The Order of the Widowed Choir is a Lesser Order Militant of the Convent Prioris on Holy Terra.  The Order’s Fortress-Convent is located on Nazareth Prime in the Segmentum Pacificus of the Galactic West.

             Nazareth Prime is a civilized (K-Class) planet, the fourth in its system of 7, and the only inhabitable one.  It is a waypoint for pilgrims following the path of St. Sabbat, and provides the Imperium various luxury items, such as the famous vintages of Nazarene Wines, as well as its tithe of Imperial Guard regiments.

             Two millennia ago was a dark time for the proud Nazarene Regiments as the insidious temptations of Chaos festered and grew within its ranks.  Nearly half of the standing Regiments and Planetary Defense Forces turned their lasguns and battle cannons against their brothers and comrades as the slow corrosion of Chaos finally manifested itself, embroiling Nazareth Prime in a bloody civil war.

             The Cultists and Traitor Guardsmen quickly gained the upper hand as their decades-long plans were carried out, decimating the loyal troops in each battle and foiling their every stratagem.  Reeling from shock and betrayal, the forces loyal to the Emperor were able to transmit a distress call via Astropath randomly into the Warp, hoping it would reach someone who would come to their aid.

             At the Basilica of the Living Emperor, the largest and most powerful Ecclesiarchy establishment on the planet, the Loyalist forces concentrated their defenses to protect this magnificent symbol of the Imperium.  While the men fought at the very walls of the cathedral, the women raised their thousand voices in praise to the Emperor from within.  For three days and nights the battle raged on, until not one loyal guardsman was left standing.  Inside the great church, the choir continued singing psalms and praises, not knowing what fate beheld their defenders outside.  Believing the day won, the Traitor forces stormed the Basilica thinking to defile it and corrupt it for their own vile rituals, but the building repelled them at each entry; not a single servant of Chaos could enter the cathedral, nor could their weapons breach its walls or topple its spires.  With each attempt, the traitors were thrown back away from the holy building as the thousand voices of the Living Emperor’s Choir channeled his very essence, flooding the Basilica with an energy and power so pure and righteous that no evil could countenance it.  The traitors had no choice but to retreat to their camps outside the city.

             Eventually, the women inside the Basilica realized they no longer heard the gunfire and explosions outside, and learned the sad fate of their defenders.  They staggered out into the daylight, and down the broad steps of the cathedral, passing over the corpses of men they knew and loved – brothers, sons, uncles, husbands, friends and lovers.  They knew naught of what miracle they had performed in the Emperor’s name for the last three days, only that everything they loved and cared about lie bleeding, dying, and dead here on the steps of the church.

             One by one, the women began picking up the fallen weapons of the soldiers, and swarmed out of the city, following the trail of the traitor guardsmen.  They came upon their camps in the night, opening fire as they continued forward in a zombie-like haze.  While the carnage their surprise inflicted was heavy, the women had little chance against the trained and well-armed battalions of traitor guard they marched on.  Soon, the chaos worshipper’s panic and confusion turned into a disciplined defense, ruthlessly mowing down these Imperial servants.

             Just as the traitor forces began their retaliation, their rear lines began disintegrating under an onslaught of bolter fire.  Over the rolling hills behind them churned dozens of black and white armored vehicles, as hundreds of Battle Sisters of the Order of the Ebon Chalice began their attack upon the corrupted regiment.  The Astropath’s desperate message had been received, and the Adepta Sororitas had come in force in response to the Chaos incursion.

             Following the cleansing of the planet, and after learning of what had happened in the Basilica just prior to their arrival, the Canoness of the Order of the Ebon Chalice petitioned to begin a Lesser Order on Nazareth Prime, with the women of that most holy of choirs as its first group of Novices.  Within a century, the Order of the Ebon Chalice was able to turn full autonomy over to the new Order of the Widowed Choir, who to this day still serve as faithful protector’s of the Emperor’s Divine Will among the Sabbat Worlds.

             Patterning their uniform after their founding order, the Order of the Widowed Choir wear black power armor adorned with bone-colored tabards.  The Basilica of the Living Emperor has been transformed into the Fortress-Convent from which they are based, and houses nearly two thousand battle-ready Sisters who loyally serve the Ordo Hereticus, fighting heresy in all its forms wherever they may be called.

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