Being an abridged account of the heroic and mighty deeds, works, and honourable fates of those famed Rogue Traders of the Strom Dynasty who have helped shape the history of the Imperium of Man.

What follows is a curated chronicle of selected events of the Strom Dynasty, done so at the behest of the current Warrant Holder who has made it a priority to preserve the histories of his ancestors for future generations. The dynasty’s own historians have provided much of the source material, verified by numerous other scholars for their veracity. Within are the agreed upon accounts and records of the Strom Dynasty throughout the ten millennia since the House’s founding. While such personal records are often prone to inconsistencies, the Strom’s own historians are far more unforgiving of the dynasty’s known heroes and have revealed new information on many historical events. All chronicles should be subject to the strictest of scrutinies but every endeavour has been made to ensure that the body of materials presented here are at least those that in agreement with public and private records.

M30 to M32

M30

The Unity Wars

House Strom dates its founding at 782.M30. Students of history will know that the first Imperial Warrants were not signed by the Emperor until M31, therefore the date must be incorrect. Not so. House Strom is an entity within the Strom Dynasty, which is also known as House Strom due to the tradition of referring to dynasties as Houses.

What is known is that the Stroms were descended from refugees of the Meric and Pan-Pacific States, fleeing to the southernmost continent at the height of the Age of Strife. Orioc and Arkina shared the continent, though Orioc soon came to dominate it with its religion. The Emperor visited both hive-city states, though went to Arkina first. What he was told about Orioc has not been recorded, but the Emperor deployed two forces to take the continent: one, a diplomatic army to bring Unity to Arkina; the other, an army of proto-Astartes.

One of Arkina’s elders would join the Emperor’s council and the continent was given over to one Albrecht Strom and given rulership over the broken lands.

M30-M31

The Great Crusade

Rembrandt Alec-Strom was given one of the first Imperial Warrants of Trade. This would cement the Stroms as one of the Old Houses. Whereas other Houses received Star Galleons, Caravels, and even fleets of support craft, the Stroms were granted only one non-functional ship, pried from a hulk floating near Terra. The Lunar-class cruiser did not wield the same weapons modern Lunars did, and significant work was needed to make the ship warp-worthy, depleting the nascent House’s wealth (and not for the first time).

Rembrandt Strom, having dropped the “Alec” family name for unrecorded reasons, set sail nearly a full year behind other Warrant Holders, with only one other ship, an armed transport, in its fleet. He would return sooner than anyone else, bearing samples of the bounties of dozens of nearby worlds and expand his fleet directly from newly-built vessels around Mars orbit.

M31

Though only a few hundred years had passed, the Stroms managed to take to the void, acting as trailblazers and cementing many trade deals for the Imperium.

Rembrandt Strom himself is known to have defeated a WAAAGH! by using two Imperial Army formations to lure the scrappy flotilla into a series of ambushes. The fact that an Ork warfleet was trailing the Imperial Army formations was never shared with the Imperial commanders, instead the Founder used a xenos empire to deal with the greenskins. When the WAAAGH! was defeated, Strom sent a message to the Imperial Army to bring “Compliance” to the xenos.

The Horus Heresy

Much of the Strom’s hard-won holdings were swept away during this tribulation. What is known is that the Stroms were banished from Ultramar. Accounts vary, but Ultramar records a grave crime concerning a void ship full of birds, a parade, and Roboute Guilliman himself.

Strom records are much more colourful and detailed. Their historians all agree that Trent Strom’s reckless acts were a ruse to cover up the theft of xenos trophy.

The Strom Dynasty Fleet, having expanded to such a size as to conduct its own Compliance campaigns into whole star clusters, was reduced to one flotilla. The loss of so many transports and warships would have required the Stroms to sell of most of their holdings. Yet, proving the Rogue Trader adage of “Opportunity is” the dynasty surged forward in the aftermath, reconnecting lost worlds and building new ties.

This was done with not a little bit of piracy on both sides of the conflict. The stolen ships were taken, harboured into areas only the Stroms new of, and unleashed on a rebuilding Imperium. Many were seized, or destroyed as Traitor ships, but enough survived. Scholars from Segmentum Solar still hail the Stroms as heroes for their actions. Whereas in other parts of the Imperium they are cursed for stealing vital supplies and ships, allowing worlds to die to preserve their own.

The Blessed Enterprise was rebuilt several times during this conflict. Often at the expense of a squadron of lesser vessels. The Strom Dynasty Fleet still had three battleships, five grand cruisers, and dozens more cruisers and light cruisers, plus enough escorts for them and twice as many transports. It was but a fraction of what the fleet was before the horrendous war.

877.M32

The Oberon-class Battleship New Worlds is lost in a game of chance. It is delivered to Broderik Rinn, no relation, as a stripped down hull. This sparks a small trade war between the two, with Broderik promising to end it only when the rest of the battleship’s components were delivered to him.

882.M32

On the anniversary of House Strom’s founding, the rest of the New Worlds ’ components are personally delivered to Broderk Rinn at his home. From orbit.

901.M32

A new alcoholic beverage is discovered on Tatayanait, deep in Segmentum Pacificus, by Mira Strom. The planet was covered with fields of these berries that could be harvested easily, crushed and allowed to ferment on its own in direct sunlight for a few days. The taste was considered exquisite and significant resources were spent in establishing trade routes to the planet, void stations, and wine presses on the surface.

Then the planet entered its long winter cycle. The crops didn’t die, they hatched. Suddenly, the mass orchards were now breeding grounds for a very cannibalistic species who quickly began eating each other as infants, growing larger and stronger with each kill. Larger ones were turned on by seemingly weak hatchlings who themselves grew stronger and stronger.

Mira Strom, present at the ruination of so much of her dynasty’s wealth, would later write a book called Mastigia and has been hailed as the rogue’s guide to trading, growth and success. It’s been routinely banned across the Imperium since.

909.M32

Tatayanait is re-marketed as a hunter’s paradise, with the fruits of their hunts being crushed xenobeast embryos.

955.M32

Sanethia Strom raises a warfleet formed from various rogue traders to challenge Eldar pirates running rampant in the Veldin Sector. The rogue traders of the region trusted Sanethia for her various campaigns against piracy. One by one, the elements of the warfleet are cut off and killed enroute to their mustering point. Soon, only a handful survive, including the core of the Strom dynasty fleet. They emerge victorious against the Eldar pirates and Sanethia is hailed as a hero.

965.M32

Riding on the wave of appreciation, and capitalizing on other Rogue Traders’ losses, the Strom dynasty surges to control the sector’s tradelanes. On the anniversary of the victory, proof is released that Sanethia Strom dealt with the Eldar to kill her rivals and then double-cross them in the end.

The outrage was quite limited, costing the dynasty only a few percentage points in profit. The source of the leak was brutally killed. Again, from orbit.

971.M32

A celebration on Terra turns sour. Xeno-beasts given to the High Lords of Terra became strangely aroused at the sight of their previous owners. During a grand dinner, some of the beasts broke loose and proceeded to do various things with the Arant Dynasty’s administrators, the original gift givers. Josel Arant, already a famous lech, was arrested for unnamed crimes.

The visiting Rembrandt Strom VI captured the entire affair on holopict.

Later 971.M32

The Strom Dynasty is awarded the right to expand Galactic Westward, Rimward, from Terra. They are gifted an infusion of new ships, new trade agreements, and new contracts.

House Arant is dissolved quietly.

982.M32

The space hulk Twisting Fury adds four Strom dynasty mass conveyors and the grand cruiser Republic . The scion’s last words were believed to be “Watch this!” to the all-female bridge crew.

983.M32

Twisting Fury is overcome with Astartes aid by the Strom dynasty. The Republic was sent into the nearest star.

999.M32

The Blessed Enterprise is recovered from an Ork WAAAGH! in exchange for very sharp teeth collected by the void ship on Tatayanait.

I find this Dynasty a bit overpowered with the Battleships thing. But I guess that Dynasties almost as old as the Imperium itself could have that kind of power.

I specially enjoyed the "delivered from orbit" parts. hehe

I felt that at some point there would be mentions to "fallen" ship designs - like a "turncoat" Desolator/Despoiler battleship or something.

"Why do we rise? So that we can fall." - Some dead Strom guy

The dynasty has its ups and downs, I figure a Rogue Trader that (claims to) hails from that far back would have some influence, and hilarious stories.

I like it allot. It adds a rich history, exploits, and plot hocks for later use. Though I am with Sebastian Yorke on the Battleship thing though. One Battleship would show their strength and have great plot hocks for a cunning GM to utilize (what RT wouldn't try to recover a Battleship linked to their family?), but having 3.... I would have to compare your story with other RT House/Dynasty stories of that time period to say if it's a bit much. Which, said to say, we don't have (or at least I haven't heard of).

However, you could make a clause at the very top of your Chronicle that it was written by a Scribe from your Dynasty, name of so and so, and other Houses (maybe a few renowned, most not) have argued that it's embellished. Just a thought.