This is by no means meant to be taken seriously just sharing with you all and a friend on the forums an experience I once had GMing RT...

So we had this player who was very well informed about the 40k Fluff / Lore

Of that he wanted to trade in some "hardware" to one of the Masters of the Lathes (some sort of choice archeotech - so choice its not in the books LOL)

When they got close to the Lathes > they took some days and scanned around - had a few radio exchanges and otherwise "explored" the fringes of the Lathes system...

Eventually they got luck (on a roll) and found a secret derelict yard or which (i do forget) something was there that "this player" wanted

Eventually after certain communications were had this player revealed the Lathes "skeleton in a closet" and threaten to "tell on them"

They responded withsomething along the lines of > ok now that youve threatened us you forfeit any authority you had to "trade" and must now sumbit your prize to the Lathes and leave > LOL (you have 3 days to comply > etc etc)

Thats when said player blew a gasket > LOL (game ended > yadda yadda)

This is what would of happened LOL

Ohh your character is threatening the Mechanicus at the Lathes ok > they ask you to stay and submit to “exchange”

Sooo you sit there for close to 48 hours when scanners begin to pick up 4 Voidhsips headed your way in 4 more Hours they and you will be within firing range…

I wait some more > ok

Eventually they arrive – first thing they do is jamm your ability to radio either outside of your ship and+ within

Loyalists of Mars (not the lathes within your ship) begin to send runners to send you messages by hand – it takes a runner 4 hours to deliver a msg

The first msg from within the ships says half of the Mechanicus within are loyal to Mars while the rest are loyal to the Lathes – they have already begun fighing tho no more details ar available for another 4 hours…

Meanwhile the 4 voidships just float and wait around yours

4 days later > pandomium spreads across your ship as Lathes Loyalists and outside influences decend > once those Lathes loyalists ensured your ship was “stuck” the 4 ships outside began to fire boarding torpeadoes

The last runner hasn’t been seen in 2 days and the armsmen onboard plus your arch militant tell you the “bridge” is being besieged and that you are all running out of boiling tar and live cats to throw

1 day later > your on a conveyour line (like a car in a factory) down the “line” mechanized arms remove and remake your bridge staff ahead of you – the masters of the lathes choose to have you witness that holy conversion before you embark upon yours

FIN > campaign ended! LOL

Stay GAMING

Morbid

But why the heck there was a conflict between "Martian" and "Lathes" Mechanicus?

My question as well, they are all Loyalists and would either side with the AdMech, their Enginseer Prime if he's charismatic enough as a leader, or decide to stay out of any conflict and let the RT handle it himself.

Well one could suppose if fishing for an explanation - we all know there are sub-cults within the Cult of Mars such as the Light of Sollex in the Lathes > right?

Blame it on that then (subcults) - there is no love between many factions and subsets within not to mention "personal" ambitions

You're like why > shoot there are infinite reasons why > why dont you tell me why? (on that point I dont recall seeing anything in the literature that doesnt say Admech cant fight AdMech - even "IF" there aren't Hereteks...)

Also there was no AdMech "player" on deck during those sessions > what I wrote up and posted was where I could have went with such poor choices as to Strong Arm the AdMech in the Lathes itself - suffice to say on a serious note during the game the players were hailed and the RT reminded his Warrant does'nt extend into the dominion of the Lathes > the player kept pushing after that LOL

Perspective

On a side note remember "choose your quest" books > those old books wehere you read a paragraph of text and made a choice and went to a numbered paragraph elsewhere in the book? (if not look it up) > and when you choose the wrong choice there was instant death...

I come from that era - EVEN original D&D 1st and 2nd editions featured intsa-death (from certain traps in adventure modules to certain creature like Beholder with its death ray or the Cocktrice with can turn you to stone)

So the notion that I should encourage all sorts of "creativity" to me detracts from the Grim Dark aspect of 40k

You make a really bad choice in judgement even after multip exits were given - then you should die and a new character created

In that way I can never "beat the game" and as a player the "world"' holds true horror and wonder - and most importantly replay-ability / none of that "been there done that nonsense" and even if so "it was well earned"

FIN

Yeah, as long as you keep reminding people of the political sovereignty of the Lathes then this seems reasonable. Each Forge World is just KNOWN to have archeotech secrets that are closely guarded in order to increase the prestige of the worlds and the Magos's that control them, and even a false claim of heretek there could bring in other worlds to investigate and result in the greatest shame a Magos can suffer... the loss of intellectual property.

For a first offense I would let the blackmail pass and send some assassins after my PCs. For a second offense, I would send the BETTER class of assassins. Third offense results in outright murder.

I like the way you think Erathia...

Would said "assassins" be insurgents already in the RT's ship or would they board it from outside? LOL

The Lathes Of Calixis (from The Inquisitors Handbook PAGE 133)

The greatest forge world of the Calixis Sector is not a single world at all. The Lathe System, gifted to the Adeptus Mechanicus in perpetuity during the Agevin Crusade, is a place of strange wonder and arcane science. A trio of semihabitable planets in anarchic, fluxing orbit around their violent blue-white sun, Lathe-Het, Lathe-Hesh and Lathe- Hadd lie at the centre of the system. The population toiling in the massive macro-foundries based there to exploit the unique gravitation fluxes are huge, heavy set brutes more Ogryn in stature than man.

They are but one part of the story, for scattered throughout the planetary system are dozens of vast city-sized orbital stations and hundreds of mining and research ouposts, hulks, asteroid bases and scores of vast steelglass-domed agrology platforms—arbours of green and blue that provide food and water amid the frozen void.

Access to the inner system is strictly controlled by automated ward ships and the Magos Militant commanding the massed power and might of the Mechanicus, capable of calling in extremis on the dread might of the Titans of Legio Venator who are said to have a hidden fortress on the dead moon of Lycosidae at the system’s heart.

AKA - You dont listen we render you + take your crew and your ship silly Rogue Trader LOL

The outer fringes of the system are somewhat more receptive to visitors , and it is here at the trans-shipping orbitals that the great Chartist vessels and Mechanicus high-liners put in to trade and to export the Lathe System’s vast output, whilst also feeding its equally vast hunger for ore and metal.

Fiercely independent and beholden to none but the lords of distant Mars , the Lathe System’s near five billion inhabitants answer only to the Archmagos council of the ruling Lathe-Covenant, and here the rule of the Omnissiah holds absolute sway.

10 hours ago, MorbidDon said:

I like the way you think Erathia...

Would said "assassins" be insurgents already in the RT's ship or would they board it from outside? LOL

I figure first wave will be just some Rogue Traders or those who are down on their luck that are willing to take a shot at the Rogue Trader in exchange for some essential ship upgrades or to repay a debt

Second wave are assassins from The Lathe Worlds, who are terrifying if you like things like doors that don't spontaneously vent you into space, or blast doors that don't try to crush you as you walk under them.

Third wave is breaking out the Heretek that they were being blackmailed with for irony.