vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Sister Repentia - Wargear: Eviscerator - An Eviscerator is an obscenely large double-handed Chain Weapon that is favoured by Ecclesiarchy zealots, Witch-Hunters, and the Sister Repentia of the Adepta Sororitas. This Chain Weapon is fitted with a crude version of the disruption field generator more commonly found on Power Weapons. Although very unwieldy and tiring to use, the Eviscerator is fully capable of bisecting an armoured man or tearing open the most blasphemously corrupted mutant in a single stroke of its gargantuan blade. It can slice through walls and even damage vehicles. Since it must be wielded with both hands it cannot be used in combination with another close combat weapon.Neural Whip (Mistress of Repentance Only) - These psycho-conductive neural whips are often carried by Mistresses of Repentance and are as much symbols of rank as they are vicious weapons that can slice open armour and flesh alike.
Sister Repentia - Sources: Codex: Adepta Sororitas (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 14, 41-42Dark Heresy: Blood of Martyrs (RPG), pp. 89-90White Dwarf 380 (UK),"Codex: Sisters of Battle (5th Edition) Part 1," pp. 97Faith and Fire (Novel) by James Swallow
Sisters of Cydonia - Sisters of Cydonia: The Sisters of Cydonia were a cult of female Tech-priest assassins within the Adeptus Mechanicus and lived on their homeworld of Mars in the Cydonia Mensae. They were noted to serve no authority beyond the unknown masters that lived in their own lands.One member of the Cydonian Sisterhood aided members of the Dark Mechanicum during the Horus Heresy at the time of the Martian civil war known as the Schism of Mars.
Sisters of Silence - History: Of all the Emperor of Mankind's servants, the Sisters of Silence were perhaps the most secretive and mysterious. They are a covert organisation that served as the militant arm of first the Divisio Astra Telepathica at the time of the Great Crusade and then the Adeptus Astra Telepathica since its foundation after the Horus Heresy, and within whose ranks and titles they are known, at least in formal documentation, as the Divisio Investigates -- a rather obscure phrase which covers up a shrouded world into which very few have ever had the power or the authority to look within.The duties of the Silent Sisterhood were complex and manifold, but at their core they were warrior-investigators, hunters and gaolers. Their charge was to seek out, apprehend and process psykers from the Human population of the ever-expanding Imperium, and return them to the Divisio Astra Telepathica for assessment and disposition.As part of this never-ending task, their duty was also to hunt down Renegade psykers and destroy those who are deemed too dangerous to the rest of Humanity to live. This was a perilous task well beyond the abilities of any merely Human law enforcement or military force, but it is made possible, indeed in some cases seamless, in its execution not simply by the martial prowess of the Sisterhood itself, but crucially by their fundamental nature as psychic Nulls.
Sisters of Silence - Pariah Gene: The exact biological source -- as it is believed to be -- which creates in a Human being the state of psychic Null, the so-called "Pariah Gene," has proven an elusive and ephemeral subject of study, and in testing no single "gene" at all. Such attempts to exploit or isolate it when pursued by both the Imperial Archotechnologist Corps and the Mechanicum during the Great Crusade's early years courted disaster, and as a result the Emperor decreed a general moratorium upon the study of the biological basis of the psychic Null phenomena, affecting all but His own direct experimentation should He wish it.What remains of those extant studies indicates that most attempts to synthesise, propagate or even weaponise the psychic Null were tragic failures or worse. Despite all this evidence, shadowed accounts of certain clades of the Officio Assassinorum and the dread and obscure Ordo Sinister also contain evidence of the Emperor's own "engineered" use of the psychic Null in warfare. To others however, the mystery of the Pariah Gene, if it truly exists, remains out of reach.So many unanswered questions revolve around this most arcane and dangerous of topics. Foremost are those which centre around theories of how the Pariah Gene came about: was it perhaps the result of ancient xenos tampering with the Human genome or some strange and terrible experiment of the Dark Age of Technology? Or, as the wildest theories state, is is some perverse evolutionary development to provide protection against the Warp-riddled cosmos itself?There is also the observation that no Space Marine, or Custodian Guard for that matter, has ever been recorded as being a psychic Null. This factor weighs the evidence of some scholars that within the Space Marine gene-seed itself is perhaps a shadow of the Emperor's own genetic material and a sliver of His own psychic power which is crucial to the process and success of the transformation of a mere Human into a transhuman Astartes.If this is the case, it would be wholly an anathema to the Pariah Gene and likely simply kill its implanted subject. It can only be speculated that if even a single Legion of psychic Null Legiones Astartes had been possible, how very different history may have been -- just as without the involvement of the Sisters of Silence in the Horus Heresy and the Emperor's great work of the Webway Project during the War Within the Webway, Horus' treachery may well have ended in triumph upon the broken throne of Terra.
Sisters of Silence - Foundation of the Divisio Investigates: The Silent Sisterhood as it stood during the early 31st Millennium was not part of the initial pattern of the Imperium's forces laid down by the Master of Mankind, though some contest this, and claim that what became the Silent Sisterhood long dwelt in the shadows awaiting their time.During the Terran Wars of Unification it was doubtless true that a number of so-called "Untouchables" did serve under the banners of Unification, but evidence suggests that understandably perhaps they did so at a remove both from the Emperor Himself, and His aide and minister, Malcador the Sigillite, then vizier to the Master of Mankind, the both of them being psykers of prodigious strength, with He who was to be Emperor the greatest psyker Humanity has ever known.These "soulless" servants were, according to such rumours that persisted in those times, in the nature of covert agents and assassins, and few in number, rather than a distinct militant order. In fact, the only analogue in ancient Terran history for the Sisters of Silence, as they are now known, can be found in the Akashic records of an entirely different age and hue; the darkly famed "Hollow Ones" who served the Unspeakable King -- himself by some legends a psychic Null -- in the terrible lost centuries of Terra's Age of Strife before the coming of the Emperor.
Sisters of Silence - The First Harvests: During the Unification Wars, there had been many terrible threats born of psyker-witchery and Warp entity possession encountered during the pacification, but these had been fought head-on and overmastered by the power of the Emperor and the raw might of His genetically-enhanced warriors, but in the latter case at a terrible and disproportionate cost in lives.As the Great Crusade began to leave the confines of the Sol System and the first waves of the newly-created League of Blackships followed in their wake, where the Great Tithe was concerned initially, newly founded paramilitary investigation and enforcer cadres were employed to minster it on the ground, commanded by a cabal of loyal Primaris-level psykers drawn from the Scholastica Psykana -- this was the first incarnation of the Divisio Investigates -- and to Terra directly they returned their harvest of witches.Though by all accounts well-led and ably armed and armoured, this new militant order's track record was not one of unalloyed success as the size of the Imperium rose to encompass first dozens, then scores, then hundreds of inhabited star systems, and the strain quickly began to show. It was swiftly apparent in fact as the Terran years passed that mortal losses among the Divisio's armed forces, incidences of psychological breakdown and bloody tragedy involving them were far too frequent to be borne.Such records that exist available to the auspices of the Terran Council indicate that it was known at the time that a better solution to the problem of the apprehension and control of Human psykers was clearly needed, but with the Great Crusade still in its infancy, its future configurations were not yet set and much was in flux, and many of the Emperor's purposes had not yet been made plain or found their final form. It is also said that at this time, a number of radical solutions were put before the consideration of the Emperor and His counsellors, but before a ruling was made, matters came to a head with the Cataclysm of Pentacanaes.
Sisters of Silence - Birth of Silence: In the wake of the events of the Cataclysm of Pentacanaes, this account stands in blessed isolation in the Imperium's records in regards to the origins of the Sisters of Silence, and it seems certain to many observers that "9-13" and its bounty of Untouchables are all evidence the core upon which the remade Divisio Investigates was formed. Or so it seems.There are those who doubt the veracity of this account, or at least its significance. Others merely contest that the historical account has been doctored. Some later speculated that the whole Pentacanaes affair was arranged; a kind of bloody experiment -- a field test whose results were bought at the deliberate sacrifice of a billion lives. But like many things that occurred during those early years of the Imperium, much of the extant record has become unknowable.Some insist that the origins of the Silent Sisterhood go even further back, either in the mind of the Emperor, or some lost agency of the Dark Age of Technology, that they awaited perhaps only a critical mass of Untouchables to act, or at least to operate in the open. Regardless, within an unknown exact number of Terran years, but no greater than four solar decades into the Great Crusade, the Divisio Investigates became synonymous with a new militant order, that of the Sisters of Silence.Unique in the Imperium's service, this order comprised Human psychic Nulls, all female, thousands strong and beholden to none but the Emperor. The Great Tithe now included direct action to reinforce their numbers in the harvest of worlds, garnering Untouchable female children just as it did the psyker-marked.Structured in isolation and with the ironclad rule of discipline, this militant arm of the Divisio Astra Telepathica operated with remorseless efficiency and under an unassailable vow of silence and secrecy, a distinction which gave them a ready common name to those of the Imperium's authorities with whom they dealt, and to the Imperium through which they began to pass ghostlike upon their dark harvest, they became objects of fear and awe.Exactly where and how the Sisters of Silence came into being remains but one mystery among many where they are concerned, and that the shadow of some techno-barbarian culture is part of their bloodline seems clear, but from whence exactly it came not even the wisest of Imperial military historiographs can state with clarity.But as a postscript to the official account of the Cataclysm of Pentacanaes, it can be said for a fact that that particular Hive World endures; although it is a ravaged, half-empty domain of gloom and ashes now, steeped in old tragedy and long since left behind as the Imperium has expanded across the galaxy.As for the world designated "9-13," no such sphere is listed in the databases of the Cartographica Imperialis -- the numeric is simply missing -- tellingly -- from its lists.
Sisters of Silence - The Witch-Seekers and their Works: The Silent Sisterhood as an organisation was one of singular reach and secrecy. Its exact numbers were unknown save to the Emperor, for though it remained nominally part of the Divisio Astra Telepathica at the time of the Great Crusade, it had long become interwoven with the will and direct agency of the Emperor Himself. For while the Legio Custodes guarded the Master of Mankind directly, the Sisters of Silence became pivotal to the carrying out of the Emperor's great and secret works to contain and limit the influence of the Ruinous Powers and their servants as he sought to expand the Imperial Truth.By the later Great Crusade, the Sisters of Silence certainly numbered in their tens of thousands, though this force was widely dispersed, and the Sisterhood's Untouchables crewed and commanded the vessels of the League of Blackships. In addition, they maintained a strong presence both on Terra itself as well as notably at their headquarters on Luna, the Somnus Citadel -- a facility handed over by the ancient gene-cult of the Selenar -- and the Magdan Orbital Construct -- the fortified orbital anchorage station utilised by the League of Blackships in the Sol System to deliver their cargo, and forbidden to all others.It was also taken as fact that much of the initial sifting and processing of the Great Tithe took place not in the Sol System but elsewhere on several isolated and otherwise prohibited star systems nearby -- an understandable change from the tithe's early days given the sheer scale of the operation as the Imperium had expanded and the potential security risks involved in so many untrained psykers being concentrated in a single area.These Divisio Astra Telepathica-administered star systems were only known to other arms of the Imperium as vague and shifting code designations, but here the Silent Sisters alone held sway and what numbers, facilities and resources they possessed in these sovereign domains, none save they and the Emperor knew.In fact, such was the shroud of secrecy surrounding the Great Tithe that only the Navigators of the League of Blackships knew the location of these processing worlds and various Black Ship anchorages, collection-node stations and outposts scattered across the Imperium, and their lives were led in sealed biome-crucibles, prisoning homes which auto-incinerate all within should their seals ever be compromised; such was the priceless wealth in Human potential -- and danger -- of the Great Tithe judged and guarded.
Sisters of Silence - Duties: Though nominally part of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, the Silent Sisterhood answers directly to the Golden Throne, and they undertake many actions throughout the Imperium at the behest of Roboute Guilliman, the Imperial Regent and lord commander of the Imperium and his fellow High Lords of Terra. First among the Sisterhood's duties include ensuring the Great Tithe of psykers to Terra is adhered to.Silent Sisters hunt down rogue psykers who have either escaped the tithe or who have risen to prominence before their powers were identified. They garrison the Black Ships that transport the levies of psykers back to Terra, their presence ensuring the miserable consignees cannot use their powers to escape.Where planetary governors are lax in rooting out psykers for the tithe or fail to hand them over, Sisters of Silence will investigate and administer punishment without hesitation. Certain cadres of Silent Sisters investigate those Imperial worlds not subject to a planetary governor, such as the domains of the Ecclesiarchy and the Priesthood of Mars.Such organisations as these have great autonomy, and it is not unknown for their masters to believe themselves above such scrutiny. Large-scale assaults against covens of psychic mutants or the sorcerers of the Heretic Astartes see the Sisterhood's coldly rational and tactical discipline standing in sharp contrast to many zealous and fanatical warriors who fight in the Emperor's name.The Sisterhood recruits its Untouchables from a great many sources, which vary from vigil to vigil. Some have ended up among the Great Tithe, their worlds as eager to be rid of them as they are believed, ironically, to be dangerous psykers. Members of the Inquisition or far-ranging Rogue Traders hand some over to the Sisterhood, and rumour persists of genetically-stable bloodlines hidden from Terra and protected by the Sisterhood themselves.The Untouchables begin their gruelling duties as novices, and only once they have proved themselves worthy of the Sisterhood's high standards are they inducted fully. Upon attaining full membership of the order, every sister swears the Vow of Tranquillity, an oath that binds them to a solemn dedication to duty.From that point, not a single sound will pass their lips. The Sisters do not speak, they do not declaim their foes with shouted tirades or cry out in pain. Combined with their fearful aura, this muteness in the heat of battle is incredibly unnerving.
Sisters of Silence - Vow of Tranquility: Secrecy was more than just the watchword and the method of the Silent Sisterhood; it was core to their very being. After their training was complete and their induction to the Sisterhood was confirmed, a process which began when they were taken up in childhood, the final step on the path of the order was the Vow of Tranquility; a solemn dedication to their duty unto death which manifested outwardly as the vow of silence which gave the Divisio Investigates its more common title.From this point onwards no Sister of Silence utters a single spoken word for the rest of their lives, not even under the duress of pain, be it the stroke of blade or impact of a bullet, such was their stoic resolve. No secret could or ever shall pass from the keeping of the Sisters of Silence, and no word of remission or clemency from them was ever given.Further symbolic of this absolute vow was the portcullis-style armoured gorget they wore as part of their panoply of war, which, often in combination with a death's-head skull, had become identified with the order in the iconography of the Imperium.
Sisters of Silence - Sisters of Silence Sign-Language: Communication within the Sisters of Silence took the medium of a complex series of physical sign language forms, ranging from highly efficient and abrupt tactical cants designed for the battlefield, detailed forms geared to the ready and precise expression of strategic concepts and actions, to hugely complex and mimetically-sophisticated systems intended to deal with philosophical and technical abstracts.This latter range was needed because the Sisters of Silence remained an organisation dedicated not only to the ministration of the Great Tithe but also to investigation, pursuit, inquiry and judgement. They also possessed and had to express when needed an unmatched and encyclopedic knowledge of the psyker and the Empyrean, which they alone, owing to their psyker Null status, were uniquely safe in keeping.Communication outside their ranks was usually facilitated by one of two sources. Firstly, through the involvement of selected apprentice-acolytes of the Sisterhood, themselves Untouchables and warriors in training of various ages, who acted as intermediaries, known as the "Proloquors," and secondly through a number of techno-linguis systems which allowed the symbolic-structure of their sisters' sign-forms to be rendered machine-readable at great speed, and if needed in extermis, outputted as a vox-signal via servo-automata.The Silent Sisterhood maintained fluency in numerous other forms of gestural and non-verbal linguistic communication such as Legiones Astartes and later Adeptus Astartes battle-sign of various types, voidsys and graph-binarc for conversing with other military forces of the Imperium directly when the need arose.The Silent Sisterhood made use of several different types of sign language, including the following:
Sisters of Silence - Thoughtmark: Thoughtmark was one of the symbolic sign languages employed by the Silent Sisterhood. Small in scale, full of delicate gestures of finger and thumb, it served to convey concepts of great subtlety or intricate nature. It was far more graceful than the large, sharp motions of Battlemark.
Sisters of Silence - Battlemark: Battlemark was the command sign language used by the Sisters of Silence to communicate on the battlefield. The gestures used to communicate in Battlemark were large, sharp motions that enabled a person to convey their thoughts in line of sight and can be seen at extreme ranges. This gestural language is most similar to Astartes battle-sign and may have a similar origin.
Sisters of Silence - Orsköde: Silent Sisterhood transmissions sent to locales beyond line-of-sight were despatched not with words but in an ancient machine-readable variant of Thoughtmark known as Orsköde, a mechanical rattle or clicking that to untrained ears would resemble the sounds of turning cogwheels.
Sisters of Silence - Knight-Commander: The Knight-Commander, also called the Sister-Commander and Vigil-Commander, is the most senior field officer within the order and serves as the overall commander of the entire Silent Sisterhood. She governs the Sisterhood with the aid of the other two most senior ranks, the Mistress of the Black Ships and the Nemesis Praxia.
Sisters of Silence - Mistress of the Black Ships: The Mistress of the Black Ships is a unique rank held by a senior sister who is responsible for the execution of the Great Tithe; this position is, in effect, the grand admiral of the Divisio Investigates' own fleet and the fleet of Black Ships that comprises the Adeptus Astra Telepathica's infamous League of Blackships.
Sisters of Silence - Nemesis Praxia: Nemesis Praxia is a unique rank held by a senior sister who is the high guardian of the compiled lore and estates temporal of the Divisio Investigates, and ultimately responsible for the training of all of the Silent Sisterhood's acolytes.
Sisters of Silence - Knight Abyssal: A Knight Abyssal was a senior rank within the Sisters of Silence. The mightiest warriors, Daemon Hunters, and psyker executioners of their order, each is a vastly experienced fighter responsible for the execution of the most dangerous Rogue Psykers that could threaten Mankind's very existence.As such their psychic Null ability was quite formidable, to the point that being in proximity to a Knight Abyssal was enough to cause crippling terror and weakness to psykers, and in some cases even bodily degradation and death. Such is the potency of their Pariah Gene's effect that Knights Abyssal will sow intense fear and disgust even among those who lack psychic ability of any kind.The Knights Abyssal go to war in the strongest Artificer Armour and Voidscale Cloaks of their order and are armed with the finest weapons which include Charnabal Sabres, a Paragon Blade, or a Proteus Neuro-Lash alongside a Hand Flamer, Needle Pistol, or Plasma Pistol.
Sisters of Silence - Knight Centura: Drawn from the elite ranks of the Chamber of Oblivion, the Knights Centura serve as the battlefield commanders of the Sisters of Silence. Elevated as a result of their seniority, martial prowess and power as psychic Nulls, they are afforded use of the rarest weaponry the Sisters of Silence can bring to bear and charged with the inviolate duty of commanding both the tactical operations of the Great Tithe and the sworn duty of destroying Rogue Psykers deemed too dangerous to live.Each Knight Centura is the unquestioned mistress of her own mission force through not only the strict customs of the order but the trust placed in her abilities by those under her command. While never a codified sanction, Sisters of Silence showing marks of age and long service, either physiologically or woven in with the subtle marks of their panoply, are often informally revered by their peers for their ability to survive and their knowledge, even if both were formally at the same rank within the order's command structure.
Sisters of Silence - Knight Vestal: Knights Vestal were senior Sisters of Silence who served within the order's Chamber of Vigilance, though they could be tasked to serve in the cadre of any of the order's other sub-divisions. These warriors act as the combat medics of the Silent Sisterhood whenever their cadres operate in war zones. In this role they are not only equipped to fight alongside their fellow sisters, but also expected to assess and treat those wounded on the battlefield. However, should a sister prove too wounded either physically or spiritually, they will not hesitate to grant them the Emperor's Mercy.Just like Space Marine Apothecaries, Knight Vestals are equipped with a narthecium to dispense combat drug and aid in the diagnosis of combat wounds. However, just like their Adeptus Astartes counterparts, a Knight Vestal's narthecium contains a reductor that can be used to end a fellow sister's suffering quickly and painlessly.
Sisters of Silence - Chamber of Judgement: The Chamber of Judgement is more feared than its counterpart sub-sect among high-ranking Silent Sisters, the Chamber of Oblivion, largely because its members are responsible for determining how the tithe of psykers will be prosecuted. They decide which Human psykers will be taken into Imperial service and which will be executed as threats to Mankind.
Sisters of Silence - Excruciatus (Silent Judge): Cadres composed of Excruciatus are the dreaded Silent Judges of the Sisterhood, whose task is to weigh the actions of the guilty and innocent when it comes to those concealing psykers from the tithe. When matters are not clear the Silent Judges of the Excruciatus cadres determine who truly possesses the psyker's gift and pass judgment on whether the psyker should be taken as part of the tithe or executed as a future threat to Humanity.The Excrutiatus were clad in thick, buckle-studded coats of red leather. These sisters often wore two heavy ruby-coloured lenses over their natural eyes or had them replaced outright by augmetic implants to aid their hunts for psykers. It is said that to attain the esteemed rank of a Silent Judge in the Excruciatus, a Silent Sister must have personally slain 100 witches who represented a genuine threat to Humanity.
Sisters of Silence - Witchseeker Pursuivant: A Witchseeker Pursuivant is a senior sister who ranks above an Oblivion Knight and Knight Centura within the hierarchy of the order.
Sisters of Silence - Questora: Questora was a rank held by a Silent Sister who was lowest ranked among the sisters who comprised the Chamber of Judgement. These warriors were dedicated to the pursuit and capture of psykers alongside the orderly operation of the Great Tithe. They are most often deployed alongside the dreaded Silent Judges to hunt down Rogue Psykers and dissidents, or to put down psyker-engineered insurrections against Imperial authority with brutal punishment. Their targets often include those who aid or conceal psykers from the tithe and each warrior acts as an individual interrogator, judge, jury, and executioner in these matters.Despite their grim purpose, Questora are also capable infantry on the battlefield and are trained and equipped to carry out raids and tactical assaults against the most nightmarish of foes. They go into battle clad in Vratine Armour and Spectra-vestments and are armed with bolters, needlers, flamers, Adrathic Weapons, Snare Weapons, and Charnabal Weapons.
Sisters of Silence - Chamber of Oblivion: The Chamber of Oblivion was the sub-sect of the order that comprised the majority of the Silent Sisterhood's senior-ranking battlefield assets. Its ranks were primarily composed of sisters belonging to cadres of the various tactical roles described below, who were usually commanded by an Oblivion Knight.
Sisters of Silence - Oblivion Knight: Oblivion Knights were the senior sisters who command other sisters of different ranks within the Chamber of Oblivion, the Sisterhood's martial elite, on various missions on behalf of the Emperor and the Sisterhood. Oblivion Knights are usually only deployed on a large scale in units comprising more than one of their number in order to combat the threat of Alpha-level renegade psykers, putting down psyker-instigated uprisings, and population purges.These roles combined with the sinister aura given off by these Pariahs makes them an object of dread and fear among the masses of the greater Imperium. Oblivion Knights may be deployed either as full cadres led by officers called "mistresses," or individually as commanders for other cadres. An elite cadre of Oblivion Knights known as the "Raptor Guard" or Raptora formed the honour guards of Knight-Commander Jenetia Krole and other high-ranking sisters at the time of the Horus Heresy.
Sisters of Silence - Raptora (Raptor Guard): The Silent Sisters of a Raptora Cadre stand as the foremost warrior knights of the Chamber of Oblivion. Each Raptora is a sublime fighter of superlative skill and they often serve as the personal honour guard forthe high command of their order, for which purpose they are issued with the finest weapons and armour the Silent Sisterhood can provide.Incorruptible and possessed of an untarnished spirit, the Oblivion Knights of the Raptora cadres are only ever deployed against the most dangerous of foes such as rogue alpha-level psykers or major Daemonicincursions, where they form the spearhead of the Silent Sisterhood's attack.The Raptora cadre is known to have formed the honour guard of Knight-Commander Jenetia Krole herself during the Battle of Prospero where they were known as the "Raptor Guard," and, though their order suffered greatly upon the battlefield of Tizca, it is certain that they were instrumental in the near-destruction of Primarch Magnus the Red's Thousand Sons Legion.
Sisters of Silence - Investigator/Enforcer: Silent Sisters with the rank of investigator or enforcer performed often unspecified duties on behalf of the Silent Sisterhood.
Sisters of Silence - Eradicator: As veterans of the Chamber of Vigilance, Eradicator cadres are exemplars of their order. These sisters are called upon to form the vanguard of larger military actions and meet with psyker incursions at the leading edge of a greater Imperial military force using their battle-won experience to spearhead assaults.Equipped with tactically flexible weaponry, Eradicator cadres are capable of adapting to any foe with equal effectiveness and are relied upon to provide fire support for more specialised cadres in open warfare.
Sisters of Silence - Silent Fury: The Silent Furies are pursuit and strike experts, dispatched by the Chamber of Judgement to aid in the operations for the capture of rogue psykers that try to escape the Great Tithe. They take to the field piloting sophisticated Erinyes Pattern Jetbikes that enable them to cover ground far quicker than infantry and go where heavier vehicles cannot. Silent Furies often accompany their sisters of the Subjugator cadres in their hunt and acquisition missions, aiding in the capture or destruction of their fleeing quarries with the wide array of their esoteric weaponry.On the rare occasion where they are deployed in the field of war, the Silent Furies lead scouting missions as well as rapid encirclement and hit-and-run attacks behind enemy lines. Their duty is not to simply confront the enemyin a frontal assault, but to direct the Subjugator cadres and other forces of the Silent Sisterhood precisely where and when they are needed the most.
Sisters of Silence - Aquilai Astra: Aquilai Astra was a rank held by a Silent Sister who was responsible for piloting the various aircraft and voidcraft assets of the Silent Sisterhood.
Sisters of Silence - Null Maiden: A Null Maiden was a full-fledged member of the Sisterhood who had taken the Vow of Tranquility, and were assigned to the Chamber of Vigilance, the Chamber of Judgement or the Chamber of Oblivion. Null Maidens were divided according to their tactical function, including Vigilators, Prosecutors, Pursuers, Firebrands, Subjugators, Expurgators, Sanctioners and Witchseekers, as described below.
Sisters of Silence - Novice-Sister: A Novice-Sister was an aspirant to the order who had not yet taken the Oath of Tranquility but was considered to possess more skill and knowledge of the Sisterhood and its ways than a Sister-in-Waiting. A Novice-Sister was not required to perform as many menial tasks as a Sister-in-Waiting, as she had more important tasks to fill her days, such as learning witch-lore and practicing her combat skills.
Sisters of Silence - Acolyte (Sister-in-Waiting): An Acolyte -- of the First, Second and Third rank -- more informally known as "Sisters-in-Waiting," are those Silent Sisters who have not yet been initiated into the order. Acolytes are responsible for performing all of the menial tasks within the order and each waits on the appraisal of the more senior-ranking Sisters. Since Sisters-in-Waiting had not yet sworn the Vow of Tranquility they often acted as interpreters for the senior Sisters when dealing with outsiders.
Sisters of Silence - Vigilator: Vigilators are the most-senior tactical role granted only to the most experienced of Null Maidens. These sisters were members of the Execution Blade-equipped close combat elite of the Silent Sisterhood -- it was their task and the task of cadres like theirs to close rapidly in combat with enemy psykers and dispose of them with the bloody certainty of a Power Sword strike, preferably one inflicting a decapitating blow.While they relied not only upon their power as psychic Nulls, but also their skill and speed as well as the protection of their advanced Vratine Armour to defend them from harm in such close assaults, to serve as a Vigilator was still to invite peril and death, but this was an honour that the Silent Sisterhood's ranks aspired to above all.
Sisters of Silence - Prosecutor: Prosecutor was a mid-tier tactical role amongst the Null Maidens. Prosecutor cadres were among those sisters most commonly seen by the general populace of the Imperium, forming the foot soldiers and guards of the paramilitary organisation of the League of Blackships, and as strike infantry well-suited to combat missions outside of their silent halls.In field operations, Prosecutors specialised in open engagement of massed targets, favouring a modified variant of the Terran bolter designed to fit in mortal hands more commonly seen in use by the transhuman warriors of the Legiones Astartes and the later Adeptus Astartes for its flexibility, stopping power and high rate of fire.
Sisters of Silence - Pursuer: The Pursuer cadres were the cyber beast-handlers and hunters of the Silent Sisterhood, called upon to track down a fleeing quarry and either flush them out of hiding for capture or destroy them on sight as needed. As some of the most agile of their order, they were typically deployed away from the bulk of the detachments among the streets, hab-blocks and alleyways of the targeted city in order to monitor for potential ambushes, those attempting to escape the tithe or other dangers which might threaten the operations of the detachment.
Sisters of Silence - Firebrand: Just as the Sisters of Silence are called upon to hunt, they are also called upon to purge. To this end, the Firebrand cadres of the Silent Sisterhood are deployed for the widespread purgation of opposing forces, condemned criminals, tainted Abhumans and other gene-threats, as well as the pacification of aggressive, rebellious or resistant crowds and bystanders.Primarily equipped with flamers, their secondary tactical function is to deny rogue elements escape routes, cut off avenues of ambush and prevent encirclement by often numerically superior opposition forces. Even within small detachments, the Firebrand cadres are deployed to prevent the interruption of the retrieval of the Imperial Tithe. However, in such instances, they are often presented as a force intended to intimidate the related governing structures and population into compliance through fear rather than having to carry out the promise of death and fire they so obviously represent, though of course they never shirk from this dark duty when it becomes necessary.
Sisters of Silence - Subjugator: Heralded by the ethereal howl of their Erinyes Pattern Jetbike engines, Subjugator cadres are specialists in scouting and harassing their targets ahead of a primary force of Sisters of Silence. Their mounts, a refined pattern of antigravitic vehicles, rely less on brute force and power than similar Imperial patterns and are instead a minimalistic, lightweight design. Equipped with a debilitating Snare Cannon they allow their riders to disable larger enemies and expose their vulnerabilities to attack before breaking away and preying on the next threat.Alternatively outfitted with a variety of esoteric weaponry such as Adrathic Destructors and Needle Cannons capable of inflicting equally bizarre and horrifying deadly effects on their targets, small squads of these units are commonly tasked with disabling specific targets in lightning strikes behind the enemy's lines, where their defences are weakest.
Sisters of Silence - Expurgator: Although a formidable military force in its own right, the Silent Sisterhood's clandestine, undocumented actions far outweigh their overt activity manyfold. It is purported that for every operation that has been described by the words of iterators or etched into the pict-plates of famed imagists (photographers), a hundred more have been conducted behind the veil of secrecy or scoured from records and memory alike.Expurgator cadres are doubtlessly instrumental in ensuring knowledge of the activities of the Sisters of Silence is controlled, purging and burning that which they wish to remain hidden. Upon the field of battle, these Sisters of Silence use their heavy weaponry to drive the foe from cover and destroy those that have defied the will of the Emperor.
Sisters of Silence - Sanctioner: The Sanctioner Cadre is a specialised force of the Chamber of Vigilance whose principal task is to identify and eliminate troublesome agitators -- such as rebellious warlords, priests and demagogues -- or to silence dangerous Rogue Psykers whose capture would otherwise incur a high cost in lives and the expenditure of too many valuable assets. This is a task for which they are armed and equipped with a variety of specialised wargear including long-range Nemesis Bolters, sensor-auspex and stealth gear.In the few and dire instances where the Silent Sisterhood takes to the field of open battle, the Sanctioner cadres serve as raiders and snipers where needed, launching sudden flanking manoeuvres and infiltration attacks in support of their main force. Whatever their target may be, the Sanctioners identify and slay them with a well-placed bolt round while the battle rages round them.
Sisters of Silence - Witchseeker (Seeker): A Witchseeker, more commonly called simply a "Seeker," was the most junior tactical role to be found among the Null Maidens, often taken by former acolytes newly raised to full sisterhood. Seeker cadres were usually tasked with the widespread purgation of opposing forces, condemned criminals, tainted Abhumans and other gene-threats, as well as the pacification of aggressive, rebellious or resistant crowds and bystanders.Primarily armed with Flamers or more rarely Assault Needlers, their secondary tactical function was to deny rogue elements escape routes, cut off avenues of ambush and prevent encirclement by often numerically superior opposition forces. They were also deployed to prevent the potential interruption of the retrieval of the psykers who comprised a portion of every world's contribution to the Imperial Tithe by the local population or planetary government, as such removals were sometimes unpopular.
Sisters of Silence - Sisters of Silence Vehicles: Kharon Pattern Acquisitor - One of a number of unique and highly sophisticated anti-gravitic vehicles utilised exclusively by the Silent Sisterhood, the Kharon Pattern Acquisitor was in truth a paramilitary rather than battlefield design meant for the execution of the great psyker cull of the burgeoning Imperium's worlds. Built to incorporate numerous systems to approach its targets silently and with utmost stealth, this grav-tank was also made quite deliberately to be a thing of mystery and terror when its presence was unveiled, to cow potential resistance through fear as much as the threat of force.Talion - The Talion is a type of gunship and assault landing craft used by the Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence. It saw service during the Battle of Lion's Gate.
Sisters of Silence - Black Ships: The Adeptus Astra Telepathica's League of Blackships itself cannot also go unremarked in any overview of the power of the Silent Sisterhood. It is a fleet of uniquely designed voidcraft of considerable size and power, most being variants of more commonly known long-range Imperial cruiser and battlecruiser designs. They are heavily armed, well-defended by contingents drawn from the Silent Sisterhood and the Inquisition, rigged for extended operations and above all equipped with systems that allow them to go unnoticed by vox signal and auspex scan if needed.Just how many there are is a matter of conjecture, but this figure by the end of the Great Crusade certainly ranged into the hundreds, if not thousands. They are a shadow upon the stars of the Imperium, coming and going all but unseen, even as the wars of the Horus Heresy unfolded, bound to no purpose or authority but their own. Just as secret are the location and capacity of many of the orbital ship forges and docks which serviced them. The vessels are also highly-automated, reducing the need for Human crew who might be imperilled by their cargo, and allowing for voyages of long duration without resupply when needed.They are by their nature a hell for any psyker taken on board as their structure is interlaced with aphonoria systems -- great spaces within their hulls where sound-deadening technologies could provide a near-absolute silence -- to block out and resist the psyker's connection to the Empyrean, as well as numerous cells for internment, punishment and interrogation, and cryo-crypts and stasis chambers for the storage of the most dangerous subjects.The largest and most powerful Black Ships also carry limited supplies of Exterminatus-class weaponry -- usually planet mantle-breaking Cyclonic Torpedoes and rare Vortex warheads rather than bio-weapons for reasons of intended outcome. This enables them to enact world-killing protocols or the more confined if no less absolute annihilation of a planetary region if a Rogue Psyker crisis threatens a catastrophic Warp breach on a world's surface, though such incidents during the collection of the Great Tithe of psykers are thankfully rare.
Sisters of Silence - Notable Black Ships: Aeria Gloris (Black Ship) - The Imperium's Black Ships were originally the flagships of the Silent Sisterhood during the Great Crusade and were responsible for carrying them back and forth across the galaxy on the Emperor's witch-hunting missions. The Aeria Gloris was one such vessel under their command. Whereas conventional vessels of an Imperial expeditionary fleet of the period ran with pennants and signal lamps to illuminate the lengths of their hulls, the Aeria Gloris came in darkness, arriving out of the interstellar deeps as an ocean predator might slip to the surface of a nighttime sea. It was difficult to make out anything more than the most basic details of this formidable warship, as it blended with the void. This vessel saw action against the xenos known as the Jorgall during the final days of the Great Crusade with the Death Guard Legion. It also later escorted the Phalanx to Luna after the Imperial Fists Primarch Rogal Dorn picked up Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro, The Seventy and the other mortal survivors of the Vengeful Spirit Remembrancer massacre above Isstvan III such as Kyril Sindermann, Euphrati Keeler and Mersadie Oliton who had fled on the doomed Death Guard frigate Eisenstein from the Isstvan System. On Luna, at the Somnus Citadel, the Silent Sister Amendera Kendel took custody of Keeler to determine if her unusual talents of persuasion and resistance against the entities of the Warp were the result of psychic witchery or not.
Sisters of Silence - Forces of the Sisters of Silence: Sisters of Silence ForcesCommandKnight Abyssal • Knight Centura • Silent Judge • Knight VestalElitesOblivion Knight • Raptor Guard • Eradicator • Silent FuryTroopsVigilator • Pursuer • Pursuer Beast • Prosecutor • Witchseeker • Questora • Firebrand • Subjugator • Sanctioner • ExpurgatorVehiclesKharon Pattern Acquisitor • Erinyes Pattern Jetbike • Grav-Rhino • Rhino • TermiteAircraftTalion • Thunderhawk
Sisters of Silence - Sources: Codex: Sisters of Silence (7th Edition)Horus Heresy: Collected Visions (Art Book) (Images)The Horus Heresy Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 12, 21-22, 33-34, 46-47, 50-53, 59-60, 63-65, 122-131, 247-251, 253-255, 258-259, 263, 266-267, 270-271, 276Warhammer: The Horus Heresy Second Edition - Liber Imperium (Specialty Game), pp. 38-65White Dwarf 29 (October 2019), "Index Astartes - Sisters of Silence", pp. 54-59The Flight of the Eisenstein (Novel) by James SwallowThousand Sons (Novel) by Graham McNeillProspero Burns (Novel) by Dan AbnettTales of Heresy (Anthology) edited by Nick Kyme and Lindsey Priestley, "The Voice" by James SwallowThe Silent War (Anthology), "Ghosts Speak Not" by James SwallowThe Primarchs (Anthology) edited by Christian Dunn, "The Serpent Beneath" by Rob SandersThe Master of Mankind (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Ch. 3Watchers in Death (Novel) by David AnnandaleShadow of Ullanor (Novel) by Rob SandersDark Imperium (Novel) by Guy Haley, Ch. 22 "Theologica," pg. 267Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor's Legion (Novel) by Chris Wraight, Ch. 13Master of Mankind (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Dramatis Personae, Chs. 2, 3, 19The End and the Death: Volume 1 (Novel) by Dan Abnett, 3:ixForge World Online Store - Jenetia Krole, Knight-Commander of the Silent SisterhoodGames Workshop Online Store - Sisters of Silence SquadGames Workshop Online Store - The Horus Heresy: Burning of Prospero (Tabletop Game)Games Workshop Resources - Burning of Prospero Datasheets (Tabletop Game Supplements)
Six-Cursed - Six-Cursed: The Six-Cursed is a thrallband of Heretic Astartes of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion commanded by the Sorcerer Lord Mordant Hex.
Six-Cursed - Notable Campaigns: The Sacking of the Etiamnun Reclusiam (Unknown Date.M41) - Mordant Hex, Sorcerer Lord of the Six-Cursed, is sent by Ahriman to the barren, airless planet of Etiamnun III on the distant Eastern Fringe. The arrival of Thousand Sons drop-ships shatters the peace that had shrouded the world for millennia, though the small community of hermits gathered within the central monastery meets the arrival with quiet, contemplative acceptance. Hex's forces advance steadily through the mountain passes, directly towards the gates of the hermitage where he strikes the giant adamantium doors nine times. As the doors yawn open, many of those inside are wrenched into the cold vacuum of the planet's surface, while those who remain in sealed chambers are swiftly hunted down and massacred. Even facing death at the hands of the Six-Cursed, the inhabitants give little or no resistance. When all are dead, Hex descends into the heart of the mountain complex, to a long-forgotten xenos chamber buried under layers of ancient Imperial construction. Within the chamber is the prize for which Hex was sent -- an entrance to the Webway and the first step in Ahriman's plan to claim the secrets of the Aeldari.
Six-Cursed - Warband Colours: The Six-Cursed's warband colours are not currently listed in Imperial records.
Six-Cursed - Warband Badge: The Six-Cursed's warband badge is not currently listed in Imperial records.
Six-Cursed - Sources: Codex Heretic Astartes - Thousand Sons (8th Edition), pp. 7, 28, "The Sacking of the Etiamnun Reclusiam"
Ska Mordentodt - Ska Mordentodt: Ska Mordentodt was a Deathwatch Black Shield of an unknown parent Chapter who was a watch captain of the Deathwatch and commanded a Watch Company of the Zarabek watch fortress. He was known to be a distant and forbidding figure, even to the battle-brothers under his command.