Okay, I have a new character at my table playing a Sisters of Battle of the Ordos Militant. She wants to know more about playing this character.

This is the first one I've admitted to the table, and I'm excited, to be sure. But I need to play this right. I realize she's basically a nun, but what are her duties?

What are her Obligations?

Let me put it this way: We're mostly Catholics playing this game. We find this game amusing, a twisted version of Catholicism gone somewhat insane, but we love it all the same. We are looking for things that give the Sister of Battle some gravitas, prayers, things that she must do in order to be who she is. I know there is a novel out there, but I'm not aware of it at the moment. What I want to do is make an adventure that makes her abilities not only useful, but downright essential, and I want to do the role justice.

I'd love to hear all of your thoughts.

Thanks!

Hey there!

It just so happens I'm reading those novels now. Here they are:

Faith & Fire by James Swallow
Hammer & Anvil by James Swallow
Enforcer by Matthew Farrer (The first book contains several of Arbitor Calpurnia's interactions with the Sororitas)

One thing I've noticed is that The Sororitas tend to have a smug superiority towards non-Adeptus. Even most of the other Adeptus receive a degree of scorn or derision at times. (Astartes being the exception) Amongst the ecclesiarchy it seems there is a severe conflict of confidence and humility. The higher the rank you are the more humble you attempt to be to show your piety, and yet the more you have to command and interact with the higher orders of the Ecclesiarchy.

From the fluff I've read it is a rare Sororitas that will question any other member that is directly over them. There's an ingrained obedience. (probably from their days in the Schola Progenia) They often times find the local methods of worshipping the Emperor quaint, but aren't likely to interfere except at the highest levels of barbarism and savagery.

The prayers and rites are similar to Catholicism. Latin is replaced with High Gothic. If you're familiar with catholic sacraments and ceremony then I'm pretty sure you can imagine the details inside of the cathedrals. Imagine if your priest was a little more Fire & Brimstone, and prone to fits of violent zeal.

A Sister's entire existence revolves around three things, and three things only: Prayer, Training, Battle.

The specific duties of such a character would depend a lot on her position, as well as the tasks her local convent has committed itself to (such as guarding a shrine or escorting pilgrims). Since I assume you are looking for stuff for the character to do during "downtime" whilst being with the other Acolytes, however, I will only elaborate on daily rituals and general expectations.

The Ecclesiarchy does have a number of holy days, and the Adepta Sororitas seem to "celebrate" them by fasting. For a Sisterhood character, it might be an interesting trait to occasionally decline food she is offered, stating that today is the Feast of [insert random name] and she's not allowed. Perhaps even suggesting that the other characters should do likewise, always reminding them of the price of purity and how it would do their immortal souls good!

Furthermore, as an extension on the fasting bit, the Adepta Sororitas are generally big on the idea of "purification by pain" and general humility. The tabletop's 3rd edition rulebook contained a small snippet that listed such fun pastimes as naked vigils on cold stone floor or the wearing of hair shirts. The Canoness in that short story even used to write with a barbed pen, constantly injuring bloodying her fingers. Whilst the latter possibly takes it a bit far, it does well to exemplify the Sisters' general mindset that "the purpose of life is to suffer, for in suffering, we are one with the Emperor". It's all a very obvious allusion to the Flagellant movement. Fortunately, there is even an eponymous talent in Dark Heresy, and whilst I would not consider it a must-have for Sororitas characters (I would actually expect a "proper Sister" to flagellate, but without mechanical repercussions, so to me the talent basically represents "the next level" where a character gains bonuses and penalties out of excessive habit) it surely is something to consider. Either way, dropping a few hints that the character is regularly chastising her flesh as a daily ritual and/or as a penance for (perceived or real) failure might be a good addition to the role as well.

Also, as already mentioned at the beginning of this post. Prayers. Lots of prayers. You can never have enough prayers. Litanies should flow from a Sister's lips almost as if they were common speech (because for her, they are). I feel it would truly lend a Sororitas character more weight if the other players are reminded of her devout nature in this way. The most obvious means to do so would be to drop a quick prayer in the midst of combat, and whilst you should be perfectly alright making up your own ideas, a few prayers have been printed over the years in various codices and rulebooks. The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer from Black Library also has an entire section for short and easy-to-memorize Imperial prayers at the back; I have adopted a few from there myself as I was roleplaying a Sororitas.

Sisters apparently also like their daily routine a lot. For example, the article on Rhinos in WD #269 contained a short story about a Sororitas heroine whose unit was travelling in a convoy of Rhinos to evacuate an important relic from its shrine to the local spaceport to save it from a Waaagh. They had stopped by the roadside and disembarked for morning prayers when they were jumped by Ork Kommandos, the Battle Sisters obviously unprepared for this disturbance.

I haven't finished Enforcer yet, but as a Sisters fluff-nut I've already come across things that irked me slightly for deviating from GW's vision. It probably wouldn't be apparent to most people as it's really just minor details and not as bad as in other Black Library novels such as Redemption Corps or the Cain books, but since I don't know what is yet to come I am a bit sceptical when it comes to recommendations. The novels I found most fitting as a portrayal of the "SoB mindset" are indeed those of James Swallow (Faith & Fire, Hammer & Anvil, Red & Black). They include the usual amount of artistic license, but nothing that really changes the way they act. Other examples I'd like to add would be Ben Counter's short story Daemonblood, as well as Kev Walker's graphic novel Daemonifuge.
Of course, since we're talking 40k - a franchise that has little consistency between the various origins of its publications - everything is just a matter of interpretation, but I'm just going to assume that most people would center their perception on how things were introduced in the official codices and rulebooks.

Other than that, however, I greatly agree with the post of IdOfEntity. It almost seems as if the higher ranks of the Sororitas are more susceptible to a certain degree of "erosion" of their faith, in that only the Canonesses are actually privy to the knowledge of how the greater Imperium works (including the dirty deals) that may result in the character either becoming very pragmatic or even more of a fanatic, whereas the rank-and-file Battle Sister is pretty much an indoctrinated tool that does not know a lot of what's going on beyond the walls of her convent. The Inquisitor's Handbook represents this well with the social interaction penalty for Schola Progenium characters.

If there is interest in this, I could also try to upload a wordfile copy of the Liber Sororitas from WD #293 that goes into some detail regarding the craziness of some of the Sisters' rules.

To finish with, here's a small quote from the aforementioned story Daemonblood, which I think does very well at representing both the good and the bad side of a Sister's indoctrination and behaviour:

"The girl I can understand. Her mind is most infertile. What has she ever questioned? They teach her and she believes."
-- Daemon Prince Parmenides, facing Sororitas Seraphim Aescarion and Ultramarines Sergeant Castus, only managing to corrupt the latter

Good input, Lynata!

I can offer a few more points

1) The general populace of the Imperium have very little understanding of the internal rites and habits of the Order Militants. Some worlds will have had none. I am sure there are feral worlds, mining satellites, and voidships that have not been graced by the presence of the Order Militants in many years if at all. Many Imperial citizens that are aware of the Sororitas have huge gaps in their knowledge of them. Few would know of the ceremonies or judgments involved in becoming a Repentia. Lurid and perverted rumors are abound concerning their all-female cadre and there place in the church. Your NPC interactions are ripe for misinterpretation. (A great thing)

2) Knowledge is a curse, Curiosity a weakness, and ignorance the greatest freedom a servant of the Emperor may possess. A Sister of Battle who works for a radical inquisitor will have a difficult time if their knowledge about arcane subjects advances. Forbidden Lore can take it's toll. A learned sister with a proper level of piety may need to repent for the crime of knowing. Lynata did a great job of outlining the kinds of penance they may seek. The barbed quill is a particular favorite of mine. To me it symbolizes the punishment of committing knowledge to permanence (since most records are maintained indefinitely) and such an act should be done in contrition and sufferring lest hubris influence you.

3) Learn as much as you can about the different orders. Order of the Sacred Rose, Order of Our Martyred Lady, etc. I don't remember them all, but the most popular ones are listed in the Codex: Witchhunters. (Warhammer 40k: 4th Edition?) I have a copy at home and I'll type up some additional information if you like.

4) This is obvious, but Heresy requires punishment. Imagine that Guardsman over there makes a careless remark about the fell campaign he's committed to. "The Emperor better remember whose side he's on." The guardsman muttered it under his breath. Does this guardsman deserve punishment? What level of punishment? Does the sister mete it out, or does she utilize the soldier's superiors? Are they complicit in allowing such remarks? Just how zealous is this Sororitas? What constitutes Heresy?

IdOfEntity said:

Your mentioning of the rumours had me remember that scene in Faith & Fire. Quite comprehensible, and as you say a lot of potential!

IdOfEntity said:

Also, some of the Orders are known for the particulara skill of a certain unit. This is actually fairly new GW fluff only published with one of the recent issues of White Dwarf (following the release of their 5E Minidex), but of the aforementioned Order of the Bloody Rose, its Dominion squads have been highlighted for the particular ferocity of their assaults.

IdOfEntity said:

• Communique from General Kurov to Commissar Yarrick, including a remark about Adepta Sororitas purges affecting allied Imperial forces
• Communique from Canoness Carmina, concerning her Sisters' experience fighting alongside the Flesh Tearers Space Marine Chapter

Good thread (I'm reading Hammer & Anvil now). I have a question, as long as people are on the subject. I'd like to run a Ordos Hereticus campaign and allow the SoBs as a career.

What does "Supine" income mean? I couldn't find it in the core book or IH. Thanks!

I believe Supine income is what an Imperial Psyker earns, right?

Personally, I wouldn't allow a Sister of Battle to earn an income at all. She does not have private property. Anything she owns - even the Sister herself - is property of the Imperium. On the flipside, this may allow the Sister to keep some gear she was issued (case by case basis) when transferring from one position to another, as it technically doesn't change hands.

Something I really liked in the novel Faith & Fire was the idea of a form of "Imperial scrip". This is/was actually a real world practice for military forces and even some private companies - it just has fallen out of favour, so it may not be well known nowadays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip

Transferred to 40k, the basic idea is that a Sister could be issued a number of chits ("good for 1 hot meal" etc) with an Adeptus Administratum stamp, so they'd technically be valid all over the Imperium. Merchants could be forced by Imperial law to accept this scrip, and would be able to trade them for local currency at the governor's palace, where scribes would prorate this against the tithe.

Or a more grimdark version: Perhaps the exchange rate of scrip vs Thrones would be real crappy for the merchant, but he has no other choice than to accept them either way. No-one else would voluntarily want these chits, and since the merchant is no direct Imperial servant the law wouldn't apply to him buying something. He could still go to the administratum office to get some coins out of it, but the queue in front of the building is known to take hours (and it gets longer and longer, but at the end of the day it is broken up by Arbites in riot gear). Also, since the tithe is set so arbitrarily, no-one actually cares about the scrip, so the scribes just burn the chits after handing out a meager compensation to whoever brought them in.

Might make for some interesting RP opportunities when dealing with grumpy merchants not too happy to have such a customer - or at the very least would test the trader's faith and respect against his greed (or needs, if he is already poor and has a dozen kids to feed). Could be cool to see how a Sister Sororitas reacts to such a situation if she notices it. Humbly backing down from her purchase and preferring to fast, or perhaps rather becoming outraged and claiming that the merchant should feel honoured to service one of His Daughters?

Even more potential if the group is undercover and the scrip either becomes useless, or the party has to assume roles that wouldn't make spending scrip suspicious (such as the party acting like Navy crewmen on shore leave).

Lynata said:

Neat ideas. How would you handle a Sororitas PC wanting to upgrade her gear?

bighara said:

Downtime in-between missions, when the character returns to her convent and pursues her ordinary duties. The Sister would become more valued by her superiors over time, thus allowing her access to more equipment. "Blood of Martyrs" features a simple table for that, tying various SoB-specific items to levels. It's not quite what I'd have done (I have been working on a point-based requisitioning system some time back … would have to check if I can dig it up again), but it does its job. The GM could simply hand out appropriate upgrades in order to have the character keep up with the rest of the group (at later levels).

As a secondary source of equipment, there'd be other Imperial organisations. The cell's Inquisitor might lend or even gift precious wargear from his personal vaults. A Cardinal or an Imperial noble might give her something for an impressive display of martial prowess in service to the Imperium (and/or the NPC). That sort of stuff. To preserve appearances, this should not be pieces of armour - but rather weapons, trinkets, tools. Stuff that could be incorporated into the Sister's convent's own armoury without much issue. I recall an old piece of fluff once mentioning that the Sororitas occasionally acquire more exotic wargear in this way.

Clothing for cover identities could be purchased out of the cell's Inquisitorial accounts, and be discarded later on (donated to the Ecclesiarchy?). Ammunition should be available at about every IG garrison or Arbites precinct-fortress, who should be happy to share, provided that this single Sororitas is not asking for too much.

Ultimately, the character should always retain her characteristic armour (as long as she is a true Sororitas), but have more freedoms regarding various weapons. She'd be unlikely to gather much outside the standard SoB weapons, but one or two rare guns or blades earned as a reward from some outsice source (very fitting after a particularly long assignment with an epic conclusion) should be no problem.

Obviously, Sororitas characters are somewhat limited in what they can upgrade when - but that's part of the deal and the price you pay for easier access to the Orders Militant standard gear.

New post since edit isn't possible anymore.

Found a version of the list I've been working on back then:

[clickety click]

Mind you, that's just a WIP fragment - and actually an outdated version, too. Just ignore the specifics like the tiers and some of the gear that doesn't actually exist in any of the FFG books. This is merely meant to convey a rough idea of what I was going for, perhaps to inspire coming up with a system like that yourself, should you approve of the basic concept.

Previous posts have covered some of the Sororitas' duties quite well but i thought id throw in a new point.

Some spoilers from the novel Legion Of The Damned follow

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Within the book there is a shrine world, housing the remains of an Ecclesiarchal figure dead many millenia. The shrine world is essentially a giant graveyard with most of the planets infrastructure being grave diggers, priests and the like. During the passage of a warp tainted comet past the system, a large number of Khornate followers, including marines, descend upon the planet to slaughter everything.
Of course there are the usual pious warriors that stand up to the threat, though many succumb to the bloodlust, and it is as always the astartes that show up to defend the planet that hold the line, but there is a small conclave of battle sisters that are stationed around the shrine containing the remains that do not baulk in their duty even when faced with a daemonic incursion, the dead returning to life and essentially all life being snuffed out on planet in an orgy of blood and destruction. These few sisters refuse to aid the humans and Astartes on the planet and instead guard the shrine, stating that it is their duty, their orders are their only concern and the protection of the relics within the shrine their only purpose in life.

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Of course once their tour of duty there was over they would have been sent off to some other place of importance to the Ecclesiarchy or perhaps taken part in a campaign somewhere, but for the very deadly moment all they are concerned with is that they continue their duty in the eyes of the Emperor and do not fear the chaos warriors and daemons, and most importantly shred every last drop of their blood in defence of object of their guard duty.
In essence, Sisters of Battle are fanatically devout to the last. They are almost 100% immune to the corruption and taint of chaos (only a couple of stories have ever suggested they arent) through their sheer willpower and absolute devotion to and faith in the God Emperor of mankind. They are harshly trained to levels on a par with the most elite human soldiers in the Imperium, and outfitted with pretty much the pinacle of human level equipment (ignoring Astartes that is), these being Power Armour to shield them in their duties, blessed Bolt, Flame and Melta weapons to deliver the Emperors wrath upon His enemies.

A player of a Sister of Battle should be confident in their decisions, to the point of never questioning a course of action they have decided upon or been ordered upon by a superior. They should have no mercy or pity for the weak, corrupt or sinful, often to the point of execution on the spot. They will grate on the nerves of most 'upstanding Imperial citizens', especially Scum, Assasin, Guardsmen characters but most of all any sanctioned psykers in the group. Sisters have a blind hatred of witches and heretics and often has it come up in my games that a sister has put her bolt pistol to a psykers temple and ordered them to cease their witchery or recieve the Emperors judgement.

Great addition. The bit from the novel certainly is inspiring.

Some stuff I'd add:

Kasatka said:

Kasatka said:

Maybe it'd be best to consider treating it like some sort of "reality shock". Battle Sisters, much like Space Marines, are propaganda figures hyped by their status in (or rather away from) general society and, in case of the Sisters, the role the Ecclesiarchy occupies in the lives of just about every single Imperial citizen. The average populace does not get to see a Battle Sister at all - and if it does, it will be only as a distant, angelic figure clad in richly ornamented armour and bearing a stern face whilst escorting some important official or standing guard at a holy relic. No talking, no insight into her thoughts or personality. The Sister is a symbol of the church rather than an individual person. This, of course, would change when she operates in a cell of Acolytes.

Having Battle Sisters around is as much a blessing as it is a curse, for in spite of their combat prowess and altruism, they adhere to a rigid code of expectations that few other people would be able to meet - invariably inviting closer scrutiny, thinly-veiled criticism or perhaps even hostility, the less devout that Acolyte the Sister would compare herself to is. On the other hand, Sororitas are rather predictable, which also makes them reliable. Their fervour and sheer determination is able to wash away the doubts of her companions, raising morale in times of crisis and keeping people focused on the matter at hand rather than giving into despair. Again I'd point towards the aforementioned Armageddon 3 website which holds examples of both situations - Guardsmen morale being lifted by Sisters standing their ground, as well as Guardsmen morale decreasing by the very same Sisters purging supposed heretics within the ranks of their allies just because there was nothing else to do. Bottom line: Keep the Sisters busy, lest they start looking for enemies elsewhere!

And last but not least, the aforementioned determination is, of course, quite able to be a hindrance at times as well. A Sister Militant has a rather narrow and straightforward worldview and - unlike a Sister Sabine - isn't prone to adapt well to the level of deviousness that may be required in a "cloaks and daggers" game. And sometimes, running from a fight is actually the smarter thing to do.

Once more, a quote to finish my post with:

"By the standards of the 21st century, these girls are fanatical zealots, but in the context of the 41st millennium, they're paragons of virtue whose every action is a manifestation of the divine will of the God-Emperor of Mankind."
-- Andy Hoare & Graham McNeill, Codex Designer Notes, WD #292