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[Rogue Trader]Rebirth of the Dawn Treader (Updated 8/17/2010)

Zen_Pollo

First Post
The Continuing Voyages of His Divine-Majesty's Ship, the Dawn Treader
Lord Captain's Log; The Countess Lucretia Von Krak, Commanding
In the Year of the Light of the Golden Throne 040.816.M41++

Location: The Calixis Sector
Course: Traveling to Port Wander, at the border of the Koronus Expanse
Immaterium: Warp conditions are favorable, though I have felt a bit peckish lately and the crew seems gaunt. Is it the Warp or just a bought of the bloodly-flux circulating the life-sustainers?

Comments: Can an ancient line regain lost glory or will its decent into decadence plague a chance for renewal? As the Dawn Treader approaches Port Wander, I wonder whether our current endeavor will be for naught -- my lineage has been riven with misfortune throughout its charter.

Yet, I cannot help but feel proud of my ancestors' who fielded the Dawn Treader in battle during the Margin Crusade of 784.M41. My grandfather, Goderick Von Krak, commanded the old Imperial frigate, whilst my father served as his ship-board Arch-Militant.

After the glorious resolution of the Crusade in 786.M41(Well, at least my family's part in it...thirty years later and the bloody crusade wages on....) in service to the Emperor of Mankind, Goderick found himself with a burned-out Geller Field, an irradiated plasma drive and not enough Thrones to repair the damaged frigate. Yet, a cracked-shell of a vessel is a small remittance for being awarded a Hereditary Grand Warrant of Trade Renowned by the High Lords of Terra!

So, with greatly diminished fortunes, our fledgling Rogue Trader Dynasty set about rebuilding the Dawn Treader. My father, Kendrick Von Krak, sired me, his heir, upon one of his concubines during this dark time in 787.M41. Sadly, I never had the opportunity to know my mother, whom was abducted during a Xenos incursion in 789.M41.

My father plied subsistence-level trading his entire life, for we owned but a single planet in two-bit star system deep in the Drusus Marches. Father was always better suited to the realm of combat, than matters of economy and trade...

I still shudder with the indignities forced upon me in the squalor and poverty of my youth. Many struggles occurred with my half-siblings from other consorts; we battled for familial supremacy and the right to be named Heir. Yet money was always a concern – there were barely enough Thrones for each of us to support our debased habits and fund occasional plays into the assassination of our rivals. Why, I had hardly an estate to my name growing up...what is a young heiress to do but drown her misery in high debauchery and schmutzigkeit?

Nevertheless, my flirtation with decadence grew tiresome. I yearned to flee the hellish squalidness of my Dynasty's planetary holdings and the incessant bickering of my kindred. So, I accepted a commission from the fiendishly ruthless Rogue Trader, The Lord Captain Anselm Krin, heir to the infamous Justinian Krin after his gruesome (and unsolved...) murder in 808.M41.

I learned much of naval warfare and art of High Command at the hands of my cruel master as a young ensign. Together, we undertook many a dark voyage through the Warp fighting in the Reef Stars Crusade of 811.M41. Some of my companions from this time still travel with me to this day...

After six years of strife, toil and plunder, my enlistment came up and I left the service of the Lord Captain Krin. My proud father named me his Heir upon my return to the Drusus Marches(Over much wailing and gnashing of teeth by my siblings, I might add...). As a gift to mark my succession in the Von Krak Dynastic Lineage, my father liquidated the family's holdings to raise enough Thrones for refurbishing the Dawn Treader.

Sadly, the Dynasty lacked sufficient funds to outfit the frigate with any arsenal, so I usurped the Hereditary Warrant of Trade and sold my noble father, his concubines and all of my siblings into slavery on a Forge World as honor-geld in service to our family's ancient adversaries, the Chorda Dynasty.

Perhaps, I'll name one of my new plasma batteries after him...

Now, just two years later, we are about to make warpfall at Port Wander with a fully-functional vessel and a keen thirst for profit. Yet, as proud of the Dawn Treader as I am, I am somewhat disappointed by my bridge crew, the surly and mutinous lot!

Foremost in my ire, the Navigator – the mutant's third eye morally offends me! The simpleton could get lost traveling calm Warp to a one-planet system~! The only factor keeping me from renditioning him to the clutches of the Dawn Treader's ship-board Death Cult is the fact that we are in the middle of the AEther...

Next in perfidy, the Missionary: Brother Mordechai. I actually feel somewhat sorry for the Priest of the God-Emperor – his family and mine have long been allies. Yet, the Priest is ill-suited to the moral ambiguity that is the lifeblood of a Rogue Trading enterprise. My grandfather used to say that Profit is the fine line between Heresy and Convention...

The Arch-Militant, Volkner Alessander, is but a Stormbolter attached to a stomach(though a mighty stormbolter it is...)! Nevertheless, the lout can hardly be accounted for unless it is in service to the whims of his gut...

The Void Master seems okay – at least Quinn Vanberg is competent at his job. The agile helmsman is a keen shot and a steady hand at the wheel. A finer pilot, I could not ask for...

However, my favorite minion is the Tech-Priest, Octus. The Explorator and I share a common love of certain...(REDACTED)...lore.

There are others amongst the crew, but my harem of lustknabe or the Death Cult lurking in the holds are hardly worth my attention.

For tomorrow, we make warpfall at Port Wander and the Von Krak Dynasty once more shall make its mark in the annuals of the Emperor (and find rich Profit...)! Can I pull my Dynasty out of obscurity and ignominy? Well, at least I don't have to do it alone...


I am Lord Captain of the Dawn Treader, The Countess Lucretia Von Krak
Den Stets-Siegreichen Imperium!
 

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Zen_Pollo

First Post
Writer's Note

[Editorial Note]

The italicized words are actually German ( and mostly profane...)

According to the Warhammer 40K lore, the language of Nobility and the Imperial Bureaucracy is known as High Gothic. It is a lanaguage which most normal folk have little understanding of or familiarity with...

In traditional works of the canon, writers usually emulate the obtuse nature of the prose by using Latin phrases for proper names; thus, the official name of the Space Marine Chapters is the Adeptus Astartes, the Bureaucracy is termed the Administratum and so forth...

In this instance, I have chosen to use German words to emulate the use of High Gothic in Captain Von Krak's Log.

One way to look at it is that Lucretia Von Krak speaks High Gothic with a German accent...
 

Zen_Pollo

First Post
In the Year of the Light of the Golden Throne 041.816.M41++

The Continuing Voyages of His Divine-Majesty's Ship, the Dawn Treader
In the Year of the Light of the Golden Throne 041.816.M41++

Lord Captain's Log: Port Wander, The Calixis Sector
Course: Docked
Materium: Port Wander is an old Imperial Naval Space Station. Nothing screams of comfort than a port built by Imperial contractors whom bid bottom Thrones at the behest of a corrupt Administratum bureaucrat...

Comments: Today the Dawn Treader made warpfall at Port Wander on the edge of the Koronos Expanse. With much fan-fare and heraldry, the Port gave welcome to the Dawn Treader as befits the Bearer of a Warrant of Trade of my stature.

After receiving many accolades and salutations, an encoded beacon using the ancient Von Krak cipher gathered my attention. Apparently, the missive has been sent by a former minion of my grandfather, named Orbest Dray.

It seems like der missgeburt knew how to inspire extreme loyalty in his henchman -- the last time my grandfather was here was over a generation ago (though, Goderick's leadership did not extend to his own son, whom laced the old man's Obscura Dust with poison 795.M41...treachery, it seems, is the Von Krak legacy...). I have decided to send an away-team to visit with the contact and determine whether any profit is to be made on this rock.


I am Lord Captain of the Dawn Treader, The Countess Lucretia Von Krak
Den Stets-Siegreichen Imperium!
 

Zen_Pollo

First Post
In the Year of the Light of the Golden Throne 042.816.M41++

The Continuing Voyages of His Divine-Majesty's Ship, the Dawn Treader
Lord Captain's Log; The Countess Lucretia Von Krak, Commanding
In the Year of the Light of the Golden Throne 042.816.M41++

Location: The Maw, at the Boundary of The Koronus Expanse
Course: Navigating towards the famed Battlegrounds
Immaterium: The Warp is melancholy today. The Death Cult can't even muster the energy for a bit of human sacrifice in honor of the God-Emperor.

Comments: What a beschissen day yesterday turned out to be. Yet, a glorious day it was.

Orbest Dray wanted to meet in a crowded market place in the middle of Port Wander's “day”. So I packed up my entourage and had my lustknabe plan a picnic luncheon in a basket. Well ensconced in my rickshaw, I implored the lustknabe to make their way to market; laufen, schneller zu laufen!. The members of my bridge crew lagged behind the man-cart; I shall have to increase their mandatory calisthenics aboard the ship.

Sadly, a picnic was not to be had. Dray, a crusty arschhusten, met us at a table in the middle of the crowded mid-day marketplace. After we had been seated, my grandfather's henchman related the tale of how he had been holding a sealed relic for Goderick Von Krak for over thirty years at this outpost, but the Rogue Trader never arrived.

It occurs to me that my Grandfather must have last visited this output prior to mustering for the Margin Crusade. I wonder if Goderick was planning to desert the Navy and make a break for the Koronus Expanse rather than face conscription...

In any event, Dray was all too happy to turn over the relic to me as Goderick's direct heir. The tube would only open at my behest due to some sort of genetic encoding on the lock. As soon as I touched the gene-lock, it opened and a strange jewel popped out.

Before anyone in my party could appraise the stone, a mechanical raven swooped out of the air and swiped it from my grasp!

And then the shooting started...

It seems a rival Rogue Trader Dynasty was after the relic. Knowing that only my genetic code could unlock the device, they had laid in wait...perhaps for some years...

Fortunately, we came well equipped for trouble. The Void-Master whipped out his Bolter and laid low many of our adversaries. The Tech-Priest and the Missionary engaged others in melee. Meanwhile, I focused on chasing down the bird, which we were able to drop some yards away from the skirmish (Later, the Tech-Priest, Octus, explained the raven-servitor was keyed to the will of a Psycher and was bound with its master through the Warp). Dragging the old man with me, I retrieved the jewel and cut down an assailant with my Mordian Powersword – though the minion lived.

And that is when the Arch-Militant finally showed up, das shiessekopf! The Arch-Militant had been getting a damn leg of mutton at a market stall! In any case, the Volkner opened up with his Stormbolter and the assailants went down quickly after that – nothing disperses a crowd like a deluge of flesh-tearing explosive bolts. I suspect the cleaning-servitors will be scrapping bits of human viscera from the station bulkheads for some time.

Sadly, my minions killed all the attackers – in spite of my express order to keep some of them alive for questioning; the Arch-Militant shot the last assailant in the face with an Inferno Bolt. We needed to interrogate the survivors to learn whom was behind this ambush. Alas, I will have to schedule some compulsory self-flagellation for the crew to remind them of their duties...

Afterwords, the Imperial Guard showed up to restore order, but I grew bored with the marketplace and had my minions straighten matters out with the constabulary. The Missionary mentioned something about visiting the Station Provost, but I honestly wasn't listening to Brother Mordechai...my interest was on our new acquisition.

The stone was a mnemolith that contained the location for a long lost vessel, the Righteous Path. According to our shipboard Astropath, the mnemolith indicated the hulk was stranded in the Magoros system, deep in the Koronos Expanse.

I admonished my crew to track down information about the missing ship – salvage is half the purpose of Rogue Trade!

The Void-Master had heard a legend regarding the Righteous Path. The vessel was lost while scouring Xenos treasure planets with the Cleansing Flame of the Emperor. If we were to salvage the vessel, the holds full of Xenos artifacts would make for rich Profit!

However, the Koronos Expanse is still mostly uncharted space – rife with Xenos, Chaos Fleets and lost worlds still rebelling against the Golden Throne. We needed a map to plot a path past the Maw and through the heart of the Expanse.

Fortunately, the Tech-Priest had a contact at Port Wander. The Magnate Scrivener Journ was a master map-maker and had a proprietary chart which highlighted a course through the Warp to the Magoros system. The Tech-Priest negotiated a deal to secure the map, in exchange for a service...

The Explorator confessed to me later that he had accepted the charge of transporting a simple wooden box to the port of Footfall on the other side of The Maw; yet, secreted within the box were Heretical Texts from the Dark Age of Technology! As Octus put it, “Sweet, Sweet Tech-Heresy!” “How dare that Scoundrel!” I only grudgingly allowed my vessel to harbor such a blatant violation of the God-Emperor's writ. Of course, I instructed the Tech-Priest to peruse the documents in order to insure there was no danger to the crew in its contents; I expect a full briefing of his findings within a few weeks...

We agreed the Missionary was better off not knowing about the box, the Adeptus Ministorum takes a dim view of Tech-Heresy.

With the map in hand, we were set to launch our expedition to the Magoros system. And that is when I first encountered the Rogue Trader, known as Hadarak Fel, Lord-Captain of the Fell Hand.

Hadarak Fel had hailed the Dawn Treader, mostly to gloat...

“Ha, you fool, did you think we will let you claim the Righteous Path? You wont even make it out of the station alive,” Fel taunted.

“What wonderful Obscura Dust you must be consuming, Lord-Captain, you really must connect me to you supplier,” I snickered in response, “After all, those minions you sent to the marketplace were hardly much of a threat.”

“The minions' deaths mean nothing, I have much greater allies – such as my fair Lady Ash...”, the Rogue Trader gestured to a striking woman tending to another raven-servitor behind his throne.

I had recalled Octus' explanation that the raven belonged to a Psycher and was bound to its master through the Warp. Yet, the Lady bore neither the third eye of of the Navis Nobilite, nor was she a blind member of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica...which meant...

“An unsanctioned Psycher, my dear Hadarak Fel? Why you are dastardly...” I had almost purred into the Picto-Monitor. I must admit, I was quite impressed – the audacity of the man to so brazenly flaunt the Inquisition's purge of Psychers not slaved to the Emperor's will. Lord-Captain Fel's Warrant of Trade allowed him to ignore certain troublesome rules in the course of the Rogue Trade.

For that matter, so does mine...

Still, Fel had the need to gloat more, “And that is not all, Von Krak! My uncle, Oberon Fel, Lord-Captain of the Fell Storm, is about to blockade the port. I'm afraid you will not be leaving Port Wander for some time, my dear.”

Der Schissen! We were in for some real problems. Even I knew that the Fell Storm was a light cruiser – at least 4 times larger than my own 1.6 kilometer frigate – with 4 times the arsenal to boot.

“Well, Fel, at least I have the verdammt map!” I snarled into the Picto-Monitor while switching off the channel. I immediately ordered the frigate to make ready to depart.

Within thirty minutes, the Dawn Treader pulled away from the dock – without the Port Master's authority, I might add. Not that the poor Imperial Functionary could do anything, my ships' Star-Breaker Lance would have punctured the station's hull like a fetid pustule.

Oberon Fel hailed me as my vessel began pulling away, “Forget it, Von Krak, you're going nowhere and Hadarak has already made the transition to Warp. Stand down, and perhaps I won't run you through with my Mono-sword when I capture your vessel!”

I brashly replied, “Old Man, the next time you see me will be when I hand you your nephew's head – encased in a Skull Servitor!” Not one for making bold promises, am I...

Oberon Fel apparently did not take my threat well; he ordered the light cruiser to open fire into the crowded port harbor. Smaller vessels caught between our two capital ships burst under the Fel Storm's volley. With no time to waste, I implored the Helmsman to navigate through the crowded spaceport harbor as quickly as possible, Das Schiff fliegen!Schneller!

The Emperor must have smiled upon us that day, for Quinn Vanberg threaded the needle dodging small space craft disrupted by the arrive of the light cruiser, the fusillade from the Fell Storm and the Port Wander infrastructure itself. All without taking a hit!

The last thing we observed before jumping to Warp were the fragments of random space craft being destroyed by errant battery fire from the capital ship.

We'll see whose ship is captured next time, Oberon Fel...


I am Lord Captain of the Dawn Treader, The Countess Lucretia Von Krak
Den Stets-Siegreichen Imperium!
 
Last edited:

Zen_Pollo

First Post
In the Year of the Light of the Golden Throne 047.816.M41++

The Continuing Voyages of His Divine-Majesty's Ship, the Dawn Treader
Lord Captain's Log; The Countess Lucretia Von Krak, Commanding
In the Year of the Light of the Golden Throne 047.816.M41++

Location: The Battlegrounds in the Koronus Expanse
Course: En route to the Port of Footfall
Immaterium: The Ruinous Powers of the Warp have made their presence felt on this voyage! The morale of the crew is at an all time low. I was inclined to implement an old Imperial Naval cure for discipline issues – forced decimation of the crew. However, the Missionary persuaded me that he could improve morale simply by giving a sermon on the virtues of our God-Emperor. I'm not so sure the Death Cult hiding in secret amongst the crew will be swayed by a simple sermon; their tastes tend to be a bit more...viszeral.

Comments: Over the last few days it has occurred to me that the Dawn Treader is in a race against the Fell Hand to be the first to salvage the Righteous Path. Hadarak Fel must have had some means to discover the location of the hulk, and also some method to chart a course to the Magoros System – otherwise, it would have been pointless for the Rogue Trader to leave Port Wander in the first place!

I queried members of my crew regarding my suspicion. Our Astropath commented that the raven-servitor bound to Lady Ash, the unsanctioned-Psycher working for Lord-Captain Fel, had carried the nmemolith for a brief period during the skirmish at the marketplace. The raven-servitor may have carried the stone long enough for the Psycher to ascertain the location of the Righteous Path via the power of her psychic bond. As for plotting a course to the Magoros System, it is hard to say how Fel managed to glean that information so quickly.

Orbest Dray, whom I ordered to accompany me on this journey, suspects foul-play on the part of Hadarak Fel against the Magnate Scrivener Journ. I must act under the assumption the Lord-Captain of the Fell Hand has discovered a route to the Magoros System; the Dawn Treader cannot afford to tarry!

Which is why I am saddened that we must pass through the Battlegrounds so quickly – I would have enjoyed perusing the area at my leisure. The Battlegrounds form a strange locale in the Warp where thousands of excoriated ships, space hulks, and random debris float endlessly in the chaotic eddies at the exit of the Maw. The ships are rumored to be the detritus from a Warp-space battle held long ago.

Ordinarily, I would salivate at the opportunity to explore such abandoned vessels in search of plunder. However, only a fool would dare salvage vessels and hulks bathed in the Chaos of the Warp for untold-centuries without the protection of a functioning Geller Field. I shudder to think what manner of Xenos and Chaos-tainted hostiles roam those silent hulls...

Yet, as my Grandfather would say, a keen Rogue Trader thirsts for Profit and Glory as a chloro-morph does water. Sadly, Goderick's tastes led to his own demise...

Nevertheless, two recent developments today have intrigued me. First, the Void-Master, Quinn Vanberg, informed me that the Dawn Treader had encountered a distress beckon in the vicinity of the Battlegrounds. Upon investigation, the beckon appeared to emanate from a pilgrimage ship which had suffered a mechanical failure of some sort.

My first inclination was that I could capture the vessel, enslave its crew and passengers, and sell them in Footfall for rich Profit! For that matter, I might even press-gang the pilgrims into service on my own vessel. The Death Cult's predations tended to reduce the crew to a minimal level required to maintain the Dawn Treader's core functions but no more – it was an unstable equilibrium awaiting disaster.

Despite my gluttony for spoils, I decided the race to the Righteous Path was our first priority. I had the Navigator mark the location of the beacon so we could double back at a later date. Besides, if the pilgrims starve in the meantime, it will make it easier to salvage the vessel...

The bridge crew and I agreed that we would keep the incident secret from the Missionary, Brother Mordechai, whom was praying in the Dawn Treader's giant temple at the time. No need to upset the priest with news of his stranded brethren...

However, the second development was much more interesting. The helmsman detected a second, fainter, beacon also in the vicinity. This beacon belonged to an old Imperial Naval vessel, HDMS Bounty. The cause of the wreckage was unknown, but the salvage from a Imperial warship would be simply fantastic! Unfortunately, there are more legal requirements for salvaging such hulks. I would need to procure a special Writ of Salvage from the nearest Imperial garrison.
Footfall is only a few days away and we can lobby the garrison commander for this assignation. I ordered the Navigator to mark this second way point and carry on to our destination. I have decided to make the salvage of the HDMS Bounty our next priority, after the Righteous Path, of course!


I am Lord Captain of the Dawn Treader, The Countess Lucretia Von Krak
Den Stets-Siegreichen Imperium!
 


wolff96

First Post
I like the writing style quite a bit, but I love how well the group apparently fits into the 40k mindset. "What, we're under fire? Quick, use all these civilian ships as cover while we duck into the Warp!" LOL.

I'm really enjoying this story hour.
 

Zen_Pollo

First Post
I appreciate the feedback

Thank you for your kind comments, Wolf!

Broccoli_head provides a rich set context for the game. I am new to the 40k universe, but between the GM and the other players, I slowly am learning.

I have found the link below to be a useful guideline for understanding the nuances of the world...

Warhammer 40K Wiki

Regards,
ZP

P.S. I noticed from your sig that you are from Plano, TX. Broccoli_Head and I throw dice in San Antonio!
 

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