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Faction Profile: The Sisters of the Seven Books

  • May 15, 2016

    So proclaimeth the seventh book, “Ye shall keep from thy powder and thy shot, and shall instead bring vengeance on thine enemies with blade.”

    Faction Profile: The Sisters of the Seven Books

     

    Table of Contents:

    History

    Headquarters/Territory Held

    Beliefs

    Organization/Ranks

    Closing Thoughts

     

    So proclaimeth the second book, “The First Sister allow thyself to bask in Her glow. She giveth off Her radiance so that we might feel the light of the old world.”

     

    History: Lillian Stoudenmire lived a life of simple pleasures. A professor at a small community college in western Minnesota, she specialized in medieval history. It had always been a love of hers, since the time she had first heard the word knight. She lived poorly, however--her husband, who had once been a professor as well, had been reduced to working the iron mines in the mountains nearby after a bout of layoffs. So they made do as it was, eking out a living with what money her husband could make, as well as her mediocre salary.

    As the iron dried up, work became harder and harder to find, and John Stoudenmire was forced to go farther and farther away from home to find any sort of job. It was a weekend like that, with John dozens of miles away, that the bombs hit. Lillian had planned it to be a ladies’ day with her fellow professors, and they had all already set out to go about their business. They were forced to leave the city, panicked by the nearby nuclear impacts. It was decided only after they hadn’t immediately died where they would head...to the Cuyuna mountain ranges. They hoped to find John.

    When they arrived there, exhausted and starving, they found a dead mine. No one was left living by the nuclear strike that had hit the mountain above. The bodies of the miners were strewn about the outside of the mine, with even more inside. Lillian stepped into the mine shaft before any of the others, screaming for her lost husband John.

    The strike had left parts of the mountain unsteady, and when she activated the elevator to descend to a lower level, it was enough to set off a landslide. Lillian was trapped inside a barrier of rock. She was knocked from where she stood, and cracked her head on the metal elevator. She laid there in a coma.

     

    So proclaimeth the third book, “The First Sister keepeth Her scars, just as she keepeth Her followers from peril.”

     

    When Lillian awoke, she was changed. It had been at least several months since she had been put into the coma, and everything was different. Even her skin was different, cracked, brown, and withered. She had forgotten where she was, but she knew that she needed to escape. Ascending the ramp to the blocked off entrance, she could make out a spot where her body, thin and sickly, could squeeze through. She emerged from the rock trap into the open mining yard.

    As she passed bodies, stripped of their muscle and empty, Lillian began to make out details of her past life. Bombs had struck, and she had come to the mine to look for someone. Most of her life was foggy, but the necessary details were there. As she passed more and more bodies, stripped like carrion, Lillian became worried. Then she turned the corner, and came upon the camp of her friends. They were like her, ghoulified and almost feral. They were the ones that had stripped the meat from the dead miners, desperate for some kind of food. They had drunk from the nearby pool, the radiation only accelerating the process. When they saw her first, they almost killed her with the spears they had fashioned, until they recognized her under the cracked skin. They told her of the new world, and everything that had changed.

     

    So proclaimeth the third book, “And the First Sisters left for the city, Their very beings dependent upon its sustenance.”

     

    The nearby town, small and secluded, had once been a destination for bikers, who roamed the trials of the mountains. It was only a few miles away from the mine, and their state as ghouls helped speed up their travel time.

    When they reached the city, it was all dead. Even though the area hadn’t been hit directly with a nuke, radiation from the strikes nearby had killed almost all of the inhabitants of the city. Those that survived had been turned into ferals. That is, almost all of them. The ghoulified women were able to blend it, attracting little attention from the creatures of the new world. The few times that they were noticed, they fended their adversaries off with the makeshift spears. Desperate to make contact with her husband, she

    That, as it turned out, was just as much of a dead end as the mines. It was empty and highly irradiated, but Lillian still held out hope. They explored every nook and cranny of the factory for any trace of her husband, but to no avail. While leaving, Lillian tripped, and she was thrown into the lower floor of the factory. It was accessible only by elevator, and all those were in disrepair. It was there that she had discovered the true purpose of the factory...it was a nuclear weapons factory. Barrels of radioactive waste had been temporarily stored there, stacked a dozen high. Even for the ghoulified Lillian, it was too much. The intense radiation put her in a hibernation state, filled with lucid dreams and fears of death. One of those dreams was this: she would be the leader of a new society in the wastes of Minnesota. They would be prophesied to come, and Lillian would be their Messiah. She awoke, and, slowly, climbed her way up the elevator shaft towards her friends, who had been waiting for her.

     

    So proclaimeth the seventh book, “She arose from the Darkness, and swallow her it did not. Her glow pierced its forlorn veil.”

     

    When she reached her friends, they, desperate for a new life, accepted almost everything she said. That much has been deciphered from collected pieces of her journal. The rest, though, may only be speculated at. Once the Order had set itself up, even in the early stages, they no longer wrote anything down. Perhaps this is part of their effort to create a new world. This is what has been gathered from whisperings and rumors:

    From then on, it is assumed that the seven began a vigourous recruiting process, finding as many survivors as possible and integrating them into their society. The only concrete numbers we have are these: Sixteen years after The Revelation, the Seven Books were formed. Seventeen years AR, the Temple of Cuyuna was formed, a monument to the Original Seven. 37 years AR, all of Cuyuna was under the control of the Sisters. By 50 AR, the Sisters had probably reached at least 1000 members in size, and had control of the lands from Cuyuna to almost the Mesabi range. 80 AR was when the Sisters, growing in size immensely (probably around 2000 or 2500 members) first sent in rescue parties to Duluth, Minnesota, on Lake Superior. From then, they slowly integrated more and more of the city into their holdings, until they finally reached the coast of Lake Superior.

    It was there, in Duluth, that they encountered their greatest threat, though few Sisters will admit it. It was the Coastal Collective, a group of aligned raider tribes that fought hard, and had access to the military armory near the city. Fighting with the Collective culminated in the Battle of Fond Du Loc. Fought on the Indian Reserve near the city, it was a pitched battle where the tide was completely turned by Those-Who-Embrace-Darkness, a special group of Sister assassins. The entire leadership of the Collective was severed, splitting them into small, warring groups that were easy to pick off.

    Now, their holdings consolidated and largely safe (due to their brutal practices), the Sisters of the Seven Books maintain control of the entire region, trading with other civilizations throughout Minnesota.

     

    So proclaimeth the sixth book, “Ye shall maintain thyself at Her Bastion, and ward away the forces of the north.”

     

    Sister-held Territory: The Sisters of the Seven Books maintain control over most of the midsection of Minnesota. They have several main cities. 

     

    The first is Twinport, or the old city of Duluth. It is a hub of trade and activity, the parts that haven’t been bombed out filled with vibrant markets and port trade. The Temple of Cuyuna is a fort based arou

    nd the mine that the Original Seven visited. There are seven sanctums, one for each of the Se

    ven. The biggest sanctum is that of Saint Lillian, where her body is held in containment, lest she escape. To the north, Stoudenmire’s Bastion is a fort along a mountain pass that blocks off travel to the north. It is a wild place where law is rarely abided by. Inaccessible by land, Superior Station is a far north fishing village and outpost. It is generally regarded as the worst position to be assigned, and is usually where punished Sisters are sent. Past the Bastion, Outpost Mesabi is a mountain fort within the Mesabi Range that is used to keep an eye on the various roaming raider tribes of the north. It is where only the most vigilant of Sisters are sent.

     

    So proclaimeth the first book, “Keep thyself from the Darkness, and ye shall be venerated in the Temple.”

    Beliefs: The Sisters of the Seven Books, as their name suggests, base their worship primarily on seven books of faith. These books, written by Lillian after the revelation, are a set of guidelines on how to live life within the Sisters’ territory. The books proclaim, among other things, that a Sister should worship the Original Seven, also known as the Seven Saints. These were the seven original professors that began the order. To memorize the Seven Books is a task worthy of fanfare, though they are short, totalling around 3000 words.

    The foremost of these Saints is Saint Lillian, also known as The-One-Who-Dreamed and The Destroyer of Darkness. She is worshipped in the inner sanctum of the Temple of Cuyuna, where she is held in stasis by technology stolen from a research facility. It is believed that she is the incarnation of a god in our world. Sisters prove to doubters of their faith that Lillian is indeed holy by telling of her many prophecies, and how almost all of them came true. The fact that so many of them did in fact come true has led to outside experts labelling Saint Lillian as a Psyker, one of few people of the wasteland that, due to FEV, radiation, or other causes are gifted with psychic powers. Lillian herself can, similar to Mama Murphy of the Minutemen, foretell the future. However, she requires intense radiation to stimulate her ghoulified brain. The radiation of the metalworks factory also had an addictive property, which is why Lillian is kept in stasis, an effective prison. After all, without Lillian the faction would die a quick death. She is only taken out when the Sisters are in need of her wisdom. 

    Each of the Original Seven is a Saint within the Sisterhood, and each the patron saint of a different aspect of life within the Minnesota wastes. Lillian is the Patron Saint of Sisterhood, and it is believed that worshipping her makes one a better Sister generally. The other six are the saints of Holy War, Trade and Travel, Keeping Borders, Crafting, Fertility, and History.

    The Sisters use only blades and melee weapons in their fighting. This is due to a dream that Lillian had that was perhaps influenced by her study of medieval history. This dream told her that if she and her fellow Sisters used only weapons of the old world (this was perhaps a misinterpretation, and the dream actually meant weapons from before the war) they would be blessed and conquer anyone they desired. The dream may have been true, as the Sisters had been defeated in battle before, but never a war.

    Pilgrimages to the Temple are the most important thing a Sister may complete in her life. To fail to complete at least one pilgrimage is a grave mistake, and is believed to lead one further to the Darkness. Sisters are given extra benefits based on the distance they travelled to complete the pilgrimage.

    The primary challenge within the faction is the Darkness, and the so-called Forces of Darkness. Though the Darkness primarily means the actual dark pit that Lillian was trapped in, it is also the amalgamation of all the evil influences of the world. Borrowing from Christianity, the Seven Forces of Sin are things that any Sister should avoid to live a healthy life within the group. They are essentially the Seven Deadly Sins renamed.

    The Forces of Darkness is a general name for any who oppose the Sisters. It is a phrase often spouted by warmongering Sisters who wish for glory or power. Forces of Darkness take many shapes--super mutants, raiders, mutated creatures, even rogue Sisters.

     

    So proclaimeth the first book, “Keep men in thy ranks, but stay them from thy sword and shield. Seclude them from the Darkness, lest they be dragged in.”

     

    Organization and Ranks: As the above revelation from the first book states, the Sisters of the Seven Books is an order of almost entirely women. However, they do keep men around, primarily to serve as birthfathers. Due to their fear of the Darkness, they only allow willing men to become birth fathers, never taking prisoners or slaves to serve that purpose. This was not always the case, and before the formation of the Seven Books, there was a large contingent of men within the order.

    The highest ranking members of the Sisters are the Original Seven, with Saint Lillian at the top. The other Saints are also worshipped, though not as extensively, with Sisters often venerating Lillian and one other Saint of their choice. Below the Original Seven are the Vigilant Few. These are the most experienced fighters of the Sisterhood and are often given the most dangerous assignments, including guarding the Sisterhood’s borders and its various outposts beyond their borders. They are also the only Sisters that make use of power armor and powered melee weapons like super sledges and power fists.

    Below them is the group known as Those-Who-Embrace-Darkness. They are an order of assassins that are used for spying and secret killing by the Sisters. Their name is indicative of what they do: in order to fight the Forces of Darkness, they embrace literal darkness working at night. Some especially devoted members go completely naked, painting their bodies pitch black as well.

    The next social class is the group known as Stoudenmire’s Bastions. This is the warrior class of the Sisterhood and makes up about 60% of the population of their small nation. They are the working and fighting force of the Sisters, and can be assigned to almost any job.

     

    So proclaimeth the first book, “Death shall never reach a Sister, for Sisters are protected by Her radiant glow.”

     

    Closing Notes: Thanks so much for reading this faction profile. If there’s anything that I could add to, take away, or edit, please tell me so that I can change it ASAP.

    This faction arose from my desire for there to be a faction in Fallout with the religious devotion of a TES faction, as well as their weaponry. That’s why they only use melee weapons and seem almost as if they could fit straight into TES. None of the artwork in this profile belongs to me.

    Thanks for reading!

    PCTY Out.

  • Member
    May 15, 2016

    Astonishing. I love it. 

  • May 15, 2016

    Thanks so much Phil! It was a lot of work so I'm glad somebody appreciated it.

  • Member
    May 15, 2016

    Honestly I more than appreciate it. I have always had difficulty connecting to character in Fallout, roleplaying is very hard for me in those games. This faction has enough familiarity to resonate but at the same time embraces the frankly weird Fallout perspective of religion and of... hyperbole I guess. It is hard for me to express exactly what that weirdness is, that perspective the people of the wastes have on things we take for granted. Like the Children of Atom in F3, I thought it was just... too much. Or maybe not fleshed out enough to be taken seriously.

    See, I can accept and welcome something alien as long as I can suspend my disbelief and actually start believing. A lot of that comes from how something is presented. As long as fallout continues to present things in a tongue in cheek manner, I will always struggle to accept it. Humour is fine, but in terms of setting it should come after belief is suspended. In that way humour then feels like a shared joke rather than something self mocking which undermines the setting. 

    So in terms of this faction, the balance has been struck perfectly. I can believe that they believe it and by extension the absurdity of the setting is lessened. By making the reader see it through their eyes it becomes easier to relate to and much more organic. Does that make sense?

  • May 15, 2016

    Don't worry, I have the same exact issues with roleplaying in Fallout. And I, just like you, am not the biggest fan of the incessant hyperbole and overblown world. Glad this faction was something different for you. Thanks so much for reading Phil!

    PS if you're having trouble relating to characters, I might have a resource up within the next few weeks for exactly that problem...

  • Member
    May 15, 2016

    Firstly it cuts off in the second paragraph after the second image. 

    The Temple of Cuyuna is a fort based arou

    nd the mine that the Original Seven visited. 

    There are seven sanctums, one for each of the Se

    ven.

    And there's this space in the middle of these sentences.

  • Member
    May 15, 2016

    Phil you mentioned that roleplaying in fallout is hard for you. How did your synth character turn out? Did it help?

  • May 15, 2016
    Thanks for letting me know. Don't know how I missed that...
  • Member
    May 16, 2016

    It did indeed help, the best bit of Fallout rp I have experienced to date, although I regret naming him"Phil"  Character is on hold while I get my Skyrim fix on but I will be returning to it.

  • Member
    May 16, 2016

    Hopefully Phil will help you get the most out of Fallout 4 then Phil 

    I just realised I worded that question like I would in the unit on councelling I'm doing...