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Rogue traders presumably go missing for long stretches of time, given the vastness of the galaxy and the time-bending nature of the Warp. This must cause issues with the matter of inheriting the warrant of trade. If the Terra-sanctioned rogue trader has gone into the Warp and not resurfaced, who decides that the time has come to name a new bearer of the warrant?

I know there isn't necessarily a canon answer to this, beyond "it depends", like many things in the 40k universe. I'm mostly asking for novel-writing advice. My idea revolves around a son of rogue traders, kept safely tucked away on a peaceful planet to ensure the continuation of the bloodline, who has been without news of his parents for about 20 years.

(Edited for clarity -- I mean the issue of how and when a missing rogue trader is presumed dead, not what happens if the document itself is lost.)

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There is a whole section about this very issue in the Fantasy Flight Rogue Trader RPG...

The warrant of trade is usually secured somewhere hidden and safe. The issue is the vessel. If your family is rich enough to buy a ship your good. But there are Rogue Traders out there who have nothing.

I'll see what I can dig up for you

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
The warrant of trade is usually secured somewhere hidden and safe.

Oh, I don't mean the document itself. I mean the rights vested by the document. Who gets to decide that the bearer of the warrant is not coming back and that their heir is now the rogue trader? Is it based on the family's own rules of succession, or does someone on Terra have to sign off on the transfer of the warrant?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
The issue is the vessel. If your family is rich enough to buy a ship your good. But there are Rogue Traders out there who have nothing.

The story I'm working on does acknowledge the matter of the protag not having a ship and crew. He is approached for a political marriage by a very rich family that has all the required resources, except for the highly-coveted warrant of trade.

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Usually the family likes to keep it in house, according to their traditions.

As long as the actual warrant is secure, then I can see a legal provision of “missing presumed dead” ’to allow descendants to take charge of the rights and responsibilities. The Imperium and the Adeptus Terra have a big interest in keeping rogue traders operating as effectively as possible, and having a long running and likely insoluble inheritance issue would get in the way of that.

It probably gets trickier if the warrant was on the missing ship.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I’m only aware of the Calpurnia novels dealing with such inheritance, and that was a slightly different situation. Not read them for ages.

It's almost as if a whole branch of the Imperium's political body is devoted to writing down any and all minutiae. Administratum most likely knows who is the bearer, but they don't divulge the information quickly or efficiently- and certainly wouldn't do the sensible thing to track down the living scion of the Trader's house and telling them they are the inheritor of the writ. To reference a crappy film, Jupiter's Ascending shows the bureaucracy needed to get something that is your right and true title. And I think at least 1/3 if not a majority of Administratum get into that line of work for the graft and corruption.

Another layer to consider is that being lost when travelling in space isn't unheard of. Warp Travel alone can have you arrive before you've left since you move through the Warp where time has no linear meaning. So a ship lost to the Warp or trapped near a Warp Storm might not be "fully lost" to count as "these people are as good as dead so death processes begin". So the Warrant could end up still legally held by those missing but assets under managed by others which might not necessarily follow the line of succession as the Warrant isn't actually succeeding, its just moving into a state of limbo


There's also the fact that even if there's a clear family tree and lineage there's always going to be those who could fight or challenge a succession. Especially if whilst there's the general legal standing of "passes to next in line" but those who were in power never established a 100% clear will before.

So you get into a dance where everyone knows what "should" happen, but where its perfectly possible to twist it. A really simple and common one is the Warrant passing to someone next in line who is under the age of adulthood.
You can get all sorts of fights then as "guardians" might claim effective control over the Warrant until the youth "comes of age". Relatives on both sides of the family and even more of extended family might well fight and battle in the courts over who really does get just control over the care of the youth and thus effective control over the Warrant of Trade.



So even when its not a case of the slow wheels of paperwork turning in a predictable way; there's a lot of potential for people to throw spanners in the works to twist situations for their own advantage.

There's also the 'traditional' approach to inheritance. Every bastard with a drop of royal blood comes out of the woodwork with a small army of mercenaries behind them. Either they'll kill each other until there's an heir apparent or an imperial court will step in and decide for them before things get too bloody.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
There's also the 'traditional' approach to inheritance. Every bastard with a drop of royal blood comes out of the woodwork with a small army of mercenaries behind them. Either they'll kill each other until there's an heir apparent or an imperial court will step in and decide for them before things get too bloody.

Don't forget "Lost" heirs who are found by other power-groups (or loan space pirates) who then charge in as well to restore them to their rightful position!

There’s also the possibility of a Rogue Trader adding to their Heirs are they’re off Roguing and Tradering.

To add to the pondering, not all warrants of trade are equal. Some date back to the time of the Great Crusade, carrying greater prestige. Some are much more modern.

Which also raises the question of whether a given Warrant of Trade will specify how it’s to be inherited, and that may include “If Great Uncle Balzac isn’t seen for a couple of centuries, then it passes thusly”. And, presumably given the known risks of Warp Travel, it may also specify what happens if Great Uncle Balzac reappears.

The important thing of course is that there’s seemingly no upper limit on the number of Rogue Traders. So a Warrant ending up in more than one name may not be a particularly significant drama

Given just how much the current IoM fetishizes bureaucracy, I could well imagine modern trade warrants to be a lot, lot longer and filled to the gills with legalese, as opposed to the very first ones granted during the Great Crusade(s), which would seem brief , broad in scope and vague by comparison. So new ones would include all sorts of minutiae regarding the succession rights, liabilities and whatnot. Court cases of ownership disputes for older warrants would become legendary affairs lasting several generations! Or super recent cases open and shut ones where the legalese explicitly denotes all matters of succession. Vast scope for interpretation really..

In this particular story, you could decide just how old the warrant in question happens to be, and therefore establish a general sense of how tricky things would be regarding this matter? idk

By the way, loving the idea of Bastards of a particularly lewd RT duking it out for succession rights! You could build a Necromunda Campaign from lesser stuff already..

I can see it now.

Game of Thrones in Spaaaaaace!

 Mr Nobody wrote:
I can see it now.

Game of Thrones in Spaaaaaace!

It's called Dune


And strictly speaking its "Dune in fantasy" since it came before Game of Thrones ;P

Interesting discussion.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
I can see it now.

Game of Thrones in Spaaaaaace!

Check out Legacy, the second Shira Calpurnia novel by Matthew Farrer. A wonderful worldbuilding author.

You've got everything from killing the deceased Rogue Trader's harem to power plays by different Imperial factions and some hilariously shady shenanigans in there. It is fun, it is well-crafted and it is grimdark to the bone.

 Karak Norn Clansman wrote:
Interesting discussion.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
I can see it now.

Game of Thrones in Spaaaaaace!

Check out Legacy, the second Shira Calpurnia novel by Matthew Farrer. A wonderful worldbuilding author.

You've got everything from killing the deceased Rogue Trader's harem to power plays by different Imperial factions and some hilariously shady shenanigans in there. It is fun, it is well-crafted and it is grimdark to the bone.

Fantastic warhammer series and were the exact books I had in mind when I was writing my post! Other than the necromunda books, I think the Shira Calpurnia books gave us the best insight into the inner working of the everyday Imperium.