Order of the Blue Pike

The Order of the Blue Pike is a fairly new Order Minoris of the Adepta Sororitas. Founded in honour of Saint Hella the Order is based upon the Ocean World of Olchis. Little more than a minor garrison on a mostly peaceful world, they are a fairly inexperianced in comparison to their more well established sister-orders.

Order History
The Order of the Blue Pike was founded in 813.M41 in honour of Saint Hella by decree of the Holy Snyod to defend the planet Olchis in the Cepallion sub-sector, a world that had some signifigance to the Ecclesiarchy as a recently established Cardinal World. Some questioned this as a waste of resources to permenantly garrison a Order of Sororitas on a mostly peaceful planet, but despite the opposition Olchis was deemed to have enough worth to warrant the presence of a permanent convent.

(Exposition Here)

One of the Order's first recorded engagements was against an heretical insurgency that had somehow sprung up on Olchis. The Order was thorough and methodical in it's purge of the heretics.

The Longest Night
main article: Fear the Night

Darkness would fall on a quiet Olchis night, without warning and without mercy. The Night Walkers warband of the dreaded Night Lords Traitor Legion had discovered the peaceful world and sought to change that. These fell sons of the Traitor Primarch Konrad Curze had for ten thousand years reaping unprotected worlds that did not offer a challenge and Olchis was next for the torch.

Sneaking into the system through an asteroid belt, their first target was the Augur Station Sigma-Sigma-Rho, or Augur Station Seraph. This station was the primary eyes-and-ears of Olchis that guarded the planet's orbit and provided early warning detection. Jamming it's communications, the Night Walkers boarded the station with Dreadclaws. The single squad of Sororitas that defended the station under the command of Sister-Superior Meydel were killed and with the station under there control, the Night Walkers began broadcasting their own false "all-clear" signal. With the unsuspecting planet non-the-wiser, the Night Walkers had another use for the station and as a preamble for their attack they sent the space station burning towards the ground, it's shattered pieces impacting the city of Illios and a piece of the station crashed directly into the unshielded fortress-convent of the Order.

Rather than the impact being absorbed by their void shields, the Sanctuary was laid to waste as their void-shields had been sabotaged by the Traitors beforehand. In the night a kill-squad of infiltrators had breached the confines of the Sanctuary and sabotaged their shield's generator, killing several Sisters including Palatine Sarissa in the process. Even has the first alarms rang out on Olchis dozens of drop pods rained down from the heavens bearing death and terror. Less than two minutes after the first pieces of the wreckage of Station Seraph crashed did the first Night Walker drop pod impacted on Olchis. They fell all over the planet with the bulk of them fell on the primary-continent of Sentra upon targets like Syros, Illios, the Fortress Sanctuary, and the Cathedral of the Heavens.

Those Sisters inside the Sanctuary, numbering almost two hundred Battle-Sisters and staff, were caught completely unprepared as the Traitors attacked with a force roughly half their number with cold fury. Though completely unprepared what few Sisters there were mustered to repel the Traitors with steely resolution and righteous fury. Unfortunately the defenders were completely disorganized and uncoordinated as many of their command staff were killed in the initial impact. Canoness Octavia was killed leading a squad of Celestians in the defense of the Sanctuary Hall. Confused fighting broke out in the burning wreckage of the Sanctuary as they fought in the halls of their own home to halt the Traitor rampage. For all their valor the Sisters were completely outmatched by the Night Walkers who were veterans of the Horus Heresy and though they sold their lives dearly, almost all Sisters who fought in the defense of the Sanctuary were killed.

The Order fared some deal better on the other fronts. While Illios burned, the two commanderies that defended the Cathedral of the Heavens and Cardinal Barenbas XI held their own, partly because the Traitor force was more focused on attacking the civilian population and desecrating monuments and holy sites.

Notable Campaigns

 * The Sons of Reason (814.M41) -
 * Ripfang's Raid (968.M41) -
 * Long Night of Pyres (986.M41) - Also called the Long Night, this time marked the darkest day in the Order's history. The Night Walkers warband of Night Lords launched a devastating suprise attack on the world. Never before facing such a insurmountable threat as Chaos Marines, the Order's ranks were in chaos and losses were devastating. The long Olchis night was alight with flame and filled the sound of bolter-fire and the screams of the innocent as the heretics ran rampant across the world. Whole communities were slaughtered by lone Traitor Marines and the cities were in flames. The aqueducts and fountains of Illios ran red with blood. But even in their darkest hour, the defenders of Olchis rallied and resisted the Night Walkers before the Imperial Navy arrived and drove heretics back into the void.

Notable Sisters

 * Saint Hella -
 * Canoness Superior Octavia (deceased)- As the Canoness Superior of the Order, Octavia was a loyal and stern commander who was well respected by her sisters. Despite the planet's seeming security she always strove to keep the Order battle-ready and ever vigilant. When the Night Walkers launched their surprise assault on the Fortress-Sanctuary she led a squad of Celestians to defend the Sanctuary Hall. But despite their bravery they were killed in the fighting.
 * Palatine Sarissa (deceased)- Second in command of the Order at the time of the Long Night. Sarissa was a harsh and strict commander as well as a veteran of Ripfang's Raid and many battles against corsairs. However for all her prowess she was caught unprepared through the halls of the Sanctuary when the Night Walkers attacked. Even as outmatched as she was armed with only her bolt pistol she was able to fell two of them before being killed herself.
 * Sister Superior Meydel (deceased)-
 * Sister Superior Helena -
 * Battle-Sister Sariah -

Order Doctrine
The prime directive of the Order was the defense of the planet Olchis and acted as a garrison. It's commanderies are spread across the planet to guard key holy sites and reliquaries such as the Cathedral of the Heavens and the Fountains of St. Sebastille's Mercy. Being little more than a simple garrison, the Order has had a considerable lack on conflict until recent years. Most of their battles are against pirates and corsairs who marauded the star lanes and so they naturally developed a penchant for close quarters firefights and boarding actions. Else they are left to uneventful patrols on Olchis and the space around it. The lack of nessecity left the Order lightly armed with Boltguns and Heavy Bolters and not much else in the way of heavy weapons. Most other specialist weapons such as Flamers and Meltaguns were kept in the armory until such time as they were needed. Despite their general lack of a heavy arsenal, they did maintain a modest fleet of Repressors for transport.

Since the Long Night however they have taken a far more agressively active role in the space around them. At times a Commandery or two is sent to nearby battlefields to aid Imperial forces and to guard pilgrims on their way to and from Olchis.