Sisters of Silence
- "That's their function...aside from the fact that they fight like bastards. Got the pariah gene in 'em."
- --Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, on the Sisters of Silence
The Sisters of Silence were an elite, all female order created by the Emperor of Mankind to man the Black Ships and round up a planet's renegade psykers.
History
As stated, the Emperor formed this all female army at the beginning of the Great Crusade as a counter-measure against untrained psykers, which had increased at the start of the Age of Strife. To do this, the Emperor ensured that they were all pariahs, human beings with no presence in the Warp. As such, the psyker's abilities would have no effect on them, but would be cancelled out when they got close enough to them. In one of his odder decisions, the Emperor explicitly had the Sisters take literal vows of silence upon becoming full Sisters. They could communicate via several sign languages (including Astartes battle-sign) but would not speak a word upon completion of their training. To ensure communication between other branches of the Imperium of Man, Sisters in training would serve as communicators.
The Sisters of Silence are also consummate warriors, trained to the same levels as the Space Marine Legions and using similar wargear, such as bolters and power weapons, as well as being covered in SoB-like power armour, albeit with no armored helmet or other head protection aside the massive jaw-like collar that hides their mouths, which leads to a lot of deaths from headshots during the burning of Prospero. As a military force they are formidable; during the Burning of Prospero they were deployed to augment the Space Wolves and the Adeptus Custodes. While this was more because the pariah gene would neutralize the Thousand Sons psyker abilities, they were more than capable of fighting with the Astartes. They would also in turn augment the Custodes, the Imperial Fists, the Blood Angels, and the White Scars during the Siege of Terra, where the pariah gene became a boon fighting the Daemons unleashed.
The fate of the Sisters of Silence following the Horus Heresy has not been documented yet. The two dominant theories among the fanbase are that they were killed to a woman during the Siege of Terra (which has disturbing precedence in 40k), or that they were folded into the newly formed Inquisition and a reformed Sisters possibly became proto-Sororitas. The Black Ships still exist in 40k's present, so there's a solid chance some form of the sisters exist to crew them. After all, dragging renegade psykers through the warp to Terra is something of a risky business for non-pariahs, but we haven't really heard anything about them in a very long time.
Tabletop
The Sisters of Silence have not been released for tabletop use yet, but are slated to be included in Army lists in Forge World's Horus Heresy line of models, specifically centered on the book detailing the Burning of Prospero.
Gallery
-
Being in a Dreadnought does not make you safe from these Chicks.
-
Even these Bastards are having a hard time dealing with them.
