Noble Dark Sororitas v2

Noble Dark Sororitas v2
History
To truly understand the origin of the Adepta Sororitas, one must begin with the Cult Wars of M34, which pushed the creation the Ordo Religio (later the Cohort Religio of the Ordo Securitas) to deal with them. The Cult Wars have their root in the creation and discovery of two faiths that broke Clause Two of the Imperial Strictione Cultum (Itself the second part of the Declaratio Fidelitas, the oath that binds the Imperium together), which forbade worship of The Emperor (then The Steward). Both faiths took their liturgy and structure of faith from two variants of the same book: The Litinae Divinum. The first, the Church of The Savior Emperor (or CSE), was a xenophobic, extremist faith. Its gentler brother, the Confederation of Light (COL), was far more welcoming of Xenos (to the point of including Isha in their liturgy) and sought to emulate The Emperor in his virtues. An interesting point is that multiple portions of the Litinae Divinum are marked Tutela Prava Corruptio, and are extremely useful against daemons, capable of harming them when spoken by someone of faith. To this day, those collected passages are spread across the Imperium, alongside the Book of Logar (and sometimes Magnus The Red’s Intellectu Daemones).
When both were discovered and denounced by The Steward, they both became aware of the other while moving to positions beneath the Imperium’s notice. Shadow wars flared up as the CSE attempted to wipe a perceived heresy away, while the COL fought to maintain a space for their faith. This situation continued until the selection of Goge Vandire as Emperor. Most of the time, the CSE attempted to convert the people selected by The Steward, only to denounce them as “pawns of the Ruinous Powers” and “Heretics leading the Imperial Flock away from His Glorious Truth”.
Partway through his reign, a splinter sect of the CSE succeeded in converting Vandire, playing on his growing insecurities. This sect held that the Steward had selected Vandire as His Prophet because Vandire was inherently divine, and pushed him to take further control over the Imperium, and especially to put further chains on the Inquisition. (Historical note: When an investigation failed to find the CSE member that converted Vandire, Inquisitor Thor produced a single bolt shell and said they were taken care of.)
Part of what Vandire gained was a force of the most beautiful women the CSE could convert or raise, many of them trained to elite status in various combat-related fields; which is what lead to their official cover of being his personal bodyguards for whom he immediately ordered the best augmentations that would not change their pleasing forms or red hair (which he loved).  The Brides of The Emperor were born. Towards the dying days of the Great Civil War, a full half of them defected to Thor’s rebellion. They carried with them the barely-pubescent body of one of their initiates, torn apart in some birth-related trauma. None of them spoke of what it was that drove them to defect, and they buried this nameless sister on Ophelia VII, where their headquarters still stand.
There, under the command of Inquisitor Thor, they met the COL disaster relief organization, the Sororitas Solomens, who needed their own defenders. It was also there that they uncovered why the CSE pushed Vandire to punish the Inquisition: Sebastian Thor was a preacher of the COL, carrying his own (barely legal) version of the faith that held The Steward as the material manifestation of the ultimate state mankind could aspire to. Alicia Domenica converted on the spot, and her forces swore an oath to serve the Imperium.
When Oscar was recovered from his vacation beach, Domenica pleaded with him for the chance to serve the Imperium to make up for the crimes she had supported under Vandire, and for the chance to see what of her former sisters she could save. The request was granted. During the final battle that saw Vandire beheaded, only 536 women of the remaining 2000 under Vandire’s command accepted the offer. Domenica emerged from Vandire’s bedchambers after setting them aflame, carrying the body of her own daughter, hair turned white from the shock of seeing what had been done to her.
As things settled down from Thor’s and Oscar’s famous shouting match that lead to the Steward becoming the Emperor, Oscar noticed the infamous file that made the Inquisition’s job even harder: Adeptus Arbites CASE STUDY TITANIUM YELLOW LILAC (Hungry Supernova 17S), and the fact that Vandire had signed Contingency A into law (apparently when Vandire was in a rubberstamp mood). This ability for local authorities to dismiss Inquisitorial requests for aid with no reason, in combination with the manpower limits he had put on them at their founding, had crippled their ability to conduct investigations. At the same time, he saw the point of the case study, as many times those requests had caused much suffering as needed resources were siphoned away into actions against the enemies of the Imperium that skulked in its shadows (One particularly infamous example was the Famine of Raduon IV when an Inquisitor delayed a food shipment for three months because he needed to make sure no cultists got away. Over 5000 people died in exchange for a cult that had killed 15.). He turned to Domenica and her forces, granting them status as organ of the Imperial government: The Adepta Sororitas, tasked with supporting the other arms of the Government in their tasks. Part of the rules he and Domenica agreed on was Standing Order 3: Any Sister of the Sororitas must honor any request for Aid by the Inquisition, unless dire circumstances dictate otherwise. Wise Inquisitors know not to contest a Sister’s definition of “dire circumstances”.
Augmentations
The Adepta Sororitas are pretty well augmented, but still maintain a very human form. The Emperor himself helped oversee the project to upgrade their augmentations, with input from the Empress. Most of them are subtle, with increases to muscle efficiency, hand-eye coordination, and various other goodies that put them between the late Thunder Warriors and the Early Mk I Astartes, but without the issues that plagued either. Most of the project’s success is attributed to the Empress, who took particular care to bless it and its outcome, which lead to the project also being tied to women. A lesser form is available for men that wish to join the Sororitas, being the natural outcome of the project. Of an interesting note, a particular process was inserted to turn the Sisters’ hair white.
Organization
The Adepta Sororitas still maintain the ranks and structure of their religious background, although they will readily accept any woman who meets their standards regardless of faith, with a sub-organization available for men.
Hierarchy
At the top is the Abbess-Superior, who reports to the High Lords of Terra (but does not have a seat). Due to tradition, she also reports to the Empress rather than the Emperor.
Beneath her rank is Prioress. These women lead the Convents that are tasked with supporting the Orders within a Segmentum. They report to the Abbess-Superior, who also holds the title Prioress Solar. Due to the sheer size of Ultima Segmentum, it is split into four: Ultima-North, Ultima-South, Ultima-East, and Ultima-Central (also called Ultima-East).  Beneath this rank, the command structure split in two between Forces and Infastructure.
Hierarchy of The Forces
Canoness: There are three subdivisions of this rank.  Canoness-Superior leads an entire Order, Canoness-Preceptor leads a Preceptory that covers entire sectors, and Canoness-Commander leads a Commandry that covers no more than a single sector.
Palatine: The Palatine leads a Mission, which covers up to a subsector or a single particularly important world.
Sister-Superior: Leads a detachment of a Mission on a single world.
Sister-Sergeant: Commands up to 10 squads.
Senior-Sister: Commands a squad of 10 Sisters
Sister: The lowest actual rank
Initiate: Not a rank that is held in the field, as they are still in training.
Hierarchy of the Infrastructure
These Sisters are responsible for the logistics of the organization as a whole, and maintain the physical structures maintained as their primary bases. They are grouped as a single Order per Prioress, named as Order of Service in (Segmentum Name). They are listed by the size of the compound they run, rather than rank. Within large enough compounds, their needs are split according to the same structure (i.e. a Convent will have an Abbess who is in charge of just the janitors), and the compounds are shared between orders with rare exceptions.
Convent: The primary command center for each Prioress. To take the strain of running it off of her regular paperwork, she hands it over a Senior-Abbess.
Abbey: Each one the command center of an Order, run by an Abbess.
Priory: These are all over the place, holding Preceptories and Commandries alike, run by a Mother-Superior.
Cloister: Even more all over the place, these are maintained in readiness for the support of a Mission or Detachment. Run by a Sister-Superior given the title of Mother.
Hermitage: Technically not even part of the hierarchy, this term still finds use in various situations. Ranging from equipment caches and safe houses, to even just a single failed Initiate who lives in a village and keeps her door open for visitors, a Hermitage can be anything.
Orders of The Adepta Sororitas
For ease of grouping, the orders are split into various groups. There is no shame in a sister transferring to another Order, particularly if her circumstances will impact her job in her previous order.
Orders Militant: Commonly called the Sisters of Battle, they receive some of the best combat equipment, such as power armor, in their task of supporting the military.
Orders Securitas: The ones most commonly called upon by the Inquisition, these sisters have access to mostly the same equipment as the Orders Militant, but are trained in a wider array of subjects to better support an investigation.
Orders Solamens: Created from the absorption of the Sororitas Solamen, these orders focus specifically on disaster relief and other actions that ease the suffering of the common citizen. They are also the last ditch defense if the front-lines fall.
Orders Hospitaller: Focused specifically on the medical fields, these sisters also work closely with the Solamens. They are also the first to respond when Nurgle rears his ugly head.
Orders Famulous: Advisors, diplomats, traders, household organizers, marriage counselors, historians… If it involves social interaction, you can bet these Sisters are involved somehow. Many of them work with the Arbites, as one order focuses specifically on catching serial killers. Many others will detach sisters on solo missions to noble houses (on many worlds, having a Sister of an Order Famulous will gain a noble much prestige, even if she’s only a few days past being an Initiate). Rumors abound of an Order Famulous that are courtesans attaching themselves to nobles to either stabilize their genetics or manipulate them.
Orders Servitor: These Orders maintain the physical infrastructure the rest of the Orders depend on.
Orders Memoriam:  No Sister starts out in an Order Memoriam. Dedicated to the defense and maintenance of the Memorial Worlds where some truly momentous instance of Imperial history happened, they draw from all Orders to keep these worlds running in the face of some of the most terrifying people in the Imperium: Tourists. Solamens and Hospitallers keep them fed, housed and healthy, Sisters-Servitor keep the supplies and workers coming, Militants standby in case of attack, Securitas reduce the crime rate, and Famulous run tours and smooth ruffled feathers. And they all cross train with each other.