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Prior to the creation of the 597th, Sulla was quartermaster [[Imperial Guard Sergeant|sergeant]] of the Valhallan 296th, one of [[Valhalla]]'s few all-female regiments.{{Fn|1a}} After the regiment was decimated fighting against [[Tyranid]]s on [[Corania]], she was hastily promoted to Kasteen's staff as a [[Lieutenant (Imperial Guard)|Lieutenant]]. She was one of the more vocal protestors against the 296th's merger with the remnant of the all-male [[Valhallan 301st|301st]], being a firm believer in the regimental traditions. In fact, a fight had broken out in the mess hall of the troopship between the male and female troopers, as a result of Sulla's impolitic decision to serve the meal on the 296th's regimental crockery. When criticized, she hotly retorted that the crockery was always used on the 296th's Founding Day, which the meal happened to fall on{{Fn|1b}}.
However, she later adjusted to the merger of the two regiments and served with distinction for years afterwards.{{Cite thisMarker End}}
===Gravalax===
At the time of the 597th's deployment to [[Gravalax]], Sulla was a [[Infantry Platoon|platoon]] commander. During the chaotic battle between rival factions of the planet and a visiting [[Tau]] battleforce, Sulla led her troops in several dangerous engagements. During an assault on a traitor redoubt, she personally led her [[Imperial Guard Command Squad|Command Squad]] in a flanking charge against the position that drove the enemy away. Subsequent examiners of this action were divided about whether her actions were courageous or reckless, but they were undeniably effective.{{Fn|1c}}
During the final battle, when the native inhabitants of Gravalax were revealed to be acting under the influence of [[genestealer]]s, Sulla reluctantly led her troops in alliance with the Tau force to eradicate them.{{Cite thisMarker End}}
===Simia Orichalcae===
Approximately one year later, the 597th was deployed to the [[Ice World]] of [[Simia Orichalcae]] to defend a vital [[promethium]] refinery from an invading [[Ork]] [[Waaagh!]]. Sulla was on the front lines for much of the campaign, and her unit inflicted punishing casualties on the assaulting Orks. Sulla also volunteered for the highly dangerous mission of guarding an expedition from the refinery to mine the route being used by an approaching [[Gargant]]. By good fortune, she was in the right place at the right time, to rescue [[Commissar]] [[Ciaphas Cain]] after he and a small party emerged from the planet's underground caverns after a dangerous mission.{{Cite thisMarker End}}
===Adumbria===
Five years after the Simia Orichalcae debacle, Sulla accompanied the 597th to [[Adumbria]], to fight off an expected [[Chaos]] invasion.{{Cite thisMarker End}}
===Periremunda===
Sulla was also with the 597th during its mission to [[Periremunda]], fighting off another incoming [[Tyranid]] horde.{{Cite thisMarker End}}
===Later Service===
Sulla's later service is not described in detail, but she was eventually promoted to become the only [[Lady General]] of the Imperial Guard. She would later write her memoirs, which took up at least two volumes: ''[[Like a Phoenix From the Flames: The Founding of the 597th]]'' and ''[[Like a Phoenix on the Wing: The Early Campaigns and Glorious Victories of the Valhallan 597th]]''.{{Cite thisMarker End}}
==Personality and Appearance==
In [[Cain Archive|his private memoirs]], [[Ciaphas Cain]], the 597th's regimental [[commissar]] and reluctant Hero of the Imperium, described Sulla as by far the most eager, and the most irritating, of the regiment's junior officers. According to Cain, she had blonde hair that she frequently wore in a ponytail, and had a long, narrow face that reminded Cain of a horse's{{Fn|2}}.
As a combat officer she was headstrong, pious to the [[Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]], and courageous to the point of recklessness. This last quality may explain part of Cain's personal dislike of her, as she would often commit herself to actions that would get her and her troops (and possibly Cain himself, which concerned him the most) killed.{{Fn|2}} Whatever Cain's misgivings about her, he acknowledged that she was an efficient commander and a competent tactician, and that the troops under her command were extremely loyal to her.{{Cite thisMarker End}}
Her superior, [[Major]] [[Ruput Broklaw]], aptly summed up Sulla's character and abilities with the statement: ''"She'll probably go far, if she doesn't get herself killed first."''{{Fn|1d}}
Ironically, Sulla herself remained largely oblivious to Cain's low opinion of her. In her own memoirs, she always described him in glowing terms, and considered him something of a mentor.{{Fn|2}}. Several times in her career, she claimed that she had decided on some of her most daring (and foolhardy) moves by asking herself what Cain would do in her place{{Fn|1d}}{{Fn|5a}} - fortunately, according to [[Inquisitor]] [[Amberley Vail]], without having any idea of the true answer.{{Fn|5b}}
Vail used several excerpts from Sulla's biographies to augment her annotations of the Cain Archive. However, as Vail always assured her reader, she did so with extreme reluctance, as Sulla's prose style apparently left something to be desired (Vail often added disclaimers along the lines of "readers with an appreciation of the Gothic language may wish to skip past this"). Vail explained that, since Sulla was so often in the thick of combat actions taking place outside Cain's perception, Sulla's works gave the reader a wider perspective than Cain's typically self-centered narrative (Vail often hastened to add that, had any other source been available, she would have used it).{{Cite thisMarker End}}
==[[Quotes Imperial Guard#S|Quotes]]==
{{Trivia}}
===Conflicting Sources===
*According to [[Amberley Vail]], editing Cain's memoirs as of early [[M42]], Sulla was the only woman to reach [[general]]'s rank in the [[Imperial Guard]].{{Cite ThisMarker End}} This is contradicted by several other sources:
*The novel [[Wolf's Honour (Novel)|Wolf's Honour]] by [[Lee Lightner]] features [[Lord General Militant|Lady General Militant]] [[Esbet Athelstane]] as lead commander of the Guard forces on the besieged world of [[Charys]];
*General [[Reila Vann]] is the chief subordinate to Lord General [[Achilus]] in the [[Achilus Crusade]], according to the [[Deathwatch (Game)]] sourcebooks.
**{{Endn|1d}}: Chapter Nine, pg. 157
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Caves of Ice (Novel)]] – [[Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium (Omnibus)]], Chapter One, pg. 304, fn 1
*{{Endn|3}}: [[The Traitor's Hand (Novel)]] – [[Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium (Omnibus)]] {{Cite thisMarker End}}*{{Endn|4}}: [[Duty Calls (Novel)]] – [[Ciaphas Cain: Defender of the Imperium (Omnibus)]] {{Cite thisMarker End}}
*5: [[The Last Ditch (Novel)]]
**{{Endn|5a}}: {{Cite ThisMarker End}}**{{Endn|5b}}: {{Cite ThisMarker End}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulla, Jenit}}
