The icon of the Adepta Sororitas
The Orders Pronatus is one of the non-militant Orders Minoris of the Adepta Sororitas who specialise in retrieving, guarding, studying and repairing artefacts of value to the Adeptus Ministorum.
History[]
The Orders Pronatus specialise in retrieving, guarding, studying and repairing artefacts of value to the Ecclesiarchy. This includes the uncounted thousands of holy relics revered by the peoples of the Imperium, but it also relates to items captured by the forces of the Imperium that are considered too powerful or significant to be allowed to fall into enemy hands.
The sisters of the Orders Pronatus also have the responsibility of maintaining and blessing the many banners and symbols of the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas. They have even been called upon to reconsecrate the livery of other Imperial adepta, as was the case when they repaired the Chapter banner of the formerly disgraced Lamenters Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes after its involvement in the Badab War.
It is said that the Sisters Pronatus who repaired the banner wept openly as they did so, so terrible to contemplate were the sins of the Lamenters against the Emperor. To this day, the standard is known as the Banner of Tears.
Some Orders Pronatus are known to have given all in the defence of the artefacts they are charged with guarding or studying, and the fate of the Pronatus' Order of Blessed Enquiry is a salutary lesson in the risks inherent in hoarding an object imbued with the evil of the Ruinous Powers, even if the intent is to safeguard Humanity from their corrupting influence.
Notable Orders Pronatus[]
- Order of the August Vigil - One of the Orders Pronatus, specialising in the guardianship and defence of holy relics across the Imperium.
- Order of the Blessed Enquiry - One of the Orders Pronatus, believed to have been destroyed due to their collection of artefacts of the Chaos Gods. It is rumoured that they had discovered Slaanesh's true name and were responsible for the creation of the anti-Daemon weapon known as the Daemonifuge.
- Order of the Eternal Gate - One of the Orders Pronatus. Imperial records speak of the Order of the Eternal Gate, whose responsibility is the retrieval of ancient or dangerous relics and artefacts for the Ecclesiarchy from across the galaxy.
- Drusian Order of Footfall - On the void station of Footfall in the Koronus Expanse, a small reliquary was maintained by the Drusian sect of the Ecclesiarchy in the Calixis Sector. A small group of sisters were reassigned from various Orders Militant to the Orders Pronatus to help the Drusians guard the reliquary. Sister Argenta was one of these battle-sisters.
Notable Orders Pronatus Sisters[]
- Argenta - Argenta is a battle-sister currently of the Orders Pronatus and a former sister of the Order of Our Martyred Lady of the Adepta Sororitas currently serving in the retinue of the House von Valancius Rogue Trader dynasty in the Koronus Expanse of the Segmentum Obscurus. The terrible tread of gigantic Titans, the scream of Drop Pods entering the atmosphere -- these are the sounds that make the hearts of Heretics tremble. So too does prayer -- the holy battle prayer of the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas. Also known as the Sisters of Battle, these fierce and devoted women make up the militant arm of the Ecclesiarchy, the state church of the Imperium of Man. The orphaned daughter of Astra Militarum officers, the child that would become Sister Argenta received harsh training in the Schola Progenium -- the crucible of the Imperial military elite. Only one memory survived from before the ordeal of training -- or was it merely a dream? In this vision, the girl saw grey ship hulls and dirty military camps, dank trenches, faceless people in Astra Militarum uniforms, the roar of a counterattack, the crescendo of her mother's heart-rending cry, broken by an ominous silence...and the golden Aquila lying among the ashes, so immaculate, so alien in this gloomy and bleak environment. The symbol of the God-Emperor of Mankind. Somewhere in the malicious oceans of the Warp, the Emperor was fighting the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. For the young orphan, He became a semantic constant, an object of worship, an impeccable role model, the reason she had survived hell. Guided by this shining symbol, sure that she had been chosen for some great, as yet unknown, purpose, the girl proved herself time and time again in the Schola and ascended to the ranks of the Adepta Sororitas. Her birth name was forgotten, replaced by a new one -- Argenta, the name of a local saint worshipped in the Calixis Sector and the Koronus Expanse. A long and crooked path then led her to Footfall, where she was to join a small mission of her order to guard a holy reliquary. It seems that Argenta lives and breathes for one purpose -- to achieve perfection worthy of the Emperor's most faithful warriors. She is unstoppable, audacious -- sometimes too audacious. The battlefield is her temple, and bolter rounds are the words of her fervent prayer. When she rushes into battle, the ship's bulkheads reverberate with the passion of her prayers, and her allies feel the surge of power. But what led the young sister away from her duties as a guardian of the reliquary? Was it a holy epiphany or a fall from grace? This remains a tightly held secret...
Sources[]
- Daemonifuge (Graphic Novel) by Kev Walker & Jim Campbell
- Legacy (Novel) by Matthew Farrer
- White Dwarf 293 (UK), "The Liber Sororitas" by Andy Hoare, pg. 55
- Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (PC Game)