The trader must dump an entire cargo hold of popcorn into the nearest sun once per year.

The Rogue Trader's vessels and armies can be conscripted for the duration of an emergency situation by the order a Lord General of Imperial Guard or the equivalent of the Imperial Navy.

>>10688408
The dynasty must submit their books to the Administratum at the start of each fiscal century for audit.

Guess how long it's been since the last one.

>>10688506
That's just evil. I approve.

The Rogue Trader is required to submit to routine inspection whenever asked by an imperial authority of sufficient rank.

Hell, let me post the one my group uses. The guy playing the Rogue Trader found an old East India Trading Company charter and 40k'd it. Pastebin link below because it's fucking huge.

http://pastebin.com/yA61gqcY

What that all means shall follow in the next post or two.

The Rogue Trader is required to give Inquisitorial agents free and safe passage aboard any of his vessels.

The Rogue Trader must make himself available to transport Ordos inquisition supplies/prisoners/inquistors, etc - basically, for a certain amount of time, an Inquisitor comes on the ship, and is in charge.

Turn RT into DH - put some sunglasses on - stick a cigarette in your claw and deal with it.

>>10688609
1. For as long as there are people of this family, they shall enjoy a transit monopoly within a set boundary, excepting those who have been granted similar benefits prior to this document.
2. The Trader may act as the Imperium in this region.
3. The Trader and his family must swear an oath of loyalty to the Imperium.
4. If anyone cheats or tricks the Trader, he is entitled to seek restitution by any means necessary.
5. If the Trader needs troops, he may requisition Imperial soldiers, but is responsible for their care and feeding.
6. These soldiers will be loyal to the Trader, excepting when it contradicts their loyalty to the Emperor.
7. The Trader has the right to imprison any of his sworn men, taking them from a planet to his vessel.
8. The Imperium will not seize your guns, money, or soldiers unless we need them.
9. The Trader speaks with the Emperor's Voice when beyond the purview of the High Lords of Terra.
10. We will not raise tariffs for this Trader for the next 40 years, unless there's a major war, in which case we won't raise them higher than they were during the last major war.
11. The bureaucracy of the Imperium has the right to audit the Trader's books.
12. The Rogue Trader will create an inventory of his fleet within three months of departure from port, and submit this inventory within one month after this. We reserve the rights to see your receipts at any time.
13. The Rogue Trader will turn his books over to the bureaucracy every 30 years for this audit, and if by the end of 40 years, they have heard no word, this Warrant of Trade is revoked.

>>10688615

beat me to it, hah

>>10688631
14. The Rogue Trader's vessels must return to their home port, and if they end up at another port, all profits and materiel must be shipped TO that port for audit and taxation.
16. If the Sector Governor sends someone to collect a tithe from any planet the Rogue Trader has claimed in the name of the Imperium, the Rogue Trader is obligated to provide access to this world.
17. Anyone working for the Rogue Trader may not start their own merchant venture as long as they are working for the Rogue Trader.
18. The Trader's organization must let everyone at a port that they have goods for sale, unless the Imperial Government or the Inquisition tells them that they may not.
19. The governors of the worlds the Rogue Trader claims are responsible for providing the appropriate tithes.
20. After any journey, the Trader or his organization must file an Astropathic report with the Imperium, as well as a written log with the local Administratum.
21. Reiterating that the High Lords expect people to fuck with the Trader, and giving him permission to take 'em down for doing so.
22. And if those people continue to mess with the Rogue Trader, the navy will send vessels and troops to help support the Trader's forces, matching vessel for vessel.
23. This clause explains how the booty will be divided between the Trader and the Imperial Navy after such an action.
24. However, any booty must be inspected for heretical or illegal nature before being disbursed, and no official will claim the Trader's rightful legal share.
25. The Rogue Trader will swear to uphold all the guidelines laid out in this charter.
26. All Imperial citizens are required to abide by the strictures of this charter as they pertain to the Trader, and to ensure that they cannot claim ignorance, we will file this Warrant in the Imperial Archives.

Lots of fun stuff for both the dynasty and the Imperium in there.

Being a Heretic ain't easy with a warrant of trade. Most things that are heretical, like consorting and trading with the vile Xenos, are actually legal when owning a trade warrant. They'd have to actually consort with Chaos, and that's just stupid.

Although if they don't have priests on board, let heretical cults spring up over time. Stuff like a cult that will sacrifice a "sailor" through an airlock in case the warp travel goes badly, and so on. It's the logical consequence.

>>10688638
>>10688631
>>10688609

Not the OP here, but thank you. I've been looking for a good warrant of trade for my group.

How many caveats are generally on RT Warrants?

we should turn this into a "tell us about your RT group" thread.

Mine?

A Rogue-Trader / Lord Captain noble who cant schmooze

A former Imperial Guard Lieutenant who cant Lead.

A mutated Krieger with heavy armor, a heavy bolter, a depression complex, and a crush on the former sister of battle.

A sister of battle who is also an untouchable, the ship's XO, the only person who can lead, but doesnt, the only person who can schmooze, but doesnt, and the only person who cant fight, but does, and is the object of affection for the captain (who she hates) and the Krieger (who she likes)

>>10688631
>>10688638
Good for Trader:
-Can requisition armies
-Can requisition Battlefleet aid to double his fleet size
-Complete freedom to destroy anyone who screws him about.

Bad for the Trader:
-Lots of bookkeeping.
-Including audits.
-Which will get his Warrant revoked if he doesn't supply them.
-All earnings are inspected and taxed (no in game effect) but if they find any heretical material they can revoke the warrant.

That last con is a big issue for the group, seeing as they're currently celebrating after hulking an Eldar raider and looting it for all it's worth.

>>10688638
Now this is just awesome. I am so using this. Thanks.

>>10688759
Do you really think everything is going to be audited or the dynasty is going to be without ways to get around it?

Hell, I bet somewhere in the Imperium there is a RT with a "All Xenos objects must be turned over to the local Inquisitor Lord." stipulation and a rather large vault slam full of alien tech he has collected over the years.

Make it so that the RT needs to have an inquisitor and his retinue on board the ship at all times, to ensure that the group does not engage in HERESY!™

This thread is awesome.

My suggestion: A numerical limit to the number of psykers the RT is allowed to employ (10?), with the caveat that they are are free from Inquisitional screening.

>>10688802
But that is what makes auditing rules fun. The RTs get the experience of tax evasion, smuggling, hiding things from the inquisition/navy. They have their official legal holdings, and then their much larger shadow holdings. Hidden space stations and ships, establishing hidden colonies and empires in the expanse.

This also opens up a lot of great adventure opportunities when inevitably someone finds out, or a spy is placed on their ships, or an inquisitor takes advantage of the 'safe passage' clause and integrates himself with the ship long term.

>>10688839
That's a pretty bullshit stipulation, Inquisitors have better things to be doing. Maybe some inquisitorial agents, sure.

>>10688759

That's the point at which they find some uninhabited rock and bury that shit for later collection before they head to the audit office.

>>10688850
So they are limited to a fleet of 10 ships then?

The Rogue Trader vessel(s) must be ready, at any given time, to converted into inquisitorial Black Ships at the inquisitions behest.

>>10688839
I have to agree, inquisitors have more important things to do.

Anyways you want to add some interesting plot hooks, not a mill wheel around their neck.

>>10688874
At any one place and time while being observed by auditors, yes.

>>10688889
Besides, warrents are issued specifically to give large amounts of leeway in things like this. Having the =I= monitor you 24/7 for appropriate Imperial Law Following defeats the entire point.

>>10688900
Thing about that is that the Administratum has this thing called record keeping. It's ludicrous to think nobody would notice.

The Inquisition is meant to be trouble, not a constant threat or permanent master. That kind of defeats the point of playing Rogue Trader. It's also far, far more fun if the players stumble across an Inquisitorial interest and start meddling without figuring out what's going on. If they can sail away without realising who they've just pissed off then all the better.

The Rogue Trader must regularly submit maps of regions explored to the Departmento Astrocartographica of the Administratum in order to properly record the worlds they have brought into the Emperor's light and chart out the void for later Imperial expansion.

Which may lead to their returning to a world they marked as ripe for further plundering to discover that some unscrupulous types with Administratum connections have already been plundering in their absence.

I think something that needs to be kept in mind is that the point is to increase the players enjoyment. Requirements that hamfistedly remove the players freedom and hurts their enjoyment are undesirable. You want interesting requirements that provide plot hooks, interesting situations, and give the DM some ability to privide some structure to the campaign.

If the players want to be free, give them that, and then give them opportunities to fight for their freedom.

>>10688932

notice yeah

maybe 1,000 years later

or an accidentally through the warp causes the report to be filed 100 years before it occured

>>10688609
That doc is awesome!

Saying that though I'd much rather read the original 1700's doc.

Any links?

>>10688963
The Imperium is not all GRIMDARK MEGADARK, ALL THE TIME IN EVERY WAY. Especially when dealing with the books of people the High Lords had to personally authorize. Expect those records to be kept and to be looked at.

>>10688978
Seconding that request.

>>10688956
Oh god, I can just see the definitions of "regularly" that get thrown about with that one.

>>10688932

The Administratum is also huge, monolithic, and deals with unthinkable amounts of data every single day.

A suitably canny Rogue Trader (or his Seneschal) could potentially run shuffle his holdings around frequently enough that the Adminstratum has a total bastard of a time working out exactly what he owns.

>>10688786
I'll pass the thanks on to the guy playing the Rogue Trader. Who'll soak it up. The smug git.

As for my own group, since >>10688753 started something.

Rogue Trader - Ex-Battlefleet captain and adventurous swashbuckler all the way. Has a head for the more mundane, tedious aspects of things but doesn't care a bit for it. Decently faithful, possesses the greatest hat in all of the expanse.

Seneschal - Thoughtful and practical to the extreme. Very good at his job, not constrained by religious teachings, relishes chance to get hands on lore of any sort. Currently has plans to breed swarms of deadly worms.

Explorator - Criminal scum who made his way to the top of the food chain during his time onboard. Heavily modified, virtually incapable of failing a Tech-Use roll. Extremely practical, dabbles in xenotech, capable of conveying contempt without even trying.

Navigator - 50 year old woman with the personality of a 5 year old. Sometimes. Swings between sensible and "stomp around in the mud with no shoes on." Currently in exile due to political bullshit going on in her House and has recently discovered the secret of the Winterscale Charts.

Void-Mistress - Worked on Mechanicus void-station. Bad people came. Very, very bad people. She doens't talk about it much, but she got free. Runs the gun deck tightly, can hulk a frigate in a single volley and enjoys revelling in the moments where she's not being shot full of holes. Or terrifying feudal worlders while wearing power armour.

Arch-Militant - Praetorian psudo-ogryn, modified by a magos to be smart(er) than the average ogryn. Boisterous and good natured, ridiculously powerful in combat. Shrugs off most shots and hoses stuff down with a storm bolter. The ship's death cult is not a fan of him.

>>10689018

Once a year, once every five years, each time he docks at an Imperial port, whatever works.

>>10689037
The great thing about this is that it gives the senchal some new and interesting activities to do.

>>10689037
That's not really the point though. The point is they just handed out one of the Imperium's most powerful and free-ranging grants to power and then said "Oh by the way you can only have ten ships and this makes you completely useless."

Everyone who has any sort of beef with them will instantly know how to take them down. All you would have to do is document at least eleven ships owned and in operation at once and BAM, revoked Warrant and massive shitstorm incoming.

>>10688978
>>10689007
Looking for it now.

>>10689056

I counter your claim by inferring that my Rogue Trader's hat is the greatest in all of the expanse.

>>10689083

Huge Rogue Trader is huge.

Lookig at that picture, am I right in thinking that he's wearing his fancy pirate coat over the top of a suit of power armour? Because that's actually kind of badass.

>>10689128

Probably. I fucking love that outfit.

>>10689077
Depends who is making the accusation. Someone with a sufficient amount of "do you know who I am?" power can shrug off the petty accusations of lesser rivals either by questioning the quality of their evidence or just having strings pulled. Even if you've got fairly solid evidence to prove someone's broken the terms of their warrant it won't do any good if the guy is chummy with the Sector Lord.

>>10689109
I shall pass on your claim. Perhaps one day the two shall meet for a Fantabulous Hat Battle. You're up against stiff competition though; it counts as a Best Quality Mesh Hood and cost more than a suit of power armour.

>>10689109

Faugh and balderdash to both of you. It is clear even to the most fume-addled holdscum that my Rogue Trader's hat is thrice as great and thrice as splendid as both of your Rogue Traders' hats combined!

>>10689149

Fie upon you, scurrilous wretch. I daresay your hat is but a pale shadow to our magnificent headwear.

>>10689083
Not found the original document bit it's apparently a Dutch West Indies corporate charter, not an East India Trading Company one. Hope that helps.

>>10689149
Oh dear. The Lord-Captain won't be pleased about this. No sir, oh no sir.

OP here. Long as we're posting groups:

Ship: an ancient, adventurous, haunted frigate spec'd for knife fights. Extra rooms boarding parties, extra armor for getting into range, and no lances.

Rogue Trader: Silver tongued, good swordsman, duty bound to his crew and not a huge fan of the empire and obsessed with freedom, which is why he is in the expanse. Brother of the void-master, battle brothers with the explorator due to hunting pirates on a mercanary crew together, went through a dark voyage with the senchal (my wife) building a deep bond of trust.

Senchal: second in command, hands down the best fighter in the group, especially in melee. Very much the deadly accountant master of assasins and spy's. Studied with the explorator and incredably devoted to the RT. Only religious one in the group, urges the group to maintain their faith and burn the heretic.

Explorator: about what you expect. Hunted pirates with the RT.

Voidmaster: he's still figuring his character out. :)

>>10689083
I think I may just have found it

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/westind.asp

East India Company FUCK YEAH!

IV. And if the aforesaid Company in and of the aforesaid places shall be cheated under the appearance of friendship, or badly treated, or shall suffer loss in trusting their money or Goods, without having restitution, or receiving payment for them, they may use the best methods in their power, according to the situation of their affairs, to obtain satisfaction.

Legal Carte Blanche to fuck folk up

>>10688753

My last group.
Our 'pious' Rogue Trader who DIDN'T have enough sense to say AYE MA'AM AYE MA'AM AYE MA'AM when a Canoness started talking when WE WERE ON HER SHIP.

Me, the Arch-Militant. A badass by many counts, but also a paranoid, aggressive blighter who has got to work on his anger and his tendency to hesitate when it comes to disciplining his own men. He also ain't that smart, but his chainsword works well enough.

The techie; fucking aspie girl.

The social character; fucking slut.

>>10689174

Vile calumny! Why, there are entire worlds whose populations revere my hat as a shining reflection of the Emperor's majesty, manifest proof of the boundless glory of Him on Earth!

>>10689203
Awesome, saved and I am immensely looking forward to read it this evening. I am much obliged to you, dear Anon.

>>10689203
That looks like the piece. And yes, the "you may fuck up anyone who fucks with you" clause is wonderful. I can see that being invoked when the dynasty and their rivals start firing on each other a scant few VUs out from Port Wander.

>>10689217

Pah! You sir, are a slanderous blaggard.

Why, my hat was given its own statues on near enough every world in the Segmentum Tempestus! It is a shining beacon to those lost in the Void and personifies His good nature and divinity!

ITT: Baron Munchausen 40K.

I feel like I've got some experience in this area, so let me run down the list.

Our Captain is the son of a much more powerful Rogue Trader in another subsector, who was gifted his own dynasty for helping to rescue an accused (but innocent) heretic. He keeps a retinue of Kroot with him at all times, and has actually been inducted into their culture, and practices ritual cannibalization of worthy foes (which I ruled will give him minor stat increases with bosses)

Our Arch-militant is a mutant. The character basically paid the experience to choose their mutation, and chose the one that lets you roll 1d5 times. He then rolled a 5. So you can imagine. Most of the lesser crew are also mutants. That means there are a lot of mutants.

The other members of the crew are less obviously heretical, but most of them don't give a damn for the emperor or the imperium. The mutant is actually the most devout among them. They spend most of their time supporting mutant uprisings on fringe imperial planets. Most recently, they raided an Inquisitorial hideout where a treasure trove of heretical artifacts were being stored until a proper Inquisitor could show up. They wanted one particular item, but ended up taking everything there.

The Moral is this; PCs will take treasure, even if it's probably a bad idea. Once it's on the ship, you can do whatever you want to them.

>>10689238
It's been done.

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=468497

Behold, the adventures of Lord-Captain Munchausen.

>>10689245
Your group is gloriously heretical.

>>10689252

>>10689083
DEM SHOULDERS

Well, my group is such (I'm the DM):

Rogue Trader, who's new to the business and insists on a harem on any ship he owns. Hates the book-keeping aspects and in more in it for the power. Extreme hatred/fear of Tyranids.

Missionary with a skull-faced mask that he refuses to remove under any circumstances. Well-liked by the crew, less-like by the officers (Who don't really care for the Imperium/Emperor as much as he does).

Female Arch-Militant mutant nearly the size of a ogryn. From an urban Deathworld, which has been fighting back orkz for generations. Extreme hatred/respect for orkz, uses a choppa and orkish slang.

One-eyed Void-Master (Augurs) who sees EVERYTHIIIING. Been on the ship far longer then the rest of the officers, and knows her like the back of his hand.

The ship, for what its worth, is the most angry (wrothful) transport ship in the Imperium. They've currently been "conscripted" into the Navy and are transporting food and supplies to warzones along Tau-Imperial space.

>>10689367

>the most angry (wrothful) transport ship in the Imperium

I'm so afraid

>>10689394
Don't be so quick to mock transports. They'll never be fast or tough but, with some cunning, good component selection and a skilled gunner they can be quite deadly. A broadside from two Sunsear Laser Batteries is going to hurt just as much coming from a transport as from a frigate.

>>10689440
Or, alternately, go for Barracks/Teleportarium/Murder-Servitors, and go "fuck shooting, we'll just Hit-and-Run every round". They can't do much to you once you've crippled their sensors, after all.

>>10689496

Tenebro-Maze too, so that if you get boarded yourself, you can just skullfuck the instruders.

>>10689440

Ok i agree Transport can be usefull, but it's still funny or even more.

" The transport is ramming us sir ! "

" But we are a battleship it's not fair "

" They are boarding us "

Our group has a haunted tenebro maze with murder servitors. :)

>>10689496
A decent gambit against slower ships but a frigate or raider, once they've figured your game out, will keep their distance and whittle you down. Of course, if you can keep them in your firing arcs as well then they might loose out in a battle of attrition. A raider certainly will, having weak armour and little hull integrity.

>>10689559
>implying that they'll be hitting anything but void with a -30 to hit from the lack of sensors, and that the engines aren't the second thing to go

>>10688759
>>10688802

Exactly, it's not like just about everyone doesn't try to get around the rules, but it's good for the players to know that they're going to have to at least try to be sneaky.

>>10689583
I was going to remark about the Hit and Run rules but then I noticed what makes Murder Servitors so great. Select a critical result between 1 and 6? I can see why they're such an expensive buy.

>>10689394

That's been a joke as long as the campaign has been around. But goddamn, its such an angry transport.

>>10689684
You should resanctify it with a more appropriate name. How does "Seethes With Impotent Fury" sound?

Question, I'm allowed one 'jump' on the backgrounds list, right?

>>10689787
Yup. That's probably the best way I've heard it put, too.

The entire enlisted crew is Culexus assassins, there in case the Rogue Trader and his entourage manage to do something that offends the Inquisitor secretly keeping tabs on them.

No, this does not have to make sense.

>>10689787

Oh, that's good. I don't know if it says it in the book somewhere but I couldn't find it...I'm woefully lazy.

Don't know what I want to make my latest character, though...

Got
Void>Scape>Criminal>Hand of War>Endurance

Insanity: 1d5
Corruption: 1d5

Wounds: 8 + 1d5 + 1
Fate: 3 (1-5) or 4 (6-10)

WS 45
BS 25
STR 35 (-5 from Void-Born from 40)
TOU 40
AGI 35
INT 33 (+3 Intelligence from 30)
PER 38 (+3 Perception from 35)
WIL 45 (+5 from Void-Born from 40)
FEL 30 (Suffers -5 against all non-voidborn)

>>10689825
You're made for melee. Your will is indomitable. You lived your whole life as criminal scum, flaunting the will of the Emperor until the fires of war purified your soul. You have purpose now, and no alien monstrosity or accursed heretic shall defy you.

Missionary is your career.

>>10689787
Depends on how the DM runs it. There is a suggestion to the DM saying you can make one 'row' jumpable.

For our group I gave them each 2 'fate' points (4 players) to be spend how they liked. They could burn a fate point to jump in the background or re-roll a stat. If they burned two fate points on something they could choose the result.

It worked out really well. If something was REALLY important to them like being an awesome swordsman or having a haunted ship they could burn all of their points to have it. If there wasn't something they really wanted they could just use them to mitigate bad results.

In the end they knew they wanted an adventurous ship went in together to get it, spent another to avoid having a skittish ship, and used the rest on their backgrounds and a couple re-rolls.

I'm a big fan of any mechanic that gives the players opportunities to make interesting and meaningful choices.

>>10689875

Thank you.
Might go Arch-Militant based on needs of the game.

My real big problem is working up on the fluff of the game so I can better understand everything. I'm a 40K nub, though I know a fair bit more than I used to.

>>10689875

>>10689916
The Rogue Trader book should set you right. Plenty of humans are ignorant as all hell so you can get away with it. If your GM knows his stuff then you can always ask him about the few things you need to know.

>>10689709

Its name is "Titanfist", at the request of the Arch-Militant before the game. I decided that, due to a clerical error during production, it was named Titanfist, while a Luna-Class Cruiser walked away with the name "The Emperor's Bounty".

>>10689916
Oh, one more thing. No matter what you choose, be sure to pick up Flame Weapon Training. Missionaries automatically start with it, Arch-Militant can take it at rank 2. Flame weapons require no Ballistic Skill check to use. If your GM is a fair minded chap he'll also realise that there's no way someone is dodging a wall of roaring flame in a 2m wide passage.

>>10689960
I like your style, sir.

RT characters start with 500 XP, right?

>>10690086

They do.

>>10689974
The way I always ruled it is that the agility test to avoid flame weapons is much like attempting to dodge a grenade blast. If it's impossible to move out of the fiery area in a half move as a reaction, you can't even try to dodge.

>>10690086
Yup, though they "count as" having 4500xp before they get to spend that. Just to help out when you start with cross-game shenanigans and importing DH stuff.

>>10690120
It's the only sensible thing to do.

Now I just need to lure my players into fighting in enclosed spaces.

Am I the only one who thinks this should be archived? Even just the example charter is worth preserving.

10688408

Request archive.

This seems like a terrible thread to let die. Surely there are more tales to be told about the exploits of mighty traders and their companions?

>>10688408
>>10689109
>>10689149
>>10689174
>>10689217
>>10689231

Bitches don't know 'bout The Hat.

My rogue trader ended up dueling a Lord Commander of the Imperial Navy.

Over the course of the campaign the DM kept bringing us back to this splinter fleet of navymen, where we would constantly steal the glory at the last second.

So he voxes me, the Rogue Trader and asks for a gentlemanly duel.

Bearing in mind, my Rogue Trader is bordering the line to heretical, he's impulsive, decadent and a little self-centred, but he does his job to a more than adequate degree.

At character creation I rolled and got the archaeotech duelling pistol.

Time to put it to use. So we meet on a planet and there are navy officers and my groupmates PCs stood around us in a circle. Now, the other PC's are gonna realize that my Rogue Trader isn't going to play fair.

Five step, draw, shoot.

..except for the Lord Commander not realizing that the RT only took two steps, turned around and shot him. He conscripted the most useful navymen and then told another to take their ships and sod off from the Koronus Expanse.

He got a shiny digi-weapon out of that.

>>10691761
So much heresy.

Say, any chance I could grab the names of the fine Traders in this thread? I promise that I won't use them to create NPCs for my own game. GM's honour.

>>10691761

You coward and swine!


I'm probably the only Trader in the universe who cares about things like "Honor". Or, as a very very dangerous NPC put it:

"I know what sort of man you are, Serafina Maksym Vinzenz Odovacar. The only man foolish enough to mistake being a Rogue Trader as a noble calling. A man foolish enough to put himself, his friends and his crew at risk for a matter of honour. So I'll take your word."

The Rogue Trader in my group is Nikolas Van Rinj or Van Rijn. Something like that. I have a feeling he's referencing/ripping off something, but don't know what. Should I be worried?

>>10691895

Well, we have a longstanding tradition of naming everything, ships, cities, and people, after swords and other weapons.

So our Rogue Trader is named Bolo Black.

>>10692450
Bolo Black is the Captain from
>>10689245

>>10691895

This is actually the first character I've ever played that I've cooked up a decent background for.

A (somewhat former) member of the Vinzenz family, a group famous for a tradition of turning out fine Battlefleet Captains and Admiral as well owning a sizable merchant fleet. Put into battlefleet as part of his "Training" to become one of the Vinzenz Merchant Princes, Serafina excelled in the navy, earning several commendations for bravery (some would say foolhardiness) in battle.

One day upon returning from a long-distance patrol Serafina Makysm Vinzenz was seemingly randomly awarded a Writ of Trade. To date Battlefleet Calixis, the Administratum, and the Vinznez family refuse to say why (Nor have I decided why). Serafina himself plays up this mystery, giving no solid answers but often conflicting teases and hints. He also enjoys playing up the image of a dashing, charming rogue. He dresses like a bit of a rogue (worn, but still fine looking Battlefleet navy coat and pants over light carapace armor and, of course, THE HAT) and sports a pencil thin mustache and carefully maintained "rough unshaven stubble" beard.

Basically I play him as Errol Flynn in space.

I don't have Rogue Trader... but just had a thought.

Can a Warrant of Trade be stolen?

>>10692850

Taking up the name "Odocavar" for his dynasty he talked Battlefleet Calixis out of one it's finest Squadron Command Frigates, the Pious Deference (Battlefleet originally tried to give him a worn out cruiser nearing the end of it's service life that badly needed a complete refit). Customizing and further improving the quality of the ship, he renamed it the "Destroyer of All Boundaries" saying the original name was ill-fitting of the ship's spirit and that "she shall brave the unknown, push past all supposed limits and forge a path as wondrous as it is glorious, all in His Name."

Next he assembled a collection of trusted officers, often preferring skill or trustworthiness over political correctness and spent the next few years cementing the foundations of his new dynasty, using assets inherited from the Vinzenz family.

Finally he prepared to journey to Port Wander to prepare an expedition into the Koronus Expanse. However when making a planned real-space stop on the way to Port Wander, the stop being part of a common shipping lane, he found a pair of Ork pirate frigates rapidly closing.

The rest, as they say, is history, and the start of our actual campaign.

>>10692868

Of course, however the original, actual copies are often locked away in secret places. And even if you steal it, it may not be usable.

For example, mine gives power only to members of my new "Odocavar" bloodline. So only myself, or my eventual descendants can use the power it grants. Though I suppose a member of the Vinzenz family might be able to make a case were I to die without heir.


Other warrants might be different, IIRC there are a few who simply state "Whosoever holds this document" as the recipient of power. As you can imagine these Warrants are EXTREMELY valuable and pretty much stick a "INSERT KNIFE HERE" sign on your back.


Others might have very specific requirements on who the trader is allowed to pass the warrant onto, such as passing it on not by bloodline, but by worthiness. "Should the holder of this document perish in duty to The Throne, ownership of this Writ shall pass to him amongst his officers who proves himself most worthy of its power."


You can image the clusterfuck that would spring from that.

>>10692449
I think I read that name on the back of a book, or something. Don't recognize it enough to place it, though.

>>10692868
It's happened before. Not just with the physical stealing of the document but with identity theft and other means as well. Eliminating a trader and inserting a doppleganger (human or otherwise) in his place, using gene-manipulation to produce a false heir to the dynasty or perhaps even acquiring a legitimate heir of your own and installing them as a figurehead. That last bit could range from finding some forgotten offspring and taking them under your wing or arranging a little romantic (or not) rendezvous with the Rogue Trader. The latter bit only works with male traders of course. The benefit of being a woman in this case is knowing exactly who your spawn are.

>>10693396
>or arranging a little romantic (or not) rendezvous with the Rogue Trader.

I'm still waiting for the day it turns out that harem girl we picked up for my collection last season turns out to be a 5th Generation (or was it 6th?) Genestealer Hybrid and now we've got riots in the lower decks as the Moritat Death Cult and Stealer Cult are battling for territory, the ship is in chaos, and my own inhuman "Son" is coming to kill me.


"PENNSWORTH, Fetch my Plasma Pistol, I've Filicide to commit..."

>>10693509
Everyone sees genestealers coming a mile away. A better choice would be some sort of corrupting influence that leaves you with a chance of saving your spawn from whatever fate they have made for themselves. Dabbling in the dark arts of sorcery is always fun but, again, predictable.

>>10695257

Maybe, but I can forgive things not being original if they're done well and fun.