Alicia Dominica

Saint Alicia Dominica, Patron Saint of the Sisterhood, Bearer of the Grail of Ages, Founder of the Order of the Ebon Chalice - Alicia Dominica is revered throughout the Imperium as both the founder and patron of the Adepta Sororitas

History
Alicia Dominica's origins can be traced back to the late 35th Millennium, during the Age of Apostasy, and the rise of the Apostate Goge Vandire and his Reign of Blood. Through political maneuvering, blackmail, and outright murder, Vandire managed to assume the mantle of both High Lord of the Administratum and the Ecclesiarchy. Vandire's Reign of Blood begins. Through trickery and manipulation, Vandire manages to co-opt Alicia Dominica and her Sisters of the newly discovered Daughters of the Emperor of the world of San Leor into his personal bodyguard, renaming them the Brides of the Emperor. He then takes his new Ecclesiarchal bodyguards back with him to Terra. From then on, the warrior women became his personal retinue of soldiers and companions, and Vandire renamed them the Brides of the Emperor. They were trained by tJ1C best teachers in the Imperial Guard to combine their own skills wi th the modern weapons of war and word of their dedication to the protection of Vandire spread through the Imperium. They were his constant guardians and his silent executioners, who would kill with a word from their lord.

The Brides not only served as Vandire's bodyguard, but also as servants and companions. They tasted the High Lord's food, fed him when he fell weak with illness, nursed his frail body and entertained him with singing, dancing and other, more exotic, skills. For all their gaiety on occasion, the Brides of the Emperor were still hardened fighters, and when the Holy Synod tried to have Vandire assassinated a few years later, the Brides went into the meeting chambers, locked the doors, and emerged an hour later carrying the severed heads of every Cardinal present.

The violent repression and wanton slaughter continued for seven decades after Vand ire 's ascension to the Ecclesiarchal palace. The resources of the Adeptus Ministorum were directed towards bloodthirsty pogroms and lbe building of immense new monuments to the Emperor and Vandire. However, Vandire's insanity was ever directed outwards. and though distant planets boasted mile-high spires and cathedrals, the Terran palace itself was allowed to fall il1lo decay once more.

Soon rebellion began to foment as a simple preacher named Sebastian Thor, from the world of Dimmamar, began proselytizing to the people, leading them in direct opposition of Vandire. Dimmamar even denounced the High Lord as a traitor to the Imperium. The Adeptus Mechanicus and the mighty Space Marine Chapters continued to only play a small role in the Age of Apostasy. The vagaries of warp travel made any long distance journeys hazardous at best and impossible in some areas. Instead the Adeptus Astartes' planets and the Forge Worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus became fortresses amidst a sea of anarchy. These organisations were on the defensive, protecting the few systems they could from the ravages of the Age of Apostasy and the carnage of Vandirc's Reign of Blood. With news of Sebastian Thor and the spread of his mighty army of the faithful - the Confederation of Light - many Space Marine Chapter Masters in the Segmentum Solar and the nearest sectors of the rest of the Imperium began voicing their support for this movement.

Since the Reign of Blood started. another organisation had remained apart from the bloodshed and devawuion. Within the secure walls of the Imperial palace, the Adeptus Custodes continued the ir eternal vigil over the Golden Throne. To escape the anarchy that prevailed, and to ensure the protection of the Emperor himself, the Custodians had cut themselves off from the outs ide complete ly. Only scraps of information passed through the sealed walls of the most holy of places, and it was only when the Space Marines and Adeptus Mechanicus moved against Vandire that the full extent of the treachery perpetrated by the High Lord became known to them. In secret meetings with the commanders of the Space Marines, the Adeptus Custodes learnt of the Reign of Blood and the Brides of the Emperor defending the traitor High Lord. The mysterious order advised the Space Marines to continue their attack while they would do what they could. A small contingent of Custodians, led by a Centurion of the Companions, made its way into the very heart of Vandire's domain. Surfacing not far from Vandire's audience chamber, they were confronted by the Brides of the Emperor. Calling for a truce and a parley, the Centurion laid down his weapons and walked unarmed to meet the guardians of Vandire. For an hour he made an impassioned plea for the Brides to revoke their oaths, striving to convince them that they were fighting for evil, not the Emperor. However, they were not to be swayed by his arguments. and the name less Centurion had only one option left. Leaving his men as hostages, the Centurion guided their leader, Alicia Dominica and her personal bodyguard of five female warriors (Arabella, Katherine, Lucia, Mina, and Silvana) into the Throne Room, to stand before the God-Emperor upon his Golden Throne.

What occurred in this most sacred of chambers was not recorded, but when they stepped from Gate once more, their eyes burned with unparalleled anger and hatred. Without a word the Centurion once more led them through the dark places of Earth, this time lead ing them directly back to the Audience Chamber. Alicia Dominica spoke of the treachery of Vandire and his depraved corruption of the Ecclesiarchy, but most of all she spoke of his twisted perversion of their order. Burning with shame and anger, they renounced the name of Brides and once again became the Daughters of the Emperor.

Alicia Dominica and her vengeful Sisters confronted the corrupt Vandire. Her words that she spoke during this confrontation are engraved upon the black marble of her sarcophogus: "You have committed the ultimate heresy. Not only have you turned your back on the Emperor and stepped from his light, you have profaned his name and almost dest royed everything he has striven to build. You have perverted and twisted the path be has laid for mankind to tread. As your own decrees have stated, there can be no mercy for such a crime, no pity for such a criminal. I renounce your lordship, you walk in the darkness and cannot be allowed to live. Your sentence has been long overdue and now it is time for you to die." With this proclomation, Dominica drew her power sword and held it aloft for all to see. Vandire glanced around the assembled warriors, his brow knitted in confusion. Shaking his head slightly, the High Lord whispered his last words, "I don't have time to die...I'm too busy!" The power sword slashed down, beheading the traitor High Lord in one stroke. The Reign of Blood had been ended.

The reformation of the newly appointed Ecclesiarch, Sebastian Thor, ended the wars of religious schism and gave birth to the 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 the 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. Dominica established the formation of the Sisterhood - the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas, with the Sisters divided between the Convents on Terra and Ophelia VII. She then became the first Canoness of her own Order, the Order of the Ebon Chalice. In 650.M36, Alicia Dominica fell at the Battle of Frideswide's World, surviving hundreds of blows but falling to a single traitor's lasgun blast to her heart. She was declared a saint soon after.