Sisters of Battle

When Warhammer 40K was mentioned, most casual fans who did not know much about it probably thought of Space Marines first.

After all, Adeptus Astartes were simply too famous. They were indeed the face of Warhammer 40K and a major source of revenue for their parent company, Games Workshop.

But within the Imperium of Man in the Warhammer 40K Era, Space Marines were not the Imperium's only force.

Or rather, Space Marines could not represent the Imperium, at least not the Imperium as it existed in the Warhammer 40K Era.

If it had to be summarized, Space Marines perhaps represented the era of the 30K Great Crusade, when the Emperor still walked among mankind and the Imperium was flourishing, filled with progress and science.

But in the Warhammer 40K Era, as the Emperor took his seat upon the Golden Throne, some Primarchs betrayed him, some died, and some vanished. The entire Imperium had inevitably strayed from the plans and expectations that the Emperor and the Primarchs had held for it.

In this era, if anyone best represented the Imperium's current state, then perhaps the Sisters of Battle were the most representative among its many forces.

This armed force nominally under the Ecclesiarchy was devout and loyal, crying out the Emperor's name as they fought the Imperium's enemies, never turning back even in death.

Yet their fanaticism and extremism were equally conspicuous. Any act of blasphemy, disloyalty, or betrayal against the Emperor would draw their harshest targeting and punishment.

Being sent off directly by a Melta Weapon wielded by a Sister of Battle counted as one of the easier ways to die.

Among the punishments the Ecclesiarchy used against Traitors and heretics was one that turned heretics, Traitors, and other sinners into Penitent Engines, to serve as cannon fodder for the Sisters of Battle.

It should be noted that the Order of the Sisters of Battle did not merely turn heretics and Traitors into servitors. These Sisters also turned themselves into similar beings.

If a Sister believed she had blasphemed against her faith in the God-Emperor, failed in her duties, or shown cowardice and hesitation on the battlefield, she would petition her superiors to have herself whipped and electrocuted in penitence and confession.

Penitent Sisters would even remove their Power Armor, wrap themselves only in strips of cloth covered in scripture, and charge across the battlefield with massive Chainswords until they died or believed they had atoned for their sins.

And that usually required surviving a brutal charge and melee on the battlefield, or receiving the Emperor's blessing and becoming a Living Saint, before the journey of repentance could be considered complete.

In a sense, this was precisely the most concrete manifestation of the Imperium as it now stood.

In the Warhammer 40K Era, alongside the rise of the Ecclesiarchy, the Imperium's citizens fanatically worshipped the Emperor and revered him as a god.

Extreme religious fanaticism filled the entire Imperium. Their faith was devout enough that they could set themselves alight like candles, and for that faith, they could endure the most extreme and brutal treatment.

While the Imperium safeguarded humanity's survival and purity, it also imposed cruel and bloody rule upon its own people.

The Imperium's citizens struggled desperately on the edge of death, with an average lifespan of less than forty years, while Imperial nobles could easily live two or three hundred years through life-extension surgeries.

Sacrifice was the cornerstone upon which the Imperium was built. From the Emperor himself to the garbage pickers at the bottom of a Hive City, everyone sacrificed for the Imperium until blood flowed into rivers.

It could be said that the Warhammer 40K world under Games Workshop's pen was a grim, dark, and brutal dystopia, certainly not a beautiful place.

Yet among the countless Warhammer fans around the world were many devoted followers who loved this hardcore setting to death, bringing their parent company, Games Workshop, billions of pounds in annual revenue.

Of course, liking a grim, dark, and brutal setting was entirely different from personally experiencing such a hellish cesspit.

That was precisely why there was that famous saying: "A transmigrator who realizes he has been transported into Warhammer cries like a Gretchin whose toe has been stepped on."

As a Warhammer fan who spent real money buying miniatures, Chen Xi naturally loved this hardcore dystopian setting as well. The Sisters of Battle were naturally among the miniatures he had purchased.

However, the Sisters of Battle were not his main faction, and he did not have many of them, only around a thousand points' worth of miniatures.

The main reason he considered training Sisters of Battle on Rostov II was that the Order of the Sisters of Battle was currently a high-tier combat unit that Chen Xi could deploy and train quickly.

Space Marines were out of the question. Deploying those canned warriors required at least Level III authorization, while Chen Xi was only Level I. It was impossible for him to use Space Marines anytime soon.

Although the Astra Militarum was known as an elite force and came in great numbers, and could be recruited and trained directly on the planet, their role was still to hold the line and serve as cannon fodder. They could not handle situations requiring high-end combat power.

Therefore, compared to the others, the Sisters of Battle were a very suitable choice. They could handle battles requiring high-end combat power, and their faith could help them resist Chaos.

They were generally equipped with Power Armor. Although it was not as tough as the armor worn by those canned warriors, it was still far superior to the Flak Armor worn by the Astra Militarum.

They could also be equipped with Power Weapons, boltguns, and Melta Weapons. The Order of Sisters even had Greater Daemons of E like Living Saints. If a real fight broke out, they were far more useful than the Astra Militarum.

And there was another crucial factor: cost-effectiveness.

Both were ten-man squads costing one hundred points. The Sisters of Battle all wore Power Armor and carried boltguns, Melta Weapons, and Power Swords.

Meanwhile, the Kasrkin Shock Troopers all wore Flak Armor and carried Lasguns jokingly called flashlights.

On the tabletop, game rules kept them balanced, so there was no obvious gap between them. But in the real Warhammer 40K world, a Sister of Battle's equipment cost nearly twenty thousand Throne Gelt, while an Astra Militarum soldier's gear cost four hundred Throne Gelt. One Sister could be traded for forty grunts; the choice was obvious.

If Chen Xi could use a higher point limit, he could simply use his own miniatures and would not need to consider training them on Rostov II himself.

But since his point limit was restricted, he could only consider training them himself.

Fortunately, training Sisters was much easier than training Space Marines, and did not require things like Gene-seed.

As long as he established a good relationship with the Ecclesiarchy, built a convent, and invited Sisters of Battle to take up residence, he could begin training Sisters in batches.

The only possible problem was the Order of Sisters' equipment, but as long as he maintained good relations with the Ecclesiarchy, Sisters of Battle equipment could still be purchased with money.

If he was lucky, the Ecclesiarchy might even provide sponsorship.

After all, ever since the Age of Apostasy, the Ecclesiarchy had been forbidden from possessing armed forces. Although the Order of the Sisters of Battle was nominally under the Ecclesiarchy, in a sense, they were actually there to supervise it.

While they burned heretics away for the Emperor, if the Ecclesiarchy showed any signs of corruption or depravity, the Sisters would use Melta Weapons to purify everything as well.

Just as the Sisters of Battle had used Power Swords to cut off Goge Vandire's head during the Age of Apostasy.