I'm currently working on a little homebrew adventure and was wondering what would be some rare/important raw materials that the Imperium would be interested in enough to hold an interest in a planet but not so rare as to validate sending in the Imperial Guard if the flow of these resources were halted or disrupted?

My first thought was some kind of metal, perhaps adamantine or something similar but wanted some more input from those that might know more.

I need it to be something that could be gathered by feudal society but still important enough warrant a team of acolytes

I recall the DH core rulebook talking about a world (Io..-something?) where clans of locals were collecting some sort of pollen that was used for drugs. Maybe you could locate your adventure there? It sounded like a potentially interesting place. Just one page description, so plenty of room to insert your own ideas, too.

Alternatively .. promethium?

The tricky thing is that (imho) the Imperium would be more likely to send in the Guard than the Inquisition, on the sheer basis of the former outnumbering the latter by a factor of a zillion, and on the principle of holding on to its worlds. However, you could just declare time to be an issue ... it takes time to raise and ship out a regiment, usually 2-3 months if we go by codex fluff. A team of Acolytes would be able to take a look much faster than that, and determine if further steps need to be taken?

I recall the DH core rulebook talking about a world (Io..-something?)

Iocanthos. P.300-302 of Core Rulebook.

That's the one. Yeah.

Some backwater planet.

Just dragging a thought from my own campaign I'm running.

Water. Kind of essential to keep living and not all planets that the Imperium has inhabited may have access to it. I imagine water shipments are probably a pretty important resource in the Imperium, but since there's plenty of planets with access to it, it may not be necessary to fully mobilize the Imperial Guard just because one backwater world is screwing up its shipments.

That's the one. Yeah.

Some backwater planet.

In fact , the planet is described as very important for the sector . It is not very clear , however, why

Wood. Now you might laugh, but with so many of the imperium's worlds being hive worlds/indsutrial hellholes without a scrap of nature remaining, having a fancy desk or something made of wood could be a real status symbol, especially as it show you can afford to have something shipped in from offworld.

I like the Ghostfire pollen idea, but reading up on Iocanthos it's not a fedual world. They have vehicles and guns and such. I'm trying to put the acolytes in place where using modern weapons in the open would be frowned upon. So I might just homebrew a world that supplies Ghostfire pollen for the penal legions.

I like the wood idea as well, perhaps a rare wood type or something of the sort.

Please keep the ideas coming guys I love it.

Sheep! No wait, that's no good.

Grain? Brick? Ok ok I'll put the Catan cards away...

How about sand ?

Hold on! Some type of very pure sillicate(?) type of sand that can be used to make very high quality lenses for las weapons . Now this makes for slightly better lasguns so the imperium wont go "Oh crap we can't let that stuff fall in traitor hands! Send in the guard."

Some other stuff:

Medicinal Herbs (Green/Red): Not some miracle cure, just something that works well against a few common minor illnessess.

Iron ore: Iron is used to make steel. Now the imperium has way better materials than steel, but for stuff like pipelines, cheap machine parts, knives, etc. it could be usefull.

Insense: In demand by the ecclesiarchy/admech. Valuable but not worth enough to send in the guard. Altough some more fanatical elements might be drawn to secure the resources if the planet is in trouble.

Hmm, if there has to be a super-low techlevel, there was another world in the DH rulebook that was indeed Feudal and where large parts of the population were bonded to a major mining operation. The only advanced weapons on that world were some old lasguns in the hands of the ruler's bodyguard regiment, iirc.

Hmm, if there has to be a super-low techlevel, there was another world in the DH rulebook that was indeed Feudal and where large parts of the population were bonded to a major mining operation.

Sepheris Secundus is also described in the Purge the Unclean anventure (Part 3: Baron Hopes) . Another feudal world - Acreage - is a place of Maggots in the Meat adventure from GM's Kit.

Green / Red herbs ... ? Do they combine? Do I smell zombies... ?

A material does not need to be hard to mine in order to be valuable for an advanced civilization. If you have been reading the knews regularly, you might have heard a (hyped) shortcoming of "noble earths" (main Provider: China). Such stuff would be of next to no use to a medivial Society, but they -could- mine it and the AdMech and hive worlds would have a high demand for this kind of stuff.


Back in colonial days, natural rubber was farmed from caoutchouc. And since it was not feasible to make the matching trees grow, natives moved through the jungle to the trees farming caoutchouc. If some "Alien" plant produces a good natural rubber, that might be a tithe, too.

In regard to the "Imperial Hammer", turn the Problem into something that cannot be solved by deploying a Regiment of the guard. Something odd, something that scares the People, something you cannot simple confront with a lasgun in Hand. Something that CALLS for the Inquisition to be deployed.

Yes, this is hard...it means to have a reason to ship a Team of investigators in from the other side of the galaxy. DH is not without flaws. Truly not

something you cannot simple confront with a lasgun in Hand.

That sounds very un-Imperial! Please report to confession chamber 21.

I think Gregorius21778 has the right of it, for the most part. But it also depends what branch of the Inquisition the player's Inquisitor works for, is he Ordo Xenos, Ordo Malleus, or Ordo Hereticus?

If you want the game to be about subterfuge and politics more so than charging forward with lasgun in hand than the Inquisitor should be Ordo Heretics; although the players don't need to know this and probably shouldn't off the bat. If you want the players hunting down traitors maybe have their Inquisitor brief them that they are being sent to investigate a planet where the Imperial Tithes have slowed, or all but stopped and the whispers of the Inquisitions agents on the planet have gone silent. What about the local sect of the Astrotelepathica? Are they sending messages as they should? Are they still alive?

As far as the specific material, it's probably doesn't matter unless that specific resource is important to the story. As giant as the imperium is, it may be small river pebbles that are used for holding the candles in place on the alters of the God Emperor. Think of it as Chekhov's Gun, is that specific item/detail going to be used later? No, than it's not important. I would normally say just list it as the local resource tithe, but your players will ask, no doubt about that.

I ran a game much like this, had three layers to the plot plus side plots for the players themselves, but that aside, it was on an Agri-World, the Imperial Tithe was Foodstuffs, that was it. A game I was in as a player, same similar plot, it was metal ores. It that game the Planetary Governor was starting a rebellion and stockpiling resources for manufacturing. My point is, the specific material is only important if that material plays a role in what's happening.

I was actually being serious: What problem cannot be confronted with a lasgun?

If the locals are scared of something, you'd just force them to extract the material at gunpoint. Build forced labour camps and/or take hostages. The Imperial Guard is not above using slave labour, although first and foremost this would be a job for the PDF since the Governor should have a vested interest in delivering the tithe on time, given how it'll be their life on the line.

In my opinion, a more "watertight" reason should be applied if you want to keep the Guard out of it.

Maybe the locals have a point in not wanting to produce to much of said resource. Suposed the local Unobtanium mine isn't churning out as much Unobtanium as it should be and the acolites have been sent to "motivate" the populace.

Mining crew boss: "But Sirrah Ah keep tels ya! We kenne dig to deep. If we go to far below ground, the stones start to whisper..and we hear drums! Drums in the deep."

Acolyte primaris: "Nonesense! The're is nothing to fear. The Emperor protects!"

Crew Boss: "If ya say so sirrah."

Acolyte primaris: "Okay, you Graves, go down there with them and make sure they keep up the pace! Acolyte Lynata, maintain an open channel with them."

Acolytes Graves & Lynata: "Aye sir!"

8 hours 8 minutes later:

Lynata: "Sir? Incoming message from Graves! It's pretty garbled. Something about "to deep" and "Bloodthirster"."

Acolyte primaris: *facepalms*

Pfshhh, daemons in particular are something you ought to throw lasguns at!

The mine not producing as much as it should is a good idea though, as unlike total disobedience in the form of outstanding shipments (which would certainly warrant an armed response), this would require much more of an investigational approach. Perhaps the local Administratum envoy has already started to pressure the Governor, who on turn has decreed harsher work quotas and begun to conscript locals to add to the labour force, whilst a local commission has begun to investigate the source of the obstruction. Initial reports describe Weird Stuff™, which gets leaked to the Inquisitor, who in turn sends their Acolytes to take a look, believing that the locals are in way over their heads.

I admit the complexity of the issue very much depends on just how omnipresent we think the Inquisition is in our individual games, though, as that would obviously affect how much time the Inquisitors have to spend on matters that may seem trivial at first.

Throwing lasguns at greater daemons: About as efective as actualy shooting the things at them!

I admit the complexity of the issue very much depends on just how omnipresent we think the Inquisition is in our individual games, though, as that would obviously affect how much time the Inquisitors have to spend on matters that may seem trivial at first.

Same feeling i got when my character had to deliver some alcoholic beverages (smart moove guys!) to some miners on behalf of the fighters guild in ES III Oblivion.

Why would the inquistion be intrested in some non vital resources?...Unless there is more to the situation than meets the eye.

Maybe the resources are more valuable then the Imperium knows. Maybe the inquisitor has a hunch or he has found out the secret and decides it's not wise to chare that knowledge with the rest of the imperium.

Acolyte Graves: "I don't see why we get sent in to play union buster? I think the holy ordos have better things to do than worry about the production of Cederwraith lumber!"

Acolyte Rovenar: "so?"

Graves: "So? There's gotta be some adminstorum clerc they could have sent out here instead of us. Ugh, lazy administratum bastards. There's trouble at the mill! send in the acolytes! Nobody expects the imperial inquisition !"

Acolyte Rovenar: "Are you done? And besides: It's our job to make sure nobody falls beyond the reach of the inquistion! For the Emperor!"

Acolyte Graves: "That's Hereticus buisness! We're Ordo Xenos! I signed up to kill aliens, not go over production quotas with the lumber boss!"

Rovenar: "Sigh. Just shut up Graves!"

Maybe the inquisitor has a hunch or he has found out the secret and decides it's not wise to chare that knowledge with the rest of the imperium.

That could work! A valuable addition to the plot.

If a planet can sustain human life it will always be of some interest to the Imperium
The Imperium may have a million worlds but that is pretty rare compared to the Galaxy as a whole. A decision may have been made not to launch a crusade to hold the planet. An Inquisitor disagrees but doesn't want to expend political capital overturning the Administratum decision and sends his acolytes on a fact finding mission.