The Viaticus Dynasty
This is the page for the game cocnerning the rise of the Viaticus Dynasty from the ashes, run by the glorious Cthulhupunk.
Contents
The Dynasty
Once one of the most powerful Rogue Trader Dynasties in the Imperium, the remnants of the broken house now live in a few apartments maintained above the opulent family tomb with the interest of a few ancient investments and holdings. Ever since the last true Rogue Trader of Viaticus was lost in the Warp along with the Dynasty's flagship, the Dynasty has fallen into ruin. Now lacking a voidship of any kind, the planet-bound dynasty lives for the pride of its faded memory.
A few short months ago, the flagship reappeared above Exaviar's World without a soul aboard. Many took this as a sign of ill-omen, however with a ship again the dynasty has a second chance. The curse of House Viaticus might be at an end.
The Viaticus Demesne Subsector
Named for the family that discovered, founded and gerrymandered it into it's current form, the Viaticus Demense shared in the fall of House Viaticus. Once the base of operations for a powerful Rogue Trader Dynasty, it is now a ruined subsector struggling to survive.
Exaviar's World
When the Viaticus Demense was settled, Exaviar's World was the largest and most beautiful world capable of supporting human life in the subsector. Now it is a hellish cross between a Hive World and a Forge World where no human could live for more than a minute outside of the artificial environments of the Hives or the massive Forge Cities. The places between the Hives are forests of scrap and seas of sludge, all composed of materials that have no possible use in voidship construction. The sky above is filled with a massive shipyard that over the centuries has eaten the entire planet and still hungers for more.
Exaviar's World is the subsector capital, and a world under the yoke of an impossible tithe. Expected to supply the Imperial Navy with an Emperor-class Battleship every 100 years, the planet has been exhausted past the point of endurance to keep up. The problem can be traced back to the fall of the Viaticus Dynasty, which eventually led to the private Viaticus shipyards on Exaviar's World being counted as possessions of the world itself and therefore relevant to the calculation of it's tithe. This quickly led to the consumption of all the world's natural resources, but even then the tithe grade was not lowered. Now Exaviar's World struggles not just to build, but to find the materials to build the voidships that have crippled the planet. To make matters worse, irregular food shipments from Orgicus means famines are common, and breeds discontent in the lower levels.
Exaviar's World has two moons: Drustilla and Silva.
Drustilla
The larger of Exaviar's World's two moons, it is a polluted ruin of a Hive that has all but been depopulated by centuries of famine and disaster. Only strange degenerate mutants still live in the parts of the underhive that can still support some semblance of human life.
Silva
The smaller satellite of Exaviar's World, Silva was originally a prison moon until the prisoners led a revolution and took over. Now the moon is self-sufficient, and runs on a feudal society based primarily on servitor-serfs created from the original prison guards and their descendants. Exaviar's World has too many problems of it's own to try and retake the prison.
Orgicus
Orgicus is an efficiently-run, bountiful agri-world that has to throw out much of it's yield each year because it cannot get it moved off-world. The chartist captains who ship the food to the other planets in the sector are being preyed on by pirates, and attrition has worn down the fleets. There just aren't enough voidships to move food in the quantities that are needed.
Of all the pirates, the world are the crew of the Good Omen. Originally a ship in the Viaticus fleet, when Agamemnon XXXIII disappeared the ship and her crew turned pirate. The Good Omen is a very fine craft, and more than a match for anything the subsector can muster. Exaviar's World is pushed to it's limit building it's tithe ships, it doesn't have the capacity to build more transports or warships to deal with the pirates.
Formica
Formica is an Imperial World that declared independence from the Imperpium of Man almost 50 years ago. It didn't bother to inform the Imperium, and as their tithe is only due every 100 years the Imperium hasn't found out yet. Being from a remote and near-forgotten subsector, the people of Formica don't fully understand what they're doing by 'revolting'.
Formica's primary complaints are the inability of the Imperium to properly police shipping routes for piracy, what they see as excessive tithes, and a desire for freedom of religion.
Kelevor
Kelevor is a planet with an extremely large quantity of adamantium, to which the Viaticus Dynasty still has hereditary mining rights to. The mining colony had already been built, and the most profitable period of the mining procedure was about to begin when the planet was overrun by a genestealer cult. Nobody knows what's going on down there anymore.
Rixis
Rixis is a primordial jungle hell out of some genetic nightmare. Rixis is teeming with an overabundance of life, all in direct competition with each other for microscopic niches. It is impossible to ever be truly safe on Rixis, for no matter how much you know about the planet and it's many horrors, it is constantly evolving new ones.
There is evidence of an technologically advanced xenos civilization that once lived on Rixis. A research colony was set up to study one of the more promising ruins, but in the centuries of surviving on Rixis the inhabitants 'went native'. The expression is not further defined in the report.
Volucris
Volucris is the site of a failed human colony, but is otherwise uninhabited. It is perfectly habitable by humans, although it's cold and has harsh winters.
New Kaiser
New Kaiser was once a nominally democratic planet, with an elected Planetary Governor and a Senate. When Agamemnon XXXIII disappeared the resulting political ramifications led to a civil war, which utterly devastated the planet. It has since regressed into a near-feudal state, and has been slow in developing further. New Kaiser is self sufficient, and it's now hereditary Planetary Lord is still loyal to the Imperium.
The Ship
<Name TBD>
Overlord-class Battlecruiser
Speed 6
Maneuver +26
Detection +20
Hull Integrity 66
Armor 21 (25 in front arc)
Turret Rating 2
Space 68/78
Power 67/90
SP 64 + 16 (80)
Machine Spirit Ancient and Wise
Past Histories Wrested From A Spess Hulk
Crew Population 100
Morale 97
Essential Components (34 Power 36 Space 0 SP)
Saturnine Class 4A "Ultra" Drive (+90 Power 14 Space)
Miloslav H-616.b Warp Drive (10 Power 12 Space)
Gellar Field (1 Power 0 Space)
Repulsor Shield Array (8 Power 1 Space)
Ship Master's Bridge (4 Power 3 Space)
Mark 1.r Life Sustainer (4 Power 2 Space)
Voidsmen Quarters (2 Power 4 Space)
BG-15 Assault Scanners (5 Power 0 Space)
Weapons (29 Power 25 Space 11 SP)
Prow N/A
Dorsal Bombardment Cannons (5 Power 5 Space 3 SP)
Port 1 Disruption Macrocannon Broadside (6 Power 5 Space 2 SP)
Port 2 Disruption Macrocannon Broadside (6 Power 5 Space 2 SP)
Starboard 1 Disruption Macrocannon Broadside (6 Power 5 Space 2 SP)
Starboard 2 Disruption Macrocannon Broadside (6 Power 5 Space 2 SP)
Supplementary Components (4 Power 7 Space 5 SP)
Armored Prow (0 Power 4 Space 2 SP)
Teleportarium (1 Power 1 Space 1 SP)
Luxury Passenger Quarters (2 Power 1 Space 1 SP)
Trophy Room (1 Power 1 Space 1 SP)
Summarized Effects
Exploration Objectives +50
Military Objectives +50 (+100 on objectives vs planets)
Trade Objectives +150
Creed Objectives +100
Criminal Objectives +150
+5 to all Piloting and Navigation Tests
+10 to BS tests to fire weapons (+15 vs planetary targets)
Halve warp transit times, roll for Happy Fun Encounters every 3 days instead of every 5
+20 Intimidate vs planets (moustache twirling optional)
+1 Armor (already factored into stats)
+1 Speed (already factored into stats)
+3 Detection (already factored into stats)
+10 all Maneuver checks (already factored into stats)
-4 Hull Integrity (already factored into stats)
Roll twice for Happy Fun Encounters and take worse result
