"With Faith and Fire.”
— First Maxim of the Sororitas.
To be a sister of the Adepta Sororitas is to have a holy and divinely ordained calling to do the Emperor’s will, to lead the faithful by example and to punish and destroy the heretic wherever and whenever it is found. The Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas (or the Daughters of the Emperor to give them their archaic title), are a powerful and largely independent collection of religious orders that form the militant wing of the Imperial Ecclesiarchy, protecting its domains, enforcing its will, destroying its enemies and defending the faithful. Each member of this all-female sisterhood is sworn to the
Imperial Creed, relentlessly trained to excel and is utterly devoted to her Order, her work and the Imperial faith. The Sororitas is formed into two divisions: the great Convent Prioris on Terra and the Convent Sanctorum of the shrine world of Ophelia IV. The Sororitas is further subdivided into several component Orders. The principle task of the Orders Militant or Sisters of Battle is to persecute the Ecclesiarchy’s wars of faith and serve as a fighting arm of Ordo Hereticus. Members of the Orders Famulous specialise as councillors, diplomats, teachers and investigators. The Orders Dialogous serves in translating and understanding ancient, xenos or heretical texts, ciphers and history. Finally, the Orders Hospitaller provides skilled surgeons and physicians to the Imperial military. Regardless of her Order, each Sororitas sister is a highly trained and adaptable agent of the God-Emperor. Each is willing to lay down their lives for Creed and mankind: strong of will and firm of purpose. They are also armed with one of the greatest of weapons in humanity’s arsenal—faith.
The origins of the Adepta Sororitas lie in the dark days of the Age of Apostasy and perhaps even before. Their modern form took shape in the Reformation of Sebastian Thor that ended the wars of religious schism and gave birth to Ordo Hereticus. They owe their power in no small part to Thor’s great Decree Passive that prevented the Ministorum from raising permanent bodies of “men under arms”. Following the disbanding of the Ecclesiarchy’s standing armies and fleets, the Sororitas were given the task of defending the Ecclesiarchy and Imperial faith from direct threat. They also form the Chamber Militant of Ordo Hereticus of the Inquisition, a zealous and utterly fanatical force of elite soldiers, learned savants and skilled physicians who are an invaluable part of the Hereticus’s war on unbelief, witchery and, of course, heresy.
The Power of Faith[]
The power of the purity, will and faith of an Adepta Sororitas sister is a tangible and real thing, capable of shielding her from the psyker’s power or the Daemon’s wrath and enabling her to perform deeds that are nothing short of miraculous. A Sororitas sister’s faith manifests as a series of specialised Talents that allow the character to use her Fate Points in unique ways to achieve extraordinary effects. See page 50 for more details.
Sororitas Characters[]
Adepta Sororitas are courageous, pious, self-sacrificing, chaste and faithful. They are fanatics, bound by harsh and restrictive religious oaths and ingrained zealotry. As a Sororitas, the simple fact of who and what you are dictates many of your character’s actions and responses— far more so, in fact, than almost any other character type or Career choice. Because of these factors, Sororitas characters are recommended for experienced players and are not included as part of the usual random character generation process. In order to create an Adepta Sororitas, you must obtain the GMs permission first. All Sororitas characters are human females without exception and cannot be marked with mutation or Corruption Points at the start of the game. You must hail from a Feral World or Imperial World, or have the Schola Progenium or Noble Origin. GMs should also consider the kind of campaign and adventures they intend to run before
allowing their players to use Sororitas characters. This is not simply because the Sororitas Career is a powerful option (and it is unashamedly so) but because, if played correctly, a Sororitas character is completely and utterly unforgiving of anyone and anything that has truck with the forbidden in any form—including other Acolytes, Radically inclined Inquisitors and anybody marked by mutation or the alien. Be warned!
Adepta Sororitas Starting Package[]
The Adepta Sororitas recruits promising candidates from a number of different locales, based upon promise, strength of character and, above all, piety. Years of harsh and exhaustive training follow in matters intellectual, physical and spiritual. There is much to be learned from basic weapon drill, to the lives of the saints and the many and complicated strictures, tenets and codes of the Rule of the Sororitas by which they must learn to live. Even up to the point where the aspirant dons the symbolic Ring of Suffrage and takes the Oaths of Adherence to become a novice sister, she may be failed by her tutors or leave at any time without censure. The sisterhood desires neither grudging obedience nor false piety in its ranks; they allow only those of true fanatic devotion.
Starting Skills: Common Lore (Imperial Creed) (Int), Literacy (Int), Performer (Singer) (Fel), Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int) and Trade (Copyist) (Int).
Starting Talents: Basic Weapon Training (Primitive), Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Pistol Training (Las) and Pure Faith (see page 50)
Starting Gear: Club or flail or staff, las pistol and charge pack, carapace chest plate and mesh cowl or feudal plate, aquila necklace, chaplet Ecclesiasticus (a devotional iconamulet), vestments (Good Quality Clothing), 4 candles, writing kit, copy of the Rule of the Sororitas, and Ring of Suffrage (counts as a charm).
Starting Wealth: 70+2d10 Thrones.
Monthly Income: Supine Class.