Imagifier

A banner so top-heavy and ungainly, its surprising it hasn't been used as a makeshift thunder hammer.

Imagifiers are the Sisters of Battle equivalent of most races' standard banner bearer. Though under the latest edition of the codex, the sister is far more important than the icon that she carries.

Overview

What makes Imagifiers different is the fact that they are not simply carrying around a banner or a holy relic for everyone to see. In fact the flag pole that they carry need not be an ancient or important relic at all. Instead Imagifiers undergo specialist training in the role and are expected to regale their sisters with inspirational sagas and holy hymns much the same way that a Chaplain does.

When an Imagifier is ordained, she selects a sainted figure from the history of the Imperium and commits their deeds to memory. During battle they are able to recount the deeds in ways relevant to the situation at hand and give their sisters the heart to fight harder, to resist the witch, or the resolve to weather the enemy's blows.

Once an Imagifier completes her initiation, she visits the Sisters Pronatus and commissions from them an icon in the likeness of the Holy Saint they seek to emulate, giving their sisters something to look upon when they hear of the saint's inspiring deeds.

Simulacrum Imperialis

Amusements aside, these giant marble beat sticks are aptly called the Simulacrum Imperialis and being the crazy bolter bitches they are, often carry these heavy things into battle.

While /tg/ likes to joke that its made of marble, the Simulacrum Imperialis is a term for practically any Holy Relic available to the Ecclesiarchy, and can range from a small trinket that was once carried by an Imperial Saint, or could have actually been wrought from the bones of the Saint themselves.

It is interesting to note the bearer of a Simulacrum Imperialis does not necessarily have to be an Imagifier herself, and these relics may be distributed out to individual squads to bolster their faith.

Within Seraphim squads the Veteran Sister Superior carries the holy symbol on her, effectively becoming the standard bearer. On the other hand, Celestian bearers acting as part of a Command Squad may carry a Blessed Banner or the Sacred Banner of their order instead of a Simulacrum Imperialis.

Crunch

While one may like to contemplate envisioning these chicks using an entire bone column as a giant fuck-off hammer like fucking Kratos, or the practicalities of hefting a 3+ meter column in the middle of battle even with power armor. Rules-wise, it functions more like a small mobile faith-based morale support.

In 8th Edition, Imagifiers obviously act as the Sister's banner bearer and has 3 banners to choose from when it's setup during deployment for a flexible approach to adapt to different enemy lists. The Tale of the Faithful is the quintessential anti-psyker defense that allows re-rolls to Deny the Witch tests for <ORDER> units within 6". The Tale of the Stoic is the usual generic defensive banner that allows <ORDER> units within 6" to ignore AP-1 attacks on their armor save. The Tale of the Warrior, as its namesake implies, is the most combat orientated, granting +1 Strength for any <ORDER> units within 6".