Sisters of Silence - Notable Campaigns: War Within the Webway (004-010.M31) - When Magnus the Red, primarch of the Thousand Sons, learned of Horus' fall and attempts to warn the Emperor using psychic arts forbidden by the Edicts of Nikaea, he inadvertently unmakes his father's great work, destroying the psychic wards around the Imperial Palace and breaching the Imperial Webway gate by allowing a Warp rift to open up within the dungeons of the palace. Thousands of hideous Daemons poured into the Imperial extension of the Webway and immediately set about attacking the Imperial forces within. The workers of the Mechanicum were slaughtered in their thousands and the Custodian Guard were hard-pressed to hold back the tide of Daemonic fury that had been unleashed upon them. As the Imperial forces within the Webway were being attacked, the Emperor mustered the remainder of His Custodian bodyguard and the Null-Maiden warriors of the Silent Sisterhood. Slowly, but surely, the Imperial forces pushed the blockades forward as the pressure from the Daemons' attacks waned. As the war raged on, new troops appeared amongst the hordes of Daemons attacking the Imperial forces. The powers of Chaos sent foully corrupted Heretic Astartes, Chaos Titans and other war machines into the Webway to try and force a victory. The War Within the Webway soon took a turn for the worse, as both the Custodian Guard and Silent Sisterhood suffered many casualties. But after five Terran years of remaining within his prison as He sat upon the Golden Throne, trying to keep the portal between reality and the Immaterium closed, the Emperor began to show signs of physical exhaustion. Sensing the birth of the powerful Daemon Drach'nyen, the Emperor knew the war in the Webway was building to a critical juncture. He ordered the Sisters of Silence to gather a thousand psykers across the width and breadth of the galaxy in order to use their innate psychic abilities to feed the growing demands of powering the Golden Throne. With this task accomplished, the sacrifice of the psykers powered the Golden Throne for a single solar day, which allowed the Emperor to leave it and lead his forces in a swift counterattack. The exhausted Custodes were reinvigorated by their master fighting by their side. The Emperor summoned an army of loyal Imperial dead from the Immaterium including the dead primarch Ferrus Manus that took the form of blazing avatars to fight the Daemons. Drach'nyen itself soon appeared, proclaiming itself the Emperor's end. However, the Master of Mankind was able to seal the Daemon within the body of the Custodian Ra Endymion, who was then ordered to run into the depths of the Webway without stop. The Emperor's actions gave the surviving Imperials enough time to evacuate the Webway, and as Chaos forces closed on the portal once more the Master of Mankind mounted the Golden Throne and sealed the gate. The gate would remain closed to the Daemons for as long as the Emperor was able to power it from His throne atop the golden portal. Only the mightiest of psykers had power enough to do this and even then most would be exhausted and die in a short time. Only the Emperor had the psychic might to keep the gate closed permanently and for Him the effort got harder as the Daemonic forces gathered about Him. For as long as the Daemonic horde threatened to breach the portal, the Golden Throne would be His prison. When the Emperor decided to confront Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit during the Siege of Terra, Malcador the Sigillite was left to maintain the Golden Throne and keep the portal closed in His place. After the injured body of the Emperor was brought back to the Golden Throne, the immense effort exerted by Malcador in keeping the portal shut had reduced him to mere dust. After the Emperor was placed back onto the Golden Throne, His presence in the Warp has allowed the portal to remain closed for the last 10,000 standard years. Should the Emperor die, the Imperial Palace would be breached and Terra itself would be overrun by Daemons.First Battle Prospero (004.M31) – The Sisters' most successful campaign during the early Horus Heresy was the Imperial assault on the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero after their Primarch Magnus was found guilty of violating the anti-sorcery edicts of the Council of Nikaea. The Sisters of Silence deployed in support of the Space Wolves Legion and a contingent from the Legio Custodes, and provided the main line of defence against the potent psychic abilities of the Thousand Sons Legion as they were thrown down and ultimately fled Prospero with the intervention of Tzeentch for a new home, the world of Sortiarius, in the Eye of Terror.Jorgall Persecution (005.M31) – A cadre of Sisters were despatched on the orders of Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra, to aid the XIV Legion of Space Marines, the Death Guard, in an attack on the xenos known as the Jorgall. During the ensuing battle, the sisters managed to wound a mutant Jorgall psyker and capture it to be transported back to Terra for study.Siege of Terra (014.M31) – The Silent Sisterhood provided a stalwart defence of the Imperial Palace during the Siege of Terra. They were also instrumental in the defence of the Imperial Webway extension located in the subterranean levels of the Imperial Palace against a massive Daemonic incursion from the Immaterium during the War Within the Webway.War of the Beast - Second Invasion of Ullanor (544.M32) - A massive Ork WAAAGH! of the warlord known only as The Beast rampaged across the Imperium on a massive scale, growing in size until it became the greatest Greenskin invasion that the galaxy had ever known to that time, eclipsing even the one defeated by Horus upon the world of Ullanor during the height of the Great Crusade. After several setbacks, Koorland, the last surviving Imperial Fists Space Marine, realised that in order to defeat The Beast and his WAAAGH!, they needed to counter the Greenskins' potent WAAAGH! gestalt psychic power. Koorland received a helpful lead from the High Lords of Terra's Inquisitorial Representative, Veritus, on the world of Nadriries, located in the far reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus. It was there that the last forgotten bastion of the Sisters of Silence had remained for 1,500 Terran years. When Lord Commander of the Imperium Koorland arrived, he found Nadiries under siege by the Orks, who feared the Pariah psyker-killers. Koorland led the effort to lift the siege, and once inside, he attempted to convince the reluctant sisters to join him in his crusade. The leader of the Silent Sisters explained that they had been cast out by a distrustful Imperium, and although they were fiercely loyal to the Emperor and the primarchs, they would rather see the now-corrupt Imperium burn than aid it in its time of need. Koorland convinced the reluctant sisters to join him only after he revealed that he had the blessing of the recently resurrected Salamanders' Primarch Vulkan himself. A small cohort of the Sisters of Silence took part in the subsequent invasion of The Beast's homeworld of Ullanor, as part of an elite assassination force. Utilising a captured Ork psyker or Weirdboy, exposure to the Sisters of Silence's innate Pariah Gene caused the Ork psyker to implode, which started a psychic chain-reaction amongst the Greenskin horde that swept across Ullanor. The Orks' technology was temporarily disabled, allowing several Astartes, including Koorland, to launch their final attack and slay The Beast. This victory was short-lived, however, as another larger and more vicious warboss entered the throneroom -- one of six "Prime-Orks," each a Beast in its own right, and a commander of their own Greenskin "Legion". The new Beast and its reinforcements easily swept aside the Imperial assassins before confronting Koorland, and they killed the "Last Son of Dorn." The Imperial assassin force fled with Koorland's body, and the Imperial forces withdrew from Ullanor to make another attempt at a later time. Following their involvement in this campaign against the Greenskin menace, the Silent Sisterhood once again faded into obscurity. Their fate wouldn't be revealed until the latter years of the the 41st Millennium.Battle of Luna (999.M41) - The forces of Chaos began their most concerted invasion of the Imperium. Under the eye of the Warmaster of Chaos, Abaddon the Despoiler and his 13th Black Crusade, countless worlds fell during their sector-wide campaign in the Segmentum Obscurus. Upon the Fortress World of Cadia, the last obstacle barring the way for a full-scale invasion of the Imperium from the vile Traitor Legions and the Daemons within the Eye of Terror, the Imperial defenders held their ground as long as possible, mounting a valiant defence. But alas, the severely outnumbered Imperial forces faced annihilation, as the world of Cadia soon fell to the vile machinations of the dread Abaddon. Receiving help from an unexpected quarter, in the form of the mysterious Yvraine, high-priestess of the Aeldari god of the dead known as Ynnead, she led the Imperial defenders through a Warp Gate and into the Webway, away from their Chaos pursuers. They soon arrived in the Realm of Ultramar and made all haste to Macragge, the Chapter homeworld of the Ultramarines. After seeking audience with Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, the mysterious Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Aeldari high priestess Yvraine have the means to resurrect a long-dead hero to help lead the defence of the embattled Imperium -- the Primarch Roboute Guilliman himself! Using both arcane and technological means, they managed to successfully raise the long-dead primarch from his millennia-long stasis. After making short work of the forces of Chaos on Macragge and many of its surrounding worlds, Primarch Guilliman and his Terran Crusade set out on their long sojourn to the Throneworld of Terra itself, so that the Avenging Son could commune with his father, the Emperor. After many trials, tribulations and setbacks, the surviving forces of the Terran Crusade arrived upon the surface of Luna, where they were soon beset by the treacherous Thousand Sons. Things went from bad, to worse, with the arrival of the Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red, whose mastery of sorcery began to turn the tide of the battle in the Thousand Sons' favour. But the Chaos Space Marines, and most especially, the Crimson King's arrival, did not go unnoticed. Within the bowels of the Imperial Palace on Terra, the all-female Order of the Sisters of Silence were called upon in the Imperium's most direst need, to put to the torch the upstart sorcerers and undo their supernatural foes with their innate psychic nullifying power. With a detachment of Adeptus Custodes by their side, the Terran Defence Fleet soon arrived at Luna, and the Null-Maidens and golden-armoured giants of the Custodian Guard set upon their foes with righteous fury. Utilising their innate abilities, the Nulls helped the beleaguered Guilliman turn the tide of the battle in the Imperials' favour, driving back the Daemon Primarch as the Avenging Son rained down hate-filled blows upon his former brother. With the distraction of the Null-Maidens, Guilliman was able to land a mortal wound upon the Crimson King, who staggered back into the Webway gate from whence he came. With an invocation from the Harlequins who had allied themselves with Guilliman, the Webway gate was permanently sealed, and the Crimson King was cut off from Luna. The battle was as good as won. Bolstered by the sudden arrival of the Silent Sisterhood, Adeptus Custodes and the Imperial Fists, the survivors of the Terran Crusade drove the Thousand Sons back, and soon the remainder of the Traitor Marines were swiftly cut to pieces. Following this battle, the primarch was escorted back to the Throneworld, where he was granted an audience with the Emperor within His Sanctum Imperialis. Following his reemergence after several solar days, the primarch vowed to take the fight out amongst the stars to meet the enemy in the Emperor's name. The Silent Sisterhood now stood ready once more to lend their talents to the Imperial armed forces, in case their unique abilities are needed once more.The Hunt for Mother (Unknown Date.M42) - Bearing the cream, red, and black of the Outer Solar Vigil, the Bone Tiger Cadre of the Silent Sisterhood are investigators of black marketeers and other illegal economies. Such activities vein the teeming shoals of the Sol System's inter-system traffic, yet the cadre has no interest in their criminal trade, except so far as their hidden manifests can hide psykers fleeing the tithe. Five Terran years after the first departure of the Indomitus Crusade, the Bone Tiger Cadre were set upon the trail of Mother Cerynt, an elderly businesswoman who ran halfway houses aboard Neptunian orbitals. Rumours of vanishing tenants had surfaced, and tales of blood magic had reached the Outer Solar Vigil. Tracking her movements, the Bone Tiger Cadre traced Mother Cerynt to a supposedly empty bulk hauler. The cadre's ships patiently lay in wait for the right moment before striking with swift precision. A lengthy search of the haul-chambers ended when the cadre's squads came upon Cerynt's sanctum in a lower hold. Some five hundred ragged Chaos Cultists surrounded her, wide-eyed and gripping improvised weapons with hands pocked with bloody scabs. Mother Cerynt sat feasting on some of the bulk hauler's crew, her round, wrinkled face awash with blood and scored with an eight-pointed star. With a shriek of fear, she screamed at the cultists in thrall to her tainted blood to kill the interlopers. The Sisters of Silence attacked with feline grace, and the kilometre-long container echoed to the crack and explosion of bolts, the frenzied brays of Mother Cerynt's blood-kin, and her increasingly high-pitched wailing. After the long and patient hunt, the Bone Tiger Cadre's squads killed swiftly and efficiently, not stopping or taking a step back until every cultist and their heinous matriarch had been destroyed.Extinguishing Of Peranis (Unknown Date.M42) - Ship-borne chronometric-choirs sang that Battlegroup Macharius reached the Gher Straits eighteen solar months after their last contact with the rest of the Indomitus Crusade Third Fleet. Task Force XI swept down upon the once-verdant Agri-world of Peranis, whose giltfir forests had been swathed in fire and blood by the Scintillating Legions of Tzeentch. While other Imperial forces made planetfall at key targets, near two hundred warriors of the Auric Eagle Cadre of the Vigil Indomitus deployed around the capital's astropathic chori-spyre. The uncompromising Silent Sisters of the Auric Eagle Cadre surrounded the chori-spyre, boltguns roaring. Leaping and bounding Daemons threw twisting bolts of Warpfire and beams of polymorphic light at the sisters, but they guttered and died as they touched the psychic null zones around each warrior. Incensed, packs of gangling Horrors and rapidly mutating Flamers bore down on them with claws and fangs, while shoals of barbed Screamers poured out of the smoke-filled sky. Prosecutors fired until boltgun magazines were emptied; Witchseekers poured forth torrents of fiery death until their Flamer canisters were spent. Arcing Psyk-Out Grenades exploded in knots of writhing pseudopods, arcane substances in their cores unmaking the Daemons' twisting flesh. When the Daemons reached their lines, Executioner Greatblades cleaved open Daemonic flesh and empty weapons were smashed into leering faces. When Space Marines reached the chori-spyre solar hours later, their captain counted just seventeen Sisters of Silence left alive. Their armour was gouged and melted, skin and cloaks scorched. But the capital's chori-spyre, at the centre of a blasted wasteland, was free of Daemons.Honour Before Honours (Unknown Date.M42) - The Steel Drake Cadre of the Reductus Sector Vigil was tasked with answering requests for aid against xenos witch-breeds. Recent monitoring of the Pargetar Reclamation revealed desperate vox-chatter from the Hive World of Mesa Superior -- tales of a monstrous Ork psyker whose powers were holding back entire companies. The Steel Drake Cadre deployed six squads into the hive city, carefully avoiding detection by rampaging Ork mobs, while veteran platoons of Ushanti Astra Militarum troopers infiltrated the ruined buildings to encircle the xenos. A huge feral figure chanted, roared, and stamped atop a ruined tower, while the sky above this Ork Warphead churned with green thunderclouds. Flights of Aeronautica Imperialis fighters were swatted from the air by ethereal green claws or fried by webs of actinic lightning flung from the Warphead's outstretched arms. Tightly focused on their target, the sisters made their way through shattered tunnels before finding their quarry protected. The commanding Sister Superior saw they could not avoid the hundreds of Orks guarding the Warphead and took the decision to divert them. With carefully placed shots and charges, the Sisters of Steel Drake Cadre revealed the position of the Ushanti's infiltrating platoons. The Orks roared at finding a nearby foe and instantly leapt to engage them. Upon the tower, the Warphead felt the sisters' approach. The psychic manifestations surrounding him evaporated, and a moment of clarity lit his addled mind, suddenly free of the splitting headache he had known for his entire life. The feeling was brief, as then three bolt shells sprayed the contents of his thick skull wide. If any of the infiltrating Ushanti had witnessed the sisters' deed, none survived the Orks' violence to tell of it.