Hello, Warhammer readers and long-time Sorority fans, and this is Chronicles of Bloodmane, the story of the Sorority of Violence's beginnings. This will be an eight-chapter miniseries updated every other day, so Chapter Two will be posted Tuesday, 3 Thursday... I think you see where I'm going. Anyway, I'd like to reiterate this is gonna be quite dark, so be prepared.

Enjoy.

Sorority: Chronicles of Bloodmane

Chapter One: Elysia

Somewhere in the Phlegyas Sector's southwest, 266 years before the Sorority of Violence came upon the world of St. Fu, a woman screamed.

Hers was no different from the billions of others who too were bringing new life into the galaxy, but this woman's is the one we will be paying attention to.

She pushed, she strained, she grit her teeth. The midwife shouted that she could see the mother's child.

A set of new wails shook the walls of the room, as the newborn realized it had been evicted from the warmth it had known for nine months.

It was finally over for the mother, a sigh of relief blasting from her worn-out throat.

"It's a girl." The midwife quietly spoke with a smile, the baby's crying slowing and eventually stopping.
"Let me see her."

Once the older woman made sure the other's child was healthy, clean, and wrapped it in blankets, the young mother met her new daughter.

The little one's eyes had yet to open, but she was beautiful already, in the way only a just-born baby could be.
"Hi." Her mother whispered.

The father came in a few seconds later, asking, "I have a daughter?"
"Yes. And she's beautiful." His wife answered.

He sat down on the bed next to her, looking at his progeny.
"You're right." The man murmured, beaming with joy.

The baby's eyes slowly opened for the first time, two little blue-grey orbs looking back at her parents unfocused.
"Look at those little eyes." The mother spoke.
"Like two little pieces of heaven." Her husband replied, then added, "What should we name her?"

"Elysia."

Thirteen years later…

Her shift was finally over. Elysia's part of the manufactorum was especially dirty today, and some of the other girls who normally worked with her were out sick. Her job was to clean the place up in between the other workers' shifts, so they could assemble lasguns for the Guard and PDF alike without any sort of trouble.

Elysia had to take the employment, since it put food on the table alongside what her parents (who actually worked in the same segment of the complex, doing the actual assembly) did, considering her younger siblings (a brother and a sister) weren't old enough to join them.

Exiting the boiling-hot building with a sigh, Elysia was more than ready to go home, mindlessly walking that way when her ears perked up to a conversation close by.
"He is?" one older man spoke to another.
"Yup. End of the week."
"What for?"
"Count apparently needs a new servant girl and is checking our city out for one."

It was common for the district administrators (referred to as Counts) and regional governors of Elysia's homeworld to hire or take in servants and attendants from among the populace of their areas of governance as a way of saying, "we all work together." Being selected was considered lucky, since one could hopefully gain a political position after a while.

Maybe he'll pick me, Elysia thought to herself, we could use the extra thrones. She actually had a pretty good chance of being the Count's new maid, since she was considered one of the best workers in her group, never complaining and fulfilling her duties. Beyond that, Elysia was considered attractive to many of her town's boys of the same age, her most striking feature being her black hair, especially when caught in the sun.

"Hi Elysia." A voice spoke to her.

It belonged to Einhard Throck, one of the factory boys not much older than her. He and Elysia knew each other, but rarely spoke, mainly out of shyness.

"Hey Einhard." A small, dopey grin spread across Elysia's face.
"So, uh… what're you doing tomorrow night?" the boy stammered, his anxiety skyrocketing.
"Oh… I don't know." The girl answered, a blush developing.
"You don't know? Okay, um, great. Maybe you wanna hang out?"
Elysia felt her heart stop for a moment. Einhard was asking her out. Her first date.
"Uh… yeah, sounds good."
"Really?" Now it was young Mr. Throck's turn to be surprised, "Oh, I uh… I mean, good. See you then."

Once the two were out of each other's sight, they both whispered a celebratory "yes!" to themselves.

The next night, the two met outside the manufactorum, and simply walked around, talking about their lives and what they were going to do as adults.
"I'm gonna join the PDF," spoke Einhard, "My dad's in it, my grandpa was in it, and pretty much every guy in our family is or was. Maybe I can get off-world and join the Guard. What do you want to do when you grow up?"
"Well the Count apparently is looking for a new servant girl," Elysia replied, "I heard it pays well, and that if you're good there's a chance he'll teach you how to be a politician. Who knows? I might be the next Planetary Governor."
They both shared a brief laugh, the thought of two faces in a crowd having those honors seeming so silly now, but they were still young and largely optimistic.
"I hope you do, Elysia. The Count just has to pick you. I mean, you told me your supervisor says you're the best in your group, and you're really smart. And you're…" Einhard was at a loss for words, realizing what he'd been saying.

Elysia felt her face burn, cheeks tingly and a smile on her lips. She'd never been complimented like this before, and wanted to hear what more he had to say.
"And I'm what?" the words slowly spilled out of her mouth.

"You're… so… you're so… so… Beautiful."

Fireworks ecstatically screamed in the girl's mind.

I'm beautiful. Einhard Throck called me beautiful.

She and him simply stood there, blushing profusely for a good minute. Until the boy spoke again, barely able to say it,
"Can I kiss you?"

Now Elysia had to swallow a joyous sound before it escaped her throat, the celebratory noise in her head reaching an ever higher crescendo.

This is really happening. I'm really going to get my first kiss.

Gripping each other's sweating hands tightly, the two young lovers leaned in, time slowing to a halt around them.

It was chaste, but sweet.

Ah, young love. Were you "awwww"-ing at that? It's okay if you weren't, I'm not really a romance writer.

Sadly, this will be the only moment like this in this whole story. What'll follow next will be very, very negative. See you Tuesday for that chapter!