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Order of the Martyred Heart by Christopher Glass Militant order of the Adeptus Sorritus
Inquisitor Chapman, Enclosed please find copies of all records pertaining to the creation of our order, force structure and history. As always we of the ecclesiarchy are willing to comply with the demands of the Inquisition. Cannonesse Julia d’Ormand of the Order of the Martyred Heart Priori XII Planet Athena III History The history of the Order of the Martyred Heart begins approximately 1500yrs (standard terran) ago. The order originated as a penitent chapter of the Order of the Martyred Lady. Originally founded to minister to the needs of the "fallen" women of Imperial society (i.e. the so called "working women") and provide education to the female members of several noble families. The order continued in this fashion until the year 40267 (standard terran). At this time a fluctuation in the Eye of Terror allowed a raiding party of Chaos Marines dedicated to Slaneesh to descend on the planet of Athena 3, home of the penitent order’s convent. Local planetary defenses were quickly over-whelmed and the order’s convent became a focal point for both refugees and the invader chaos forces. Within 96 hours of landing the convent was the last bastion of imperial order on the planet. Planetary Guardsmen grimly dug in around the rim of the valley that sheltered the convent from the initial onslaught as the sisters saw to the needs of the shocked and wounded. Chaos forces quickly attacked and were barely stalled by the determined defenses. At the end of the day’s fighting barely a company of Guard were left under the command of a Commissar. The Chaos marines executed a surprise attack by having slaves tunnel under the defenses and emerged behind the lines of the guardsmen and in the courtyard of the convent. At that point butchery the likes of which can only barely be comprehended was inflicted on the refugees and the sisters who tried to protect them with their own bodies. However these acts spurred one sister to commit herself to act to end the heresy of the Chaos troops. Sister Serena Rose crept into the chapel and armed herself from the secret armory accessed from behind the altar of the Emperor Triumphant. Donning the unfamiliar wargear while praying to the Emperor for guidance she doffed her wimple and took up the power sword and combi-weapon and set out to make war upon the infidel chaos troops. When she emerged into the courtyard the chaos troops were celebrating with unholy rights to their dark god while the loyal guardsmen battered at the gates of the convent. Sister Serena Rose thumbed the switch on her jump pack and flew over the startled heads of the chaos troops to the gate and cut through the bars holding them shut with one blow of the power sword. Then she challenged the Chaos Champion with the following words "Our victory and salvation and your death fly upon the wings of eagles, prepare to meet your doom, Heretic!" Again she flew across the heads of the masses and met the Champion in single combat. The guardsmen and Commissar flooded into the courtyard and battled the chaos troops. The chaos troops, being unprepared were quickly overwhelmed and the Commissar strode forward to enter into the battle between the Chaos Champion and Sister Serena Rose. Drawing his chainsword a word from Sister Serena Rose stopped him short, "No", she said, "This filth is mine to destroy!" With those words her power sword sheared the helmet and head from the torso of the Chaos Champion. After the battle, stock was taken of the order. Of the 200 members living in the convent only 32 survived. The order was almost ordered disbanded, but for the earnest petition of Sister Serena Rose that the order be allowed to continue as a minor militant order consisting of never more than 200 sisters to honor the fallen sisters and protect the outpost of Athena 3 while still maintaining its primary function as a shelter for the spurned and unwanted women of imperial society. Special dispensation from the Synod of Cardinals was granted and the order was reformed with Sister Serena Rose named acting cannonesse. Over the past 500yrs (standard terran) the order has acted both nobly in its continuing missions of defending the faithful and saving the "fallen". The Order of the Martyred Heart follows the example of the other militant orders in organization and equipment except for three deviations. The first deviation is that it is normal practice for seraphim squads to dye their hair red in effort to emulate the strength of will Sister Serena Rose. The second deviation is that the Sisters of the Order of the Martyred Heart will very rarely ally with frateris or planetary militia. This attitude came again from Sister Serena Rose and her belief that the "men" of the guard who were acting as their defenders failed in their duty. In this respect the sisters act more like a marine company in the field than a normal militant order. The third deviation is the most recent. After the storming of the Gates of Barbaros on Borrica 5, the order’s seraphim were almost wiped out by the vicious counter attack of the Khorne beserkers after the gate was taken by the seraphim. Losses among the seraphim were calculated of 63%. The current Cannoness, Sister Julia ‘dOrmond looked for a way to increase the mobility of her remaining forces while waiting for equipment replacement for the lost jump packs of the seraphim. Taking an example from the Imperial Guard, the order tried mounting sisters on horseback for a shock assault role. The sisters learned the skills of mounted combat quickly, but the mounts of the rough riders were not used to the added weight of riders in power armor, the crack of bolter fire or the sights of fire from sisterhood weapons. A visiting tech marine of the Salamanders offered a solution. In return for the technical plans of the Immolator turrent, he would provide a better mount for the sisters. Sister Julia demanded a demonstration first. The tech marine worked the entire night through and in the morning offered his demonstration with the help of the sisters trained in mounted battle. The tech marine had taught the sisters to use his own personal transport, a bike mounted with twin linked flamers. The sisters went through the lance drills of the roughriders and their own weapon drills with the bike’s twin linked flamers. Sister Julia was impressed enough to offer 2 complete turrents in return for 10 bikes with 2 of the bikes armed with the twin linked flamer combination. The deal was quickly accepted and the Nike (Winged Victory) Lancers Squadron was born. |
