I as a humble and loyal servant of the emperor would never even consider trying to leave his realm and form a glorious new realm where I rule uncontested and all love and fear my...er anyway,out of curiosity how would you go about it just so I can make sure no ones planning it of course.

know I already got some good ideas from that brat from the spinward front but we can all see how that's turning out for him and I have a few ideas of my own but im interested to see any ideas you guys have.

my ideas so far

1 be beloved by your people( get as many of your citizens to like you as possible so they wont side with the inevitable imperial invasion.

2 hereteks everywhere ( one of the many many problems the idiot on the spinward front is having is the cogboys don't give a darn about you only about their precious machine spirits so smuggle in as many hereteks as possible I'm not talking about the crazy daemon lovers I mean the lovers of xenos machines the ones who work without the litanies and prayers added on the unsanctioned mechanic and the worst of all the innovators)

3 don't announce your secession to the imperium(its pretty obvious but let the outside world realize you've broken away on their own don't tell them).

I as a humble and loyal servant of the emperor would never even consider trying to leave his realm and form a glorious new realm where I rule uncontested and all love and fear my...er anyway,out of curiosity how would you go about it just so I can make sure no ones planning it of course.

know I already got some good ideas from that brat from the spinward front but we can all see how that's turning out for him and I have a few ideas of my own but im interested to see any ideas you guys have.

my ideas so far

1 be beloved by your people( get as many of your citizens to like you as possible so they wont side with the inevitable imperial invasion.

2 hereteks everywhere ( one of the many many problems the idiot on the spinward front is having is the cogboys don't give a darn about you only about their precious machine spirits so smuggle in as many hereteks as possible I'm not talking about the crazy daemon lovers I mean the lovers of xenos machines the ones who work without the litanies and prayers added on the unsanctioned mechanic and the worst of all the innovators)

3 don't announce your secession to the imperium(its pretty obvious but let the outside world realize you've broken away on their own don't tell them).

If you want to keep the Imperium off your back for even longer, you could keep paying them tax in the form of guardsmen regiments... made up by your criminal elements. Saves you having to pay to look after them in jail and it keeps the Imperium off your doorstep.

Start your revolution by appealing to the masses with slogans like "Hope and change" and "change you can believe in". You're probably a budding heretic anyway so appealing to Tzeench is just a choice!

Coddle other mini insurrections to provide a distraction to your traitorous agenda. Slogans like " Mutant lives matter" will really pull at the heartstrings and serve to further confuse a bewildered population.

Be sure to disavow any associations with known apostates and renegades even if they were your best friends

Assuming some loyalist Imperial noble doesn't come along to Trump your entire scheme, Start a Black Crusade game when you reach 100 corruption points!

I as a humble and loyal servant of the emperor would never even consider trying to leave his realm and form a glorious new realm where I rule uncontested and all love and fear my...er anyway,out of curiosity how would you go about it just so I can make sure no ones planning it of course.

know I already got some good ideas from that brat from the spinward front but we can all see how that's turning out for him and I have a few ideas of my own but im interested to see any ideas you guys have.

my ideas so far

1 be beloved by your people( get as many of your citizens to like you as possible so they wont side with the inevitable imperial invasion.

2 hereteks everywhere ( one of the many many problems the idiot on the spinward front is having is the cogboys don't give a darn about you only about their precious machine spirits so smuggle in as many hereteks as possible I'm not talking about the crazy daemon lovers I mean the lovers of xenos machines the ones who work without the litanies and prayers added on the unsanctioned mechanic and the worst of all the innovators)

3 don't announce your secession to the imperium(its pretty obvious but let the outside world realize you've broken away on their own don't tell them).

If you want to keep the Imperium off your back for even longer, you could keep paying them tax in the form of guardsmen regiments... made up by your criminal elements. Saves you having to pay to look after them in jail and it keeps the Imperium off your doorstep.

me send criminal elements I'd never do that I only send the most stalwart loyal members of my realm to fight for the emperor!

Start your revolution by appealing to the masses with slogans like "Hope and change" and "change you can believe in". You're probably a budding heretic anyway so appealing to Tzeench is just a choice!

Coddle other mini insurrections to provide a distraction to your traitorous agenda. Slogans like " Mutant lives matter" will really pull at the heartstrings and serve to further confuse a bewildered population.

Be sure to disavow any associations with known apostates and renegades even if they were your best friends

Assuming some loyalist Imperial noble doesn't come along to Trump your entire scheme, Start a Black Crusade game when you reach 100 corruption points!

I'm not planning to go heritic in this one but whether I succeed or fail odds are I'm going to be playing a black crusade character from my realm.

as for the mutant thing the pale throng does seem like a good friend for a budding rebel.

Rogue Trader can be tricky, as many of the worlds you should interact with are, in fact, not Imperial worlds, so they have nothing to secede from. If you pick an Imperial world, start small. Use your power to keep up appearances, appointing people who are loyal to you, whom you either believe you can trust, or at least manipulate, and hope you are in a small enough region to be of less interest. The most important thing might be determining why you wish to break away? If it is purely for avarice/hubris reasons, you will probably fail, as your people will see you as a heretic, and know that the Imperium does to heretics. You need a real, solid reason to break away, either from the Emperor, or His crumbling, byzantine government. Ascension has an Imperial Planetary Governor, Malaki Vess, who eventually may seek to do this. His people love him, and he is a loyal servant of both the Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind, and His Imperium. The problem is the byzantine pencil-pushers did a bad job cataloging his world, and set its tithes to low. This allowed the world to flourish, prosper, and become happy. Then, said bureaucrats realized their error, and are scheduled to refigure the tithes. The result is that the surface will be strip-mined of precious resources, the planet's rings demolished by similar harvesting, and the world will, in general, plunge into the crapper. Vess' people love him, and he, uncharacteristically, loves them; he does not want to destroy their way of life, and go from paradise world to death world, just so some distant power can get a few more tonnes of whatever ore. The Imperium, of course, does not care. They need resources, and view individual planets in much the same way they view individual people; a resource to be exploited. Humanity matter, not humans, themselves. If Vess refuses to comply, it will be seen as criminal, and the Navy/Guard will be mobilized to remedy the situation, so he either must obey, and sentence his people to suffering, and possible death, or secede, and face the military, and Inquisition, when they come to cleanse his world of sedition and heresy.

So there, he has what seems a good reason, and one his people can support. He needs to be careful not to tip off the Adeptus Arbites, who don't answer to him, as well as the AdMech and Ecclesiarchy personages, who could withdraw support, and inform the Imperium of his intentions. Secession is both very easy, and monstrously hard, and really only ends one way; death. The Inquisition declares you Excommunicate Traitorous, and only the Emperor, in the time of your death, can absolve your soul of such a sin.

Now, if you go through with it, have fun, of course, but be advised; the distant, often absent-seeming Imperium does pay more attention than you might think, and will eventually retaliate, and it won't be in a subtle, or creative way, unless a Callidus Assassin is sent to be your best friend (read: kill you). It will be an uphill battle, and there might seem little reward to endeavoring it. Best of luck.

Rogue Trader can be tricky, as many of the worlds you should interact with are, in fact, not Imperial worlds, so they have nothing to secede from. If you pick an Imperial world, start small. Use your power to keep up appearances, appointing people who are loyal to you, whom you either believe you can trust, or at least manipulate, and hope you are in a small enough region to be of less interest. The most important thing might be determining why you wish to break away? If it is purely for avarice/hubris reasons, you will probably fail, as your people will see you as a heretic, and know that the Imperium does to heretics. You need a real, solid reason to break away, either from the Emperor, or His crumbling, byzantine government. Ascension has an Imperial Planetary Governor, Malaki Vess, who eventually may seek to do this. His people love him, and he is a loyal servant of both the Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind, and His Imperium. The problem is the byzantine pencil-pushers did a bad job cataloging his world, and set its tithes to low. This allowed the world to flourish, prosper, and become happy. Then, said bureaucrats realized their error, and are scheduled to refigure the tithes. The result is that the surface will be strip-mined of precious resources, the planet's rings demolished by similar harvesting, and the world will, in general, plunge into the crapper. Vess' people love him, and he, uncharacteristically, loves them; he does not want to destroy their way of life, and go from paradise world to death world, just so some distant power can get a few more tonnes of whatever ore. The Imperium, of course, does not care. They need resources, and view individual planets in much the same way they view individual people; a resource to be exploited. Humanity matter, not humans, themselves. If Vess refuses to comply, it will be seen as criminal, and the Navy/Guard will be mobilized to remedy the situation, so he either must obey, and sentence his people to suffering, and possible death, or secede, and face the military, and Inquisition, when they come to cleanse his world of sedition and heresy.

So there, he has what seems a good reason, and one his people can support. He needs to be careful not to tip off the Adeptus Arbites, who don't answer to him, as well as the AdMech and Ecclesiarchy personages, who could withdraw support, and inform the Imperium of his intentions. Secession is both very easy, and monstrously hard, and really only ends one way; death. The Inquisition declares you Excommunicate Traitorous, and only the Emperor, in the time of your death, can absolve your soul of such a sin.

Now, if you go through with it, have fun, of course, but be advised; the distant, often absent-seeming Imperium does pay more attention than you might think, and will eventually retaliate, and it won't be in a subtle, or creative way, unless a Callidus Assassin is sent to be your best friend (read: kill you). It will be an uphill battle, and there might seem little reward to endeavoring it. Best of luck.

Oh I know its gonna be tough, one of the reasons I'm planning it is because I've never heard of anyone doing it in rogue trader I know it'll be fun horribly horribly fun. but yes privately it'll be hubris and pride but that's not what the citizens are going to hear.

me send criminal elements I'd never do that I only send the most stalwart loyal members of my realm to fight for the emperor!

Exactly. It's the best way to get rid of loyalists. They may even be happy about it!

As a rogue trader, it's fairly easy. After all, you are the one transporting colonists off into the Outer Dark, and you are the only one who knows where the colony worlds are . As long as you present an acceptable 'front' of some worlds to Imperial inspections, and provide tithes and support trade, etc, etc, there's no reason for them to suspect that for every colony you 'declare' to the Imperial authorities, there are another two settled worlds beyond them, secretly building fleets and armies....

This makes me think of the seccessionist alternate archetype in Hostile Acquisitions.

I often wondered how you might make it work. The ideas presented here sound like a really good way to go about it.

I know I sort of already said this, but remember that, to secede, one must already belong to the Imperium, in actual practice . You could conquer numerous planets of the Expanse, as Winterscale, Chorda, and numerous others have, even seemingly Imperial ones, like Damaris, and nothing will happen. You need to go back to the Calixis Sector, or one of the others (Ixaniad, Scarus, or wherever) before you are actually committing a crime.

Which world are you/they looking at, out of curiosity? Just wondering, and curious what the big benefit they hoped to get out of it, compared to other worlds?

I know I sort of already said this, but remember that, to secede, one must already belong to the Imperium, in actual practice . You could conquer numerous planets of the Expanse, as Winterscale, Chorda, and numerous others have, even seemingly Imperial ones, like Damaris, and nothing will happen. You need to go back to the Calixis Sector, or one of the others (Ixaniad, Scarus, or wherever) before you are actually committing a crime.

Which world are you/they looking at, out of curiosity? Just wondering, and curious what the big benefit they hoped to get out of it, compared to other worlds?

were using some planets the dm created and one of the reasons we're planning n doing it is in character hubris out of character it seems fun and ive never heard of anyone else on any forums trying it.

I know I sort of already said this, but remember that, to secede, one must already belong to the Imperium, in actual practice . You could conquer numerous planets of the Expanse, as Winterscale, Chorda, and numerous others have, even seemingly Imperial ones, like Damaris, and nothing will happen. You need to go back to the Calixis Sector, or one of the others (Ixaniad, Scarus, or wherever) before you are actually committing a crime.

Which world are you/they looking at, out of curiosity? Just wondering, and curious what the big benefit they hoped to get out of it, compared to other worlds?

There's a difference between that and outright secession.

What they're doing isn't secession - they're still paying their taxes when they go back to the Imperium, and they aren't denying that the God-Emperor and His representatives are the rulers of Mankind. They're just His local representatives, and there's nobody in between them and Him.

A Rogue Trader seceding from the Imperium is ... kind of complicated. But it's also something that while you can technically do it, there's usually not all that much point for a Rogue Trader.

In-Character, there are a few reasons why someone wants to secede in the first place, and it's usually connected to overbearing or impossible demands/requirements coming from the Imperium.

A Rogue Trader is really only going to be found guilty of secession if he actively tries really hard at it - and if he's from an established Dynasty, they'll probably remove him before he crosses a line that can't be uncrossed. A Rogue Trader can functionally all but secede and as long as he doesn't take that final step or two, he's covered, as long as he has capable lawyers and is willing to back-date/falsify some paperwork.

Say a Rogue Trader sets up an empire of his own outside the Imperium ... at what point does establishing colonies and such shift over to secession? The point at which the Rogue Trader denies the Imperium. He can set up any number of worlds under his Dynasty's aegis, naming the governors, he can put someone managing groups of them. Heck, in theory, a Rogue Trader could set up an entire sector's worth of worlds owned and ruled directly by his Dynasty, and it won't be secession unless he rejects the God-Emperor and the Imperium's primacy.

As for successfully seceding ... the Inquisition watches Rogue Traders fairly closely for that kind of thing - even going so far as to put undercover agents on many ships. There's at least on example in the books where a Rogue Trader tried to secede only for someone to kill everyone onboard the ship and leave in an escape pod, leaving the ship with only the dead onboard - and other Rogue Traders have vanished without trace.

Plus, if you/your Dynasty happens to have any assets inside the Imperium when it is learned that you are trying to secede, they will be lost/destroyed.

I know I sort of already said this, but remember that, to secede, one must already belong to the Imperium, in actual practice . You could conquer numerous planets of the Expanse, as Winterscale, Chorda, and numerous others have, even seemingly Imperial ones, like Damaris, and nothing will happen. You need to go back to the Calixis Sector, or one of the others (Ixaniad, Scarus, or wherever) before you are actually committing a crime.

Which world are you/they looking at, out of curiosity? Just wondering, and curious what the big benefit they hoped to get out of it, compared to other worlds?

were using some planets the dm created and one of the reasons we're planning n doing it is in character hubris out of character it seems fun and ive never heard of anyone else on any forums trying it.

Ah, okay. Was just trying to imagine the "Imperial scale" they were looking at facing. Many of the officially Imperial worlds of the Calixis Sector are rather stable, and secure, while many more recently introduced worlds, like the Askellon Sector, seem more past their prime, and corrupt from within, so potentially more easy to fall. Best of luck on it, and I hope the GM never says the words "Callidus Assassin".

I know I sort of already said this, but remember that, to secede, one must already belong to the Imperium, in actual practice . You could conquer numerous planets of the Expanse, as Winterscale, Chorda, and numerous others have, even seemingly Imperial ones, like Damaris, and nothing will happen. You need to go back to the Calixis Sector, or one of the others (Ixaniad, Scarus, or wherever) before you are actually committing a crime.

Which world are you/they looking at, out of curiosity? Just wondering, and curious what the big benefit they hoped to get out of it, compared to other worlds?

There's a difference between that and outright secession.

What they're doing isn't secession - they're still paying their taxes when they go back to the Imperium, and they aren't denying that the God-Emperor and His representatives are the rulers of Mankind. They're just His local representatives, and there's nobody in between them and Him.

A Rogue Trader seceding from the Imperium is ... kind of complicated. But it's also something that while you can technically do it, there's usually not all that much point for a Rogue Trader.

In-Character, there are a few reasons why someone wants to secede in the first place, and it's usually connected to overbearing or impossible demands/requirements coming from the Imperium.

A Rogue Trader is really only going to be found guilty of secession if he actively tries really hard at it - and if he's from an established Dynasty, they'll probably remove him before he crosses a line that can't be uncrossed. A Rogue Trader can functionally all but secede and as long as he doesn't take that final step or two, he's covered, as long as he has capable lawyers and is willing to back-date/falsify some paperwork.

Say a Rogue Trader sets up an empire of his own outside the Imperium ... at what point does establishing colonies and such shift over to secession? The point at which the Rogue Trader denies the Imperium. He can set up any number of worlds under his Dynasty's aegis, naming the governors, he can put someone managing groups of them. Heck, in theory, a Rogue Trader could set up an entire sector's worth of worlds owned and ruled directly by his Dynasty, and it won't be secession unless he rejects the God-Emperor and the Imperium's primacy.

As for successfully seceding ... the Inquisition watches Rogue Traders fairly closely for that kind of thing - even going so far as to put undercover agents on many ships. There's at least on example in the books where a Rogue Trader tried to secede only for someone to kill everyone onboard the ship and leave in an escape pod, leaving the ship with only the dead onboard - and other Rogue Traders have vanished without trace.

Plus, if you/your Dynasty happens to have any assets inside the Imperium when it is learned that you are trying to secede, they will be lost/destroyed.

One dumb thing I have wondered, for a long time, and this has reminded me to ask, lots of things reference the "dynasty", and them taking the Rogue Trader, at their head, down, before that august idiot ruins everything for them, but who are these people, who can do this thing? For example, my "insert here" Rogue Trader is Aedan Qel-Drake. He has no living father (Antoss passed away; that's why Aedan is RT), no uncles (Actian qel-Drake wasn't child-prolific), and on. If it's a hereditary title, for the most part, who are these distant hangers-on, who can topple the one with a ship, and possibly while he's still on it, far away from them? Who leads when he's gone, if he has no children, yet? I'm just curious on it, because while the dynasty might seem a bit like a giant company, with shareholders, a board, and what have you, I've never really seen it that way, at this level. While the Rogue Trader's actions could **** them all (hello again, Aedan), if they crush him, assuming they even can, they still would lose the power of their Warrant, wouldn't they?

I know the Inquisition can attempt to rein Rogue Traders in from overstepping their bounds, and the aforementioned Callidus response, if they feel like investing that much into it (still a trump card I'd hold, if a game I ran ever started going to "should we play BC?", but so far beyond the edge of the Imperium, that gets trickier, and they are the Inquisition; I'm not sure how a lesser organization would manage.

Lastly, I think the original post was about wanting to secede. Perhaps you think they aren't going about it right, and more likely, I read it wrong, but I took it that they were actually hoping to denounce the Imperium, if not the Emperor. Keeping Him is rather easy, if you can convince the people that the gov't that claims to rule in His name are corrupt. As for me, even with the Imperium sometimes hilariously failing to defend its interests, I can't really imagine wanting to secede. Once they are a part of the Imperium, and you want to go find the next one, the only thing those planets can hope to save them from a massive Waagh!, or worse, is the Imperial Navy/Guard. Even the best RTs don't usually have that powerful a fleet, nor the ability to pull it out of other interestes, and marshall it all in one place. Also, while they can be terrible at protecting distant, possibly forgotten worlds, they'll redouble their efforts to get there, if they here it is no longer paying homage/taxes. Will the Imperium make the aforementioned unreasonable demands on them? Of course, it's grimdark.

One dumb thing I have wondered, for a long time, and this has reminded me to ask, lots of things reference the "dynasty", and them taking the Rogue Trader, at their head, down, before that august idiot ruins everything for them, but who are these people, who can do this thing? For example, my "insert here" Rogue Trader is Aedan Qel-Drake. He has no living father (Antoss passed away; that's why Aedan is RT), no uncles (Actian qel-Drake wasn't child-prolific), and on. If it's a hereditary title, for the most part, who are these distant hangers-on, who can topple the one with a ship, and possibly while he's still on it, far away from them? Who leads when he's gone, if he has no children, yet? I'm just curious on it, because while the dynasty might seem a bit like a giant company, with shareholders, a board, and what have you, I've never really seen it that way, at this level. While the Rogue Trader's actions could **** them all (hello again, Aedan), if they crush him, assuming they even can, they still would lose the power of their Warrant, wouldn't they?

Well, "The Dynasty" as an entity is really only relevant when it's been around for a while.

Think about it, a Dynasty is basically a Noble House plus. A Dynasty that's been around a while, as in generations, will usually have lots of members, the relationship is likely to be somewhat more distant than immediate family, but, as an example, in Game of Thrones, look at House Lannister - there's Tywin (head=RT), his direct descendants (Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion), their direct descendants (Joffery, Myrcella, Tommen), Tywin's brother Kevan and his family, and all the various Lannister cousins, Lancel, etc. With Tywin's demise, Cersei wound up effectively as Head of House Lannister, as Tyrion was disqualified, but both Jaime and Kevan - either of whom could have made a push for it, decided not to. Cersei screws up and Kevan takes over.

Or perhaps, keeping with Game of Thrones, the Tyrells are a better example - Olenna Tyrell, the Queen of Thorns, while not the Head of House, has functionally as much political/internal power and if she were to be sufficiently displeased with the current Lord Tyrell, either he would adjust as she wished or there would be a new Lord Tyrell.

The "Rogue Trader" is the nominal head of the Dynasty, and was the primary heir of the previous Rogue Trader, this usually follows along the main family line, but unless each Rogue Trader only has one child, the Dynasty will grow. There will be cadet branches, and there may be a council/board consisting of the heads of various cadet branches (or their chosen representatives/deputies) - if they find that the Rogue Trader is compromising the Dynasty's long-term interests they will act to remove him for the Dynasty's protection, replacing him with the first heir who is also not compromising the Dynasty.

The Rogue Trader is at the top of the organizational chart, sure ... but he's not actually managing everything personally, much less on a day-to-day basis, there'll be trusted underlings - likely members born to the Dynasty - running the institution that is the Dynasty and its various holdings.

FFG seriously dropped the ball on creating and involving the Dynasty as part of the game.

I suppose I can sort of see this. While the Qel-Drake family was never particularly big (Aedan is the first in at least three generations to have a sibling, she (Allura) is the individual who runs the minutia in the background, on the planet Qel-Drake's family, and interests, are centered (Pyros Magna), while he does all the swashbuckling, looting, womanizing, and contact-sourcing in the greater Expanse, or Calixis. I'm not sure whom else would be in there, name-wise (I've got the basis of the line, from Avenos Qel-Drake, in the time of Drusis, up to the current time, but laziness has left much of the generations between the founder (Avenos), and Aedan's grandfather, Actian, rather empty; I didn't have enough reason to fill each in with dead people. Oh well, with the story I've written, to point, his family are among the only people who might actually choose to stand with him, if some things came to light. Fortunately, he's got a pocket war with the Tau to keep his appearances, in the eyes of the Navy, up, though the very Inquisitor who he is helping fight them is probably the best option for burning him (and she's sort of a *****, so afterward, she might. Yay Oblationists!)

So, in most regards, we might get the image that the Rogue Trader is master, and all the other jobs are their underlings, and then the game reminds us that, as a good RPG, that's a bad image, and makes a point of illustrating that these are the crem de la crem of the RT's aides; the ones who can talk back, and whose words s/he actually heeds. From this, assuming each Rogue Trader doesn't receive the Warrant, and then fly off on a specialist hunt, would their families be part? Maybe if the Arms Militant's own line has been filling out that role for several generations? It might by "storying" it up a bit more than the grimdark appreciates, but I could see the Rogue Trader-to-be, still a child, being paired up with another child, from their parents' supporters, who will learn to fight, and defend, along with the scion learning to fight, and the two will hopefully grow up friends, with one knowing their destiny, and the other knowing their destiny is to safeguard that. Not sure if the system it's supposed to resemble supports that.

I can easily see that - after all, assuming more than just the primary heir, the other children will be urged to do something productive for the Dynasty, and they'll also likely have children, who will, in turn, be urged to be productive for the Dynasty.

And, since they are functionally noble houses plus, if we look at other aristocratic systems, hereditary families of retainers are also fairly common - ie, a retainer brings up his/her children to serve the Dynasty from birth, and them doing the same for their children. If somebody was raised from birth by his/her parent and predecessor to take his place, and the same happened with the parent, and that's been going on for generations ... there's a degree of inherited respect and even more inherited loyalty.

Plus, there's the likelihood that unless the Rogue Trader dies in combat (and ship-to-ship combat at that), it is likely that many of his advisors would survive to then serve the RT's successor in their same capacities. Especially since someone in a top advisory slot is likely to benefit from lifespan enhancing treatments in one way or another.

Again, going with an example from GoT/ASoIaF - before he decided to join the Watch, Jon Snow expected that he'd probably end up serving Robb in some capacity when they grew up, unless he wound up supporting Bran or Rickon in their responsibilities.

It's not the same, of course, but similar in concept.

Basically, unless the "Dynasty" isn't - that is, unless it's a brand new Warrant or a Warrant that hasn't been exercised for quite a while, or the Dynasty is on the verge of annihilation - the bearer of the Warrant shouldn't need to go outside the Dynasty for qualified senior underlings, at least, for most positions. Nor should a scion of the Dynasty who is being sent out to prove themselves worthy - they will be sent out with trusted members of the Dynasty to both advise and evaluate their performance.

Yep all the points above make perfect sense. In a dynasty that's been around for a while you may even find that the other positions on the ship may be hereditary to the Rogue Trader's Dynasty as well I.E. the Rogue Trader is the first in line, the Arch Militant is the second in line, the Seneschel is third in line or whatever way you want to do it. Much like the titles of Duke, Baron, Count etc can be handed out to royal family members.

Also the good thing about keeping Rogue Trader warrant descriptions vague is you can have you own system of inheritance. You can have the royal line using whatever system suits their traditions, you may have a council of high ranking family members who vote on the new Rogue Trader from among them or possibly the Rogue Trader chooses his own successor from whomever he wants without the requirement of blood relationships (perhaps the aid that has helped him most in building his dynasty over his lifetime) amongst any number of options to make your own dynasty unique.

The funniest one is when they talk about whoever holds the Warrant automatically becoming the Rogue Trader. It's like who even wants that piece of paper, as soon as you have it you have a target on your back as your only claim for legitimacy is you took it off the last owner and the only way to hold it is with the backing of your supporters, any one of which may decide they'd make a much better Rogue Trader than you.....

Also the stories of losing a Warrant of Trade in a gambling den make for a funny idea, I mean seriously what can you possibly be betting for that's worth risking a Warrant of Trade!? Even if you are completely broke and have no ships or ways to use the Warrant for profit you could at least sell it to someone with the capacity to do so for the price of your own planet to retire on and live out your days or something to that effect......

Hmmm I think I have digressed a lot, but I'm sure the OP's question was well answered. If you are a Rogue Trader why would you even bother to risk all that privilage and wealth unless you had ideals and morals you were standing up for or something and in that case how on earth did you become a Rogue Trader!