A missionary, Elana made it her lifelong goal to bring the word of the Emperor to the dark places of the Imperium. In her time, she travelled far and wide across the sector, often choosing planets noted for their unruly populations or deadly indigenous life. It is written that she bore a scar for each world she visited. From the swamps of Ichovor, where she suffered a disfiguring filth-fly bite, to the wilderness of Dusk, where she was savaged by predators, she stoically accepted these “scars” as part of her service the Emperor.
More than once, Elana was captured by natives to be maimed or tortured in the name of heathen gods. In all such stories, however, despite the horrors inflicted upon her, she never faltered in her faith. In the end, after travelling to scores of worlds, Elana was captured by a foul Daemon-worshipping cult on a remote, unnamed feral world. The natives tied her up and threw her into their master’s cave as an offering. Over the next month the Daemon tried to break her faith.
Each day it would come and devour some of her flesh and offer her release. Each day she would refuse. Eventually the Daemon consumed her completely because she would not turn from the light of the Emperor. Elana had a final vengeance, however, as, in eating her flesh and spirit, the Daemon ingested that part of the Emperor that resided within her. The Daemon died screaming as the holy light burned its essence away and freed Elana to her final reward. Clerics like telling this story to prove that faith in the Emperor can overcome anything.
Elana is a much loved and widely accepted saint within the Calixis Sector, and shrines to her can be found on many worlds. This is no doubt because she embodies many of the most desirable qualities in revering the Emperor, namely duty and devotion above personal safety. It might also be because hearing even a little of the saint’s suffering can make someone feel infinitely better about their own woes.
Those that care for the sick commonly invoke the name of the saint in their work. They preach that Elana watches over all those who suffer in the Emperor’s name but who do not lose faith. In some places this line of reason has led to self-flagellation to honor the saint, though the more mainstream elements of the Ecclesiarchy agree that this is probably misguided. Acolytes may find solace in the worship of Elana when they suffer grievous wounds, praying to her to remind them that all that they do, they do for the glory of the Emperor.
Eye of Elana[]
A lesser saint of the Calixis Sector, Elana the Unbroken, also known as the Unbowed, was known for her divine perseverance and unshakable faith in the God-Emperor, a faith which endured even while she was slowly devoured by a creature of the warp. It is also said that she had long foreseen her horrific demise and did nothing to alter its course, as such meddling would be an affront to the God-Emperor’s plan and a betrayal of her faith. It is because of these stories, and this reputation, that the saint’s name is also synonymous with accepting one’s fate and supplicating one’s self to the divine wisdom of the Emperor no matter the cost and no matter the consequences.
Because of the manner of her death, little of the saint or her belongings remained, and so few relics (false or otherwise) exist within the sector. One notable exception however is the Eye of Elana, a stylized aquila pendant said to have been worn by the saint and often represented in pictures and statues of her. The story claims that when the saint was devoured by the daemon that killed her, it choked on her faith and vomited back up the eye, blessed as it was by the divine grace of the God-Emperor. The eye was taken from the daemon’s bloody lair by pilgrims, and then conveyed back to the houses of the holy on Scintilla. Like so many relics, it vanished, either lost en route or in the depths of Scintilla’s great hives and black pits. As with all true relics, of course, many organizations, not all Imperial, are actively searching for its location.
The Eye is unremarkable to look upon, and only a character with the Pure Faith Talent will be able to ascertain the eye’s authenticity by touching its surface and feeling its divine power. To gain its blessing, the bearer must wear it around their neck, however once it has been put on it cannot be removed without a ritual of cleansing and absolution performed by a ranking cleric in a place consecrated to the Emperor. Doing so beforehand will bring down the worst kinds of misfortune upon the character, reducing their Fate Points to 0 until such a ritual can be performed.
The blessing of the eye is mixed at best and grants both endurance and foresight. The character gains the Unnatural Toughness (x2) Trait and an extra 6 Fate Points. However these ‘free’ Fate Points, may only be used to activate Faith Talents and for no other purpose. Further more the character’s own store of Fate Points may also only be used to activate Faith Talents and not for any other purpose, not even to save the character from death. The bonus Fate Points may be burnt as normal when activating a Faith Talent. Finally a character may only ever wear the eye once, and if it is removed, donning it again grants no benefit (those that wear the eye are fated to die in the Emperor’s service and it should be no other way).