Orders Famulous

“Of course, my dear, I bow to your greater knowledge of the particular inclinations of your charge, but I wonder at your naiveté in expressing the view that these will affect our programme in the slightest. Margrave Honorious de Caul will marry the Lady Elissiabetta von Draag, and they will bear children who will serve our divine calling. Their own views are immaterial. There is no more to be said on the matter.”
-Coded correspondence between Sisters of the Order Famulous, Calixis Sector 766.M40
The Order Famulous are chamberlains and advisors to
royalty throughout the Imperium. While they have
traditionally held the official status of a mere ear
whisperer, it is commonly known that the Sisterhood holds
a lot of sway on the worlds where they advise. Where the
Sisters Famulous have worked
over the last several millennia,
tithes have been maintained
or increased, trade has
improved, and in general the
population has fared better
than on other worlds. With such clear evidence
of the benefits they bring, it is no wonder that
the Sisters Famulous are in high demand among
noble families throughout the Imperium.
Novice sisters who show a strong set of
communication skills and a distinct ability to
stay calm under pressure are often drafted
into the Orders Famulous. Unlike
most other Orders in the Sisterhood,
Sororitas in this non-militant role
are trained in critical thinking,
etiquette, and trade on top of their
devotional studies and service. As
they learn, they are sent to noble
houses and trade consortiums to help
guide the nobility. From the noble’s point
of view, the Sister’s role is to help their
house. For the Sisterhood, their efforts are
intended to influence a noble’s decisions so
that his work will help the Imperium as well
as his house. Whether they help broker trade
agreements or ensure a strong marriage union
between two families, the Sisters Famulous
are often found at the side of the decision
makers, offering counsel to keep them
honest and prosperous.
==Famulous in the Calixis Sector==
The sisters of the Order Famulous are a ubiquitous feature of
the households of many noble families of the Imperium.
These black clad Daughters of the Emperor glide silently
through the great manses of the wealthiest and most influential
houses, acting ostensibly as maidservants and chatelaines. Those
sisters who serve in the Calixis Sector are no exception. They
usually commence their service whilst yet young women, acting
as nurses to the newborn infants of the nobility. They ensure
the physical and spiritual development of their charges, quietly
coding lifelong devotion and supplication to the Imperial Creed
into the very souls of the future masters of humanity.
Every noble in the Calixis sector has servants, advisors, sisters,
or sages to guide his decisions. Lesser nobles may hire scholars
or sages, but the elite trust their business dealings to no one
else other than sisters of the Orders Famulous. Canoness Goneril has offered the services of her Order to every major
noble family in the sector as well as many other lesser nobles
and mercantile houses. Very few have refused their services
when offered, as it is a sign of future prosperity. One notable
exception is the recent decline in numbers at the Lucid Palace.
Within the last thirty years, the number of advisors from the
Sisterhood serving Sector Governor Hax and his immediate
subordinates has dropped by a third. While her sisters have
always been politely refused, Goneril has found the emerging
trend very disturbing.
Virtually all the members of House Krin have a Sister Famulous at hand when negotiating and
handling trade, prompting other trading families, such as the
Cestelle Alliance, to do the same. Thus far, no Sororitas sisters
have been seen with members of the DeVayne Incorporation
nor with the Machenko Dynasty, though the aides for those
merchant entities have been no less skilled. The discussions
between DeVayne and House Krin in 813.M41 regarding the
purchase rights of generations of Sepheris Secundus’ serfs
was said to be almost hostile in tone as the advisors almost
broke protocol to speak directly to each other.
As the Calixian nobles under their care mature, they continue
to influence and observe them, whispering words in their ears
behind the scenes as they comb their hair or dress them for a
masked ball. They guide their protégés towards advantageous
marital unions or even certain discreet liaisons. They gradually
increase their sway over the house they serve over the decades,
acting as nurses to the next generation of Calixian nobility, and
corresponding endlessly with other Sisters of their order. They
match-make on behalf of the most powerful individuals in the
sector, creating a network of influential families. They broker
arrangements between the houses, quelling vendettas and feuds.
They are also tremendous diarists, maintaining meticulous
histories of the families they serve, setting out the personality
traits, physical characteristics, spiritual development and genetic
purity of every member of the family in obsessive detail. By the
time a sister of the Calixian Order Famulous reaches her dotage,
she shall often be one of the most influential and powerful
figures in a subsector, a secret manipulator who controls whole
worlds to ensure that they obey the will of the Ecclesiarchy.
Those Calixian nobles who blossom under the Orders
Famulous are an unusual breed, marked at once by all the typical
ruthless overconfidence of the Imperial nobility, yet retaining a
deep reverence for the Creed Imperialis not often found among
their class. They are a fecund group, less prone to the vicious
vendettas of the nobles than most. Their children often display
peculiar oddities: high intelligence, brooding natures, messianic
mental instabilities or uncanny insight. They often rise to high
positions within the Ministorum as Cardinals or Confessors.
What is not commonly known is that the Orders Famulous
serve the Imperium in another way. They keep extensive
records of the bloodlines and mercantile dealings of virtually
every noble family in the Calixis sector. Combined with
the records of the Orders Hospitaller and Dialogous,
Sisters Famulous have access to an exhaustive history
of the noble families in this area of space. Their
knowledge has made them very valuable to Ordo
Hereticus Inquisitors, particularly those of a Thorian
persuasion, as tracing the bloodlines of well-known
heretics has often uncovered leads on much
larger conspiracies.
While the Sisters Famulous try to stay
above the machinations of the political
arenas, they have been occasionally known
to mediate disputes and moderate councils.
Legatine Christal, from the Abbey of the Dawn,
is often away from her Iocanthos fortress and
has been spotted in recent years re-establishing
a mission on Malfi and arranging a marriage
between Friedrich Krin of House Krin and
Josi Cestelle of the Cestelle Alliance on
Scintilla. It is rumored that the Legatine
even officiated at the actual ceremony and
blessed the union on behalf of the Order.
==The Order Sabine==
The Order Sabine is a minor Order of the Adepta Sororitas in the Calixis sector, mostly populated from the ranks of the
Order Famulous. It works hand in hand with the Missionarius Galaxia to prepare worlds long lost to the Imperium for
re-integration. This Process can take generations as Sisters Famulous arrange royal marriages and act as court advisors.
When the Missionarius Galaxia arrives on the world the leadership is primed to simply accept the coming of the Imperial
Creed without struggle.
A Sister of the Order Sabine is effectively a Sister Famulous for game play purposes. With GM permission the
character may exchange Scholastic Lore (Heraldry) for Survival.
==Alternate Career Rank==
To be a Sister Famulous means being exposed to the
licentious ways of the nobility. Though the Sisters rarely
step outside of their official duties, they still find it difficult
to avoid noticing the depravity that entertains the upper
social echelons. They know that they have been deemed
strong enough to withstand the pressures of this duty and
have studied to help those in need of their services. Unlike
other Orders, they are likely to ask questions and listen first
before smiting the unbeliever immediately They typically
wear the armored robes of the Orders Non-militant,
though these are often tailored to reflect local clothing as
befitting their station and duty.
All Starting Skills, Talents, Gear and Wealth listed here
totally replace the Adept Rank 1 starting Skills, Talents, Gear and Wealth.
Starting Rank: Rank 1 (Replaces Rank 1 Adept)
Starting Skills: Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy), Common
Lore (Imperial Creed), Deceive, Literacy, Speak High Gothic,
Speak Low Gothic, Performer (Singer), Scholastic Lore
(Heraldry).
Starting Talents: Air of Authority, Basic Weapon Training
(SP) or Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Pistol Training
(SP), Flagellant.
Starting Gear: Shield Robes , Staff, Chaplet Ecclesiasticus,
Ring of Suffrage, Rule of the Sororitas, Scoriada (flail used for
self-mortification), Stub Revolver (and two reloads).
Requirements: WP 30, FEL 30
Starting Wealth: 120+3d10 Thrones
Monthly Income: Trading Classes
Restrictions: Characters with this alternate career rank
may not purchase Psy Rating advances or any advance that
allows use of psychic powers or sorcery.
==Famulous Protégé Player Characters==
You are the product of noble liaisons ordained and controlled
long before your birth by the machinations of the Orders
Famulous, the most secretive and mysterious of the orders of the
Adepta Sororitas. You have always believed that you were born to
achieve a certain destiny, and that this shall reveal itself to you in
due course. You are marked by a strange mix of bloodlines and
ancestry which has showed itself in strange ways in your nature.
Famulous Protégé Skills
You begin play with Literacy (Int), Speak Language (High
Gothic) (Int) and Common Lore (Imperial Creed) (Int).
Famulous Protégé Traits
Those bred and raised by the Order Famulous are smooth,
devout, well connected and often highly eccentric. You gain
all of the following traits, which should be recorded on your
character sheet.
Etiquette
Your tutors have trained you to act with the highest standards
of decorum, the better to serve the Emperor.
Effect: You gain a +10 bonus on Charm, Deceive and
Scrutiny Tests when dealing with high authority and in
formal situations.
Famulous Network
You benefit from the contacts made by your wealthy lineage
and the networking conducted on your behalf by the Order
Famulous.
Effect: You begin play with the Peer (Ecclesiarchy) Talent,
and in addition you also gain Peer (Administratum, Military
or Noble), selecting one category to reflect your family’s
powerbase.
Wealth
Whether through the actions of your ancestors or through
the subtle guidance of your mysterious mentors, you possess
tremendous wealth.
Effect: You being play with double the starting number
of Thrones. You are also Nobility for the purposes of
determining monthly income.
Mysterious Lineage
Without your knowledge, your bloodline has been scrutinized
and manipulated for centuries by successive agents of the
Order Famulous. The Order has controlled your ancestors
behind the scenes for decades, leading them towards your
birth. Perhaps you are the end result of their scheming, a
tragic misstep, or simply another unknowing link in a chain
that reaches back into the shadowed past and will continue
far into the future.
Effect: Roll a D10 and consult table 2-7 and apply the
effect to your character:
1-2
You are extremely intelligent, though
you are prone to peculiar headaches and
delusions. Increase your intelligence and
insanity points by 1d10 (roll only once
and apply the result to both).
3-4
The constant manipulation of your
family's ancestry has rendered you a
mule, much to the disappointment of
the Ordo Famulous. You gain the Chem
Geld talent.
5-6
You are a naturally gifted orator and
dissembler but are unaccustomed to not
being the centre of attention. You gain the
Talented (Deceive) Talent and a -10 to all
Concealment and Move Silent tests.
7-8
Your health has been affected by an
ancient genetic defect, but the Sister
Famulous nevertheless prepared you
for your destiny. Lose 1 wound and
-5 Toughness but begin play with
Forbidden Lore (Daemonology, Heresy,
Inquisition or Psykers).
9-0
You are astonishingly comely externally
but at the cost of hidden imperfections.
Increase your Fellowship and
Corruption points by 1d10 (roll only
once and apply the result to both).
Starting Wounds
You begin play with d5+8 Wounds.
Fate Points
Roll 1d10 to determine your starting Fate Points. On a 1-3,
you begin with 1 Fate Point; on a 4-9, you begin with 2 Fate
Points; on a 10 you begin with 3 Fate Points.