To say that the Ephrael Stern Lore is badass, would be the understatement of the year! She survived the soul cage and destroyed chaos across the universe.
This chick is no joke! Literally, since birth, she was bred to fight and conquer in the name of Emperor. The truth of the matter is, she would kick all of our butts before afternoon tea. Let’s sit down with our crumpets and see how she accomplished such feats of faith.
Ephrael Stern Lore: A Hero From Birth
Sister Ephrael Stern, also known as the Thrice-Born, was promised to the Sisters of Battle before birth. And you think your parents are bad? Try having your folks selling you into eternal battle before you were even born. After her parents gave her up for the good of the Imperium she was raised at the Saint Sabbat Schola Progenium. She excelled there in no time… Big surprise, we know. She was submitted for consideration by the Arch Drill-abbot of the school. With her glowing recommendation, she was accepted by Sister Patricia from the Order of the Holy Seal.
This lady does not understand the meaning of mediocre. Sister Stern excelled as a novice and advanced far ahead of her classmates. Despite the jeers from her classmates, she took her Oaths of Adherence at the Ecclesiarchal Palace on Terra. Due to her outstanding performance, she was chosen to join the Order of Our Martyred Lady. After a brief time getting to know her fellow sisters she was stationed on Ophelia VII. We all know you want her to mess up at some point in this story… but again she was exemplary. Due to her being better than you in every way she elevated to the rank of Seraphim in record time. What takes most sisters their entire lives took her three. Only three years later she was ordained as a Sister Superior.
Life as a Sister Superior
They don’t ordain you as a Sister Superior without a plan in mind. Only a few months after her promotion she was sent to the world of Parnis. There, a convent of the Orders Pronatus had been lost without a trace, nothing save an old cup of coffee. Through some serious Sherlock Holmes like instincts, she found the reason for the disappearance. The lost convent had been destroyed by a once imprisoned daemon. She prayed for the lost souls and vowed to avenge her fallen Sisters. Everyone thought them forever lost. They were gone, but they still had a part to play in Stern’s story.
The dastardly daemon’s plans did not stop with simply killing them. The insane daemon linked their bodies and minds into a never-ending web of misery and suffering. Stern, or the daemon, could have never known the daemon’s plan would end up saving her life. The Daemon’s flaw was underestimating the faith of the Sisters. As he linked their misery, he also inadvertently linked their faith as well.
When fighting the forces of Chaos on the same world Ephrael Stern fell in battle. The 700 lost souls saw their chance for redemption and used their combined might to revive her. That wasn’t the only blessing for Stern they also strengthened her, made her faster, and poured their knowledge into her. The battle was a massacre for the Sisters. Only Sister Stern rose from the field. She returned as the sole survivor of the forces sent there. To say her sanity was stretched to the limit would almost do the situation justice.
Imprisoned By Her Own Order
The entire Imperium was skeptical of this lone survivor. They held her for four years in a cell in the Convent Prioris on Ophelia VII. They felt it only right to use this time to determine her nature. All doubt was smashed when she was attacked by a Sister controlled by a chaos demon. The daemon’s sole role was to silence Stern before she could regain her mind and tell the knowledge she had gained. You think a single daemon could stop Stern? Of course not. Ephrael attacked and killed the assailant with her bare hands, setting unstoppable events into motion once more.
This is when the Inquisition got involved. They sent in Inquisitor Silas Hand to investigate what happened on Parnis. He wanted the first-hand account of what happened and took Stern with him. The imprisoned Sisters used this opportunity to pour the last of their secrets on how to fight chaos as well as their power into her. Inquisitor Hand found the daemon who imprisoned the lost Convent. In the ensuing battle, he sacrificed himself to defeat the daemon, known as Asteroth. Once again Sister Stern was the sole survivor of the expedition. She has a knack for being the only one left to tell the tale.
A Wanted Sister:
The Ordo Malleus was beyond skeptical of this unkillable sister. They put a price on her head and are hunting her until this day. The people wanting this awesome woman dead did not stop there. The sorcerer Ahriman has a particular hatred for her after she escaped his clutches. She had to die a second time to escape his clutches but escape she did. She stabbed herself in her heart to escape his grasp. Her body was recovered and buried with all do honor.
This was not the end for her though, once you escape death once, what’s a second time? She was revived by her fallen sisters, from the lost coven. They were eternally grateful for her gift of freeing them from the daemon. Those 700 souls rose up once again to revive her. She is a light of the warp but not of the warp. Ephrael finally embraced the power they kept trying to give her. She used their power to defeat a Culexus Assassin, overwhelming its warp abilities with her own.
Where She is Today
Ephrael Stern was last seen traveling with an Eldar known as the Pariah to the Black Library using her abilities to access the webway. She is starting to appear on many worlds, turning the tides of battle for her fellow sisters. The Ordo believes she presents an extreme danger to the Imperium and has, issued orders for her destruction. Other, smarter, members of the Ordo think she might be Mankind’s greatest hope since the Primarchs.
Find out more about Ephrael Stern
About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
