The Adepta Sororitas are peak Warhammer 40,000 – the military arm of the Ecclesiarchy formed on a byzantine technicality, decked out in baroque weaponry and power armour, driving tanks fitted with missile-firing organs. They peer into the off-kilter heart of Warhammer 40,000, where the grim darkness meets faith, fanaticism, and tests of will. We caught up with Black Library author Justin D. Hill about his upcoming novel
Pilgrims of Fire
, which dials in on one of the most infamous orders of Battle Sisters.WarCom: Without any spoilers, what is Pilgrims of Fire all about?
Justin: This was the most ambitious novel I’ve worked on. It follows two companies of Sisters of the Order of Our Martyred Lady – set in timelines that bracket the arrival of the Cicatrix Maledictum – one before Cadia’s fall, and one that runs long after the sundering of the galaxy.
The story follows Sister Helewise, who is part of the Crusade Fleet Quintus – the ‘Cursed Fifth’ – which undertakes to retrace the route of St Katherine’s First War of Faith.
While the Adepta Sororitas are terrifying power-armoured warrior-sisters, their unique power comes not from their tanks or flamers, but from their belief in the God Emperor. Faith is what defines the Sisters of Battle, so a different and more accurate answer might be that this novel is an exploration of faith.
WarCom: Of all the varied factions in Warhammer 40,000 Is there anything specific that attracted you to the Adepta Sororitas?Justin: Most humans will have never seen a Space Marine. They exist as semi-mythical warriors on the edge of reality. The Sisters of Battle are in many ways the exact opposite to the Space Marines. They remain unenhanced, and their abbeys are on shrine worlds, the focus of everyday life in the Imperium. They both lead and draw on the populations around them. Their humanity is their strength, as they draw and inspire the faithful about them.
I love the battles and explosions integral to most Warhammer 40,00 stories, but I really love the stories that take you away from the battlefield, and show life in the habs and neglected megalopolises of the grimdark future. This novel focuses on the shrine world of Cion, and explores what it is like to live upon a planet that is the locus for pilgrimage, with lives given over to prayer and devotion.
It also allowed me to explore the communities that live with the sisters, as well as the non-combat Sisters. Pilgrims of Fire brings to life the daily rituals, and prayers of the Adepta Sororitas.
No other army has such a unique and distinctive set of hangers-on. There are Arco-flagellants, Penitent Engines, and of course the Sisters Repentia. This novel was an excellent chance to cover all these stories and to look at the arc of someone who becomes a Sister Repentia – and why she chooses such a terrible fate.
And of course I got to write power armoured characters kicking butt with the enemies of the God Emperor, which is how every novelist should spend their days.
WarCom: What was it like taking on the responsibility of writing characters for such a beloved force?
Justin: The figures and the artwork that have built up around the Adepta Sororitas really helped drive how I wrote the stories inside this novel. I kept going back to various pictures looking for clues into what that experience or moment was like. I particularly loved this picture below, which really conveyed the sense of what it means to be a member of the Orders Militant.
This is the first of a series that will each feature one of the main orders of the Adeptus Sororitas. By the end we’ll have novels covering all six of the major orders militant of the Sisters of Battle and showing how each is defined by their history and mission.
WarCom: How do you get into the headspace of these disparate Orders?
Justin: Unlike Space Marines, there’s no gene-seed uniting each Sister to another in her order. The unifying link is the creed that each order follows, which comes through the rituals, rites, stories, prayers, and legends that are passed down from one generation to the next.
The Order of Our Martyred Lady is the focus of this novel. Originally called the Order of the Fiery Heart, they were renamed in the honour of the founder St Katherine.
Her legacy is ultimately of death and martyrdom. All the characters know they are going to die in battle. They carry their deaths with them into each combat hoping their lives will end in martyrdom – and aspiring to a martyrdom that is worthy of them, their order, and the God Emperor. But some are also not quite feeling ready to meet the God Emperor…
WarCom: Sister Helewise has an unusual perspective on martyrdom; what went into creating her?
Justin: Sister Helewise is distinctive from the others, and as the saying goes, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. She’s both a rebel and a paragon – and some of her order can see and understand that.
WarCom: Did writing the Cadia series prove good practice for this series?
Justin: Superficially, all these characters are elite female warriors within the 41st Millennium, but the Sisters are on a different level entirely: they’re warriors who live a life of monastic purity.
As a huge fan of the Astra Militarum (I’m just starting my fifth army – this time Cadians), I couldn’t resist bringing one of the lesser-known regiments to the pages of the Black Library. The Savlar Chem Dogs appear for a unique cameo role that really helps define the sisters from the view of a non-Sister.
WarCom: Do you have a favourite Militant Order?
Justin: As a painter and a storyteller I love the spaces that are left for fans to make up their own. Before this novel I would have probably have made up my own order with a paint scheme and back-story to match. But having written the Order of Our Martyred Lady, it’s hard not to be drawn to them. I’ve bought the Combat Patrol, and I am going to paint up my own Sister Helewise!
Thanks so much, Justin! Pilgrims of Fire will be available soon. Sign up for the Black Library newsletter to get news of its release sent to your inbox.