Hello all once again!

I'm looking for some input/feedback on a mini-arc during a campaign I'm running. I'd been reading through the Core Book, and noticed on the map of the Calixis sector a few prison worlds. Now, my main curiosity is what one needs to do to get sent to a prison world, as it seems the death sentance in the Imperium is a pretty quick and surefire way of dealing with any serious infractions. So, I wonder:

1. What the crime or level of crime needs to be, circumstances, etc, to get sent to one of these worlds.

2. What these worlds are like. Sprawling prison-contenents, like a hive, but locked down? Just a place where they dump prisoners, and oversee the barbarism from orbit? Small, high-security facilities on otherwise deathworlds?

The way this plays together is my players' Inquisitor (Tyrus Lurco), who is actually a Super-Radical all-but-Heretic in the guise of a Puritan, is using the Acolytes as a clean-up crew for his loose ends that would otherwise attract unwelcome Inquisitorial attention. One of his old Interrogators is threatening to spill all he knows, and claims he's not the only one who has this information. If he spies an assassin, the rest will vanish and do their work. The man himself was an accomplished assassin, and is **** good at not being killed. The acolytes need to get close to him without triggering his suspicion, made all the harder by the fact that Lurco imprisoned him on a Prison World a decade or so ago for "disloyalty", with chaos sigils enscribed onto the bones of his left arm, the intention being to using dark magics to take control of the rogue Interrogator, should Lurco's treachery ever be revealed and his old allies be sought out for information.

The task for the acolytes is to get themselves arrested and sent to that prison world, where they must find, torture, interrogate and execute the offending person. This is going to require a bit of work, and no minor crime spree; they need to make sure their crimes are relatively non-violent (wouldn't do to have the Arbites simple shoot them on sight,) and wide reaching... they'd need to make underworld allies, get in touch with the Wrong Sort of People, that sort of thing. The players would be playing Ocean's 11 for a little bit. Once captured, the Inquisition can quietly route the sentancing towards the prison world, which, after one month, the acolytes will be transferred to a penal legion (aka, will likely die before the Inquision can find them once they're released).

What do people think?

It sounds like an excellent idea for a campaign. Building a small criminal empire is a great take on the "end justifies the means"-mentality of the Inquisition, not to mention it gives a lot of opportunities to be clever.

I imagine that crimes leading to prisonplanets would be mostly of the civilian and economic kind. I imaigne it is a sentence that would be rightly feared by most clercs and accountants, while not so much by scum that already lives in the underhive. I imagine either using the criminals as forced settlers on previously uninhabited (by humans, and that is what the arbites care about) planets, in wich case it is pretty much drop and forget and then a levy ship comes every 20 years to pick up the taxes. Or they would be used as workers in places were the death/injury expectancy is high such as plutonard mines, warpengine testing facilities, or on deathworlds with access to rare resources. If they are used as more or less skilled labour I imagine the sentence to the prison planet to be dependant on the possibility for the individual to perform the task expected. If it is unskilled slave labour or just forced settlement, there is profit to be made in sentencing just about anyone that is healthy enough to survive the transport to the place, so then it becomes a question about public relations and what crimes the local enforcement wants to punish in what ways. Try reading something on the origin of the nation of Australia, it used to be a prison continent. There are probably a lot of inspiring conflicts from how the britts ignored the aborigins and managed the "settlements".

Suggestion: A planetary governor is in charge of each prison planet. He can buy lifetime-/deathsentenced criminals from other planets in the vincinity. Although heretics, mutants etc etc is not available to him. And his intention is then to put them to work and make a profit from it. I imagine it can be a pretty lucrative bussiness if he just pays a one time cost. And I even imagine a criminal can be grateful to the governor for avoiding a deathsentence. Of course there are loads of possibilities for blackmarket trading of the sentencees.

Another suggestion: Have a planet with two nearby cities. One is the original settlement of the guarding and administrative forces, the other is originally the prison camp. Over the last hundred years the prison camp has become bigger, more independent and further developed, thanks to the amount of skilled and cheap labour, mechanicus researchprojects that are placed there and general lack of corruption. So now the planet is on the brink of a rebellion, the (ex)prisoners have even begun very discreete negotiations with the adeptus mechanicus and the empire about being recogniced as a sovereign state or maybe even the rightful governorship of the planet. Place the characters in the middle of that mess and see what they feel like doing about it. This suggestion is inspired by Robert Heinleins wonderful novel The moon is a harsh mistress , reccomended reading.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks for the advice! I've been fooling around with the idea of what the prison planet would be like, but I definitely think Death World with a Valuable Resource would be the best route... something like a jagged ball of dirty ice on the far reaches of a system, covered in neverending blizzards, save for a single eye of the storm that passes over the main prison-city once every couple of months; during that period, new prisoners are unloaded and sent off to penal legions, etc. Make it as inhospitable as possible, but with a breathable atmosphere, just to give the acolytes the temptation to attempt to escape to the surface.

Another friend of mine suggested that the Acolyte's underworld allies get landed with them, so the friends (and enemies) they wind up making would be a part of their new environment... nothing like finding out the crime boss you usurped three months ago has already set up shop, and has been grinding that axe for a while now...

So, the players will get dropped off at this place, and I'm thinking I need a way of putting a timer on them. By the time the eye arrives at the holding center, the Administorium would have processed their transfers, or something like that, and they're doomed... so they've got x amount of time to get the info and deal with their man, and figure a way off of the rock. Ideally, Lurco, their Inquisitor, will simply ignore their requests to be picked up, as they've been tainted by false information from their man.

The man himself I'm planning on having be very charismatic and useful, and overall a far, far more evil man than the Inquisitor in question; hopefully, if played right, the acolytes will escape with him, to find out later on what a mistake that was...

Imperial law is pretty varied planet by planet. On one planet, steeling could catch you the death sentence or a trip to a prison world where, on another world, it could fetch you nothing but a slap on the wrist.

It’s probably also a matter of convenience for many planets as to whether or not you end up on a prison world. If the system charter ship that hits the subsector prison world is on its way in, it can be convenient to just dump your overflowing prisons onto the ship never to be bothered with again. If the ship is on its way out and won’t be back for another 2 years, it might be just more convenient to increase the offenses that warrant the death penalty for a while to avoid the expense of imprisoning the scum of your world.

Also, bear in mind the local imperial guard may be in need of additional expendable guardsmen for some war or another. They may issue a request to all planets in a sector that prisoners destined for the death penalty instead be sent to a prison world for eventual conscription into penal legions. I think most planetary governors would be more than happy to do this as it buys them political favor, gets rid of a bunch of criminals, and helps the imperial guard.

As for what these worlds are like – they are as varied and unique as every other world in the Imperium. Where one is a vast series of prison complexes spanning thousands of miles with ridged cataloging of prisoners and uncompromising security, another may be nothing more than a series of lightly manned fortresses where the prisoners are trapped outside among a death-world jungle. Still others might be horrifying underground laboratories run by the Adeptus Mechanicus who experiment on prisoners under sanction of Imperial creed or enormous agri-worlds where prisoners are enslaved and forced to supply foodstuffs to the rest of the sector.

The thing to keep in mind when it comes to penal colonies is that they aren't anything like the prisons we're familiar with. They aren't facilities designed to rehabilitate or keep citizens safe. They are, in essence a resource, for the most part either for soldiers or free labor. So it isn't a question of what crime will get you sent to a penal colony. If you commit a crime, or are simply deemed to have commited a crime, in a jurisdiction that has an agreement with a nearby penal colony, you could very well end up finding yourself in a less than hospitable living situation. Penal colonies are going to need a constant influx of new "recruits", and I would imagine they are more than happy to compensate planetary governors who ship them their "criminals".

I'd recommend wikipedia's article on Penal Transportation here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_transportation

Essentially Penal Transportation is particularly useful for underdeveloped worlds in need of raw labour and fresh colonists. Using exile rather than execution looks more humane and helps keep a planetary governor in favour with the people of the world s/he is ruling, particularly important on more sophisticated worlds where skilled labour rather than menial drudgery is required.

Supposing that Marius Hax noted that the planet of Sheol XVIII was ripe for expansion and exploitation but required a high number of reasonably skilled workers. Perhaps they're constructing a new hive (or at least a large hive spire) and need people who can wield a las-cutter without cutting their head off, people who are familiar enough with technology to learn new skills quickly and who want to settle down in hab blocks rather than run wild and herd grox in the mountains.

Hax simply declares that certain planets (Hive worlds mainly) may choose to deport upto 10,000 people per year under penal transportation to Sheol XVIII in place of 10 of regiments of guardsmen under their imperial tithe. Prisoners must fit certain standards and will serve a sentance administered by the government of Sheol XVIII. Instantly the planets get to deport their more troublesome malcontents in place of 10 regiments of troops they can use to keep the rest of the population in line. The prisoners will never see their families again and will spend the first few years of their lives on Sheol XVIII as little more than conscripted labour, however once they have served their sentance they will be given the opportunity to become part of the new burgeoning society of Sheol XVIII.

Of course if you want a little more grimdark there's always the hazardous work program in need of new meat. I'm tempted to run a short game set on a penal world which was once a hive world until a massive space hulk hit it, ruining city-sized factories and spreading exotic and rare debris across the surface. Fresh prisoners are sent in to scavenge what they can from the ruins, they are paid for whatever they can scavenge in food, weapons, equipment and imperial scrip. Should a prisoner be able to afford their passage back home then following decontamination they may leave on the next shuttle with a full pardon in hand, their debt to society paid in full.

I was working on this for a little side project of mine...but this seems like an opportune thread to drop it into. Here's my take on one of the Calixis sector's leading prison worlds:-

+++KOMMITZAR PLANETARY SURVEY+++

Segmentum: Obscurus

Sector: Calixis

Subsector: Hazeroth

System: Kommitzar: 5 planets (K-423 I, Kommitzar, K-423 III, K-423 IV and K-423 V, all uninhabited save Kommitzar)

Surveyed: The first recorded survey of the Kommitzar system was in M38 784, by the wealthy and successful Rogue Trader Camaruss Vene during the Calixian “Age of Plunder.”

Summary: Planets III and IV of the system are gas giants. Planet I is a barren rock and Planet V is a frozen ammonia world. The only world of interest is Planet II of the system, Kommitzar itself. This is a barely habitable “ribbon world” with a narrow band of territory capable of supporting human life.

Kommitzar (aka K-423 II)

Class: Penal world

Size: Equatorial radius 6,702km

Gravity: 1.15G

Population: The planet has a resident population of some 3.5 million, and a transient population of between 5 and 10 million prisoners.

Rotation speed: The Planet rotates, but in common with many other ribbon worlds does so at a rate of one revolution per Kommitzaran year (108 Terran days.) This ensures that the planet always has one face pointed towards the sun and one towards the darkness of outer space.

Orbit: Kommitzar orbits its Sun at an average distance of about 148 million kilometers every 108 Terran days.

Climate Classification: Cold & uninhabitable/barely habitable “ribbon” region/hot & uninhabitable

Tropospheric composition: 75% nitrogen, 19% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.5% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. The atmosphere is breathable without life support systems, but often choked by fine dust and sand, so breath filters are advised.

Climate: Extreme variance in planetary temperature between the “hot pole” (the equatorial region closest to the sun) and the “cold pole” (the opposite side of the planet in permanent darkness). Temperatures at the hot pole exceed 150°C and near the cold pole drop to -143°C. These variances create near constant winds between the two poles in the turgid planetary atmosphere.

Neither the hot or cold side of the planet are capable of sustaining life in any meaningful way, but the borderland between the two creates a 400-500 mile wide habitable zone that would be pleasant were it not for the high winds and constant dust storms. Temperature within the border zone varies depending upon proximity to the more extreme sides of the planet and the North/South poles.

Climactic Region: The Ribbon: This is the only inhabitable section of the planet. This region is a strip of land approximately 400-500 miles wide that runs from the north pole to the south pole on both sides of the planet. Approximately 45% of the surface area of the Ribbon is mountainous and uninhabitable, 20% is equatorial desert and 12% is covered in shallow man-made seas, leaving only a relatively small space capable of supporting subsistence agriculture.

There is tremendous diversity within this region, as the temperature varies a great deal from one side of the ribbon to the other. The entire zone is in a perpetual twilight, with the amount of light present being a rough guide to the temperature of the region.

On the “hot side” of the ribbon, temperatures approach 60°C, while on the “cold side” they can drop to -40°C. Such astonishing variations take place within a very short distance, but temperatures remain constant, and there are no “seasons” other than intermittent heavy winds and dust storms.

There is no precipitation on the planet in any meaningful sense, as water has only been present on the world since human habitation began just over 1,000 years ago.

Flora: The planet has no native flora at all, but many varieties of dwarf wheat, cabbage, tuber-root and other crops have been imported with some limited success.

Fauna: There are no native fauna, but grox are farmed successfully on Kommitzar. Rats, roaches and other vermin are relatively common, and a variety of human parasites (lice, skinworm etc) flourish on imported prisoners.

Economy: Kommitzar is a penal world, and a relatively unusual one. Most Penal Worlds (like Typha-IV, Sheol XVII or Panopticus) utilize imported prisoners to mine useful minerals from the world itself, but Kommitzar does not have anything worth mining or exporting.

Rather, it has, over time, become a central processing centre for Imperial prisoners and a transit hub for their reallocation to more useful duties within the Calixis Sector and beyond. Kommitzar’s economy is focused entirely upon transforming hardened malcontents and rebels into productive members of Imperial society.

It is helped in this role by very stable local warp conditions, which make it easy to visit by any warp capable vessel, and a large number of stable warp routes to major local hubs like Soryth, Clove, Samson IV, Guytoga and the Forge World of Idumca.

History: Every Imperial world has its share of malcontents, rebels, criminals and other assorted scum who, through their own heresy or criminal tendencies, squander their lives and add nothing to the value of the Imperium. Planetary Governors are empowered to deal with these individuals in any way they see fit. Most simply arrange for their immediate execution.

However, there are many tasks in the Imperium that must be done; tasks for which there are never going to be sufficient volunteers. One does not colonize a death world with volunteers. One does not mine plutonium on an airless moon with volunteers. One does not clear the endless minefields of war worlds with volunteers.

There is a constant need within the Imperium for a pool of disposable labour, and this need drives Sector Governors to allocate otherwise worthless worlds as penal worlds where the sector’s useless or rebellious elements can be forcibly made to repay their debt to the God Emperor.

Kommitzar was discovered early in the history of the Calixis sector, and earmarked for exploitation by Saint Drusus himself. However, the planet’s obvious topographical limitations and few natural resources prevented the early utilisation of the world.

In M39 004 the planetary governor of Samson IV, High Arvid Rames III, banished 2,000 political dissidents and their families to Kommitzar, a move which was roundly criticised at the time as overly forgiving. When a cabal of Idumcanite Techpriests visited the world 20 years later, they were surprised to discover many survivors, and petitioned Rames’ successor, High Arvid Radran I, for the rights to servitorise these heretics. A financial settlement was struck and permission granted.

Inspired by this lucrative deal, the High Arvid set up a regular trade route of dissidents and rebels from Samson IV to Kommitzar. Prisons were established on the harsh world, and an independent Planetary Governor was selected by the Lord Subsector to administer proceedings.

Within 200 years, half the worlds within the Hazeroth subsector were transferring their rebels to Kommitzar, and the Departmento Munitorum had established a dozen separate penal legion facilities. Numerous private prison facilities emerged, taking healthy prisoners of either sex and training them in specialist survival techniques to render them suitable as colonists or crew for Rogue Trader expeditions into the Halo Stars.

Such was the success of the planet that the then Lord Sector stepped in and placed the world under the direct fiefdom of the Adeptus Terra. The world now operates to facilitate Administratum objectives, and has become a vast factory, reprocessing useless traitors and scum into useful (if short lived) Imperial servants once more.

Society: There are three classes of people on Kommitzar: prisoners (who make up the bulk of the population), their keepers (the smallest but most influential and well armed group on the planet) and the colonists, surviving descendants of the Solomon IV outcasts exiled over 1,800 years ago. Whilst there is naturally a great deal of friction between the prisoners and their keepers, the local colonist population enjoy good relations with the Administratum and Departmento Munitorum workers based upon peaceful trading for foodstuffs.

Principle Imports: Prisoners, foodstuffs, finished goods.

Principle exports: manpower for the Adeptus Mechanicus in the form of new servitors, manpower for the Imperial Guard in the form of penal legionaries, manpower for the Imperial Navy in the form of trained ratings, manpower for private Rogue Traders in the form of colonists and ratings.

Food supply: The colonist population are excellent farmers, and easily capable of sustaining themselves with the grox and wheat they farm the Ribbon with. Were it not for the large prisoner population, the world would be self sustaining. Pending the expansion of the Kommitzari agrarian economy, food is imported from nearby Hilarion.

Settlement/Infrastructure: The planet boasts over 170 separate prison facilities, some of them truly vast. Incoming prisoners are dropped at the Starport and herded into the holding dorms, grim steel cages kilometres long. They are then sorted by the guards: the mentally deficient and insane are earmarked for servitorisation, the occasional unidentified psyker for the Black Ships, healthy female prisoners are automatically earmarked for colonial training and the remainder are divided up amongst naval, administratum and other, more sinister agencies.

This process can take weeks during heavy periods, and many prisoners are killed by their fellow inmates in the holding cells before being transported to their more permanent homes.

The planet also hosts secure facilities for Imperial Guard penal legionaries. Those who break the strict disciplinary rules of the Guard are usually executed on the spot by the Commissars, but some are “lucky” enough to be transported to one of Kommitzar’s “retraining” camps. Here, the punishment squads regard it as their sacred duty to wear down rebellious guardsmen and rebuild them as the fine, fanatically loyal soldiers they should have been in the first place. After a retraining period usually lasting 6 months, the guardsman joins a penal legionary regiment, is equipped with a loyalty collar and lasgun, and transported to the nearest Imperial warzone to take part in suicidally dangerous missions unsuitable for more valuable soldiers.

Some of the planet’s prisons are infamous across the sector. These include:-

-the Black pens, holding bays for unsanctioned psykers. Rumoured to be haunted by the souls of dozens of psychic suicides, these grim bunkers radiate madness and fear into the surrounding hills.

-the Vivisectionarium, the principle Adeptus Mechanicus facility on the planet. Actually known by the Techpriests as Servitor facility TX-4479, this is one of the most feared locations on the planet. Prisoners will do literally anything to avoid the living death of servitorisation, including murder and suicide. Usually only those prisoners with clear mental illness will be considered, as this tends to have little effect on the servitorisation process. However, guards across the planet always “know someone” within the vivisectionarium who will take on a particularly annoying or difficult prisoner…

Botany Brook – a deceptively pleasant name for a bleak place. This is a training facility for female colonists. These women, many of them murderesses or worse, (alongside the occasional unfortunate innocent) are trained to live on the harshest death worlds by members of the fanatical Adeptus Sororitas from the obscure order of the Green Bough. They are then packed off in the holds of Rogue Trader vessels to a grim fate alongside male prisoners in the hope of establishing colonies that within 2-3 generations may have tamed their world somewhat and civilised themselves from their rough origins.

Camp Hell – again, not its official name, this is the largest Departmento Munitorum facility on the planet. Here, disgraced Imperial Guardsmen are drilled endlessly by Commissars and Stormtrooper NCOs into the semblance of a valuable military force. Training is harsh and humiliating, designed to break down the psyche of the legionaries, and many do not survive to join a penal legion at the end of their training. Legionaries are made to feel the overwhelming guilt and shame their actions have brought upon the Guard, and heinous brainwashing and mental destabilisation techniques are practiced. It is not uncommon to see passing out parades with Legionaries in tears of joy at the promise of now certain death in the Emperor’s service.

Government: The planet, until M39 251, was run by a succession of low level Hazeroth aristocrats with good connections to the Lord Subsector,and had become a valued political sinecure. However, on that date, given the increasing value of the world to the wider Sector, the Lord Sector exercised his Mandate Imperialis and appointed a succession of skilled Administratium bureaucrats dedicated to achieving increased efficiency. The current planetary governor, titled the High Warden, is Makkran De Folay, a skilled and ruthlessly effective operator who places a very low value on human life indeed.

Military data: Kommitzar has become a valuable resource for the Imperium, and it is well protected. More than 20 Provost Regiments of the Imperial Guard (Light infantry) from various planets across the sector and beyond act as the military backbone of the planet’s gaolers, ready to crush any rebellion or invasion. These are, on the whole, far from the best troops the Guard has to offer, but they are well equipped and numerous.

There is also a very large and well equipped Adeptus Arbites facility, equivalent in manpower (if not in quality of personnel) to a good sized civilised Imperial world.

The Imperial Navy has a small if dedicated force of about 2,000 Naval Armsmen and Pressgangers, together with a small force of Valkyrie transports used to track escaped prisoners. The Navy also operates heavily armoured and secure specialist prisoner transport shuttles and a large orbital prisoner processing facility, designed to dock with Bastille class prisoner transport ships.
( http://www.malleus.dk/ordo/Bastille.aspx )

Finally, there are significant Adeptus Mechanicus, Commisariat and even Adeptus Sororitas forces on the world.

Hello, all! Been thinking about this a bit, and here's what I have so far:

Gelidus II
Gelidus II found its origins as an Adeptus Mechanicus outpost, settled some 4 centuries ago due to signs of large amounts of valuable minerals, particularly a small vein of adamantium, detected within the crust of the planetoid. Preliminary investigation proved promising, and a Mechanicus outpost was set up at the top peak of the most prominent geological formation, expanding down as mining began. Within half a century, unfortunately, the preliminary scans proved less than accurate. Actual mineral formations were rare at best, besides the large seams that dotted the surface of Gelidus II. Once it had been established that the world had no further value, the excavated peak of the outpost was lent to the Imperial Guard, which then converted it into a high-security holding penal colony. Its unique climate and meteorological phenomenon proved very effective for this purpose.
The average temperature on the surface of Gelidus II averages about -17°C, and has been known to drop as low as -68°C on the night cycle. Biting winds sweep the surface constantly, and the upper atmosphere is covered in one massive, roiling storm system. Flight through this furious storm is unimaginable, save for the eye of the storm, an area of relative calm roughly 8 km in diameter. The eye rotates across the surface of Gelidus II at a rate of 1 rotation every 2 earth months, at which point the central outpost atop the main spire is centered in the eye. It is within this daylong window that trained prisoners are shuttled off world to join with other IG regiments to serve their sentence. Prisoners are delivered via drop-pod to the planet’s surface, allowing the more important window that the eye gives to be used solely for the offloading of those who may be of some use. The drop pods usually land a decent stretch outside of the main facility, and prisoners must make the journey to the base of the facility with little more than the clothing on their backs. Those that do not survive are viewed as being not worth the time.

The penal legions from Gelidus II are well known for their effectiveness in arctic climates, and for good reason. During their stay of training, the majority of all exercises are conducted outside the “warmth” of the garrison walls. The training regimen is brutal, even by the cruel standards of the penal legion. Those that don’t fall to the lethal cold of the winds outside often find themselves victims of the fauna of the world. All sorts of made tales exist of nightmare creatures, sentient blizzards, and of cursed horrors that haunt the dark tunnels that worm their way through heart of the planetoid.
The garrison itself is contained entirely within the mountain outpost, its base serving as the main body of the facility, housing prisoners and the basic necessities for keeping them alive. The upper levels house the wardens and staff that oversee operations, connected to the lower level by a single narrow tunnel, rigged to collapse at a moment’s notice. This safeguards against possible prison riots, as the staff would simply order the atmospheric systems off and wait for the cold and lack of air to restore order.

Mongooses' Prison Planet adventure setting for Traveller is also very good - Oz in space...

SJE

Any other opinions on this? I'll be running soon, and would love critique...

The Ideas for the planet seem really well thought out and evocative. Nice job.

However it does seem to dead end a bit in terms of story and how exactly you plan on letting the acolytes escape at the end? Unless this is a no win situation for them? I also think that the basic premise is a little tangled. The inquisitor sends them to get secrets and then when they do he leaves them there?

Instead maybe this individual has hidden himself inside the prison, bribing and corrupting guards and prisoners alike. The official reports say hes dead and official searches have shown up nothing but your inquisitor doesnt beleive this so the acolytes have to go in as prisoners and locate and kill/capture him, without revealing their inquisition status. They have till the next shuttle arrives for the penal legions, at which point they will be transported off world where the Inquisitor 'says' he'll collect them.

They have no equipment (except maybe hidden, special abilities or implants) , no status to (begin with), and a vicious cast of both guards and prisoners. Theyll have to be clever and think outside the box.

For a further twist maybe the prisoner knows compromising secrets about your inqusitor?

Just a few of my thoughts!

Cheers

I´ve critic. But not about the world, but the plot.

As I understand, the "goal guy" has other people watching over him. People which will spread information about the "evil =I=" if he gets killed.

Your =I= got him imprisoned. And now sends the pc after him to question and finally kill him.

...shouldn´t the "guys in the know" sprung into action ofter the "goal guy" got imprisoned already?
To me, it isn´t making much sense that his "safe guard" is only about "getting killed" and not about "dare to touch me".

My approach (a bit mad!):
If you really want to keep the "prison plot"....how about the Interrogator being afraid of getting caught by the evil =I= to the point that he is willing to take any hideout.... to the point where commits crimes in order to get caught so he can "hide" as on a prison world?

Perhabs your =I= had spent a lot of time till he finally found him... and know just wants to now IF he knows anything or told anything to anyone...and then kill him? In order to find out, your players still need to get prisoned...and befiend him... and bevfriend him and/or get him aside for torture...hard task for prisoners in a penal station. Especially with the target being an ex-assassine who is paranoid to the degree that he gets himself imprisoned!

Now that is just scary Gregorious. Great minds do think alike!

Lightbringer said:

Awesome write-up

DivinatorVictus said:

That, or the approach was to obivious ;0).

Anyway "How to get the acolythes back from the prison world?"
Fairly easy! The prison world trains penal legionairs. An =I= should not have any problem to drop in and order the station to "show me all your files of all your recruits. I need fodder fitting for a special mission!". After spending a day or so in orbit, he claims a certain number of legionairs... including the acolythes. Those for a no acolythes are dropped out of an air look some systems away, one bye one ("Prisoner XIV. Follow us for mission briefing!"). Perhaps the last of them figure out and try to overpower the henchman of the =i=... so you have a little "catch them and kill them!" adventure onboard a spacecraft...

Why would the ][ do that? Surely she could just tell the Leginairres thay've been spli into different teams or the Acolytes were removed for some reason (training, accident, mission) and then you have a company (or however many) of carefully selected fodder readdy for your next purge or mission. You can always use fodder, it's a good way to recruit new acolytes too, just keep the survivors/ interesting ones/ hard cases. At the worst you could trade them in to another ][ or Imperial Commander who has a use for them (favours accrued), much simpler and more ecconomical.

Gregorius, Divinus, awesome ideas. I've been re-thinking the overall premise of the adventure, and am fairly sure of one or two changes that I need to make.

First off, I'm thinking the Interregator will have been on the run for the past few decades or so, and had finally been cornered by the navy, arbites, what-have-you, in space. The ensuing pursuit winds up forcing the Interrogator (named Carcer Dun, I've decided, points for those who get the reference) and is shot down over Geldius II. The arbites, decided that if he's not dead in a matter of hours, he's at least serving a life sentance, report back to their superiors, and word reaches Tyrus Lurco, who is less than pleased. He knows the resourcefulness of his old pupil, and is well-aware that he is most likely still alive. The acolytes are tasked with hunting him down, discovering all he knows, and eliminating them. Of course, once they've been exposed to such a threat, having served less than a few years for him and still being somewhat new to his employ, will then be a liability... meaning the promised Inqusitiorial extraction and aid will never come once they report that their mission is complete... so it's up to them to discover a way off that icy rock.

Now, I've figured a prime way would be escaping from the main facility, but not sure how. Perhaps down an old, sealed-up mine tunnel, where some sort of horror lives, which connects them to... something. Perhaps an abandoned teleporter set up by the mechanicum (or perhaps an abandoned Ork base), although who knows where it leads?

Id probably have it a simple elimination mission on Carcer Dun. There seems no point to the Inquisitor getting them to interogate him if hes just going to leave them on the rock. How will he find out what the acolytes know?

I think its better to have Carcer Dun try to bargain with them when they finally come for him. They can execute him straight away, with the accusations he makes about the Inquisitor ringing in their ears, which will then be proven right at the appointed pick up time. Or they can bargain with Carcer Dun, ignoring their mission priority, learning all he knows so they can make an informed decision. They still get done over but now know all about their Inquisitors almost heretical behaviour and amybe have Carcer as an ally.

I'd probably build in several ways of escaping any of which could be used (you know what players are like). Options include:

Rioting. Lots of bloody fights as they try to force their way to the shuttle bays. Need lots of allies to make this work.

Escape. Fleeing the facility across the harsh environment, to try and get to an abdoned outpost where maybe there is an ancient shuttle or teleporter?

Prohibited areas. Maybe deep in the mine workings something was discovered, alien and strange. A permanent guard is on station that they need to get past. The device could be a Webway Portal leading to who knows where? For extra weirdness just have an eldar waiting for them saying i have been expecting your arrival mon keigh.

Subertfuge. They kill/bribe/steal uniforms to get onto the next shuttle off this rock. Can they go undiscovered long enough.

Penal legion. They just go with the flow and attempt to escape once their in the penal legion. The A Team for inquisitor.

This should give enough variety of options so no matter what the party is geared towards there is an option for them.

Hmm... good point. The interrogation bit's somewhat important, not only for the plot (the =I= wants to know what his old pupil's been doing behind his back for the last decade,) but to character development. My party's very... nice to people, to some extent, so it'd be an interesting track to take... perhaps he gives them a vox-unit, which happens to fall apart after they reveal what they learn, if anything...

I love the rioting idea, as it would become a very, very intense situation once the prison's security measures start kicking in. There'd be a countdown until the air runs out, which is always exciting...

Instead of the =][= just leaving them in the lurch (in an obvious manner) how about something fatal with plausible deniability, in case they do somehow manage to survive? It gives the =][= another free shot at them (or just launch them into highly dangerous missions) and potentially proves how resourceful/ valuable/ lucky the PCs are.

Yeah, a scorched earth policy. Something like an Eversor Assassin should be capable of ripping the whole facility apart by itself. You can then go from Oz to Alien 3 with the Eversor as a remorseless foe seemingly unstoppable. The =I= then blames the attack on xenos raiders. After all noone is going to contradict him! Only hope is to escape the facility. The acolytes were really just sent in to confirm the ID so the Inquisitor could be certain when deploying his real agent!

For those that arent familiar with the Eversor it is a Combat adapted Officio Assassinurium agent, shot through with a huge amount of combat drugs that strain the physique and mind of the assassin to superhuman levels while also instilling a pyschotic kill urge. Theyre kept in suspended animation when not on missions to keep their body from breaking down (and prevent them killing anyone they are not meant to).

I think Dark Reign has some rules for an Eversor.

For some cool ideas you should check out Chronicles of Riddick. Just the section set in the prison mind, the rest of the film is not terribly good. Alien 3 too if you havent seen it already.

I like the Eversor idea, although it might be trickier to implement... maybe the Eversor was stored away in an unopened capsule? It's definitely a more immanent threat than being deported to a penal legion. Hmm.

So, the plot progression would go as such:

1. PCs are given assigment, false IDs, and told to go make trouble.

2. PCs found a small gang of thugs, committing crimes for a few sessions, making shady allies and enemies, dodging police, and leaving clues as to who/where they are.

3. PCs plot the "Biggest Heist Yet" and tip off the Arbites about it. PCs are arrested along with their gang/mob, and hauled before the courts. Trial over in 10 minutes, including bathroom break. PCs sentenced to Penal Colony.

4. PCs go through holding, are stripped of all gear, packed into huuge penal ships, travel, are jammed into rickety old drop pods, and are launched into the icy blue ball below. PCs witness at least one pod being torn apart by the atmosphere through the port-holes before the storm turns their pod into a waterless clothes dryer.

5. PCs stagger out into the blinding, freezing wastes, and attempt to make it to the facilities. Within, they are shoved into barracks, and training begins. They regroup with old shady allies, old shady enemies who scheme against them. Some enemies may become allies out of desperate situations, some allies may become enemies, blaming the PCs for their capture.

6. PCs locate Carcer, and learn the truth. =][= informs them via tiny comm-bead that they've done well, sadly it's the end of the line, and alarms begin to sound. Something or other is happening, the PCs need to get out, alive. Alternately, =][= states that their usefulness is up, enjoy the penal legions, and bead goes 'pop!'.

7. PCs find a way to escape, dealing with hazards such as possible Eversor, prison riot, guards, etc. Access shafts in the bowels of the facility lead to ancient ice tunnels, which lead throughout the planetoid. Eventually, the PCs and any allies will find their way to:

A. An ork encampment, fairly fresh. Orks are still setting up, but they've got a teleporter. It leads to a space hulk that was hiding in an asteroid belt nearby. The PCs get onto the hulk, kill the orks onboard, and look for a further way out...

B. An old mechanicum outpost, with barely functional shuttle. However, a malignant machine spirit has become corrupted, and attempts to kill the PCs before they can leave it. You see, it's terribly lonely. It so happens that the eye of the storm is over the outpost, and will only be there for at most a day...

8. ???

9. Profit!

Better yet, and sorry for the double-post, but the tunnels should lead to an ancient space hulk that had crashed into the planetoid centuries before. Within it would no doubt be all sorts and kinds of terrible creatures, specifically Hullghast from that wonderful Creatures Anathema book. Exploring the hulk, they should come across a teleporter which could be programmed and modified to whatever the most useful purpose might be...