Daughters of Guilliman



The Daughters of Guilliman are a fairly young Adepta Sororitas order completely dedicated to Roboute Guilliman, him even taking priority before their own homeworld. They hail from a little-known planet called Britannia (named after an ancient Terran empire by the scholars who colonised the planet long ago) Unconventionally, these Sisters do not serve the Inquisition, and they allow "battle brothers" among them, including but not limited to space marines. If they thought he weren't against the idea, they might worship Roboute Guilliman, as he is very much a 'savior' to them.

History
The Daughters of Guilliman, while extremely loyal to the Lord-Commander of the Imperium nearly to the point of worship, are not well known even among nearby star systems. Before the return of Roboute Guilliman, the people of Britannia were cut off from the rest of the Imperium, having lost the capacity for interstellar travel long ago, and having no substantial tech-priest presence in system. When the dominion of Macragge was being restored, Britannia was found by a small fleet of space marine ships during a Chaos incursion; the space marines and their ships were able to aid greatly in the defense of Britannia, but they were impressed by the tenacity and ingenuity of the planet's defensive forces. The local Imperial Guard were joined by a unique local order of power armored warriors who seem to cross the role of elite warrior and law enforcer; these "Knights of Britannia" eventually went on to become the Daughters of Guilliman and the associated space marine "order", the Sons of Britannia. Together, these two groups form the modern Knights of Britannia, and even keep the original name when mentioned as a unified group, but, given the bureaucracy of the Inquisition, they avoid having any offical ties to the Ordo Hereticus, as the Knights of Britannia officially includes both male and female soldiers.

To the people of Britannia, the Inquisition has come to be seen as an uneasy ally, and one the people often disagree with at that, but nonetheless one they obey, given the Inquisition's authority and fearsome power. As a symbol of their (perhaps begrudging) respect for the Inquisition and its power, the Daughters of Guilliman -and other Britannians- often wear the holy symbol of the Inquisition, and even perform any religious rites pertaining to the Inquisition that might be expected of them, but they do not serve it directly like most sisters of battle.

The modern Sororitas and Astartes equipment came from the Adeptus Mechanicus, as the people of Britannia were using more primitive weapons until after the Mechanicus gifted them with new STCs, enabling the construction of more advanced weapons, and most importantly, warp-travelling interstellar ships. Fortunately, Britannia already had a Navigator population when the planet was re-discovered, despite the near-total lack of native psykers -which is likely at least part of why Chaos never successfully conquered the planet, as more psykers could mean more potential for daemonic incursion.

Even though the people of Britannia have worshipped the Emperor since the planet's inital colonization, religious fervor was rekindled after certain events. First was the arrival of the space marines and the planet's re-introduction into the Imperium as a space-travelling people. Second was much more recntly, during the Plague Wars, when Britannia first saw a full-scale planetary invasion by the forces of Nurgle and the Death Guard. The people of Britannia were ill-prepared to face such horrific foes, who were so compltely immune to pain and nigh-invulnerable to physical attack; it seemed only artillery and anti-tank weapons could harm the monstrosities that swarmed the streets. The new weaponry and superior armor gifted by the Mechanicus was not only helpful during this conflict: it was necessary for the survival of Britannia; the air was so thick with plague and poison that only the most thorough of filtration could shield one's lungs from the pestilent filth. Not only was a well-made respirator needed, but a sealed body suit with full face and eye protection was needed in the worst areas of Nurgle infestation; the invaders' landing zones were full of acidic fog and daemons were pouring in; only the Knights of Britannia were brave enough to even attempt to push back against such infestations. When the Daughters of Guilliman led the charge into the daemonic wastelands, they fought with more determination than ever, knowing that they were just about the only thing standing between prosperity and destruction for their world.

Canoness Ishiya led the Daughters of Guilliman into the worst of these daemonic wastelands, and she fought with more skill and zeal than anyone else, inspiring those around her with her brutally effective strategies and incredible determination. Ishiya fell that day; she was in the thickest part of the pestilent fog when her helmet was smashed open; nobody saw exactly what took her down, but all were horrified to see their fearless leader die as horrifically as she did. But at the moment of death, Ishiya was muttering a prayer to the Emperor, and her faith and zeal were evidently strong enough for it to be answered, for she suddenly stood up again, rising above the ground and glowing with brilliant holy light, she lifted her sword and sprouted angellic wings; she was now a Living Saint. Saint Ishiya saw what she had become and used her newfound divine power to begin destroying the Warp rifts that were letting in Nurgle's invasion force and their vile gases that had previously eaten away her flesh. With their beloved leader being not only restored to health, but also ascended into a far more powerful and holy state of being, the Knights of Britannia fought with even greater determination and fervor. The incursion was put to an end and the surviving Death Guard retreated back into whatever corner of the Warp they came from.

Since that day, the Daughters of Guilliman fight with every shred of faith and zeal they can muster, and they do not forget the importance of their war against Choas, or their war to protect Britannia and more-defenseless worlds.

"I'll never forget that day. Even if I live for ten millenia, I'll never forget it; you don't forget the day your planet's air supply is turned into a plague out of your worst nightmares. You don't forget thinking you're going to fail to save the one planet you've ever loved, and you don't forget seeing your leader and your longtime hero die like that. She's a living saint now, but for a minute; the longest minute of my life, she was dying horrifically and I couldn't look away."

- Brother(now Captain) Tychus; Knight of Britannia under Canoness Ishiya

Doctrine and Organization
The Daughters of Guilliman are the forefront of the Britannia military, despite the presence of space marines, guardsmen and even occasional Skitarii now. This is partially due to a lot of the more zealous and martially talented men of the planet seeking to join the Ultramarines or other full Chapters of space marines loyal to Guilliman, and partially due to the presence of Saint Ishiya, who has inspired many to be just like her, and, at least according to local legend, Ishiya calls out the inner strength of "women like her" more than anyone else, giving rise to great numbers and great fervor in the Daughters of Guilliman in particular.

Currently, (War of Beasts) the Daughters of Guilliman and the Sons of Britannia still operate as a unified force; while many of the Sons of Britannia are augmented as space marines, some are not. Some of the men simply wear scaled-down space marine armor and train their faith to be as strong (or nearly as strong) as a sister of battle would; this takes a great deal of faith, patience and training, just as it does for any sister of battle, but it is seen as a worthy endeavor for any man who doesn't meet the requirements for Gene-Seed implantation or muscular augments, or simply doesn't want them. No man from Britannia has yet become a Primaris Marine, and some are distrusting of this new concept.

Be they Astartes, human, cyborg or Living Saint, the Knights of Britannia follow orders from the same hierarchy. In their command structure, the terms "sergeant" and "(sister or brother) superior" are used interchangeably, and signify the same rank and position in the Knights of Britannia hierarchy. Lieutenants are just above sergeant/superior. Canoness and Captain are equal in rank, but the more experienced or more fit to lead in a given situation will be given authority. The only rank higher than Captain or Canoness is the Knight Example; this person is currently a Daughter of Guilliman, and is replaced at varying intervals, but could theoretically be anyone who meets the qualification and serves with the chidlren of Britannia for long enough.

Knight Exemplar Katerina is the current leader of Britannia's entire military, excluding the local Imperial Guard who are only for the defense of Britannia and local emergency response. Katerina served as Canoness for 20 years (give or take for Warp travel) and led her Daughters of Guilliman to many victories before being awarded the chance for promotion. After proving some of her accomplishments and passing physical and strategic tests, Katerina was selected to become the next leader of the order, and was granted the title of Knight Exemplar.