Redemption of Sylvain

"Heresy is born from weakness. Weakness of the mind or the body, it does not matter. Humans are weak by nature. They always have been, they always will be. All we can do is try and prevent heresy from spreading."

- Inquisitor Ainsley Maighread, Musings on the Nature of Heresy

History
"Sylvain was a foul boil even before it fell from grace. A cleansing fire had been long overdue and necessary."

- Palatine Grazia Oratus of the Order of the Ebon Chalice

A Foul World Cries For Aid
The Hive World Sylvain on the edge of the Segmenta Solar and Obscurus used to produce vast masses of chemicals for the use in military and medicine. The waste products of these chemical plants, often covering areas as large as nations, had poisoned water, soil and air of Sylvain thoroughly. As a consequence, nearly everyone but the factory owners and overseers, residing in the shut of, sterile spires of the Hive cities, was afflicted by severe illnesses throughout their whole life.

In 999.400.M39, this eventually resulted in the emergence of a Nurgle Cult among the planet's population. Soon enough, production came to a grinding halt when the workers started to rot alive and mindlessly wandered the streets. As Sylvain's leaders discovered this, urged by inquiries about the dropping production from the Departmento Munitorum, they sent a formal request for help. Help arrived in the form of the Ordo Hereticus and a force of 500.000 Battle Sisters of the Order of the Ebon Chalice.

Finding the world rotten to the core with heresy and demon-worship, Inquisitor Ainsley Maighread weighed the option of delivering Sylvain to Exterminatus, but decided against it for the planet's produced chemicals supported a wide variety of other imperial organizations. Instead, she ordered the purge of the infected masses of Sylvain's Hives and the Sororitas descended to execute it with Bolter and Holy Promethium.

The Torch Is Lit, Drenched In Tears
Bolter, Melta and Flamer carried Inquisitor Maighread's order into the factories, halls, alleys, apartments, streets and basements of the Hive cities, myriads of infected, plague-ridden heretics finding absolution in death. The Sisters of the Ebon Chalice showed no compassion, no mercy for those they purged for they knew that it was their sacred duty.

One of them, however, a Sister known in Imperial records as Roselle, could not contain her sadness as she bestowed the Emperor's mercy on those who had strayed from its light. Under her helmet, she shed vermillion tears for those who had sinned. These tears, first dreaded to be a sign of infection, were revealed to be a blessing of the Emperor himself, bestowed upon his daughter for her empathy.

Sisters of the Orders Hospitaller, having failed yet to produce a cure for the infected, discovered that Sister Roselle's tears were able to cure those afflicted with Nurgle's pestilential affection. While their bodies were beyond salvation, their minds were wept clean and they could find redemption before their inevitable cremation.

The Light Of The Emperor Prevails
Less than 1/5th of Sylvain's population could be released by Sister Roselle's tears, yet she had stilled brought millions of souls back into the embrace of the Emperor. The miracle of her tears was investigated by the Ecclesiarchy but found to be beyond doubt. Sister Roselle was elevated into the rank of a Saint and Sylvain delivered to the authority of the Adeptus Ministorum.

Over centuries, the vast factories, chemical plants and production lines were deconstructed and shrines, temples, churches and cathedrals erected in their stead. Sylvain was transformed, reborn into a Shrine World with Roselle as its patron saint. The Order Militant of the Vermillion Tears, raised from 50.000 veterans of the Sisters of the Ebon Chalice, was granted fiefdom over the planet and a multitude of other, lesser Orders Hospitaller, Dialogous and Famolous erecting Convents of their own. Along with them came the Frateris Militia, the Missionaria Galaxia and eventually the Schola Obedia.