Hello again everyone. I wasn't actually completely sure where to put this one, but I took a shot in the dark.

Im currently making a villian for my campaign, and I've hit a bit of a mental snag. The person in question basically had the ship-lorn background x1000 and went a little cuccoo during his several decade long imprisonment upon the dead starship. Long story short, Daemon pact, yaddayaddayadda he took over the freighter vessel that rescued him and began impersonating the rogue trader who told him that he would have to pry the ship from his cold, dead hands.

Now, through a combination of chaos trickery, charisma, and laser-based-behavioral-correction (*blam*), he eradicated any doubt in the minds of the commanding officers that he was rightfully in charge. The fact that a significant portion of the crew were ogryns and servitors helped.

The only problem I'm having is with the Astropath(s) and Navigator. They aren't exactly going to be easily tricked and *BLAM* isn't really an option either. How loyal are these two essential personnel, and if the answer is "fairly", then how would a hijacking be pulled off, short of complete psychic control?

Well, there is nothing stating that the RT has to meet in person with the Navigator or the Astropath in order to run the ship. He can always send a middle person to coordinate with them about matters. Reasons can vary as to why. He's sick, feels ill around them, dislikes their smell, is busy, or no other reason rather than "because he can." So the *BLAM* thing can still apply.

Note: I'm assuming that when you say *BLAM* you mean *because I as the GM said it was so?" Not really sure what the blam aspect truly is, so just wanted clarification.

Uh, no, sorry. I was using a 1d4chan meme.

*BLAM* is... To put it delicately, the preferred method of motivation used by Imperial Commissars.

I was trying to be clever with the whole "laser-based-behavioral-correction" thing, but I probably should have just explained it clearly.

*edit*

Just to make sure there's no more confusion: he shoots them. AKA *blam*

The words "Imperial Commissar" said it all. lol

The Navigator and Astropath COULD be trouble, but they are still people all the same. Either could be bullied, bribed, or just pricks. Of the two, in my opinion, the Astropath is likely the bigger problem. Navigators are often segregated, and they are accustomed to money and fancy (not always, but for the purposes of this silly example). They might not expect to see their RT/Captain often, and just receive messages when he or she wants to go someplace. If you run on the idea that during transit, no one else can be with the Navigator, this is a stronger case. The Astropath, though, is a powerful, ranged psyker. They might notice the thoughts of their leader, if they like the Lord-Captain, change, or disappear, and then they can send a message to any interested parties. If you aren't also a Psyker, you might not notice that this message is even sent. Short of killing them, locking them up in a Black Box, or drugging them into idiocy, preventing an Astropath from messaging is tricky, AND you are then without your long-range cell phone, unless you have your own. Again, this situation makes several assumptions, such as that the Navigator isn't as loyal, perhaps, which could be bull, and he could just "jump" you to a place filled with your enemies, or that the Astropath is immune to bribery, but i can see several of these angles working easily.

The Astropath could be possessed. If the fake Rogue Trader has enough control of his thoughts/emotions to get close and the taint of chaos isn't easily detectible yet then it might be plausible that he could trap the Astropath in a summoning circle or something similar and have the Astropath possessed. Of course the whole soul bound to the Emperor would make possession harder but it is still possible.

For the Navigator, just kill him. Demonic pacts probably include some sort of clause about getting him through the warp 'safely' provided the appropriate tithes are made.

For what it's worth both the astropath and the navigator are likely to be more closely aligned to their own organisations than the ship they are on and it's crew, and might well not really care that much who is currently commanding the ship, so long as they are not obviously chaotic. If chaosy stuff is going on, you might need to construct some elaborate lies though.

Arrange an accident and blame the psyker? Always works

You could also keep them confined to their repective areas for whatever reason... Bribe them? Tell them that they are in it with you either way? find a rogue psyker and use him as standin for the astropath! whatever is needed!

The Navigator would probably be the biggest threat to a daemon, but as others have pointed it, that's an easily segregated position. The Astropath could be used as your future spoiler. Maybe the astropath DOES know what is going on but doesn't let the daemon know. Instead, the astropath plays his/her cards carefully, waiting for a chance to betray the daemon. Enter your heroes...

I think the Bad Guy should do something to sabotage the warp-protections of the psykers (shorting out ward-circuitry, etc), which, combined with bargaining with some daemons, results in them getting possessed.

Arrange an accident and blame the psyker ? Always works

You could also keep them confined to their repective areas for whatever reason... Bribe them? Tell them that they are in it with you either way? find a rogue psyker and use him as standin for the astropath! whatever is needed!

It's ALWAYS the psyker's fault. Always.

Well if it really just is down to the Navigator and Astropath as potential opposition to the ruling regime....well that's fairly normal honestly. If either has a brain in their heads they'll either come to an understanding with the new leadership or they'll jump ship, pursueing any kind of a half measure doesn't get them anywhere. Granted alot of people are stupid, and in that case if they aren't and the regime isn't the regime will kill the astropath as a lesson. You don't need the astropath he's just a convenience, and if you have to off him that will get the navigator to commit to a direction pretty quickly.

Another possibility is that if the navigator is being that much of a **** just replace his ass with someone from a rival house.