A Canoness or Celestian Superior is frequently accompanied to battle by a bodyguard of Ceiestians. The Celestians are the finest and most noble warriors of the Order and fighl with holy fury and righteous fervour. Those amongst them who have previously distinguished themselves in battle are granted the honour of forming their leader's bodyguard In addition to being the most dedicated of warriors, the Celestians often perform other roles within the Order's convent-shrines, such as Imagifer or Banner Bearer.

Bodyguard: The Bodyguard consists of 1 Sister Superior and between 4 and 9 Celestians.

Weapons: Boltguns. The Sister Superior may exchange her boltgun for a bolt pistol and a close combat weapon at no extra points cost.

Options: Up to one Celestian may be armed with one of the following weapons: heavy bolter at +10 pts; heavy flamer at +15 pts; multi-melta at +25 pts.

One Celestian may be armed with a flamer at +3 pts, or meltagun at +10 pts.

The squad may be equipped with frag grenades at an additional cost of +1 pt per model, and krak grenades at an additional cost of +2 pts per model.

Characters: One Celestian may be upgraded to a Banner Bearer and one may be upgraded to an Imagifer. Banner Bearers and Imagifers cost no extra points but may select equipment from the Ministorum armoury.

Additionally, one Sister may be upgraded to a Sister of the Orders Hospitaller for no extra points, one may be upgraded to a Sister of the Orders Famulous at +5 pts, and one may be upgraded to a Sister of the Orders Dialogue at +15 pts. These characters may also take any equipment allowed by the Ministorum armoury.

The Sister Superior may be upgraded to a Veteran Sister Superior for +10 pts.

Transport Vehicle: The squad may be mounted in a Rhino armoured carrier at an additional cost of +40 pts. If the squad numbers six models it may be mounted in an Immolator for +70 pts (see the separate vehicle entries for details of upgrades).

Holy Hatred: Celestians are fervent adherents to the Imperial Creed, able to summon up a righteous hatred of any foe they are facing. Ceiestians gain +1 Attack in the first round of close combat, regardless of whether they charged or not (note that if they did actually charge there is no additional benefit).

Sister Hospitaller: In addition to any other weapons or wargear, a Sister Hospitaller may be given a Medicus Ministorum as detailed in the Armoury and Wargear sections.

Sister Famulous: A Sister of one of the Orders Famulous can use her connections with the Imperial nobility to command other Imperial servants to provide her with troops. These are usually Imperial Guardsmen or Planetary Defence Force personnel. For every Sister Famulous in the army you may include one unit chosen from the Codex: Imperial Guard Elites or Troops sections. This unit does not use up any choices from the Force Organisation chart, but otherwise follows all rules that apply to it (including when it can be deployed, etc).

Only one unit may ever be chosen for each Sister Famulous, even if you would normally be allowed several units for a single Force Organisation slot. For example, you can take an Imperial Guard Infantry squad, not a whole platoon. Other than this you are free to choose the type of unit taken. Note that the unit is deployed as normal, according to the Force Organisation category that it is normally in. Due to the Ecclesiarchy's strict views on mutation, you may not choose a Ratling or Ogryn unit (or any other abhumans that we may introduce in the future!).

Sister Dialogus: One of these members of the Sisterhood can use her considerable language skills to translate prayers spoken in High Gothic into other languages so that they can be understood by those around her. For this reason, every Sister Dialogus in your army adds +1 Faith point, as detailed in the Sacred Rites rules in the army list introduction.