Signatures3

The Silent Order is the discipline of the swift seraphim host — not a second wellspring of faith, but the way the gang governs how it spends the one faith it earns. Because its jump bodies strike and withdraw, taking few casualties, this gang generates the least Faith of any Order, and so it hoards what it earns and spends it only where it decides a battle: the redeploy, the ward, the held line.

The Order leans its Faith into three Acts and no others of flourish — Hand of the Emperor (the fighter stands from Pinned or makes a free 6" redeploy), The Emperor's Aegis (ward the one incoming attack that would have landed, or ignore a wound), and Light of the Emperor (the holding screen auto-passes its Nerve). A fighter that has already acted may add the free disengage of Strike and Fade. Nothing is spent simply to kill; every scarce miracle buys distance, denial, or the empty firing position. Trap the host where it must stand, and its slow-filling reliquary runs dry — but give it room, and it takes a position at a time and is never once caught to answer for it.

Acts of Faith are the beating heart of the Sisterhood — a single gang-wide pool of Faith that any faithful fighter may spend to call a miracle. The pool opens each battle with a single point of Faith, the reliquary carried into the field. Thereafter it grows through sacrifice: whenever a friendly fighter goes Seriously Injured or Out of Action, the martyr's fall adds a point; whenever a friendly fighter takes an enemy Out of Action in melee, the righteous kill adds another. No more than two points may be gathered this way in a single round, the pool never holds more than six, and each fighter may benefit from at most one Act in a round. A gang that neither bleeds nor kills calls no miracles.

Faith is spent on discrete miracles. For one point, a faithful fighter makes a free relentless advance toward the nearest enemy (Spirit of the Martyr), gains +1 Strength and re-rolls failed Hits in melee until the end of the round (The Passion), re-rolls one failed Hit or Wound (Divine Guidance), or lets herself and friendlies within 3" auto-pass their next Nerve or Cool test (Light of the Emperor). For two points, the Emperor's Aegis hardens the Shield of Faith to a 4+ invulnerable against one attack or ignores a wound outright, and the Hand of the Emperor stands a fighter up from Pinned or Prone to act freely, or grants a free 6" redeploy. Endure the wound, then answer with the Emperor's own grace.

The Emperor's Grace is the litany a Canoness or Sister Superior raises once per battle, when faith becomes manifest around her. Until the next round, friendly fighters within 6" may re-roll a failed Act of Faith and re-roll a failed Nerve test, the Champion's presence steadying the line and drawing the miracle out where it faltered. This is the saint's grace projected through her officers — not the Faith pool itself, but a surety that the faithful gathered near her will not be forsaken at the decisive moment. Where the Emperor's Grace shines, no Sister breaks and no miracle is wasted.