And now we know what "D" stands for: "Destroyer weapon" Woohhoo!

Eldard ulthuan: "Enemies want the D"

Eldar are not above taking pride in the glorious history of their people.

"We ****** the galaxy once, we can do it again!" -Eldrad on D-cannons

Eldar History: one big 'oops'.

Inquisitor Czevak: "So if I understand this corectly, the Eldar race brought Slaanesh into existence. Whaaaa?"

Harlequin: "We didn't do it on purpose!"

Dark Eldar: "We got bored, okay."

Eldar: "Things got out of hand."

Czevak "I'll say!"

"In hindsight, maybe we never should have told her she was a mistake."

Slaanesh just wants a hug.

Slaanesh does just want a hug.

And then cuddling. And then spooning. And then kissing. And then tonguing. And then f___ing....

Slaanesh does just want a hug.

And then cuddling. And then spooning. And then kissing. And then tonguing. And then f___ing....

I'll be in my bunk

Papa Nurgle just wants to give hugs to.

On topic, the Ciaphas Cain stuff actually does say that sisters basically don't engage in romantic relationships (Cain is surprised in the story). This one example is a sister that has retired to a training role in the schola. I don't remember seeing anywhere that schola are gender segregated as some previous posters have suggested. I am willing to be proven wrong on that. Remember that none of the other careers that a Schola Progenium student can go into are gender segregated so it doesn't even make much sense for them to be. In the Cain book in question the Schola students were just portreyed as at a stage where they had been seperated into their future roles in their final years and were recieving specialised training before being sent on to their respective new lives.

Remember as well that a Sororitas could retire from active service even if its not especially common. I don't think there is anything that says that being Sororitas is until death. So yeah I don't think Cain is inconsistant with other fluff interpretations of the Sisterhood. The example given in that book is portreyed as an edge case and if you consider (like most things in 40k) that the fluff for the Sisters in the Codex is basically a generalisation then it works fine with both version.

Also because it has been brought up before Chaste does not equal celebate. What is considered Chaste is different from culture to culture and while the Imperial faith is like the catholic church in many ways it is also different in many. The Emperor wasn't really known for his declerations on personal relationships so it is hard to imagine that there is much doctrine in the Imperial church about sexuality beyond probably the need to propogate the human race across the stars. I can easily imagine that even this would be tempered by the need for proper population controls in certain environments (space craft for example) so is probably a message tailored to a specific audience like much of the churches teachings.

I don't remember seeing anywhere that schola are gender segregated as some previous posters have suggested. I am willing to be proven wrong on that.

I don't have a first-hand quote from an official GW product, but the following passage from the 40K Wiki arguably came from somewhere (take that for what you will)...

The habitats themselves became associated with licentious practices, and their money was put to questionable ends. In direct contrast, each habitat now maintains a strict separation between the two genders and contact between them is restricted purely to religious ceremonies.

This is pretty clearly contradicted by a passage in one of the Cain novels in which he briefly recounts the brutal manner in which Sororita initiates played 'scrumball' at his Schola.

as some previous posters have suggested

Yes, that was me. The segregation is part of a series of reforms enacted after the Age of Apostasy. From the 2E Codex SoB:

"The lifestyle of the teachers and pupils is strict and puritan. During the Age of Apostasy, most of the Schola Progenium was corrupted and rife with slavery and depravity. Orphans were used as slave labour in factories and mines making goods for the Ecclesiarchy. Particularly promising individuals were sold to Imperial commanders as slaves and servants, and the most attractive became concubines for Imperial Nobles. The most physically adept were sent to be trained as Frateris Templars or Brides of the Emperor, swelling Vandire's armies with the best recruits. The habitats themselves became associated with licentious practices, and their money was put to questionable ends. In direct contrast, each habitat now maintains a strict separation between the two genders and contact between them is restricted purely to religious ceremonies. Only with this purity can the Progena hope to be elevated to a position within the Emperor's domain."

As you can see, the paragraph also mentions the lifestyle of the teachers , which does seem quite different from what the Cain novels suggested - a veteran Celestian drinking wine, playing cards, cracking jokes and having a romantic/sexual relationship with an Administratum clerk. This reads like a collection of almost everything a Battle Sister should not be, and the idea that such a character would be assigned as a teacher and spiritual guide for the next generation of Sororitas seems extremely far-fetched to me.

As both GW's Infamy & Villainy web article as well as the background for Sister Anastasia in GW's d100 Inquisitor game inform us, it is also not a Battle Sister who would come to a Schola to pick out candidates for the Sororitas, but rather a Sister Famulous, likely due to their experience in working with younger charges. And as the Liber Sororitas in WD #292 tells us, "retirement" for a Battle Sister means transfer to one of the non-militant Orders, not leaving the Sisterhood altogether.

Not to mention that, in GW's material, the Schola Progenium does not even train either Sororitas Novices or Commissar Cadets. The former are trained in the Convent Sanctorum on Ophelia VII and the Convent Prioris on Terra, and the latter directly within an active Imperial Guard regiment as part of a hands-on instruction in the form of specialised squads (WD #115). The Scholae provide basic education and physical exercise only, and as soon as a progena is deemed ready for assignment, they are shipped out and handed over to whatever Adeptus is claiming them.

Which brings me to the next point: Mitchell's version of the Schola Progenium also seems to train only military personnel, whereas the number of progena (or progenii, as Mitchell calls them in his book, using the real world Latin term rather than fictional 40k High Gothic) who end up in the military in GW's books is actually a very small minority, the vast majority becoming scribes and clerks in the Imperium's bureaucracy. This is probably a requirement for the author's chosen narrative, however, for it would make very little sense for someone like Cain becoming a Commissar if there were less martial alternatives available. Someone who just wants to go the path of least resistance and live a quiet life would simply commit to a scholarly path and accept their fate as a civilian cog in the wheel.

All in all, there are quite simply a lot of small points where the novel clashes with GW's own books, right down to the nature of its main protagonist as a Commissar . I noticed many fans of the books praising them for portraying a more light-hearted perspective of the setting, and this is probably how one should best regard them. As the very writers of such material tell us , it is normal and to be expected for different sources to depict the setting in different ways, and every author has their preferred vision of the 41st millennium -- so if you see glaring contradictions between two or more books, it is probably for the best to simply utilise Occham's Razor and treat them for what they are.

Like I said earlier, there is no single "right" answer to the question posed in this thread, but whichever answer you pick will affect the theme and style of these armies. And whilst I could deem it possible that some Sisters may enjoy a drink from time to time, and others may enjoy a good joke, and yet others be proficient at some game ... it does strike me as irreconcilable with the purity focus of the Sisters of Battle to have one that does all three things - and is in a relationship to boot. By attaching these traits to a Sororitas charater, the writer turned from hardcore semi-brainwashed zealots into contemporary nuns (with guns), dissolving the very reason for their resistance against corruption and their Acts of Faith which too belong to the core foundation of this army. A Sororitas is more than an ordinary woman in power armour.