Daughters of the Crucible
Communication with the colony of Rorschach IV had been lost months ago and the Sisters of Eternal Mercy had dispatched the Daughters of the Crucible to find out why. It was now clear that it had fallen victim to the predations of Void Elf pirates.
Unencumbered by the iconic power-armored habits favored by the rest of the Sisters the Daughters moved silently through the murky darkness of the warehouse in their own trademark body gloves. The Void Elves, under their infamous leader Ashara, had converted this structure into slave pens for the former inhabitants of the mining colony searching for control functions and guards. The Daughters were careful not to alert any of the prisoners to their presence to preserve the element of surprise. Clad as they were they could easily be mistaken for elves in the darkness, by humans anyway, so they moved quickly and purposefully about their mission. Any Void Elf encountered was quickly, and silently, subdued by lightning quick strikes with bare hand and foot. The Daughters have such control of their unique spiritual Martial Art that they seem to defy gravity itself when on the move. Each silent punch, or kick, in the dark guided by the sure knowledge that an adversary would cross it's path. Once on station Sister "Cookie" La Loca began the Mass, the flashes from her brace of double barreled revolvers turned the warehouse into a stop action film as she was illuminated, eyes closed, firing serenely and precisely into the Void Elf command element. She recited "Darkness and Light" as she fired and, at each congregational response, the other Sisters added their individual voice to the smoking darkness each consumed by ecstatic epiphany as she rode the "Sight" and the veritable hail of bullets never finding an accidental target... if targets were even the right word. Sister Spookie Pepi, almost ethereal in the smoke and broken light, walked forward firing her brace of pistols, seemingly at random, while Void elves fell, surprised... as if they just happened into the line of fire. By the time the prayer was complete the Void Elves had been destroyed and the liberation of the faithful could begin.
The Daughters of the Crucible are one of the few Orders dedicated primarily to service and street ministry maintained by the Sisters of Eternal Mercy. Often seen among the masses of the cities they maintain close contact with the lowest members of the societies they serve and have become adept at infiltration, quick strike, rapid response and covert operations. The Daughters are among the most beloved units fielded by the Order and are uniquely equipped for their task. They have always maintained their direct connection to the people they serve, even as the rest of the Sisters of Eternal Mercy drifted into splendid isolation and political distraction. They are among the most spiritual of the Sisters that remain visible to the people, famed for their charity and compassion, their movements are almost magical. Typically they are employed independently, at squad strength or less, for missions where a full Battle Congregation would be difficult or impossible to use. They are also used when the Order deploys a full Congregation in the role of scout or saboteur.
Equipment and abilities:
Eschewing the signature power armored habits of the Sisterhood at large in favor of psychically sensitive body gloves that neutralize their silhouette, scent, sound, and heat signatures to maximize their infiltration abilities they also carry unique double barreled revolvers which allow for very high burst rates of close range fire and they ability to carry specialized munitions. The Daughters are also masters of unarmed combat and both abilities are influenced by their devotion. They appear to have a precognitive ability they call "The Sight" triggered by ritual prayer which permits them to melee or fire with their eyes closed for a boost to accuracy. They are not technically even aiming at an opponent in this state but firing down lines of destiny and probability where their opponents literally move to intercept the bullet, foot, or fist that just happens to cross their path. This is an especially useful ability for night fighting and ambush tactics.
I think there will be 9 different models for this unit (4 in the troops set and 5 in the command group) I managed to get 4 but am not certain which group set the come from... and it may be both.
Most of the Sisters of Eternal Mercy are armored up and they even have some terminator equivalents. The exceptions are the Davidians, which make great stand ins for Repentia, and the Daughters of the Crucible which I'll likely use as agents of the Inquisition or part of an Inquisitor's retinue.
The colors here are chosen to fit in with a daemon Hunter army that has been a regular feature at the annual Geekfest. I recently acquired it from it's builder and painter A.M. and it'll be the subject of its own post in the near future... but more on that later!
I thought about adding Inquisition Icons to these, and left room to do it later, but I have hopes that Raging Heroes might produce their own game so decide to hold off a little while on the specific details.
Ahh here is one of the Freebies from the TGG2 it's a mascot for the Sister's and... ack! I can't remember if it's Vladimir or Tobias! I have it labelled as Tobias but now.... I wonder!
I decided to go completely fanciful with the color scheme to emphasize its chimerical nature. Kind of like an attack Owl/Parrot/Raccoon... in crazy colors!
The wee beastie is on a log which I extended a bit with greenstuff to get a better angle when viewed from the tabletop. I typically paint things for view from three feet and on a gaming surface. Often there are really cool figures with gorgeous faces.... looking down... and thus... un-viewable in the game environment. I try to notice this and adjust the angles where I can.
The sisters have colorful names as they are unit of Heroines or Champion types and not really faceless troopers. From top to bottom of the post they are: Sister "Cha Cha" Clemencia, Sister "Cookie" La Loca, Sister "Spookie" Pepi, and Sister "Two Tricks" Felicidad.
The Daughters of the Crucible are part of the Toughest Girls of the
Galaxy 2 Kickstarter from Raging Heroes. If you like these you can still
pledge for a couple of more days. They plan to open the Pledge Manager this week and will close pledges at that time.
Its a Mantic kind of day. I'm trying to clear the stuff that is currently on the table while I begin preparing to move at the end of next month.
