The Sisters of Battle have a long and bloodied history in their service to the Emperor. Long, as well, is their list of heroes.
Via our good friends at Lexicanum
The Orders Militant are the armed wing of the Adepta Sororitas and are sometimes known as the Sisters of Battle. The Sisters of Battle serve as the standing army of the Ecclesiarchy. The Adepta Sororitas (also known as “the Sisterhood” or “Daughters of the Emperor”) are an all-female subdivision of the religious organisation known as the Ecclesiarchy or Ministorum. The Sisterhood’s Orders Militant serve as the Ecclesiarchy’s fighting arm, mercilessly rooting out corruption and heresy within humanity and every organisation of the Adeptus Terra. The terms “Adepta Sororitas” and “Sisters of Battle” are commonly assumed to mean the same thing, but the latter title technically refers only to the Orders Militant – the military arm of the organisation which is the largest and the best-known part of the Sororitas.
Notable heroes of the Sisters of Battle include:
Alicia Dominica: Patron Saint of the Sisterhood, Bearer of the Grail of Ages, Founder of the Order of the Ebon Chalice, is renowned throughout the Imperium as both the founder and patron of the Adepta Sororitas and as the Sister who ended the Reign of Blood when she beheaded the High Lord Goge Vandire.
During the Age of Apostasy, Alicia Dominica was the leader of Goge Vandire’s bodyguards, the Brides of the Emperor. At the height of the Reign of Blood a small contingent of Adeptus Custodes made their way into the heart of Vandire’s domain, only to be confronted by Dominica and her fellow Brides. The Custodes Centurion called for truce and parley; laying down his arms, he made impassioned pleas for the Brides to revoke their oaths to Vandire, arguing that they were serving evil rather than the Emperor. The Brides, however, were not swayed by his oratory; so leaving his men as hostages, the Centurion led Dominica and five of her companions (Katherine, Silvana, Lucia, Mina and Arabella) through the tunnels below the Imperial Palace towards the most sacred place in the galaxy – The Golden Throne, the resting place of the Emperor himself. What occurred before the Emperor remains unrecorded but when Dominica and her companions emerged from the bowels of the palace they renounced the name Brides, returning to their original title, Daughters of the Emperor. The Daughters marched to Vandire’s throne room, finding him in the midst of a bloodthirsty tirade; pausing only to condemn Vandire for his crimes, Dominica cut the head from the traitor High Lord’s shoulders.
Dominica led her sisters for several centuries, overseeing the early years of the Adepta Sororitas and leading her Sisters on many crusades, before finally falling in battle at the Scourging of Frideswide’s World. It was recorded that she survived literally hundreds of wounds before one lasgun blast finally found a weakness in her armor and pierced her heart in 650.M36. At some point before her death, Dominica was declared a Living Saint.
Saint Celetine: a legendary member of the Adepta Sororitas. Now a Living Saint, she has been described as a grand design of the Emperor unfulfilled. Little is known of her life and battles before she was proclaimed a Living Saint – presumably they were suppressed. What is known is that she was a Sister Repentia of the Order of Our Martyred Lady and that she was but one warrior fighting at the prolonged Palatine Schism, against thousands of heretics. Celestine was thought to have been killed in battle before the capital city of the planet Eurytion, and was said to have killed over one hundred schismatics before she fell. Her body was retrieved by her sisters, and was found to have life still in it. Believing her touched by the Emperor himself, the Sisters cleansed her body and found her to be free of wounds. The next day, the assault resumed with Celestine at its head. The battle lasted mere hours. Celestine became the figurehead of the Palatine Crusade, leading the forces of the Imperium to countless victories. At Sanctus Lys, which was home to an ancient shrine once visited by Saint Katherine, she entered a hidden crypt, alone, forbidding any present to follow. At the first light of dawn, Celestine rose from the crypt changed. Clad in the Armour of Saint Katherine and wielding The Ardent Blade, she had become a vessel of the Emperor’s divine radiance; she was declared a Living Saint by Lord Ansgar and his Thorian compatriots.
Saint Celestine was lost on Forrax, as the treacherous Warmaster detonated an atomic fail safe in his fortress, annihilating everything for miles across. She appeared unexpectedly in 980.M41 at a crucial moment of the Promethean War on Heletine, where the Order of the Ebon Chalice and the Salamanders Space Marines were engaged with forces of the Black Legion. There she turned the tide against the Chaos Space Marines and drove a spearhead directly to the Daemon Prince Lord Gralastyx, and ultimately slew him. During the 13th Black Crusade, Saint Celestine once again manifested at the host of thousands of Sisters of Battle which had been thought lost in the Warp for centuries. She proved decisive in the battle and became one of the key Imperial commanders, personally battling Abaddon the Despoiler. Saint Celestine continued to lead her survivors, now known simply as the Celestin, on a Crusade to Macragge.
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