The Crystal Lady herself - Verity the Six-Winged Seraph!

Recently - to the sound of much wailing and gnashing of teeth as she went from direct-sale-only to last-change-to-buy to permanently-out-of-stock-you're-out-of-luck-matey - I purchased Celestine the Living Saint.

That's my girl...

She arrived on Friday and, on Saturday, I gathered together various bits and pieces I'd been collecting over the previous few weeks...

Celestine, Stormcast Prosecutor wings, Necron Wraith tail, some pieces from
the Tech-Priest Dominus, Anvil Industry's mechanical arms, Secret Weapon's base,
and (finally) a Canoness arm

...and started work on building my custom Living Saint; Verity the Seraph!

As I am going to detail in The Tale of Verity, she was originally a humble Tech-Priestess who accompanied the Emperor. Exactly what happened to her during the Great Crusade is shrouded in mystery (not least because I haven't finished writing the background!) but what the Crystal Lady is today is a psycho-mechanical construct reflecting aspects of the Necrons, the Mechanicum and the Imperial Creed. She is a champion of humanity, imbued by the Emperor himself with power, but so much of that humanity has been sacrificed for the sake of survival and victory. I wanted to reflect all of this in the model.

Inspired by Biblical Saraph / Seraphim imagery (six-winged angels, whose name means "serpent") and other "winged serpents" from around the world, I'd imagined Verity as a six-winged serpent with a human torso. Following von Clauzewitz, I first made the base secure. I fixed the Necron tail to the resin base and then attached the torso of Celestine to that. I trimmed away her legs carefully to preserve the waist armor and also removed the left arm below the elbow. She was secured in place with a pin and glue, and gaps filled with greenstuff.

I also trimmed off the protruding hemispheres from the Necron tail and drilled fairly large holes where they had been. These were for the Anvil Industry mechanical arms, which attach with a ball-and-socket joint. They had the balls (oo-er!) but I needed to create new sockets. Then, I started work on the wings, which I wanted to be arranged in a formation inspired by classical images of angelic Seraphim.

Seraphim have three pairs of wings - one covers their "feet" (which is a euphemism for genitals - they use them as clothes, essentially), one veils their eyes and they use the final pair to fly. This exact arrangement wouldn't work (it would hide so much of the model!) but I really liked the look of the crossed wings acting almost as a halo. Taking the three pairs of Stormcast wings, I cut and repositioned them until I had something I liked.

A simple pin and a bit of greenstuff attached the wings to the torso, and Verity was ready for the the artsy "descending-from-on-high" shot!

The light is the glory of the Emperor, and totally not a desk lamp.

After that, it was a pretty simple process to give her arms (holding Tech-Priest's axe and a large wrench) and attach various mechanical arms to her serpent tail.

All in all, not a difficult conversion once I'd got the parts together. I think it worked very well; it hits all the notes I wanted it to. The wings are weird and alien, dramatic and even impractical. They frame the human torso, which is small and insignificant compared to the rest of the model. The Mechnicum parts hint at her origin, while the number of them show her physical form is a fusion of not just her body but those of the Seraph's other victims. Finally, the Necron tail is subtle enough to not be immediately obvious, but very visually distinctive.

Anywhere - there she is! This is what becomes of our heroine Verity ... or, at least, this is what currently bears her name and leads the Order of Our Crystal Lady. Where "she" might lead them during the Time of Ending is anyone's guess ...

On Hyper-Femininity, Sexism, Objectification and the Sisters of Battle

This article has been republished on / moved to my World Anvil page here.

Habits, Uniforms, Principes, Corpora, and the Palatines of the Order of Our Crystal Lady

This article has been expanded on and moved to my World Anvil page here.

Recasting and why it disproportionately hurts Sisters players

This might be controversial. Buckle and brace, hippies - I'm going in hot.

I think we can all agree that commercial recasting and sale on sites like eBay is "a thing". It exists, and exists at a relatively sophisticated and perhaps even industrialized level. There are factories or workshops in countries with lax IP (intellectual property) laws - frequently China - where molds are taken from GW originals and copies cast. These are sophisticated operations - not a guy in his basement mixing up silicone and resin on his workbench. These are organized companies producing products which - while clearly distinguishable from the original - have (and let's be honest) good fidelity to the original. They are made available at a lower price than the official model is.

We all know this happens. Some of us might have purchased a rescast (knowingly or unknowingly). I know for a fact it is very tempting - I was looking for a particular model for a conversion (I'm going to be vague here because I don't want people finding the recaster on eBay). I found what was clearly a recast - sold by someone selling more of what were clearly recasts. The original is FineCast - with all the feared problems that might have - and the recast version was not only less than half the price, but also looked to be a very nice cast. The seller had great feedback.

I didn't buy it. But I was tempted.

I was tempted because, well . . . what difference does it make, really? One model? And the original is expensive - would I have bought it at the full price anyway? And it was FineCast - do I really want to pay twice as much for something that might have problems? And, come on! GW stuff is expensive - if China can sell it for half the price, shouldn't they be allowed to? Capitalism, baby!

Yes, it's just one model - but no waterdrop thinks its responsible for the flood. GW - any owner - has a right to sell at a price they deem fair; we would object if we were forced to work for a price we did not determine. We cannot demand someone employ us, but we can refuse to take a job at a price we consider less than we are worth.

And the reason Chinese knock-offs are cheaper is because they are not paying for advertising, promotion, development, R&D etc. A recast ForgeWorld Titan represents just that - the recasting. It is a matter of making the mold and pouring the resin. They have to do literally nothing - but ForgeWorld had to design it, make the master, advertise it. We only know to search eBay for "Warhound Titan" because GW has made us aware of it - and that cost money.

A study of fixed vs variable costs is essential here. All products (from toothbrushes to bridges) have to bear the costs of R&D spread over the number of units they are going to sell. The cost of a product is made up of the individual unit cost for materials & manufacture, plus the total R&D (and advertising, legal, corporate etc.) budget divided by the number of units sold.

What does this have to do with recasting hurting Sisters players more than others?

Chinaforge makes the Adepta Sororitas cry

With slight variations, most GW models are similarly priced. A tactical Space Marine is $4, a Cadian is $2.90, a Skitarii is $3.90, an Eldar Guardian is $3.63. A Genestealer Neophyte is $4. All plastic models, all around the same price. If you compare similar models - vehicles of the same size and complexity - they are about the same price.

That makes sense - models of similar size and complexity should be the same price, right?

Not according to the laws of supply-and-demand and fixed-vs-variable costs.

Economagus Hayek is here to educate you

Let's take two hypothetical examples - two boxes of models. Each is a basic infantry squad for a different army. Each consists of 100 components that make 10 models. They are the same level of complexity - each required the same amount of R&D time to develop. Material & manufacture costs for each are the same. Let us give a nominal cost of 10000 SpaceBucks (SB) for R&D for each of them, and a nominal cost of 5 SB for materials & manufacture for each unit.

The only difference is in popularity; one is for a highly popular army - each GW store will sell 100 units a month. The other is less popular - each GW store will sell 10 units a month.

Let's crunch the numbers. Let's say GW wants to make its money back within a year. They will sell 1200 of the popular and 120 of the less popular. The materials and manufacture cost of the more popular one is 6000 SB. For the less popular, M&M is only 600 SB.

Once we add in R&D costs, the total cost for the units GW will sell in a year is 16000 SB for the more popular and 10600 for the less popular.

Now; how much do they need to sell each one for in order to break even? It's simple math - divide the total cost by the number of units sold. So, the more popular breaks even if sold at 13.33.. SB / unit. The less popular breaks even at 88.33.. SB / unit.

Now, those are hypothetical numbers - I don't know how much these things really cost, nor comparative popularity. But it is clear to see that a less-popular product should cost more. It should cost more because the fixed costs of R&D are spread over a smaller number of units.

But it doesn't. GW is going to sell fewer Genestealers than Space Marines - but they are priced about the same. GW prices models this way in order to encourage sales and avoid the appearance of unfairness (among customers who don't understand economics). They manage this by absorbing some of the costs for less-popular lines on more-popular ones, or accepting lower-profit margins for less-popular lines.

Counterfeits impact GW's bottom line - how much is open to debate, but they do impact it. If a company sees a lowering of income, they will cut costs - that is inevitable. But what GW is not going to do is cut R&D on Space Marines - they are their major line. They are going to play it safe.

And playing it safe means not producing boutique lines of miniatures. Playing it safe means concentrating on things you know will sell, things you are assured of a large-enough return on to absorb the cost of counterfeiting. For GW specifically, it means sticking with Space Marines not only because they are popular, but because the R&D burden for them is lower due to so much work already done being applicable to a new project (everyone looks similar in power armor...)

And that is why recasting impacts us disproportionately. I am not saying the reason we haven't see Sisters for years is because of recasting, but the same economic pressures - of the smaller profit-margins on boutique lines because of fewer units-sold to spread fixed costs over - are at play. And now we are likely to see plastic Sisters, we need to understand that buying recasts is not only illegal, unfair, unethical and just-not-cricket, but that it hurts us more than it hurts other players.

I didn't buy the recast. Instead, I wrote to infringements@gwplc.com with details and links. If you see recasts for sale, I urge you to do the same.

Postulants & Novices of the Order of Our Crystal Lady

The contents of this post have been reworked and published in my World Anvil wiki on a number of pages relating to Religious Formation. The up-to-date information can be found there.


My invented Order of Adepta Sororitas (technically speaking, they are an Ecclesiarchal Prelature Militant ... but that's a separate bit of background) are different in many ways from the Orders of the Convent Sanctorum, even though they are based on Ophelia VII. One of the most significant differences is in their structure and recruitment.

As detailed in the Warhammer 40K wiki, most Sisters of Battle are recruited from the Schola Progenium where the Drill Abbesses identify suitable candidates at an early age. One of the Convents trains and examines them, determining if they are truly suitable to enter an Order of Sororitas and, if so, which one is suitable. The woman (or girl) herself has little choice in the matter, it seems. Members of a particular Order sometimes transfer to other Orders (especially those in the Orders Militant who become too aged or infirm to fight). This is, of course, in keeping with the Imperium's lack of concern for the opinions of its citizens (and consistent with the Imperial Cult's theology of duty and self-sacrifice). It does not, however, seem in keeping with the "recruitment" (a, frankly, inappropriate term) of a religious order, and does not fit with the idea I have of the Order of Our Crystal Lady.

Entering a religious order should be a voluntary action; orders are people practicing a particular faith communally and intensely. This isn't something that can be forced without, essentially, brainwashing. That, again, fits with the Imperium but isn't something I wanted for my Order.

Real-world religious orders are not identical, even those of the same faith. Each have particular theological emphases, liturgical practices, customs and traditions. Feeling drawn to this distinctive character, or (in Catholic jargon) charism, is the reason candidates discern membership in a particular order. In many ways, the relationship is like marriage; a person does not simply wish to "be married" - he or she wishes to be married to a particular person and another person will not do.

I wanted my Order to have a definite charism. I explore this idea in my post on the repentia; the Order educate and help the impoverished and neglected workers of the 'Dust (Industrial) Zone of Ophelia VII, an increasingly-cramped ghetto where ordinary laborers have been squeezed by the expansion of ever-more glorious palaces and temples. They are the protectors and champions of "the little man", building and running schools and hospitals, even hospices for the aged and infirm.

Each member of the Order is drawn to this charism, and so they do not transfer Orders nor do they accept members from other Orders. Members unable to fight remain in the Order, educating or training, or cared for in their dotage. Candidates do not come from the Schola - they come exclusively from the daughters of the 'Dust Zone workers.

Historically, women in the 'Dust Zone did not have even the meager opportunities afforded to the men. With the high value placed on marriage and family by the Imperial Cult (the subject of a future post!) women were discouraged from pursing education or a career. A young woman might work in some menial, repetitive task on the factory floor (in some cases, the smaller hands and limbs of women were used to get into tight spaces in machinery - often with dreadful consequences as that machinery was rarely turned off) until she was married, but then she was expected to stay home and raise a family, building a home to give a stable foundation to the next generation.

Of course, this is entirely in keeping with the Imperial Cult's theology and the Order of Our Crystal Lady does not deviate from it. However, the Order recognizes that education of young girls is advantageous; it not only makes them better wives and mothers, but also opens up other careers to them (allowing them to choose to not marry, or provide for themselves if they are widowed). Because of this, they run schools (segregated by gender) which the workers' children must attend until they are sixteen. Male pupils who show aptitude in a particular discipline may, if they wish, remain in school for a further two years before joining the workforce - this further education enables them to assume managerial, specialist and supervisory roles in the factories.

Postulants and two Pedagogues Militant

At sixteen, female pupils - if they show sufficient piety - may enter the postulancy, a two-year period of discernment for entering the Order. Sequestered in barracks-dormitories within the Order's cloister-fortress, the postulants live a regimented life of prayer, drill, fasting and vigil, participating intensely in the rich spiritual and liturgical life of the Imperial Cult. They wear a simple smock of dark blue as a habit.

As postulants receive martial training (which male students do not - it would be a violation of the Decree Passive) they are sometimes deployed alongside the Order in warzones. They are led into battle by Pedagogues Militant, the skilled veterans of many campaigns who drill the postulants.

Pedagogues Militant

Most postulants determine life in the Order is not for them - they return to their families, either at the end of the two years or before. Others, however, are called to the Order and, with the Canoness' approval, join as novices. The Canoness never refuses to allow a postulant to enter the novitate because of immaturity, unsuitability or any other flaw of character - the only reason ever given is that the postulant has lied about being called. The Daughters of Verity (as the Order sometimes call themselves) not only place a high value on truth but seem to have an innate ability to know when it is spoken to them and when it is not.

Postulants are received formally into the novitiate in a ceremony held in the Crystal Cathedral (the Order's main temple) on Sanguinalia (the feast of the Emperor's Ascension; the highest holy day of the year). All inhabitants of the 'Dust Zone are invited on this public holiday, and it is a day of joy and merriment. While priests lead the prayers, the Canoness receives the novices' oaths (made through her directly to the Ecclesiarch as the mouthpiece of Him-On-Earth, not through the Prioress of the Convent Sanctorum and Abbess of the Adepta Sororitas). Here, they are invested with a suit of black power-armor. This will be theirs for the rest of their lives, being returned to the armory on their deaths. The suits of armor have been worn by dozens of Sisters before them. Each time they are returned to the armory, they are stripped of iconography and honors, so each novice receives a plain, unadorned suit of armor to wear during her novitiate.

The novitiate lasts two or three years. During it, novices are under the supervision of Novice-Mistresses who are responsible for their growth and education. A novices studies theology, philosophy, history and military science diligently, all within a framework of intense prayer and fasting. If she has some particular aptitude she may receive additional training, eventually becoming a Hospitalier, Machaenix Canonical, or other specialist. Because of its isolation, the Order of Our Crystal Lady fulfills roles normally held by other Orders itself.

Novices wear a habit of undyed, unbleached cloth over their plain black armor. When the Order goes to war, they go too. Most of them take rifleman positions in rear-line squads, although the flurry of war can means a novice can quickly find herself in the thick of it. They acquit themselves well - a novice has two years of postulancy behind her (the equivalent of several cycles of basic training in the Astra Militarium) and so martial skill is never in question. The novitiate is not designed to train a woman to fight; it is designed to train her to be a Sister.

Accordingly, the emphasis is on prayer, piety, devotion and faithfulness. Spiritual growth is what the Novice-Mistresses look for in recommending their charges to the Canoness for profession. Once again, the Canoness always accepts the recommendation without question - a Daughter of Verity can neither lie nor be lied to, and so whatever recommendation is not only honest, but made knowing nothing remains hidden within the novice.

Novices make their formal profession into the Order during the Sanguinalia feast in the Crystal Cathedral, where their habits are dyed deep blue and the icons of the Order and the Sororitas are affixed to their armor. They then join squads of experienced Battle Sisters and live in the main barracks-dormitories rather than those reserved for the novices.

Initially, I included novices in my army because there was one edition of the Sisters' list which allowed them - armed with bolt-pistol and chainsword, they were led in large squads by Sister Superiors. They were poor fighters, but made up for it in numbers. This was the period of games design when many armies had this sort of thing - Cadian whiteshields, Chaos cultists and so forth. That option disappeared, but I had already made a large squad of these models, including two Sister Superiors with mortar boards - the symbol of an English grammar-school master - on their heads!

In revising and expanding the history of the Order of Our Crystal Lady, I wanted to explore the idea of recruitment and membership. I have never liked the idea that raw-recruits would be sent into the most dangerous sort of combat (hand-to-hand) or used in the delicate mission of scouting (as they are in the Marines). Rather, raw-recruits would be carefully led and shepherded, kept behind the lines initially so they can learn skills in a less-dangerous environment than the front.

The models I initially made as novices - Mordheim Sisters of Sigmar novices with chainswords and bolt pistols - would become my new postulants. I have converted some of the unpainted models to carry lasguns. I will count the models as Astra Militarium infantry, which seems reasonable given their level of training, with Pedagogues Militant as their officers.

Novices will be represented by normal Sisters models with icongraphy shaved off and their robes painted buff / cream. They will be scattered throughout the army, or perhaps deployed in a unit led by a model representing a Novice-Mistress.

Let me know what you think of the ideas, the background, and my painting! And, if you have any questions (and there are lots of questions because there are things I have deliberately left unanswered!) just ask 'em in the comments!

=][= Danforth Laertes

Theology of the Imperial Cult pt I: An Overview of the Cult Imperalis

This is the first in what I hope will be a series of articles on the Imperial Cult, its theology, and how it impacts various Imperial institutions … as well how it might affect gameplay, or modeling & painting. Please note; all of these articles are not intended to reflect real-world theology or religions (although they might draw on them) and are not to be taken as GW-canon. They are my personal opinions and musings.

The Imperial Cult of the Imperium of Man is a vague and, in many ways, inconsistently-defined religion. It is very certain that it is a huge religion with man, many local variations. However, the Cult's entries on Lexicanum and the Warhammer 40,000 Wiki (and our familiarity with the 40K setting) provides enough detail to surmise its general structure and central tenets. The Imperial Cult is a state church - that is, it is intimately connected with the civic government. Adherence to the cult is required for citizenship, and doctrinal heresy is not merely an ecclesial, but a civil crime. In the violent and dystopian universe of Warhammer 40,000, heresy is punished by death and rival cults (or even sections of the Imperial Cult) who deviate from orthodoxy are persecuted to destruction.

The central belief of the Imperial Cult and the Imperium (for the two are indistinguishable) is the supremacy of the Imperium of Man. All humans must be brought into the Imperium and mankind's manifest destiny is to conquer the galaxy. More than that anything which does not conform to the human ideal - xenos aliens, but also mutants, psykers, heretics and perhaps even the disabled and infirm - is to be purged. All humans are in service to this mission, and are expected to not only serve in their particular capacity, but to do so until death. It may be that people can shift occupation due to infirmity or age, but one gets the impression that there is no such thing as "retirement" as we understand it. "Only in death does duty end" is a common phrase. It is entirely possible the Imperium practices euthanasia of the infirm and unfit.

The Cult teaches that sacrifice of oneself - following the example of the Emperor himself - is meritorious and laudable. This is expressed most strongly in obedience to superiors and the goals of the Imperium, but also in sacrifice of pleasures, time and resources to the Imperium. Members of the armed forces (and civilians when necessary) are expected to lay down their lives in battle. Dying fighting the enemies of the Emperor is considered martyrdom and is actually extolled as a virtue. Much is made of the vast size and manpower of the Imperium; many battles are "won" by the sacrifice of thousands if not millions of warriors for a minor victory. The Imperial Cult teaches a collectivism where human life is individually cheap but humanity is infinitely valuable.

It is a bleak, dystopian universe; a religion which teaches hatred of the different, hypocrisy concerning selected classes of the divergent, a government who demands unquestioning obedience and agreement under penalty of death, a grotesque utilitarianism which rejects the aged, infirm, or unfit, and an expectation of sacrificing everything for tawdry gains. There is no inherent worth or dignity in a human being in the Imperium of Man. It is a universe of the most corrupt communism, where a proclaimed equality of all men hides the truth that "some animals are more equal than others".

I think most people familiar with 40K will not disagree with any of my statements or conclusions here. They are intended to represent a basic overview of the Imperial Cult, rather than an in depth analysis or a description of specific religious practices on a particular planet or sub-cult - which differ significantly. However, significant Imperial institutions - Astartes, Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy and Sororitas, even the Guard - these tenets and beliefs are likely to be closely adhered to.

This brief exploration of the basic structure and beliefs of the Imperial Cult (and, indeed, Imperium) is the starting point for all my theological musings. I will be referring back to this post in many of them. For now, however, let me know what you think of this simple overview!

=][= Danforth Laertes