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Post by Zidagar Dinoman on Jun 17, 2004 14:45:00 GMT -5
Although I have already mentioned him in the Wargaming forum, I figured I better start a discussion on Skurien. Here's what I have so far.
Skurien is a relatively young rogue trader, having been given his Warrant of Trade and the title to his cruiser from its previous Captain. Skurien was his Flag Lieutenant when the a Dark Eldar pirate vessel from the Kabal of the Bloody Scythe attacked the "Green Hornet" in deep space. The captain was killed in a boarding action, and Skurien took his place at the helm.
After repairing his vessel somewhere in the Anargo Sector (possibly Proteus), his fleet set out to hunt the pirates who had been tracked to the Sargassos Sub-sector. He stopped only at Altarra to recruit the 8th Altarran Sky Pirates and 2181st Tactial Wing to assist on his crusade.
At present, his fleet is comprised of the Green Hornet, a Kar Duniash pattern cruiser commonly seen under the command of Rouge Traders. A disciplined crew run the systems on the Hornet. The targetting matrix on the Green Hornet was been upgraded by the Eldar of a certain craftworld for it's previous owner. The same craftworld also provided the fleet with three hybrid escort sized vessels with the same targetting upgrades. An escort carrier was added to the fleet to provide a launching platform for the 2181st. The fleet is rounded out with a large transport vessel to hold any riches Skurien comes across and provide a home to some of the Sky Pirates.
Skurien's personal escorts are en eglectic assortment of human and aliens. It is rumored that Archeaoxenan, an Eldar Ranger, a Tau Pathfinder, a Psyker, and an Altarran Sergeant, if not others, make up his retinue.
Alright, Flame away! j/k
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Post by CELS on Jun 18, 2004 9:17:58 GMT -5
Hey, Zidagar. Nice to see some colour added to the project!
Like Kage, I prefer to differentiate between Rogue Traders, given their title by the Imperium, and 'rogue traders' or 'free traders' (as they're known in the Eisenhorn novels). Rogue Traders are the type that are often given command of Imperial Guard or even Space Marines, to accomplish some sort of special mission, like establishing contact with aliens or reconquering lost human worlds. The more common free traders/ rogue traders are civilians that hold no rank within the Adeptus Terra, and are in no way endorced by the Imperium, nor are they given special missions. Instead, they roam wherever business takes them, be it an Imperial subsector or an alien one. An example of such a free trader / rogue trader is Maxilla from the Eisenhorn novels. He's a rogue trader, but certainly no Rogue Trader. He just has his own ship, and does business outside the law more often than not, usually making money by transporting luxury goods. Another example of a free trader / rogue trader is Janus Darke from the Farseer novel, I think. I must admit though, it's been a while since I read that novel.
Anyway, I have a few more questions
1) Did Skurien serve a rogue trader, or an Imperial Navy Captain?
2) Did he "recruit" an entire Imperial Guard regiment? If so, why does he keep a sergeant as part of his staff, rather than a general / colonel?
3) Why did the Imperium use Skurien to attack the Dark Eldar, rather than just sending an Imperial Navy battlefleet?
4) Why did the Eldar give Skurien so fantastic gifts? You do realize, of course, that most Eldar consider human worthless, stupid barbarians, hence the name "mon'keigh". Though they do have peaceful relations with humans from time to time, most Eldar consider humans tools to be manipulated into serving the Eldar.
In addition, it's not like the Eldar have so great resources and fantastic amounts of ships that they can just throw these at every rogue trader who wants to do business with them. For the Eldar to give Skurien such a fantastic gift, you'll need to justify it.
There's also the question of whether Imperial and Eldar technology can actually be integrated....
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Post by Zidagar Dinoman on Jun 18, 2004 9:34:04 GMT -5
After a lengthy discussion with Kage, I've decided to drop the idea of Skurien in the Anargo Sector at the present. However, we seem to agree that Skurien could be the Rogue Trader brought into the sector to explore the Heart of Anargo, and as such should not be in the sector at present.
I disagree slightly (as Kage knows so well) on the interpretation of the title Rogue Trader. Capatilzation of the name makes no difference. You are either a Rogue Trader, with a Warrant of Trade and all the trappings, or not. The people refered to as "rogue traders" are nothing more than common criminals. pirates, and outlaws. Calling them "rogue traders" is inappopriate and causes unneccessary confusion. The insertion of the term into GW fluff and Black library books when refering to those characters when they are clearly not official "Rogue Traders" is irresponsible and a mistake we should try not to continue in the ASP.
Anyhow, seeing as that Skurien could be the Rogue Trader brought into the ASP background, I'll simply switch the campaign to another sector and adjust the background to fit Kage's criteria.
-Dinoman
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Post by CELS on Jun 18, 2004 9:54:49 GMT -5
I very much agree on what you say about "rogue traders" and Rogue Traders. Rogue Trader is actually very poor title to describe their actual purpose, and as seen in the Anargo thread, discussing the Adeptus Arbites vs the Anargo 'Arbites', I despise double naming such as this. Which is why I stressed the term 'free trader' from Dan Abnett strongly. Ah well... we'll discuss this more in 999.M41, I suppose  |
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Post by Kage2020 on Jun 18, 2004 10:37:22 GMT -5
You are either a Rogue Trader, with a Warrant of Trade and all the trappings, or not. The people refered to as "rogue traders" are nothing more than common criminals. pirates, and outlaws. It's a fair enough common stance, although people will complain... And as I said in the discussion, this is actually how I prefer them. Though I disagree with the specifics of the Warrant of Trade, since that is one of the lamest bits of 'fluff' that I've come cross recently (i.e. residuality of them as described in that nightmare of 'fluff' that is Inquisitor). Calling them "rogue traders" is inappopriate and causes unneccessary confusion. I will point out one thing: are you sure that you cannot think of real world examples where two things share the same name but are not the same thing? I'm fairly sure that you can... For a 40k example? Spirit stones... |
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Post by CELS on Jun 28, 2004 23:29:34 GMT -5
Oi! Look what I found in BFG Armada; ;D Page 109 |
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Fleetmaster
Scribe
Ultras just got interesting!
Posts: 38
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Post by Fleetmaster on Nov 4, 2004 12:58:28 GMT -5
Strange... I smell a plasma-rat (What ever one of those is). Ennumerius Skurien isn't exactly a common name either...
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