Living Saint

"I am proof.. OF THE EMPEROR'S MIGHT!"

-Living Saint in Dawn of War: Soulstorm.

Living Saints purging some heretics.

Living Saints are Imperial Greater Daemons *BLAM!....ehem...as I was saying....Living Saints are resurrected entities of the greatest and most noble heroes of the Imperium who have died in the past (One theory is that they are personally resurrected by the Emprah himself). Sometimes known as Sanguinius bitches or Sanguinius lite. They are what the Sanguinary Guard wish they could be when they grow up. Due to being literal Imperial angels and the reincarnated entities of fallen heroes, Living Saints are literally zombie-Buddhist angels with absolutely fabulous hair. Living Saints are almost always members of the Adepta Sororitas and thus mostly female, however Imperial Guardsmen Living Saints do exist as well as male Living Saints.

Most Living Saints are accompanied by a flock of Cherubims to further complete the angelic schlick of the Ecclesiarchy.

Overview

Hair so fabulous it makes even the Eldar blush. Although why the guy on the left is snapping his Aquilla in half is anyone's guess, though the big "H" on his forehead suggests HERESY.

Living Saints themselves are exceptionally rare even in the Ecclesiarchy let alone the wider Imperium as the deeds needed to make a Living Saint are almost next to impossible to accomplish. This means that the particular individual must be innocent, pure, incorruptible, forgiving when needed, vigilant when needed, merciful to the weak, merciless to the guilty, kind, compassionate, charitable, selfless, modest, heroic, brave and reasonable. And this is just the personal qualities let alone the external qualities especially when considering the judgement of both the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition. Essentially, Living Saints are the purest, pure, pure, 100% purity approved human in its purest form which is an impressive feat on its own, making Living Saints by definition more pure than the Emperor himself...at least in the personality and maternity department.

This said, they aren't all nice - Saint Lozepath was dangerously self-aware of his own divinity status and was not afraid to abuse it, to the extent of promising to execute a Space Marine chapter master for questioning his orders or engaging on incredibly risky courses of action on the premise they would be kept safe.

The arrival of a Living Saint is often rare as they only appear during times of hopelessness and despair, but when they do appear they can turn the most cowardly of Guardsmen into a Khornate Supermen that could take on an entire tank division. A Living Saint becomes the manifestation of the Emperor's might on the battlefield, serving to boost morale in addition to their formidable combat prowess. In a galaxy of Grimdark the Living Saint is the brightest beacon for hope and a testament to humanities resolve.

As you can imagine, the symbol of a Living Saint often give Failbaddon a galactic wedgie as he sees it as too bright, too nice, too pure and too goody two shoes. Often sending the armless failure into a flying rage.

Powers and Abilities

Living Saints are among the mightiest beings in the Imperium, said to be blessed by a portion of the God-Emperor's power. They are often able to decimate foes with psychic blasts of holy fire and are gifted with an Inviolable Aura which allows near-invulnerability in battle. They often carry a large holy sword blessed with holy scripture and possibly anti-daemonic wards. This makes Living Saints the worst units for Chaos to fight against save for Grey Knights.

Many Living Saints can also conjure angelic wings, allowing them to bring righteous death from the air. Death itself is not permanent for a Living Saint as they can be resurrected should the Imperium ever need their help again, although the process is extremely difficult and can be stopped, as happened with Saint Gerstahl.

Dawn of War

Living Saints have been seen in the Soulstorm expansion pack of Dawn of War. While they were arguably one of the weakest relic units, they have been often seen as a really annoying relic unit due to their resurrection abilities. Due to the fact that Living Saints have relatively low health in contrast to other relic units as well as low damage per hit, they often lose against the likes of Greater Knarlocs and Bloodthirsters which are units that are supposed to be really defeatable by Living Saints in the fluff. So it was often best to use Living Saints as a support unit as its resurrection ability and high morale in the faith-o-meter makes it great when grouped with a large Sisters army.

Notable Living Saints

• Saint Anais, powerful member of the Sisters of Battle
• Saint Celestine, the most famous hero of the Sisters of Battle
• Saint Gerstahl, legendary soldier of the Imperial Guard
• Saint Sabbat, founder of the Sabbat Worlds
• Saint Grendel, noted Daemon slayer of the Ordo Malleus