The Warrant of Trade

Let it be known, that by my will and by the true words of this document, I appoint this person to be the bearer of the Warrant of Trade, and bestow upon them and their dynasty the great Mission to be the paragon of Humanity, unbroken by adversity, to walk bravely first into darkness, to unite and reclaim what was lost, to triumph over nightmares untold, to hold boldly the reins of fate, to walk steadily the road of thorns, through pain to greatness.

By His Will

Before the light of the Astronomicon brought a million worlds into the auspices of the Master of Mankind, the veil of the void was a suffocating presence that drowned out the cries of untold trillions of lives. Thousands of cultures were lost, forgotten or destroyed in the quiet of old night, while civilizations that rose from the ashes of tragedy oft became parodies of past torchbearers. All that mankind had ever achieved, all that they had ever discovered was lost in the blink of an eye. No army He ever rose could hope to reclaim it all, neither mortal nor transhuman save He could fathom the sheer totality of the loss, the sheer lengths it would take to recover even an iota of ages past.

So the God-Emperor did not turn to armies to cast away the dark.

Rather, He turned to the boldest and most daring of His servants before tasking with them a cruelty unlike any other. “The pain of old night must needs be assuaged,” He said. “But it cannot be done by hammer or scalpel, for they are too specific a tool for so nebulous a purpose. So now I come before you and ask of you something that would break lesser men and women. In order to reclaim what we have lost, to cast aside this pervasive darkness that has befallen us, I ask of you to be free—be free and strike out into the unknown.”

Then, by His will, those among the many He called forth that had not shied away from the burden of freedom were granted a writ unlike any other. Each of them was freed of the shackles of societal bondage. Each allowed to conduct themselves in a manner they saw most befitting of the task set before them, never to be held in account as the teeming masses would again. By parchment, ink and drops of His very ichor, the Saviour of Mankind did breathe life into the first Rogue Trader dynasties.

Unto each, He bequeathed the first Warrants of Trade.

The Burden of Freedom

Of all the assets a Rogue Trader dynasty has at its disposal, none are so precious and so dangerous as the Warrant of Trade. For it is the measure of their worth and the surest method to their dissolution from the interstellar stage.

With the writ in hand, the rigidity of structure and tradition ingrained from birth is loosened, if not outright shattered, for the dynastic agents entrusted with enriching and expanding Imperial holdings. Their charge is to bring planets and lost human societies into the fold while searching for new resources amid budding territories. They venture out into the unknown and return with plunder, with stories and land with which to add unto the Master of Mankind’s million worlds. And, in time, tear away the black veil separating the Imperium of Man from its birthright.

To lay claim to the heavens themselves.

In order to achieve this, the burden of freedom falls heavy upon the shoulders of he or she that wields the writ entrusted to their family. They are allowed a degree of flexibility in how they conduct themselves toward these aforementioned goals, whether this brings them to the sword or the quill in their endeavors. Acts that would brand others heretical may be tolerated if performed by a reputed Rogue Trader. It is a shield from the political congestion of the wider Imperium as well as a sword with which to carve out a personal legacy of glory, riches and honor. Any who might dare question the agent would do best to think twice should they be confronted with the weight of so grand a document. But it is not without consequence to wield the writ, the God-Emperor’s very words, in such a manner, and the longest lived dynasties have mastered the art of using this relic of parchment.

Part of this art is to know when best to capitulate to your betters’ requests, when said writ would be more a hindrance, if the protections of the warrant fall short of a Rogue Trader’s conduct, or when its use may well spell the doom of your dynasty—few among His Holiest of Ordos would take kindly to having their requests spurned, after all.

Thus does the full weight of freedom’s yoke become self-evident.

The Rise of von Valancius

Among the boldest and most powerful of dynasties who have done well beneath the burden of their freedom are those who have carved out a place within the perilous Koronus Expanse: Winterscale, Chorda and von Valancius. Each is a monolith of power and wealth set to define the future of this ill-omened sector of space. But it is within the family of von Valancius, headed by the daring Theodora von Valancius, that fate seems bent toward in an hour of wolves.

It is through the monolithic reams of parchment secreted away within the byzantine architecture of the von Valancius flagship that Theodora, then holder of the writ, assured an era of prosperity and dominance. She wielded her power with an ironfist, crushing her foes and raising her allies to new heights. Always treading where few dared to go, always pursuing some new endeavor that aims toward the heavens. And this domineering attitude and bold disposition toward her God-Emperor given duty has earned her no small amount of enemies.

Enough, perhaps, to overwhelm even the boldest of Rogue Traders…

By a twist of fate, you are her heir apparent—the one who shall inherit this vaunted relic that spurred your relative on to ever higher peaks when, at last, Theodora von Valancius is no more. When she meets her end at the hand of who knows what, it falls to you, the new Lord Commander, to bring your family, your dynasty out of the throes of grief and into a new glorious age of prosperity.