. Abraxes cathedral. It has been known for the Order to work with some of the less secular Chapters, such as the Fire Angels, if only because of their shared devotion.

The sisters, by extension of their bad blood with the Mechanicus, take a dim view of altering the human body beyond what it is ‘meant to be’. For them, bionics are functional replacements and are not to be used to enhance the human condition in any way – to do so would alter the very fundamental nature of humanity and stray from the God-Emperor’s path.

Likewise do they hate mutants and their ‘pollution’ of the gene-pool. They constantly, and confidently, point to abhumans and psykers claiming that these are not true humans and should be abhorred. Their idea of what humans should be is absolute and suffering the use of astropaths and navigators is the absolute limit of the Order’s tolerance to ‘non-pure humans’. Many of the Order’s more recent members even advocate strict eugenics, toeing the line espoused by the current cardinal. No amount of rational discourse will persuade them otherwise and to attempt so will earn their ire.

Because of their utter devotion, the Order thinks nothing of flagellation or mortification of the flesh. To them, these are common practices to harden the sisters for their duties, both material and spiritual. The realms of the material and the immaterial must be endured with equal measure if they are to earn a place at the God-Emperor’s side. For the sisters they do holy work through death and duty.

= Notable Conflicts =

"Nothing is as divine as falling in the line of duty, save Himself. By our wounds, the Emperor shall know us." – Sister Enga Vehem

Much like the martyred Canoness Ervine, the Order of the Broken Blade loathe quiet duties, actively seeking warzones and planets of unrest. To them, making a visible difference with weapons is much the same as making a difference by any other means. To the Order, the end justifies the means.

Apollyon’s Rebellion

The first true warzone committed to by the Order, under the headstrong leadership of Canoness Ermine, was the rebellion on Maiden V. Led by the Planetary Governor, one Grehem Apollyon XXXIII, the populace had risen up and abandoned its tithes to the Imperium in favour of seceding.

Little to the knowledge of the Imperial Guard army group and the newly arrived Order, a company of Dark Angels were hunting Fallen on Maiden V. The perpetrators of the rebellion, with the exception of the Fallen, were first blockaded and then besieged. To the Order fell the duty of beheading the secessionist regime, in lieu of the uncommunicative Angels.

It was Ermine herself that led the strike on Apollyon and his command cadre, spearheading a wave of seraphim and backed by valkyrie borne storm troopers. Apollyon himself died surrendering to the strike force, having been summarily executed by Canoness Ermine.

However with the fight in the rebel cities still at full pitch, the commanders of the Imperial forces including Ermine failed to notice the principle cathedral on Maiden V burning to the ground. This incensed the canoness and she berated her fellow commanders for allowing such a travesty to occur. She was told of space marines fighting in and around the edifice.

As the vast structure finally buckled under its own weight and collapsed on itself, Ermine cursed the Dark Angels for such wanton destruction of hallowed ground. Even after the ruins had been surveyed for evidence, she wept for the loss to the Ecclesiarchy and the Imperium. The sisters who had survived the war, donned black cowls for their journey home in grief and shame.

The Defence of Modesta

Out on the Eastern Fringe, after the discovery of Hive Fleet Behemoth, it was only a matter of time before more of the Tyranid menace would make itself known. In the closing years of the 41st millennium, a splinter fleet arrived in the Modesta system and began to close in on the hive world. The Tyranids consumed everything in their path but were almost kept in check by the defence fleet guarding Modesta. The splinter fleet, though small in size, won the battle in the heavens and went about dropping spores and organisms by the million onto Modesta.

The defence levies, given little time to act, could do little more than defend the hive spires lest they be spread too thin to repulse the xenos beasts. The Order defended the Cathedral and the procession leading to it, applying bolt and flame to the hundreds of Tyranids that led the first waves. As time wore on and attrition began to take its toll, the order had to make a choice; should they defend the cathedral to the last, along with every citizen in it; or would they make a break for the safe zones in the upper spires of the hive?

Canoness Ygritte, against the judgement of many of those inside the cathedral, chose to stay and defend the building. This was their home and their place of worship. Of all the places to die on Modesta, the Order was damned if it would be anywhere but the cathedral and its grounds.

For twelve days and nights, the Order held the cathedral. On the Day of the Emperor’s Ascension, Ygritte had a vision. The end was in sight and all they had to do was break the enemy that surrounded them. Ygritte and the other surviving sisters, walking wounded included, took up arms and sallied forth from the colossal front entrance into the masses.

Short of ammunition, weapons began to run dry almost immediately and the order were forced to rely on melee weapons to bludgeon their way free. Losing women as she advanced, Ygritte allowed no doubt that they would succeed, relying on faith alone to guide her decisions. Bloodied, dripping with sweat and alien viscera, the Order broke free of the encircled horde and turned to find few Tyranids left alive. Many of them had descended on the sisters and, had it not been for their faith and their armour, would have slaughtered them given the chance.

News from across the rest of Modesta indicated that Imperial reinforcements were landing there and then, drawing much of the remaining xenos to battle outside of the hives. For the Order, the survival of the cathedral filled their hearts with joy. The people within, gaunt and dirty from lack of food and sanitation, were similarly grateful. Edited April 16, 2015 by Olis
Quote edits.

[Ace Debonair]

Minor C&C incoming!
 

"Heresy begets heresy, and it is better to be sure than sorry." – Canoness Andri Verelda

Something doesn't quite sit right with me about that quote. It seems too... informal. I think it's the 'and'.
Perhaps it might be better as two sentences, something like: "Heresy Begets Heresy. It is better to be sure than to be sorry."

It's a bit sterner and harsher, and I think it'd fit your Order's unrelenting nature a little better.

 

"Nothing is as divine as falling in the line of duty. By our wounds, the Emperor shall know us." – Sister Enga Vehem

I'm also not sure about this quote - Surely the Order considers The Emperor Himself more divine than the act of dying for The Emperor?

 

If they do consider death in His name to be equal to The Emperor himself, then that definitely needs expanding on!

Perhaps by dying for The Emperor, they become as equally divine as Him, if only for that fleeting first moment of their death?

 

 

EDIT:

So in hindsight I only picked on the quotes.

Make that really minor C&C incoming!

Edited April 16, 2015 by Ace Debonair

[Olis]

Fair points. My quasi-philosophy for these guys is somewhat shakey. However, I'm glad that my Order, at least on first pass, stands up enough that the problems lie in the quotes rather than the article itself.

 

Hah, who am I kidding? There's bound to be more to criticise.

 

 

Edit - Are the changes any better?

Edited April 16, 2015 by Olis

[Ace Debonair]

Fair points. My quasi-philosophy for these guys is somewhat shakey. However, I'm glad that my Order, at least on first pass, stands up enough that the problems lie in the quotes rather than the article itself.

 

Hah, who am I kidding? There's bound to be more to criticise.

I can break out the bowling ball and go for some old-school, reduce-it-to-the-bedrock-level C&C like we did back when I was a lad when I first started out in the Liber, but I'm not exactly as well-versed in the lore of the Adepta Sororitas as I am the Space Marines, so... maybe?

 

Also doing that right before the deadline would be kind of a jerk move, wouldn't it? 

 

 

Edit - Are the changes any better?

 

Yep, much better!

 

It might be worth talking a little about how they view death in His service as divine in the beliefs section, though.

 

... Man, even bringing up one point felt a bit like a jerk move. Many apologies!

[Olis]

Any comments and critique are valid, brother. Point out what you deem unfit. I can't very well be a Mod of the Liber what being able to take a bowling ball or two to the face. ;)

 

Still, I appreciate the consideration for the deadline. :)

[Ace Debonair]

I'm going to be pretty busy with real life for the next few days.

 

I'll put your face to the test for you after the weekend, if luck The Emperor permits.

 

EDIT:

Left the smiley face off. Oops!

Edited April 17, 2015 by Ace Debonair