The glorious sector of the magnificently sacred Mankind who rules over the stars in His most sacred name, Iox, have had a turbulent history. In the midst of the most turbulent times, shortly after the Fall of Remicles, Crusade for Nightshores and the holy War of Faith that raged in the area, six inviduals in total ascended into sainthood and claimed their place beside the Emperor of Mankind.
The nature of the Ecclesiarchy's saints is a delegant one and filled with bureaucratic politics and zealous faith, making it a terrible whirlwind of edicts and declaration before any invidual is actually accepted by the Ecclesiarch as the Saint of the Imperium. It is also worth of notion, that even if these people, who now are saints, were originally but a mere human beings, to even suggest such thing can be considered as a great heresy. For who would have the courage to claim Saint Seren on his or her own level? Such ignorance or vainglorious pride deserves to be punished, preferably by the purging flames of Ecclesiarchy.
Much of the original information about the inviduals now seen as saints are suppressed by Ecclesiarchy and other Imperial authorities to keep the faith pure and zeal unquestionable.
Saint Seren[]
Seren depicted during the latter part of M41. Note the weapon she is holding.
Sometimes referred to as the Lightbringer, Candleholder, Bride of Light and Dawn of the Nightshores[1]. Saint Seren is in many ways the single most important character in the history of Iox sector. She is revered throughout the sector; from the low-lifes of Lothringen-Eta's hives to the major characters of Adeptus Administratum. Commonly spelled with her byname "the Lightbringer".
Ascension[]
As it is written in the Litt Tenebras, a book about Saint Seren and her ascension, Saint Seren was a canoness of the Adepta Sororitas Order of White Maiden in early M37. By the Imperial edict, that launched the crusade in 028.M37, the Order of White Maiden took part in the crusade and acted as the ultimate shock troops of the crusade. Alongside White Tigers the Order achieved great victories and pushed their way into the heart of Nightshores. Still making further progress, the battlegroup's navigators were misguided by devious acts of the Ruinous Powers, and so the spearhead, adamantine tip of the crusade, ended upon the world of Nineteen-Eleven. This world was occupied by pre-Imperial tech-cults, anarchic and chaotic by nature and truly the enemies of the Imperium. So the spearhead did not hesitate and assaulted the world, but the Titans, long since fallen from the grace of Emperor, alongside the metal-humans driven by the Abominable Intelligence, broke the loyalists's spine and halted their attack.
This became known as the Catastrophe of Nineteen-Eleven and it truly was a catastrophe. Crusade's spearhead was broken, its now mangled tip resided on a world where the warmaster, Alois Carollon, could not get without correct coordinates and so the Sororitas, Astartes and Militarum forces were left without further support on the planet. Continuing their bitter fight against an enemy many times greater in numbers, the loyalists left on Nineteen-Eleven hopelessly tried to reach the crusade's High Command but in vain. It was then, when the Sororitas preceptory's canoness was slain in the fierce counter-attacks and it seemed like all hope was lost.
Alois Carollon tried to figure out a way to get to the spearhead. Most of the other forces of the crusade were already mobilised and waited for orders, but there was no way to contact the forces on Nineteen-Eleven. All their astropaths and long-range transmitters were lost or broken in the midst of the battles.
It was then, on the fifteenth day after the Catastrophe of Nineteen-Eleven, when Alois Carollon had a vision in the middle of the day. Falling into a comatose, he witnessed how the Fallen Canoness brought a candle into the darkness and lit it. And it was so, that when Seren lit the Black Candle, Alois Carollon could see through the darkness and witnessed the horrifying daemons and other abnormalities that surrounded him in the Sea of Souls. But he knew then, that he could not be harmed, because the argent wings of the Daughter of the Emperor protected him and so she led the warmaster to the Nineteen-Eleven, and all forces followed him.
Thus the crusading forces joined the fight on Nineteen-Eleven and the heretics of that toxic and filth ridden planet were destroyed. Shortly after the last battles were fought on Nineteen-Eleven, the Gathering of Hope assembled. It contained all major leaders of the crusade and the gathering's point was to decide whether to continue the crusade or halt it there. It was then, when Sain Seren appeared for the generals of the crusade. By her all conquering beauty, she blessed the generals and every one of them got a single feather of her snow white wings. She led the generals and the Imperial troopers across the Nineteen-Eleven, and where ever she went, the streams of toxic were cleansed, fields of radioactive garbage were nulled and the black sky became clear again, and so the Nineteen-Eleven became Saint Seren's Hope and what a beautiful world it was. Before Seren disappeared from the realm of mortals, a tender kiss was given on the brow of the warmaster to bless his children and their children to ensure that great heroes such as himself were to overcome the threats of the grim darkness of the far future.
Nature as Patron Saint[]
Saint Seren is the patron saint of the Order of White Maiden, she is the "Red Martyr of the Crusade (for Nightshores)" and therefore patron saint to the world Nineteen-Eleven (aka Saint Seren's Hope) and to the Seren sub-sector (aka Trail of Saint Seren) as a whole. Many Imperial missionaries, navigators, astropaths, prefects and inquisitors have also taken the Saint Seren as their personal patron saint, most notably the inquisitor Ceridwen Lothringen. It is also worth of mention, that the space marine chapter White Tigers honoured the Saint Seren so much, that they renamed their second battle barge after her.
She is also seen as patron saint of navigators, voidfarers, warp travelers and rogue traders. In ultimate, she is depicted as "the Guardian of Astronomican", preserving the dwindling light of Astronomican within the Iox sector.
Artefacts associated to Saint Seren[]
Numerous artefacts are associated to Saint Seren. The most notorious ones are the nineteen feathers gifted to the leaders of Crusade for Nightshores.
- Black Candle
- Said to be the particular candle that warmaster Alois Carollon saw in his vision about Saint Seren. The Black Candle doesn't seem to have any particular traits, decluding the fact it has been burning since 051.M37 and still keeps burning. As the world grows darker the candle only gets brighter and brighter, if this is going to lead to someting spectacular, none can tell but it is surely intriguing artefact that has numerous times been examinated by Adeptus Ministorum, Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus alike.
- Feathers of Saint
- The Crusade for Nightshores's High Command consisted of ten Imperial Guard Lord Marshals, two Officio Prefectus Lord Comissars, First Captain of White Tigers, two Sororitas Canoness-Preceptors and three Imperial Guard Grand Marshals. Each one of them received a pure white feather from the wings of the Saint and it is said that no Bearer of Feather is ever lost into darkness. Though the exact nature of these relics is not examinated and the true effect, if any, is not known.
- Currently the feathers given to Canoness-Superior Felicia of Order of White Maiden; Grand Marshals Filippe Gauhart, Roi Rocha and Vitor Abreau; Lord Marshals Johannes Hoover, Timothy Burg, Aram ud-Din, Kevork Moushian, Josep Soler, Esteve Palomer, Andelko Zitnik, Bronislav Dragic, Vedran Kovac and Milenko Lorcar, are held in the great shrine of Saint Seren on Saint Seren's Hope and watched over by the Adeptus Ministorum.
- Feathers given to Canoness-Preceptory Kanya Metharom of Order of Argent Shroud is held in the vaults of Argent Shroud, to Warmaster Alois Carollon is held by the House Carollon on Carollon Prime, to Lord Commissar Femi Afolayan is held in the Schola Progenium Heios, to Lord Commissar Silvestre Banderas was lost in warp as it was held on d'Anglos Prime during the d'Anglos Incident and the last one, given to First Captain Tishtar of White Tigers is held on chapter's homeworld.
Non-Canonised Saints[]
A number of promising inviduals have lived in Iox sector that are referred as saints, even if they are not wholly canonised by the Ecclesiarchy. These are generally minor figures of certain regions of planets and even if they are seen as saints in the area, the Adeptus Ministorum does not adhere them as true saints of Imperium, having too little (or too controversial) impact upon the humankind.
Ven. Alois Carollon[]
An Imperial officer who held such titles as Major of Carollon Royal Rifles, General-Major of the Battlegroup Serpent, General of the 15th Army of the Kelpie Rifts Campaign, First Castellan of Kelpie Rifts Campaign, Governor of Carollon Prime, Governor of Carollon system, Lord Sector of Guberniya, Lord Militant Governor Iox, and most notably; the Warmaster of the Crusade for Nightshores. During his lifetime he was usually referred to as the Lord Carollon, as is the custom with the patriarch of House Carollon.
Alois Carollon had fought almost 80 years among the ranks of the Astra Militarum when he inherited the titles of Lord Sector of Guberniya, and Governor of Carollon Prime and System. He was presented on a silver plate to the High Lords by his cousin Arch Cardinal Eremias Hadranoh and was given the title of Warmaster of the Crusade for Nightshores. Holding on that ancient title, Alois Carollon lit up a path to the far reaches of the Twilight Coast and the Nightshores finally witnessing the ascension of the Saint Seren. Kissed on his brow by the Lightbringer he and all his children were blessed by the Living Saint. After that Alois Carollon took over the Iox sector as his own, it was later granted to him by the High Lords in 107.M37 after the Edict of Hadranoh.
Alois Carollon's personal saintness has been a matter of debate among the historicians, curates, clergy of Ecclesiarchy and it has been even brought up to the Ecclesiarch himself couple of times. The Holy Synod agreed in its meeting in 551.M39, two and a half millennia after the ascension of Saint Seren; that Alois Carollon was indeed vital element in the ascension of the Sain Seren, and a very notionworth person himself too, but his achievements towards the Imperial Creed or the Holy Ecclesiarchy were not important enough, to grant him even the name of blessed. Alois Carollon was, however, venerated in that same meeting.
Bl. Ceridwen Lothringen[]
- Main article: Ceridwen Lothringen
An inquisitor, Master Hereticus and finally Grandmistress Iox, Ceridwen Lothringen lived and acted during the mid-M41 and had just and true reputation.
Ceridwen is to date the only person to whom the Saint Seren have appeared after the Gathering of Hope in 051.M37 and was therefore revered as Touched by the Saint and Lightbringer of Saint Seren during her lifetime. After her death she was however usually referred to as the Successor of the Lightbringer. In early 600.M41 a discussion about Ceridwen's own personal "saintness" was set into flames by Arch Cardinal of Saint Seren's Hope. She was finally revered as "Venerated" in 621.M41 and when the case was brought into light again in 650.M41 she received a title of "Blessed" (Bl.). The Holy Synod has however denied Ceridwen's canonisation for at least three times (655. 691. and 790.M41) due various reasons. She however stays forever as the Successor of the Lightbringer and one chapel is built in her honour on Saint Seren's Hope and her memorial site is located on Tessagamil with her tomb.