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Aren't (supposedly) low-level intelligent xenos considered like beasts (i.e. tools, not allies) by the Inquisition? This allows Kroot to be used as mercenaries, IIRC.
So, even if this is stretching the idea a bit, couldn't an Ork be considered the same? After all, it's not exceptionally difficult (at least for a RT) to obtain sanction for owning dangerous alien beast as pets, so I suppose an Ork could be considered something like that. It should be easier and less prone to bring an inq investigation down on you to have an Ork servant than a higly intelligent, meddling and untrustworthy Eldar ally.
As for the advantage of having one, I'd say: as a status symbol (yeah, I have influence and contacts, so I can do what I want), as hired muscle who asks little if anything as pay (other than pillaging and smashing heads and teeth), as a way to show you mean serious business (you see that? try to rip me off and you know who you'll have to deal with), as a way to show other intelligent alien races you are open to collaboration (well, maybe thats a two-edged weapon: I don't know of many xeno species who love Orks so much), as a trustworthy (as I said, an Ork is less prone to betray you and plan behind your back than, say, an Eldar), if little controllable, crewmember, as an emergency repairer (Orkyness ftw!), as a story device (you can have it "bickering" without end with Kroot mercenaries, for example, or causing widespread panic on a planet or something like that), or, let's say it, because it would be just damn funny to have around!
We had an Ork acolyte for a really radical Xeno inq in a game of DH, some time ago. I'll just say we alwayse attempted to dress him as a lobotomized Ogryn or a robed servitor to unleash some Hulk Smash!scenes on unsuspecting heretics. The only problem is its player usually did so in the wrongest possible moments. But it was a load of fun anyway.

No sweat, Terranarc. That's something FF did manage to cover in Into The Storm at least though

I think it was something along the lines of: no RT captain would ever have more than two on board, which isn't enough to induce a waagh. What grows from their spores is just squigs and gretchin, nothing big and definitely not full sized orks, and even then some RT captains will still regularly cleanse where they've been to get rid of the spores".

Good spotting though, I am wanting to cover all bases.

(and completely off topic - your sig. My boyfriend and I saw it a while ago. Ever since then we have been quoting "Blood for the Blood God, Milk for the Khorneflakes" on a rather regular basis - it's gold)


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Oh, and thank you, thank you and thank you to the lot of you and for putting up with me playing devil's advocate to your ideas.

You should have an ork on board because orks are hilarious. Even the names of their talents and traits are funny.

Why can't the ork just be sanctioned? You know you also could just start roleplaying without explaining it. Just have the ork and then make up the reasons as you go along. That us how I tend to roleplay. You start out half fished so you have room to add back story.

Extra idea here: If you are really looking for a reason why a Rt whould have an ork, why not mechanic? It goes along with the fringes not having the ability to repair a ship properly. Well a good old mech boy can fix a ship with anything. It also opens up all kinds of fun roleplay choices. Maybe they are out painting flames on the ship to make it go faster, or they canalize the whatsy do it to fix the wa da mo cow.

Cos just "rolling with it and hoping for the best" never works well. It annoys all the players who are trying to play true to the universe, which is why they've sat down to play in the 40k universe.

nomotog wrote:Why can't the ork just be sanctioned?

Because orks are physically incompatible with the concept of a "sanctioned xenos". Because of how they reproduce, there is no such thing as one ork. Even if it's the nicest, most trustworthy ork you could ever meet, it will drop spores everywhere it goes which will grow into orks that aren't sanctioned.

And whilst Into The Storm allows Kroot and Orks to be sanctioned xeno (they cover your point about spores, AlexHolker), there's no "just be sanctioned". If you refer to that section in the book on having a xenos be sanctioned it's a long involved process. Which has be reiterated multiple times throughout this thread, which is only two pages long so you might wanna read back through the stuff already posted first.

The entire Imperial bureaucracy consists of nothing but "long involved process[es]." There's always ways to speed up or work around red tape.

Unless your vision of the 40k universe is vastly different than mine, don't people in positions of authority (no matter how petty) grant favors in return for gifts/credits/favors/loyalty/silence/etc...?

I don't think the "How" of getting sanctioned is difficult to deal with-- the "Why" of having an Ork on board is the much more interesting question (to me anyways).

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@CadianCommander
Do you do write-ups on your DW/DH/RT sessions? I'm always looking for other DMs' stories to steal inspiration.

CadianCommander wrote:(they cover your point about spores, AlexHolker)

Would you mind elaborating on this?

Ya it's a long involved process, but that dosen't actually mean you have to do it in real time or anything. Growing up is a long and involved process, but you can just kind of assume it happened before the game started. You can have the same deal here. Just have the ork sanctioned. Orks can be sanctioned. You said so yourself.

CadianCommander wrote:Unfortunately in a serious game of RT with experienced 40k players, you can't just ignore large chunks of the Imperium because even if you're on the outer reaches of Imperial space or exploring non-Imperial space, you still have up to 100,000 crew who are Imperial citizens.

Your misunderstanding a Writ of Trade. Rogue Traders absolutely can ignore large chunks of the Imperium. In fact, they are compelled to. Rogue Traders are licensed and obliged to act in ways the Imperium as a whole cannot and does not.

They are truly outside the system.

"Unfortunately in a serious game of RT with experienced 40k players..."

Quite high and mighty about this, aren't we? Next you'll be telling us that you and your group play RT 'properly'.

Or perhaps the people sitting there going "that's not how it works" could read the relevant material that I keep referencing before saying I'm wrong.

Into the Storm. Sanctioned Xeno section. Not that hard. Written FOR Rogue Trader characters.

And anyway, I've already got the answer I needed. And thanked people for their help. So why we still arguing about this?

Q: Why would a Lord Captain have Ork mercenaries in his crew?

A: 'Cause they're a fethload cheaper than human mercenaries, and provide "plausible deniability" when he decides to raid a pilgrim ship for slaves to sell to the Mechanicus servitor shops, board another RT's vessel that he suspects is carrying a recovered STC blueprint, or when raiding a planet owned by a rival RT, intending to wipe out the human colonists and drag his rival's name through the mud.

Rogue Traders aren't necessarily "good Imperial citizens". Many of the most powerful and wealthiest dynasties have piracy as their founding practice, and most RTs engage in the act every now and then. By and large, their first and primary loyalties are to themselves and their dynasty, the Imperium of Man coming in at a very distant third.

There's also the fact that, out in the Expanse, you don't need Imperial Space, or permission, to dock in for repairs, you just strike a deal with the guys currently in charge of the Breaking Yards. Hell, buy a whole new cruiser if you have the cash... great bargain, only slightly used! With the right contacts, a RT can remain independent of Imperial law for decades, even centuries.

Obviously, the RT isn't going to go strolling around the Lucid Palace back in the Calixis Sector with a pair of Ork bodyguards in tow, but there's nothing stopping him from doing that in the less-reputable stations in the Maw or elsewhere in the Expanse. Orks are imposing, and the RT who has a pair of them as bodyguards is telling the others, "See what I got? Yeah, they're badass... now, what *else* do I have that you can't see?"

With the trade of archaeotech, xenotech and even warp-tech being what it is in the Imperium (that is to say, highly illegal but also insanely profitable) there are many RTs who will agree to meet in places for business that are far outside the eye of the Imperium in general, and the Inquisition in particular. In such settings, where assassination is common and the intrigues deadly, having a pair of Ork bodyguards can save your life... or be used to end that of your rivals.

The basic thing to remember is that such things are more common for an RT who is, for all intents and purposes, a pirate, and views himself as above or beyond the reach of Imperial law. Ork troops are not the sort of thing that a loyal citizen RT is going to countenance, as they can get the same things done using human tools.

As a GM of DH who let radicalism get WAAY out of hand I understand where you're coming from but the best thing to do is make sure everyone is having fun. Since half the players didn't know anything about 40k, I was nice when I probably shouldn't have. They wanted to tag around a bunch of Orks and eventually it caught up to them, In an exciting adventure that involved them killing an inquisitor and burning down a luxury hotel, but it still caught up to them. In fact they still are extremely radical but we have fun and that's the important thing. Now, I know you really want this to be kept to fluff so what I'd do is have the ork sanctioned before the game starts. But do keep in mind inquistors and authorities aren't common out in the frontier so they could probably get away with more than the average hive citizen.

How about the simplest of roleplaying reasons: Because a friend in the group really wants to play one.

In which case the GM makes it happen, the group works with it and ignores the annoying arguements of how it is completely useless within the context. If someone wants to play one it is not useless. Just go with it and deal.

As someone who has been GMing RPGS for the last 34 years consistently I can unequivicably say there are just as many ways to come up with reasons as to why something should happen as there are to come up with ways as to why it just doesn't fit and can't happen. Any GM worth the title will do whatever they need to do to help their players be happy as long as it doesn't ruin the game for everyone else.

Yeah there are issues and problems with having a sanctioned xenos of any kind on your ship as a RT commander, but so what?? That is all part of that magic of roleplaying. You've been given plenty of ideas of how this could work and easily be fit into a game, but you continue to argue "Why would they?" The simplest answer is "Why not?" Not every character in a game follows the same exact mold. If so RPGs would be completely pointless and dull because your choices are made for you. Sure the administratum now "knows" that you have a sanctioned xenos on board, but now that it *is* sanctioned so what. Do you think the government has the time to keep track of and spy on *every* RT that has a sanctioned xenos on board?? Our current governments can't even keep people with suspended drivers licenses off the road and they are not trying to police a an entire galaxy of planets each with their own idiosyncracies and special rules exceptions. Yeah the authorities *know*, but generally won't care or don't have the resources to worry about it.

If someone wants to play one, then let them play one. Come up with a reason (status, just likes having an orc pet, whatever) and you are done. There doesn't have to be some "perfect" reason and since this is Roleplaying *any* reason fits the bill.

Skriker

In the massive bureaucracy that is the Imperium, I would not be surprised to see rogue traders running around with almost any kind of xeno. What I find odd in this scenario is what motivation would the ork have for traveling space with a rogue trader? The rogue trader can't really offer the ork anything along the lines of what it would experience in it's own society. There are no grots to kick around, no snotlings to be adored as pets, no squigs to eat, no other orks to trade or steal teef from. I would have a lot of trouble understanding what my motivations were if I were trying to roleplay as an ork.

Orks are the most numerous xeno race in the universe. It might be quite useful to have one of their species as a member of your crew when dealing with ork planets (when not fighting them). Since orks are so numerous and widespread, they have probably obtained vast amounts of xenos and other forbidden technology and artifacts. The ork could help negotiate for them, he could possibly serve as a spy on behalf of the rogue trader (land on an ork planet and steal I valuable item, etc.)

In the RT game I'm currently running, the Rogue Trader is a pretty shift dude and more or less makes his living running guns to Ork planets in exchange for archeotech. The "Sanctioned Xeno" in his crew isn't really sanctioned at all, but a rather flamboyant grot living high on the hog in exchange for being a translator (ok, maybe not high on the hog, but he gets fed regularly and gets kicked slightly less often than he would back home). The crew has to keep the grot hidden from any authorities they run across, which does make for some interesting encounters.

It's not the most serious game of RT, but it sure is fun. Think outside the rulebook and I'm sure you can come up with something.

Edit: Just thought of this for a campaign involving an Ork crewmember: a long-range Imperial patrol stumbled across your ship while making an exchange with an Ork Freebooter ship. In the scramble to escape, you left an NPC character on the Freebooter's ship and accidentally brought one of the Ork crew with you. The campaign follows your attempts at tracking down your missing man/woman while trying to figure out how to handle your unexpected new crewmember. Like I was saying earlier, your Sanctioned Xenos doesn't actually have to be "Sanctioned" in any way.

I had come up with an idea where Orks were trying to take the ship but they only took an engine. The same family had been working that engine for generations and were wiped out. The ship needed the main engine to escape the battle and thus were stuck with Orks aboard. Before they could purge the meks had messed with the engine so much the Orks were the only things that could run it.

They stayed mostly civil and were confined to that one section, the crew burned the spores outside of that section. Then they were about to dock at a major imperial world and the leader, the PC, demanded to be allowed along. You now have a reason to forge some sanctioning documents quickly or risk your ship being trashed.