This is a fluff question. I'm new to RT RPG, but have been playing 40K table top for about 10 years so I'm passing familiar with the setting details.

For part of the story I'm laying out for my players there needs to be an item that can be used by the ecclesiarchy or by chaos. The two sides will both looking for the same lost item.

Story wise it needs to be semi portable and capable of being disguised or hidden. What would be appropriate?

A throne (which can be disguised as an ornate crate) that imbues/enhances psychic energy? A book that details the location of some major artifact that's awesomely powerful?

Other ideas?

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

- tvjunkie

Couple of brief ideas...

Sword of Saint Aebastian - Before hes matyrdom in M34, St. Aebastian was known for his loathing of Daemonkin. His blade was carved with the six hundred and sixty six verses of the litany of hatred and rumoured to be annointed with teh tears of the emperor himself. In the hands of a member of the faithful it could cleanse entire worlds from daemonic incursion. The sword has a darker side though. Unbeknownst to all, including St. Aebastian, the blade was not constructed by the Ecclesiarchy, but by the chaos cult 'The Word of Damnation' at the order of tehir Daemonic patron, Kal'thurax'threx. Kal'thurax'threx had been bound by the twisted sorceries of its arch-rival, an unknown daemon of Slaanesh. The sword was forged to be capable of severing the chains of sorcery, allowing the daemon prince to rise again.

Golden Mirror - The golden mirror is an artefact of dubious antiquity. It is claimed that it was crafted in teh Dark Age of Technology, or possibly it is just a normal mirror that once held the reflection fo the Emperor and was permanently changed. Some say it is a xenos artefact, some claim that such a thing would be an impossiblity, given the Mirrors strange properties. The Golden Mirror is not, as the name might suggest, actually golden. It has a golden frame sith a mirrored surfact of quicksilver that seems to slowly move under its own power. The frame is infused with uncomprehensable machinery, but some of the greatest minds in the Adeptus Mechanicus believe the machinery is some form of highly advanced psi-scanner. Whenever someone gazes into the mirror, they see their true selves reflected back at tehm, a reflection not of their body, but of their soul. The Ecclesiarchy prises such a thing, for to stand before the Golden Mirror and see a reflection free of taint is a moving experience, to say the least. Various chaos warlords prise the mirror, perversely for a similar reason.

The Eighteen - The Eighteen are a set of statues, commissioned at the outset of the Great Crusade. Heretically, they contain the most accurate depections of all eighteen primarchs that were ever sculpted. The acccuracy of these images is so great that it is said that a member of the Astartes who sees the eighteen will be powerless when they stand before the statue of their Primarch, their hearts overcome by the slightly alien emotions of the Angels of Death. Both the Ecclesiarchy and factions of Chaos want to get their hands on these statues as objects of worship - and to desecrate those statues that stood for or against Horus, respectively. The inquisition have also expressed a desire for the Eighteen, wishing to find a way to weaponise that very exact likeness.

Tapestry of Maya Granayana - This tapestry was woven ten millenia before by a house slave on the long forgotten world of Bestraini. his world, in the Segmentum Solar, was one fo the first worlds outside of the Terran system to be reconquered by the Emperor. The story goes that when the Emperor set foot on the planets surface, those mortals that witnessed His glory were instantly struck blind. Maya Granayana was a slave that had fled from her masters estate to see the Sky Warriors land and, unlike the others who were rendered sightless, she lost her eyes meeting His gaze directly. She wove this tapestry over the twenty years after that day before her death. Before it was lost, it was considered one of the holiest objects in the Segmentum Solar. It depicts the Emperor, in all His glory, standing under a whirling, chaotic sky. The general theory is that the strange patterns in the sky represent the turbulence of a clouded sky being pierced by hundreds of landing craft. The followers of chaos believe otherwise, and have been hunting for the Tapestry for thousands of years. Rumour has it that a pious Rogue Trader was granted the Tapestry as a gift by the scum who stole it, but was more pious than well read. This story has the Rouge Trader placing the Tapestry in his personal chambers, admiring its beauty but never being aware of its true value. Where the tapestry ended up, nobody knows.

May throw some moreon later if anything comes to mine - hope one of these is useful!

The Westerhagen Key- a set of 25 equations posited by the eccentric and controversial Magos Khiprin Westerhagen, after his tenure as Mechanicum ambassador to the Navis Nobilite in the late 34th millennium. Magos Westerhagen holds the dubious distinction of being the only person on record to be posthumously accused, convicted and cleared of heresy seven times; mostly as a result of these equations.
The 25 equations of the Westerhagen Key, combined with a sufficiently powerful cogitator and accurate data to feed into them, are reputed to consistently and precisely model and predict the flows of warp energy in a region, even in the most turbulent and chaotic of storms. In theory, a starship armed with such knowledge could safely and successfully traverse even the Maelstrom and Eye of Terror. Unfortunately, finding a captain and navigator willing to risk their ship on such untested theories proved problematic, and the Westerhagen Key remained untested before being lost some time early in Goge Vandire's Reign of Blood.

That work?

Very nice! Please do put more.

You guys are awesome!! I <heart> the internet.

Any of these would work fine and I appreciate the level of detail in the descriptions. If you have more ideas please continue. Perhaps others can make use of such items/fluff.

Thanks again.

The relic forearm bone of Saint Samildanach, a crusader lord of the 37th millenium and founder of the shrine world Gabhalla and it's hereditary line of ruling Cardinals. In the hands of a chaos sorcerer, the relic could be used to attack or even control a member of this sacred bloodline. Conversely, it is rumored that if it could be recovered, it would bestow upon a scion of that bloodline the ability to utilize all of the known manifestations of true faith at incredibly amplified levels.

The Pearl of Porchus

Last possessed by the Missionary/Rogue Trader Porchus, the Pearl is a sacred relic of the Imperium. A small sphere of unknown origin in a square stasis cube about a hand with across. The sphere slowly turns within the cube revealing alien scrawls and reddish runes in patterns of unknown meaning. The object is sacred more for who carried it than for powers it imparts, as it is an object of faith. Said to come from pre-history (before man breached the empyrean and was stuck on Holy Terra) the sphere has been in the possession of so many great men and women of faith that its story fills volume after volume. It is so old that even the fallen of the Imperium revere it for the undying chaos twisted ecclesiarchs of the Great Betrayal valued it when they were still human. When in the possession of a person of the faith, holy or unholy, stories of its bearers down through the ages can inspire and/or terrify the masses. Add bonuses to religious endeavors and reaction mods to those of the Imperial Creed (even the Chaos filth revere it but only if one of their own possess it).

The reality: Its an autographed baseball signed by Babe Ruth that managed to survive inside its eternally powered stasis field and casing of adamantine strong glassine. The story and myth of the mundane object is more powerful than the reality that it is just a baseball.

Usually the Ecclesiarchy loves any Saintly or Ancient items and bones that belonged to Saints and Chaos loves to corrupt them/take them just because its fun to do so the items are endless in that aspect although I think that some paintings from pre-heresy era and frescoes not to mention chapels and churches of pre-heresy/heresy importance would be ripe targets for the battlefield setting and the prizes could range from ancient tomes of holy lore and written texts of long dead saints and heroes or better yet, put in some conspirational puzzle objects (hollowed saintly sceptors with small but important manuscripts/relics/items/keys to other things of unimaginable power , hollowed out seats/pulpits/thrones that hold same said concept items or even possibly an item of a pre-heresy traitor Space Marine who has a retinue of Chaos space marines/cultists under his wing and wants to reclaim it for sentimental and destructive purposes (armor, weapons left behind etc.)

Another ripe target to do would be manifests of the Ecclesiarchy itself! A list or lists or Ecclesiarchy members in high place, places where they meet with times and other such things would be gold for chaos to kill off some imperialist figureheads of the emperors faithful, sowing discord and terror in a mass murder of high officials, hell you could do a manifest or manifests on the Inquisition itself! Think of the gold it would be for chaos to have that and the influence and profit it would be worth to take the risk to steal/protect and transport said manifest(s) to safety, a tempting target with knives poised to strike at your characters backs at every turn with some Chaos marines in tow or chasing your group down....honestly, Im surprised I didnt think of this till now xD

Anything that can be used against daemons that can still be held by an agent of chaos would also interest chaos for the majority of their fighting is not against humanity, but against each other. Anything that can deny sorcerous powers would be a grand item for the Imperium, but also of Khorne for he hates sorcery above all things. Any weapon that can slay a daemon, another daemon would gladly use it against his rivals.

STC 1929010919 - Dreadnought tactical armor Exo Squeletton structure 1.009201

This extremely rare STC gives details on how to build an internal part of the dreadnought armor. Alto It cannot help to build new one from scratch, it would allow for a considerable amount of the armors to be fully repaired and the exo squeletton technologie to be reused for other development, even maybe recreatign a whole dreadnought tactical armor in the long run.

Should the Renegade Marine find this, they would be able to reuse many lost armors, same for the loyalist marines, the AdMech for it's STC/technologie could want it for itself only. As the rumors of this spread through the Koronus Expense and back to Calidix Sector, passing by the Jericho Bound fleet of Space marines, could this be a trail of Lord Wolf or some other very important figure that had access or hinted at such knowledge lost and had to be reclaimed... and a cunny mechboy iz vari inter ested in twah ttoo built 'trong walkka..

In the end, the players may have to call for it's destruction even as all the titanic forces are converging on them to try and claim this prize. They may have to find the few really trust worthy allies within the Imperium itself.

News of an STF can bare riches, possible locations untold riches, the possibility to hold one and the power it brings can drive anyone or anything to the edge, the power coming from having such a artifact could change the power base within the sector and even change ones influence through all the galaxy.

edit : mouahahahhahah Babe Ruth baseball! lol!