Truthsayers off duty at Aosta Chapterhouse Following the Bene Gesserit faith's effective "Outing" several years ago there has been discussion in the Imperial Council about the faith's status in some of the laws of the Empire. At the age of 18 every citizen is eligible for national service of two years in the military, the people who undertake this service are determined first by removal of those physically uncapible of undertaking it because of disabilities. Once this has been determined the first born sons of families are removed to ensure there is an individual capable of continuing the family name. Next those who have University places confirmed and give a commitment to a future military career are exempt. This leads just one other exemption to avoid what many call the "Military Lottery", should a person be able to prove some religious belief should exempt them then they are permitted to be removed from the lottery. This final rule means that every year an extremely small minority of teenagers appear in special military courts to hear if they are granted an exemption, last year a total of 12 court hearings took place and six of these were successful. One of those exempted was Liliana Uberti who told us about the experience, "It was strange that I was forced to go to the military barracks in Ovado and along with my father and our lawyer I was shown into a office with a senior officer in the Army who sat and told me about the role of the military and the benefits of the training. He then gave me an oppurtunity to drop my case but there was no way I could as I belong to the Quaker faith and we are pacifists." There is an estimated 18,000 Quakers living in Aosta and their faith expects them to be non-violent regardless of the situation. "I was then taken into a larger room with two desk facing a long table with three men in uniform behind it, these were my judges. They each asked questions and the officer we'd just spoke to made a few arguements about why I should be made to join, I got the impression he didn't really care about the result. We then made our arguements and presented evidence of me attending religious services, being part of a Quaker youth group and having been on Summer Camps in Vanora with Quakers from all across Mundus. The judges asked a few more questions but I think they were more interested in my faith than making me join. Once satisfied they had all the information we sat in the corridor for five minutes and then they told me I was free to go and wasn't in the Lottery. It seemed a waste of time to be honest."
The military have however struggled with the idea of minority religions in the Lottery for a while however there is a tradition of minority religions serving in the Aostan military. One example is the Úlfhéðnar Battalion in the Infantry Division, a group of between 400-1000 infantryman who belong to the Odinist faith. The "Wolf Soldier" Battalion was formed in 1793 to allow Odinists to serve but still honor their religions traditions. Other religions also see units within the military such as the 1st Sessifet Battalion and the St. George Battalion, both of which serve in the Infantry Division, meanwhile the Navy have operated a ship called the Bernard, named after the Christian saint, since 1903 when a Christian Naval Commander was permitted to name his own ship.
While at first glance it would therefore seem that there are avenues to leave the Bene Gesserit out of the lottery and even remove them from military service the problem comes that some would argue the Bene Gesserit are polar opposite to the Quakers as the Sisterhood maintain their own military cadet style group within their educational system. This group known as Truthsayers receive training in firearms, do military drill and Physical Training in much the similar way the Imperial Army, Air and Naval Cadet youth groups do, however the Truthsayers live at the Chapterhouse School and the military lifestyle for them is almost a lifestyle. Major Luigi Grillo ran National Service intakes in 2011 and 2013 and told us, "When you pick company commanders from among the recruits at the end of the third week you often get the folders out from the candidates who stand out. It is not uncommon to see the name Chapterhouse in the female candidates folder as their school. Until the faith became known about we just all assumed it was a very active private school fortunate enough to have a good Imperial Cadet programme. Now its very clear that we see young ladies who had been essentially groomed for military service." With around an estimated 1,000,000 Bene Gesserit residing in Aosta it is clear that some of these Truthsayers have passed through the Imperial Military clandestinely and with rumors of Truthsayers having been involved in an attempt to steal nuclear waste from East Moreland concerns were naturally raised about giving the group access to professional military training.
After almost a year of consideration however the decision was made today that the Bene Gesserit would not be exempt from the Military Lottery. There would however be a Bene Gesserit specific unit established. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence explained "After consulting with the Chapterhouse School, Imperial Veterans who have come forward as Bene Gesserit and a few current serving soldiers we have determined the Bene Gesserit faith is not a threat to military service, it must also be remembered only females join the Truthsayers as Chapterhouse is an all girl school, so effectively 50% of the Bene Gesserit have no military experience prior to National Service. We will be offering the members of the Bene Gesserit faith already in the military a chance to join this new unit. They will have their own detachment during basic training sections of National Service if numbers warrant it and upon completion of their 26 weeks of basic training shall join the front line unit dedicated to the faith." No name has been selected for the unit as of yet with the spokesman saying, "The other religious units were permitted to actively engage with selecting their names, we want people to be proud of serving the Empire and of the unit they called family even if only for those two years. At present we considered calling it the Jeboah Battalion as the Truthsayers have utilized that as their emblem for a considerable amount of time but that will be announced in the coming days.
Olimpia Vico is the Headmistress of the Chapterhouse in Aosta and she told us, "I'm happy our faith is being seen as Imperial citizens. One of the worries we had about our faith becoming so public was that nations may see us as outsiders even though the Vico family have been present in Aosta for well over 100 years now. My grand-father served in the Imperial Carabinieri but kept his faith secret. I understand people worry we see ourselves as children of two nations, the Empire and the Theocracy but more importantly we see ourselves as Children of Mundus and we wish to do our bit to keep our home safe. The Empire will see now just how well the Bene Gesserit have served the Empire and how Truthsayers will now proudly march under whatever banner they are permitted to under the Imperial Wolf figurehead." The two Regents are expected to present the new units colours early next week.