Rival Rogue Traders

Rogue Trader: Drake Dynasty
GM
Adam
Dynastic Power
Character Level: 31,250 XP / Rank 8
Profit Factor: 43𝖕
Command Crew
Lord-Captain Drake Navigator Primus Mordecai Arch-Millitant Winter Astropath Solarus High Factorum August
House Drake Fleet
Aurea Albion Hound of Albion • Abhorrent Fortuitous Purpose • Penance of Iocanthos
Drake Trade Empire
Damaris • Scintilla • Kulth Svard • Dross • Aurum Sepheris Secundus • Tennenberg Killian's Rest
Drake Expeditions
Open Missions
Grand Endevours
Personnel
Magistrates • Retainers Militants Svard 1st • Stormtroopers House Drake Expeditionary Army
Assets
Materiel Aerospace Craft • Ground Vehicles
Armoury Wargear • Relics and Artifacts
Other Estate Secrets and Contacts • Awards and Honors
The Galaxy
Locations Calixis Sector Koronus Expanse • Periphery Subsector Personalities Peers of the Imperium Rival Rogue Traders
Utilities
Rogue Trader Timeline House Rules Guide and Lore

Active Houses

House Fel

The Fel dynasty is a comparatively young one on the scene, only being held by its second generation of Rogue Traders. The warrant’s current holder and son of the founder, Hadarak Fel, has pulled his fortunes up by leaps with his repeated forays into the Expanse, despite beginning with only a small ship and modest wealth. In addition to the expected allotment of vassals and free traders, the Fel dynasty maintains a small flotilla of corvettes and frigates lead by Hadarak’s flagship, the Fel Hand.

• The dynasties competed over the recovery of the Righteous Path. Drake claimed victory after he was able to drive off the Fel Hand, his reinforcements having been waylayed.
• The dynasties competed once again over the Dread Pearl. In the end, they agreed to stay out of each other's way, finding Fekward and Blitz more worth disrupting.

Hadarak Fel

Appearance: Hadarak Fel spends a considerable amount of attention on his personal appearance, and it shows. Despite an estimated age putting him near to his eightieth year, early and careful use of longevity treatments keeps him appearing solidly in his thirties. He is always impeccably dressed in the latest of fashions, accented with carefully plotted and controlled roguish charm, such as in the line of earrings up the side of his left ear. He often carries a thin, ornate sword and dueling pistol with matching inlay. He has become something of a trendsetter among the elite of Footfall.
Personality: Hadarak has his priorities in the typical backward method of the elite, caring greatly about trivial things and not at all about things of importance. He is foppish and outgoing, able to talk at great lengths about absolutely nothing. He has a rather happy go lucky attitude as one might expect of a Rogue Trader who’s survived so many trips to the expanse seemingly on luck alone.
Capabilities: It would be easy to say Hadarak has very few of these. His natural charm seems to allow him to do reasonably well at negotiations and other social situations. Beyond that he seems to accomplish little else with any competency, often leaving such issues to his subordinates.

Lady Ash

Appearance: Lady Ash is a pale, attractive woman whose manner of dress appears to change at Hadarak’s whim, particularly at formal functions. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, when she is off on her own she can often be found in more practical clothing adorned with purity seals and hexagramic runes.
Personality: Ash is devoted to and seemingly deeply in love with Hadarak. While this colors everything she does, it is overlaid on a bitter and suspicious persona. She trusts few people outside of the Fel Dynasty, although she can be both kind and sociable enough when conditions warrant it.
Capabilities: Lady Ash is a Psycher of some power. These abilities act as her first, last and almost only line of defense against both social and physical attacks. She still has her eyes, indicating to those with such knowledge that she is no Astropath. There is some debate as to exactly how sanctioned of a psycher she actually is.

Juvenal Ode

Appearance: Juvenal Ode cuts a striking figure in his neatly pressed Imperial Navy Officer's uniform. The replacement of the Battlefleet icon with Fel's heraldry is the only indication he is no longer in the Navy's direct service. He possesses the clear marks along with his suit and body of the high-quality MIU built into his body for a better connection to the ship's controls.
Personality: Quiet and stark, Juvenal cuts a different but complementary figure to the more charismatic and flamboyant Hadarak Fel. He speaks fondly of his Navy days, leaving some mystery about how he came to be in a Rogue Trader's service, as well as what keeps him there.
Capabilities: Ode is a nearly peerless helmsman and pilot, master of any craft from mighty starships to the smallest of sand-buggies. He's also a good shot with the standard, Navy style weaponry, and a highly-skilled individual, all of which Fel has found useful for the completion of countless endeavors.

Retainers & Armsmen

Fel’s Armsmen are professionals, but not soldiers. This gives him both an advantage and a disadvantage. While they lack the discipline (particularly fire discipline) of trained guardsmen, they have much more individual initiative, which can mean the difference between life and death when you're relying on everyone to keep an eye out for danger. They are relatively well equipped with carapace chest plates and boltguns.

Fel Hand

Appearance: The Fel Hand is a well-loved and upgraded Firestorm ‘grand’ frigate Hadarak’s father convinced the Imperial Navy to part with when it was slated for decommissioning. The massive, one hundred meters tall clenched fist molded into the side armor makes the ship instantly identifiable, even amongst a squadron of its peers.
Capabilities: The Fel Hand is agile, fast, and packs a punch. Perhaps more importantly, Fel has a renowned crew to operate the vessel, allowing him to stand up against the often preferred light cruisers and bulk freighters many other Rogue Traders may use.

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House Armelan

House Armelan only recently changed hands, with the Warrant of Trade moving from father to daughter. One can only assume that the strain of protecting the Dynasty’s interests from a prolonged and rather significant Ork push has left the former Rogue Trader exhausted and ready for retirement. The House is known to make occasional trips into the Expanse, though their primary interests lie elsewhere in the sector.

• As two down-on-their-fortunes Houses, Armelan and Drake formed an alliance early in the Dread Pearl endeavor that held through to the very end.
• Madam Armelan was at Footfall when Drake arrived to recruit for the defense of Damaris. She answered the call and her presence helped turn the tide of the war.
• Drake and Armelan both maintain offices on Scintilla and have coordinated on trade relations.

Charlabelle Armelan

"Oh, how unsurprising. The fourth potential agri-world we've discovered in this star-cluster. One wonders where these were during the food riots in our manufactorum colonies... Oh, everything's going wonderfully. Why do you ask?"

Appearance: Madam Armelan is a striking woman of classical beauty whose natural charisma shines equally well through the captain’s finery as it does a ballroom dress. Except in formal party functions, she keeps to the more practical clothing of a free captain often with her weaponry in easy reach and clear view. Fortune, treatments, or a good reaction time had kept her face mostly clear of scars, but one unlucky event cost her left arm below the elbow. It since been replaced with a subdued, onyx, and silver cybernetic.
Personality: Charlabelle carries the air of a formally trained and etiquette written lady of privilege. Despite this, she does much to prevent one from considering her a willowy heiress. She is well educated and holds the conversations of a noble sophisticate as well as cut through the usual obfuscation of Academia. More importantly, she has an iron determination an indomitable will, even compared to Rogue Trader standards. She is also extremely proud of her dynasty.
Capabilities: One of Madam Armelan’s most notable abilities is her avoidance of being hoodwinked, conned, or otherwise deceived. She’s extremely perceptive and knows exactly how to use that to her best advantage. She is also surprisingly deadly in personal combat, both because of her mastery of rare weapons and her own personal tenacity. In the time Drake has known her, she has turned into quite a Xenographer and mastered several alien technologies.

Shaper Vishal Amar & Shaman Orvak

The Master Shaper of Madam Armalan's Kroot Mercenaries, Vishar Amar has moved his way up into Charlabelle's close confidences, along with the Kroot's psycher-spiritual advisor Orvak, who was instrumental in her finding the Dread Pearl.

Weaponsmith Jo'kath

Jo'kath is a sanctioned Jereko Weaponsmith that has found his way into Madam Armelan's employee. It is suspected he may be the driving force behind her ability to integrate and maintain the variety of Xeno devices in her possession.

Kroot Mercs

Charlabelle maintains at least a regiment’s strength of Kroot Mercenaries onboard the Grace of Sophia. Lead by the Master Shaper Vishal Amar, these mercenaries are well known for both their skills in concealment as well as their martial power.

Grace of Sophia

Appearance: The Grace of Sophia is ancient and battle-scarred caravan-class carrack transport, giving her a similar displacement to a cruiser. Despite the appearances of damage, she appears very well cared for and equally well crafted. Careful scans suggest a few components may have a non-human origin.
Capabilities: Although she is sluggish and far more inclined to haul cargo then assault a pirate's haven, her banks of cannons have spelled a surprise to more than one reckless opponent.

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House Blitz

The Blitz Dynasty is the youngest of all the Dynasties in the expanse. Jeremiah Blitz landed himself in a very high stakes card game with some high members of the Administorum. Including in his winnings that day, so the story goes, was a powerful favor from the Administorum itself, a favor he called in for his very own Warrant of Trade. This recentness, combined with Jeremiah’s own preferences has left the dynasty with a lot of short term gains, but little in the way of developed infrastructure or long term wealth, not to mention an heir. Many expect the Dynasty to end with Jeremiah, if not sooner.

• Although Blitz and Drake sparred verbally a few times at the beginning of the Dread Pearl and with vessels on-site, no lasting animosity formed between the Houses.
• Blitz was present at Damaris for the Ork Invasion, though he was arguably the least committed of the defenders. Unfortunately for him, the Governor's reward was proportional.

Jeremiah Blitz

"To be honest friend, I have no idea what a Writ of Claim is. I got here first; I have the bigger gun, and it's mine. In my book, that's all the claim I need to make."

Appearance: Jeremiah looks, in many ways, like the usual Vid concept of the charming criminal. He is oddly hairless, a condition he attributes to a teleportation accident, and dresses primarily in nice, but not top class clothing. He seems oddly stuck between nobility and commonality, as though unsure in exactly which group he belongs. Like most Rogue Traders he is usually armed.
Personality: Jeremiah is both clearly self-absorbed as well as quite self-important. This meshes very well with his newfound fame and freedom as he searches out and tries to find the very limits of both. Still working his way out of the role of a confidence man and criminal, Jeremiah has a hard time seeing long term goals nor getting around to really establishing a dynasty.
Capabilities: Jeremiah still has many of his original connections in the criminal underworld, connections that have only grown stronger with his newfound freedom. Despite his connections and ability to work them, his contacts are nowhere near as dark or vile as Feckward. Although nothing to write home about, he has been good enough with his twin pistols (of varying types) to keep him alive thus far. Needless to say, he is an excellent gambler and card shark.

Perceval Dardan

Appearance: Perceval Dardan is an uncommonly short man with the well known and visible cranial implants of a remembrancer. Those, combined with his scribe-modified right hand make it clear what his primary profession is. He dresses mostly in the elegant academic robes of the administorum changed only by the inclusion of Blitz’s personal crest.
Personality: Of everyone working under the Blitz flag, Perceval seems to be the most interested in turning the accumulation of ready wealth into some kind of lasting establishment. To this end, he is frustrated at almost every turn and seems to be in an almost endless state of exacerbation.
Capabilities: Mr. Dardan handles a lot of the day-to-day operations of both the vessel and the dynasty that Lord Blitz can’t be bothered with. He is a knowledgeable and skilled paper pusher as well as an able ship's captain - often standing in for his employer in that capacity when Jeremiah is planetside or otherwise occupied.

Mercenaries

In addition to the usual staff of his ship, Blitz uses a fairly large number of highly skilled (and highly variable) mercenaries and retainers. Much to his benefit, Jeremiah is an excellent judge of character and team leader, abilities that have earned him the loyalty of his skilled cohorts. He does not appear to be finished assembling his team, however, as its specific membership is unknown at this time.

Ordained Destiny

Appearance: The Ordained Destiny is a grand affair and impressive to behold. Covered with gilded battlements and carved hull plates she is both a testament to Imperial power and overwhelming opulence. Highly unlike Blitz’s normal nature, he treats the ship with backhanded affection.
Capabilities: Jeremiah’s ship is an Imperial cruiser, formally of the Dominator class, though the Navy held on to her Nova Cannon when she was re-appropriated for the newly created Blitz Dynasty. She otherwise retains much of the strength of her former life, a fact that’s given Jeremiah a leg up in forging his fortune.

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House Ma'Kao

The House of Ma'Kao is a powerful dynasty with holdings across the entire Segmentum including several essential Agri-world providing foodstuffs to prominent Hive-Worlds including Scintilla (Capital of the Sector). Despite the unimaginably privileged lifestyle, this could afford the head of households, the bearers of the Ma'kao Warrant of Trade prefer to hold their fortunes in their own hands comforted in the fact that should they fall on some uncharted world the family and fortunes would continue.

• While not truly allied, a non-aggression pact was forged between House Ma'Kao and House Drake during the Dread Pearl endeavor which held through to the end.
• House Ma'Kao was present during the Lu'Nasad incident at Footfall and helped rally the defense against the chaos fleet.

Sun Lee Ma'Kao

"Trade is war; war is trade. Either way, the House of Ma'Kao profits."

Appearance: Sun Lee is often to be found wearing ornate power armor of a striking jade hue, a color that is repeated across the heraldry of her vessels and the uniforms of her soldiers and servants. When not expecting such trouble, she prefers a flowing silk gown of the same color, lending to her stately grace.
Personality: Lady Sun Lee is a seasoned veteran of many endeavors, many of which even seasoned explorers would avoid. She is as charming as he is deadly, able to hold council with monarchs of long-lost human empires and convinced them she is the Goddess of Humanity, earning her the adoration and fealty of uncounted millions. She is supremely confident of her abilities, but learned long ago not to overestimate them.
Capabilities: The matriarch of house Ma'Kao has trod the dusty crypts of alien catacombs, and led expeditions into the most lethal Death World jungles, returning with rare artifacts and priceless resources. She is also an adept swordswoman and carries a priceless power weapon with a gracefully curved and impossibly sharp blade. It's claimed the lives of many rivals, earning Lady Sun Lee a fearsome reputation in Rogue Trader circles.

Assistants Jin Ikaika and Xue Min

Appearance: Jin and Xue both dress in the traditional manner of their homeworld, a style based on colorful robes and odd hats. They almost never carry any of their own equipment, leaving that to the Servitors that accompany them.
Personality: Both of these men are quiet sycophants who provide Sun Lee with a combination of praise and occasionally helpful advice. They have little of the courage or presence that their leader displays, running like grots as soon as things become difficult.
Capabilities: For all their lack of martial ability, the two make up with intelligence and a wide verity of skills. They both seem to be somewhat of renaissance men, knowledgeable about a wide verity of topics, and possessing several unrelated abilities.

House Troops

Maa'kao house troops are professional and well put together, each clad in shining carapace adorned in the house colors. Part of an honored force drawn from veterans raised on worlds under the Dynasty's control the House Troops are trained and equipped like the Imperial Guard's own elite. They operate effectively as a unit, and should be considered as every bit of the skilled professionals they appear.

Nihontu

Appearance: The stylized and beautiful form of the Nihontu makes her the pride and joy of the Ma'kao dynasty. Her lithe form is covered with dragon iconography crowning in an impressive dragon rampant figurehead.
Capabilities: Sun Lee's flagship is no gilded sheep. She is equipped with advanced and powerful plasma broadsides as well as a custom-built 'Dragon's Breath' prow mounted lance system. Combined with a light cruiser's traditional speed and maneuverability this makes her a deadly combatant. Finely refitted and crafted with the best equipment the dynasty could recover over a thousand years, the Nihontu should not be underestimated.

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House Orleans

The House of Orleans is a Koronus-centered house that has suffered recently when the previous generation was forced into a doomed and foolish war. Ordered to provide ships, men, and materiel to the Ecclesiarchy for one of their many purges of heretic worlds, the Orleans dynasty got swept up in a campaign of conversion and cleansing along the fringes of the Calixis sector. Ill-planned and ill-fated, the entire endeavor was a disaster. The Starweaver was taken, the late Lord Orleans slain, and a young Elizabeth barely escaped alive, vowing to take vengeance and reclaim her birthright.

• Lady Orleans was first encountered at the Damaris War. She was heavily involved, although her more limited liquid finances kept her from throwing down quite as much as Lord Drake. Although the war brought forward a few arguments of policy, they parted again on amicable terms.

Lady Elizabeth Orleans

"These People need only the slightest push and they will throw off the hand of the Administratum, I will show them the truth of the matter, and they shall see who really has their best interests in mind"

Lady Orleans is a straight-talking, no-nonsense Rogue Trader with a reputation for square dealing. Born and raised in the vast emptiness of the empyrean, Orleans is the only child of Rogue Trader Dallen Orleans, himself a widower and a respected and admired man in the business. She spent her childhood safe in the bosom of her father’s ship Starweaver, learning leadership and business from her father and the trade of void-faring from his officers and crew. Since her father's death, Lady Orleans has rebuilt her dynasty, reclaimed Starweaver, and has made a name as a respectable trading partner. Thanks to her father’s ill-treatment by the Administratum and her disastrous experience with the Ecclesiarchy, Elizabeth has little love for either institution. Not a heretic in the true sense of the word, as she still loves the God-Emperor and believes fervently in the Imperial Creed, she will nevertheless do anything in her power to harm the interests of the Administratum or the Ecclesiarchy’s worldly interests. Viewing them as manipulative and dogmatic in the extreme, Orleans wants nothing more than to prevent the Adeptus Ministorum from gaining a foothold on the Expanse.

Inactive Houses

House Arcadius

House Arcacius is easily the most powerful dynasty searching for the Dread Pearl. They were founded well back in M32 and have made steady, solid progress since then. Their influence spans over two scores of sectors with more than a dozen expedition fleets as their command. This is, however, the first time anyone carrying their mark has been seen in the Expanse. After the poor show of earnings from the Dread Pearl affair, Able Gerrit has withdrawn back to other sectors in search of easier pickings.

House Bastille

The Bastille family is an ancient and revered Rogue Trader dynasty, one that's always been known for its powerful merchant fleet. The dynasty has used this advantage to both pushes the frontiers of its fortune and to scour clean the value of any world or trade route they find. It tragically suffered a loss of much of its leadership when a Vortex torpedo malfunctioned and eliminated almost all of the leaders of the family. It was this very event that put Julien Bastille in command. The capture of his flagship, the Colossus, and the Abhorrent, its escort were a major blow to the dynasty, compounded by the capture and ransoming of Lord Bastille himself. The house, it appears, is no longer conducting operations in the expanse.

House Feckward

Quite a large population believes that the Feckward Dynasty is nothing more than an elaborate, multi-generational scam and Krawkin himself no more than a criminal mastermind and con artist. The dynasty’s finances are based squarely in the cold and slave trades. Few if any legitimate businesses have anything to do with them, at least in public. Krawkin Feckward's death was witnessed by the Drake Dynasty; he was savagely ripped apart by the natives he was in the possession of gathering to sell as slaves from the Dread Pearl.

House Khako

The dynasty was founded by Generalissimo Djanko's great-great-grandfather Lord-General Sebastian Gennadiy Khako, "The Scourge". The Lord-General was granted his Warrant of Trade following the prosecution of the decade long and highly destructive Jade Reach Suppression. It's said during the course of this war Sebastian razed over a dozen worlds, a record his decedents each seem determined to match. Djanko Khako invaded the Dread Pearl with the majority of his forces, where he ended up in a major conflict with the similarly inclined orks. He is believed to have been killed when the warp-storm engulfed the planet.

House Meddington

An old dynasty that entered into the Calixis sector at the forefront of the Angevian crusade. Renowned for the discovery of Lycurgos station, which served as a cornerstone for the conquest of the periphery subsector and the establishment of a stable connection to the Scarus Sector. Like all Rogue Trader dynasties, the fortunes of the family waxed and wained over the next millennia. The house was declared extinct in absentia around 682.M40 after the disappearance of its last scion, Killian Meddington.