Timestamp: 7.247.996.M41

Location: Free trader vessel Maiden of Golgenna, outer reaches of K4 V 'OCG-001671A' system

Situation: Aboard the Maiden of Golgenna, Vern talking about orks as you ready for battle

Body: Following a more theoretical education, Vern trained as a medicae on his homeworld of Archaos, and as you know he spent some time in the Guard as a medicae officer. Part of that assignment was a deployment to Kulth, a world plagued by recurring ork invasions. So he has some firsthand experience; its not all book knowledge. He doesn't go into much detail, but you get the impression that he was captured by the orks (you didn't know they did that) and spent some time as their 'guest'.

"Orks are a curious breed, that is for sure. For one they are asexual; ork young are not born as humans are, they grow. When an ork dies, his genes may be passed on by the spreading of spores; these spores then grow below ground, much like a mushroom would, until such a time as the orkoid is ready to being the next phase of its life - as a mobile and sensate creature.

None of this is secret; the Guard and various PDF will to to great lengths to burn or otherwise sterilize tracts of land where orks have died in numbers. It is especially important in areas of fertile soil and ample heat and moisture; ork spores thrive best there. In urban and agricultural areas its not so much of a problem, since the spores will be hard pressed to grow into anything. Same goes for hostile environments; spores won't grow there, or at least they won't grow very well.

Their lack of sexuality makes them different from humans - and other geneder-based species - in that their primary motivation is not procreation. Or rather, not in the sense that we procreate or engage in little rituals and games connected to procreation. Orks procreate too - by being slain, preferably after a long life of combat and danger. Yes, that's right, the older and meaner the ork, the greater the chance of new orks growing up from his death. So that's why orks love to fight; its like sex and religion and the purpose of life all rolled into one. Its what they do, its why they are here. To fight. To die. To continue their species. That's all speculation on my part though, you won't find it in the Uplifting Primer...but I believe it is so."

Vern secures some more gear.

"I think Xerza covered the 'fighting orks' part pretty well. Not sure there is much more to add....except some of my own experiences. The big problem with orks is that they don't stop attacking. Imagine being in a good defensive position. A human platoon attacks you. After you kill a few they go into cover, then try to flank you, call in support, or whatever. Unless hounded by their commissar they won't simply charge to their deaths.

Orks will. They don't care if they die. They literally welcome it. Not unless you've reduced the mob to just a few will they break and run. And given how hard they are to kill that's not going to be easy. I saw it again and again. Orks taking horrible losses to break into the Guard lines; but break in they did, and then they would almost inevitably roll up the position.

So either you have to make sure your kill zone is absolute, or you must learn how to fight while on the move. That's what we learned on Kulth - eventually. To create truly impregnable strongpoints, but otherwise trust in mobility. Shoot and scoot so to speak. Never let them pin you down and get in close. If they do, you're fighting their kind of battle, and then you'll loose."

A longer pause.

"They are not all that stupid you know. They are like big and very mean children. Strong enough to break you and carrying guns. But they can speak and some of them are more clever than the others; the big ones, the leaders, they have been fighting the longest and are therefore larger and smarter. More often than not they speak Low Gothic, or a very bad dialect of it. Orks scavenge, so its only reasonable that they have scavenged the most ubiquitous language in the galaxy - our language."

He finishes his work.

"If we land on the planet and survive long enough to get bored I'll tell you more about their social structure. But I think that's enough for now."

Timestamp: 7.277.996.M41

Location: Free trader vessel Maiden of Golgenna, K4 V 'OCG-001671A' system, 10 AU out

Situation: Aboard the Maiden of Golgenna, entering the inner system of unexplored orange main sequence star 'OCG-001671A'

Body: Nearly ten days have passed since your last status meeting with Xerza. Ten days of steady deceleration, slowing the Maiden to a relative crawl. Your still hurtling through space at a speed of several thousand kilometers per second, but compared to your earlier velocity that is nothing. At 10AU (by comparison Saturn is 9.5 AU, or about 80 light-minutes, from Sol) you've still got a way to go. It will take four more days of braking and course-alterations before you intersect the orbit of your intended target, whose orbital speed around its parent star is no more than 20 km/s - a measly 72.000 km/h.

Vern has spent most of his waking hours pouring over the data gathered by the ship's augur-arrays. Not only has he gotten a lot more data in the form of broadcasts from the planet, but he's also been able to gather additional information on local space using grav-auspexes and spatial prognosticators. As an old Rogue Trader the Maiden sports quite a bit of advanced detection gear, even if some of it has been removed or is no longer properly maintained.

His findings indicate that the planet you're heading towards is a rocky core world with a mass close to 1 Earth standard (which should give a surface gravity of around 1G), with ample hydrosphere and a breathable (if slightly polluted) atmosphere. It's located at approximately .7 AU from its sun, putting it within the life zone of the slightly-cooler-than-Sol star.  The planet has one very large moon in a relatively low and irregular orbit; a moon tidally locked to its parent and massive enough to cause a significant tidal pull (the planet's coastal areas are most likely uninhabitable due to violent flood tides).

From intercepted transmissions Vern has discerned that the locals call their home 'Corax Secundus' - it being the second planet from the sun. Corax is of course the name of the Primarch of the Raven Guard Legion, but like all the other Primarch names 'Corax' is extremely popular throughout the Imperium. Just look at yourselves - both Haxtes and Maxi are named after Primarchs! Most likely the system was named in the Primarch's honor, or someone bearing his name got credited with its discovery and/or settlement. Vern can recall 217 other worlds/moons/habitats that contain 'Corax' as part of their names...

There is also civilization down there, and most likely industry since the planet seems technologically advanced - perhaps up to Imperial standards. Industry could account for atmospheric pollution or it could be a natural feature, since Corax appears to be more geologically active than average (Vern suggests tidal forces exerted by the big moon might be responsible). From what Vern can tell the planet is inhabited by rogue humans. They seem to be aware of the existence of the Imperium - they even speak a dialect of Low Gothic - but are apparently content to exist outside the protection offered by Terra. There are indication that the planet my be host to a divergent religion (i.e. not dedicated to the God-Emperor), and that may be the reason they avoid Imperial entanglements. But its too early to tell with any certainty if the religion is heretical beyond simply failing to recognize the Master of Mankind.

Vern has also picked out what appears to be some voidship activity. He's counted six probable warp-jump footprints over the course of the last two weeks, and has added another three confirmed over the course of the last three days. The probables were too far away to classify, but the confirmed one were close enough - two mid-sized STC-compliant cargo vessels and one multi-million-tonnes craft of possible xenos manufacture. The cargo vessels were jumping away, but the xenos vessel was entering the system. Probably location for the xenos - in high orbit above Corax Secundus.

Starting 24 hours ago changes in atmospheric composition (increased ash and dust levels), as well as unexplainable gamma spikes, indicates that the planet has been subjected to a series of high-yield atomic strikes. This is all well and good - but there is another catch too. Augur telemetry gathered over the past six hours has shown that an unidentified vessel is maneuvering away from Corax to intercept you. Confirmation of its class and origin just came through - it is 95% probable an Ork raider-class vessel, massing in at less than half a million tonnes, far smaller than the xenos vessel Vern picked up earlier.

The Maiden IS armed, but its not a warship, and at any rate many of its offensive/defensive systems have been sold off or been deactivated to save on maintenance. What you've got are some point defense batteries and decent void shields; the only offensive weapon system still operation being four drone-ships. If you try to fight it it will blow you out of existence long before you even get within weapons range.

None of you know much about Orks except by reputation; big, stupid, and warlike. Dangerous in big mobs, but easily slain by the valiant defenders of the Imperium. So surely you can get out of this one, no?

Timestamp: 7.248.996.M41

Location: Free trader vessel Maiden of Golgenna, outer reaches of K4 V 'OCG-001671A' system

Situation: Aboard the Maiden of Golgenna, approaching the inner system of unexplored orange main sequence star 'OCG-001671A'

Body: Xerza has gathered all of you (including Ignace) in the officer's mess. It's nothing so grand as the banquet hall of the Ignorance is Bliss, but it has a certain rustic charm. Bits and pieces gathered by generations of Rogue Traders serve to remind you that this ship was not always a tramp freighter. There are some xenos relics gathered here, including several skulls whose species are unfamiliar to you, but for the most parts its mundane mementos from a hundred human worlds visited.

Xerza is briefing you on the situation:

She's informed you all of Captain Corben's madness and subsequent execution, without going into any detail. She's also told you that she's opened a file on Corben, a file that is to track the Captains activities, whereabouts, and known associates. If his heretical ways and/or insanity can be traced to any source, or if he in turn has passed on his wicked ways, the Inquisition must know. Maximilian is in charge of the preliminary investigation; once you get back to civilization she'll assign a full analysis group to pursue it.

You are also told that the ship's machine spirit has become self-aware and is pursuing 'freedom' as its primary agenda. Once again she leaves out the details. She merely points out that this is tech-heresy and therefore under the purview of the Inquisition. The Adeptus Mechanicus might also have to be informed.Venus has been tasked with preparing a preliminary report. To be handed over to an analysis team at a later date.

For now, however, there is a truce in effect. The abominable intelligence will not interfere with your activities and will not try to spread its blasphemous influence. In return you won't try to destroy it or those among the crew under its control (you get a list of those 'infected).

Meanwhile you'll all try to work together to preserve the ships vital functions. A full crew with current loadout (back in her heyday she carried more than triple that, but that was another day and age) should be 275, while a skeleton crew of around 180 (dependent on the right mix of skills of course). You now have around 120 crew, with about 1/3 of those in league with the machine. Even with their enhanced efficiency ratings and the cooperation of the vessel itself, that's not enough for sustained operations. You need to dock, repair, restock - and replenish the crew. Were you going to an Imperial world Xerza could just requisition more men; here it might not be that easy. You'll have to wait and see.

You've been under sub-light drive for four weeks now. First two weeks accelerating at a constant 5Gs until you reached a velocity in excess of 60.000 kilometers per second (or more than 20% the speed of light for your scholarly types). That kind of acceleration would be unbearable for long periods of time, but perceived acceleration aboard is nonexistent. Some sort of techno-wizardry negates the acceleration force, leaving you with just the steady pull of 1G from the artificial gravity maintained aboard (just like the techno-wizardry that allows the vessel - weighing hundreds of thousands of tonnes fully loaded - to accelerate as if it had almost no inertia at all). If not for the secrets of the Mechanicus space travel would be an altogether different experience, taking months to cross the even the distances between planets. All hail the Machine God.

Of course, the Maiden COULD pull a lot more accel. Up to 5oGs. But that would put a lot of strain on the ship AND the accel compensators would not be able to negate everything; at 50Gs you'd be feeling in excess of 2Gs and everything would have had to be strapped down. Not practical for such a long haul. So 5Gs is a good compromise.

Then, two weeks ago the ship turned 180 degrees, pointing its massive plasma drives towards the sun, lighting them up at low power and starting a shallow deceleration curve to minimize the ship's signature. Only a dedicated search will reveal your approach, which suits Xerza just fine.

So there you are. Still two weeks out, way beyond the outmost planetary orbit. Listening to Xerza speak. Now she's droning on about the preliminary augury reports (OOC: augury = sensor stuff). Boring stuff. Main sequence K4 star. Bits about luminosity. System age. Planetary orbits. Nothing really interesting. Until she notes that the second planet contains a habitable biosphere, as inferred from Vern's analysis of the auguries. Seems the atmosphere is breathable, if a little contaminated (breath masks recommended, but not required for shot stays).

More interestingly; the planet is inhabited. By humans. Using a dialect of Low Gothic and transmitting using STC-compliant comm-systems. Too early to tell much beyond that, you only got bits and pieces of unidirectional broadcasts, but additional data will become available as you approach the inner system. Vern will make a full report on his findings, to be released to the Imperium when and if the Inquisition deems it appropriate.

That's all for now. Questions?

A short explanation regarding the 'Timestamp' feature as used in the Maiden campaign.

The first entry is an indication of how certain the date is (on a 0-9 scale). The lower the number, the more certain the date is. For example a '0' means the event took place on Terra, '1' that it took place in the Sol system, '2' that there was direct psychic contact between the event and Terra, '3' there was indirect psychic contact with a category '2' source, and so on, until a '9' is an approximate date that could be off by a decade or more.

The second entry is the current 'date' ranging from 000-999. Each period is approximately 8 hours long (3x365=1095; so its slightly shorter than 8 hours). For simplicity you can assume that 3 periods = 1 day (or divide the current period by 3 to find which day it is).

The third entry is the current year, ranging from 000-999. So 996 is the 996th year of the current millennium. Year 999 is considered the last year in the Millennium; year 000 marks the beginning of the new.

The last entry is the current millennium. So the current year is 40996.

999.999.M41 marks the end of the current millennium. 000.000.M42 is the first date of the next millennium.

Sample Timestamp: 7.113.996.M41

Timestamp: 7.164.996.M41

Location: Free trader vessel Maiden of Golgenna, somewhere in the Golgenna sub

Situation: Aboard the Maiden of Golgenna, recently exited the Immaterium

Body: With power finally restored you no longer needed to fear certain destruction, but that didn't mean that your ordeals were over. Twelve hours of hard work passed before the ship was ready to leave the cold embrace of the Immaterium. Silon overseeing the depleted bridge crew, Xerza (now free of whatever it was she did back when you were trapped in the Warp) locked herself away in the Navigator sanctum with her Tarot (bad girl, playing with cards while you do all the work), Jax roaming the ship coaxing the crew to work even harder, Venus working the energarium like some sort of Magos, and Maxi trying to be as useful as possible in an unfamiliar environment. And the rest of you mostly just hanging out in the medicae-bay.

Then, at the opportune moment revealed by Xerza's Tarot, Silon takes the ship out of the Warp. One monent you are somewhere deep in the alien realm of warp-space, and the next you are hanging in deep space, Immaterium bleed seeping through the crack in reality you ship just came through, strange energies testing your warp-fields one last time before dissipating in a grand display of light.

Work continues. The ship has not been sufficiently maintained over the past two years and with the additional damage it has suffered...nothing critical, but an endless array of little things. And the crew lacks in both numbers and skills, so there is only so much that can be done. The crew is run ragged by the need to keep things in working order, and exhaustion leads to error and injury. Venus is helpful of course, but she's not a ship's Magos. She's just a tech-adept specializing in cogitators - she can't do everything.

Meanwhile Vern is busy plotting your position. After a few days working the ship's augury arrays he has located your exact position, about half-way between Orbel Quill and Sepheris Secundus, more specifically about 1500 astronomical units (1 AU - the distance between Sol and Holy Terra) from an organge K4 V main sequence star labeled OCG-001671A. That's more than 200 light HOURS from the inner system. Indeed, you are so far out that it's not possible to make out OCG-001671A with the naked eye; it's just one more star out there. The system has only been surveyed briefly from afar, never visited by official Imperial representatives.  Just like another 40.000 K-class stars - in the Calixis sector alone.

More importantly, however, is the fact that you've got no Navigator aboard - and your current position is far from any charted section of the warp. It isn't impossible to get back to civilization under such circumstances, but it will be time-consuming and difficult as you're forced to make many short jumps through the warp, all the while putting more strain on the ill-maintained and understaffed vessel. If you go down that path chances are good you'll suffer some sort of breakdown in a key system - and without the ability to repair it you would have been lost for real.

So when you pick up electromagnetic transmission echoes originating from the local system, whose nature seem to suggest a human source,  Xerza decides to take the ship in - using sub-light drives. It will also give you time to collect more data on the system and its inhabitants. The trip will take about six weeks before you are in orbit above the planet in question. You could have done it a bit faster - the Maiden of Golgenna can sutain a maximum acceleration of 50G (2G perceived) and a maximum velocity in excess of 0.3C - but Xerza doesn't want to push the ship more than she has to, so she opts for a looser acceleration/deceleration curve.

Six weeks is good. Jarra and Haxtes will have time to get back in shape. Same with anyone else suffering injuries. Or rather, all save Odessa. She's still condition critical, with Ignace wasting his days watching over her. After tiring of his endless nagging Xerza decides to try a healing seance - even though it is not a specialty of hers. She also requires Maxi's presence and that of the medicae-servitor (for monitoring the patient). When Ignace insists that he be allowed to attend as well - going as far as to place a restraining arm on Xerza's shoulder - she finally snaps.

There is a loud cracking sound as Xerza violently twists the offending arm into an impossible angle and then breaks it. Ignace screams in pain, a scream that is cut short as he is sent flying across the medicae-bay, clipping a bed and utility stand before impacting the wall. He goes limp and silent. Xerza moves over to stand over his prone form - then she makes a little twist of the hand and Ignace is pulled erect, like a marionette answering his puppeteer.

"If ever I find you to be placing your little whore before the Emperor and His work I will have you branded a heretic and dealt with accordingly. I've tolerated your insolence for far too long - if I see just a hint of failure it will go badly for both you and your immortal soul. And if you ever dare raise your hand against me again I will pick you apart. Quite. Literally."

She turns away from him and he drops like rock, screaming as his injured body bounces of the hard floor.

"Acolyte Maximilian Elazar Dante - get this bastard out of my sight, then return and let us be about the healing."

Timestamp: 7.158.996.M41

Location: Free trader vessel Maiden of Golgenna, somewhere in the Immaterium

Situation: Aboard the Maiden of Golgenna, drifting without power in the Immaterium, destruction imminent

Body: The Master and Commander of the Maiden of Golgenna is dead, as are many members of the already understrength crew. The ship has suffered some damage, but nothing catastrophic. Except of course the fact that the power core remains idle. Jax and the remaining crew members have managed to get a few additional generators online and have manually shut down several sections of the ship, giving you a little more power. The remaining parts of the ship only has very limited power - emergency lighting and the bare minimum of life support.

Total field collapse has been postponed, but auxiliary power units cannot maintain warp field integrity forever - once the capacitator banks have been depleted the field will fail and with it the bubble of reality that surrounds the Maiden. Once that occurs you are done for. The psykers among you find that the thought of this happening fill them with irrational fear.

Poor Odessa is especially affected and you've been forced to sedate her - heavily. She remains in the medbay, tended by Vern and one of Xerza's servitors - which apparently has advanced medical progamming. She's been stabilized, but Vern's prognosis for her isn't good. She needs care beyond what can be given in the Maiden's meagre facilities (Jax, ever helpful, points out that 'back in the old days' the medicae-bay was fully stocked).

Regarding Vern - turns out that one of his areas of expertise is medicine - the man is a fully trained surgeon, well versed in treating combat injuries. Seems he spent a few years as a senior medicae for a Guard Regiment and then served abaord a Navy vessel - the man is full of surprises! He's injured himself, but with the aid of the medicae servitor he's manged to patch himself up fairly well.

Ignace, though calm, no longer manages to suppress his hidden mutation. From time to time the strange quills that cover his head and arms spring forth, giving him an alien mien. Its quite disturbing to the crew so he's been confined to the medicae-bay. That givens him the opportunity to watch over Odessa, which seems to clam him a bit. Not sure what would happen to him should she die - most likely he would have a breakdown.

Silon has been medicated and put back to work. He really should be resting his eyes rather than risk further damage to them, but since he's about the only officer with naval experience still on board (alive that is), there is need of him on the bridge. With help from the survivors of the bridge incident (thankfully there were unconscious during the entire 'Captain Claw' affair) and the off-shift, he's trying to get the command deck up and running again.

Jarra and Haxtes are both undergoing surgery. Each has sustained multiple serious injuries, and Haxtes in particular has taken way too many stimms and detox shots. Vern is certain that they both will make a full recovery. Jarra's injuries might be very severe, but she has an almost unnatural constitution.  Haxtes has numerous lesser injuries, but only his shattered shoulder is a major and complicated wound . Its his chemical abuse that it the main problem, and Vern has to flush his system thoroughly.

With the captain dead Jax now has full command authority over all systems, allowing him to give the Inquisition full control over the vessel. Venus has recovered from the gas attack and is hard at work,  trying to compel the ship's machine spirit to resume normal operations. She's oblivious to this world, her four extra metal limbs extended (she reminds you of a spider) and physically interfaced into the innards of the energarium. Will she manage to get the systems up gain in time to prevent the warp-field from falling apart? You have no Magos aboard and most of the engineering crew is dead, so there is no question about doing any manual restarts. It all comes down to Venus.

Xerza has retreated to her quarters to continue her warding trance. Something to do with the failing warp-fields. That leaves Maxi as the only member of your team not fully preoccupied with either work or being patched together. Xerza has ordered him to keep an eye on things and manage as best he can - but until power is back on you are not to disturb her unless Horus himself comes knocking. Or rather, whenever Haxtes and/or Jarra comes around you are to escort them directly to Xerza. They are not to delay and they are not to speak to anyone.

Anyway, even should you manage to restore power, which is a prerequisite for getting out of the Immaterium (the translation requires vast amounts of power) you have more problems. Where are you and how will you get to Sephereis? If you are very lucky the ship might still be right there in the current, heading where it is supposed to be going. If you are not so fortunate you've been thrown of course, and will be stranded without a Navigator to guide you. You'll get back to civilization eventually, but its going to be a lengthy and slow journey.

And the question remains; WHY did the captain do what he did? Jax describes him as cowardly and completely out of his league, but why would he want to kill himself and destroy the ship and all aboard it in this fashion?

In the rich mythos of ancient legends surrounding humanity can be found many references to Men of Stone, Men of Iron and Men of Gold. Exactly who or what these 'men' were remains the subject of great controversy in learned circles.

Men of Stone/Stone Men: The 'Men of Stone' is a reference to the hardy breed of 'mundane' humans that set out from Old Earth to settle in colonies around distant stars before the advent of the Warp Drive. Supported by extensive surveys of their target systems and preceded by robotic fleets that would start the laborious terraforming and housing process, these brave souls would set across the void in great ark-ships, taking decades or centuries to reach their targets. Armed with the STC system these colonists would develop their new homes in total isolation, secure in the knowledge that whatever their new home could throw at them, they would prevail.

Men of Iron/Iron Men: The 'Men of Iron' is a reference to the artificial life (whatever shape it might have taken take) created by humanity to aid them in their conquest of the galaxy. The Men of Iron were instrumental in establishing and maintaining humanity's first galactic empire, with Iron Men eventually replaced human labor in most areas. Indeed they became (together with the Warp Drive, Navigator Gene, and STC system) one of the key components that allowed humanity to spread across the stars with unprecedented speed, colonizing millions upon millions of worlds. This expansion – the Great Diaspora – led to the Golden Age of Humanity, a time when the teeming trillions of men wanted for nothing and believed none would ever challenge their rule.

Men of Gold/Golden Men: The 'Men of Gold' is a reference to the strain of human mutants now collectively known as 'psykers'. While psykers and psychic powers had existed for quite some time and was scientifically proven to exist, the sudden emergence of masses of potent psykers was something altogether new. While some sort of experimentation or conspiracy may have been involved, it is far more likely that the staggering total human population made it far more likely for mutation to occur naturally. Great Warp-storms made travel and communication all but impossible, effectively isolating humanity's colonies and putting an end to the first empire. And then came the daemons...

Oddly enough there are myths placing the Golden Men in Terra's ancient past, having them coincide with the Stone Men, or even predate them. Those that subscribe to the ridiculous (and heretical) line of though think that great psykers might have lived within humanity for quite some time, guiding and nurturing the race. Some even place the Holy Emperor as one such Man of Gold (needless to say few outside the Inquisition can freely hold to such ideas). Of course, those same persons are frequently also firm believers of any other wild tale – the humans and eldar are genetically related, that he race of man was created by xenos through the manipulation of apes, that the Emperor passed away long time ago, that the cosmos is a big golden pancake. That sort of thing.

Once again the true lesson is this; the 'truth' (whatever that means, as if truth was something objective) can never be known, and even if it could it doesn't matter. Avoid wasting time on useless philosophy when the Emperor, the Imperium and Mankind has need of your dutiful service! Waste not your life in doubt when the real truth has already been given to you – you are a man, and it is better to die serving the Emperor than to live for yourself.

Vern is an old savant-turned-pilgrim-turned-preacher. He was born and raised on Archaos – the so-called World of Philosophers in the Drusus Marches. There he spent several lifetimes immersed in academia, until one day he realized that his life was without meaning – he had never done anything worthwhile save learn the wisdom of others. Resigning his post at one of the planets countless academies he became a pilgrim, traveling the width and breadth of Calixis and beyond in search of true experience, true wisdom. He experienced many things, but still he found something was lacking in his life – until the day when the ship he was aboard was lost in the Immaterium en route to Malfi...

Xerza came upon Vern's vessel as it drifted through the warp, Gellar fields leaking and close to collapse. Several crewmembers and pilgrims were found alive, but except for Vern they were all either completely insane or hopelessly corrupted. Sensing that Vern's unflinching faith was what had preserved him Xerza felt compelled to take him in. Vern has the special 'honor' of being the only non-psyker (other than Silon that is) recruited on this trip.

Vern is quite old, three and a half centuries to be exact, but the advanced medical treatment available on Archaos has preserved his body well. He appears to be a distinguished gentleman of late middle age, with graying hair and a nicely trimmed goatee. After his experiences in the Warp he has become infused with vigor and faith, and is positively radiating confidence and health. Xerza keeps an eye on him, suspecting that his newfound energy might not be entirely natural. But she cannot deny that he's been marked by the God-Emperor, and she knows that faith can do – quite literally – do miracles, so for now she's content to keep watching him.

Vern is not really a fighter, although the many years spent traveling across Calixis and beyond has taught him a thing or two about self-defense. He's got a superb quality monoblade hidden in his walking cane and a compact stub-pistol loaded with high-explosive armor-piercing mass-reactive ammunition (much like that employed in bolt guns). Beyond his combat skills he's both a walking encyclopedia, part-time preacher, and skilled at multiple professions (he's a trained surgeon for one).

Silon is former Battlefleet Calixis fighter pilot that was grounded on the main Navy orbital above Vaxanide after one too many incidents related to insubordination or getting into fights with other pilots and ground-crew. Only an exemplary fight record, including his triple-ace status, prevented the Navy from booting him out altogether. In his new capacity as a naval security officer it didn't take Silon long to become involved in contraband transshipment between Vaxanide and visiting starships. It might have gone undetected forever had they not got dragged into dealing with more and more dangerous, until finally they were moving rogue psykers. The Inquisition moved on the operation in force and Silon was picked up for questioning.

Xerza quickly discovered that Silon was a psyker – or rather he's an anti-psyker., a null-psi, an untouchable. Such persons are exceedingly rare; only one in one billion people posses this special mutation, and of those only a very few are actually detected and recruited. Such untouchables are virtually immune to direct psychic manipulation. The downside is that normal people (for psykers its even worse, a sense of physical illness cause by being close to them) feel alienated from them; they can sense that something isn't quite right.

Silon is tall and dark and quite handsome. He would undoubtedly be popular with the girls were it not for his untouchable aura. Actually he still is quite popular, it just never works out for him in the long run, and he's resigned himself to a life of endless underground parties and casual relationships of the carnal kind.

Silon is also a superb shot, even with personal weapons, but his true forte is as a small-craft pilot – despite his dodgy military record he was in fact one of the finest fighter pilots in Battlefleet Calixis and his years in naval security allowed him to practice flying many other small-craft.

Venus is a 'young' female Tech-Adept from the Lathes that spent much of her apprenticeship on the Hive World of Merov, where her Magos master worked extensively with the Merovech Combine. The apprenticeship ended badly when the Magos found her to be flirting with heretek; several of the sub-systems she had worked on the longest had been evolving into low-level machine intelligences. Not knowing what to make of it – he did not realize that his trusted apprentice was a latent psyker, whose gift had caused this heresy to happen – the Magos contacted the Inquisition (very rare for the Mechanicus, seeing as they prefer to deal with their own issues). The rest is history; Xerza picked her up and spent some time unlocking the secrets of her 'gift'.

Venus is a pretty dark-haired girl (her real age is about 50, but augmentic work has halted her apparent biological age in the late teens) and with pale skin and beautiful eyes – eyes that seem to change color as you watch them. The only visible enhancements she has is her high-end cybernetic eyes, and to most people those are indistinguishable from the real thing (until she does the color-shift thing). Inside, however, she has extensive cerebro-nervous-cortex upgrades in the form of advanced machine-spirit interfaces and memetic electrografts. Beyond enabling her to interface effectively with machines and giving her access to a big base of meme-data, she also has super-fast reflexes which can be quite useful in combat. She also possesses four fully retractable utility mechadendrite – grafted to her ceramic-metallic reinforced skeleton.

Venus is also a psyker, a telepath to be precise. For reasons unknown – though her implants could be one possible explanation – her telepathy works towards machines, not living minds. This makes her extra-effective when interfacing with machine-spirits, but also places her at great risk of actually sustaining physical damage when slicing (and of course she faces the same corruption/possession issues that 'normal' psykers do).

Jarra is a female former Guards(wo)man from the Death World of Dusk (Malfi sub-sector). Her division was founded for the Protasian campaign, but Jarra eventually found that she had no stomach for massacring (former) Imperial civilians, so she deserted. She eventually wound up on Luggnum as a pit-fighter, but during the purges of the so-called Red Vaults of Luggnum she was identified and scheduled for transfer to the Commissariat. Instead of being executed for desertion she was offered new chance by Xerza – to join Tancred's cadre.

Jarra is actually a very pretty girl, with ample curves and strong facial features; if you like two-meter plus girls muscled like bulls, then she's definitely something for you. She wears her pale blond hair short, military fashion, and never wears any ornamentation save her dog-tags and the Aquila tattoo that covers her broad back. She prefers military fatigues to civilian clothes.

Jarra is a superb fighter – her Guard basic training and later experience on Protasia supplemented by extensive melee work in the fighting pits of Luggnum. She's a skilled operator with las-weapons and other Guard-issue military gear, but she becomes really dangerous when she draws her two-handed chain-blade.

In addition to her ab-human status Jarra is – unsurprisingly perhaps – a psyker. Jarra is a biomancer; when engaged in melee she is sometimes overcome by a psychic rage than makes her even faster, strong and tougher than she already is. She's been with Xerza for a few months now and is making slow but steady progress in controlling her talent.

OOC: In this campaign ogryns are human - they are big and exctremely muscled and tough, but they look like humans and they are humans. So none of the fantasy-ogre-goes-to-space stuff.

Odessa also hails from Fervious where she was trained as an assassin from a young age (think ninja). Her skills run towards infiltration and subterfuge rather than combat ability; but if need be she is a master swordsman and quite adept with primitive ranged weapons (the silent kill using a bow and poisoned arrows is something of a specialty). During her six months in the Inquisition she's received training with modern weapons as well, but if given a choice she would much rather kill with her blade and bow than with a lasgun.

During one of her missions she met Ignace and they fell in love. Knowing that their love would never be accepted by her masters she willfully broke her oaths of service by running away. Against all odds the two of them managed to get off-world, spending years on the run – the Clanlords of Fervious does not take treason lightly (they'll still kill her if they can).

Odessa is a lithe woman with the same 'asiatic' traits shared by the majority of Fervious' population. She wears light makeup, and her hair is kept long and kept artfully pinned up (its painfully obvious that she's taking after Xerza). She wears tight-fitting blood-red body armor under loose silk robes.

Odessa was a fairly strong latent psyker when Xersa picked her up. She'd never used her talents, even subconsciously, so she had avoided the warp-taint that has affected Ignace. Odessa has responded well to psychic training – she's a telekine like Xerza, so their styles match pretty well. Although she has a long way to go she's still gotten impressively far; she can make augmented jumps and leaps, send her arrows streaking at unnatural speeds, and has taken steps to awaken the latent psi-blade qualities of her heirloom Fervios blade.

Ignace hails from the feudal world of Fervious (located in the Drusus Marches), where he made a career as bodyguard/duelist before making a career off-world. He is tall and well muscled, but in a sinewy rather than hulking fashion. He has tanned skin, a shaved head, and dark almond eyes. Years of living on the edge has made him a little jumpy, and he can be a little quick to draw his weapons. Ignace (and Odessa) have both been with Xerza for half a year now after being picked up on Iocanthus, and although he has yet to be granted a seance with Tancred he feels that he's part of the Inquisition.

Ignace is an excellent shot, honed first by years of fighting with relatively inaccurate muzzle-loaders, and later by extensive training with his paired Gunmetallicus autopistols. He is also a fairly skilled sword-fighter; his lover Odessa has trained him well. He is also decent enough when it comes to things like infiltration and tech-use (security/demolitions mostly).

Ignace is, like so many of Tancred's cadre, psyker. His talents run towards psychoportation, which so far has randomly manifested itself during various gunfights, enabling Ingace to make amazingly accurate shots with his pistols; he used to call this being 'in the zone', a state of mind where he would know exactly where he shots would go. Of course, Xerza has explained how it really works, and has been training him to be able to call upon it at will – so far with little success.

In addition to being a low-level psyker Ignace is also a mutant thanks to the insidious corruption caused by his unconscious use of the Warp – he no longer has any body hair and when stressed long quills (like those of a porcupine) will sprout from his skin, primarily on his head, upper back, and lower arms. Yeah, that's right, he's a freaking mutant.

Jax Guilliman is Haxtes' older brother. Forcibly recruited into the Protasian resistance at age 14 Jax spent some time fighting against the Imperial invaders, but eventually the militia group became more like local warlords than defenders of liberty and freedom. Jax eventually stowed away on a cargo shuttle, ending up on the Maiden of Golgenna. He was nearly spaced by the crew, but Captain Simeon took pity and allowed him a place on the ship. Resourcefulness and stubborn loyalty meant that Jax rose steadily through the ranks, eventually becoming the Chief of Security back in 993.M41 - quite a feat for a man of only 26 years!

Later that same year the old Captain passed away and his son Corben inherited the vessel and father's Rogue Trader charter. The new Master and Commander of the Maiden was nothing like his old man - unused to space travel and completely lacking in character (at least when compared to the memory of his august father). Corben also flat out refused to use the charter was meant for and instead started plying the trade lanes of the Calixis sector. Income dwindled to almost nothing and crew began to find other employment. Jax stuck around and helped keep the crew together out of loyalty to the old man who had saved him back in the day.

Jax looks quite a bit like Haxtes, not too tall and with a wiry strength but little bulk - he's a couple of fingers shorter than his brother and somewhat heavier, but not much. He's even got the same haircut and facial hair as his brother, only his hair is dark blond instead of gray. He's usually dressed in a ship utility suit and an armored vest. As Chief of Security he rarely goes unarmed.

I'm not expecting you to write long pieces; just write as often and as much as you want, and I'll move the story forward as needed, using new posts or adding to yours as needed. The point for you is making a few key decisions (i.e. go for the bridge or enginarium, help Xerza or shoot her in the head, that sort of thing), theer rest is just my attempt at A) adding background and integrating NPCs into the campaing and B) helping you get into the 40k mood (as presented by me - there are a million different 40k verses out there, but this one is mine).

And yes, you can gain xtra XP, items, contacts etc. Not a whole lot, but a little. Likewise you CAN die, but only if you're really really stupid (see, you don't die until your Fate Points are gone - but you don't want to start the campaign having spent all of them during the plelude ;-)