Editing /tg/ Heresy 31k-40k Dump (section)

=More SoB stuff=

We should also consider numbers, equipment and chain of command.  They are an army, after all.

==Proposal 1: Full Sororitas==

The Sisters are meant to be the main military arm of the Ecclesiarchy, which is a gigantic part of the Imperium.  OU numbers are six Orders Majoris, with tens of thousands of Sisters each, plus "lots" of Orders Minoris with thousands of Sisters.  A conservative estimate would be half a million troops, which is rarer than the Astartes and basically nothing on a Galactic scale.

So I suggest that the Orders Majoris are all well over a hundred thousand power armoured troops, PLUS millions of flak/wishful-thinking armoured troops.  (Consider: the Sororitas we know are from the Progenia, so there can't be very many of them.  But how many faithful women from less distinguished backgrounds are there who would be willing to fight if it meant a way out of the horrors of the hive?)  Altogether, the Ecclesiarchy has well over a million Adepta Sororitas proper (power armoured) plus hundreds of millions of women in arms - the largest army in the Imperium after the Imperial Guard.

To make sense of this, they need more ranks up the top.  The OU has a position (but no person, sadface) for the Abbess Sanctorum, who is meant to be the head honcho for the Sororitas.  In the Catholic Church, and Abbott or Abbess ranks up there with a Bishop.  Then there's the Prioress (in the Catholic Church, a very low-ranking office), then Canonesses (which is just a term for a nun).  Instead of this:

* Just a senior Abbess at the top of the Adepta Sororitas is fine - call her the Abbess Primoris, Abbess Palatine, Archabbess or what-have-you - formally equivalent in rank to the Arch-Cardinals (Cardinals Palatine, depending on which book you're reading) but required to be subordinate to their decisions and the will of the Ecclesiarch.  She commands from a '''Convent''' on Terra.

* Each of the Orders Majoris should have an '''Abbess''' as their commander, again with an equal rank but subordinate to the Cardinals of the Adeptus Ministorum.  These all have their own '''Convent''' based on a Shrine World elsewhere in the Galaxy.  The Orders Minoris are distinguished by having a '''Prioress''' at their head and being based in a '''Priory''', which denotes their junior status without making them out to be part of the same command structure.

* With that in hand, the Preceptories and Commanderies of the OU are fine for the work of fanning the Sisters out through the Galaxy.

Equipment is a relatively low priority.  They shouldn't really have the Legiones Astartes kit, otherwise they're female space marines.  Ideally, their kit ought to be out in its own little realm of special.