How easy is it to get your own Warrant of Trade amended (legally, we're trying to avoid just forging the thing. Again.) Also, what is the likelyhood of getting it amended to legally get into the Cold Trade. I'm away from ym books, but in one of the RT supplements, it mentions some Rogue Traders have clauses allowing them to LEGALLY trade certain xenos artifacts (most likely the ones that don't drive people completely mad, but that's no fun) AND, what is the point of becoming a Privateer really, besides a couple free ships (which i suppose should not be discounted)

1) It would essentially be re-issuing the same warrant. The Chorda family actually had a greater Warrant of Trade issued to them for their services, which was quickly rescinded when the entire family turned out to be jerks.

2) The Cold Trade isn't legal. You can usually find exceptions for "selling" xenos artifacts to the Adeptus Mechanicus or the Inquisition, but it's called the Cold Trade because it is super illegal. Xenos are meant to be killed without mercy. The only exception the Imperium makes is prioritizing more dangerous Xenos (Tyranids) over seemingly less dangerous ones (Tyranids). The Inquisition has had 10 millennia of watching Xenos artifacts corrupt people and drive them insane to think that allowing people to do it legally would be insane.

3) The point of becoming a Privateer is so that you can be a dashing space rogue and proud of it.

How easy is it to get your own Warrant of Trade amended (legally, we're trying to avoid just forging the thing. Again.) Also, what is the likelyhood of getting it amended to legally get into the Cold Trade. I'm away from ym books, but in one of the RT supplements, it mentions some Rogue Traders have clauses allowing them to LEGALLY trade certain xenos artifacts (most likely the ones that don't drive people completely mad, but that's no fun) AND, what is the point of becoming a Privateer really, besides a couple free ships (which i suppose should not be discounted)

These are all my own interpretations, based on my perception of the setting. It has no bearing on RAW and isn't official fluff.

1) Extremely hard. Like Erathia said, it's essentially a new Warrant of Trade, at least in theory. A Warrant of Trade is issued by the highest echelons of imperial society, and presumably, any change to an existing Warrant has to be requested, issued, reviewed, ratified and stamped by the same people (or people with similar authority) in much the same way the original Warrant was conceived.

2) I actually disagree with Erathia on this. Yes, the Cold Trade is very illegal.. except when it's not. The sale and exchange of xenos goods and technology is well and alive within the Inquisition and parts of the Mechanicus itself, fully sanctioned depending on person, authority, laws and regulation. Like Filliman wrote, there are Rogue Traders with specific mandates and authority to interact with xenos cultures and even trade in xenotech. Presumably, the intent of this is not for the Rogue Trader to sell xenos goods to the Average Joe, but rather to other prominent persons in specific positions of authority or various organizations, such as the AdMech (which have mandate to investigate xenotech, and appropriate it when appropriate) and the Inquisition (who doesn't care) or Rogue Traders (because they can legally strut around with the stuff and flaunt their position).

3) The point of becoming a privateer? Piracy. Legal piracy. How is this even a question? Booty for all!

May I ask why such a concern for the Warrant's legalities? Unless it's really well-known and you're prone to handing it over to any Imperial servant when they ask, there's no reason to be questioned for anything.

There's no legal xenocana or xenotech trade. Supply the Adeptus Mechanicus with them things is something between you and the red priests. The Inquisition will probably approach you first and know all about the clauses of your Warrant.

Hell, my character's dynasty's warrant is engraved on the flagship's keel. If my character loses the ship, he loses it all. It also allows him to claim a great many things thanks to a forged document somewhere in Calixis.

A privateer, someone issued Letter of Marque allowing them to attack specific targets. Once again, there aren't any space lawyers around to limit what one can do at the conn of a kilometres-long spar of adamantium and hate. It just tends to be a pretext or something to wave around if they are outmaneuvered.

TL;DR - Don't worry about it.

For #1, the only legal way of having it amended is to have it re-issued by the original organisation who issued it, or have another organisation make additions to it (but those could only concern their direct areas of influence). Moreover, if your warrant is truly ancient, you can probably get away with abusing open-ended formulation, which was a lot more common back in the days of the early Imperium, to get what you want.

For #2, I'd just like to point out that all the groups mentionned as allowing the Cold Trade are all Peers of the Imperium distinct from the standard chain of command (Inquisitors, Rogue Traders, the Mechanicus, the Astartes), which more or less means they do whatever the hell they want until another of their kin decides to put a stop to it (which usually ends very messily for one or both parties involved). The Cold Trade is not in any ways legal in the Imperium but structures outside of it's traditionnal bounds can authorise you do it under certain conditions, usually within their own confines (which means you aren't really legally allowed to do it, you just won't get prosecuted for it by at least one group who could prosecute you for it). More importantly, outside of Imperial Space, you are the law, so you can pretty much do whatever you want to; as long as all transfers of xenotech happens outside of regulated space, it's perfectly legal.

#3, like everyone else said, it allows you to legally loot and pillage, which are things you would be doing anyways, but now no one is bothering you exept other Peers of the Imperium, who are above such petty things as rules and legalities. It pretty much means that within the confines of the acts described in the Letter of Marque, you won't be brought to justice by the Adeptus Tera or the Imperial Navy unless the act constitues an act of treason or evident heresy, even if the act is commited within Imperial space.

TL:DR Do what you want because a pirate is free. You are a pirate.

May I ask why such a concern for the Warrant's legalities? Unless it's really well-known and you're prone to handing it over to any Imperial servant when they ask, there's no reason to be questioned for anything.

There's no legal xenocana or xenotech trade. Supply the Adeptus Mechanicus with them things is something between you and the red priests. The Inquisition will probably approach you first and know all about the clauses of your Warrant.

Hell, my character's dynasty's warrant is engraved on the flagship's keel. If my character loses the ship, he loses it all. It also allows him to claim a great many things thanks to a forged document somewhere in Calixis.

A privateer, someone issued Letter of Marque allowing them to attack specific targets. Once again, there aren't any space lawyers around to limit what one can do at the conn of a kilometres-long spar of adamantium and hate. It just tends to be a pretext or something to wave around if they are outmaneuvered.

TL;DR - Don't worry about it.

"Kilometres-long spar of adamantium and hate". All of my likes.

In the last campaign I played in, the Paterborne (PC) and Armelan dynasties were merged through marriage, as were their warrants. We had to submit both warrants to Sector Governor Hax. A new warrant combining physical elements of the old two was created by the Administratum.

Personally, I'd have kept the second warrant or sold it. But at least one of the joint heads of the Armelan-Paterborne dynasty would have been put out by that.

I doubt you could get a warrant amended to legally deal in the cold trade.

From what I have gathered, though, the cold trade is selling Xenos tech to those not allowed to have it.

The mechanicus, inquisition, other rogue traders, etc ARE allowed to have it.

The mechanicus, inquisition, other rogue traders, etc ARE allowed to have it.

Each organisation debates the legitimacy of the other two having access to it.

Just to be a pain, I would rule that only the original signatories

or their DIRECT heirs could amend a warrant.

So good luck with that ancient document.

But on the main I agree with Marwyn and Quietus.

As a weak example, and i admit that wholly, in the story of one of my Rogue Traders, he's pushing into his third century, and hasn't found an excuse to have children. It wouldn't be too out of his character to just appoint one of his Lieutenants as the heir to the Silver Ravens, and I suppose the dynasty, but as a backup plan, he found a young woman, the daughter of a P.Gov. in Calixis, who hoped to use her as an "heir machine", and when it didn't work, she snuck aboard his ship. Leti is a very smart, capable you woman, and Korvallus saw some promise in her, so kept her around. She's basically disowned herself from her family, and is now part of the crew of the Hammerfall . At one point, Korvallus decides that she might be an appropriate successor, and so decides to officially adopt her, as it were, and appoint her as heir. This involved a trek all the way to Terra, and paperwork that only got done because of large money exchanges, but it got done. She also got to see Holy Terra. I did it this way because in my continuity, Warrants of Trade are stored in stasis vaults on Earth, or somewhere else, if "less important", and Rogue Traders have a gizmo like an Inquisitor's rosette that can show info, and is at least as hard to alter/hack. I don't like Warrants being blown up on your ship, or lost with a world, so... At any rate, Korvallus's Warrant is one of those ludicrous papers the Emperor signed in person, and was then left empty for a few ages between the 38th and 41st millennia, when no heir could be found, and then, when agencies in Battlefleet Solar moved to reward Admiral Korvallus with a Warrant, when they submitted his DNA into the system, it flagged, and the old, vacant Warrant was found. Of course, territory it covered was out of date, and so Korvallus went to the current edge of the Imperium, and took up his new job. Due to that BS, his Warrant is on Terra, so he had to go there to have it amended. it's a bit lame, perhaps, and a bit hokey, as well as its own sorts of cheese, but a story I like, and so. Also, while the Warrant is **** OLD, it was empty for ages, and so Korvallus didn't just start with riches aplenty. No territory it referenced was still around, and such. Luckily, the older Warrants are basically all-powerful, so Korvallus can do almost anything; it's only his way-to-good for grimdark personality and morals that keep him from being super-silly.

Anyway, you would need to go where it is kept, petition its overseers, and see what you could do. Not easy, but it shouldn't be. Still, Letters of Marque, and such things, can be added to it, so it would seem possible, if not wholly too much work and expense. Having many such Warrants on Terra is also good for that, as many Rogue Traders don't like entering the Imperium proper, with all the potential enemies waiting for their power to be less, or the proscribed bits on their ships, literally broadcasting heresy, so they won't petition for paperwork changes often, especially if they have to g that far into the Powerless Zone, as RTs in my universe sometimes refer to the Imperium. Granted, this requires a similar viewpoint to mine, regarding the powers of Rogue Traders, and their value within the Imperium, but it works in my head, so that's all I need.