Flash-heart runs his Empire from the Command deck of his lineage's last remaining vessel - the Ask Questions Later. The vessel is a modified Dauntless Light Cruiser which has had a massively uprated sensor system, an ancient kill servitor defence system with a twitchy launch button and has been upgraded to carry a Battleship class Lance Turret. On top of that, the ancient Spirit of the vessel is like a Terrier - ready to pick a fight at the drop of a pin and fearless, seeing larger opponents as an opportunity to prove itself. The ship has soul and spirit of a 5ft nothing red headed Glaswegian, called Shuggy (not literally, but I am Glaswegian myself and see this as its persona ) and has to be reigned in, literally on a number of occasions. The Captain has had to order the ammo kept away from the Macro Cannons and the power dialled back on the lances unless he orders it otherwise, as the Ship is likely to "Have a go" if it gets the chance. On their first visit to Footfall the ship changed the approach vector and began pouring on power, figuring that ramming speed was likely to do the most damage against such a large opponent. Flash-heart now has a contract with the Port authorities and regularly uses tugboats to bring the vessel in on low power.

The ship itself holds a number of secrets, it was wrested from a Space Hulk centuries previously and is now haunted - on at least 2 occasions the strength of the spectres has placed the ship and crew in direct danger. On other occasions, it has merely caused trouble and confusion. Once, they were in transit through the warp fighting a fierce warp storm, the Bridge hololith came to life, a Leftenant in the 7th Hold was reporting, in a panic, that the ship was under attack and being boarded and that the crew were falling back ; the Vid behind him showed clearly the wounded and dying crewmen falling back from an unseen but aggressive enemy, Flash-heart acted decisively, loosing the Kill Servitors who swept through the Hold killing all before them... as he sent a trusted Advisor to ascertain the identity of the enemy it became clear that there was, in fact, no enemy and that the message he was viewing was a ghost image, from millenia before... The actual attack had been long in the ships past, and the exterior of the 7th hold still showed where they had been boarded with repairs and external scars. The crew were none too happy about the Kill Servitors I can tell you, but such is the price of a haunted vessel. Flash-heart had to spread a lot of cash to increase Morale again after that slipup.

The Great Uncle who had squandered the family fortune has left a number of "Cookies" behind, Flash-Heart is still find them from time to time. The central Atrium, his personal quarters are sumptuous and lavish; a huge multi levelled suite topped by a single Clear crystal dome. It has a huge bed alcove and a central firepit, the entire Atrium is clad in rare marble but contains 2 curiousities; first is the Xeno library, compiled over a century by his Uncle, much of the contents of books, scrolls, data crystals, etc are of Xenos origins and much of it is illegible. Why did he collect such a library? Who knows... What is its purpose? Who knows... Flash-heart does know, however, that many of these "books" are highly proscribed and even owning them would result in an immediate Termination by the Inqusition. He has his Spymaster compiling a list of them and attempting to translate many to ascertain just why the collection is there and what its for. As for Flash-heart, there are few of the more esoteric books, the ones with colour pictures that he quite likes, some of them appear to be nawty Xenos pictures, he looked at those twice...

The 2nd, and greatest secret is the great vault. Beneath the firepit, in a gene-encoded room is door. That door is coded to open only to the Ruler of the Flash-heart line, behind that door is a vault. This vault is shielded from a seperate source from the ships engines and nobody can even get close enough to touch it. How to open it, what it contains, why its there is a mystery - and its driving Flash-heart mad! . He can't figure out, and he has tried, how to open the **** thing...

His trusted Command Staff are;

Seneschal - 2ic and Spymaster, Majordomo and occasional butler.

Bodyguard - Powerarmor wielding, powerfisting semi psychotic protector.

Engineer - Admech with a taste for strong drink and whatever else he can distill from the ship.

Astropath - Officially the unluckiest Astropath in the Sector. He has even acquired an Eldar Glyph Electoo after a run in with a pissed off Warlock...

Pilot - the most despited and hated man on the ship, he didn't realise he was a Null... Either did the Astropath at first - now that was an amusing 3 sessions. "There is a disturbance in the Warp...." - How the Astropath didn't realise that his powers only failed when the Pilot was near I'll never know.

So, thats the crew, A Paranoid ship with some big guns and extreme sensor package, a bunch of misfits led by an abject Coward with panache and a whole vessel full of crew with fancy new Red Shirts...

Welcome to the Reign of Lord Flash-heart

I must say I quite enjoy reading about this particular character and his exploits, would you mind if I borrowed this character for use in my campaign if I need someone like him? Could you post or send me the stats and such for him, rank, talents, equipment all the good stuff maybe even for the other characters you have so I can have the full crew if you don't mind?

malador888 said:

I second this, also the main crew (PCs) if possible. You can send the dead bodyguards stats or his new PC.... or both. Oh by the way tell Flesh-Heart that if he gets pissed at a planet he needs to his ship into low orbit and burn a several kilometer scar across the planets surface. I'm going to tell my players he did anyways.

The Sarvus Trusk from the Sovereign Venture in the Emperors Bounty adventure did that in one of his game. One of the co-developers from Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader actually runs Sarvus in his personal RT game. However, I made Sarvus the comedic relief RT in my game. I run him as a over bearing young pup that got a small fleet of shiny new ships from a rich uncle. Basic tool that doesn't respect or deserve the position he is given. (No connection to the actually player that made it )

Feel free to use and abuse Flash-heart to your own hearts content I'll post up a list of some stats, etc for Flash-heart and his merry band later on but in the meantime you can flesh him out how you like.

The replacement pc... hmm... still thinking it over - we have a few ideas that the player is looking to investigate but is contemplating an Explorator with heavy cbt focus as a new bodyguard, gifted from the Admech to replace the 1 that got killed helping them out. The other contendor is a sniper but he's not 100% that it will fit in the same?! I'll let you all know when we have the newbie.

I am Lord Captain Tiberius Flashheart, last scion of the fabled and glorious Flashheart lineage, and I would like to rebutte some of these awful, scurrilous and slanderous tales of my exploits. The films we broadcast to the planets we have rescued from the clutches of chaos infestation and alien depredation are NOT edited for syndication - they are a true documentary record of my bravery and fighting ability. I am a hero to these peasants and I need to make sure they know who's boss. I may have stumbled a little exiting the back-door of that flier but I landed with the grace and agility of a Fenksworld marsh-cat. My crew are a noble, if scruffy and slightly whiffy breed, and I don't need Wing-Commander ruining the morale of my ship by suggesting that their heroic, handsome Lord and Captain is some sort of cowardly, pompous, highly sexed buffoon. It is true that I have more than my fair-share of female attention, but everyone has their Throne to bear, wot? He has also neglected to mention the great benefits of being a member of my crew, not the least of which is a beautiful and well-tailored red uniform. My crew is provided with all the cheap amesec and even cheaper women I can supply. It is only right I keep the good stuff for myself, I do after all bear the greatest burden of responsibility. Finally it was a great loss to me personally to see the brave final end of my bodyguard. It's going to cost a fortune to find myself another walking las-magnet.

Regards

Lord Captain Tiberius Flashheart

Flashheart

Your personality and silver tongue works perfectly for you. However, I believe a little changes are due. First, a name change to Fleshheart. More grim and a written poetry of two words. Like a naked Cadian woman, both dangerous and beautiful. Second, both legs and arms must be augmented into finely crafted throne capped appendages. A good Rogue Trader always does his best to keep his coin as close as possible.

Other than that. You sir are a perfect icon to all men. The High Lords of Terra shift uneasily at your power of both persona and wealth.

A name change, sir? I think not. The sound of the Flashheart name has rang loud and true through the annals of Imperial History, a shining bell of truth, piety and pride. I would no more change my name than I would saw off my left arm to use as a weapon. However your other suggestion seems interesting, and I will take it upon consideration. Certainly some shiny augmentation and extra armour wouldn't go amiss, especially since I have recently lost my primary bullet-catcher. Also, anything to impress the ladies, they do like a bit of 'bling'.

I'm glad that my legendary character will make an impact in other tales, although I do hope you do not misrepresent my motives and my achievements. The Flashheart name should always stand for bravery and rigorous moral fibre. The idea that I am some sort of trigger-happy, yellow-bellied womanising scoundrel has to be stamped out; this is how reputations get smeared, dontchaknow. Certainly it might make it harder to recruit more cannon-fodder... er... I mean 'brave crew'.

I do hope my legend extends all the way back to Holy Terra, although I would rather not attract any inquisitorial scrutiny... I have rather an extensive library and collection of artifacts, and it would be a shame for it to fall into the hands of any small-minded puritanical interrogator...