If you're an Essex University roleplaying group member, the stay out is serious; this'll ruin most of the plot for the campaign if you peek.

--x--

Okay, so I'm planning to run Dark Heresy next year, and have a good idea of what I want to run. However, since it doesn't exactly fit in with a standard dark heresy campaign, I figure it's worth running past some other GMs first to make sure I haven't made any collossal mistakes and to get some more ideas for bits and pieces that I might of missed.

Setting wise, I'm planning the PC's to start off being assigned to investigate a Rather Large Space Hulk that has just drifted out of the Warp into realspace near the outskirts of Imperium space. Their job is to find out what happened to the ship, how much of a threat it poses (if any) and recover anything valuable if at all possible. Administratum records show that it is an /old/ explorator class vessel (not sure how old, but definitely in the couple of millenia range). when the PC's get on board, they'll get to look around for a short bit before the vessel slips back into the Warp, trapping them on board.

Now, the big thing about this space hulk is that there's going to be a big squabble over it by various powers. The Emperor will be one of these powers, those much weaker than normal thanks to his presence being more the last vestiges of faith in him; the four Chaos gods will be another four powers, and the ships' machine spirit itself has gotten to the point where it's another power. Each power will have different goals. There's also lesser servants running around; a small contingent of Space Marines will be the biggie, split between traitor marines (one per Chaos God), faithful marines (3 of those) and spirits (the other five, though these will all be the work of one of the dead ones who was also a Psyker, who didn't die so much as become a psychic ghost with much reduced power as a "saving throw" against dying, who manifests illusions of himself and the other dead space marines in order to inspire those that remain.)

On board, the Geller fields still work, although they are weakened; as such, daemons will be on board, though they'll tend to stick to their own areas (strongholds). The ships' machine spirit also has its' own strongholds, but the Emperor doesn't, relying on the faith of the devout all over the ship rather than concentrations of power. Outside of the strongholds, it's a war zone, with mutants, minor daemons, and all sorts of crazy running around. The (rather unpleasant) deaths also have created psychic ghosts, which replay the last moments of the dead in a full blown spectral illusion (i.e. what is seen is there but translucent.)

Since the PC's are trapped, it's going to be run closer to survival horror (taking a hefty chunk of inspiration from System Shock 2) than standard Dark Heresy; players will have to be careful about resources, and run away and be cunning rather than go in blazing (hence why I'm using Dark Heresy, not other 40k rpgs.) The other big thing is that death won't be permanent. Rather, dying will lead to resurrection, but the power that chose you denotes you as it's chosen and now asks thing of you. I'm planning to keep "nicer" ones for those who would normally have a much higher income, to help balance that side of things as they can't exactly collect a wage packet from where they are. (The specific power will depend on the number of players I get and In addition, dying leaves Marks; these are randomly rolled. You'll get the Minor Mark first, and then if you roll that result again when you die it upgrades to the Major Mark. In addition, you always gain 1d5 Insanity and Corruption each time you die.

The Death Marks table will be in a further post, as will the strongholds I have so far.

Death Marks.

Most of these are permanent; the exception is the Black Emanations. These occur when a percentile roll the player makes comes up ending in a 9. Also note that if you already have the major Mark and you roll it again, you reroll until you get one you don't have. Anyway, the table (initial numbers are the percentile roll to get it):

01 - 03 : Melee Shakes

When combat closes to close quarters, you feel death's chill grasp again.

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your WS

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5.

04 - 06 : Too Close To Watch

Your experiences with death make watching a gunfight hard to take.

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your BS

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5.

07 - 09 : Withered

Your muscles already began to rot before you came back.

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your Str

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5.

10 - 12 : Lost Vitality

Part of your health didn't come back with you.

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your T

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5

13 - 15 : Rigor Mortis

Your joints are stiff from the vestiges of rigor mortis.

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your Ag

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5

16 - 18 : Grave Obsession

It's hard to think straight when your death keeps creeping into your thoughts .

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your Int

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5

19 - 21 : Decaying World

When you look at the world, you see how it will all end in ashes.

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your Per

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5

22 - 24 : What's The Point?

Death has made your actions seem meaningless.

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your WP

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5

25 - 27 : Torn Soul

A scrap of your soul still remains on the other side.

Minor : - (2 + 1d5) to your Fel

Major : Penalty from the Minor Mark increases by 5

28 - 29 : Bone Tired

You suffer from exhaustion more easily, as though your experience wants you to go back to being still.

Minor : You collapse from fatigue at one fatigue level lower.

Major : You collapse from fatigue at two fatigue levels lower. Fatigue imposes an -20 penalty instead of -10.

30 : Hand Rot (Left)

Your hand begins to rot away as though still dead.

Minor : - 10 to all tests that use the hand.

Major : As lost hand.

31 : Hand Rot (Right)

As Hand Rot (Left), but for the right hand.

32 : Foot Rot (Left)

Your foot begins to rot away as though still dead.

Minor : -10 to all tests that rely on mobility; Movement rates are calculated as though your Agility Bonus was one lower.

Major : As lost foot

33 : Foot Rot (Right)

As Foot Rot (Left), but for the right foot.

34 - 35 : Ear Rot

Your ears begin to rot away as though still dead.

Minor : -10 to all tests that rely on sound or hearing.

Major : As deafened.

36 : Eye Rot (Left)

Your eye begins to rot away as though still dead.

Minor : -10 to all test that rely on sight or vision.

Major : As lost eye

37 : Eye Rot (Right)

As Eye Rot (Left), but for the right eye.

38 - 39 : Grave Terrors

What you saw while dead makes your fears seem very real.

Minor : -10 to all Fear Tests

Major : -20 to all Fear Tests; a failed fear test that inflicts insanity inflicts 1 additional insanity point.

40 - 42 : Grave Loathing

After being dead, you don't want to go anywhere near death or corpses again.

Minor : Minor phobia of corpses

Major : Severe phobia of corpses

43 - 45 : Infestation Loathing

The idea that bugs may now infest you creeps you out.

Minor : Minor phobia of insects

Major : Sever phobia of insects

46 - 48 : Quiet Loathing

When it is quiet, you fear you might be dead again.

Minor : Minor phobia of silence

Major : Severe phobia of silence

49 - 51 : Old Friend

When you came back, you brought an old friend back from the dead with you.

Minor : Minor visions and voices of an old friend

Major : Severe visions and voices of an old friend

52 - 54 : Death Callbacks

You are occasionally reclaimed by death for a while.

Minor : Minor visions and voices as flashbacks to "the underworld"

Major : Severe visions and voices as flashbacks to "the underworld"

55 - 57 : Dreams of the Grave

When you sleep, you can only dream of the underworld.

Minor : Minor horrific nightmares

Major : Severe horrific nightmares

58 - 62 : Chaos Touched

Your rebirth was more closely tied to the Chaos this time.

Minor : + 1d5 corruption

Major : Increase the corruption from this mark by 5, and make a Malignancy Test

63 - 67 : Madness Touched

Your rebirth was particularly traumatic this time.

Minor : +1d5 insanity

Major : Increase the insanity from this mark by 5, and the player immediately makes a Willpower test using your Trauma Modifier as a bonus / penalty (if Stable, you have a +20 bonus). Failure means you gain a Minor Disorder.

68 - 69 : Death Curse

Dying seems to have stolen your luck.

Minor : When you spend a Fate Point, roll a d10. On a 10, the Fate Point has no effect but is spent anyway.

Major : As minor, but the Fate Point is now lost on a 8, 9 or 10.

70 - 71 : Grave Taste

When you eat or drink, it all seems spoiled, stale and rotten.

Minor : It takes you twice as long to restore one level of fatigue.

Major : As the Minor Mark, and the penalty you take when fatigued increases to -20.

72 - 73 : One Foot In The Grave

Your brush with death has left you susceptible to dying again.

Minor : -1 to your Total Wounds.

Major : -2 to your Total Wounds.

74 - 75 : Crypt Eyes

Your eyes loathe the light, forcing you into gloom.

Minor : -10 to all test involving sight while in bright light or daylight.

Major : As the Minor Mark, but the penalty increases to -20, and does not go away until you have spent at least one hour not in bright light or daylight.

76 - 77 : Cursed Digestion

You can no longer eat normally, needing flesh to survive.

Minor : Can only eat meat or meat based food, though you can eat reprocessed meat and other such protein bases.

Major : Can only eat raw meat that is no more than 24 hours old.

78 - 79 : Black Emanation - Grave Chill

The frost of the grave follows you around.

Minor : The temperature drops and everything gets a light coating of frost within 3d10 metres.

Major : As the Minor Mark, but the cold is severe enough to do 1d2 E damage to everyone in the area (including you.) The Minor Mark's effects also extends an additional 3d10 metres beyond the range of the Major Mark's effects.

80 - 81 : Black Emanation - Ghost Presence

Animals can tell you are dead, and balk at your approach.

Minor : All animals within 1d10 metres become restless and spooked.

Major : All animals within 10d10 metres become hostile to you.

82 - 83 : Black Emanation - Shadows of the Crypt

You bring the shadows of the dead wherever you go.

Minor : All light levels within 2d10 metres of you become darkness until the start of your next Turn.

Major : All light levels within 4d10 metres of you become darkness for the next five minutes.

84 - 85 : Black Emanation - Breath Stealer

Death still has its claim, and likes to send little reminders from time to time.

Minor : Everyone (including you) within 2d10 metres becomes short of breath for a round and cannot make any Run or Charge actions.

Major : As the Minor Mark, but it lasts for five minutes and everyone gains a level of fatigue when it first starts.

86 - 87 : Black Emanation - Death Mask

Death occasionally shows its true face through yours.

Minor : You gain a Fear Rating of 1 until the start of your next turn.

Major : As the Minor Mark, and anyone you have a -10 to Fellowship and Fellowship based skill tests with those who saw you while this effect has happened.

88 - 89 : Black Emanation - Decaying Presence

The area around you mirrors your dead state.

Minor : All plants within 3d10 metres of you wither and die.

Major : As the Minor Mark, but all food and drink with the area also spoils, goes rotten and otherwise becomes unfit for consumption.

90 - 91 : Black Emanation - Spectral Hauntings

The dead follow you wherever you go.

Minor : Ghostly apparitions fill the air within 3d10 metres, crying out in pain; everyone in the area makes a Fear Test against severity 1.

Major : As the Minor Mark, but the Fear Test is severity 3.

92 - 93 : Black Emanation - Dead To Gravity

Your death causes you soul to occasionally reclaim the freedom from gravity it once had.

Minor : Everything within 2d10 metres (including you) rises 1d10 metres into the air before falling.

Major : Everything within 3d10 metres (including you) rises 2d10 metres into the air before falling.

94 - 95 : Black Emanation - Death Howl

Sometimes, the screams of the damned force their way out of your throat.

Minor : Within 2d10 metres, glass shatters and everyone (including you) makes an Ordinary Toughness Test or is deafened for 1d10 rounds.

Major : Within 4d10 metres, glass shatters and everyone (including you) makes a Challenging Toughness Test or is deafened for 2d10 rounds.

96 - 97 : Black Emanation - Relapse

Death claims you back ever so often like a favourite toy.

Minor : You are stunned for 1 round.

Major : You are stunned for 5 rounds.

98 - 99 : Black Emanation - Entombed Mind

The grave traps your mind, rending your body a corpse once more.

Minor : You fall to the ground in a catatonic state. Each Round, you much spend a Full Turn Action to make an Ordinary Willpower Test; on a success you cease to be catatonic.

Major : As the Minor Mark, but the Willpower Test is Challenging, not Ordinary.

100 : Scot Free

You seem to have gotten away with it this time.

Minor and Major : You don't know what has happened this time. The GM makes something up in line with the other effects, and imposes it at an appropriate time for you to find out.

The Dollhouse (Tzeentch Stronghold)

The weak of will here will find that fine barbed strings drift down, latching and burrowing into the skin. Once tethered, the strings become extremely strong, and the victim is little more than a puppet of Adramalech, The Doll Maker. Over time, victim's bodies toughen into a pale white substance of similar toughness to the string, eventually turning them completely into a marionette. Until that point, though, victims retain full control of their speech, and even after that their minds remain theirs, albeit normally insane. At the centre of the Dollhouse sits Adramalech, a goat headed figure with 100 arms (though the number of arms changes frequently), with each hand grasping a clutch of the barbed strings.

Adramalech , The Doll Maker

WS 40, BS 25, Str 25, T 30, Ag 35, Int 40, Per 40, WP 50, Fel 30.

Trained Skills : Awareness (Per), Dodge (Ag), Charm (Fel), Evaluate (Int), Inquiry (Fel), Scrutiny (Per), Command (Fel), Deceive (Fel), Psyniscience (Per), Forbidden Lore (Warp) (Int), Forbidden Lore (Daemonology) (Int), Sleight Of Hand (Ag)

Talents : Air of Authority, Ambidextrous, Blind Fighting, Combat Master, Disarm, Lightning Attack, Master Orator, Exotic Weapon Training (Barbed Strings)

Traits : Daemonic, Fear 3, From Beyond, Multiple Arms, Size (Enormous), The Stuff Of Nightmares, Warp Weapons (Barbed Strings), All Round Aggression*, Puppetry**

Weapons : Barbed Whips (1d10 + SB R, melee, 3m range)

Psychic Powers (Psy Rating 3) : All minor psychic powers, plus Call Item (Barbed Whips), Lucky, Spasm, Spectral Hands, Wall Walk, Weaken Veil, Telepathy, Terrify

*All Round Aggression : As a Full Turn Action, Adramalech may make up to 4 Lightning Attacks, though he can only make one per 90 degree arc from him.

**Puppetry : Adramalech may make a ranged attack of range 1 km as though as the attack is within his stronghold. The target rolls Willpower as an Ordinary Test; on a failure, the target become an Adramalechian Marionette (stage 1). Adramalech automatically has line of sight and line of effect within 1km within his stronghold. If the target passes the Willpower Test, they cannot be affected by this attack for the next 24 hours.

Adramalechian Marionette (Stage 1)

The victim is as it was before, but all of it's actions are controlled by Adramalech. It can be released by cutting the strings; there are 4 strings, each of which has 1 Wound and Natural AP of 6. Attacks that aren't from a sweeping melee weapon such as a Hammer or Sword have a -20 penalty to the to hit roll.

After 24 hours, the victim becomes an Adramalechian Marionette (Stage 2).

Adramalechian Marionette (Stage 2)

As Stage 1, but 1d5 random body areas have glazed over with a pale white hard substance as the victim begins to transform. These areas have natural AP of 6.

After a week, the victim becomes an Adramalechian Marionette (Stage 3).

Adramalechian Marionette (Stage 3)

As Stage 1, but all body areas have now glazed over and the victim is completely a marionette. All body areas have a Natural AP of 6.

In addition, cutting the strings no longer frees the victim; instead, they just collapse to the floor, completely dead.

Legion's Barracks (Khorne Stronghold)

Legion is a Hive Mind daemon, created with 100 members originally. Once Legion considers someone a sufficiently powerful warrior, it's killing blow no longer kills, but instead transforms the victim into a Host of Legion. In this way, Legion has grown; it is currently at 216 members.

A Host of Legion looks perfectly normal until it bleeds (as it will do by cutting itself when combat begins), at which point the blood flows across its entire body and solidifies into daemonic weapons and armour.

Host Of Legion

WS 38, BS 26, Str 54, T 63, Ag 29, Int 78, Per 52, WP 55, Fel 28, Wounds 30

Daemonic Presence (when bloody armour and weapon is manifested; the sounds of marching, war chants and gunfire).

Psychic Powers (Psy Rating 2) : All minor powers, plus Seal Wounds, Bio Lightning, Enhanced Senses and Regenerate.

Skills: Awareness +10 (Per), Deceive +10 (Fel), Forbidden Lore (Daemonology, Heresy, Warp) + 20 (Int), Psyniscience +20 (Per), Speak Language (all) +20 (Int)

Traits : Daemonic, Dark Sight, Fear 4, Flyer (AB), From Beyond, Unnatural Strength (x 2), Natural Weapon (daemon blade - doesn't count as primitive), Natural Weapon (as stub automatic - doesn't count as primitive), Hive Mind*, Harvest**

*Hive Mind : Anything one Host of Legion is aware of, all Hosts of Legion are aware of.

**Harvest : On dealing a killing blow, the victim can instead be made a Host of Legion on full wounds, rising from death after 5 minutes.

While you didn't say so, I'm assuming that you're posting this thread hoping for criticism. So here goes...

The theme of the campaign is quite interesting. By the way: Most space hulks are far larger since they are amalgams of several ships wedged together in the warp. How much time will your characters spend there? I'd assume a campaign such as this thrives on a large map with lots of well-detailed locations.

The deathmarks... I don't know. Am I reading it correctly that when a character has died, every percentile roll he makes from now on has the risk of getting him a death mark? In that case, PCs will become unplayable wrecks pretty soon as every tenth roll they make gets them a phobia, an attribute reduction or other nasty stuff.

The dollhouse sounds fine, nothing to add there.

As for legion, I'm not quite as convinced. Firstly, they're Khornate creatures - what's with the Psy Rating? Khorne has very dim views of psykers and the applications he'd put them to are rather limited. There certainly are Khorne sorcerers - somehow, his daemons have to cross over from the Immaterium as well after all. However, their powers are pretty much never used in combat. Secondly, the Fear (4) is on the same level as Greater Daemons so you might want to that somewhat.

Yes, I like criticism; it's the main reason for the thread. More criticism the better; with enough work and criticism, I might be able to forge this into a potential resource for other GM's to use in their games if they like.

Cifer :

Okay, first off, I'm planning for it to last for the entire campaign. It's a university group, so estimate 20 - 30 sessions at 5 - 6 hours each. (Yes, I'm aiming for a large map with detailed locations. I like the idea of mangling ships together, though I'd only have a small number but use big size ships i.e. 4 or 5 cruiser up size vessels.)

Death Marks need clarifying. You only roll for the Death Mark you gain when you die. One roll and death mark per death. The 1 in 10 chance is for Death Marks with Black Emanation in their title; those Death Marks' effects only occur when you roll a percentile roll ending in a 9, once per percentile roll ending in a 9.

Editing Legion down seems a good plan. I'll admit that the psy powers seemed a little off, and downing the Fear rating makes a lot more sense, actually. (I'm thinking Fear 2, since even manifested they're still somewhat more "human" than most daemons.)

Posted in error : ignore please.

It's a pretty cool idea. I'm curious as to what the starting xp/equipment would be like and if you plan to make any modifications to the fate point system. Would burning a fate point prevent "death" or just the gaining of death marks?

Decessor :

Fate points work as normal (i.e. can burn to prevent death), although the party will also have a collective pool that any player can use provided it is a majority decision by the party. The collective pool fate points can't be burnt, though. This pool will start at one, but extra ones may be awarded for achievements that would normally grant Fate Points that were achieved as a result of the entire party working together, rather than exceptional acts of a particular individual.

I've modified character generation slightly. The main changes are :-

> Reroll your characteristics if the sum of all the 9 2d10 rolls are less than 50 or more than 120 (without characteristic modifiers).

> Before your one reroll, you can swap any two of the 2d10 rolls for characteristics.

> Once, after choosing your class, you can lower any one Characteristic that costs you 500xp for the Simple Advance by 5 to raise a different Characteristic that costs you 100xp for the Simple Advance by 5. (Basically, this allows a bit more specialisation, but will make it more expensive if you want to change towards being a generalist later.)

> You can buy things from your current rank or your previous two ranks when spending xp, not just your current rank.

> You start with an extra 400 xp to spend (800 xp total). Your starting wealth is increased by 1 month's wages. You cannot buy any Rare or Very Rare equipment at character generation. (Characters will be fresh off their first mission together somewhere or other, explaining the extra cash and experience and also letting them have some prebuilt links if they want as well as some knowledge of each other when they start.)

Ships of the Space Hulk

Given that the Space Hulk is just a few big ships mashed together, here's the history for each of 'em (including their machine spirits, despite all of the ship machine spirits now being fused into a single machine spirit that suffuses the entire space hulk as one of the powers and names itself HAGET.) When I say a vessel occupies an area, it is where the main chunks of the ship are; occasional bits may well have drifted off and latched on elsewhere, or just been lost as they spiralled off into the Warp.

The Reach Of Steel

Explorator class vessel, got lost in the Warp about 3,000 years ago. The Reach Of Steel was designed so that the crew could spend their entire lives on board similar to that of hive citizens, and as a result it has areas dedicated to all areas of Imperial life. Its armaments are relatively low for an explorator class vessel, instead relying on good armour and high speed to weather and escape any assault, and excellent sensors to avoid attacks in the first place. The Reach Of Steel's machine spirit is TYBER, and TYBER's main goals are that of discovery, both in scientific and colonisation terms. The Reach Of Steel occupies the centre of the fused mess.

The Furygatherer

Not technically a ship, but a space station originally in orbit around a star whose purposes was to collect solar energy before beaming it to the nearby planet for use by the citizen's there. Got lost in the Warp about 3,500 years ago. Now part of the Space Hulk, the Furygatherer collects energy from the glow of the Warp; the fused machine spirit has acted to route the other vessel's power systems to it, and it is now the main source of power onboard the Space Hulk (though the power is still only just enough to maintain life support for most of the ship rather than everything now working.) The Furygatherer's machine spirit is AITEN, and AITEN's main goals are that of conservation of resources and survival. The Furygatherer occupies the bottom of the fused mess (collector panels face down).

The Faithful's Carriage

Imperial guard dedicated transport vessel; has a now lost pod technology where each pod can hold 200 men and their equipment and make re-entry on its own. Dedicated ships are then required to clamp onto each pod and fly them back up to the main vessel. The Faithful's Carriage got lost in the Warp about 2,000 years ago. The Faithful's Carriage's machine spirit is GYRUS, and GYRUS's main goals are to fight and vanquish all enemies. The Faithful's Carriage occupies the left side of the fused mess, with the pod launching mechanisms covering one half of it; only two thirds face out from the Space Hulk, starting at the downward's facing edge.

The Wondrous Display

Originally a privately owned vessel used as storage for it's owners whims as a collector of strange and unique items (which included all sorts of objects and creatures). Specialistic sectors are dedicated to the various environments that certain items must be stored in. The Wondrous Display got lost in the Warp about 3,000 years ago. The Wondrous Display's machine spirit is HAJIN, and HAJIN's main goals it to collect and preserve rare and useful objects. The Wondrous Display occupies the right side of the fused mess.

The Yz

The only alien vessel in the Space Hulk, the Yz is a single alien life form in its' own right which is parasitic in nature; by anchoring itself to a system, it attempts to subvert, infect and otherwise take over the entire system. The Yz has an awareness in the entire Space Hulk, though it only has control of systems near tor within it. It's spread has been limited by the Hulk-wide war, as all sides also consider the Yz an enemy and so have worked to limit its's spread. The Yz is a predominantly biological vessel. The Yz occupies the front of the fused mess.

The Harbinger Of True Purpose

The Harbinger Of True Purpose was originally one of the Black Ships of the Imperium, lost in the Warp 2,500 years ago. The large numbers of psykers held against their will combined with their fear and the energies of the Warp has caused it to be the home of a psychic phenemona known as Anguish, which uses the dead as a conduit to express their fear and distress now they are dead (though the walking dead only feel some measure of the fear and distress as opposed to the normal corpses which get up and play out the full extent of their terror.) The Harbinger Of True Purposes' machine spirit is EBTOK, and EBTOK's main goals are to turn enemies to useful purposes (whether by them ceasing to be enemies and becoming EBTOK's allies, or just through manipulating them into achieving EBTOK's aims.) The Harbinger Of True Purpose occupies the top of the fused mess.

> You can buy things from your current rank or your previous two ranks when spending xp, not just your current rank.

Using normal rules, you can always buy stuff from all ranks you have ever occupied. Otherwise, it would probably be possible to create a character incapable of advancing (take all the attribute advancements and you'll lack the prerequisites for the high-level stuff). And imagine a psyker who for some reason missed out a psy rating because he felt it would be more appropriate to his role to spend XP on other stuff for a whole rank! Can you say "screwed"?

Other than that, have you already thought about how you'll do the dis-dis-discordant Voices-es of the glorious machine spi-spirits when the pa-pathetic sacks of meat and bone are panting and sweating while they run through my corridors?

Cifer:

Actually, I was planning for machine spirit voice to be predominantly monotone, shifting voice and tone as each of the component machine spirits become dominant. And the Yx will most likely be a loud whisper.

I was misinformed about the only-one-rank thing, then. Will be going back to Access All Ranks then.

Mercer's Ball (Slaanesh Stronghold)

This stronghold is held by Dr. Suzanna Mercer, a follower of Slaanesh, and her chirurgery lies in the centre. Mercer herself was a normal void-born chirurgeon until suffering extensive burns in an accident; while the surgery to put her back together again, it could not repair her mind and she is now addicted to performing surgical mutilation both on herself and upon others in an attempt to return people to being "beautiful" using both conventional and nonconventional surgical means. (Think "Hold still while I take your leg off with this lascutter and stitch back on the wrong way around" noncovnentional.) Her victims, the Beautiful People, tend to return to her after a couple of weeks from fleeing from the intial mutilation, if only because they find no-one else will take them in; further mutilations soon drive them as insane as Mercer, and they begin to support her schemes.

Dr Suzanna Mercer

WS 27, BS 21, Str 22, T 39, Ag 40, Int 54, Per 51, WP 42, Fel 32

Wounds 15, Insanity 56 (Disorder : Delusion - "making people beautiful"), Corruption 48 (Malignancy: Strange Addiction - self mutilation to make herself "beautiful" as well; due to this, she has always got some damage to her Wounds total [1d5 - 2, minimum 1 if rolling -1 or 0 wounds taken]).

Trained Skills: Awareness +20, Deceive, Dodge, Logic, Scrutiny, Speak Language (Low Gothic), Literacy, Trade (Copyist, Artist), Common Lore (Imperium), Scholastic Lore (Legend, Chymistry, Occult), Drive (Hover Vehicle), Forbidden Lore (Heresy, Mutants) +10, Medicae +10, Command, Interrogation, Search

Talents and Traits: Pistol Weapon Training (SP, Las), Basic Weapon Training (Bolt), Light Sleeper, Sprint, Resistance (Cold), Sound Constitution x 2, Master Chirurgeon, Talented (Medicae), Heightened Senses (Sight), Die Hard, Step Aside, Disturbing Voice

Mutations (actually a result of her "surgeries"): Grotesque, Tough Hide, Surgical Constitution*

*Surgical Constituion: Provides a +10 bonus to Toughness, and 3 extra Wounds (already factored in).

Equipment : Stub Revolver + 6 bullets, Administratum Robes (Common ql. clothing), Writing Kit, Chrono, Dataslate, Backpack, Boltgun w/ extra grip and red dot laser, 24 bolt shells, guard flak armour, photo visors, respirator, medkit, auspex, lascutter, 2 pairs manacles, excruciator kit, 318 thrones worth of assorted drugs. [Note that she doesn't always have access to the whole lot, but can get to any of it provided she's in her chirurgery's store room.]

The Beautiful People

Beautiful People who have only been through one surgery have the Grotesque mutation but are otherwise the same statistics as they were before. Beautiful People who have been through two or more such surgeries have the same statistics as before, but gain the Grotesque, Tough Hide and Surgical Constituion mutations instead.

I would be worried about letting people to 5 to gain 5 between two stats at creation. It does allow for a certain amount of stacking and could potentially unbalance things quickly if someone goes on a stat drive.

Some thoughts.

Seems like a well thought-out campaign and setting although I am doubting it's something to play a whole year on. To me it seems more like something to play in a medium amount of sessions (4-8). A whole year playing in a fixed location can be very, very challenging for the players. Also, especially if they're new players, limiting you environment to a space hulk, even a huge one with ships from dozens of cultures and races, it seems like you might limit the players from experiencing the vast diversity of the 40K universe and locations. Having such a confined setting with fixed locations and NPC's can be great for a while but will feel restricted and artificial after a while.

Also, from experience I know that it can be very very hard to maintain a high level of high-grade roleplaying if you want to have really in-depth plots, subtle machinations, plans within plans, devious NPC's etc etc. A lot of players (and GM's) will have some difficulty maintaining a focused and in-depth character development. Especially if you as a gamesmaster has to play our 5 or six different factions, each with their own evolution throughout the game, with the PC's just being chess pieces on the board. Some people will invariably get numb for such subtlety after a while. It feels like a good experiment for a while, but to play that on a regular basis, expect at least some players to bonkers and run for the nearest escape pod.

Anyways, just my thoughts on this.