Sisters of Silence/ Silent Sisterhood

[Demonthenes]

On page 82 of WD308, Dave taylor mentions the "Sisters of Silence." After reading the paragraph or so of information given, i was hooked on the idea, yet I was wondering if there is any more background info on this secretive organization. Searchy turned up one topic (Codex: Sisters of Silence), and a Google search yielded little results. Is there anywhere i could find information on this organization?

 

-Dem

[transgenix]

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I haven't heard (no pun intended) of the Sisters of Silence before & not having the article to hand I cannot speculate on it...

 

I suppose you envisage them as infiltrators or Scouts (although a scout who doesn't talk is of limited use you might think..?)

 

As to an army list - that's a tricky one as most Orders go into battle chanting/singing & generally being verbally righteous against the enemy...

 

You could give them:

 

1. the infiltration skill as compulsary to troops - optional on the rest..?

 

2. Deep strike dominions as fast attack choice instead of a rhino..?

 

Best of luck tracking down further info...

 

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[Demonthenes]

Basically, the article in the WD states the the Sisters of Silence are a secretive Imperial Organization (much like the Custodes) that guard the Black Ships of the Inquistion. All of them are pyschic "nulls" like the Culexus assassin and they help transport dangerous pyskers to the Imperial Palace to feed them to the Emperor.

 

After that is mostly speculation. I also am wondering why they are called the SoS. Is it becasue they don't ever talk, or because they have no presence in the warp (thus silent psychicly). There are also two pictures of the SoS in the WD. In the Pictures they have no hair (some have top knots of hair on the top of their head). However, one picture shows them with bolters, and the other shows them with a power halberd/axe.

 

Also in the pictures they have a half mask covering their mouths, much like the bottem part of a Fantasy Knights helm.

 

-Dem

 

EDIT:Also, i'm not looking to make an army list with them, i just want to find out more info (if there is any more) about them.

[hs5ias]

The Sisters of Silence appear in the Black Library Horus Heresy series of artbooks. The background above is pretty much all the info there is. They're depicted as golden or silver armoured women with shaved heads apart from a long ponytail. They usually have a visor over their mouths. One of their commanders meets with Rogal Dorn I think (IDHMBIFOM) and it says that she communicates solely through body language, so they do seem to be mute. Whether they can't speak or won't speak it doesn't say.

 

I think they're sort of the Order Militant of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. The reason they're anti-psykers is so they can hunt and capture/kill them. Who knows if we'll ever see rules or miniatures.

[crossmagus]

There was a thread from REFUSE on conspiracy theories that alluded to the SoS being a precursor to the SoB - both linked to Black Fleet duties. In early fluff, the Ecclesiarchy had nothing to do with the Black Fleet, it was only Ad Astra Telepathica.

[Demonthenes]

Thanks for the additional (or expalnation of the LACK of additional info). I've read Refuse's, Pyriels and Momogarages posts about the SoS and found hnothing too exciting. Which is good. I'll be able to rewrite a bit of the fluff my self, seeing as there are no set in stone rules to them.

 

 

Keep your eyes peeled. Sometime next year you may see an army of SoS...

 

- Dem

[Brother Vidius]

The Sisters of Silnece were the Psyker Hunters.Probably the ones given the task of capturing enough psykers to power the Astronomican.They also fought against the Thousand Sons on Prospero.

[hs5ias]

It's not even clear if the SoS are still extant in the 41st millennium. Perhaps they were destroyed or abolished during or some time after the Horus Heresy. Perhaps Vandire had them eliminated when he had the Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica psychically lobotomised, and the SoB later took over their duties.

 

In game terms they would probably work best as an additional unit for Inquisition armies. They seem to be an ultra-specialised unit. As psychically resistant psyker hunters their abilities do seem to overlap with the SoB's. Going by the artwork they'd make very cool models though.

[BloodDrinker]

If they do models from the horus book they are pretty hard looking silent ladies :D

 

Hope they do something with them as an elite unit for any inq army.

 

There is another Black library book where the female partner of an inquisitor is one of these ladies. and later talks about how she leads a squad of women with her "special" abilities and training. Almost like an assassin for the fluff. Sorry i dont remember the book(s) off hand.

[jasonneo]

Ive just finished reading Flight of the Eisenstein and it would appear what was left of the Silent Sisters join forces with the remanents of the Death Guard and others to become the first Grey Knights!

[Tauren]

The sisters o silence still exist and are in fact a competent order much like the knights. They serve as the militant order of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, also as the investigative force of those ships and have a strong presence aboard the black ships. Additionally during the heresy they were a powerful tool and are known to have allied with the space wolves in their assault of the thousand sons because of their special nature. They still exist, but much like the adeptus custodes they are not a known fighting force. That said modeling some sisters models after them would be a good idea, they do use close range weapons but at the same time in most art seem to favor witch hunter look. They usually run with dogs, hand flamers and swords. they wear slender plate armor, covering their faces, in knightly like lower-jaw helms.

 

You can find alot of information on them in the lexicanum... (source: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Sisters_of_silence) I plan to include sisters in my combined force and along with knightly modding I am gonna make a few of them look like sisters of silence If I can manage it, but that's in the far off future, this army is requiring a ton of modding already.

[Kaled100]

The sisters o silence still exist and are in fact a competent order much like the knights. They serve as the militant order of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, also as the investigative force of those ships and have a strong presence aboard the black ships.

...

They still exist, but much like the adeptus custodes they are not a known fighting force.

What's your source for them still existing in the 41st millenium? Much as I like the SoS, and conversions for them would look great in the game, I've never seen anything to suggest they're still around in the 41st millenium. Everything I've ever seen on them dates back to the Heresy - as far as I'm aware, nothing has ever been published on their fate. Of course that doesn't mean they were wiped out, but they're not mentioned in any of the books I have that deal with the Blackships in the modern era.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Can't remember where, but I'm pretty damn sure it's in the WH codex that they're mentioned as being the 'guardians of the Black Ships'. The null field generators are all well and good, but the Inquisition still can't risk them getting disabled/malfunctioning. As such, they need a human source to keep the dangerous psykers on board trapped in their heads.

 

As far as older history goes, I believe they did deploy with the Wolves on Prospero (naturally being totally immune to the psychic abilities of the Thousand Sons). However, I don't think they became Grey Knights after the Heresy; Grey Knights have to be psykers, by definition, to fight back against warp-creatures ('nulls' can diminish the abilites of warp-creatures, but they can't banish them like a trained psyker can). Also, like all Astartes the Grey Knights Chapter requires candidates to be male; it's simply a legacy of the male Primarchs, who got made by the Emperor (also male).

 

SoS may have been more prevelant in the expedition fleets (and certainly had the numbers for a ground assault on Prospero), but I think their duties nowadays lie solely with the Black Ships of the Inquisition. For actual combat deployments, it's probably simpler to send a Culexus after a rogue psyker (or a WH Inquisitor). Maintaining security on board an Inquisitorial ship filled with dangerous latent psykers is critical to the survival of the Emperor, and for the requisition of raw psyker recruits for the Guard and Astartes Chapters. The Black Ships also bring potential Inquisitors back to Terra, so it's an important if hidden role.

 

The Astro Telepathica doesn't have a Chamber Militant, they're not an Order of the Inquisition. It'd be like saying the Navis Nobilite have a Chamber Militant; they have bodyguards and ship security to protect them, but nothing formalised by an Inquisitional edict. It's also probably a precaution against concentrated power that the Inquisition maintain seperate armed forces (in addition to IG regiments and sometimes Astartes reinforcements), yet equally important organisations don't get official troops to protect them.

 

In game terms, you could just use the normal SoB rules. The 'shield of faith' and immunity to force weapons is a pretty good way to represent their 'null' ability, and the SoS would probably have the same armaments

[Kaled100]

Can't remember where, but I'm pretty damn sure it's in the WH codex that they're mentioned as being the 'guardians of the Black Ships'. The null field generators are all well and good, but the Inquisition still can't risk them getting disabled/malfunctioning. As such, they need a human source to keep the dangerous psykers on board trapped in their heads.

They're not in the WH codex or any other GW source that deals with the 41st millenium - although quite a few people have speculated that they're still around, it is just speculation.

 

The Blackships are run by the League of Blackships, a division of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. Calling them the 'Black Ships of the Inquisition' is actually incorrect - the confusion has come about because the ships do often carry Inquisitors, and the Inquisition sometimes provides guards. It's further complicated by the fact that the Inquisition tends to paint its ships black and that their ships do often hunt psykers; however those ships are distinct from the ships run by the League which are the ones that make circuits of the Imperium and bring psykers to Terra. The Blackships are manned by members of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica and often carry an Inquisitor plus a contingent of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers or sometimes Battle Sisters. They're protected by far more than just null field generators - there are powerful wards inscribed on every surface to ensure that the psykers cannot use their powers. Some Blackships carry a 'suppressor adept' who generates a field that dampens psychic powers, but there's nothing to suggest the Sister of Silence still run the Blackships.

 

Also, although the Blackships attempt to collect everyone whose psi-rating is omicron or above )in practice normally only those rated kappa and above are identified), but to say they bring potential Inquisitors back to Terra is not quite correct - some Inquisitors are recruited from psykers collected by the Blackships, but not all Inquisitors are psychic and of those that are, not all make it as far as Terra.

[Tauren]

Until such time as open fluff comes out about the fact that the order stopped existing I do not believe that they just disappeared. They are probably exactly where the lexicanum entry says they are... on the black ships... which do not have a codex.

[Kaled100]

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence; however there have been a few descriptions of the Blackships published since the Sisters of Silence were added into the background and none of them feature the Sisters so I take the view they disappeared for some reason during or after the Heresy.

 

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens in the Horus Heresy novels to find out for certain.

[Tauren]

Then again none of them featured the going ons of the guts of the black ships either. GW has always been about the fact that something doesn't disappear if they don't specifically say so... IE squats... deh gone... so far gone GW had to say SQUATS ARE DEAD. Until such time as a similar statement comes out, the sisters of silence still exist and are not part of the empires war machine at the moment.

[Melissia]

Assuming they even remember them.

 

"So whatever happened to the Sisters of Silence?"

[Tauren]

*snicker* < is gonna convert some... I'll use them as knights maybe...

[Kaled100]

Then again none of them featured the going ons of the guts of the black ships either.

Actually there are quite a few GW sources that deal with the workings of the Blackships some are old, like The Inquisition War, some very new like the Dark Heresy books. Codex: Witch Hunters (and others) states that the Adepta Sororitas act as wardens of the Blackships, and Dark Heresy, Chapter War (and others) describe them as being guarded by Inquisitorial Stormtroopers - yet no where mentions an order of female untouchables guarding the Blackships in the 41st millenium. The Imperium has changed a lot in 10,000 years and it strikes me as foolish to believe the Sisters of Silence are still around without even a scrap of evidence, especially when there's a lot of evidence that others have taken on the role they used to perform.

 

I may be wrong - I guess only time will tell as more Horus Heresy novels are published.

 

I'd say it's quite different to the situation with the Squats - we know the Squat homeworlds were destroyed, but that doesn't mean they were all killed. In fact GW have said that some survived and were either incorporated into the Imperium or they went rogue and are now bands of wandering pirates and mercenaries - there were even rules for using them published in the Citadel Journal.

[Tauren]

That's because the order is a small group assigned to each black ship... besides you don't go talking about "blanks"... Everyone and their mother wants access to blanks, necrons, chaos, inquisitors... I still consider them canon... and I don't see how an order that accomplished far more than most just up and disappears... They don't exist like the knights don't exist. If they serve much like knights as small investigative forces on the black ships you may never see them...

[Melissia]

If they do exist, then they are likely a lot more secretive than even the Inquisition-- very few would know about the militant arm of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica.

[Kaled100]

I still consider them canon...

Don't get me wrong, I consider them canon in that they definitely exist during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy - however I don't see how you can consider it canon that they definitely do (or do not) exist in the 41st millenium. There is no definitive evidence supporting either position, and both are just conjecture at the end of the day. You believe they still exist because you haven't seen anything that says they don't. I believe they don't exist because I haven't seen anything that says they do. I have no problem with us believing different things given the lack of evidence.

 

and I don't see how an order that accomplished far more than most just up and disappears...

There are plenty of organisation that have accomplished a lot, but that no longer exist, both in real life and in 40k - for example the Frateris Templars acomplished a lot before being misused by Vandire and disbanded. There are many possible explanations for the Sisters disappearing - for example, perhaps so many were killed in the fighting under the palace that the organisation never fully recovered; or maybe they were combined with the fledgling Inquisition and ceased to exist as a seperate organisation, eventually disappearing completely.

[Grand Master Tyrak]

The Sisters are Pariahs, yes? Maybe they were the founding members of the Culexus Temple of assassins?

[Tauren]

The Sisters are Pariahs, yes? Maybe they were the founding members of the Culexus Temple of assassins?

 

Actually this was one of my theories but it seems odd that the sisters who in all the art are seen wearing bright golden "knightly" armor, and dealt heavily in close combat (lots of swords) and hand flamers would swap over to an assassin temple. To be honest I would have prefered to see the SoS instead of the culexus... while interesting the culexus never appealed to me at all.