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Does anyone remember Ephrael Stern, the Sister of Battle who started in a Warhammer Monthly comic entitled Daemonifuge.

I was just wondering if her story was ever continued - either in comic, short story, or novel format.

FOr those not in the know - Ephrael Stern is the Daemonifuge - the "Living Weapon against Chaos" or the "Heretic Saint" or "the last best hope since the Primarchs" according to some members of the Ordo Hereticus.... which is also hunting her down as a dangerous heretic....or not..

Its complicated.

I guess i can put her on that list with Draigo and Cacodominus for "Folks who aren't Primarchs but whose power levels sure as hell put them in the running."

I'd love to get all the those old classic WHM comics in collected format. I have all the Darkblade and Bloodquest (the third one was tough to hunt down) ones already.

I wonder if they collected Titan and Daemonifuge...

I dismiss it on sight as it contradicts established fluff and should go to hell.

Last I knew, she was off running around, being Mary Sue and avoiding the Inquisition.

It would all depend on where you last saw her.. The latest Daemonifuge collection from Black Library ends with her:



The End.

Yeah, spoilers obviously.

She winds up completing her mission of securing the knowledge given to her by the screaming cage by taking it to the Black Library at the end of the story. I'd assume that she then went on to be a guadian of the Library given that she was reborn to be a weapon against chaos.

As far as canon I'd say there isn't much in it to my recollection that's debatable. The sheer level of power that she developes is a bit of an irkful point, but there's plenty of other things out there above her level....but that she could be produced through the sacrifice of a few hundred sisters would make you wonder why there isn't rogue inquisitors trying to do it again. She did have the souls of hundreds of faithful sisters, and the odd (quite powerful) Inquisitor (.....I as I recall the Emperor's will too at some point), within her, so maybe that's what lead to her power levels? A bit sensei emperor like. =/

I am sure they will continue it in some time in the future, you don't leave a story about girl who neutralized ( as not killed ) several Grey Knight Terminators with ease and just walk out of room.

I would like to see a meeting between her and Draigo ( weeding bells anyone? )

Eldarain wrote:I'd love to get all the those old classic WHM comics in collected format. I have all the Darkblade and Bloodquest (the third one was tough to hunt down) ones already.

I wonder if they collected Titan and Daemonifuge...

Well i do know they have collected some of the older comics together - Eternal War/Eternal Damnation has a lot of the shorts stuck together.

I would like to see a meeting between her and Draigo ( weeding bells anyone? )

what would their progeny be capable of? O.o

She winds up completing her mission of securing the knowledge given to her by the screaming cage by taking it to the Black Library at the end of the story. I'd assume that she then went on to be a guadian of the Library given that she was reborn to be a weapon against chaos.

Now why do they always end up in the Black Library......

The "Heretic Saint" compilation is available for print-on-demand at the Black Library. I can recommend it - although the quality of its drawings varies a lot in the last third of the book, I believe it's a cool story that deals a lot with internal rivalries between Imperial factions. And one of the very few that is told from a Sororitas PoV.

Wyrmalla wrote:As far as canon I'd say there isn't much in it to my recollection that's debatable.

There's no such thing as canon in 40k, anyways - but in terms of stuff contradicting studio material, the only thing that comes to mind from Daemonifuge was that the Ecclesiarchy had its own battleships there.

Wyrmalla wrote:but that she could be produced through the sacrifice of a few hundred sisters would make you wonder why there isn't rogue inquisitors trying to do it again

Hmm, is there anyone actually still alive who knows how she was created? Plus, any Inquisitor trying to pull this off would probably need the help of an Arch-Demon again. The Screaming Cage wasn't something anyone could build, after all.

Brother Coa wrote:I am sure they will continue it in some time in the future, you don't leave a story about girl who neutralized ( as not killed ) several Grey Knight Terminators with ease and just walk out of room.

Eh, I dunno - the powers-that-be have canned a lot of cool ideas over the years, together with the stupid ones. Miriael Sabathiel would have made an awesome Chaos character as well, yet you never hear from her again outside the TCG fluff and that short story written by Abnett.

Ephrael did have her own miniature with special rules once, and her own page on the GW website, and appeared in GW's "Warhammer Warriors" game - but this was all many years ago and directly followed in the wake of the Daemonifuge project, which was surprisingly promoted a lot by the company, what with having its own homepage and special wallpapers for people to download - not to mention the high quality in the mixture of drawings and CGI that gave the first issues their unique look and make it a true graphic novel rather than "just a comic".
Still, after all these years, I'm sure she has been forgotten by the powers-that-be. This happens in a lot of big franchises, mind you, and I'm sure 40k has its own graveyard of hundreds of interesting characters we never got to hear from again.

Ephrael's page on the GW website is still accessible via the Wayback Machine, and contains a few interesting snippets about her background, including her years in the Schola Progenium (and general details about how the Sisters recruit their members from there):
http://web.archive.org/web/20080411104905/uk.games-workshop.com/witchhunters/villainy-infamy/2/

[edit] Also, I think those were "just" normal Grey Knights, not Terminators.

Lynata wrote:
[edit] Also, I think those were "just" normal Grey Knights, not Terminators.

Thank you for wonderful info again
And I double checked and you are right - Terminators were on the ship while she encountered 4 ordinary Grey Knights.
It was strange to see Grey Knights with standard Astartes boltgun

Brother Coa wrote:It was strange to see Grey Knights with standard Astartes boltgun

Yeah, I guess those were the old ones back then, before they got 'em mounted onto their wrists.

What I thought was more strange was their "Chapter" symbol, though. Kinda looked like "CIA Marines" with this sort of eagle. Then again, it's essentially how they acted there.

Lynata wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:It was strange to see Grey Knights with standard Astartes boltgun

Yeah, I guess those were the old ones back then, before they got 'em mounted onto their wrists.

What I thought was more strange was their "Chapter" symbol, though. Kinda looked like "CIA Marines" with this sort of eagle. Then again, it's essentially how they acted there.

They were using the Rogue Trader depiction of Grey Knights where they used standard Astartes gear.

Platuan4th wrote:They were using the Rogue Trader depiction of Grey Knights where they used standard Astartes gear.

They're that old? Well, you learn something new every day.
Thanks for clearing that up.

Lynata wrote:There's no such thing as canon in 40k, anyways - but in terms of stuff contradicting studio material, the only thing that comes to mind from Daemonifuge was that the Ecclesiarchy had its own battleships there.

I'm finding it quite odd how the desire for canon has become a massive sticking point for people. Especially since there was never much of a unified creative vision to begin with.

Hmm, is there anyone actually still alive who knows how she was created? Plus, any Inquisitor trying to pull this off would probably need the help of an Arch-Demon again. The Screaming Cage wasn't something anyone could build, after all.

I always thought it was one of those "Once in a Lifetime" finds that started the Sisters of the Inquiry to begin with - namely the discovery of a trapped Arch-Demon.

Eh, I dunno - the powers-that-be have canned a lot of cool ideas over the years, together with the stupid ones. Miriael Sabathiel would have made an awesome Chaos character as well, yet you never hear from her again outside the TCG fluff and that short story written by Abnett.

....

but this was all many years ago and directly followed in the wake of the Daemonifuge project

First off - thanks for the info! I guess i'll go hunting for that Stern minature once i put together my Slann army (yeah thats going to take a bit XD)

As for the continuation of the story - while i'd like to see it continue past performances from GW has me inclined to lean toward your viewpoint.

Especially given the above line in bold - the Economic Model that GW seems to like to follow is "Create a Buzz - Cash Out as Quick as Possible."

ContemplativeSphinx wrote:I'm finding it quite odd how the desire for canon has become a massive sticking point for people. Especially since there was never much of a unified creative vision to begin with.

I think it's a desire for consistency. If every single piece of official material does not only tell a good story or include some fancy rules, but also adds detail to the setting as a whole, it has twice the value for the reader. And we as fans of the setting and its peculiars are unsurprisingly interested in exploring it unto the tiniest piece of fluff, as can be seen by the countless debates on such topics on this forum and elsewhere.

At least this is how I used to think. Or rather, I still think that way, but I've come to accept that the franchise simply isn't run this way.

ContemplativeSphinx wrote:I always thought it was one of those "Once in a Lifetime" finds that started the Sisters of the Inquiry to begin with - namely the discovery of a trapped Arch-Demon.

Yeah, a combination of circumstances, so to say. A Screaming Cage could, in theory, be built again and again by any being who knows the secret of its creation and is sufficiently powerful in Chaos sorcery ... would probably work just as well with ordinary humans instead of Sisters ... but how many daemons know how to do this? And even the Keeper in Daemonifuge considered it his "masterpiece", so it might have included a certain amount of coincidence.

ContemplativeSphinx wrote:I guess i'll go hunting for that Stern minature once i put together my Slann army (yeah thats going to take a bit XD)

Wow, good luck with both! As far as I recall, the mini was produced only 1.000 times, but occasionally it pops up on ebay. Slann army sounds like a cool idea. Lizardmen ftw!

Lynata wrote:

ContemplativeSphinx wrote:I always thought it was one of those "Once in a Lifetime" finds that started the Sisters of the Inquiry to begin with - namely the discovery of a trapped Arch-Demon.

Yeah, a combination of circumstances, so to say. A Screaming Cage could, in theory, be built again and again by any being who knows the secret of its creation and is sufficiently powerful in Chaos sorcery ... would probably work just as well with ordinary humans instead of Sisters ... but how many daemons know how to do this? And even the Keeper in Daemonifuge considered it his "masterpiece", so it might have included a certain amount of coincidence.

Couple that with the piety of the Sisters of the Inquiry - despite all their tortures none of them broke (leaving Miriael with her title i suppose ), added with the indomitable will of Stern, the lucky break she go with Inquisitor Hand and Grimm..etc.etc...

Seems like a case of "Will of the Emperor"


Although - in all seriousness, one does to have to wonder just what is going on over in the Black Library. The farseers who run the place and their Harlequin and Human allies often are set apart from the rest of the Eldar and Human race in terms of generally held stereotypes.

Stern's presence there seems to have literally been the will of the Emperor.