#codex 7e

Execution Blade

In addition to their role as witch-seekers and stern guardians of the tithe of the psyker-born, the Sisters of Silence also serve as remorseless executioners when the need arises, with the time-honoured method of beheading before immolation their preferred agency of final sanction. To this end they often carry unique, finely-wrought two-handed blades, forged to the same exacting standards of the ancient Charnabal sabres favoured for duelling among the Terran Courts. These Executioner Greatblades, or simply Execution Blades, are wonders of the swordsmith’s art, each perfectly weighted for the martial style of the wielder and edged in diamond-hard silica glass, making for a wickedly-sharp cutting edge. One schooled in their use can strike with the speed of a duellist combined with the killing might of a veteran executioner, and a skilled strike from one of these weapons can part the seals of the finest armour in battle just as easily as it parts the head from the shoulders of the condemned.

Voidsheen Cloak

The voidsheen cloaks worn by Oblivion Knights are made from micro-vitrious mesh designed to diffract and absorb energy, and are particularly effective against diffuse attacks.

Voidscale Cloak

Similar in design to voidsheen cloaks, voidscale cloaks utilise a denser and more efficient vitrious mesh. The larger refractive scales it utilises are capable of deflecting far greater kinetic force and absorbing even the most destructive forms of radiation.

Vratine Armour

When a Sister-aspirant takes her final oaths of duty and says the last words she will ever utter aloud in her lifetime, she is given her panoply of war: the Vratine armour - literally 'the armour of the oath'. It is a subpattern of technologically advanced battle gear which shares design elements with both the power armour of the Legiones Astartes and the silicate-mesh of Selenite void-mail, though unlike either of those famed armours, it is not - at least without additional gearing - fully environmentally sealed or designed for extended operations. It does however provide formidable protection from ballistic impacts and directed energy weapons, and is tailored and forged uniquely to its intended wearer to allow for their complete freedom of movement and to augment their reaction speed.

Dominions

Each Dominion, numbering a hundred Sisters under the command of an Oblivion Knight-Centura, has its own heraldry, traditions and mute-vows, but all are loyal to the Imperium. Some are charged with specific duties – such as infiltrating the hyperspatial tunnels of the Webway to stymie the plans of psychic xenos races, recovering pariahs from enemy forces that seek to use them for their own gain, or neutralizing spectral attacks in strategically vital locations. Others have carte blanche to pursue their own agendas, provided they serve the collection of the Great Tithe or the destruction of the Great Enemy’s forces.

The Silent Sisterhood maintain a strong presence both on Terra itself as well as notably at their headquarters in the Somnus Citadel on Luna - a facility handed over by the ancient Selenite cults - and the Magadan Orbital Construct - the fortified orbital anchorage station utilised by the League of Black Ships in the Sol System to deliver their cargo, and forbidden to all others. Nevertheless, much of the initial sifting and processing of the Great Tithe takes place not in the Sol System but elsewhere on scores of isolated, backwater, and otherwise prohibited star systems in every Segmentum - an understandable change from the tithe's early days given the sheer scale of the operation as the Imperium has expanded and the potential security risks involved in so many untrained psykers being concentrated in a single area.

These Divisio Astra Telepathica administered star systems are only known to other arms of the Imperium as vague and shifting code designations such as Star One, Silent Harbour, Taceant Astra, and Kamiti Sona. Here the Silent Sisters alone hold sway and what numbers, facilities, and resources they possess in these sovereign domains, none save they and the Emperor know. In fact, such is the shroud of secrecy surrounding the Great Tithe that only the Navigators of the League of Black Ships know the location of these processing worlds and various Black Ship anchorages, collection-node stations, and outposts scattered across the Imperium, and their lives are led in sealed biome-crucibles, prisoning homes which auto-incinerate all within should their seals ever be compromised; such is the priceless wealth in human potential of the Great Tithe judged and guarded.