Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

As the title says, I have decided to make my own order for my Sisters of Battle army. From what I have read, as long as certain principals are held true, the imperial cult varies quite widely from one world to another. So I began by working on the religion of their home world.

My write up WIP:

Some pictures of the color scheme, Pictures from my tablet with me holding a desk lamp on the minis. Not the best setup.

Slightly heretical, but the servo-harness Immolator is just awesome.

Sisters are traditionally trained on Terra or Ophelia before being deployed to their final Orders because of the recruitment process, how does this fit in with your Order's fluff?

Hum, I don't know about that, I'll have to work on that. I assumed that since they are orphans raised by the church they would be trained all over the empire where they happen to be. Now for the Heretical stuff, what part? The emperor stole tech from the eldar gods? I was going for a Greek influence. I can work that out if necessary. It is very WIP, so If I know the specifics about how it is wrong I can work to fix it.

Thanks for replying.

All imperial noble orphans are first raised and trained in the Schola Progeniums among the Imperium worlds, this has been the case from the old Rogue Trader era all the way till 6/6.5/7th Edition.

Those with the most outstanding disposition to faith (that is to say they need only to get about average across the all the Schola criteria excepting a A- or above on "Faith" to get taken by the Adepta Sororitas, if they were in a real-life College; then again if they get below average on too many criteria they would have been "freed" from their torments already) got shipped off to the two Priories to be proper nuns.

Afterwards the join an Order of the Sisters, and from then on train to perform their duties until presumably they are transferred to an order with a different purpose.

Very nice models, me like a lot!

 SQRT(-2) wrote:
Hum, I don't know about that, I'll have to work on that. I assumed that since they are orphans raised by the church they would be trained all over the empire where they happen to be. Now for the Heretical stuff, what part? The emperor stole tech from the eldar gods? I was going for a Greek influence. I can work that out if necessary. It is very WIP, so If I know the specifics about how it is wrong I can work to fix it.

Thanks for replying.

Heretical in that they're Sisters whose loyalty isn't solely to the Ecclesiarchy.

To expand on Ic's point, candidates for the Sororitas are chosen by the Sisters Famulous as they travel around inspecting the various Schola facilities in the Imperium. The Famulous is the one who decides that any given orphan is suitable for any given role - the vast majority of the Progena (sorry, scions) are given to the Administratum - those who lack the aptitude for the Storm- Tempestus Scions, Commissariat, Ecclesiarchy or Adepta Sororitas - while those who show special aptitude are then given to their new parent organisation for training.

Response to Furyou: actually all progena are now called "cadets"; only the storm troopers are given the embarrassing term "scions" attached to their title.

Beautiful models and paint jobs

Its a very interesting idea - the Emperor / Omnisah is one of those touchy points in the Imperium and this could be fun

I don't think its impossible that a minor order (like this one) would recruit and train locally - as we all know the Imeprium is all about exceptions to the rule.

Thanks for the input guys, that is why I posted it. I will work on it and see if I can fix it. I may not be able to rectify it and have to scrap the whole idea but I would like to try. If nothing else I had fun making the models.

But remember, we have Eldar fight Eldar, Tau fight Tau, Imperial forces fight Imperial forces, and so on all the time. Different views within factions would make sense. Look at all the differences and problems real world religions have had with different groups within it having slightly different views. Now imagine spanning a huge interstellar empire with hazardous warp transport linking it together.

So I HAVE to rectify the whole training on Terra or Ophelia thing. That is a big oversight on my part.
But I don't HAVE to rectify the heresy thing, I could just reduce it. And explain how it could exist with the unified training on Terra and Ophelia.

Any Ideas?

IDEA:
Could they be at odds with Mars? And they must maintain and build all their tech because Mars won't provide them with tech priest? They could believe that the tech priest of Mars are only giving lip service to the belief that their machine god is the emperor. That actually the Tech priest are a cult hiding in plain sight. Sisters with this belief could be sought out while in training on Terra and Ophelia and gathered to the order by it's leaders. The red robes would then be a slap in the face of mars, as would the symbol. The world would be different, maybe a agricultural world with a very low to non existent tech priest presence. The church keeps them at this distance to not gather the ire of Mars, but allows them to exist as a safe guard against Mars getting to cocky and forgetting who is the true god of humanity. (Many in the church may fear what the Sisters of the Machine Heart believe it true, but can't bring them selves to say it.)

How does that work?

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 SQRT(-2) wrote:
Hum, I don't know about that, I'll have to work on that. I assumed that since they are orphans raised by the church they would be trained all over the empire where they happen to be. Now for the Heretical stuff, what part? The emperor stole tech from the eldar gods? I was going for a Greek influence. I can work that out if necessary. It is very WIP, so If I know the specifics about how it is wrong I can work to fix it.

Thanks for replying.

Heretical in that they're Sisters whose loyalty isn't solely to the Ecclesiarchy.

To expand on Ic's point, candidates for the Sororitas are chosen by the Sisters Famulous as they travel around inspecting the various Schola facilities in the Imperium. The Famulous is the one who decides that any given orphan is suitable for any given role - the vast majority of the Progena (sorry, scions) are given to the Administratum - those who lack the aptitude for the Storm- Tempestus Scions, Commissariat, Ecclesiarchy or Adepta Sororitas - while those who show special aptitude are then given to their new parent organisation for training.

Where is that fluff from? The few parts i've read about the Schola Progenium seem to say they're everywhere. Not just on Terra?

The Forgeworld Hephaestus probably has its own Progenium with a possible Order affiliation.

The new, eh, "Militarum Tempestus" Codex describes the career of a cadet, or progena officially starts on the "Selection Day", where cadets from a Schola Progenium facility who are due to "graduate" got assigned a role, perhaps joining the Adeptus Terra, the Tempestus Scions A.K.A. Storm Troopers, the Commissariats, Adeptus Arbites, or the Adepta Sororitas. A Group of cadets assigned to a same role will then be shipped to their respected destinations by a ship.

However, the Adepta Sororitas has only two Priories, based on Terra and Ophelia VII. Assuming the basic Sororita trainings are conducted on either of the Priories, the logical conclusion would be that the graduates are then shipped to one of these two planets.

I don't really think you can have Mechanicus Sisters and adhere to the 40K fluff. There are just too many conflicts of interest happening there. Not the least of which the fundamental differences between the Machine Cult and the Imperial Cult which would not be resolvable between intolerant 40K factions. Especially the Ecclesiarchy, which is the least tolerant of all Imperial factions because its power is derived from unquestioned loyalty and belief. Compromise would erode its power.

That said, there's nothing to say you can't have some small, all-female Mechanicus army and just use Sisters rules. That Servolator is a great conversion, btw.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
Especially the Ecclesiarchy, which is the least tolerant of all Imperial factions because its power is derived from unquestioned loyalty and belief. Compromise would erode its power.

Well, you do remember that this very same Ecclesiarchy is explicitly very, very tolerant of all sorts of beliefs as long as the Emperor is considered the one true god of humanity. Even if he is considered a sun god, or any kind of weird stuff.

BlackTalos wrote:

Where is that fluff from? The few parts i've read about the Schola Progenium seem to say they're everywhere. Not just on Terra?

The Forgeworld Hephaestus probably has its own Progenium with a possible Order affiliation.

Ah, you're confused. The Schola Progenium are everywhere. Progena graduate from the Schola Progenium at between ten and fifteen years of age, at which point they're taken for training in their specialisms - to Terra and Ophelia for the Sisters, to wherever the Scions are trained, or to whichever local world needs more secretaries for everyone else.

Sure, as long as in the end you still believe in the absolute divinity of the Emperor as the one true god of Humanity. That's not tolerance, it's simple pragmatism.

That's not what the Machine Cult is about. It's older than the Imperial Cult. The Emperor is merely an aspect of the Machine God, which subordinates his deification to a greater power. And thus not being the one true god of humanity.

The only reason the Ecclesiarchy tolerates the Machine Cult is because they have no choice in the matter given the AdMech's position of supreme power when it comes to the technological resources of the Imperium.

The models are great, and SoB rules would certainly work. But Sororitas are trained in only two central facilities and have quite strict and unified ideas about the Emperor. While the Ecclesiarchy is fine with worlds seeing the Emperor as anything from the patron saint of warfare to the sun god as long as they stay faithful and pay the tithe the Sisters are a lot less tolerant. They're usually so fanatical and uncompromising that only the Canoness of an Order and the most trusted Sisters Superior are allowed to speak to outsiders, as in every other Imperial citizen. Otherwise there's a not insignificant chance of "unfortunate misunderstandings" resulting in flamercide of whole cities.

That said the idea is awesome. And the IoM is a vast realm where almost everything is possible.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
That's not what the Machine Cult is about. It's older than the Imperial Cult. The Emperor is merely an aspect of the Machine God, which subordinates his deification to a greater power. And thus not being the one true god of humanity.

And OP's idea, which I think is a good one, is to have the local Mechanicus holding different believes rather than having the local Ecclesiarchy having different believes.

How about this:

(Remember very wip)
Adepta Sororitas Order:
Order of the Machine Heart

Heralidity: White armor with different colored robes for each squad. Sisters Technicas have red robes in defiance of Mars, however this color is not reserved exclusively for their use and squads may use red as their color. The Sisters Technicas use a Fleur de lis within a gear as their emblem.
Homeworld: Hephaestus, a mined out and depleted forge world abandoned by the Tech-priest.
History: Long ago the tech-priest of Mars and the estuary reached a compromise by agreeing that the machine God and the emperor were one in the same. However, many in the estuary believe the tech-priest are only paying lip service to the emperor and are in fact are a cult hiding in plane sight inside the empire.
Those amongst the adepta sororitas that feel this way are recruited by the order of the machine heart. Based on the dead forge world of Hephaestus, a world long mined out and abandoned by the tech-priest, the order has developed there own rites for building, maintaining, and repairing tech based on their devotion to the emperor.
They not only oversee the construction of there own tech, but help the small remaining population of their world with their tech needs. On the mined out world recycling and salvage are very important. The rusting hulks of the great factories of old are melted down and refined to feed the order's forges.
The estuary keeps them on this harsh world so to not anger Mars, and keeps them around to help remind the tech-priest to be true in there veneration of the emperor.
Sisters Technicas:
Equipment: The dedication to technology and the base on a forge world mean that the force is always mechanized and equipment like Combi-weapons are quite common. The Sisters Technicas use servo arms much like the Tech marines of the Space marines, but lacking the direct connection allowed by the black carapace, the arm relies on verbal commands and gestures. It is often set to follow the movements of the sister’s left arm. This arm is also not as strong, the Sisters Technicas’ power armor is not as strong as that of a space marine and could not support as strong an arm. To compensate the sisters use a modified immolator equipped with an assortment of servo arms and other tools. The Machine Spirit of the engineering vehicle is quite advanced and does not require a crew. The Sister can control vehicle and it’s manipulators with verbal commands and gestures.
Servitors: The Adeptus Arbites of Hephaestus have a sense of ironic justice, so those who commit crimes against women are sentenced to Servitude Imperpituis and handed over to the Sisters Technicas. Their minds wiped and their bodies twisted to the Sister’s needs, these criminals must spend the rest of their ‘lives’ serving those they have wronged. These Servitors are used to manufacture the tools of war of the order. Some are taken by the Sisters Technicas into battle to fight and help with battlefield repairs.

 SQRT(-2) wrote:
However, many in the estuary believe the tech-priest are only paying lip service to the emperor and are in fact are a cult hiding in plane sight inside the empire.

Plain. Personally, I would remove that, because it makes the Sisters and the Cult being close very, very hard. I would make them genuine in their belief, and I would play more on how that makes them almost “heretek” from mainstream Cult of Mars point of view.
Also not sure about the “crime against women” part. I do not think the Sisters think of themselves as women, really, but as “defender of the faith” first and foremost. They have few and less in common with a random civilian woman, and barely more with a female PDF/guardswoman. They would care more about punishing heretics than they would about, say, rapists.

Well, you could try selling it by saying that the Ecclesiarchy had once sent a Priest to a Forge World, with the purpose of either converting the local populace or following the discovery of an important religious site. An Order of Sisters were dispatched to accompany him for his protection. Unfortunately, the mission was a failure and rather than converting the locals, things went the other way around and the Priest, and the Sisters under his wing, wound up incorporating facets of the Cult Mechanicus instead (as already detailed by yourself). As for why they still exist and haven't been destroyed for heresy, it's because the Ecclesiarch was forced to by the rest of The High Lords of Terra to prevent religious tensions as doing so would would send the message that the Imperial Cult and Cult Mechanicus are indeed not one and the same and are incompatible. And point out to the rest of the Imperium that the Forge Worlds are filled to the brim with nothing but heretics. Which would be very, very bad for the Imperium.

Alternatively, you could have it that they were never converted at all but simply took on the bionics due to their easy availability and as a way to reach out to the locals. However, that unfortunately doesn't allow you to use the wonderful fluff/backstory you've come up with.

A third option would be that the Order exists at the insistence of the Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus to serve as the Chamber Militant for when they investigate the Cult Mechanicus for heresy.

Why not go something like this:

A distant planet is discovered by the Mechanicus, and is said to have been visited by the Emperor himself (during his super-secret 'alone' time between him returning from the Crusades and the Horus Heresy). The Mechanicus have found some ancient technology there that they want to recover. The Ecclesiarchy also find out and are suspicious of the Mechanicus so they send a full complement of Sororitas to help protect these ancient artifacts of the Emperor.

When the Sisters get there, their Diagolus' translate some ancient texts that prove that the Emperor was there (they find his Dear Diary or something) and it talks about how the machine must be finished for the sake of humanity. Unfortunately a Warp Storm cuts the system off before the Mechanicus can really do anything, killing most of the Tech-Priests and stranding the Sisters. Knowing that their God-Emperor himself wants this machine built, the Sisters take it upon themselves to finish it for him. A Sister's faith is first and foremost to the God-Emperor after all, not strictly speaking the Ecclesiarchy.

The few remaining Tech-Priests don't have much choice but to teach the Sisters because they desperately need the help, and the Order of the Machine Heart is born.

Over the many long years that the planet is cut off you can have the Sisters recruit girls from the local population (some pre-industrial society maybe that worships the Emperor) to keep numbers up and continue the work while solidifying the new rites and rituals of the Order of the Machine Heart. Eventually, hundreds of years later, the warp-storm clears and the Order of the Machine Heart can return to the Imperium. But will they be welcomed back as Heralds of the Emperor's Glory to deliver new technology from the Emperor Himself? Or will they be viewed as Heretics for straying from the Imperial Dogma?

The crime against women thing is not the sisters caring, it the police(adepts arbities) caring. It provides a better deterrent than most other punishments. Heretics tend to be cordwood. In the hands of sisters. But all in all it is not necessary, so I'll probably drop it. O got it. If they can break a Heretic and get them to atone they then turn them into a Servitor, (so they can't backslide).




I have been thinking and reading your input. I think the first Idea is best, with some tweaking.

Bare Bones it boils down to:

A sect of the Machine Cult truly and strongly believes that the Emperor is the Machine God and not just an aspect of it decides to train the local Order of the Sisters of battle in their rituals and rites hoping to form a stronger bond between the Machine Cult and the Ecclesiarchy. The order believes that learning these rites helps them learn more about the Emperor. Both of these local groups see this cooperation as quite easy, considering what is allowed by the Ecclesiarchy on some worlds. Both Mars and Terra find they can't stop it because it would be like saying that the Machine God is not the Emperor. This would weaken the Treaty of Mars and throw the empire into turmoil and possibly destroy it. The Order of the Machine Heart recruits from those novices in Terra and Ophelia that show mechanical aptitude.

This would provide great fluff for fights between the order and other imperial factions. Being Slightly heretical from each point of view, Tech Marines would try to get their chapters to fight this order and Sisters of Battle Orders would try to find excuses to burn the heretics.

Look at some of the Space Marine Chapters or the Primarchs, they have their Heretical problems. Ask the Blood Angels about the Black Rage or the Red Thirst.

I think that works.

It's HERESY! Awesome-looking HERESY!

I am working on a final right up. C&C are welcome.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EIGgnCc_s1lWEXp9FcD3lvchbCmb9sn31nSbKDqMZxA/edit?usp=docslist_api

 Furyou Miko wrote:

BlackTalos wrote:

Where is that fluff from? The few parts i've read about the Schola Progenium seem to say they're everywhere. Not just on Terra?

The Forgeworld Hephaestus probably has its own Progenium with a possible Order affiliation.

Ah, you're confused. The Schola Progenium are everywhere. Progena graduate from the Schola Progenium at between ten and fifteen years of age, at which point they're taken for training in their specialisms - to Terra and Ophelia for the Sisters, to wherever the Scions are trained, or to whichever local world needs more secretaries for everyone else.

I must still be missing the part you have from another codex, because between the current one (Digital), and the Lexicanum, there is no indication of going to these worlds for training:
"The Adepta Sororitas is (...) divided between two Convents - the Convent Prioris located on Terra and the Convent Sanctorum based on Ophelia VII, although in practice their forces are spread throughout the Galaxy"
Sounds like the HQ for management.

I do not see how different Orders would not have training facilities located throughout (like the Schola Progenium, but less of) with a visit to the Convent Prioris or the Convent Sanctorum if they reach canoness level?

That's why i was asking for another ref =)

Because they get trained in the Priories before they are sworn to an Order. They take their final vows, becoming full-fledged Sisters, on Terra.

It goes Birth > Schola > Priory > Terra > Somewhere in the galaxy.

I understand what was said completely.... I'm just asking where it's from?

 BlackTalos wrote:
I understand what was said completely.... I'm just asking where it's from?

Well, how Schola Progenium train and allocate their cadets is relatively new fluff, but we've always known that Imperial Elites such as priests of the Adeptus Terra and themembers of the Adepta Sororitas are first raised and trained in the Schola Progenium's facilities. The new Codex: Militarum Tempestus explicitly states that during Selection Day (AKA. graduation day) those female cadets with strong faith would be "prepared to journey to training convents of the Adepta Sororitas ("Selection Day" . P12)

Further reading into the 6E Codex: Adepta Sororitas, however, revealed that there are indeed more than two convents, albeit all of these convents are subordinated to the first two, Convent Prioris and the Convent Sanctorum: "The Orders Militant spread, establishing subsidiary convents on key worlds across the Imperium. ("The Orders Militant" . digital)

Whilst it is now certainly untrue that new sisters must be trained either on Terra or Ophelia VII (since the term "convents" allows for subsidiary convents), it's worth noting that these minor convents are still under the jurisdiction of one of the "Major Orders Militants": "The Greater Orders Militant maintain subsidiary convents across the Imperium, the largest of which are referred to as Preceptories. ("The Orders Militant" )

Finally when they join an order, they are taken it by one of their respected Orders' Sister Superiors: "When a Sororitas joins one of the Orders Militant, she will be adopted by a Sister Superior. ("Battle Sisters" )". Since one joins an Orders Militant, at least for the militant orders, a battle sister will therefore go to where her order wants her to be. Since they are spread out across the Imperium: "An Order’s warriors rarely fight together as a single unit, but instead are commonly spread throughout the galaxy, guarding various shrine worlds, prosecuting Wars of Faith and waging other battles. ("The Orders Militant" )" , said battle sister would have been flown else where.

So a typical path of a sister of battle's career would be: Gets Orphaned -> Survives Schola Progenium -> Travels to a Training Convent somewhere in the Galaxy-> got shipped to somewhere else in the galaxy -> IF promoted: move to another place. ELSE: stay in place or gets assigned to another place. Repeat

 lcmiracle wrote:
Well, the Schola Progenium part is relatively new

Uh? That was mentioned in the 2nd edition codex. That is very old.