#argenta

our loyal sister of battle!

right from the hop, argentas portrait gives off energy and eagerness. she’s posed for battle, proudly and overtly displaying her bolter with her finger on the trigger (no trigger discipline here) whilst her power armour battery gleams over her shoulders. she looks the player right in the face, but has her body tilted slightly from the player, instead having her fleur-de-lys emblazoned bolter and the fleur-de-lys of the adepta sororitas on her neck piece be the primary attention drawing symbol/area, obfuscating (or, alternatively, replacing) her chest, and likewise, her heart.

because, while argenta does have things she enjoys in life, her purpose and her whole being is centered around being an adepta sororitas and her desire to recover the relic of saint argenta (which ties into her belonging to the orders pronatus), so it makes sense that the first thing you notice about her is a bolter emblazoned with the fleur-de-lys of the sororitas. it is intentionally meant to grab your attention and make you think oh, a sister of battle!

because, again, that is what argenta is before she is a person. an eager sister of battle, who only wishes to spread the word of the emperor, thus the active lines of her body and appearance of movement and her thrusting her bolter and symbols of sisterhood in your face.

speaking of symbols, argenta is drenched in symbols of the sisterhood, and the ecclesiarchy. 

she has six (or eight!) fleur-de-lys on display alone! (two on her belt, one on her bolter, one on her neck piece, and two adorning her power armour battery + two potentially on her shin guards, but they are a bit blurry)

the symbol dangling off her belt is actually dangling off her chaplet ecclesiastisus, which is a devotional item that has adamantine beads on it, with each representing an act of penitence the sister has committed. argenta has 11-13 (two of the beads are quite small) beads on hers, and the symbol dangling from it is the symbol of the ecclesiarchy, though other sisters also use the fleur-de-lys + various other religious symbols.

the same ecclesiarchy symbol is emblazoned on her shin guards.

the two little skulls + crosses on the inside of her cloak is actually the simplified symbol for Order of Our Martyred Lady, which is the sister branch argenta was sent to, though she doesn’t directly serve as a part of an orders militant.

the mutilated piece of gold hanging from her belt is the fragment of the aquila from her parents imperial guard regiment, which, of course, is a symbol of the imperium as a whole. it also helps draw back to argentas somewhat motherly or maternal qualities, though, as she does have a soft spot for the youngest companion (cassia) and is general extremely kind to children throughout the game.

she also has the most purity symbols on her direct person in her portrait with four or five (two on her right shoulder, one visible on her battery and another potentially hidden behind it and the fifth being on her bolter, though, i don’t count the ones heinrix is holding on his direct person so this might apply to argentas bolter as well), as heinrix only has three on his person, and is holding three, but they are not directly attached to him.

in terms of what the symbols shes wearing mean, not just where they come from in lore, let’s break it down.

the fleur-de-lys literally(?) means “flower of lily” in french (fleur = flower, de = various meanings and translations, but usually from/than/of, lis = greek leírion [λείριον] which then became latin lilium, and then finally french lis.) this is a symbol that is still heavily used by various european cultures, and is even featured on the quebec, the only primarily french speaking province in canada, provincial flag. it’s still seen as a symbol of france/the french today, despite its use around the world.

i do not speak french tho, so, uh, that might be wrong.

the lily, in general, means fertility, fragility, but most of all purity. in christianity, it is a representation of the immaculate conception, aka the virgin mary being free from the original sin, a “sinfulness” all humans were born with/shared after the fall of adam and eve in the original garden of eden. even the virgin mary herself is commonly depicted with a white lily in artistic works.

so, yes, as a heavily religious organization that focuses on the purity of its members (not in the sexual sense, moreso in the purity of the soul, which is a huge deal in 40k) would use the fleur-de-lys.

the symbol of the ecclesiarchy is… just that. as for why its a capital i/pillar, uh, well, the imperium? the i symbol is used very frequently by various groups in the imperium. see below for reference (taken from the 7th edition rulebook)

it also is meant to probably represent a pillar, as each group that uses it is a pillar of the imperium as a whole. do i really know? no. but that’s my best guess. i’m sure there’s something that confirms or denies my reasoning whilst calling my mother a whore, but, it was probably published in 1998 in one magazine there’s no scans of online. so, fuck ‘em.

the symbol of the order of our martyred lady is the skull and cross, though more detailed representations of it also feature a crown of thorns and a rose on the forehead of the skull, but that’s a bit too much detailing for a basic sister, perhaps. see below for reference. (source - taken directly from the warhammer website, lol)

either way, the skull is another Skulls On Everything warhammer movement, and the cross below it actually represents the greek cross, which is one of all equal sides/sizes/prongs, and warhammer does love to rip from the greeks and romans.

and the aquila both has sentimental meaning, being the one representing her deceased parents and their former occupations, but also just represents the imperium as a whole. the aquila, due to the inherently religious nature of the imperium, is used for prayer, and is known as a symbol of devotion across the imperium.

so, yes, all of the symbols on argenta scream her religion.

whipping back to her bolter, argenta starts the trend of having her Associated Iconic Weapon (aka, a weapon with a name + flavour text) displayed in her portrait, with her bolter being named Unfading Valour. the flavourtext of the item is as follows:

This Godwyn-pattern bolter was given to Sister Argenta on the day she took her vows to join the Order of the Martyred Lady. Unfortunately, despite its illustrious name, the gleam of its metal has dulled after years of travel and encounters with horrors untold and the sacred prayers engraved on the barrel have been worn smooth in places. With every shot it fires, another spark goes out in the halo of sanctity that surrounds this noble weapon.

ulfar will half continue this trend, and i wanted solomorne and kibellah to continue this, but they don’t, unfortunately. argenta is one of the devs favorites, and it shows in a few different ways, hm? but, yes, argentas bolter is part of her to an extreme extent, is clearly very special to her, and directly connects her back to the branch of the sisterhood she belongs to.

in terms of her ACTUAL clothes, i’ve had a few people wonder why argenta (refreshingly) doesn’t resemble a lot of the stereotypical sister depictions scattered around 40k. skull tits, pointy nipple spikes, or exaggerated boob plates, corsets, high heels (yes, that used to be a trend with sisters, but we are moving away from it) and this is partly because, yes, gw realized that they cannot have both the girlboss energy of the sisters while also having them dressed like party city bondage dominatrix. power through sexuality is a valid thing, but it clashes heavily with the imagery of devout nuns but, primarily, it is because argentas primary order she belongs to, the orders pronatus, are not an orders militant.

"Once I had completed my novitiate, I was sent to the Calixian branch of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, assigned to the Orders Pronatus. The order's mission is vital and noble — the Sisters Pronatus protect great relics of the Imperium. We guard them, preserve them, escort them when they are brought onto the battlefield or presented for pilgrims to venerate."

and, to kind of give context (or at least the “lore” reasoning that gw gives) for why sisters of battle have an extremely feminine appearance, it’s a little… complicated. so, during M36, the imperium entered an age known as the age of apostasy, in which the ecclesiarchy and the administraum entered into a huge war due to various, extremely political reasons and general in fighting, which is common in the imperium.

basically, a huge, horrible age full of fighting, and eventually the decree passive was declared, which forbade the ecclesiarchy from having “men under arms” aka their military forces such as the frateris templar. but, due to the wording, the ecclesiarchy managed to have the adepta sororitas slip through, and serve as the only official military group of the ecclesiarchy because there are no men in the sisterhood.

so, the… annoyingly sexualized and hyper-feminized stylization of the sisters and their armour is, in lore, meant as a childish sort of see! we don’t have any men! only women! that is why their tits have to be super eye-catching and they have to wear heels and corsets! to show that they’re women!

outside of lore, we all know it is because sex sells, and every all female legion (and even some of the mixed gender legions women, like drukhari) are horrendously sexualized bait.

but! back to the main point, which is that argenta is not a part of the orders militant, so her primary purpose is not frontline assault/all-out combat, and not to be seen as a recognizable propaganda piece in combat. this is not to say she is an incapable combatant, she even chides the rt for thinking so in game:

"Don't let the name deceive you. The 'Orders Militant' train sisters to march onto the battlefield as an army. That does not make sisters who belong to the non-militant orders timid and helpless."

argentas armour is also heavily in line with two tabletop minis, specifically aestred thurga of the orders pronatus, go figure, and the order of our martyred lady palatine mini. (astrid source / palatine source)

the order of our martyred lady is also why the inside of argentas cloak is red, as that is one of the visual indicators of the order, the red cloak. alongside, argenta dyes her hair, presumably, as all sisters of the order of our martyred lady do, as founder of the order was saint katherine who stood before the emperor and had her hair turned white. thus, all sisters in her order now dye their hair white as a symbol of respect and mourning for katherine.

belonging to that order is also why argentas cloak and armour are black, as saint katherine was martyred (thus, the name of the whole order being changed from its original name of order of the fiery heart) and this branch of sisterhood is always in mourning of their lost founder, and mourning another significant loss for the sisterhood which occurred on the planet armageddon, in which many, many, many wars and battles have been fought.

alongside, well, the white haired sister is just sort of iconic to even casual 40k fans, and sisters belonging to the order are basically all thats ever shown. they are the ultramarines of the sisterhood, basically. it helps immediately clue people in to argenta being a sister.

however, a lovely detail i like is that argenta has white hair like cassia, a companion argenta is very protective and maternal to throughout the game. while you can certainly view them as more than that, i always view them as a sort of big sister/little sister duo. this helps create a visual link between the two, which is significant because cassia, truly, doesn’t have many close associates on the ship and she’s constantly ripped into for her mutated appearance. so, just, i love that little detail.

her expression… well, she looks confident, first of all. argenta is confident, most of the time. the slight smirk, the scrunched eyebrows while she looks you square in the face, it is a silent challenge to get in her way, she just dares you. the scar, though shockingly absent on her model, also helps affirm the idea of being a sister of battle, one who has seen combat and lived to tell the tale, albit not flawlessly.

while makeup is not exclusive to women in rogue trader (marazhai wears some, and no, i don’t mean his red facial tattoos) argenta is not wearing any, which fits with her as well. argenta is feminine, but she doesn’t embrace or weaponize femininity. her ears aren’t pierced, her hair is relatively short (compared to very feminine characters like jae, incendia, vistenza vyatt), the lack of makeup, and the way she rejects being reduced down to a lady of the court:

"You are inventing some lady of the court in the place of the warrior you are looking at! What is this so-called inventory?"

the most feminine thing about her is her armour, and, like i said above, it is refreshingly not an exaggerated caricature of sexualized femininity! this is not me claiming that makeup = femininity, or that you have to wear makeup and have piercings to be feminine, but moreso highlighting perhaps societal expectations of femininity, which i am all for disregarding.

to move onto the background, it is salis prime, the primary (har har) location for argentas quest. it is extremely involved in her storyline, being the last resting place of saint argenta herself, which is where argenta, obviously, gets her name from, which was also given to her by the order. yes, argenta is not her real name.

"Imagine what I felt when this flash of insight came upon me. The world where Saint Argenta's ship fell was merely a vague legend, no one knew its actual whereabouts. And suddenly, I, myself named after the saint, come across this information! I realised at that moment that it was a portent, that I must journey to the planet and find the ship. And so I asked Reverend Hieronymus to let me go for a time on a personal pilgrimage, I boarded Theodora's ship, and demanded passage to the newly discovered planet Salis Prime." + "The description of Salis Prime was familiar to me. It seemed very similar to a world from an ancient legend... the legend of Saint Argenta and her ship." Her voice grows reverent. "Argenta, the Living Saint — she is my patroness, the order named me after her. She died millennia ago, when heretics caused her ship to fall from the skies."

so, it makes complete sense that it is represented in the background of her portrait, and it further ties into how argenta, and most sisters, honestly, are nothing without their strict faith and belief in the god-emperor. the use of coldness, and snow, however, is almost a direct pivot from argenta herself, who actually has a route named fire, and is extremely, well, heated when it comes to matters of faith.

however, with the use of black, white, light blues and pinks in the background, you are instead drawn to look at argentas face, and the redness of her outfit. she also stands out with the black of her armour when juxtaposed against the cool white of the snow. she demands attention, which you should give to a sister of battle!

for colours, argenta has a good chunk to dig into. i’ve talked about the use of black for mourning in the above sections where i talk about the martyred lady order, but we haven’t really dug into the red parts of her outfit.

red is a color primarily associated with sacrifice, danger, and courage. it also is the color of fire (usually), blood, religion, various fruits, animals, etc.

the fire association is an easy one, so i’ll get it out of the way first. the burning flames of purity, the fire route argenta has, the way she blazes with righteous fury. yes, she is angry, but she is also a beacon of flames across the expanse. and anger, again, very easy and simple. argenta has a route named fury and she can be very whipped into a religious frenzy. some people think that charging bulls are agitated by the color red, but they’re actually agitated by the movement the matador performs, the red is used to be eye-catching.

sacrifice, danger, courage… yes, absolutely. argenta has, unintentionally, sacrificed so much of herself. she lost her parents, and devoted herself entirely to the emperor. while this fills her with intense purpose, and a sense of belonging, her faith is also something she can stumble with, especially if the rt encourages her onto her humility path, where she becomes a sister repentia. red is also one of the colors we see on repentias, lmao. (source 1 - image from the inquisitor sketchbook, published 2001 / source 2 - repentia minis from 3rd edition)

for red and religion, the northern cardinal, a beautiful songbird with a brilliant red plumage, actually got its name from the red that roman catholic cardinals wore. here's a cardinal, for reference. (source)

the bird itself creates a nice, neat connection with argenta as well, as she is one of the musically gifted companions, and frequently sings battle hymns, and the religious use of red also, again, just ties in so well, doesn’t it?

for fruit, again, another religious meaning, sort of. while original translations of the bible translated the original text of fruit into apple, since it was the correct meaning at the time, as apple = any fruit that grew on trees, it’s never explicitly confirmed to be an apple. however, society has pushed the idea of apple = knowledge/sin (moreso, the sin of knowledge/awareness) which is why we usually see the fruit being portrayed as an apple. pomegranates, another red fruit, were called the fruit of the dead, and were believed to have sprung from the blood of adonis, but i tend to lean more into the apple symbolism.

apples, of course, also come in various colors, but you normally think of red, don’t you?

but, the primary pop of color in argentas portrait is her face, which captivates quite a few people that look at it, jae being the most notable example. via having it be the only tan/ruddy color, you are immediately drawn to look at it, which you should when addressing/speaking to someone. it’s intentional, and it highlights her flush complexion, and general health.

alongside how the lack of wrinkles also helps enforce that vigour she is known for, and the eagerness and energy she brings to the retinue. it all works very well together, and blends just enough that her portrait is almost comforting to look at, what with the lack of intense, dizzying colours.