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Hey, i looked and i think this is the right thread for this.

Here is my question, i am running a deathwatch group and i was writing the next story arc they are too start on soon, i was just going along fine then started thinking "wait can i do that" lol. The entire party is very into the 40k lore, and they would complain/not enjoy anything that wouldn't make sense regardless of if it fit the story. Anyways here you go:

The squad is sent on a mission that is high priority from a Lord Inquisitor, Yea a very big guy in the sector, one of the marines even very close to the Lord Inquisitor as in one of the earlier missions he saved his life. Anyway the Inquisitor lost contact with one of his most promising new Inquisitors was on his third mission as a full Inquisitor and did not check back in. It has been around a month. It was a simple "purge some xenos" mission so the Lord is worried. The only real info other than info about the location is that the Inquisitor is very puritan and was a cleric, a redemtionist even.

If all goes well they will have a few small fights and with some good "problem solving" here of a Rogue Trader who runs the area the Inquisitor went missing in. This is where my problem lies, i planed on having this Rogue Trader as the main bad guy of this Story arc. He is a 'bad" man, obviously a heretic, he uses Xenos as slaves, and even enlists a large amount of Dark Eldar in his fleet.

But regardless of how "bad" he is i found my self asking, "can deathwatch marines, on orders from a Lord Inquisitor" do anything to a Rogue Trader? Or is he above them?

Any info will help thank you!

I'm pretty sure deathwatch marines, even not under the order of an inquisitor can do whatever they want to a rogue trader who's obviously a heretic and xenos friend. All they have to do is shoot "burn heretic" and away they go. Now because their under orders from an inquisitor, they shouldn't even have to do that.

The squad is on a mission sanctified by an Inquisitor Lord - there's virtually no-one beyond their reach, not even the High Lords themselves (although those would require a huge conclave and the backup of other factions).

I think the Warrant of Trade often gets a little mis-interpreted in that regard. A Rogue Trader is still subject to Imperial Law when he is within Imperial space. Only outside he does not have to deal with the usual regulations, although there are still ways to anger some faction sufficiently to conjure trouble. Remember: Rogue Traders are peers of the Imperium, they are not above it.

In fact, within the scope of the RPG, didn't one of FFG's own books mention a Rogue Trader being terminated out in the Expanse by the Inquisition?

Both the Deathwatch as well as the Inquisition are, uh, "famous" for their covert operations, anyways. As long as your players make sure that no one lives to tell the tale, who's going to judge them?
Might actually make a neat secondary objective... just to prevent unnecessary political troubles, as unlikely as they are.

Both the inquisition and a rogue trader are above imperial law so if the two organisations come to blows basically whomever wins tells the higher authorities their version of events and thats all history will remember.

Although even in that situation, the Inquisition would probably get the benefit of the doubt. Unless there's some really harsh puritan vs radical politics involved, I suspect the Inquisition would take a very close look at a situation where an Inquisitor and a Rogue Trader came to blows, and the trader came out on top.

Do you have a specific hook for the DE to be there, or are they just being the xenos race you use when you need a bunch of evil guys to kill.

daveNYC wrote:puritan vs radical

or Hereticus vs Malleus ...

The funny thing about those is that it's rarely the Inquisitors that get shafted but the forces they employ.

Oh wait ...

(Siege of Vraks in the Imperial Armour books includes a very funny if rather tragical report on how the bickering of the two Inquisitorial Ordos gets carried out on the backs of the troops, such as with delayed or rerouted reinforcements or warrants of execution issued against various pawns just to send a signal)

Whoever convinces more important people is the "good" guy here. The other one will be the villain. Neither have sole authority over the other, and can realistically get away with any action against the other so long as they cover their butts with other folks.

Thanks all for your replies this is kinda how i was feeling too, im glad you reassured me tho!

And about the DE of all the major xenos they seem like the most likely to work for a Rogue Trader, as long as he pays them in victims to torture lol.

Kroot Mercs are common "radical" RT troops as well.

In response to your first post... the Inquisition, as an organization, is the highest mortal authority in the Imperium. Rogue Traders are given special permissions to do *certain* things that the regular Imperial citizen cannot (such as make contact with the Xeno and transport certain xeno artifacts and trade goods), but they are not given free license to do whatever the feth they want. Trade in Xeno or Warp-tainted goods is still illegal, no matter who's transporting them, as is consort with certain proscribed xeno races (like Dark Eldar and the Orks).

Basically, in any situation where it becomes the Inquisition vs Imperial Anyone, the Inquisition always has the higher authority, with some very few exceptions. With regards to Rogue Traders, the only time I can see an RT having the authority to do whatever he wants (or a specific thing that he wants to do) is if his/her Warrant of Trade specifically lists that as allowed *and* was issued by the Emperor's Own Hand during the pre-Heresy Imperium, as the Warrant will then bear the Emperor's own signature.

If the RT in your game lacks such a venerable Warrant of Trade, then the Inquisition is free to investigate, detain and execute as deemed necessary by the Inquisitor... assuming, of course, that he can carry out his will in the far-off Jericho Reach (or Koronus Expanse, depending on where you're setting it). Just because he has the authority doesn't mean he has the firepower on hand, if the RT decides to make an issue of it.

... but, then, that's what makes for great stories, and great games, isn't it?

Psienesis wrote:Kroot Mercs are common "radical" RT troops as well.

In response to your first post... the Inquisition, as an organization, is the highest mortal authority in the Imperium. Rogue Traders are given special permissions to do *certain* things that the regular Imperial citizen cannot (such as make contact with the Xeno and transport certain xeno artifacts and trade goods), but they are not given free license to do whatever the feth they want. Trade in Xeno or Warp-tainted goods is still illegal, no matter who's transporting them, as is consort with certain proscribed xeno races (like Dark Eldar and the Orks).

Basically, in any situation where it becomes the Inquisition vs Imperial Anyone, the Inquisition always has the higher authority, with some very few exceptions. With regards to Rogue Traders, the only time I can see an RT having the authority to do whatever he wants (or a specific thing that he wants to do) is if his/her Warrant of Trade specifically lists that as allowed *and* was issued by the Emperor's Own Hand during the pre-Heresy Imperium, as the Warrant will then bear the Emperor's own signature.

If the RT in your game lacks such a venerable Warrant of Trade, then the Inquisition is free to investigate, detain and execute as deemed necessary by the Inquisitor... assuming, of course, that he can carry out his will in the far-off Jericho Reach (or Koronus Expanse, depending on where you're setting it). Just because he has the authority doesn't mean he has the firepower on hand, if the RT decides to make an issue of it.

... but, then, that's what makes for great stories, and great games, isn't it?

I can't quite tell what portion of a Rogue Trader's actions are actually sanctioned by his writ, and which actions are still illegal, but nobody (other than a coked up monodominant) prosecutes them due to their position in society. There are bits in the RPG fluff that mention rich individual's collections of stuff, and they do say that some of the xenos artifacts are technically illegal, but are allowed due to the person's station.

Rogue Traders are never completely above the law. There are certain allowances made for the fact that they require more flexibility out on the frontier, and thus a certain amount of "wiggle room" is provided to allow them to not be tightly constrained by beauracratic nonsense. But Charters can and have been revoked after the summary execution of the Rogue Trader who brought down the wrath of the Imperial authorities.

It depends, specifically, on how the Writ is worded, and how the RT behaves.

A wealthy RT from a long-lasting dynasty with a few Eldar shuriken rifles mounted above the mantle is, technically, guilty of possession of illegal xeno tech... but no one is going to care because he's not doing anything with them. They're basically museum pieces.

Now, a RT who's using Eldar shuriken cannons to raid human colonies founded by rival RTs is a different matter entirely...

Bottom-line. He is an Inquisitor, a high ranking one at that, with Astartes under his command. Unless the Rogue Trader has a battlefleet and an army of his own, he would not be a bother for any of the parties involved. He is clearly committing heresy in the eyes of both the Inquisition and the Astartes (any of your players saying other-wise clearly do not understand the mindset of a Space Marine) so I would see no problem blowing him away.