Order of the Obsidian Mirror
| Order of the Obsidian Mirror | ||
|---|---|---|
Battle Cry "Think on your Sins" or the Litany of Stealth |
||
| Founding | Unknown | |
| Daughters of | Order of the Ebon Chalice | |
| Homeworld | Zimovkiysk II | |
| Strength | Full | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Black, Purple, and Crimson | |
"The supreme art of war is to subdue an enemy without fighting." - Sun Tzu
A game of roll on the Order Creation Table resulted in an Order Dialogous that is an unholy fusion of Alpha Legion and Night Lords. Fighting via subterfuge and terror, these are the sisters of The Order of the Obsidian Mirror.
Very much a WIP, so feel free to join in.
Overview
The Order of the Obsidian Mirror is of the Orders Digalogus. The order was founded for a crusade and drew many of its initial members from the Order of the Ebon Chalice. Their homeworld, Zimovkiysk II, is a shrine world dominated largely by cold weather, leaving much of the planet covered in expanses of arctic and subarctic biomes. They don't rule it, they do offer their advice to its government.
While the Order of the Obsidian Mirror is ostensibly non-militant, it nonetheless possesses a fighting force thanks to its specialization in military intelligence, covert action, and psychological warfare and are noted for their use of terror tactics to cow an enemy into submission with minimal effort expended. Given that their modus operandi requires a good deal of knowledge about their enemy, their motives, and their operations combined with their unwillingness to cut corners and do everything methodically they are not viewed well by the Ecclessiarchy; the fact that their organization structure is unique and highly flexible and they put a great deal of veneration into their Canoness Superior who had vanished off to Emperor knows where (they insist she still lives and has not replaced her position) does little to help them in that regard.
They are currently engaged in shadow wars across the Eastern Fringe with the Alpha Legion and the Tau Black Caste.
Allies: Adeptus Arbites Enemies: Chaos affiliated rebels/traitor. Special Equipment: Modified Stealth Jump-packs
Original Rolls
Created using the Sisters of Battle Order Creation Tables.
Order Originator: Order Dialogus, Daughters of the Order of the Ebon Chalice
Purpose of Founding: Oddly enough, for a crusade.
Order Flaw: Bad Ecclesiarch Relations
Order Demeanour: No Mercy, No Respite.
Figure of Legend: Canoness Superior Erilaphia Donatica, who is missing but shall someday return!
Order Homeworld: The arctic Shrine World of Zimovkiysk II.
Influence Over Homeworld: Noticeable Influence; the Order advises the local government and Arbites, but rarely condescend to interfering with day-to-day affairs of the world.
Order Organization: Unique Organization; The Order primarily consists of Sisters Dialogus and specialized agents (which are roughly analogous to Inquisitorial acolytes) who specialize in gathering intelligence and neutralizing potential threats before they have the chance to become realized. Their militant arm is small and extremely mobile, placing little importance on holding territory or traditional military objectives.
Order Strategy: Terror combat doctrine; sisters of the Obsidian Mirror usually drop in using stealth jump packs, neutralizing their targets with ruthless efficiency and retreating before the enemy even knows something is wrong. Most of the time, the only evidence of a Obsidian Order attack is when the morning guards arrive at their posts to find their comrades dead and officers or intel missing. These raids also commonly leave booby-trapped corpses behind to further sow paranoia in their wake. On the rare occasion that they take to the field as a full military force, the Battle Sisters of the Obsidian Order are usually accompanied by Sisters Dialogous, who use their Laud Hailers to demoralize the enemy.
Order Divergence/Special Equipment: Modified Jump Packs; the Order uses special jump packs fitted with suppressors to limit the amount of light and sound generated by their use.
Order Method of Worship: Honour the Heroine; the Sisters of the Order look to the memory and writings of the shrewd Erilaphia Donatica for guidance.
Order Size: The Order is at full strength, though, due to their secretive and unorthodox nature, few outside of the Order know what their full strength truly is.
Order Allies: The Order maintains strong relations with the Adeptus Arbites and the Inquisition.
Order Enemies: The Order has an ancient, almost traditional enmity with the Alpha Legion, and the forces of Chaos in general, although the insidious Black Caste of the Tau Empire is rapidly proving itself to be an equally worthy foe. Additionally, the Sisters of the Obsidian Mirror are looked upon with distrust by the Ecclesiarchy at large, and they have extremely few Ministorum agents in their service as a result.
Details
Zimovkiysk II
Zimovkiysk II is the homeworld of the Order of the Obsidian Mirror. It orbits a young class F star near the outer edge of its habitability zone. The world is marginally smaller than Terra but possess the same surface gravity and a similarly strong magnetic field that shields the world from the ravages of it parent star and gas giant neighbors' radiation.
The atmosphere is ideal for human life, though the average temperature of the world hovers only barely above the freezing point of water. Only the equatorial regions are free of permafrost year round and experience a moderately warm summer. The sub-tropics and mid-latitudes are generally covered with taiga and boreal woodlands, though due to the planets intensely active geology, volcanic springs are plentiful and act as oases of life throughout the frigid landscape that dominates the vast majority of the planet.
The planet is inhabited by nearly a billion souls, however most of them are transients moving through the trade route the system sits along, pilgrims that have come to visit many shrines and cathedrals that dominate the wintery landscape, and wealthy nobles wishing to partake in the reputed rejuvenating powers the more blessed springs are believed to have. The world is peaceful, thanks in part due to the extreme effectiveness of the local Adeptus Arbites "lead" by the Order of the Obsidian Mirror.
Facilities of the Order are scattered across the planet, but the main fortress covenant is completely isolated from anyone not directly involved in the Order's activities. Located on a small sub continent surrounded by ocean, the fortress is protected by miles of minefields, and towering rings of walls bristling with weaponry both terrestrial and orbital. On the island itself massive domes hide the Sister's activities from prying eyes located in the sky's above. The domes also have different biomes for training purposes. They keep an isolated prison on a polar island, probably buried deep beneath the surface. it's cold enough that most equipment that isn't specialized to deal with the extreme cold has problems and surrounded by miles and miles of ice that's been swept bare by the gale force winds. Given they like to accumulate data, I doubt that most prisoners they take would be executed on the spot, which is probably more of the norm in other Orders. Death is of course a mercy to anyone who gets dragged into there. 'Rura Gitmo'
Allies and Enemies
- Locked in eternal struggle with Tau intelligence services (there was another thread about the Black Caste, the Tau KGB) and with Alpha Legion.
It is rumored that they have been granted access to the Inquisition's vast records regarding torture, interrogation, and methods of achieving repentance. They recite the worst of these methods to the enemy, their strong oratory skill and descriptive prose is mighty enough to break the morale of those humans who turned to chaos for power or greed.
The Ecclesiarchy does not appreciate such ancient acts, some of which were invented and implemented by Inquisitors since gone heretical, being learned and memorized by so many, let alone shouted out through laud hailers to break the enemy.
Structure and Origin
The history of the Order of the Obsidian Mirror is tied to the career of Canoness Superior Donatica. The order had been initially created to gather data and translate for Orders militant. Members would be embedded in crusades where they would run communications and intelligence operations. Tensions arose as the sisters began to focus on better intelligence and plans over running screaming headlong towards their foe for martyrdom. Equally, so as to better combat their foe, the sisters of the Obsidian Mirror began trying to better understand their foe. This did them no favours with the ecclesiarchy, but it did endear them to Inquisitors. However, it was Sister Donatica who truly made the order what it is today.Donatica was someplace and the order militant they were attatched to had their command structure wiped out and she took command as the ranking Sister. That or she was running comms and didn't tell anyone that their Canoness was dead, fearing that they'd lose faith if they knew their living saint was dead. As such, she directed the entire battle from a command rhino using the Dialogus network. The only people on the ground who knew what was going on were the other sisters of the Obsidian Mirror embedded in the Sisters Militant squads. To this day, that Order Militant refuses to work with the Order of the Obsidian Mirror. <<--Proposed, I think it's a cool story, but that's just me. The Obsidian Mirror often uses their livery for cover. Donatica reorganized the Order to do more in covert operations and psychological warfare. *ADD MORESince her disapearance, the leaders of the various divisions operate as a council. Senior amongst these guerillas is Molyotov Samsonova, known for her fondness for explosions, playing the femme fatale in infiltration missions and cybernetic eye. In the field, the Sisters often deploy in cell structure, allowing them to operate autonomously behind enemy lines, sabotaging, assassinating, and stirring up resistance movements. This is not to say that they cannot take the field overtly, in fact many campaigns end with a sudden brutal assault. Due to their faith that Canoness Superior Donatica will return, they instead have a Canonical Council. Sister Superior Alzbeta Batoriova leads the military wing and is known for her bloody and ruthless tactics. She is sometimes known as the Bloody Canoness. Sister Superior Grushenka Doevstoy is head of the intelligence division, though she will sometimes descend to the field of battle, skilled both in the holy weapons and in firey oratory.
As a crusading Dialogous Order, they focus far more on commando tactics than the average Order. Sisters often train along side Blood Jaguars ‘Jungle Wraiths’ and Raptor Sniper cadres.
In the field, they operate in decentralized cells.
Squads are often joined by analyst-propagandists (The Sinsheny), who both provide motivation and intelligence (so basically what the table top portrays as Ecclesiarchy priests).
As often as not, they work in tandem with Inquisitors, particularly Radicals from Ordo Xenos and, of course, Ordo Hereticus.
Penitent Engines are not filled with failed lapsed sisters, but instead with reformed prisoners. The Order tends to make use of lots of arco-flagellants and Penitent Engines, but comparatively few Sisters Repentia.
Emblem
The emblem of the Obsidian Mirror resembles a round disc with bladed teeth around the perimeter and a black mirror in its center. In essence, a mirror of obsidian that cannot be picked up barehanded without it slicing your fingers off; representing that one cannot look into the darkness as they do without being armored by faith and guided by the proper knowledge.
Characters
Significant people
Canoness Superior Donatica
Badass Canoness Superior, hero of the chapter
Disapearance
Sister Erilaphia Donatica was the Canoness Superior of the Order of the Obsidian Mirror, bearer of the Book of Ask'ent, a book supposedly written by Sebastien Thor on the nature of Daemons and the Warp, and holder of the Mirror of the Night, was visited one night, by strange figures. Their pale faces contrasted with their lurid clothes. They moved with ethereal grace. Donatica is reputed to have looked up from here desk, having been tirelessly studying the Book of Ask'ent, when the young Sister informed her of the visitors. Donatica is said to have been irritated by the interruption, but when she saw the figures, she went white. The lead figure is said to have declared, in slightly halting Gothic, "We shall perform the Dance. Then you will come with us."
The performance was beautiful, and all were entranced by the fluid movements of these visitors. when it was over, the leader beckoned to Donatica. Donatica grimaced, her legendary stubbornness and loyalty to her sisters nearly overcoming her curiosity. But, as she left with the figures, she said "Fear not sisters, I will return. nothing will stop me."
Molyotov Samsonova
Legendary Field agent, known for her fondness for explosions, playing the femme fatale in infiltration missions and cybernetic eye.
Sister Superior Alzbeta Batoriova
Leads the military wing and is known for her bloody and ruthless tactics. She is sometimes known as the Bloody Canoness.
Sister Superior Grushenka Doevstoy
Head of the intelligence division of the Order of the Obsidian Mirror, Sister Superior Grushenka Doevstoy is a spymaster with few peers. She regularly engages in shadow wars with the enemies of the Imperium that are never heard of. Her's is a life bereft of fame or glory, but her victories end enemies before they even become threats. Although her presence on the battlefield is rare, when she takes to the field, she does so with ominous grace, carrying her Laud Hailer of Terror to remind the enemy that there is no mercy and no hope before the sisters of the Obsidian Mirror.
Writefaggotry
These are just place holding titles, feel free to change them if its your stuff
Think on your sins
Subcommander Tybalt adjusted his lapel pin one final time before stepping out onto the podium. As much as he was concerned for Baltae’s health, Lord Baltae, despite being the popular figure head of the faith, was less the people person. Tybalt, on the other hand, relished the crowd. He looked out at the masses, and up at the monument of faith, newly completed behind him. He felt a surge of joy at the thought of his eternal master and the majesty of the holy one.
“My friends, Mordrii, brethren. Today we have completed a great step in securing the domain of he who lords over all. Today we have taken another step in our crusade. What is behind me is not simply the largest icon of faith ever constructed in our system, but also the a key component of the planetary defense grid. With it, we are now safe from Imperial reprisal. Our Lord Khorne watches over us from his skull throne.
Death to the False Emperor! Blood for the bloo...”
The cry died on his lips as the blood drained from his face. The voxes set up in the square before the icon of the bloody one began an earsplitting shriek. The screens behind him went static. Frantically Tybalt made motions to cut the feed, but it was too late.
On the screens appeared the aquilla, the shrieks of the voxes resolved into a baritone “Think on your sins”.
Silence.
The feeds turned to shots of the icon from the air, though Tybalt could see no aircraft in the area. “Think on your sins,” resounded a second time, before a bell tolled.
There was a horrendous explosion behind Tybalt, who turned to see the icon’s floors beginning to collapse upon themselves.
The next few hours were a fiasco. The broadcast had been seen worldwide. Resistance movements were suddenly again active in regions thought pacified. Or perhaps they had been, he thought, remembering the piles of heads he’d had made. The fear of death had quelled the partisans, but now they seemed to wish it. They threw themselves at the military, as if to exhaust bullets with bodies.
Reports were coming in that regional commanders were going missing or being found headless, the sign of the aquilla carved into their bodies.
As a result, it was with great gladness that Tybalt got into bed, a respite for a few hours. The reprisals would gladden the blood god.
It was then that he noticed a lump on the bed. He squinted at it.
Baltae’s lifeless eyes stared up at him.
“Think on your sins.”
Xeno Relations
The water caste diplomat had been sitting in the café for longer than he thought he would, his contact form the imperial bulk grain transport was late but not extremely so. This was how he served the Tau Empire, meeting with riffraff and space trash, gleaning tidbits of information about shipping patterns, commodities shortages, troop movements and fleet postures. Paying informers and sneaks, men who were motivated by petty greed rather than the Greater Good. This man had sent a message through channels saying he had something big and demanding ten times his normal payment, and now the man had the gall to be late. Slightly enraged, the tau emissary beckoned for the server to order another drink, as he did so he noticed the three women entering the restaurant. They were seemingly not different from the thousands of spacers coming and going on the space station but something slightly unnerved him about them. Again beckoning for the server the Tau stopped mid-gesture as two of the women moved to cover the exits while the third made a direct path for him. “Good afternoon Xeno, we have much to discuss”
Subject H
Sister Yketrina managed to leave the cell and seal the door behind her before her shock overtook her and she sunk to the floor, incredulous and, though she’d never admit it, terrified.
From when they’d captured Subject H, she’d known that they were gazing into the depths, but she’d fallen into the obsidian pool of unwanted knowledge.
She’d been part of the Divisio Hydra operation that had captured Subject H, remembered the elation. It had been the first successful operation in the three centuries of attempts and the particular mission had taken years and involved hundreds of agents, infiltrators, false double agents, and analysts. The only other operation of similar difficulty was the on-going Operation Lion, but that was only because the former 1st Legion was so guarded and powerful. Fighting the Hydra, on the other hand, was layer upon layer of subterfuge, and even then the enemy usually was able to commit suicide before they could be questioned.
It had taken months of work to get anything out of him but ‘I am Alpharius’, new techniques adapted from interrogating the cultists to get details of the cell. But even then, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was being held back, so onwards Yketrina pushed. She convinced him that 2 and 2 was 5, that there were five lights on the ceiling. She began getting bits of personal life, childhood memories, stories of operations long past in a stream of babbling from the nearly broken rogue astartes, but still there was something Subject H was hiding.
It had taken a while to find compounds that would interfere with the astartes nervous system, but they’d finally done it. At first she’d been afraid that they’d not work, so slowly did they take effect. Then came the wild sounds of hallucination and then did she begin the interrogation. It was slow going, but the truthseer acknowledged that boundary was gone. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it had certainly not been this:
“It was for The Emperor, it has always been for The Emperor.”
Operation Black Fist
Operation Black Fist as it was titled, was one of the greatest achievements of the Order. With Canoness Donatica having only recently left with some Eldar Harlequins, the order was in dire need of new leadership to grasp the reigns, and a new achievement to show they could survive without their believed canoness.
Upon the Canoness' departure, the young Doevstoy was searching through the information gathered by their spying servitors, servitors specially designed to overhear whisperings of potential opponents to the Emperor. She happened upon several hundred servitors that were no longer responding. Upon further investigation, she learned that these Servitors were on a planet, called Yltosis. Yltosis was a minor planet of no real relevance. However, it was not to far from the planet Damnos, and this loss of Servitors and the proximity to Damnos set off warning bells in Doevstoy's head. Quickly she relayed the information to the Council that had taken Donatica's place. Action was taken. Molyotov Samsonova was to lead a force of 100 Sisters into the world, and to uncover as much as possible. If it was indeed a Tomb world, then the local Guard and Astartes were to be called. Another Tomb World rising could not be allowed. Yltosis was a quiet Agri-world, with one small city in the south-west. However, upon close inspection, and finding the location of the destroyed servitors, a horrifying discovery was made. Catacombs. Huge catacombs. They were a mere 20 metres below the surface, yet they covered every cube foot down from there. The numbers were uncountable. Sleeping Warriors, Dormant wraiths, an inactive Lord. The Sisters had found something much worse then had been expected. This Tomb World held more than Damnos. Time was short. The local Astartes were alerted, and began to head over. But Sister Samsonova would not rest and let others carry out The Emperors work. With here followers, she entered the Tomb, and found the database. The database was where every single Necron, warrior, Immortal, even the overlord himself, was stored, waiting for a body. They were phased out, and the database would continue to be used as a place to ensure that the lessons learned would not be lost in death. Samsonova began to use her special training, and began to corrupt the database. It was not easy. Technology from the Dark age, viruses, the power of the Omnissiah, all were used in a futile attempt to damage the minds of the still sleeping Necrons. Eventually though, after over a week of non-stop trying, something gave way. It was her. She grew so frustrated by the highly advanced encryptions that gave a new order. Find the Overlord, the Lords, and as many Immortals as possible. Once that is done, destroy the bodies. Totally. The dumbstruck sisters carried out the orders, finding and destroying the Bodies of Living Metal so totally, that even microscopes couldn't find them. Samsonova meanwhile had a new plan. She grabbed her melta bombs, which she carried with her on principal, pulled out her chainsword, and hacked her way into the database. She then, once at the heart of the huge constructio, began placing the bombs down. Carefully. Precisely. If this went slightly wrong, instead of wiping out the Tomb world, the entire Force would awaken. Escaping the slowly recovering shell, she ordered her sisters to the surface. Once there, she detonated. Instantly, the Melta bombs ruptured the database. The warehouse above caved in from the heat, molten slag pouring through the hole in the floor. The database flashed and exploded, incinerating thousands of humans and necrons alike. The smoke was so thick, that the Sisters couldn't see each other. Once it had cleared, the ruined warehouse and database were seen to have fused. The damage done was incredible. The entire Tomb world was corrupted, and the Spyders soon consumed the few surviving warriors, before consuming each other, due to corrupted drives.
Quotes
"Knowledge is power. The tool through which we obtain that power is the question. When used in the right place, at the right time, by the right hands with the right effort it's rewards are immeasurable. When used without responsibility, without restraint, and without training, it can only spell disaster."
"The difference between beneficial inquisition, idle curiosity, and malicious doubt is one beyond the ken of most men and women. To deny those precious few who can is to deny the Inquisition the tools of its trade."
"Just as there are many types of ores, there are many types of faithful. For many, when heated by fervor and then quenched by curiosity, they become brittle and crumble. There are those, however, that become stronger and sharper for their trials when quenched. It is these souls that can be tempered into the weapons of our Order."
Tabletop Rules
Although no one has made up-to-date rules for the Obsidian Mirror, they are mentioned in the homebrew Codex - Adeptus Ministorum /tg/ Edition, which has rules for the six main Orders, so if you want to play these girls on the tabletop, that's your best bet.
Links
- Original Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/28044523/