Soon after arriving in Sirius, she began to develop psychic abilities. These abilities drew many acolytes and followers, inspiring many to name her their God-Queen. Fearful of the return of the Battle Brothers, the God-Queen focused on training her own band of hand-picked warriors. These became the Blessed Sisters, and many of them came to truly believe she was divine.
After she sacrificed herself to kill an Avatar of Lust, worship of the God-Queen spread, and many new orders formed in her honour. These orders are often called on to protect allied worlds as peace-keepers and as arbitrators. The Blessed Sisters rely on volunteers, supplies and other donations from faithful worlds and followers.
Many worlds take their help for granted, making donations scarce, and forcing their orders to go through long periods of fasting and self-reflection to survive. When all else fails, the orders find themselves forced to turn on those they were seeking to protect, and establish martial law in order to survive.
How will you remain a beacon of hope in this grimdark future?
History
Civil War
The God-Queen and her followers were among those who attempted to flee from the devastating civil war on Earth, between the Founder’s followers and foes. To do this, some refugees commandeered spaceships docked in Earth’s orbit, including the Founder’s flagship. They would be pursued and attacked by the Founder’s fleet.
The Pursuit
During the confrontation, the refugee fleet was out-gunned but fighting back when a heroic young woman rallied the fleet and ensured their survival. This woman would become known as the God-Queen as her fame spread.
The Wormhole
At the height of the conflict, a massive wormhole formed around the fleets. Both fleets were further damaged and scattered by the wormhole. The young woman began to manifest psychic powers after arriving in Sirius, and many sought her out for guidance. As she searched for suitable worlds to settle, rumours spread asserting her divine nature.
A New Homestead
The God-Queen’s makeshift fleet began settling on a few scattered worlds, where they were able to thrive thanks to her expert diplomacy. Though she showed little interest in ruling, she amassed many acolytes and followers, and her popularity ensured the cooperation of her people. Many still turned to her, making her a central figure in the early days of the Human Cluster.
The Convent
Fearful of the return of the Battle Brothers, the God-Queen focused on training her own band of hand-picked warriors. These became her first disciples, and some came to truly believe she was divine.
Trouble in Paradise
The settlements soon came under attack by Lust Daemons, who terrorised them with constant hit-and-run attacks, which made them unbeatable.
A Martyr Queen
In order to end the conflict, the God-Queen used herself as bait to lure out the Greater Lust Daemon that was leading this army. In an epic battle, she slayed the daemon but died in the process. Many sisters believe that this action allowed her to ascend to a higher plane.
Defenders of the Faithful
After her death, worship of the God-Queen spread, and many new orders formed in her honour. These orders are often called on to protect allied worlds as peace-keepers and as arbitrators.
Society
The Blessed Sisters rely on volunteers, supplies and other donations from faithful worlds and followers. Many worlds take their help for granted, making donations hard to come by, and forcing their orders to go through long periods of fasting and self-reflection to survive. When all else fails, the orders find themselves forced to turn on those they were seeking to protect, and establish martial law in order to survive.
Protectors of the Weak
The Blessed Sisters are a religious organisation that is based mostly within the Human Cluster. They have monasteries and outposts on most human worlds, even sometimes outside the Human Alliance. The Blessed Sisters see it as their mission to defend the defenceless and are often the last hope for small human settlements under attack or isolated groups behind enemy lines. They recruit mostly from those among the poor, orphans and refugees that they shelter. As soldiers, they are very well-trained and always pursue their goals with an almost obsessive focus.
Self-Sacrificing Virtue
Martyrdom is the highest act of devotion to the Blessed Sisters. The value of self-sacrifice is so entrenched in their beliefs that they will sometimes make choices that seem suicidal, but only if they think that will allow them to protect more people or attain their goals. Those most mystically minded in the organisation believe that the God-Queen gained her power by achieving pure martyrdom, and think that recreating a similar situation might allow her to come back.
A Faith Beyond Borders
The Blessed Sisters do not have a state-like structure, they strike deals with the local governments of the territories in which they reside. Since they are widely recognized as a worthy neighbour, they are often granted land and even resources in exchange for their contributions to defence and social work. Some of the richer planets may spurn them because they see their independence and military training as a counter-power, whereas many poor backwater planets rely on a crumbling monastery as their only defence against pirates and raiders.
Peacemakers
In times of tension between human factions, the Blessed Sisters have often acted as mediators, providing neutral grounds for negotiation, helping establish ceasefires, even sometimes stepping in to pacify nascent conflicts.
A Sister must always serve through her actions. But the Sisters quickly realised that sometimes helping the people required asserting their authority as peacekeepers, even enforcing martial laws in times of severe crisis. They always hold their leaders to careful scrutiny, but the line between justified and unjustified authority is blurry. Some in the Order push for a more liberal use of power in order to steward humanity, while others want to abolish any exercise of authority over others. The vast majority of Sisters fall somewhere in between, recognising that power corrupts, but is still a necessary tool for protecting the weak.
Cultural Impact
The Blessed Sisters' most devout followers largely serve the church directly as members of the order. However, their faith has had a large impact on the wider Sirius Sector because of its history within the sector, whether through their famous founder, their peacekeeping actions or among those refugees and populations that they have protected, as well as their descendants. This has resulted in a great deal of soft power, with elements of belief and mythology woven into many human cultures in the Sirius Sector, even if they aren’t members of the church specifically.
Despite the good they do, not all humans trust the Sisters. Some have accused them of reckless behaviour, taking justice into their own hands based on unreliable information, withholding their help until a situation became desperate, and making deals with repressive regimes. Their fascination with martyrdom has been said to lead them to questionable decisions. Some fringe groups even contriving consciously to drive humanity towards an apocalyptic last battle, in order to engineer the return of the God-Queen.
