The Maw
| Rogue Trader: Drake Dynasty | |
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| GM | |
| Adam | |
| Dynastic Power | |
| Character Level: 31,250 XP / Rank 8 | |
| Profit Factor: 43𝖕 | |
| Command Crew | |
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Lord-Captain Drake Navigator Primus Mordecai Arch-Millitant Winter Astropath Solarus High Factorum August | |
| House Drake Fleet | |
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Aurea Albion Hound of Albion • Abhorrent Fortuitous Purpose • Penance of Iocanthos | |
| Drake Trade Empire | |
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Damaris • Scintilla • Kulth Svard • Dross • Aurum Sepheris Secundus • Tennenberg Killian's Rest | |
| Drake Expeditions | |
| Open Missions | |
| Grand Endevours | |
| Personnel | |
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Magistrates • Retainers Militants Svard 1st • Stormtroopers House Drake Expeditionary Army | |
| Assets | |
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Materiel Aerospace Craft • Ground Vehicles | |
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Armoury Wargear • Relics and Artifacts | |
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Other Estate Secrets and Contacts • Awards and Honors | |
| The Galaxy | |
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Locations Calixis Sector Koronus Expanse • Periphery Subsector Personalities Peers of the Imperium Rival Rogue Traders | |
| Utilities | |
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Rogue Trader Timeline House Rules Guide and Lore |
"It is a beast that swallows the apostate, the doubter, and all who ship with them. Better to slay the unfaithful than risk the dread Maw whilst such false wretches draw breath."
-Opening lines of the Voidfarer's Warning from the Drusian Play
The Koronus Passage is a stable but dangerous warp route that passes through the Great Warp Storms separating the Calixis Sector from the Koronus Expanse. The Koronus Passage was discovered by a Magos-Explorator of the Machine Cult in the distant past, lost for millennia, and found once more by the Rogue Trader Purity Lathimon at the very close of the 40th Millennium. The Passage links Port Wander and the Drusus Marches to the great star Furibundus and the void colony of Footfall-and beyond Footfall, the Koronus Expanse beckons.
Superstitious voidfarers call the route "The Maw" To their eyes the Maw is a beast made of warp storms, cunning and malicious, whose crushing gullet must be braved by those who seek to break through to the Koronus Expanse beyond. Many have died in trying, and traversing the Maw remains harrowing despite centuries of experience gathered by Navigators and Rogue Traders. Some say this ill-omened title came from the first to survive the crossing-and that they returned wild-eyed, at the edge of sanity, and few journeyed to the voids again.
The possibilities of a passage through the Great Warp Storms were first recorded by Abenicus, insane Navigator of House Benetek, and have gripped the hearts and minds of Rogue Traders ever since that time. Vast riches and a way through the Great Warp Storms were once a lure to the brave and foolhardy, and many died for pursuing what they believed to be the truth. In time, cautious steps into what would be called the Maw laid the groundwork for the Stations of Passage that guided steps of those passing through the Maw. Later, during the Mistaken Age of the early 41st Millennium, Navigators learned to read the Maw and its moods-to see signs in the warp for what they were and so avoid the sudden, sweeping maelstroms that doomed earlier explorers. The Stations of Passage fell into disuse, save as refuges from unexpected upheaval in the empyrean, and as covert rendezvous points for plotting Rogue Traders.
In the present times the Maw is a rite of passage for Rogue Traders of the Calixis Sector. A Lord-Captain may bear the greatest Warrant of Trade ever seen in Port Wander, but until he harrows the Maw and survives to see the raging light of Furibundus at its farthest end, he is no better than a common Free Trader in the eyes of his peers.
The Stations of Passage
The Stations of Passage are locations within real space at which ships can safely drop from the warp while navigating the Maw. Rogue Traders religiously avoided certain Stations, and some still retain an ill reputation. Many of the Stations are clear voids, howling streams of energised gas, or the outskirts of dead systems. Others are more intriguing, however.