Anchorite Shrine

Anchorite Shrines are metal behemoths some twelve to fifteen feet tall, a living altar of war almost completely immune to any damage, with a diesel engine belching smoke and trumpets echoing with prayers. The interior of the Anchorite is covered in spikes and barbed hooks so that the monk pilot is in a constant state of torment, rejoicing in their pain so they can suffer as their Lord once did. The exterior is festooned with icons, holy relics and devotional prayer scrolls, each according to the traditions of the Pilgrim sect that the Anchorite serves.

The first Anchorites were built a long time ago in the fortress-monastery of Velehrad in Great Moravia. Several hundred of these battle machines were built under the guidance of Saint Methodius, though now the craft is lost, as the monastery was destroyed by a Death Commando infiltration force of the demon Marchosias

Later innovations of the Engineering Foundry of New Antioch created machine armour; a far smaller but more manoeuvrable personal protective suit based upon the Anchorite design. But the Pilgrim Processions have neither access to these marvels of modern engineering, nor do they have any desire to give up their Anchorites which act both as fearsome engines of war as well as mobile shrines that form a focal point to the prayers and devotions of the Pilgrims.

The pilot monk or nun, once installed, never leaves the Anchorite Shrine until the day they die. Once they fall in battle (or rarely of old age), their remains are reverently removed and body parts are preserved in reliquaries mounted upon the Anchorite. Thus each of these war machines is a testament to its long history of war against the forces of Hell.

In battle each Anchorite carries a great adamantine Catherine wheel as well as an immense Bonebreaker Mace to bring the wrath of God upon the sinners, heretics and apostates. In a show of piety and atonement, it is a common practice for Trench Pilgrims or Stigmatic Nuns volunteer to be broken on the wheel and serve in their final battle mounted upon this device of execution, as a sign of both their willingness to suffer for their sins, and for the spiritual protection their sacrifice is said to grant to the Anchorite. The Church frowns upon this custom, but Pilgrims flock to their Anchorites on the eve of any battle, hoping to be granted the honour of perishing upon the wheel.