Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart

The Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart are lesser orders militant; they are warrior-women who have loved and lost. Most had spouses or lovers in the military and they joined the Adepta Sororitas to fight for their memories. Be it cancer, ruinous powers, infidelity, a bullet or a knife- all love ends. Some go to forget. Some go to remember.
== Recruitment & Training ==
The Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart is unique among the orders of the Adepta Sororitas in that they do not recruit from Schola Progenium. Instead they are part of a special program within the Convent Sanctorum to induct older novices with a storied past and skill at arms. These include women who were soldiers, warriors, knights, and even servants of the Inquisition with skill at arms. The Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart is half honorable retirement and half political banishment- a way for a dishonored (or no longer useful) soldier to still serve the Emperor’s will.
The Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart accepts older novices who are granted dispensation due to their skill at arms. Their apprenticeship as novices on Ophelia VII is often truncated, as it would be shameful (and sometimes politically inconvenient) for some of the candidates. Because of this the Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart has a period where a newly selected novice will spend several years under the tutelage and watchful eye of The Patrons until they are deemed fully ready to join the order.
== Common Reasons for Joining ==
* Some go to be chaste.
* Some have drank so deeply of love that the world feels bitter without it.
* Some hide in shame while others wish to memorialize it.
* Sometimes the Imperium exiles women to their keep for political expediency, out of shame, or simply at the wishes of the powerful men in their lives. Such women are given a choice of joining the Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart or some darker fate and it is only offered if they are a powerful woman in their own right.
They go for different reasons but all find the same: faith, fury, and comradery.
== Order of the Patrons ==
The Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart is paired with a minor Order Famulous known as the Order of the Patrons. These are older, well-connected, women who are not suitable for the life of a Sister of Battle. These are wise women who act as advisors, teachers, ambassadors, and confidants.... but also as spy-masters. Each has a deep, sometimes informal, network of contacts in all levels of Imperium life and oversees novices for the Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart after their comparatively brief tenure on Ophelia VII.
== St. Anywhere ==
The homeworld of Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart and Order of the Patrons is “St. Anywhere”. A small, frigid, water-world with roiling seas and rocky coasts. It is a feudal world, though no significant population outside the sisters and their attendants live there. Small pockets of herdsmen and fishermen eek out a living on the rocky shores but beyond that it is an intentionally desolate and isolating place. Across the rocky outcroppings of stone and atop the snow-covered mountains they maintain their low-tech spires and keeps. Two sizable halls, the Hall of the Veil (for the Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart) and the Hall of the Hearth (for the Order of the Patrons), serve as the headquarters for the two orders that occupy the planet. In the Hall of the Veil are kept the majority of the supplies, technology, and weapons of the Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart. The starport is also here and serves as the lifeline for the planet to the stars beyond.
== Organization and Tactics ==
The Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart is a minor Order Militant who has no true specialization but is renown for its wisdom and cunning. While other orders are fierce and tactical, the Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart fights with caution and cunning. Theirs is a fury that is tempered and surgical- guided by the wise hands of the Patrons and honed with their faith in the Emperor. The Sisterhood of the Lonely Heart is slow to act but devastating when they do. They are often given large amounts of autonomy when on campaign to best utilize their advantages. In a strange way they could be considered “reservist specialists”- a judiciously commanded elite force that knows just when, where, and how to deploy.
This wisdom is a result of the older age of the novices and previous life experiences of the members of the order. However, this also means they are a smaller order and they often get embroiled in politics due to the pasts of their members.
=== Veiled Sisters ===
Veiled Sisters are those who gave up their identity and had all information on them expunged from Imperial records. They wear a veil over their faces to symbolize their anonymity and lack of identity. This is often out of shame, so that no one connects them to the baggage of their old life, or so they can focus more fully on their duties. The veil they wear is actually a lesser form of conversion field.
== Trivia ==
* The phrase “Get thee to a Nunnery” from Hamlet was a core inspiration as the practice of sending inconvenient women to nunneries was common in antiquity. I wanted to reflect that in an order as they are, thematically, “nuns”.
* This Order was weirdly inspired by the Episode “Chase” of House MD and the song “Promise” by Ben Howard.
* The Order’s name is inspired by the Beatles’ song “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”.
* The name of the monastery moon is inspired by the medical drama “St. Elsewhere”.
Category:Imperium of Man