There ARE DE Harlequins

How would that actually work? Despite the usage of the term, I always thought "Dark Eldar" are a culture rather than a race, which means you're not actually a Dark Eldar anymore as soon as you drop the act and pursue a different path. Indeed, Harlequins are not Craftworld Eldar either. They're yet another subfaction that merely allies with Craftworld Eldar from time to time.

Or was that just handled differently again in one of the novels?

Harlequins travel between and recruit from all aspects of Eldar society. If you check out the new Harlequin codex, both the Death Jesters and Solitaires are practically written for DEldar. It is left deliberately vague if DEldar who become Harlequins still need to torture to sustain themselves, or get a soulstone, but given the mere existence of Solitaires, it heavily implies that the Harlequin cult does not make its own soulstones and its members keep whatever they used beforehand to stay out of Slaanesh's grasp. Extrapolating from that, "pain" is only something the DEldar use because it is easy to harvest (and because grimdark). They could use any other strong emotion and a DEldar who's been a Harlequin long enough may just experiment with other things, like spreading "joy and laughter".

Harlequins not using soulstones has been said in the codices for some time. They don't use them because they trust the Laughing God to take care of their souls in the Warp, effectively believing another Warp spirit to claim them and protect them from Slaanesh.

The Dark Eldar, Craftworld Eldar, Exodites, Harlequins are all just factions of Eldar. You can't be a "Dark Eldar Harlequin" just like you cannot be a "Mexican Canadian". A Harlequin who used to be a Dark Eldar, though? I suppose that would be possible, though I'd consider such a drastic change extremely unlikely simply due to how Dark Eldar society works and corrupts the sanity of its members. To me, a story like that sounds very much like a CSM renouncing the Ruinous Powers and becoming a Grey Knight. Thankfully, nobody wrote something like that so far ...

I'll freely admit that I am not as knowledgeable on Eldar as I am on the human factions of the game, though, so maybe I'm just missing something. From what I've read, Dark Eldar quite simply seem to be "too far gone", psychologically speaking.

I have to agree with deathbygrotz on this one. They made the harlequins a lot scarier and darker in the new codex. Let's just say all eldar are subfactions of the same race. And eldar from different factions can and do join the harlequins. The new models have a lot of hints towards the Deldar: Half of the swords they carry are DE style, the other half is CE style. And the satrweaver is very close in design to a DE Venom.

the main reason why any eldar would join the harlequins is: "I don't like chaos and I hate Slaanesh!" That's just as true for the DE as for the other eldar. Oh and the number of 'dar who join the harlequins is rising! And they got a plan...

For the laughing god!

Moowhahaha hhahahha hahhahhaha hhahhahahaa aahhahhahaa aaaaa... wipeout !

Agaith - A Harlequin's mask, known in the Eldar Lexicon as an agaith , or "false face," is a small holographic device worn like a mask. It projects daemonic visages and scenes of death onto the mask and has a short-range psychic amplifier which increases enemies' sensitivity to fear and despair. Other versions of the agaith include the Rictus Mask, which projects an aura of death in the general vicinity of the wearer, or the Dread Mask, which senses an enemy's worst fears and displays them on the mask, along with a more potent psychic amplifier like the ones used on the Mask of Fear. In battle, a Harlequin's mask projects terrifying images of his victims' worst nightmares.

Death Jesters - At the present time, most Harlequins make no use of heavy weapons or heavy armour like grav tanks, save for the Harlequins called the Death Jesters . The Death Jesters or Deathheads, called in the Eldar Lexicon the margorach , are the heavy weapons specialists of the Harlequin. They make use of a wide-array of heavy weaponry; from the humble Shuriken Cannon of the Craftworld Eldar, to the specialised Firepike , or the morbid Shrieker Cannon . The Shrieker Cannon is the trademark weapon of the Death Jesters, as only they can create and maintain them. They are a variant of the Shuriken Cannon, but instead of firing a hail of projectiles, they fire only a single shot. This shot is impregnated with a virulent acid that causes the victim's blood vessels and insides to expand violently. This usually results in a small explosion that showers enemy squad mates with pieces of their companion, thus earning the shrieks that give the weapon its name. These sinister warriors stand apart from their fellow Harlequins, for they play Death in the masque and thus must walk aloof from their brethren. They often perform daring stunts of escapology and risk -- "dicing with Death," as they are fond of saying. Their costumes feature skulls and death's head masks, decorated with the bones of their predecessors. Their morbid sense of humour is appreciated throughout the Dark City, for they are as every bit as inventively cruel as the most black-hearted Commorrite. To a Death Jester, the madness of the battlefield presents infinite inspiration and boundless opportunities for lethal practical jokes. A Death Jester may wait until an enemy squad believes themselves safe within a bunker, before placing a single shot through the closing door with his shrieker cannon. The explosive effects of the weapon turn the haven into a tightly packed death trap, eliciting screams that are music to the Death Jester's ears. In the name of sating their desire for morbid amusement, these strange sadists have been known to dress up unconscious foes in the charred skin and bone of their fallen comrades. They have arranged the bodies of the fallen in bleakly amusing positions, and perpetrated any number of other awful acts of inexplicable humour. Even the Death Jester's own troupe find his antics distasteful, but they understand the role that he plays.

Solitaires - The most chilling of all the Eldar Harlequin are those individuals known as a Solitaire , called in the Eldar Lexicon the arebennian . The Solitaires, as their name implies, are solitary individuals who roam the universe alone for most of his life, occasionally joining a masque for a single performance or battle as the fancy takes him. He speaks and is spoken to only in ritual form, and when he is not performing he rarely communicates with the other Eldar. The most startling truth of the Solitaires is that, unlike other Harlequins, who are protected by their faith in Cegorach, their souls are doomed to be devoured by Slaanesh, although the Laughing God attempts to intercede on the Solitaire's behalf after their death and force the Prince of Chaos to compete for his or her soul. Whenever Solitaires are with a Harlequin troupe, they prefer to distance themselves from the others, and one is considered cursed if one exchanges words with a Solitaire. A Solitaire never shows any sign of emotion, either with other Harlequins or on the battlefield. Psykers of every race, even other Eldar, are known to be very depressed in the presence of a Solitaire. The mental landscape of the Solitaire is obviously disturbing to them. Psychic attacks on Solitaires will almost always fall short, and weapons which attack the enemy's mind, such as the Neuro Disruptor , will simply have no effect. During the performance of the great Harlequin performance or Masque that dramatises the ancient Fall of the Eldar known simply as The Dance, Solitaires are the only Harlequins that can play the role of the Chaos God Slaanesh who brought the Eldar low. Various stories exist of other Harlequins who tried to perform the role, and were driven mad by the experience. In battle, Solitaires almost always fight as individuals. A Solitaire may live unknown among the Eldar (or even members of another intelligent race) for years or decades, and there are many rumours and folk-tales telling of Eldar who have met a Solitaire, and realised only later that this was actually the Great Harlequin, Cegorach himself. Solitaires represent the pinnacle of the Harlequin ideal, and are truly formidable foes in combat.

^Wiki copy pasta, but given how familiar it sounds, I think it's almost word for word from the codex itself. I was a bit iffy on the skyweavers, and focus more on the fluff in this case than the model design, but the dark eldar influence is pretty noticable and so heavily implicite it may as well be explicite in these cases.

the main reason why any eldar would join the harlequins is: "I don't like chaos and I hate Slaanesh!" That's just as true for the DE as for the other eldar.

But here's where their own society would kick in -- the Dark Eldar are psychopaths, all of them. If you read their descriptions, they are described as addicted to the pain and suffering of others, so if you are brought up in such a culture, you will invariably be introduced to their way of staving off Slaanesh, an act that would certainly change your mind forever. This isn't like, say, the drow where you can actually get by without being a cruel sadist yourself and just turn into a punching bag -- if you don't become a cruel sadist in DE society, you will also become a punching bag (and likely torture victim) for others, but in addition to that your very soul will be slowly drained into the Warp.

Reading up on Death Jesters, I suppose this is one Harlequin role that would be vaguely familiar and thus attractive for DE, yet still it seems .. unlikely to me that blood-crazed DE sadists would suddenly drop the act and join a Harlequin troupe just like that. What would they have to gain, what would they lose ...

Probably just a matter of interpretation again?

On a sidenote, Harlequins have already been creepy in the earliest books; at least I cannot really see notable changes to more current material. Aside from already including all the stuff about Solitaire-Slaanesh, the violence and the frightening appearance, the 2E codex says Death Jester armour is made of the bones of the wearer's predecessor! >_>

But here's where their own society would kick in -- the Dark Eldar are psychopaths, all of them. If you read their descriptions, they are described as addicted to the pain and suffering of others, so if you are brought up in such a culture, you will invariably be introduced to their way of staving off Slaanesh, an act that would certainly change your mind forever. This isn't like, say, the drow where you can actually get by without being a cruel sadist yourself and just turn into a punching bag -- if you don't become a cruel sadist in DE society, you will also become a punching bag (and likely torture victim) for others, but in addition to that your very soul will be slowly drained into the Warp.

Reading up on Death Jesters, I suppose this is one Harlequin role that would be vaguely familiar and thus attractive for DE, yet still it seems .. unlikely to me that blood-crazed DE sadists would suddenly drop the act and join a Harlequin troupe just like that. What would they have to gain, what would they lose ...

What makes you think the Harlequins aren't cruel sadists? They just got better things to do than play Saw with the Monkeigh.

So you are this Deldar sadist guy happily torturing away, except you're not that happy. You can feel She who thrists slowly creeping up on you. And then one day you see a harlequin show and these guys tell you there's a better way than hiding in commoragh bottle feeding agony to slaanesh. thet tell you: join the dance and lets kick some chaos ass. And you get this cool wrist tube with the wire and the rending and the turning people's inside into soup... and you decide to join...

Actualy I don't think eldar join up with the harlequins just like that, they are eldar after all. I guess it's a massive soulchanging decision to join a troupe, wich is possibly why relativly few eldar join them.

On a sidenote, Harlequins have already been creepy in the earliest books; at least I cannot really see notable changes to more current material. Aside from already including all the stuff about Solitaire-Slaanesh, the violence and the frightening appearance, the 2E codex says Death Jester armour is made of the bones of the wearer's predecessor! >_>

That bones thing always seemed like something the space marines would do...

There's this bit about one troupe that likes to trick monkeigh into fighting chaos so it leaves them totally effed up. Sorta like Eldar swordwind armies turing on imperial allies after the main threat is gone, but worse...

I'll freely admit that I am not as knowledgeable on Eldar as I am on the human factions of the game, though, so maybe I'm just missing something. From what I've read, Dark Eldar quite simply seem to be "too far gone", psychologically speaking.

I think it is a cultural thing more than anything else. I believe the Eldar trilogy had an example of a Commorite joining a craftworld aspect shrine, for example. And the Harlequins must have some pretty weird initiations, considering how most Eldar don't exactly trip over themselves at a chance to free themselves from their soul nemesis they spend so much time and energy avoiding... There should be a reason harlequins are so rare, after all.

My personal interpretation is that there are harlequins who were recruited from every part of the Eldar race - Craftworlds, Dark, exodites, corsairs, etc - but they are a group of their own. If you have joined the troupe, the past as a waitress in the Craftworld cantina, misanthropic ranger or the infamous failed succubus of the Withered Husk Cult may as well have happened to some other person.

Anyway, sisters - while I imagine just handing them over to a RT would be rather unusual, seconding them might not be. For example, a Rogue Trader whose ship houses a great relic of the faith (enshrined in an auto-temple, for example) or a legendary missionary could petition and receive a small security detail of battle sisters. A few sisters hospitaller or dialogous may be attached to a ship that has to explore and catalogue an uncharted region in order to better protect the bodies and souls of the voidsmen (and report on the findings), and the sisters of the Ordo Famulous spend a lot of time indoctrinating and educating the next generation of imperial nobility - such as, for example, the children of a Rogue Trader who would rather keep the future of their line close at hand.Actually having a sister "given over" would be pretty rare and would likely involve both a perceived failing on her and and a diplomatic coup for the trader.

For example, a veteran sister who survived a myriad of fights and had to barely be pieced together with implants and miracles of arcane science by the ship's genetor may be shunned as she returns more machine than woman to her order, and quietly assigned "in perpetuity" to the Trader. Or perhaps she returns with sunken eyes from things not even one such as her was meant to see, and in a hollow voice tells her Superior of things that even the senior Sister blanches at. It would not do to have her publicly admonished for not dying in the fight, but her state is "unseemly" to her superiors. Tales of her doings may still be told to the initiates, with the implication that she gave her life for the Emperor. In truth, she is out there yet, smiting the enemy with bolter and chainsword every time the heretic, demon or xenos raises their head. Perhaps she is bitter, perhaps she is empty inside and only lives for battle, perhaps she is even secretly relieved.

Alternatively, a Rogue Trader may come to investigate a distress call to find out that a small mission or strikeforce is almost wiped out and recover one or several unconscious sisters. By the grace of the Emperor and with the miracles of the Omnissiah, they somehow manage to survive, but the destruction of their mission is already recorded and accounted for. The closest cloister of their order is sectors away, and anything barring a few personal effects is destroyed - so it might be difficult to even prove their allegiance or identity. In the bureaucratic morass, the offer to stay as, say, guardians of a holy relic may be hard to pass by.

That bones thing always seemed like something the space marines would do...

Well, I suppose it may not be part of the Codex Astartes, but personally, I could perfectly imagine a couple Chapters who have a tradition like that! I mean, the Armageddon 3 website suggests that the Black Dragons Space Marines deliberately tamper with their geneseed to encourage the growth of bony extensions that pierce through their warriors' skins - taking bones from a fallen Brother Marine and honouring him by fashioning them into wargear, much like the Imperium as a whole does when it comes to servoskulls - seems pretty tame in comparison!

It would not do to have her publicly admonished for not dying in the fight, but her state is "unseemly" to her superiors. Tales of her doings may still be told to the initiates, with the implication that she gave her life for the Emperor. In truth, she is out there yet, smiting the enemy with bolter and chainsword every time the heretic, demon or xenos raises their head.

I like this idea. It's a bit similar to the "Space Marines on a Quest of Honour", but technically speaking, why should the same approach not be a valid "excuse" for such a PC?

GW's own d100 game has a Sister Anastasia who roams the galaxy led by mysterious visions, assassinating various people with a holy weapon she took from the body of a Living Saint. Granted, she has voluntarily exiled herself as a Repentia (which is why I've recommended this option on page 1), but even though not taking the Oath of Repentance seems unlikely, I suppose it would be too much to say that I'd consider it entirely impossible ...

... especially if the Sister has a clear goal for her mission, so that she could return to the bosom of the convent after completion. Permanent exile, I think would be most suitable only for Repentia who are destined to become martyrs, finding absolution on the battiefield, but a Space Marine-style quest could see a Sister provided with an unusual amount of freedom and independence with which to pursue her goal. Like Seraphim Aescarion in Ben Counter's Daemonblood, who was allowed (albeit under Inquisitorial request) to roam freely for several years in pursuit of a CSM Champion whose fall to Chaos she had witnessed.

Granted, that still doesn't really deal with OP's stated goal of an ex -Sister who somehow failed in her duties yet was neither executed nor became a Repentia. Then again, perhaps there is no reason why this Corianna must truly be an ex-Sister, instead of just a wandering one?

The "Legends of the Expanse" fan supplement includes character creation rules for Sisters in Rogue Trader.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/130154-legends-of-the-expanse-rt-ascension/

There are plenty of reasons for a full Sister to be on board a RT vessel. Don't forget the minor orders, Famulous are advisors to nobility and everyone loves medics.

That would have been my recommendation if the OP wasn't looking for a combat character. I've seen both in games and they were done quite well.

I may be going slightly against canon on this, but I see the Imperium as a pretty huge place where exceptions happen every now and then. First, going by the DH progression, it could be the PC never fully completed her vows, for some reason quitting before the last step. She was an initiate, but did not make the ranks as a full sister, whether due to a failing on her part or due to an irregularity within the order - e.g. the mission gets nearly wiped out due to fighting or accident and is merged with another mission, but for some reason initiates are not taken - either due to a religious reason or a purely bureaucratic one.

Alternatively, it could be that for whatever reasons the sister is exiled rather than killed or sent as repentia. Yes, sisters are supposed to be blindly fanatical, and their superiors even more so, but ultimately even a canoness is not a mindless robot and can make a decision that is not 100% in agreement with how things usually get done, especially on small, far-off missions that do not have the connections or amenities of Ophelia VII. Perhaps the sister in question comes from a noble family (powerful enough to be able to call in a favor with the Ecclesiarchy and act through them), or there are some very special circumstances. Naturally, we are not talking about a sister falling to Chaos here. Perhaps there was a scandal or a spectacular failure that marred either her personal honor or that of the mission, and the rules do not actually proscribe either death nor the fate of a repentia for such a case. Perhaps her dismissal was couched in other terms but still seen as an exile, e.g. she was ordered to found a mission in a middle of nowhere without any support or the right to recruit novices. Perhaps the mission leadership was not in agreement how best to handle her case and she had supporters who pushed for a "loophole", so that she can do the Emperor´s work in another way (and longer). If her misstep was not major enough and it impressed a Rogue Trader with sufficient influence in the Ecclesiarchy, I can definitely see an "agreement" where she is exiled in a way that she may serve the Emperor on the RT ship, rather than in a repentia band.

I may be going slightly against canon on this, but I see the Imperium as a pretty huge place where exceptions happen every now and then.

Only against GW codex material -- it is worth pointing out that the very creators of this setting did not intend for a fixed "canon" to hamper the artistic freedom of other writers or the gamers. What you suggested could well be the plot of an official Black Library novel, for example, so it all depends on interpretation and preferences.

I may be going slightly against canon on this, but I see the Imperium as a pretty huge place where exceptions happen every now and then. First, going by the DH progression, it could be the PC never fully completed her vows, for some reason quitting before the last step. She was an initiate, but did not make the ranks as a full sister, whether due to a failing on her part or due to an irregularity within the order - e.g. the mission gets nearly wiped out due to fighting or accident and is merged with another mission, but for some reason initiates are not taken - either due to a religious reason or a purely bureaucratic one.

Alternatively, it could be that for whatever reasons the sister is exiled rather than killed or sent as repentia. Yes, sisters are supposed to be blindly fanatical, and their superiors even more so, but ultimately even a canoness is not a mindless robot and can make a decision that is not 100% in agreement with how things usually get done, especially on small, far-off missions that do not have the connections or amenities of Ophelia VII. Perhaps the sister in question comes from a noble family (powerful enough to be able to call in a favor with the Ecclesiarchy and act through them), or there are some very special circumstances. Naturally, we are not talking about a sister falling to Chaos here. Perhaps there was a scandal or a spectacular failure that marred either her personal honor or that of the mission, and the rules do not actually proscribe either death nor the fate of a repentia for such a case. Perhaps her dismissal was couched in other terms but still seen as an exile, e.g. she was ordered to found a mission in a middle of nowhere without any support or the right to recruit novices. Perhaps the mission leadership was not in agreement how best to handle her case and she had supporters who pushed for a "loophole", so that she can do the Emperor´s work in another way (and longer). If her misstep was not major enough and it impressed a Rogue Trader with sufficient influence in the Ecclesiarchy, I can definitely see an "agreement" where she is exiled in a way that she may serve the Emperor on the RT ship, rather than in a repentia band.

It's a bit more the first option; she WAS trained to be an Adepta Sororitas, but she never completed the training, took the final vows, and received her armor, weapons, and the Emperor's Blessings. The problem, at least maybe for some, is the way she breaks some of the grimdark, and a bit of the canon, as it is. The Adepta Sororitas is, in my opinion, far too large to have its Sisters of Battle ALL trained by the Schola Progenium, especially if they are ALSO training EVERY Storm Trooper, ALL the Commissars, and what not, so I sort of imagine that, like the IG, they have varying institutions that provide their troops, as they are allowed to have them, and she might've been more along the lines of someone who saw in them what she wanted to be, and "enlisted", rather than just being another of the Imperium's countless orphans, raised by the mechanical, nigh-soulless Schola. Sort of a bit like, and your mileage on this analogy WILL vary, there are Storm Troopers. There are also Kasrkin, possibly the best IG there are, body for body, whom are practically Storm Troopers, but raised by Humans, by people who value their people, rather than the Schola that, I still whine, are a bit too quick to "you're one of them , now." BAM!!! for my taste. Her problem was, much like the Jedi of Star Wars, she was maybe a bit too old, too set in her beliefs, to adapt to their way of thinking, and couldn't do it, so she quit. The Imperium needs such Storm Troopers, Commissars, and Sisters as the Schola would make, but I choose to believe they can't ALL come from there; the books would get pretty boring, at that rate.

As for her humanity, I tend to write some of my Koronus stuff from the position that, in some ways, the beliefs of the Imperium are a bit new, there. For a long time, there haven't been missions out, preaching the Divine Truth of the Ecclesiarchy, and so some of my people out there didn't grow up indoctrinated to HATE so many things, like seemingly less malevolent mutants. Look at Footfall. It's almost close enough to the Imperium as to owe rent, yet there are numerous xenos walking around, NUMEROUS rogue psykers, such as Lady Ash, or the Seven Sisters, and all, and most of the people there do just accept it as a part of their day-to-day lives, like it or hate it. Aedan and his crew are mostly from out there, never truly growing up in Imperial space, even if many of them do consider themselves "devout" (though more the way many non-clerics do, in D&D), and the coming Imperium can threaten that later, if they ever really create the Koronus Sector. So here, I had a young woman who witnessed the Sisters of Battle do some great thing, and thought she'd like to be a part of that, but didn't, necessarily, do her due diligence in researching what all the Sisters did, in service to the Ecclesiarchy, and sometimes the Ordo Hereticus. Once she found out, she tried to make herself like them, but couldn't. Later, she found an even more crazy group, the Red Consecrators, hoping that, if something really was wrong with her, maybe they could get her to change (smaller group, more focus, even more fanatical views). It also failed, as her humanity and compassion were stronger traits. When she finally met Qel-Drake, who saved her from getting shanghaied into something terrible (he obviously was unaware she didn't really need saving ), she saw a man with a whole ship of people who needed someone, and a captain who, like her, had an unnaturally strong attachment to his people, and a desire to maintain their well being, rather than spend and lend them, for his own profit. Of course, Qel-Drake is a goof, and his crew go into some strange places, meet some strange people, so she still finds ways to strain her faith in them, and the Emperor's "test" for her, but she's happy, and so long as Qel-Drake doesn't lead his ship to damnation, she can stay that way. If his tendencies ever DO lead to something terrible, she is probably able to kill him, should it be needed.

Okay, that's a big block of text, now. I think I'm done.

Lynata -

" GW's own d100 game "

what does that phrase mean ?

The Adepta Sororitas is, in my opinion, far too large to have its Sisters of Battle ALL trained by the Schola Progenium, especially if they are ALSO training EVERY Storm Trooper, ALL the Commissars, and what not, so I sort of imagine that, like the IG, they have varying institutions that provide their troops, as they are allowed to have them, and she might've been more along the lines of someone who saw in them what she wanted to be, and "enlisted", rather than just being another of the Imperium's countless orphans, raised by the mechanical, nigh-soulless Schola. Sort of a bit like, and your mileage on this analogy WILL vary, there are Storm Troopers.

For what it's worth, the Shira Calpurnia Arbites novels actually have the Sororitas recruit from outside the Schola, too; at least "Enforcer" briefly mentions how a noble daughter ran away from her family to join the local convent. So there is an officially licensed precedent for something like that.

The numbers of the various organisations likewise depend heavily on where you look. GW's own material makes it seem quite plausible; there's fewer Sisters than Space Marines, only 1-3 Commissars on average per IG regiment, and there used to be only a single Storm Trooper regiment with 10,000 men in it (of note, however, the 7E Codex Tempestus Scions has retconned this into several regiments).

It is mostly licensed material, in particular some Black Library novels, that have inflated these numbers, which would then of course also evoke the impression that they'd require more recruits. This has been retconned even within Dark Heresy itself; the DH1 core rulebook mentions the presence of 50 Battle Sisters throughout the entire Calixis sector, and even this is a recent development that has caused some local nobles to worry. When FFG took over and wrote Blood of Martyrs, suddenly those numbers centuplicated to around 5,000. If we were to go by codex fluff, that is about one fifth of the entire Major Orders Militant, who for some reason have all converged on this one sector.

Different writers, different ideas. The same goes for players, so as long as your group is on board with it ... it's your game!

I still object the notion that GW's version of the Sisters makes for boring books, though. I enjoyed Daemonifuge, I enjoyed Faith & Fire, I enjoyed Hammer & Anvil, and I enjoyed Daemonblood. And none of these novels contradicted Schola indoctrination.

That said, of course "boring" is a very subjective term. For me, it would be boring if the Sororitas (or the Space Marines, for what it's worth) were like people from next door. That is something you've got local warrior cults for.

" GW's own d100 game "

what does that phrase mean ?

In 2001, Games Workshop published "Inquisitor", a product they've called a "narrative wargame" because it was a weird mixture between RPG and Tabletop because it still used miniatures and was focused on combat encounters, but at the same time also employed RPG-style skills and talents and stuff. Much like Dark Heresy & co, it also used a d100, and there's even a whole range of Skills and Talents they share.

There are also some glaring differences between these games, though. Most notably that Inquisitor went for a "universal rulebook" with rules that would apply to all sorts of characters, rather than splitting it up between normal people, Space Marines, and so on, or how "Inquisitor" had no Unnatural Traits and instead had some characters have stats even beyond 100. Most notably, "Inquisitor" also used a different injury system, where Toughness merely modified how badly you got hurt rather than potentially negating wounds altogether.

I often think I'd like to see a 40k game that combines the best of Dark Heresy and the best of Inquisitor, because both games have a lot of issues, but also a lot of cool ideas, and problems in one game are resolved with different rules in the other.

If you want to take a short glance, here is an archived GW website that still hosts some character archetypes, and Dark Reign hosts a copy of the Thorian Sourcebook , the only supplement ever published for that game. It's pretty interesting stuff!

I think Dark Heresy had sisters who could also take the noble or feral world background, so I imagine there may be cases where missions on far-off and backwards planets could do some of their own recruitment or training rather than wait for reinforcements that may not come in years, if ever. Travel through the warp is not exactly known for its reliability, after all. This is not backed by anything solid in canon that I know of, though.

As for keeping to the grimdark... well, Rogue Trader tends to focus on the, shall we say, less than typical members of humanity. However, keep in mind the Schola Progenium is not an automatic, 100% guaranteed brainwashing, so that every person automatically becomes a perfect Imperial posterboy/girl. Caiaphas Cain got to be a smurfing commisar, after all . The wargame doesn´t focus on this since it focus on the impossibly large big picture where 98.85% is essentially "all" but as I love saying with regards to 40k, a galaxy-spanning imperium is a heck of a large place for exceptions to happen. Someone who wanted to become a SoB but couldn´t pass the oaths is certainly possible - heck, a sister with misgivings towards killing ALL the supposed heretics and somehow managing not to find herself killed, repentia´d or corrupted by Chaos is possible.

Lynata: Apologies. I've certainly never read any of the novels you mentioned, and would not wish to declare them "boring" out of hand. More what I meant was, the way I see the average person raised by the Schola Progenium, they don't seem to me to have what would pan out to a large array of personality quirks, or even options; that's what their upbringing tired to quash. Most of them would be nigh-fearless, nigh-unflinching machines, more focused on getting whatever done, and having no real room for compromise. They might be very adaptable in how they get it done, but they will get it done, whatever terrible thing it might be, no matter the cost. Someone does something wrong, they die (their training showed them that). Someone doesn't believe what you do, they die (their training taught them that). People die, and so long as Humanity survives, those individual losses, not even grains of sand, or drops of water, in the grand scheme of the Imperium, are entirely justified. These aren't people that are likely to second-guess what might be a terrible idea, or accept someone else doing so. A stray group of mutants? Are their mutations specifically keyed to them surviving in some terrible, but needed environmental condition? No? Kill the mutant. There's no reason to let them live. Certainly, I am overgeneralizing a bit, but it often seems to take what others here would refer to as a "special snowflake" of a person to go through that upbringing, reach the end, and still have any ability to laugh, cry, doubt, second-guess, and do anything but what they were programmed to do, and in a universe where, as terrible as some of that programming might seem, it is seen as necessary, and enforced. Again, it's as much my interpretation of things, as anything else.

I think Dark Heresy had sisters who could also take the noble or feral world background

Indeed -- at least the version presented in the Inquisitor's Handbook (it was Feudal world background, though). The version presented in Blood of Martyrs, on the other hand, was Schola-only again -- one of the rare details where BoM was actually closer to the GW codex than the Inquisitor's Handbook.

However, keep in mind the Schola Progenium is not an automatic, 100% guaranteed brainwashing, so that every person automatically becomes a perfect Imperial posterboy/girl. Caiaphas Cain got to be a smurfing commisar, after all .

The descriptions of the Schola Progenium presented in the Ciaphas Cain-novels contradict GW studio material in a number of important details, though. I've expanded on this detail in another post here , if you want to read up on the details.

The wargame doesn´t focus on this since it focus on the impossibly large big picture where 98.85% is essentially "all" but as I love saying with regards to 40k, a galaxy-spanning imperium is a heck of a large place for exceptions to happen.

Well, not if you were to go with GW codex fluff. The Liber Sororitas in WD #292 specifically dealt with this subject, and how the Sororitas manage to be one of the few exceptions to how most of the Imperium operates. You could say that this exception makes exceptions impossible. We have to go deeper!

But in the end, there is no "right" or "wrong" answer here, so no-one should feel pressured to adopt a specific interpretation of the setting over another! The only thing I'd ask of people would be that they ought to know what exactly they want to achieve with their portrayals, and to be aware of how this can change the overall perception and theme of the respective faction -- and to discuss such things with the rest of their group. Because in a game such as this, you're all in it together, and this necessitates a common ground.

More what I meant was, the way I see the average person raised by the Schola Progenium, they don't seem to me to have what would pan out to a large array of personality quirks, or even options; that's what their upbringing tired to quash. Most of them would be nigh-fearless, nigh-unflinching machines, more focused on getting whatever done, and having no real room for compromise.

Ah -- yes, I suppose there is truth to this. After all, that is how organisations such as Space Marine Chapters, the Battle Sisters, or some IG regiments such as the Death Korps end up being capable of doing what they are doing. Still, a more narrow range of personality does not mean they all have to behave like robots, it just means that they are only permitted to develop so far beyond a certain standard. This is how such indoctrination works in the real world, too; sadly we have a lot of examples for this in our history.

These characters will still laugh, they may just have a different humour than normal people. They will still cry, just not for as many things. They will absolutely doubt and second-guess, otherwise there would be much fewer Repentia...

I really think you should try to get an excerpt of Faith & Fire in your hands, just to see in action what I mean when describing these things. The main protagonist is, after all, a bit of a troublemaker, and actually manages to avoid execution only because her Canoness is likewise still a human being who, despite her own indoctrination, still has retained a sense of protectiveness for her fellow Sisters, and thus grants Miriya a minimal degree of leeway.

An exception of sorts that came to be only because both Sister Miriya and Canoness Galatea are not quite as uncompromising as others; a "tricke down" effect that allows someone like Miriya to deviate from the standard even more than her leader. Yet also an exception that still seems to be in line with GW codex background, simply because neither of the characters goes against that material. Thus, the author was clever and found a way to justify Miriya's personality, making her a better (more relateable) protagonist without actually breaking the mold.

Here you go --> http://www.blacklibrary.com/Downloads/Product/PDF/f/faith-fire.pdf

She turned away, and there in the shadows was Sister Iona. Silent, morose Iona, the patterned hood of her red robe forever deepening the hollows of her eyes. Some of the Battle Sisters disliked the woman. Iona rarely showed emotion, never allowed herself to cry out in pain when combat brought her wounds, never raised her voice in joyous elation during the daily hymnals. Many considered her flawed, her mind so cold that it was little more than the demi-machine inside the skull of the servitor at the font. Miriya had once sent two novice girls to chastisement for daring to voice such thoughts aloud. But those who said these things did not know Iona’s true worth. She was as devout a Sororitas as any other, and if her manner made some Sister Superiors reluctant to have her in their units, then so be it. Their loss was Miriya’s gain.

‘How can such things go on, I ask you? The psyker is our mortal enemy–’


Iona’s commander silenced her with a raised hand. ‘The witch is our enemy, Sister. The psyker is a tool. Only the untrained and the wild are a threat to the Imperium.’ Miriya’s eyes narrowed. ‘You have never served as I have, Iona. For two full years I was a warden aboard one of those blighted vessels. On the darkest nights, the things I saw there still haunt me so…’ She forced the memories away. ‘This is how the God-Emperor tests the faithful, Sister. He shows us our greatest fears and has us overcome them.’

The sound of her voice drew the attention of Miriya’s squad as she approached. They did not exchange the curt bows or salutes that were mandatory in other Sororitas units. Sister Miriya kept a relaxed hand on her warriors, preferring to keep them sharp in matters of battle prowess rather than parade ground niceties.

Of course, it still depends on just how far your ideal image differs from what the Sisters in the original material stand for. Stuff like "kill the mutant" and the Sisters not shying back from shooting people is part of what makes them as terrifying as inspiring, and I would argue that making them too ordinary, too human , would take a lot of Grimdark out of the setting, especially once you apply the same thinking to the Space Marines or the Inquisition.

Thanks for the excerpts, I might drift over to Amazon, and see if I can hunt that one down.

And while I totally agree on all the Sisters being too human would hurt the group, that's part of why I only want the one, and why she isn't with them. Like I said, the entire crew of the Exalted Wyrm is, in some ways, a collection of weird little exceptions who can't fit the typical molds the galaxy would have them reside within, and that's what makes them a good fit for that ship; why they thrive there, and reach the extent of their skills they maybe didn't before. The nameless Arch-Militant is probably the least that, while the Void Master quite literally snuck off her own Navy pingship, after a group-battle alongside the Wyrm , because it was a big ship, a powerful vessel, and it would let her see places she might otherwise never go. That she was a great pilot got Qel-Drake to take her on, even if she really didn't care for him, and his "I'm a Rogue Trader" power, and money, allowed him to sort of buy off the Navy, so they wouldn't really care that they lost one pilot, and following him to a party on Scintilla, to spend some of his money, isn't a death sentence. Corianna is our Missionary with a bolter and chainsword, that this page is about. Miri is our young little waif who is in awe of everything, and really doesn't have a role, yet (intentional, as I am more doing this all as a story, and it is told sort of from her perspective), though she is an ever-smiling face, and assists with cooking for the upper echelon of people (the rest of named crew, if you will). She sees Qel-Drake as something like a protective brother, as he saved her from a bit of trouble at home, and loves to see the places they go, sometimes even dragging him along on "shopping runs", to make more things the crew likes. She hopes to learn to fight, so she can protect him, like the others, but hasn't really come into such, yet, and if I could come up with a more official-sounding name for it, I'd be happy, but for now, she is moving in much a way as to become the ship's Steward, where here that means keeping it happy, "alive", and planning for visits of other important people, while making sure the food holds stay full, and of the good things they like (viva la infinite money glitch ), sort of the way Counselor Troy, for instance, would know a lot about many types of people, and advise how to make them feel the most comfortable, at home, and all, keeping morale peaked (not as common in the grimdark 40K, but common enough on this ship). The AdMech, Navigators and Astropaths aboard are pretty typical, since those two types are "special" enough, already, except that I'm currently having the Astropath be rather old, with the long, white, wizard-beard; he served under the prior Lord Qel-Drake, and often tries to remind his new master how things used to be, though the higher likelihood of survival under his current lord is something he quietly enjoys, at his age. It's special little snowflake is how so many of the people we'd see are "a bit different", and how, in the service of the right kind of RT, they can be, and thrive. If it fails, and their actions somehow lead to their demise, it's just one ship gone, to many, and the vultures will surely clean up anything left.

And while I totally agree on all the Sisters being too human would hurt the group, that's part of why I only want the one, and why she isn't with them.

Oh, that was more in reference both to how the character could even develop into such a merciful personality to begin with (apart from the Schola being a rather grim environment, someone who was considered "too soft" for military duties would simply be sent elsewhere to become an Administratum clerk), and to the Sisterhood letting people walk away rather than trying to "fix" them or have them die trying (-> Repentia).

The justifications you proposed would indeed work for the character, but since this kind of treatment also reflects on any other character with a similar past, it would simultaneously make the Schola Progenium and the Sisterhood as a whole seem slightly less hardcore, less Grimdark, at least compared to the material *I* have read, and this in turn affects the image of every Schola graduate and every Battle Sister that might show up later in your game.

That's what I meant earlier with awareness of the consequences. If said consequences are acceptable, however, or actually closer to your interpretation anyways (for example, you've already mentioned that you prefer the version where the Sororitas recruit not only from the Schola), then of course there is no problem at all!

On a sidenote, I also vaguely remember the DH1 Inquisitor's Handbook mentioning something about Sororitas Novices being free to leave the organisation if they so choose, explained by the Sisterhood not wanting anyone who does not wish to be there. Only once they've taken their final vows they would be barred from leaving. So this is another example of a source that might support your interpretation.

In fact, it may well be possible that Dark Heresy in general portrays a version of the Sisters much closer to your preferences than mine -- here, their numbers are much larger (at least ever since BoM), and the Inquisitor's Handbook supplement mentions both voluntary exile as well as non-Schola backgrounds for recruits!

Oh, I'd say that depends on whether you are referring to the ship as a whole (including the crew dregs) or rather just the command crew, meaning the Rogue Trader and their inner circle. It is very much 40k if the latter, for the nobility indeed lives in a different world compared to the common people!

Indeed, I would consider it very twisted (and thus suitable for the setting) if a girl is this innocent and cheerful simply due to being completely oblivious how the other 99% live.

"Let them eat cake!"

.. or, more contemporarily:

Our group currently has a Battle Sister acting as our Missionary, and she's still in the Ordos, because she's part of a group that's trying to cleanse the Koronus Expanse of heresy and spread the Imperial Creed. We're currently working on a small cluster of worlds along these lines, and the general approach our GM has been going with for her is a struggle between her purity of faith and her need to help the Rogue Trader accomplish the overall mission. Because of that, she's been very conflicted with some of the things she sees on the Emperor's Partisan , such as dealing with the Stryxis, the Cold Trade, and other things. My Rogue Trader character has been walking along a thin edge, using his Charm and other Interaction skills to help her go along to get along.

The general goal isn't really to get her to leave the Ordos, but to help her do her job. But, in helping her do her job, she has to somehow resolve to help us do ours, or else leave and find a more pious Rogue Trader to help her and her mission (good luck with that).

We're a poor dynasty, starting out anyway, and our Battle Sister came along about six months ago, after we lost our first Missionary to the Rak'Gol. So this has been a bit of a challenge for us too. But, it's also been nice to have a chick in the group; we've always been stag until she showed up with her group of Sisters in tow. We've already helped her set up a mission on two worlds, and we have plans for establishing one at a third. If she does end up leaving the Ordos, for some reason, she's always welcome on the Partisan .

One of our more interesting sessions had me buy her some very nice clothes for a dinner engagement. I needed a date, and there she was. Had to teach her how to dance, drink some amasec, smile and bat her pretty little eyes at Calligos Winterscale, and jab her in the ribs every now and then to prevent her from snapping the neck of some of the more vile Rogue Traders and Nobles in attendance. Fun, fun.

There's a background package in DH1 called Denounced and Condemned (or something like that) where it is discovered that the sister has "witch sight." They are generally tossed out of their order or killed. That's an excellent place to start.

If you also want to keep your game in line with GW's fluff on the Sororitas, it'd be prudent to think about just how the character would have gained this ability. In the codex, it is said that the Schola also checks the genetics of all orphans to prevent just that from happening, so "late bloomers" shouldn't really exist (the Inquisitor game's rules on SoB rule it out completely).

But I suppose you could write up an event where the character got dragged into the Warp or in some other way changed/mutated fundamentally even though they were initially pure? Also, needless to say you should consider a good explanation for just how this character was freed. DH1 assumes that an Inquisitor would intervene, but with RT, you'd probably have to go the indirect route and call in favours with said Inquisitor or an influential cleric. Or better yet, have an Inquisitor the RT knows save this condemned ex-Sister because he/she, who is a psyker themselves, does not believe killing her would be "right", and then drop her off at the RT's ship because she's of no use to the Inquisitor in her broken mental state. Like some kind of reverse-favour: "I know you're busy, but please take care of her. I don't know where else she could go" ...?

You'd effectively end up with an ex-Sororitas without her signature gear (as, needless to say, she would have been stripped of it the moment she was incarcerated) and in a crisis of faith (considering that she'd be puzzled as to why the Emperor would have "cursed her" after a lifetime of loyal service). Resolving the former with equivalent replacements would be merely a matter of Acquisition Tests, but the latter would undoubtedly involve a lot of roleplaying. If done right, you could end up with a potent militant who is determined to seek repentance for her "sins".

I don't think she'd ever be able to use Acts of Faith again, though.

But that's just my interpretation.