Size of the Adepta Sororitas

[Lord Marshal]

Sisters have always had a martyrdom fetish as part of their identity in the fluff. Their High Lord being out on the front lines living, and likely dying, for the Emperor would really just be acting as a living example of their ethos.

 

Sisters are a far bigger organisation than just the Battle Sisters- hell, most of them actually aren't. Ironically they're closer to real world Knightly Orders than the Space Marines in that respect. They've arms for diplomacy, for monitoring bloodlines and arranging marriages, there's the Hospitallers, etc. That's why I find it very strange they couldn't find somebody better suited than one who's going to bolt off to the frontlines first chance they get and probably get a slug between the eyes for their trouble. Did the Ecclesiarchy really scour every officer who was too old/injured for combat duties and not find one they think they could pull the strings of?

 

Clearly I'm just reading far too deep into this than GW want us to - she's too BADASS to attend meetings and still too BADASS to be manipulated, they just want us to take away from this that she's BADASS and got a SUPER IMPORTANT (but obviously not that important) JOB.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Lord Marshal

[BitsHammer]

 

Sisters have always had a martyrdom fetish as part of their identity in the fluff. Their High Lord being out on the front lines living, and likely dying, for the Emperor would really just be acting as a living example of their ethos.

 

Sisters are a far bigger organisation than just the Battle Sisters- hell, most of them actually aren't. Ironically they're closer to real world Knightly Orders than the Space Marines in that respect. They've arms for diplomacy, for monitoring bloodlines and arranging marriages, there's the Hospitallers, etc. That's why I find it very strange they couldn't find somebody better suited than one who's going to bolt off to the frontlines first chance they get and probably get a slug between the eyes for their trouble. Did the Ecclesiarchy really scour every officer who was too old/injured for combat duties and not find one they think they could pull the strings of?

 

Clearly I'm just reading far too deep into this than GW want us to - she's too BADASS to attend meetings and still too BADASS to be manipulated, they just want us to take away from this that she's BADASS and got a SUPER IMPORTANT (but obviously not that important) JOB.

 

I've started to refer to Sisters as Paladins myself. They're holy warriors in heavy armour who fight in the name of their god and channel divine power.

 

And I do think you're over thinking the BADASS part. That's more marketing than anything. Chances are she's trying to reinforce the Sisters across the Imperium since they are likely stretched even thinner than the Marines are due to the crack in the galaxy only they don't get shiny new Primaris to back them up. I mean the bleeping Emperor fought most of the Great Crusade on the front lines so the High Lords copying that is enough justification for me to hand wave it.

[Magos Takatus]

 

Sisters have always had a martyrdom fetish as part of their identity in the fluff. Their High Lord being out on the front lines living, and likely dying, for the Emperor would really just be acting as a living example of their ethos.

 

Sisters are a far bigger organisation than just the Battle Sisters- hell, most of them actually aren't. Ironically they're closer to real world Knightly Orders than the Space Marines in that respect. They've arms for diplomacy, for monitoring bloodlines and arranging marriages, there's the Hospitallers, etc. That's why I find it very strange they couldn't find somebody better suited than one who's going to bolt off to the frontlines first chance they get and probably get a slug between the eyes for their trouble. Did the Ecclesiarchy really scour every officer who was too old/injured for combat duties and not find one they think they could pull the strings of?

 

Clearly I'm just reading far too deep into this than GW want us to - she's too BADASS to attend meetings and still too BADASS to be manipulated, they just want us to take away from this that she's BADASS and got a SUPER IMPORTANT (but obviously not that important) JOB.

 

Great. Now you have Flanderized her so much that in my Headcanon she is voiced by Mister Torgue. Somehow I am okay with this. 

[sitnam]

Sisters are a far bigger organisation than just the Battle Sisters- hell, most of them actually aren't.

Any source for that? I've never heard anything definitive, but given that the Adepta Sororitas descend from a decidingly militaristic order it makes sense the sisters are overwhelmingly militarized.

[BitsHammer]

 

Sisters are a far bigger organisation than just the Battle Sisters- hell, most of them actually aren't.

Any source for that? I've never heard anything definitive, but given that the Adepta Sororitas descend from a decidingly militaristic order it makes sense the sisters are overwhelmingly militarized.

 

There are to halves the Sororitas: Orders Militant and Orders Non-Militant. Sisters of Battle are the former while the latter contains Hospitalliers, Dialogus, Famulous, and any others whose main role in the organization isn't combat oriented.

[N1SB]

Instead it just feels like the continued Avengers'ing of the Imperium. She's too BADASS to do paper work, that's for NERDS! She's not on a council, she's gonna march into the invasion and PUNCH the heretic in the face, not deploy a crusade with a pen! This HOT MOMMA is gonna GET. STUFF. DONE. Guess who she's backing up? None other than the PRIMARCH GUILLIMAN himself!!! That's right Chaos, watch out, because this ain't no elderly pencil pusher you gotta take down now! Wanna take her out? She's coming STRAIGHT TO YOU. And then it'll turn out she got more done in a decade on the frontlines than her predecessors did in centuries or something. If it turns out this does happen, she'll probably march in, burn them all and 180, dab, then moonwalk back to the frontlines.

[sitnam]

 

 

 

Sisters are a far bigger organisation than just the Battle Sisters- hell, most of them actually aren't.

Any source for that? I've never heard anything definitive, but given that the Adepta Sororitas descend from a decidingly militaristic order it makes sense the sisters are overwhelmingly militarized.

There are to halves the Sororitas: Orders Militant and Orders Non-Militant. Sisters of Battle are the former while the latter contains Hospitalliers, Dialogus, Famulous, and any others whose main role in the organization isn't combat oriented.

That doesn't answer my question. I'm aware the non-Militiants exist, but I haven't seen any evidence that they are the majority of Adepta Sororitas. The Sisters descend from the Brides of the Emperor, an explicitly military force, and their founders were soldiers

 

Lexicanum says that Order Militiants are the largest part of the sisters, though it didn't give any citation on that claim

[Closet Skeleton]

 

Sisters are a far bigger organisation than just the Battle Sisters- hell, most of them actually aren't. Ironically they're closer to real world Knightly Orders than the Space Marines in that respect. They've arms for diplomacy, for monitoring bloodlines and arranging marriages, there's the Hospitallers, etc.

 

Most Real World Knightly Orders are just social clubs for nobles, the Hospitars and Teutonic Knights were pretty exceptional in owning territory and fielding armies.

 

 

I've started to refer to Sisters as Paladins myself. They're holy warriors in heavy armour who fight in the name of their god and channel divine power.

 

 

 

That's a pretty late D&D (4th ed onwards) definition of Paladin you're porting over to another game system. Literally it just means 'a palace official', its a royal deputy not a religious term. Original D&D Paladins were more defined by Cha 17 and a magic horse along with a vague idea about jousting into Hell than anything else. D&D Paladins mostly evolved due to player confusion caused by taking a Euro-centric Christian archetype and throwing it into a polytheistic fantasy world than anything else. 4th ed style Paladins existed before 2008 but they weren't the sole sanctioned definition of what that character class was supposed to be until a game designer decided to clean up 30 years of mess.

 

For most of history 'fighting in the name of your god and channeling divine power' was just every random soldier, with Knights just being the rich ones capable of affording armour and Paladins being the fictional ones who actually get to treat ideals seriously. Of course today D&D and its video game derivatives like Diablo are more culturally influential.

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Closet Skeleton

[jakerichmond]

 

Sisters have always had a martyrdom fetish as part of their identity in the fluff. Their High Lord being out on the front lines living, and likely dying, for the Emperor would really just be acting as a living example of their ethos.

 

That's why I find it very strange they couldn't find somebody better suited than one who's going to bolt off to the frontlines first chance they get and probably get a slug between the eyes for their trouble. Did the Ecclesiarchy really scour every officer who was too old/injured for combat duties and not find one they think they could pull the strings of?

Presumably the did, and that person is now Vahl's deputy High Lord and in charge of thousands of other deputies that are in charge of thousands of other workers who are in charge of thousands of others. Allowing Vahl to lead how she sees fit.

[Sarvis]

Sure a diplomat or a retired warrior would have made more sense.

Would it sell as well if it was a small, unarmed, unarmored model in office robes with W1, T2, STR2, 1x str user melee attack, and special rule: "Make a petition" - Roll 5D6; Multiply result by ten. In as many years (real time) deploy any IMPERIAL army D6 times the point value of your original one as a mighty retribution force to avenge your defeat. -?

 

They just wanted to sell a super-general for SoB armies, and had to write some kind of lore around it. Did she NEED to be a high lord? Probably not, but I guess someone said Guilliman is one, so we have to let her join the club.

And valoris, the custodes representative of the high lords also has a model.

 

So that’s 3/12(?) why not make one for the assassinorum?

Edited May 22, 2021 by Sarvis

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

 

Sure a diplomat or a retired warrior would have made more sense.

Would it sell as well if it was a small, unarmed, unarmored model in office robes with W1, T2, STR2, 1x str user melee attack, and special rule: "Make a petition" - Roll 5D6; Multiply result by ten. In as many years (real time) deploy any IMPERIAL army D6 times the point value of your original one as a mighty retribution force to avenge your defeat. -?

 

They just wanted to sell a super-general for SoB armies, and had to write some kind of lore around it. Did she NEED to be a high lord? Probably not, but I guess someone said Guilliman is one, so we have to let her join the club.

And valoris, the custodes representative of the high lords also has a model.

 

So that’s 3/12(?) why not make one for the assassinorum?

 

 

Only 2/12. Guilliman isn't a High Lord, he's the Imperial Regent. Effectively the High Lords' boss (he replaced several of them after his return to Terra).

[ThePenitentOne]

I would totally buy the High Lord of the Assissinorium.

[Mud Duck]

High Lord W 2, T 3, WS/BS 2, Save ++2

1000 points can not be warlord

Special rules Hidden Army; Quarter your opponents army by points, then randomly choose  Half of your opponents army doesn't show up. A quarter that will show up, by unit, in one of the next round, random table edge, and the final quarter is deployed as normal with reduced stats half movement, WS, BS and an incrested chance of perils of the Warp/ head explosions.

Edited May 23, 2021 by Mud Duck

[Sarvis]

I would totally buy the High Lord of the Assissinorium.

Same. What other high lords could have models? Thinkin of the council, there is the astropath, and the IG commander, Imperial Navy commander, that idk the rest. Let’s get a plastic box set of the high lords of terra in all their obese and hedonistic glory

[Ficinus]

 

I would totally buy the High Lord of the Assissinorium.

Same. What other high lords could have models? Thinkin of the council, there is the astropath, and the IG commander, Imperial Navy commander, that idk the rest. Let’s get a plastic box set of the high lords of terra in all their obese and hedonistic glory

 

 

The only way I'd buy a High Lord Imperial Navy commander is if it's their BFG 2.0 ship.

[march10k]

 

 

 

Sisters are a far bigger organisation than just the Battle Sisters- hell, most of them actually aren't.

Any source for that? I've never heard anything definitive, but given that the Adepta Sororitas descend from a decidingly militaristic order it makes sense the sisters are overwhelmingly militarized.

There are to halves the Sororitas: Orders Militant and Orders Non-Militant. Sisters of Battle are the former while the latter contains Hospitalliers, Dialogus, Famulous, and any others whose main role in the organization isn't combat oriented.

That doesn't answer my question. I'm aware the non-Militiants exist, but I haven't seen any evidence that they are the majority of Adepta Sororitas. The Sisters descend from the Brides of the Emperor, an explicitly military force, and their founders were soldiers

 

Lexicanum says that Order Militiants are the largest part of the sisters, though it didn't give any citation on that claim

 

 

This.  I can buy a lot of hospitalers, they don't just change the bedpans of their militant sisters.  But the other orders?  TINY!

[BitsHammer]

I've started to refer to Sisters as Paladins myself. They're holy warriors in heavy armour who fight in the name of their god and channel divine power.

 

 

That's a pretty late D&D (4th ed onwards) definition of Paladin you're porting over to another game system. Literally it just means 'a palace official', its a royal deputy not a religious term. Original D&D Paladins were more defined by Cha 17 and a magic horse along with a vague idea about jousting into Hell than anything else. D&D Paladins mostly evolved due to player confusion caused by taking a Euro-centric Christian archetype and throwing it into a polytheistic fantasy world than anything else. 4th ed style Paladins existed before 2008 but they weren't the sole sanctioned definition of what that character class was supposed to be until a game designer decided to clean up 30 years of mess.

 

For most of history 'fighting in the name of your god and channeling divine power' was just every random soldier, with Knights just being the rich ones capable of affording armour and Paladins being the fictional ones who actually get to treat ideals seriously. Of course today D&D and its video game derivatives like Diablo are more culturally influential.

It's called the evolution of language. Common understanding of the term "paladin" far exceeds it's roots thanks to modern interpretations of them being a specific kind of holy warrior.

 

Besides, it's better than calling the militant orders "nuns" considering they don't perform any of the normal duties of nuns but instead act more like the Ministorum's equivalent of the Vatican's Swiss Guard crossed with a military police force and actual military force.

[Closet Skeleton]

 

It's called the evolution of language. Common understanding of the term "paladin" far exceeds it's roots thanks to modern interpretations of them being a specific kind of holy warrior.

 

Besides, it's better than calling the militant orders "nuns" considering they don't perform any of the normal duties of nuns but instead act more like the Ministorum's equivalent of the Vatican's Swiss Guard crossed with a military police force and actual military force.

 

Its not a 'specific' kind, its a vague kind that's still being re-interpreted.

 

Warrior monks don't do a lot of monk stuff and nobody complains about that term. Sisters are designed explicitly to look like warrior nuns, there's nothing better about using a word that has only occaisonal fuzzy monastic conotations. Sisters of Battle aren't riding horses, banishing undead and throwing around healing spells, they're obeying officers in wimples and keeping to prayer schedules.

 

Most people would probably be used to the World of Warcraft Paladin who is a explicitly a spellcasting warrior with a healing focus. I guess that game had those Scarlet nutjobs who were a bit more 40k, no idea never played it, don't know if they still counted as Paladins or were seen as something else.

 

There are certainly explicitly Paladin-esque models in the sisters range but there's also Repentia which are not. You could build a fluffy Paladin themed Sisters army but also a 'quell rebellious peasants with flamethrowers' one and be just as on theme.

[BitsHammer]

I think you missed some things there when you picked your examples of Paladin things the Sisters don't do: Bashing undead? Every time Nurgle shows up with Poxwalkers. Healing spells? Well Sisters can channel the divinity of the God-Emperor to heal. We lack horses but that's because GW are cowards.