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My website is having real trouble at the moment with me editing my wiki, so I can't add in and update my fluff, so I thought I would post it here for some C&C in the mean time.

The fluff at the moment deals with the "public" information about The Argentum Group (the trading group which operates the 1st Argentum Drop Regiment) and its founder. I also have about a page or so of the "secret" history of the group, which I may or may not post, depending on interest, as it is not finished yet.

So, here it goes:

The Argentum group is a large deep space mining and manufacturing conglomerate operating on the Eastern Fringe which maintains a large fleet of ships dedicated to seeking out mineral rich asteroids in deep space and uncharted systems. It also enjoys a profitable contract with the Adepts of Mars to supply astronomical information as well as any artefacts that may be recovered during their operations, as well as the steady flow of minerals and material required for their forge worlds.


The Argentum Group
Corporate Information Statement:
Founded in 756.M39 when the Rogue Trader Argēeis Argentum used his profits from trading technological artefacts with the Adepts of Mars to buy out several stellar mining companies around the Eastern Fringe and immediately began to build up a fleet of mining vessels to harvest the rich deposits of mineral wealth scattered throughout the interstellar void.

In the first 20 years alone, Argentum Mining almost quintupled its yearly profits and bought out another 6 mining companies and secured numerous contracts with the Imperial Guard and Navy, as well as the holy machine men of Mars.

The result of this aggressive expansion meant over the next 50 years Argentum Mining incorporated another 161 mining companies, as well as buying outright several star systems to act as bases for the vast fleet of mining and support ships which is the bedrock of Argentum Mining’s success, making it the cornerstone of Argēeis Argentum’s trade empire.

In 920.M39, knowing his death was close, Argēeis Argentum contacted several of his most senior mining and trade captains (many of which were his own sons, daughters and grand/great grandchildren), as well as a number of notable Rogue Traders interested in an invitation to share a stake in the company.

After only a single week of negotiations, the Rogue Traders signed over their merchant fleets and other assets to Argēeis Argentum in return for seats on the board of the newly created Argentum Group alongside the mining and trade captains from Argentum Mining.

On his death in 930.M39, Argēeis Argentum was one of the wealthiest private industrialists in the sector.

In the 2000 years since its founding, the Argentum Group has become one of the largest private mining and manufacturing conglomerates in the Imperium and provides for the entire raw materials need of over 20 forge worlds, as well as having a substantial manufacturing base of its own, mostly providing new mining ships, deep space habitats, and the AG pattern Valkyrie Assault Carrier and AG pattern Vendetta Gunship used by its security forces and exported to selected specialist guard regiments and other Imperial forces.

Today the Argentum Group comprises of 30 inhabited company worlds (total population 19 billion - all Argentum Group employees), with it’s headquarters on Schimmer Prime (named after the mother of Argēeis Argentum), exclusive mining rites in over 400 inhabited and uninhabited star systems and has holdings in a number of other related industrial concerns and star systems and operates throughout the entire Eastern Fringe.

In total the Argentum Group employs over 23 billion people and contributes approximately 0.028% of all raw materials used in the heavy construction and manufacturing sectors throughout the Imperium, a considerable achievement for a single corporate entity.

As well as its heavy mining activities, the Argentum Group also maintains a large trading and exploration fleet which have become a familiar sight on many worlds within the Easter Fringe (and even beyond) and indeed has become the life blood of trade throughout the region.

Exploration groups sent out to chart new mineral deposits and star systems have also directly lead to a number of lost human colonies rejoining the fold to become faithful servants of the Emperor, as well as bringing back important astrometric data and even technological artefacts, which have been gratefully received by our friends and partners, the Adepts of Mars.

But the Argentum Group is not complacent, it is forever watchful for the enemies of the Imperium: Indeed, the Argentum Group even supplies a tithe of the elite of its security forces to the Imperial Guard. The Argentum 1st Drop Regiment have been active throughout the Imperium on continuous duty for over 1500 years.

Specialising in orbital combat and rapid strike deployment, the regiment have seen combat in almost every major theatre of war, often at the forefront of any campaign. Their expertise in seizing orbital defences, fortified asteroids and even enemy ships has rendered them highly sought after in the initial stages of conflicts where the enemy has a heavy presence in space.

However, the regiment is not confined to operating solely in space and has gained immortality amongst its fellow guards regiments for daring aerial insertions in the heat of battle and of their unmatched ability to seize and maintain vital objectives in the face of any odds.

The Argentum Group is proud to be able to boast of over two millennia of profitable dedication to the Imperial Cause against the twin threats of the enemy without, and the war of keeping the Imperium supplied with the resources vital to its continued success.


Argēeis Argentum - Public Records Information
Born in 690.M39 to his Rogue Trader father, Plata Argentum, and the 1st officer of the flagship of his small 13 ship trading fleet, Megan Schimmer, Argēeis Argentum was raised on the space ways. Always eager to explore, he was often to be found crawling through the maintenance areas of his father’s ship as a child.

Even as a teenager his wanderlust did not leave him, and he was often left in charge of the fleets small scout ship (for he was an expert pilot from a very young age) to explore valuable looking asteroids and planetoids while the rest of the fleet conducted trade negotiations at the local planetary markets.

Through his early and mid 20’s he developed almost a 6th sense over where the best strikes were to be found and very rarely came back from his trips empty handed. The potential value of his gift was not lost on his father, who invested in a small, 5 man mining surveyor and gifted it to his son for his 28th birthday. By the age of 30, his son had built up his own fortunes selling information on mineable asteroids to the point where he could afford to purchase his own mining ship. Within the year he had expanded his fleet to 3 vessels and sought permission from his father to enter into full partnership with his fathers trading fleet.

This mutually beneficial arrangement netted the pair a respectable fortune and continued until his father’s death in 734.M39. Named the sole inherritor of his father’s fleet (his mother had died some time earlier during a botched attack by a pirate vessel of unknown origin and he had no known siblings), he accepted the mantle of Rogue Trader and sold his mining fleet and provisioned his ships for a long voyage before disappearing almost totally.

For the next 20 years he roamed the Eastern Fringes, his small fleet only rarely making contact with the Imperium, often bringing with them bizarre alien technology, as well as artefacts from the Dark Age of Technology, selling them on before vanishing back into the depths between the stars.

It is not known exactly where and when Argēeis acquired the wealth and power he was to display upon his purchase of the mining companies and the formation of Argentum Mining in 756.M39 (at the age of 66) but it is speculated that at least some of his fortune derived from the selling of a number of unique artefacts direct to the Adepts of Mars.

His reappearance on the public stage with the formation of Argentum Mining was unexpected. Few had heard of this enigmatic Rogue Trader and his takeover of several struggling mining corporations took many by surprise. Though perhaps what was more surprising was their almost immediate transformation into some of the most profitable mining operations in the subsectors they were located in.

Using his personal cadre of Astropaths, Argēeis disappeared back into space, managing his companies remotely as he continued to explore the Eastern Fringe. With his appearance into the public eye, a flood of messages arrived on the desk of Argentum Mining claiming to be from sons, daughters and wives and mistresses of Argēeis, all seeking some form of compensation from the absent father.

Whilst not unusual (for what woman can resist the charms of an apparently wealthy and quite good looking Rogue Trader?), what was unusual was how Argēeis dealt with the situation. Instead of ignoring the claims, he dispatched ships to verify the claims. Any which were genuine resulted in the offer of a job for the offspring, either working within Argentum Mining, the Argentum Trading Fleet, or more rarely within Argēeis’s far more exclusive exploration fleet.

With ever increasing success of his mining company (possibly fuelled by his even more profitable exploration fleet: Argēeis‘s almost supernatural ability to find the location of the most valuable object in any given area of space certainly contributing to this profit), he began delegating more and more of the responsibilities of his office on his most able sons and daughters, as well as anyone else in his employ who showed promise.

It was due to their combined efforts that Argentum Mining was in a position to expand so dramatically in the 164 years following its formation and to form the Argentum Group in 920.M39.

Upon his death in 930.M39 (aged 240), Argēeis Argentum was one of the wealthiest private industrialists in the sector. If he were alive today he would be considered one of the wealthiest men in the history of mankind.

Over his lifetime, it is believed that he contributed to the rediscovery of several human worlds and technologies. It is even rumoured that he built up a secret stash of technological artefacts which helped him to achieve the heights that he did, although this has never been proven.


The Argentum 1st Drop Regiment
Foundation: 293.M40
Homeworld: Worlds and fleets of the Argentum Group, Eastern Fringe (Headquarters located on Schimmer Prime)
Colours: Dark grey fatigues, light grey body armour, blue trim. Orange location markers.
Speciality: Low/zero gravity combat. Anti-starship and drop combat.
Strength: 1 Regiment. 3 Companies. Approximately 3000 men at arms.


Regimental Background:
Not being tied to recruitment from a single planet (there are 19 star systems currently entirely owned by the Argentum Group) and with a large number of warp capable starships, the Argentum Group is able to recruit from amongst families contracted to multi-generational life time employment serving on the large number starships and installations it maintains and is also able to draw from the members of the vast number of decedents of the Argentum family line.

Employing over 23 billion people, the Argentum Group maintains a large standing army and fleet to protect their claims, equipment and employees. This force is deployed within its several thousand ships and installations scattered across the Eastern Fringe. From these forces is drawn the 1st Argentum Drop Regiment, the cream of the Argentum Group's security forces. These soldiers come almost exclusively from the Exploration Branch of the Argentum Group's security forces, and it is a minimum requirement for entry into the regiment to have served for at least 1 year in the Exploration Branch prior to selection.

Because of its large area of operation and fleet of independent ships, the Argentum Group is able to keep it's forces singularly well supplied and up to strength, no matter on where it is operating.

The Argentum 1st Drop Regiment have been active throughout the Imperium on continuous duty for over 1500 years.

Specialising in orbital combat and rapid strike deployment, the regiment have seen combat in almost every major theatre of war, often at the forefront of any campaign. Their expertise in seizing orbital defences, fortified asteroids and even enemy ships has rendered them highly sought after in the initial stages of conflicts where the enemy has a heavy presence in space.

However, the regiment is not confined to operating solely in space and has gained immortality amongst its fellow guard regiments for daring aerial insertions in the heat of battle and of their unmatched ability to seize and maintain vital objectives in the face of any odds.

In return for this tithe of elite and specialist soldiers, the Argentum Group receive preferential contracts and mining rights within Imperial Space.

To make sense of this next section, I will give a little bit of background on The Spiral.

It is the basis of the fortunes and relative technological advancement of the Argentum Group and their forces. A giant metal sphere constantly moving through deep space, on its surface a single giant door, behind which is contained a single corridor which spirals into the sphere the height and bredth of a large battle cruiser. The corridor appears to defy the constraints of natural order, continuing on for a seemingly infinate distance, rather than meeting the far side of the sphere.

Lining the corridor are a vast number of doors, covering every inch of the walls, floor and ceiling of the corridor; ranging in size from a few inches in height, to doors that actually comprise entire sections of the vast corridor.

Behind each door is a pocket of reality (or even entire dimensions, gateways to remote places and times, etc). From these doorways the fortunes of the Argentum Group have come. Also many dangers. Hence the heavy contingent of guards and soldiers the company empolys.


Pandora’s Spiral

++ 737.M39 – Eastern Fringes of the known galaxy ++

The exploration vessel “Pandora’s Reach” glided through the warp, its sleek hull being pulled through the strange realm it inhabited, a tiny bubble of reality in an otherwise chaotic universe.

Navigator Hesiod frowned as the strange currents swirling before his third eye unfolded within his mind, resolving in various colours, smells and touches. “Captain”, he said, “There is something different about this area of the warp… it might be interesting to see if there is a real space reason for the currents I am experiencing.”

Rogue Trader Argēeis Argentum stirred in his command chair and nodded, ordering his navigator aboard to drop out of the immaterium, back into real space. So many of his most profitable discoveries had been made by paying attention to the behaviour of the warp, and his navigator was good at determining what could be considered strange in this already strange dimension. They had already fought against strong warp currents to get this far, his navigator describing the region of the warp they were traversing to resemble almost a ships void shields, keeping out all but the most determined attacker. Argēeis was keen to discover what lay within.

The small vessel tore back into reality, its compact hull immediately bristling with weapons and sensors as they slid from their protective housings.

The small holo-table came erratically to light and showed the bridge crew the sensor returns coming back from the surrounding space. Argēeis’s eyes opened in horror at what he saw.

“Full hard burn, course 778.25! Engage anti-particle lasers!”

The ship juddered slightly as the engines ignited and the distant sound of the close range laser defence system rapidly cycling reverberated through the hull, as well as the crashing and banging of pieces of debris that the laser was too slow to target as they impacted on the hull.

Pandora’s Reach burst through the debris cloud of the comet it had materialised behind and shot across its jagged surface, speeding over the uneven mass and shooting out into the clear space on the other side.

“Bring the ship into alignment with the comet’s course and check for damage”. Argēeis pressed a series of switches recessed into the arm of his acceleration couch and his restraints were disengaged, allowing him to walk over to the navigators’ pit, leaning down to talk to its occupant. “Hesiod, how is it that we were able to materialize so close to such a large mass?”

Hesiod blinked heavily and unplugged several of the cables running into sockets in his skull, their parchment labels rustling as he carefully placed them in their holders. “I don’t know captain… there was something odd about the warp around this section of space, but nothing in my experience would allow any ship to exit the warp that close to such a body.” He consulted several screens set about his station which gave out all sorts of navigational and ship status readouts “The mass soundings read for a large sized planetoid, approximately 10,000 billion tons, although it’s size is relatively small, only 10 kilometres in diameter… we would normally not have been able to exit the warp anywhere near as close as we did. This comet cast no shadow in the warp, if anything it drew the currents to it.”

The navigator glanced up at Argēeis and sheepishly shrugged his shoulders.

Argēeis smiled “I guess it is one of the joys of exploring the unknown… Sooner or later you find the unknown and it tries to crush you into a million pieces” He turned back to his station “Don’t worry about it, you did well getting us here.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++ 6 hours after initial contact ++

Argēeis peered at the report scrolling down his screen, his frown deepening the more he read. The mass was totally off… a comet of this size should not have such a high mass. Nor should it have much of a debris tail this far from any sun or source of energy. It should certainly not have the affect on the warp that it appeared to. It had taken several days ship time to penetrate the currents protecting this region of space, which was not helped by the fact that the comet was moving at an incredible speed through real space as well.

His probes had circled the comet and recorded its composition and topographic details. To compound the mystery surrounding the comet, it appeared to be made up of a non-uniform layer of ice and rock covering a dense, metallic surface, which from the soundings the probes had taken appeared to be perfectly spherical, and utterly impenetrable to any form of scanning.

The only break in the uniform surface could be found on the rear facing of the comet, cloaked by the thickest part of the debris tail. A thin seam outlined what appeared to be a vast door, easily a kilometre in height and half a kilometre high set almost perfectly flush with the surface of the sphere. It was a testament to the skill of the tech priests that Argēeis employed that their machines functioned well enough to spot the minute crack which ran between the door and the rest of the sphere.

In the exact centre of this expanse lay a far smaller door roughly half the height of a man and about a shoulders width in bredth, covered with irregular depressions. Due to the covering of ice and rock, it had not been possible to determine if they were natural erosion, or placed with purpose, although given the otherwise immaculate status of the spheres surface, it was reasonable to assume that they were part of the design of the sphere.

Argēeis fingered the worn but serviceable grip of his bolt pistol and sighed. He had never encountered anything like this on his travels before, and he had deliberately sought after the strange and the exotic, and had recovered all sorts of lost technological artefacts (often from under the eyes or sensors of watchful and overly protective guardian systems, and sometimes their previous owners private armies as well).

Indecision did not become him, so he reached for the speaking tube mounted over the back of his chair and spoke into it “This is Argēeis to the flight deck, prepare the shuttle craft for immediate operations, I want the central doorway of the sphere cleared and a probe sent to inspect it as soon as possible. I am also sure I don’t need to remind you of keeping an eye on the debris. Pandora’s Reach will be able to provide limited cover for the shuttle, but there is simply too much crap flying around to protect the shuttle and crew from everything.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++ 10 hours after initial contact ++

The water vapour almost instantly froze in the vacuum, and great clouds of crystals fountained around Ren, coating the armour he wore over his space suit in a glistening layer of ice. Every time he moved to train the cutting laser at a different piece of the comet, sheets of ice would shatter and float slowly away from him.

It was slow going, but after 4 hours they had sunk a shaft down almost to the central doorway

Because I was bored while ill, I created a little recruitment poster for the regiment.

Good stuff, very well thought out. I have loads of ideas of how my force came into existence, but trying to tie it all down so it makes sense and gets across everything I want to say without having to write stories is stumping me at the moment

I really like the logo

Yeah, I find it really difficult to get everything down without having to write pages and pages of fluff very difficult

You might want to try doing a spider diagram to get everything down and linked up before attempting to write anything - that might help organise how you write stuff and ensure that you have everything sorted out before you start too.

And thanks for the comments - I love my logo, took me ages to think of something simple but which I thought fit the part

Wow this was interesting, good to see people that still takes their fluff seriously. Keep it up and will be looking forwards to pics of the army. And the logo looks awesome

Thanks for the comments

I was actually thinking of doing some more fluff for this today, so what the hey, I will write some more

Though my limited time for physical warhammer related activity means that I will probably not get all that much done on the army as I am currently working on my CSM (and will be for some time to come ).

Let me guess. You got the idea from Avatar. Thats like the exact story line behind RDA's Merc unit. If you didn't, I'm sorry I accused you of this.

I've not seen Avatar, and the fluff was not inspired by it at all. Any similarity is coincidental I'm afraid.

The basis behind this army/fluff is "East India Company in space" meets Stargate/Sliders.

The only major similarity would be the use of a place called "Pandora".

Ah, I see. I chose the name based on the Pandora's Box story, rather than any planet home to blue aliens who like to rip off the plots and visuals of other movies

Although I am aware of the irony of saying that and then basing a bit of fluff on Pandora's box