We’ve met Constantin Valdor, and we’ve discussed the Imperial Palace – and we’re back for more lore today, with another look at the epic cinematic trailer for the new edition of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.
We witness three figures discussing grave affairs of state on Terra – the golden giant Valdor, the hooded power broker Malcador, and an enigmatic third, a baroque-armoured woman speaking only in sign. This is Jenetia Krole, Knight Commander of the Silent Sisterhood.
Jenetia Krole (whose name is pronounced Jen-EET-sha) was one of the Emperor’s three main advisors and a lynchpin of his war council during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, alongside the two figures mentioned above.
We know a little of her early life. She was born on Terra, among the shanties of the Albian Wasteland. Her youth was one of solitude and misery – as a Pariah,* Krole was cast out from her people until she was recruited into the Imperial cause during the Unification Wars. Legend tells that Valdor himself first discovered Krole, though it is not known whether he was tasked with seeking her out, or happened upon her.
Her rise in power and influence was meteoric, fighting in many of the major battles of the later Unification Wars, her Pariah gifts a potent weapon against Terran Warlords who made daemonic pacts or wielded psychic powers. Even the Thunder Warriors and mighty Custodians could be laid low against such energies – their foul sorceries held no power over Krole. The vilest battles of that dark time would have cost a great deal more without her prowess and courage.
When the Emperor declared the Great Crusade, he personally appointed her as Knight-Commander of a new order: the Anathema Psykana. She was charged with seeking out others like herself, and forging them into a fighting force that would supplement the Emperor’s other forces in the wars to come. The group was widely known as the Sisters of Silence, and she led them in many of the pivotal battles of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy that followed.
Although her battle honours are many (Prospero and the War in the Webway foremost among them), her greatest accolade must be her place at the Emperor’s side: a mark of the value he placed upon her, despite the psychic discomfort her untouchable nature must have caused him.
Though a mere mortal in nature and stature, Krole was nevertheless a formidable warrior in her own right. She wore artificer armour shrouded in the Onyx Cloak, an arcane device which absorbed light and exaggerated her already hard-to-perceive nature. She was armed with Veracity, the Sword of Oblivion, a weapon forged by the Emperor himself.
Tragically, she would meet her end in the Horus Heresy, but her lasting legacy would be the Silent Sisterhood: a body of witch-seekers whose service would span from the first days of the Great Crusade and through every age of the Imperium.
We’ll be back later in the week to investigate the most mysterious figure of all, the one they call the Sigillite. Until then, subscribe to our Warhammer Community email, so you never miss the latest news and content.
* Pariahs are born with a rare mutation: they are soulless. For ordinary humans, this forces an instinctive revulsion whenever they are close. This is magnified for psykers, and close proximity causes the psychically sensitive to suffer physical pain. Pariahs are hard to perceive, as if one’s focus simply slides off them, while – most importantly of all – the Warp is utterly becalmed around them. Psykers cannot manifest their powers, daemons cannot approach. Pariahs are the ultimate weapon against the witch and the daemon.
