Adepta Sororitas questions

[Bishoujo]

Good day B&C,

 

I've finally been bitten by the creativity bug and have begun brainstorming ideas for my custom Minor Order so I can make a proper Liber article/entry.  I've got some ideas that I've written down, but I want to make sure I'm fitting properly into the existing universe rather than coming off as a special snowflake.

 

 

#1 - My understanding is that Minor Orders tend to be formed by splintering off of a larger, existing Order.  Over time they find themselves growing apart due to different locations / duties / whatever.  At some point, they're made their own Minor Order.  Who has the authority to declare that this group of Sisters is no longer Order of X and are now Order of Y?  Is it just a Cardinal or someone higher in the Ecclesiarchy?  Could an Inquisitor make such a decision?

 

 

#2 - Does all training to become a Sister take place at one of the major Convents (Terra or Ophelia VII)?  Or would there be smaller training locations scattered throughout the galaxy?  I have an idea of some Sisters stationed somewhere that consist mostly of some past-their-prime veterans acting as teachers and sisters in training there to learn.  I could transition this away from a training thing and instead have it be just a less prestigious station where some older vets are posted alongside rookie Sisters to get some more experience if the training idea won't exactly fit.

 

 

#3 - How much influence would an Inquisitor have over a group of Sisters?  My understanding is that what they say goes more often than not, and unless you're the current leader of one of the original Orders / Marine Chapters / etc, you usually don't have the weight to go against them.  If an Inquisitor were to blame a group of Sisters (like, the group stationed on a planet and not an entire Order) for something, could they issue a punishment?  My idea is for my Sisters to be 'fleet based' but have that start from them being sent on a quest / mission / something as punishment for some sort of failure (or at least being blamed for something).  Could that be feasible within the universe?  Basically, have them start stationed on a planet, be told they have to get on this ship and go from planet to planet as punishment for something and then after that punishment term is over, they've become used to doing things that way (or have been deemed efficient at doing things that way) and are made into a new Minor Order and allowed to continue operations.  Could an Inquisitor kick off that initial transition?

 

 

Rough draft idea:

 

Sisters stationed on planet, less than 200 Sisters total.  Training facility staffed by older veterans deemed "past their prime".  Recruits from neighboring systems intended for the Orders Militant come here to train and once they are made full Battle Sisters, the Order will transfer them and assign them wherever they see fit.  Some corruption is found on the planet (nothing crazy - no full scale daemonic incursion or anything) and it gets cleaned up, but an Inquisitor blames the Sisters stationed on that planet for not catching it sooner.  The Sisters are forced to go from planet to planet doing something (looking for more corruption, or just being told to make themselves available to any Imperial group needing assistance, unsure on this detail yet) as punishment.  They do some good thing during this time and are granted relief from their punishment (probably by an Inquisitor if they're going to negate another Inquisitor's punishment) and are allowed to return to their Order, but they request to be given permission to continue operating as they have been (mobile / fleet based) and are instead made into a Minor Order.

 

That's just the high level overview of their founding, but could something like that fit into the lore without being too "look at how special and different my army is"?

 

 

Thanks for and feedback or advice!

Edited July 21, 2017 by Canoness Celestia

[Servant of Dante]

Hello! I'm glad I found this topic, I don't visit the Liber too much (it's all about marines most of the time, and I don't know enough to keep up with the conversation in that regard ). Sorry for being a couple days late with my response.

#1: As with all things Sisters, there's very little fluff to go on, but yes, Minor Orders break off from Major Orders. The big thing for me is making a believable reason for this break to happen, since the Major Orders maintain Commanderies and Preceptories (and Missions) across the galaxy afaik. I would assume that such an action would need the approval of the Order's Canoness at the very least, likely the Prioress of the convent that Major Order is based at as well. The Abbess herself might be involved in the process (who knows), but she's MIA at the moment. Oh (and this bit is very important to me, personally) the Sisters are beholden only to the Ecclesiarch himself. they are their own branch of the Ministorum and answer directly to the Ecclesiarch, and the to the Emperor (or High Lords I guess). Although a Sister may be inclined to follow the instructions of a priest or Cardinal, they have no actual authority over the Sisters. And if the Ecclesiarch looks like he's going the way Vandire did, I believe it would be the Sororitas's job to stop him. I suppose the import a person places on this varies with their headcanon, but if you take the 2E codex as part of your headcanon, then you can hardly argue with this flowchart
From Codex: Sisters of Battle (2nd Edition):

#2: Yes. All Novices are trained at either the Convent Prioris (Terra) or the Convent Sanctorum (Ophelia VII). This is a rather obscure bit of fluff, it was mentioned in the Blood of Martyrs supplement for the Dark Heresy RPG (page 77, this is of course a third party source, and as far as I'm concerned the FFG fluff for Sisters is overall questionable at best) though I'm not sure if it was ever mentioned in any actual GW studio publication. It can be more or less inferred from GW publications, if you like though (the Sisterhood is primarily based on the 2 convents, and Anestasia's fluff) . The fluff for Sister Anestasia (a character posted on the old website for the Inquisitor specialist game) implies that Sisters don't really meet the order they will serve with until after they have completed their Novitiate (and that all Novices take their final vows in the presence of the Ecclesiarch on Terra).

#3: Well, hypothetically an Inquisitor has unlimited power, right (until another Inquisitor decides they don't like what they're doing)? However, in my mind, if the Sisters think the Inquisitor is doing something unforgivable, they might refuse to comply, or even try and stop them. I think in this case it all comes down to your view of the Inquisition and the Sisters. The Sororitas are the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus, even though they aren't part of the Inquisition. As for an entire minor order being fleet based? I'm not sure that makes too much sense to me, why wouldn't they just remain a Commandery/Preceptory of their parent Order? Of course it's all up to you and what makes sense to you. Oh, wait. Hum. Maybe if they're doing something that the Sisters don't normally spend all their time doing, you could justify it. I actually kinda like this explanation that you've come up with. It gives you (depending on how you write it) a rather natural reason for the Sisters to be doing something different, which leads to a rather natural progression into becoming a minor order.

Your Idea: Well, like I said, all Novices are trained at the 2 main Convents, so that would have to be modified. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of having Inquisitors have too much sway over Sisters, but that's just me. They do technically have almost limitless power, but I generally don't know that the Sisters would do something for them indefinitely without the Inquisitor looking over their shoulders, but again, that's just me. As for what they do, I personally like the idea of Sisters screening Astartes for mutation and Chaos taint. The 2E main rulebook mentions that they do that (though marines were a bit different back then).

Feel free to come to the Adepta Sororitas forum, there are plenty of Sisters player there, and I'm sure some of them would have thoughts. Or PM me, or anyone else really. I'll make sure to watch this thread, I hope some of this was helpfull

Oh, and (shameless plug) you can find the fluff for my Minor Order at the link in my signature I'm pretty happy with it.

Edit: I posted a link to this thread in the Sisters forum.

Edited July 24, 2017 by Servant of Dante

[Bishoujo]

(Helpful stuff and things)

 

Thanks for this.  It is really good info and gives me something to work with as far as what I need to change to have my Minor Order fit into the universe properly.  Will keep on brainstorming until something good comes of it.

[Bishoujo]

 

Your Idea: Well, like I said, all Novices are trained at the 2 main Convents, so that would have to be modified. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of having Inquisitors have too much sway over Sisters, but that's just me. They do technically have almost limitless power, but I generally don't know that the Sisters would do something for them indefinitely without the Inquisitor looking over their shoulders, but again, that's just me.

 

Would it make more sense for their 'punishment' to be more self imposed than handed out by an Inquisitor.  I'm not sure punishment is the right word.  Basically, wanting to take responsibility for something.  Maybe there was corruption on the planet where they're stationed and after it was dealt with, they feel like "we should have caught this sooner - we could have prevented this" and request permission from the Order to mobilize and go to the other planets/systems nearby to further investigate / prevent / combat whatever it is that caused the issue in the first place (still undecided on this, has to be major enough to justify the shift but minor enough to fit into the setting).

 

So the shift to being mobile / fleet based would originally be a temporary thing but over time they settle into it and are eventually granted the right to become a Minor Order and continue operating in that fashion?  I like the idea of screening for corruption and chaos taint.  Maybe not for Astartes, but planetary government / defense force leadership.  My idea is that the governor or someone on the planet they're stationed on ends up being connected to a chaos cult or some form of heresy - perhaps they find evidence that this could be more wide-spread than this one planet and that's what sparks them to want to investigate the nearby planets / systems?

Edited July 27, 2017 by Canoness Celestia

[Servant of Dante]

That sounds like an interesting idea to me It would make more sense for they penance to be mostly self-imposed, and it is part of the Sister's job to screen people for mutation and chaos taint. I had my Order ask the Prioress to let them found a new minor Order, since there's no actual fluff on exactly how that happens. Which of the Major Orders were you thinking they'd have come from?

 

I'm glad my post was helpful, I'm happy to help.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Servant of Dante

[RikuEru]

That sounds like an interesting idea to me It would make more sense for they penance to be mostly self-imposed, and it is part of the Sister's job to screen people for mutation and chaos taint. I had my Order ask the Prioress to let them found a new minor Order, since there's no actual fluff on exactly how that happens. Which of the Major Orders were you thinking they'd have come from?

 

I'm glad my post was helpful, I'm happy to help.

I can only second this opinion.

The Sisters deciding to prevent corruption on worlds in the near vicinity, going on a Crusade of Benevolence (...and granting the Emperor's Mercy to all false Prophets and other Heretics) sounds really interesting.

...how about the Prioress or someone else of noteworthy rank REWARDING them qith the honor of becoming a minor order of their own, after seeing dozens of worlds "purified" and more compliant and faithful than ever.

 

And I have to throw in an idea I had while reading through your thread...

How about something like this for their name: Order of the Golden Dove

Or something similiar, as a Dove could easily symbolize their wandering nature, bringing the "message" of the Emperor's Grace to all worlds, purity and "peace" symbol...