I'm trying to write my fluffy background for a new character in our combined DH/RT campaign, and I decided that her homeworld would be Quaddis. However, after a little bit of Googling, I see that Quaddis was the setting for the Tattered Hopes adventure. Now I need to make sure her background fits with the official info that has been put out there.

It's a paradise world, so before I knew there was more info available than that, I had made a few assumptions:

• Quaddis is a lush garden planet
• They might have an academy where Navy brats are trained to grow up to become Naval officers
• They have a university.

Does the information in Tattered Hopes squash any of my assumptions? If so, I may have to pick another homeworld for my character. I'm a bit married to the concept of her backstory now.

Ophilia Midkiff said:

Pretty much nothing Naval present. It's still classified as a colony world because the nobles have never allowed it to be developed beyond that. The way it is set up the officials of the Imperium actually have little power there when compared to a developed planet.

-=Brother Praetus=-

Well, that screws up my plans then. Off to find another planet. This one was so conveniently close to the capital, too. Sigh.

Essentially it's a planet that's perpetually 'about to enter the Imperium proper' without all the Imperial Institutions ensconced. The world is divided into individual fiefs where it's owners law is absolute - within that fief. It has only one city, Xicarph, a dome enclosed metropollis at the Northern Polar region, with one starport which is a more or less neutral territory (for fief owners), ruled by absentee landlords (the Rogue Trader line of Haarlock) who prevented the planet from developing further thus maintaining its no-holds-barred approach to existence. Some fiefs have fallen vacant (for whatever reason) and no new sales (of fiefs) have occurred whilst the lanlord's remain absent. It has a few very odd astrological phenomena associated with the world and equally odd traditions to accompany them. No academia in Xicarph to speak of, but if a fiefs rulers wanted some, they'd get some. The only oversight on the planet is fiefs warring upon each other (a rare rare event, they like the staus quo thank you but not unknown) or the Holy Ordo's of the Inquisition who don't care that the planet is officially a Colony World and can bring their own force to bear when they want to (though several factions find it useful to exist for various reasons).

I know it looks like its close to Scintilla on the sector map, but Quaddis is in a volume of space largely devoid of habitable star systems. The reason Quaddis is nearly mythical in status (besides being kept that way by important Calixians) is because it is so far from any of the major warp routes. No one goes there unless they mean to...well that's not entirely true is it ;-) ?

In any case, I don't think that map of the Calixis sector was ever meant to hold all of the habitable star systems in the sector. The intent was to make it look full and inspire us to come up with new planets. So maybe there is another pleasure world near Scintilla. It certainly wouldn't destroy established canon if you were to place one nearby.

No reason Quaddis can't work for you depending on what exactly your character concept is. The "Capital" city, sich as it is is a rather exclusive domed arrangement situated on a frozen over planetary pole; the more equatorial estates are not detailed to any degree (deliberate!) but can be presumed to be quite lush and wonderful. No real Navy presence or formalized universities there, but that is not an impediment to the EPIC rich.... And that is what lives there: The absurdly wealthy and those that serve them. So say your character is a scion of one of the families of Quaddis: You are provided with the best private tutors money can buy and when you are old enough, the family pulls some strings to have you posted to some prestigious position in the Battlefleet Calixis or perhaps one of the family's (or allied familiy's) Rogue Trader ships.

Alternately, you could have been one of the servants from this world, the legal property of one of the many wealthy landlords. Perhaps you earned your freedom in some fluke of kindness from your master? Maybe a passing Inquisitor saw something in you they could use and demanded you be handed over to them? Maybe you pulled some improbable heroics and have run away, stowing away on a departing yacht or merchant vessil in order to "find a new life"?

The first chapter of Tattered Fates details Quaddis (mostly the capital city and cultural elements) but I am refraining from posting too many details since some of it could be considered spoiler material for many of the readers.

I ended up choosing Askelphion Secundus as a home planet for "A.K." There wasn't any information available about the planet except for its existence, so I figured I'd go with that. If, in the future, it becomes part of the canon, I suppose I'll just change the name to a planet of my own creation. :-)

Thank you all!

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know how long it takes to travel from Quaddis to Scintilla?

Although it may be off major warp routes (if there is such a thing), but there were supposed to be alot of off-worlders there in Tattered Fates that will want to travel home again...

Friend of the Dork said:

This is one of those dreaded "well it depends on..." questions. The major variables:

1) The ship and it's drives. A Sprint Trader is usually going to run firurative circles around a Bulk Hauler, both in the void and in the immaterium.

2) The prevailing Warp conditions. This is basically the 40K equivalent of "sailing conditions" from the Terran "age of exploration". Sometimes conditions are favourable and you have a hasty trip. Sometimes they are unfavourable and the voyage runs long. Sometimes travel is downright impossible.... And then sometimes "something MORE odd than usual" happens during a Warp voyage. You are quite literally "sailing in a sea of raw chaos".

3) The skill and experience of the ship's Navigator. Or the lack of a ship's Navigator in the case of some Chartist Vessels on short runs... Scary!

4) The needs of your story and plot.

5) If you have a member of House Atredes on board.

ZillaPrime said:

Don't you mean "well it depends on" answers?

In any case, I got some info from Gregorius (whom I believe loathe those kind of answers)

Turns out, with the help of some Rogue Trader rules and basic assumptions about the ship type and lack of Navigator, the journey takes somewhere between 3-5 months of travel all in all. A rogue trader with a pretty good ship and decent Navigator would do the same trip in less than a month.

Can't really recall if ships go faster with an Atreides, although it may randomly generate elaborate plots of betrayal among the crew.