Dear all,

I plan to have my (quite high-level) Acolytes encounter Witchfinder Rykehuss + Retinue once again. Rykehuss is some sort of re-appearing nemesis for PCs. In the past he was not more of a nuisance. Mainly because the PC acolytes were either not important enough for his direct intervention or because the PCs were in a more or less secure surrounding (Tricorn, their Inq in vicinity etc.).

After a serious confrontation within the Tricorn, which did not became open warfare due to the timely intervention of Inquisitor Marr, Rykehuss became openly hostile towards the PC Acolytes and is now, partly triggered through the (Phaenonite subverted) Tyrantine Cabal, more or less on the hunt after them.

To cut a long story short: The PCs are just coming back to a bigger town/city (800,000 inhabitants) on a Feral world, where they had stopped a cataclysmic event by a chaos cult only a few days ago. After being only a few more days in town to lick wounds, re-supply and plan moving off-planet, Rykehuss will make an entrance by landing a gun-cutter in the middle of the town. He will be accompanied by a pair of Arco-Flagellants and his 4 Throne Agents (all clerics of different shades) as well as a pair of Cherubim carrying banners/parchments and playing ecclesiarchical chorals. Being not the subtle person, he will more or less take over the town by force and inquisitorial authority.

The question is: Who should accompany Rykehuss besides these few of his inner cadre? I need some “rank and file” mooks. I could imagine something like lowly Frateris Militia or even elite Maccabean Janissaries or anything in between.

Do you guys have any good and fitting idea? Maybe even how Rykehuss should proceed in finding the PCs. Thanks a lot in advance!

Just mooks? Servitors are an easy one, something like stated sinners serving out a sentence will beyond their natural life.

As for finding the PCs he could always lie to the towns people asking after the most recent arrivals as he's their boss. Depends on how quiet the group has been.

He would probably have their holo-pictures, and would brand them Heretics and Traitors. He would intimidate the locals, say that if they were found harbouring and aiding these enemies of the Imperium, the whole town will burn.

Now the players don't just need to worry about an Inquisitor and his army, but 800 000 locals who want to prove their innocence and purity to the Inquisition by apprehending the dangerous heretics and turning them over to Rykehuss.

Edit:

Should your group be as trigger-happy as mine, and figure that feral natives can't hurt them in their fancy armour and try to brute force their way out of a confrontation, then this is an excellent opportunity to break out the Horde rules from Black Crusade

Rykehuss to my understanding is the fire-and-brimstone Inquisitor, making big spectacles of his hunting and burning of witches. So i assume his personal retinue would contain assassins, arbitrators, clerics, guardsmen, sororitas and a Tech-Priest or two (to keep that fancy equipment running).

So lots of hired mucles, both shootas and fightas.

Plus a few angry/fearful mobs.

Darth Smeg already said that well.

No Crusaders?

I'd also give him maybe a few Adepta Sororitas and some Inquisitorial Storm Troopers. And then I imagine that maybe the mooks can be local fanatics that he whips into a frenzy?

One of the bigger towns you say? 800.000 People on a a feral world should be one of the top five (or perhaps THE one of the top five) of the largest cities EVER on a feral world. Unless your feral world includes the Invitation of a sewage System (just imagine all the dirt running through the streets... even in the times of Napoleon, Paris was a MESS and so was London in the middle Ages).

That being said, please tell us a Little more about the socia structure of the City, the layout and mostly, the general development Level of communnication that is available. If news travel by "word of mouth" alone it will be very hard to mobilize a "town" (again, in the context o a FERAL world that is a Metropolis!).

How common are "off-worlders" in this City? If they are a rare sight, they characters will stick out like a soar thumb and the Hunter might have their trail within two or five days..which the characters could use to flee or to go into hiding.
Are off-worlders restricted to certain quarters in town? And how is the Response of the citizens to the Imperium at large? In Sinophia Magna, People FEAR the Inquisition but they would not be all to eager to sell one another to it...unless the bounty is good.

A Thing the witchhunter should for sure is posting guard at the "City gates" (if the town has any) since These are the Major ways in and out.

Checking all the "inns and guest houses" is a good way as well. Checking the brothels was a good way to hunt for strangers in the old times as well. There have been cultures where a stranger with no relatives in town could sleep nowhere but in a brother as "guest houses" were not existent. But again, this is a VERY LARGE City and this would take DAYS.

How many vendors of "high tech goods" are there? Vendors of modern weapons? I would check all the Shops and guys that sell the Kind of stuff that "high Level operatives" would try to buy for a Mission. Asking healers and doctors could be fruitfull as well.

A BIG THING: if tyour Witch hunter isn´t knowing the town itself, he would surly Need about the rest of the day he landed to deal with the "officials" (King? Baron? Prince? High-Priest?). You cannot "take control" unless you found the "control Panels" first.

Talking about mooks: a Long time ago I wrote up a Witchunter plus Retinue for DarthSmeg. I cannot copy the link at the Moment, but I will add it.

Yeah, I was gonna let that one slide, but even in medieval times the entire population of England was less than one million.

A town of 800 000 is quite big, even by modern standards. Heck, it's bigger than the capital of Norway today.

Norway might be a bad example. The country isn´t really known for it´s population denstiy.

"Old Rom" was about as big as the fictional "feral world city" here, at least at times. But "old Rom" already new how to direct water through the city. And that is one of main important things for having big cities: getting fresh water in and using it to get the feces of the population out. In addition, a lot of agricultur is needed to feed the citizens. It is possible, but it needs certains things to be set / present.

Back2Topic: I found the link with the Witchhunter & retinue I once created (see below). Feel free to take each and any of the "support characters" you like. They all come with stats & with a little back story to them

http://www.darkreign.org/articles/07-06-2013/witch-hunter-riccard-retinue

Presumably feral world's didn't initially colonise the planet. The city sewer system etc might run using automated technology. Though this could raise all its own issues. The city being considered magical and so forth. But then in a pre science society the role of magic and cause and effect are not easily predicted. The locals might just accept it as the way things are.

Who said that a Feral world has to be primitive?

After all, Feral worlds are depicted by a low level of technology, a brutal society and such.

Old Rome had all that compared to our time.

@Feral World & Primitive (segara82)
I am basing this on the Little set of "world templates" given in the DH1st core rules. There, they had the set "Feral World" and "Feudal World" as different entries. If the world is "more like feudal world "(having at least SOME Technology) or any other reason for a City that large, so be it.

But guys, let´s not completely hack down the topic with this setting discussion witout offering any on-topic stuff at all

Back2Topic:
A mean little trick could be a captured witch. I remember some entry for "pentitent witches" in the RD rulesbook. Otherwise, an officially imperial Augur (complete with sanction) could make use of the dowsing power to help getting closer to the whereabouts of the hunter quarry (the PC).

Hey guys, thank you all for the helpful input.

I have the impression some are too strict in their vision how Imperial planets can look like. Of course there are the stereotypical feral, hive, feudal, mining worlds, but in my view there is of course everything in between.

OK, the Feral world is Dusk (the planetary datafax I made follows at the end). The mentioned town is called Iborian and is the second biggest population centre on Dusk (on its main continent that is). The major city Asabmom has a size of almost 3 million. (See planetary datafax).

The planet is (in my campaign) heavily based on Kenya in the 1920ies and the two major cities are based on Mombasa and Nairobi (linked by a railway). The town I mentioned is actually the counterpart of Nairobi. As I said all is mainly based on the 1920ies (somehow fitting as I play an adaption of Call of Cthullus Masks of Nyaralothep), but sometimes also inspired by more modern times (auto taxis etc.).

It has a basic sewage system in the central area of the town, but not in the outer regions and the slums.

News mainly travel by mouth within the town. Personal vox systems are presnt, but only for the richer and almost exclusively for the off-worlder and/or settler population.

Social system: Again heavily inspired by Kenya of 1920. Off-worlders are common, but a clear minority. Off-worlders and the Adepta personnel lives mainly in the cities central areas. The response to the Imperium within Iborian is well enough. Beyond the town it is a different matter… In town we have a single slightly burned-out but experienced Arbites officer (whose formal rank is even Marshall), two Adeptus Adminstarum Adepts (who mainly record any trading activities), a single “official” Ministorum cleric (from off-world) who also acts as a doctor besides dozens of local “lay-priests”. Besides this Adptus personnel there are a couple of off-worlders with more or less important functions. A retired Imperial Guard colonel as well as the leading officer of the local PDF (the Dusk Rifles) besides many more.

There are about no vendors of “high tech goods” in town (there is no Mechanicus presence in town). A rich native in town might own a gun, but most can only afford primitive weapons like bows and crossbows. There are very few cars (mainly sort of taxis) and a single gasoline station in town. The Dusk Rifles (i.e. the PDF) are armed with single shot (I think they are called Steadholder in the Inquisitors Handbook) rifles and feature a few durable half-tracks.

The Inquisitor takes control of the city by force. The only “official” he will contact through one of his subordinates (and a couple of armsmen) is the PDF captain; mainly by intimidation… The rest he will simply ignore (partly out of arrogance).

That said, we had a session in the meantime and you won’t believe what my players did. They simply walked towards the landing gun-cutter and then let themselves manhandled onboard…

Alwas expect the unexpected. What the f***...

PLANETARY DATAFAX : DUSK

Population: Roughly estimated 4 Million

Tithe Grade: Solutio Tertius

Special Notation: Malfian Sub-Sector, Calixis Sector, Segmentum Obscuros

Geography/Demography: Wet; abiding planetary climate is mostly tropical and semi-tropical. The planet is constantly basked in a very low light. The climate means there are large varieties of fungus and even the native wildlife has evolved from fungal strands.

Pre-Imperial traders built the metropolis Asabmom as a merchant city and trading center before the Angevin Crusade entered the Calyx Expanse. About 3 Million people live here around the initial space port that lies well defended on a rock surrounded by huge chasms, though there has never been an accurate census on Dusk. The planet is home to a mixture of surviving colonists, outcasts and wanderers, scattered over isolated villages and plantations. Beyond the cities and the Imperial-owned plantations, life of the natives continues much as it has for millennia. The tribal cultures are stable and well adapted to the hostile planet.

Striking is the high birth rate of psykers. Natives of Dusk are narrow-minded and highly superstitious. Sudden madness, trauma, feuds, strange phenomena, morbid obsessions and disappearances are simply accepted facts of daily life on Dusk. The people of Dusk act withdrawn and threatening, and their sense of humour is often macabre.

In Asabmom, Low Gothic is generally spoken, outside of Asabmom and the few other towns, most natives know little or no Low Gothic. The common language on Dusk is a tribal dialect with a strong Low Gothic vocabulary. The planet has a great tradition of storytelling - grim, cautionary tales are told when storm and fog at the campfires, and contain some dark truth.

Governmental Type: Dusk is mostly self administered, though it owes full allegiance to the Imperium, which oversees most foreign and Adeptus matters. Power remains concentrated in the Imperial Governor's hands; weak legislative and executive councils made up of official appointees were created about 200 years ago. The Imperial settlers were allowed to elect representatives to a legislative council and gained representation for themselves and minimized representation on the council for Dusk natives. The government appointed an Administratum Adept to represent interests of the natives on the Council.

Planetary Governor: Currently the High Commissioner Thorne Coryndon of the Administratum is considered Planetary Governor of Dusk

Adept Presence: Low; low Adeptus Administratum and Adeptus Ministorum and very low Adeptus Arbites presence. Almost exclusively based in Asabmom and the few larger towns on Dusk.

Military: Two under-strength regiments of Imperial Guard garrison Dusk. There also exist over ten-thousand paramilitary enforcers, usually natives or early settlers led by Imperial officers.

Trade/Economy/Addendum: Dusk is one of the most infamous Feral Worlds within the Calixis Sector and has a sinister reputation. The fertile planet was always viewed as an ideal starting point for further development of the remote region of space in which it is located, and was the target of repeated efforts to establish mass agriculture. Unfortunately all attempts for colonization since the days of the founding of the Calixis Sector failed catastrophically.

Hi Luthor,

*cannot help but smile* okay, so the characters are "caught" and you won´t need any more ideas for how to chase them.

Well... my condulence for the death of an idea and for the grave of preparation time this project has turned into for you.


"Manchmal hat man kein Glück, und dann kommt auch noch Pech dazu"
[Contemp. German saying: translates very roughly into "Sometimes you don´t have any luck but BAD LUCK"]