Postulant
The Daughters of Verity run schools in the 'Dust Zone which the children of the workers are required to attend until they are sixteen. After this, the students are free to choose to either leave school and obtain employment in the manufactorums and mines of the 'Dust Zone, or - if they show sufficient aptitude - remain at school for another two years for further education. Male students are weighed on academic and moral grounds and, if permitted to remain in education, receive training in technical and administrative matters, better fitting them for managerial or professional roles in the factories.
Young women are also judged on their academic performance, but are more-heavily examined for moral rectitude, piety and physical fitness. If they show sufficient aptitude and the right attitude, they may enter the postulancy, a two-year period of discernment and training. Although not formally part of the Order - they take no formal vows - they do make a commitment to authentically discern the will of Verity for their vocation.
Sequestered in barracks-dormitories within the Order's cloister-fortress, the postulants live a regimented life of prayer, drill, fasting and vigil, participating intensely in the rich spiritual and liturgical life of the Imperial Cult. They wear a simple smock of dark blue synthetic fabric and have few comforts and no luxuries.
As postulants receive martial training (which male students do not - it would be a violation of the Decree Passive ) they are sometimes deployed alongside the Order in warzones; after a few weeks their training is the equal of a newly-mustered Astra Militarum infantryman. They fight with autoguns, and are led into battle by Pedagogues Militant ; professed Sisters who are skilled veterans of many campaigns. It is the Pedagogues Militant who drill and train the postulants during their two year discernment. The Postulants fight in the same formations as Astra Militarum infantrymen and use some of the same heavier equipment, including the Leman Russ battletank.
Most postulants determine life in the Order is not for them - they return to their families, either at the end of the two years or before. Others, however, are called to the Order and, with the Canoness' approval, join as novices. The Canoness never refuses to allow a postulant to enter the novitate because of immaturity, unsuitability or any other flaw of character - the only reason ever given is that the postulant has lied about being called. The Daughters of Verity not only place a high value on truth but have an innate ability to know when it is spoken to them and when it is not.
Postulants are received formally into the novitiate in a ceremony held in the Crystal Cathedral (the Order's main temple) on Sanguinalia, a bright spot in the otherwise dull, dreary and hard lives of the inhabitants of the 'Dust Zone.
Accoutrements & Equipment
Simple smock of dark blue synthetic fabric. Issued with flak armor and an autogun for deployment and drill.
Type
Religious, Military
Equates to
Rifleman recruit
Length of Term
After two years the postulant will either leave or become a novice
Reports directly to
Related Organizations
