Whilst most modern literature attempts to create settings with many facets, avoiding the cliché division into Good and Evil I've always perceived the 40k universe not as Black vs White, but as Black vs Grey. There are no good guys around, but there is Evil and there are the "better guys". Anything I've read so far seems to confirm this interpretation.

thor2006 said:

Well, Sisters Repentia are very freakish. I cannot recall any such description about the Celestians, though. In fact, I recall a very different interpretation from the novel Faith & Fire - which, as a licensee publication - is just as valid as the RPG.

"They are using live weapons…" As the Sister Superior watched, one of the youths dressed up as a Sororitas inexpertly discharged a salvo of shots into a boy on stubby stilts, the heavy rounds ripping through the wood and cloth imitations of eldar armour. Blood was already pooling on the arena's sands where figures from both sides had been cut down.

"Holy Terra!", the Hospitaller gasped, her hand flying to her mouth in shock.

Close by, one of the merchantmen from the cathedral clapped and let out a guffaw. "What a magnificent effort this year. This Blessing will be one for the ages."

Miriya rounded on him. "They're killing each other."

The portly man's expression shattered under the Battle Sister's leaden stare. "But… But of course they are. That's how it is done…" He forced a smile. "Ah, of course. Forgive me. You must both be off-worlders, yes? You are both new to Neva and the festival?"

"What kind of blessing demands you force your people to kill one another?", challenged Miriya.

"F-force?" said the merchant. "No one is forced, honoured Sister." He fumbled in the folds of his robes and recovered a fold of long papers from a hidden pocket. "The participants in the reconstruction are all willing… Well, except for a few irredeemables from the reformatory and some asylum inmates." One of the papers was a dark crimson, and he peeled it from the pack to wave it at her. "Every citizen who received one of these dockets in the clerical lottery knows they are obligated to take part in the great re-enactment. We are all more than ready to do our part in penance!"

Miriya snatched the red paper from him. "Then tell me, sire, why are you here and not down there?" The Celestian jerked a thumb at the melee below them.

The merchant's face coloured. "I… I was happy to present the church with a substantial forfeit donation in my stead!"

"You bought your way out with coin? How lucky for you that your coffers are deep enough", she sneered. "If only others were so fortunate!"

"Now see here", the noble retorted, attempting to maintain a level of superiority. "Those who endure the Blessing are praised and rewarded. Our finest chirurgeons attend them in the aftermath, and those whose fortitude is lesser are buried with honours!"

Barely able to contain her anger, Miriya turned away, her hand dropping unconsciously to the grip of her holstered plasma pistol. The sound and fury of the confrontation set her teeth on edge, triggering old, ingrained battle instincts.

Really doesn't strike me as heartless. The local population's traditions, on the other hand ... :D

its all a matter of point of view. IOM say`s its has the right too (cull mutans and cleans them, cull psyers and send them of too ether die for the emperor, do something useful for one of there agensys or become a live long living psy com person and lets not forget. 'all aliens much die" (or expliotend) and and who resist this rightful rule must die

the loyal see this as a state that has been, shall be and must be the way that it is (with minor fights about the how its done)

a follower of chaos might see. untold slauther of friends and famely, taking of there local healer/protecter or whatever els the local wyrd was, killing of a useful trading partner they where using too get by when the imperium wasn`t around too provide. and the brutal overlord that will do anything too say in power!

and don`t bring up the deamons, you don`t play as a deamon so they don`t count. deamons in 40k are just a manifestasion of the warp bond by ether a greater deamon or a sorcerrer.

Well, Sisters Repentia are very freakish. I cannot recall any such description about the Celestians, though. In fact, I recall a very different interpretation from the novel Faith & Fire - which, as a licensee publication - is just as valid as the RPG.

I'm quite sure this interpretation exists - however, just as the existence of Cain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!) and Gaunt doesn't mean most or even many commissars are hesitant to shoot their men to ensure discipline, the Celestian you mentioned doesn't exactly preclude the mainstream of the orders from being best buddies with the Witch Hunters and Death Cultists ...

The protagonists of many novels are a lot less GRIM-DARK than the faction they're modeled on, simply because it's a lot easier for us to empathize with someone who represents a small point of light and sanity in said darkness than the one who embodies it.

Cifer said:

Aye, definitively. That said, I have yet to see any hint in GW studio canon that Celestians are truly as inhuman as they were made to sound like here. For what it's worth, studio canon has always simply described them as veteran Sisters forming a Canoness'es honor guard - not more, not less. I've seen no hint for why they should be even more whacked than a normal Sister Militant.

And I say this as the last poster that would deny the SoB's penchant for "atrocities" (mutant purgings, punitive expeditions against secessionists, etc) - but I certainly wouldn't put them anywhere near a Khorne berserker. Even they have their limits - which has to do with the Imperial Creed and what they are actually fighting for. Senseless bloodshed isn't on their agenda, it always needs a reason. And unlike Chaos warriors, the Sisters Militant probably defend and aid helpless civilians about as often as they burn them, which is at least something.

Lynata said:

I was just taking the Celestian fluff in the Blood of Martyrs literally, which presents the idea that they are spastic in the extreme.

Lynata said:

True, though to be fair, their article on chaotic morality states that "a warrior of Khorne is as likely to be an honorable duelist as a blood-crazed berserker..." which isn't really an impression you'd get much in the fluff, I will freely admit. I would have more expected them to say "a warrior of Khorne is 1% as likely to be an honorable duelist..." but hey, I'll go with it.