Order Of The Anointed Arrow
| Order of the Anointed Arrow | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Battle Cry | "The Emperor sees all!" | |
| Founding | M40 | |
| Daughters of | Order of the Argent Shroud | |
| Homeworld | Hebria | |
| Strength | Understrength | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | White and sky blue | |
Overview[edit | edit source]
The Sisters of the Anointed Arrow follow the teachings of their founder, Saint Marsilia, and seek out worlds beset by war where they might turn the tide with their presence. Hidden by their camo-cloaks, they patiently traverse war ravaged landscapes to deal death from afar, slaying the enemies of Mankind while providing assistance to loyal soldiers. The Order appears like specters on the battlefield, but they are anything but aloof to those whom they watch over, and are welcomed and admired wherever they might lend their hand.
Origins[edit | edit source]
Hebria is a resource poor world in the middle of an ice age, where starvation is an ever present threat for the local population. While its Planetary Defense Forces were always the first to receive provisions, a delay in off-world food shipments caused shortages to impact even the armed forces. Insubordination and rioting soon spread among elements of the Hebrian Home Guard, along with whispered tales of soldiers seizing the last scraps of food from civilians, or performing even darker deeds to stave off their hunger. Although food shipments were soon resumed before a scant 6 million inhabitants had perished from famine, by then the entire PDF was in full revolt. Now calling themselves the Bountiful Host, the traitors had turned to the worship of Slaanesh, and developed an insatiable taste for human flesh.
In was into this hellish war zone that Sister Marsilia descended. As a member of an Argent Shroud strike force sent to the planet, she took part in the wider Imperial campaign to restore order on the beleagered world. Unfortunately, the Imperial Guard sent to Hebria were ill equipped for its harsh weather, and were bogged down in a series of deadly urban combat zones. Its soldiers were constantly ambushed by Bountiful Host forces who knew the terrain far better than the off-worlders. Even the formidable Sisters of Battle took heavy casualties, as their unforgiving tactics of charging into the thickest fighting saw their forces surrounded and whittled down over several disastrous engagements. Sister Marsilia's own squad faced an ambush that left her the only one alive. Cut off from friendly forces, she swore an oath that she would do whatever it took to recover the stolen bodies of her fallen Sisters.
For weeks, Sister Marsilia waged a one woman war against the Bountiful Host. Running low on supplies, she relied on her faith and her years of training to make every shot count. Many a heretic found their end through the sight of her scope, gruesomely slain by a single well placed explosive bolt. In the icy ruins of the city, the hunters had become the hunted. Sadly, she could not stop the fallen bodies of her fellow Sisters from being desecrated. By the time she tracked down and slew her prey, nothing but bones remained.
The loss and desecration of her squad affected Marsilia deeply. Plagued with guilt at her perceived failure, she would return again and again into heretic infested areas by herself to hunt down the enemy. She even modified her weapon to better suit her needs, scoping and rebalancing her Bolter until it could reliably deal death from afar with exceeding accuracy. She also infused her ammunition with the ashes of her former squad mates, so that they could visit vengeance upon the enemy even after death. Altering a holy weapon of the Adepta Sororitas on her own initiative was a questionably radical act, but by then the Argent Shroud had taken such severe losses, she no longer had an immediate superior to chastise her.
But as she hunted her prey, the rage inside Marsilia's heart gradually gave way to a deep empathy for the Guardsmen who fought and died on Hebria. Lying unseen among snowy ruins, she listened for hours to their vox chatter, and heard their fears, triumphs, and moments of desperate need. Marsilia was filled with a sense of renewed conviction. She could not save her squad, but perhaps she could save some of these brave servants of the Emperor. So she followed in their wake, a guardian angel who would appear sight unseen to offer deliverance when all hope seemed lost. With every such encounter, and every utterance of "the Emperor sees all!" heard over the vox-caster, the legend of the All Seeing Angel grew, and morale soared along with it. These stories took on a life of their own. Soon, the heartened Imperial Guard began pushing back the enemy, and before the year was through, they had dealt the Bountiful Host a crushing blow.
Following the conclusion of the Defense of Hebria, the Ecclesiarchy investigated Marsilia's string of incredible deeds and decided to elevate her to lead a new Minor Order on Hebria. Despite being only a humble Battle Sister, none who saw her could deny she was blessed with a divine grace. And so the Order of the Anointed Arrow was born, and would go on to train its Battle Sisters into sharp eyed paragons of selfless service. Following her death centuries later, Canoness Superior Marsilia was elevated as an Imperial Saint, cementing her legendary deeds in the annuals of the Imperium.
Training[edit | edit source]
Each Sister of the Anointed Arrow is trained in the harsh frozen wilderness of Hebria, where they are taught stealth, tracking, and survival skills. They are also trained in using an assortment of weapons, and indeed not all the Sisters go on to serve as the elite Anointers who take up the rifles of their namesake. Those who are especially steady of aim and pure of heart are further taught to make use of both their camo-cloaks and their blessed weapon to their greatest advantage. Before she completes her training, a would be Anointer is expected to sneak up on a guard post undetected while carrying all of her equipment from leagues away, reach close enough to take clear pict-captures of the location, then retreat without ever being seen. As the guard post is staffed by their fellow keen eyed Battle Sisters, this task is exceptionally difficult, and may take days of careful snail paced advancing to complete. Once every Terran year, a Sister not fighting in an active war may request to perform the exercise, but some go through their entire lives without ever finding success. These Sisters are not looked down upon, for not everyone is meant to take on the role of an Anointer, but those who do will number among the finest scout snipers in the Imperium.
Furthermore, Sisters of the Order are trained in the art of storytelling, a practice that stems from their founded. Marsilia was deeply moved by what she had seen and heard during her time fighting beside the Imperial Guard on Hebria. She committed their deeds to memory, and would sing their praises to other soldiers she fought alongside in later campaigns. In her mind, the Guardsmen were the true heroes who had won the war of Hebria and saved the planet. She merely nudged it along a little, in her own way. In a remarkable departure from their taciturn parent Order of the Argent Shroud, this tradition of recounting the glorious and often amusing past deeds of common soldiers encountered by the Sisters has lived on among the Anointed Arrow, and has made them even more popular with the those they fight alongside. Such retellings have done wonders for troop morale, and has inspired more than one Guardsman to acts of bravery, so that they too might find immortality in the stories of the Sisters.
Combat Doctrine[edit | edit source]
The Order of the Anointed Arrow favors a flexible deployment strategy, with each Sister expected to be self sufficient, yet situationally aware enough to work alongside Imperial forces. The Anointers especially may operate independently and for long stretches of time without resupply. These elite Battle Sisters either fight alone or in small squads to dispense the Emperor's all seeing wrath upon the battlefield wherever it might be needed. Entire wars have been ended with a traitor commander or xenos warboss being unceremoniously pulverized by a single perfectly placed shot. In the absence of a clear objective that may topple the enemy, the Anointed Arrow will scout the enemy to collect intelligence and support friendly troops as best they can.
In contrast to the Argent Shroud from which they descend, the Anointed Arrow will often cooperate closely with the Imperial Guard and share critical intelligence with its officers, or even with the common soldiers in the field. Many lives have been saved when a timely warning has come over the vox announcing a trap ahead. The Anointed Arrow possess an unshakable will, and if they see the need, they will gladly sacrifice their lives to secure victory. However, this is balanced with a keen understanding that the Sisters may save many more lives in a drawn out war if they themselves make it out of a battle alive. The Order is thus not above withdrawing from a hopeless situation, to regroup and mount a counterattack when the time is right.
The Anointed Arrow do not have Sisters Repentia among their numbers. Not only are they ill suited to the preferred combat doctrine of the Order, but by not actively seeking death in battle, Saint Marsilia herself was fortunate enough to find salvation from her own myopic wrath, and rise to a higher calling. Those Sisters who stray from the tenets of the Order may be demoted or disciplined with menial service, until their superiors see fit to return them to the ranks. More egregious offenses such as cowardice or treachery is simply dealt with by summary execution, with the offender's ashes being denied a place among the honored martyrs.
Equipment[edit | edit source]
The most famous piece of wargear used by the Sisters is the Anointer Bolt Rifle, a heavily modified Bolter that delivers highly accurate and precise firepower at long range. The design itself has been continually refined by the Order since its founding, and no two rifles are quite the same. However, they all fire specialized Martyr Bolts, which are inscribed object of beauty hand crafted by its user that contain the ashes of an honored martyr suspended in blessed promethium. Such borderline acts of tech-artifice sit uneasy with the Adeptus Mechanicus, although pressure from the Ecclesiarchy has convinced them to overlook the practice as long as it does not spread outside the Order.
When a Martyr Bolt nears its target, its proximity fuse disperses the contents within into a fine mist, before the bolt's own gyrojet ignites the highly flammable cloud in a sudden deafening roar. This fuel-air explosion crushes organs and ruptures eardrums, while sucking the breath out of anyone nearby unfortunate enough to survive the process. Its effects are particularly gruesome on lightly armored infantry.
To aid in their stealth tactics, the armor and robes of the Anointed Arrow are coated in a special electrically activated formulation of Cameleoline. When not engaged in battle, the Sisters proudly wear their ceremonial colors of white and sky blue, but at a moment's notice, they can blend into whatever color matches their surroundings, and disappear like phantoms.
Some veteran Sisters of the Order choose to augment or replace their eyes with multi-spectrum bionics. While this is not a universal practice, a few will go so far as to receive a Revelation Auspex, which allows a Sister to wire her brain through her bionics directly to her scope, and gain an eagle eyed clarity matched by only the very best battlefield surveyors used by the Imperium.
Homeworld[edit | edit source]
The Order is based on the arctic mining world of Hebria, which exports refined promethium throughout the sub-sector. Its leadership is well connected to the planetary government, and is respected by the world's inhabitants. However, it largely stays out of politics unless an immediate issue of religious doctrine or planetary safety demands its attention. The Order draws most of its recruits from the local population, taking in the orphaned daughters of promethium miners who are never in short supply. Such hopefuls are first trained by the Schola Progenium, with most going on to join the laity as menials who attend the Order. Only the very best recruits are inducted into the Anointed Arrow itself for a life of martial service to the Imperium.
Allies and Enemies[edit | edit source]
The Order are the sworn enemies of the Bountiful Host, the Slaanesh worshiping Traitor Guard Regiment that ravaged Hebria prior to the Order's founding. Elements of the Host had managed to escape annihilation by hijacking several civilian transports within the Hebria system, and continue to carry out their terror raids upon unsuspecting ships and remote colonies within the surrounding sub-sector. The Anointed Arrow has sworn to hunt down the heretics to the last man, and annihilate them all in the redemptive fire of martyrs.
The Order is closely allied with the Talicar Dynasty of Rogue Traders, which it helped save from a major disaster in a war that was being waged on the edges of civilized space. In appreciation for their aid, the Talicar have made a small number of voidships available to the Order whenever the Sisters seek to make their way to a new war zone. The Talicar see this as a mutually beneficial arrangement, since it grants them many opportunities to sell desperately needed supplies to local Imperium forces, only to buy them back as steeply discounted surplus once the conflict is swiftly brought to an end by the Anointed Arrow.
While not outright enemies, the Anointed Arrow steadfastly refuses to fight alongside the Order of the Bloody Rose. In a particularly deadly past campaign, the Anointed Arrow bore witness to horrendous civilian and Guard casualties that directly resulted from the Bloody Rose's callous disregard for protecting the loyal subjects of the Imperium. The Anointed Arrow sees the Bloody Rose as embracing a false path, being too consumed by their rage, and thus forgetting the very reason for their existence as protectors of Mankind. To the Anointed Arrow, the very purpose of victory is to save the loyal subjects of the Emperor, and a carefully executed strike against the enemy leadership can far more elegantly achieve that end compared to plunging an entire world into bloody slaughter. As their numbers are few compared to the Bloody Rose, the Anointed Arrow have kept their opinions to themselves, and instead chosen to avoid any conflict being pursued by that Order.
Tabletop Rules[edit | edit source]
Feel free to suggest new rules for the Order. Some incomplete sample rules can be found in the discussion page.
Original Rolls[edit | edit source]
Created using the Sisters of Battle Order Creation Tables.
Order Originator: Daughters of the Order of the Argent Shroud
Purpose of Founding: Standing Force. The Order was founded in 552.M40 in recognition of the Defense of Hebria.
Order Flaw: Faith in Suspicion. The Order refuses to work with the Order of the Bloody Rose due to a past joint campaign.
Order Demeanour: See, But Don't Be Seen. The Order is friendly and approachable outside of battle, but favors fighting while hidden from unseen vantage points.
Primary Saint: Saint Marsilia, a humble Battle Sister who inspired to defenders of Hebria to victory over a heretic army with her heroic deeds, and later founded the Order.
Order Homeworld: Hebria, an arctic mining world that exports promethium to the sub-sector.
Influence Over Homeworld: Notable. The Order is well respected on Hebria, but does not usually meddle in the affairs of the local governance.
Order Organization: Minor Deviation. The order's extensive use of snipers differs from the standard Sororitas doctrine of meeting the enemy in open combat, and the modifications made to their signature weapon and ammunition is only barely tolerated by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Order Strategy: Stealth. The Order scouts the battlefield sight unseen to eliminate high priority targets and offer support to beleaguered allied troops.
Order Divergence: Modified Weaponry, the Order makes use of the Anointer Bolt Rifle, a long ranger sniper rifle firing fuel-air explosive rounds.
Order Method of Worship: The Emperor Above All. The Order believes every shot they fire that strikes home is blessed by the Emperor, making combat itself the most sacred act of devotion.
Order Size: Under Powered. The Order's ranks have been thinned by perpetual war, but vigorous recruitment efforts ensure it remains at fighting strength.
Order Allies: The Order is allied with the Talicar Dynasty of Rogue Traders.
Order Enemies: The Order are sworn enemies of the Bountiful Host, a Traitor Guard warband in thrall to Slaanesh.