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Could anyone explain to me the differences between the Astartes and the Sororitas? You know, besides the "ones are male, the others are female" thing.

Space Marines are pumped full of super organs to make them super strong, Sisters are just highly trained. Sisters are much more devout and pious, even compared to Space Marines. Melissia will come in here to write a 14 paragraph dissertation on the matter.

That would be quite awesome really. I' thinking on including them in a fic I'm planning (since not many people write about them and I think they're kinda cool) so a long post explaining interesting stuff about them would be great

Belexar wrote:Could anyone explain to me the differences between the Astartes and the Sororitas? You know, besides the "ones are male, the others are female" thing.

One's human, one isn't.

Hint, the human group has boobs.

Honestly, I'll make a better explanation in a bit. Currently watching an NCIS marathon, heh.


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Space Marines were formed before the Great Crusade, based off of the Emperor's genetic experiments that created the Primarchs. Then he used them to replace his human armies to start the great Crusade (some of the humans managed to make the cut and survive the implantations... others received further alterations to become the Custodes), then the horus heresy happened, and the rest is history.

A Space Marine is created through a rather complex series of ritualistic steps involving taking a child out of a feral world, feeding him hormones, drugs, and other chemicals, brainwashed and mindraped into becoming a perfect soldier, implanting lots of extra organs in him culminating with the progenoid gene-seed, resulting in a creature which resembles a human but isn't one, mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Some chapters, such as the Salamanders, maintain more humanity than others, but these are usually the exception to the rule, and usually only in older chapters from what I can tell (especially the original legions).



Sisters of Battle were formed during the Age of Apostasy / Vandire's Reign of Blood. Originally from a shrine world to the Emperor called San Leone, they were a religious/martial arts sect of all women called the Daughters of the Emperor. Described as a backwater, they were tricked into Vandire's service by him using his Rosarius to shield himself from a lasgun shot, and recruited as his own personal bodyguards as the Brides of the Emperor (a title that they now likely consider an insult worthy of a pyre, I'm sure). Eventually, Holy Terra itself was besieged, and the Brides held off the Black Templars in vicious hall to hall and room to room fighting for months, before the leader of the Custodes convinced the leader of the Brides to go before the Emperor Himself. She had an audience with him, and afterwards, stormed out and executed Vandire, ending the siege.

In the political fallout afterwards, they were appointed the army (and watchdogs) of the Imperial Church, and renamed themselves the Adepta Sororitas. Their military wing is the Sisters of Battle (whom the army is based off of), their medical wing is the Sisters Hospitaller (whom are notable for being beloved almost universally across the Imperium as angels of mercy, though they are just as willing to kill heretics as any other Sister), and then they have two miscellaneous wings, the Sisters Dialogous (linguists, whom decipher languages, decrypt codes, translate, research, etc), and the Sisters Famulous (whom essentially run the household finances and etc of the majority of the nobility, and it's considered quite prestigious; this allows them to watch for heresy and try to arrange marriages in order to keep the Imperium from falling apart due to the inevitable interhouse squabbling). Others form up on different purposes, sometimes temporary such as to find and bring back a holy relic, or permanent such as to guard a specific shrine or world, and thus we get minor orders.

Sisters of Battle come from the Schola Progenium, a program which drafts orphans of war heroes and trains them in a brutal, unrelenting atmosphere to be the best that humanity has to be. It also produces officers, commissars and stormtroopers, amongst other things. The graduates are considered novitiates, and go to the Sisterhood for further training, until they become Battle Sisters. From there, they can progress to various ranks and positions depending on their skill and dedication.

Of the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas, there are six major orders, each one honoring Alicia Dominica and her five closest companions. Three of them are based on Holy Terra, and three are based on the Ecclesiarchy's seat of power, Ophelia VII.

Order of the Bloody Rose
Order of the Sacred Rose
Order of Our Martyred Lady (previously Fiery Heart)
Order of the Ebon Chalice
Order of the Valorous Heart
Order of the Argent Shroud

Each one likely contains a different attitude based on the nature of their chosen saint, but aside from the Order of Our Martyred Lady-- which loses so many battles and takes so many casualties that it's basically the Sisters equivalent to the Lamenters chapter of space Marines-- we have almost no lore on any of them.

Brother SRM already summed up the basics nicely.

Recruitment
As you likely know, many Marine Chapters prefer to recruit from warrior tribes of feral worlds, with almost all Chapters having their own little "fiefdoms" whose population is indentured and serves as a source for new neophytes.
The Sororitas, on the other hand, recruit solely from the Ecclesiarchy's Schola Progenium orphanages, where future novices are supposedly raised "from infancy", indoctrinated to become an immensely loyal and zealous Imperial servant and being trained in combat as well as studying matters of religion. Only the most dedicated and capable may be selected to join the ranks of the Sisterhood, with the vast majority of the progena joining other Imperial organisations, ranging from civilian positions in the Adeptus Terra to postings in the Imperial Guard or Imperial Navy.

Organization
Unlike the various independent Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, the Adepta Sororitas form a single vast "family" of Orders that all share a point of origin in the Shrine World of San Leor, and are all tied to either the Convent Sanctorum on Ophelia VII or the Convent Prioris on Terra. A Sister sees herself as belonging to the Adepta Sororitas as a whole as much as she sees herself belonging to her own Order, and it is not uncommon that a Sister may transfer from one into another, especially in cases where old age or injury force her to give up a more active position.

The Sororitas do not only consist of the Orders Militant (the Battle Sisters) but also various Non-militant Orders that serve various important functions for the Ecclesiarchy or the Imperium as a whole, be it the Orders Hospitaller erecting field hospitals in war zones for the Imperial Guard, the Orders Famulous leading negotiations or arranging marriages between important noble Houses, the Orders Dialogous providing valuable translation services between various Imperial dialects or even foul xenos tongues, the Orders Sabine infiltrating newly re-discovered human colonies and paving the way for the Missionarius Galaxia, or the Orders Pronatus as the Ecclesiarchy's own scientific arm that analyzes ancient archaeotech-relics, recovers and sanctifies lost relics or even attempts to find the weaknesses of the many enemies of Mankind.

Each Order is led by a Canoness, who acts as the overall mistress of everything happening at the Order's convent. Often it is only the Canoness and her most trusted Sisters Superior who deal with any outsiders, for the Sororitas brook no disturbance from their holy tasks and value their seclusion in order to preserve their piety. The Sisters Superior act as "squad commanders" and basically adopt a new Sister as soon as she joins the Order. Various specialized positions exist, such as the Repentia Mistress leading sinners in castigation or the Mistress of Novices handling the basic training of new inductees until they are deemed ready for profession as a fully-fledged Sister.
Above the Canonesses, there are only the two Prioresses of the Convent Sanctorum and Convent Prioris, and the Abbess as the overall leader of the Adepta Sororitas and one of the candidates for a seat on the High Council of Terra.

The six major Orders Militant have several thousand (3.000-7.000 at peak times) Battle Sisters each, though there are also many minor Orders who have a hundred or so members each.

Lifestyle
Generally, both Marines as well as Sisters lead what can be described as a monastic lifestyle, though some of the Marine Chapters may deviate from this. Similar to that of most Marines, a Sister Sororitas's life pretty much focuses on her holy duties, though the Sisterhood places a much greater emphasis on prayer in addition to traditional military training and the various tasks that the respective Order has committed itself to. In general, a Sister's life is one of constant hardship, deprivation and arduous work.

Gear
Their armour and weapons are of the same quality and efficiency as the Astartes stuff, though the Marine version usually contains more gadgets, whereas the Sororitas gear is pretty much just the basic version. For example, both armies' servo suits offer the same degree of armoured protection, but the Marines are able to interface better with theirs (thanks to the Black Carapace implant, which the Sisters lack), and their suits also contain some potentially useful tools such as advanced life support and superior strength enhancement or an internal waste recycler / nutritions system. The Sororitas' Angel-pattern on the other hand is pretty much just the powered armour with some strength enhancement (enough for them to use heavy weapons solo), basic autosenses and built-in voxlink. Usually, Sororitas armour is much more ornamented, though, often sporting engraved religious scripture or affixed purity seals.
The Sisters' preferred weapons are the bolter, flamer and melta, which are also referred to as the Holy Trinity. An Order Militant's most elite warriors form the Seraphim corps; highly mobile jump-pack infantry wielding two bolt or flamer pistols and sporting a set of deadly close combat skills.

That's ... just a basic overview, mind you. On first glance, there is not much fluff about the Sororitas out there, but over the decades quite a lot of interesting details have accumulated.

An important thing to remember is that the relationship between the Space Marines and the Sisters of Battle is somewhat complicated: On one hand, the Adeptus Astartes are truly the Emperor's blood, but on the other they are abhumans willingly welcoming psykers into their ranks and following heretical beliefs. That said, both Marines and Sisters respect each others' skill at arms, and many particularly important battle has seen them fighting side by side.
That said, there have also been times during which the Sisters Militant fought against a particular Marine Chapter, usually because said Chapter has been declared excommunicate traitoris and the Sisters of Battle are the Ordo Hereticus' preferred choice for a first strike, as they are pretty much "the next best thing" to Space Marines but without their Chapters' loyalties towards each other. Known engagements include Sororitas strikes against the Sons of Malice or the Space Wolves, presumably the Rainbow Warriors as well.


... dammit, not fast enough.

The actual numbers on each order aren't given in current canon. "Anywhere from a few thousand to many" to paraphrase-- so from ~3000 to hundreds of thousands each. It's stupidly vague.

Melissia wrote:The actual numbers on each order aren't given in current canon. "Anywhere from a few thousand to many" to paraphrase-- so from ~3000 to hundreds of thousands each. It's stupidly vague.

Well, it was a bit more explicit in that it really was just "few thousand" warriors for the major Orders. The "many" was referring to the total number of minor Orders, with the members there going in the ~100+ each. In general, I think it's just a vagueified version of the more explicit numbers from the 2E/3E studio material, so personally I continue to roll with that. I know that some like to read a considerably larger number into it (which is possible by simply saying that "many" can just as well mean "thousands"), but whilst I don't agree (I like the rarity, and the idea of small but highly mobile elite forces suits nicely with them almost never showing up in the fluff, and when they show up they're fewer than Marines), I cannot disprove it either.
It's one of the things that everyone has to decide for him- or herself. Which may be working as intended by GW.

Myself, I'd like to have proper numbers, too.

I'm no expert by any means and not nearly as knowledgeable as the Mistress and Saint who have posted before me but it also seems that to an extent the Sororitas is occasionally used by the Inquisition as a source of holy footsoldiers (one example of this is in the Ciaphas Cain novel "Duty Calls" in which a slightly twisted Inquisitor convinces a whole convent of Sisters to follow him in his holy path although he was doing it for his own reasons) whether it is sanctioned by the rest of the Sisterhood or not. I'm assuming that's why they show up as infantry in the now-outdated Witch Hunters Codex. Why burn heretics alone when you can do it with a whole army of fanatical battle nuns?

Yes yes yes, I'm sure you believe in such amusingly low numbers, but it's pretty much impossible for there to be so few Sisters in the galaxy (fewer Sisters than Space Marines?) while they also maintain their duties. Keep in mind, a large portion of the Orders Majoris are maintained as garrisons training on their two respective homeworlds at any given time, and that almost every world of the Imperium has at least one major ecclesiarchal shrine/temple/cathedral of significance that needs protecting or taking back, nevermind the Sisters who ply the void between stars to protect pilgrim routes, or the ones acting as bodyguards for important Ecclesiarchal materials, or the one retrieving relics, or the ones involved in Inquisitorial mumbo jumbo. Unless there are hundreds of thousands or even millions of orders minoris (which are supposed to be quite a bit smaller on average), it's essentially impossible for there to be so few sisters in the major orders.


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Yipyioh wrote:I'm no expert by any means and not nearly as knowledgeable as the Mistress and Saint who have posted before me but it also seems that to an extent the Sororitas is occasionally used by the Inquisition as a source of holy footsoldiers (one example of this is in the Ciaphas Cain novel "Duty Calls" in which a slightly twisted Inquisitor convinces a whole convent of Sisters to follow him in his holy path although he was doing it for his own reasons) whether it is sanctioned by the rest of the Sisterhood or not. I'm assuming that's why they show up as infantry in the now-outdated Witch Hunters Codex. Why burn heretics alone when you can do it with a whole army of fanatical battle nuns?

They are occasionally drawn into Inquisitorial affairs, but since Sisters are practically the most overt military force in 40k, it's not as often as people think.

Melissia wrote:Keep in mind, a large portion of the Orders Majoris are maintained as garrisons training on their two respective homeworlds at any given time, and that almost every world of the Imperium has at least one major ecclesiarchal shrine/temple/cathedral of significance that needs protecting or taking back, nevermind the Sisters who ply the void between stars to protect pilgrim routes, or the ones acting as bodyguards for important Ecclesiarchal materials, or the one retrieving relics, or the ones involved in Inquisitorial mumbo jumbo.

The garrisons in the Primary Convents bit is already dealt with in their old 2E bit, where it says that the majority of the Orders is usually busy scattered throughout the entire Imperium. If there's a reserve left behind, it's usually only done when the respective Order is on peak strength (unlike the Order of Our Martyred Lady that is said to number about ~300 Battle Sisters in total right now if the Armageddon fluff is still valid). And when there were not a single Sisters to protect the Cathedral on Bladen (sectorwide importance + Cardinal), I just think that their "universal" presence is somewhat overrated. Same with the 3rd War of Armageddon - 150 Marine companies compared to 10 companies of Battle Sisters...
If you place that much importance on the 5E fluff that you discard the earlier more accurate numbers entirely, it is probably also worth pointing out that their list of duties has shrunk considerably in the WD dex, though.

I don't know how you want to justify those millions of invisible Battle Sisters that mysteriously vanish every time there's trouble, not to mention that I have yet to see a single minor Order anywhere in the studio material, but I don't think we should get into a pissing contest over our respective perception there. It will lead nowhere.

Simple ,they're scattered widely throughout the Imperium, and all of them have individual duties which often make them unable to move to assist other Orders, assuming they ever actually find out in the first place. As it is in canon, I don't think the Adepta Sororitas is-- outside of strict adherence to the Imperial Creed-- exactly a tightly knit organization which tells all its members everything about everything going on everywhere.

The sisters have more faith than the marines, but they both rock!

Concerning novels.
There is one official novel: Faith and Fire by James Swallow, releleased in December. The storyline continues in a second novel called "Hammer and Anvil", also released in December.
The first book is not exactly a masterpiece, but enjoyable and you learn a lot about Sororitas.
Another novel with lots of Sororitas is ... "Grey Knights" by Ben Counter. Higher quality writing, but Sororitas are not the center of interest here.
There is also a gruesome comic called Daemonifuge, currently releleased, but the foundation in official fluff is somewhat loose.
BTW, the 2nd edition Codex Sisters of Battle has a lot of essential background information, more than the Codex Witch Hunters.

The Sisters of Battle, otherwise known the canonfodder bridgade, is the military arm of the imperial church. They are armored with powerarmour made of plasticcard, bolters which can barely scorch the skin of an ork and an unshakable believe in their own, unavoidable martyrdom. It is generaly believed that a single pdf troopers equals between 10 and 100 sisters of battle. Their unusualy high losses lead to them to become nearly extinct. GW ,our lord and saviour has in it's great wisdom, decided that the current miniaturerange should reflect this sad development. That's why even the basic sisters box is no longer avaiable and the miniatures themselfs are older than the C'tan.

Unlike the Spessmuhreens who can conquer entire starsystems with a company worth of marines and an uparmored light cruiser as support ( yes, they are so manly that they must surely kill a thousand heretical pdf troopers, which equal at least 10000 sisters, with a single boltershot ) the Sisters of Battle tend to die horribly whenever they face someone better armed and trained than a cripped, one legged, decrepit ork.
Sometimes even the Emprah is so sad at seeing yet enother order of sisters massacred that he grants them a minor miracle. Those rarely do more than to stave off the unavoidable defeatfor a few more minutes, but at least the sisters can die in the knowledge that the emprah loves them and the corpsegod can calm his bad conscience.

Kroothawk wrote:There is also a gruesome comic called Daemonifuge, currently releleased, but the foundation in official fluff is somewhat loose.

To be fair, that applies to most novels in general. As Andy Hoare explained, such material is simply not bound to adhere exactly to established studio material. What matters is to get the atmosphere right and "to tell a good story". I've noticed deviations from the codex fluff (sometimes just minor flaws that only a fanatical SoB player will notice at all, sometimes teethclenchingly major ones that go against core principles of this army) in all BL books I've read that feature Sisters without focusing on them, so I guess the authors simply did not bother to do a lot of research on characters that only show up as extras on a few pages in their novel.

Faith & Fire is one I too can recommend, though. Clearly, Swallow has taken his time to read through the material GW had published. I enjoyed the "crusaderish" attitude of the characters and expect the same from its sequel (Hammer & Anvil) and prequel (Red & Black).

Daemonifuge I would still recommend for getting the general style right. As long as you don't take *everything* at face value (to be fair, I only noticed two flaws), you're still bound for some beautiful artworks and a properly grimdark plot. It's worth getting for the images alone, I think.

There's one story I could add - Daemonblood from Ben Counter. It's actually just a short story contained in anthologies like the Dark Imperium one, but it's nicely written, gets into a bit more detail concerning the Sororitas' mindset and politics and features a badass show-off between a Battle Sister who has a corrupted Ultramarine as her personal nemesis.

I also very much agree on the 2E Codex, of course. That one has some very interesting details in it.

Wow, this is all so very interesting! Thanks everybody, you've helped me a lot