Order of the Celestial Quill

The Order of the Celestial Quill is a Minor Order of the Adepta Sororitas. While technically an Order Militant, their particular beliefs cause them to dip into portions of the role of an Order Dialogus as well.

Their interpretation of the Imperial Cult depicts the Emperor as having three aspects: the Warrior, the Father, and the Teacher. They honor the Warrior with their battle prowess, the Father by helping the Imperial citizens in their time of need, and the Teacher by collecting knowledge in the massive library they use as a Fortress Abbey. While the first two of these are fairly standard practices among the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas, the third is a drastic deviation that sometimes earns them suspicion from other Imperial agencies.

History
The Order of the Celestial Quill was founded by an Imperial Saint whose actual name has been lost to history, but her nickname and title have survived the test of time: "The Seraph of Stories." Most of their early history has been lost as well, though what is known is that their Fortress Abbey on the world of Minardia was a nigh-unparalleled trove of knowledge rivaled only by the datavaults of Terra itself or the archives of ancient Tizca. The Seraph saw the collection and comprehension of knowledge as an act of devotion to the God Emperor, and in this way the Order was devout nearly to the point of obsession.

The reason so much early history is lost is due to an invasion of their world in M37 by a Word Bearers warband, lead by a Daemon Prince named Tairo K'Phar. With no time to prepare for the invasion as it suddenly appeared from the Warp, the Abbey burned. The Order's Canoness at the time ordered her prioresses to flee with their most sacred texts, but the Heretic Astartes managed to breach the inner sanctum before they could escape.

The fact that the Order still exists at all is, quite literally, a miracle. Just as all seemed lost, a sudden bright light appeared from above, accompanied by an massive squall of wind. The smouldering vellums on the ground that couldn't be saved were caught up in the wind and swirled together and enveloped a wounded and dying Battle Sister. A few moments after she had been completely obscured, the vellums parted to form wings for the reborn form of the Seraph of Stories, newly manifested as a Living Saint. Wielding a unique Ardent Blade shaped to resemble a quill, the Seraph of Stories beheaded Tairo K'Phar in a single blow. This shattered the invaders' morale, and they were routed shortly after.

Once every heretic had either perished or escaped, the Sisters salvaged what little they could from the carnage before destroying what was left of their Abbey and salting the foundations, in order to prevent any lingering Chaotic corruption from spreading. Though it took decades of intense work, the Order eventually managed to rebuild on the exact opposite side of the planet.

Homeworld
Minardia is technically a temperate world, with a range of climates similar to that of ancient Terra. However, in the wake of the Word Bearer invasion, roughly a fourth of the planet had to be destroyed to cleanse it of Chaotic corruption, rendering that portion of the planet essentially a Dead World.

Directly on the opposite side of the planet from the dead portion lies their Fortress Abbey, known as the Convent of the Blue Rose. This Convent is located on an island, accessible only by either sea or aircraft, though the latter would be forced to deal with a vast array of anti-air weaponry, as well as a planetary defense laser.

Once beyond these defenses, roughly 70% of the entire interior is dedicated to the Order's vast library, containing volume upon volume of folklore, religious scripture, medical journals, tactical treatises, and any other scrap of knowledge they could find and document from every human culture they could possibly access. Rumors even state that the library includes an STC fragment, which was used to convince the Adeptus Mechanicus to install that planetary defense laser, but this is currently unconfirmed. Across the rest of the planet's surface, the Order maintains a vast network of Schola Progenium from which the Order ensures that their vast array of knowledge is used to educate the citizens of the Imperium, rather than simply hoarding it for themselves.

Despite their dedication to the collection and distribution of knowledge, the Order still acknowledges that a select few secrets are better left kept. The Dark Gods, after all, grow more powerful the better known they are. Unbeknownst to all save the highest ranks of the Celestial Quill's hierarchy, the Inquisition, and the High Lords of Terra, the previous Fortress Abbey was partially rebuilt. Its tainted halls are used to imprison any artifacts, tomes, or other items and lore deemed too dangerous to spread to the Imperium at large. Not even the Order of the Celestial Quill themselves are permitted to enter this place, reserving it exclusively for members of the Inquisition--and even they will be referred to the Ordo Hereticus to be carefully monitored for signs of corruption for decades after entering.

Organisation
From the outside, the Order of the Celestial Quill appears to follow the same general hierarchy as most other Sororitas Orders--they're lead by a Canoness, with Palatines answering directly to them, with various ranks of Battle Sisters below that, etc. Where they differ from most Orders Militant, however, is in their significant numbers of non-combatant members.

Rather than leave most of these duties to Novices in training, almost half the entire Order is expected to never even see combat. These non-combatant Sisters are dedicated to studying, documenting, and spreading the knowledge the combatant Sisters manage to collect and bring back to the Convent. Despite their vastly different duties, the two groups of Sisters are part of the same hierarchy and have the same ranks. This is because the Order does not truly consider them to be different, merely fighting the Imperium's enemies on different fronts. Whether a Battle Sister wears power armor and wields a bolter, or wears robes and wields a data-slate, both defend the Imperium from corruption and ignorance with equal zeal, their battlefields fraught with equal peril.

When these Battle Sisters fight their scholarly wars, they do so in flowing robes with long, heavy hoods intended to block their peripheral vision, forcing them to only focus on the texts before them. Their Sisters Repentia, meanwhile, sometimes earn absolution not by seeking death on the battlefield, but by guarding the forbidden library of the Old Convent. They slow their corruption by putting out their own eyes, rendering them incapable of reading the tainted tomes all around them, while training themselves to rely on their other senses to fight off would-be looters.

Doctrine
The Order of the Celestial Quill believes that the God-Emperor has three aspects: the Warrior, the Father, and the Teacher. Outsiders often misinterpret this creed as believing that there are three God-Emperors. The Sisters, however, see these aspects more as parts of a single whole. While they consider each to be of equal importance, they acknowledge that some are more emphasized throughout the wider Imperium than others and seek to compensate for this.

The Warrior dictates that the enemies of Humanity must be destroyed before they have a chance to cause harm, rather than waiting for them to take innocent lives before they act. While the Celestial Quill consider this an essential calling of the God-Emperor, they also acknowledge that the vast majority of the Imperial war machine, the entirety of the Adeptus Astartes in particular, are already dedicated to this aspect. When called upon to join a crusade they won't hesitate to answer, and if they feel a threat is being ignored they will most certainly send forces to destroy it, but for the most part this is the aspect the Celestial Quill emphasize the least, as they feel it is already covered for the most part.

The Father dictates that Humanity must be protected and uplifted to being strong enough to protect themselves. During the Great Crusade, the Emperor only directly interfered in the affairs of the planets He conquered until they were in Compliance. Following His example, when the Order of the Celestial Quill are deployed to protect an Imperial world under attack, the Sisters won't simply leave after the threat has been driven off. They will instead remain for a time, teaching and organizing the populace in order to help them defend themselves in the future. However, the Father also insists that His children be protected from themselves when necessary, compelling the Order to purge the seeds of heresy where ever they've been sown. Such purges are rare for the Celestial Quill, but devastatingly ruthless when committed.

The Teacher dictates that Humanity must be pulled out of ignorance and into the light of truth. This aspect of the Celestial Quill's beliefs are what cause the most conflict with other Imperial bodies, particularly the Ordo Hereticus. Rather than the more common belief that ignorance is the best way to keep the souls of the Imperium loyal, the Order of the Celestial Quill believe that fully educated citizens will use that knowledge and context to make the right decisions and avoid the temptations of the heretic and the xeno on their own (with some exceptions kept in the Old Convent, of course.) This approach has been highly controversial, but has nonetheless resulted in settlements under their care having remarkable resistance to corruption... though, admittedly, when one does fall to temptation, the results are significantly more disastrous. Still, most agree that this philosophy has overall done more good than harm, and has earned the Order some unexpected allies in the Ordo Theoreticus. While the Ordo is far too small to have a proper Chamber Militant, their complimentary missions see the two organizations working together more often than one might expect.

By the Order of the Celestial Quill
"Xenos do not learn. An Ork is born knowing all they will ever need in order to spread mayhem, the Tau merely take from those they subjugate, and the Necrons cling hopelessly to what they've lost. Worst of all are the Aeldari, who make a show of collecting and hoarding knowledge, yet have never learned to move beyond the hubris that destroyed their empire and damned their souls. Only Humanity is blessed with the clarity to elevate raw knowledge into pure wisdom. Only humans are worthy students of the God-Emperor as Divine Teacher."

- The Seraph of Stories

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