The Order of Our Weeping Lady

[BitsHammer]

Decided that the best place to start updating my army would be to work out a name, and a theme I could play into, which of course means some (rough) bit of lore writing:

 

The Order of Our Weeping Lady

 

Founded as a minor order as the Order of The Standing Vigil on the world of Pilgrim's Hope in the Eastern Fringe from the survivors of a small convent of merely thirty souls from the Order of Our Martyred Lady who were nearly overrun by a civilian uprising sparked by a group of nobles who convinced the populace that the only true source of hope for the world would be to throw off the shackles of the Imperium. The convent was besieged for several days as the order fought to maintain their foothold against the rebellion as a band of Sisters secretly left the convent to despose of the traitorous leaders of the rebellion. During this siege the entrance to the convent was destroyed by a band of Ogryn workers who were pumped full of a cocktail of powerful drugs allowing them to press through the disciplined fire of the Sisters and crash through the entrance, providing access to the inner sanctum.

 

Sister Superior Junestra Heliro strode forward to seal that gap with an inferno pistol in one hand and a power sword in the other, fighting off the increasingly aggitated mob who attacked with everything from autoguns, to rocks, to construction tools but Junestra stood firm for over twelve hours despite suffering countless wounds. It was only as the rebellion's leaders where struck down and their heads put on display that Junestra was able to stop fighting, her body still standing as she finally permitted herself to die from her wounds.

 

Due to her sacrifice the order was renamed to The Standing Vigil and each Canoness has taken her name as a symbol of office serving as a living reminder of the example the martyred saint made as well as proof of her own willingness to die in the name of the Emperor. Upon the opening of the Citradix Maledictum however the Order was shocked by the statue of Junestra crying tears of blood starting the moment Cadia fell to the hands of the Despoiler. Now cut off from the light of the Astrominicon the Order has renamed themselves the Order of Our Weeping Lady as they fight to protect not only the world of Pilgrim's Hope, but the wider Eastern Fringe from the enemies of the Imperium.

 

To this end they bear the remains of Saint Junestra Heliro into battle to inspire not only the Order itself, but to cast judgement on those who would fall from the Emperor's light and attempt to break from the Imperium as a whole. As such the Order is accompanied by a large number of penitents, and has taken to punishing even the smallest lapse in faith even among their own order.

 

 

In the darkness of the Imperium Nihlus each member of the Order of Our Weeping Lady seeks to emulate Saint Junestra in both life and death, and those are found wanting are left seeking redemption among the penitent instead.

 

The color scheme is still a bit in the works, but the armour color is Gal Vorbak red as I wanted a deep red that would pop nicely on the table, though I haven't decided on the color for the robes. My plan is to not include any Repentia or Mortifiers at the start of the Crusade but to keep track of the number of models I lose to morale/attrition and then add Repentia to represent those losses in later. If I lose Repentia to morale/attrition then I'll then in turn add Mortifiers to represent those who fled from the penitent duties.

Saint Junestra herself will be represented by the Triumph of Saint Katherine, while Canonness Junestra will be my warlord, though I haven't fully settled on much else at this time.

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Order's history is well-written. You're off to a promising start.

[BitsHammer]

The Order's history is well-written. You're off to a promising start.

Thanks! Honestly I worked backwards from the name (which I pulled from a Sister of Battle generator). Basically it was "well that's a neat name" and then it of course launched other questions like "why is she weeping" and "who is the lady" which just spiraled out to writing about an order who spun off of an order who reveres martyrs, by revering a specific one.

 

Plus it lets me add a tiny personal touch to different saintly icons like the Imagifier's: tears of blood coming from the eyes. Sneaking in the Triumph as an integeral part of the story was just icing as it's normally a special character and can't gain battle honors or anything, but it makes sense when it represents the remains of a specific saint and those who are serving as her guards for -this- battle. 

 

The order choice came out of a play style choice. I tend to have a lot of marytred ladies after my games, so turning that into bonuses for the rest of the army becomes a nice bonus to work with going forward from there. Tying their lore into that was a nice way to acknowledge that history of martyrdom from the outset while allowing me to play to my strengths (I know everyone is more Bloody Rose because they're killier, or Valorous Heart because they're harder to kill, but with the game moving to a realm of things just being even killier I'd rather just turn those inevitable loses into bonuses for the rest of the army. I am quite biased though as my best game ever with Sisters was a win versus 7th ed Necrons by one objective with three models left alive while they'd only lost 3 models. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I am quite biased though as my best game ever with Sisters was a win versus 7th ed Necrons by one objective with three models left alive while they'd only lost 3 models.

Scenarios like these are why I write my own Codex supplements for any army I'm interested in playing, adding Earthshaker and Vanquisher cannons to their armory so my enemies won't outgun me.

 

Yes, that means I'll shoehorn an Adepta Sororitas gun crew into a Basilisk, when I get around to building an army.