I am about to start a misson where team of throne agents is going to investigate a murder. The Victim " Calium Cornelius" was a old rogue trader of a rich noble and also powerfull dynasty. He had travelled back to his home on Scintilla the big Cornelius Mansion, to reveal who would lead the dynasty after his death. But the night where he was about to reveal it he was murded. Now the Drama begined.
What i remain is how my throne agent end up in this big mess, they would need to solve the murder and also need to be sure that the dynasty dont tear it self apart, now when no one know who the next rogue trader should be.
What i can figure out is who the Murder should be and i also needed som intresting people, who would be suspect of the muder and of cause all these people would also be intresting in who would get the honor of being the next rogue trader og the Conrelius Dynasty.

I apolgize for my ( very) bad engilsh, not my native.

As far as possible reasons for the PCs to be there for the reading of the will, one of the Inquisitor's other (NPC) Acolytes could be named in the will as a possible successor, and he could invite the PCs to accompany him as a "vacation". Or, if one of the PCs has a Noble background (from the Inquisitor's Handbook), that character could be a possible candidate for succession. -Or the Rogue Trader could be an old friend of the Inquisitor, and he sent him a vague message saying that he thought his life was in danger, so the Inquisitor sends the Acolytes to investigate...

Yeah, I'm a fan of 1930s "Old Dark House" movies, too. Don't forget to include lots of secret passages in the mansion, possibly with a menacing servitor-gorilla lurking in the shadows... How about a "crazy relative" who's been locked up in a forbidden wing of the mansion for 20 years, but who has escaped thanks to a Daemonic Pact...?

As above, you have so many ways to get your player's involved, you could always go for the framed option too, set the players up by the real killer, or even by someone else trying to find out who the real killer is. Then your players have a real vested interest in figuring it out as they gonna get the blame if they don't and the only thing standing between them and an exploding collar is thier inquistor, he can hold up the law for <set time limit> before he attracts too much attention of his superiors.

Watch out for your players getting to much of a murder mystery film vibe too, they my just shoot the Butler, I know I would, it's always them.

I would recommend the players be there for the murder itself.

Maybe one of them is eligible to be the heir so they all attend. Or maybe the Inqusitor has ties to the RT and sends the agents to hear him name a successor.

Personally I recommend that since the Inquisition is powerful and has no stake in the RT succession they are sent as impartial witnesses to make sure no one tries to pull anything.

Ya this sounds like a who dunnit type, like clue. Good Idea should work well in DH setting. Perhaps he was a member of beast house and in addition to the muder the acolytes stumble upon his underground arena for blood sports. Or maybe he was extremely excentric and creepy( like Vincent Price in Masque of the Red Death) and everyone has reason to kill him. House of Usher is another good Vincent Price spooky house poe movie. I love the old Edgar Allen Poe films he did.

Sintworth, the Master of Mechaniszed Hands [NPC]

Sintworth is a senior technomant of high age (perhaps about 80+ years) and a longstanding householdservant of Cornelius Mansion. He is in charge of all the Servitors and Servoskulls of the household [which will be as few or many as you as a GM decides]. He is also incharge of a number of subordinats (2 plus another one for every 15 servitors/servoskulls; Suggestion: 5 in total).

Sintworth is thin as a stick and his skin is thin as parchment. His voice is a thin whisper that comes over thin lips. Parts of him (both eyes, one arm and perhaps much more) has been replaced with the blessing of the omnissiahs as his own organs started to fail him due to age.

He is of cold and reserved manners to all but the (late) Lord and regrets "this treacherous murder"to have happen in his lifetime. For the present "guests" of the house, he claims (and is sure about that!) that he "knows them all" and has nothing good to say about anyone (no matter if the npc in question is a good sole or not). In fact, he is a misanthrope and dispites people for being flawed by their "petty emontions" (he is a frevent follower of the credo omnissah, although he does hail from an imperial word).

However, he will not lightly share information and will only answer questions he has been given. But these, he will answer honestly. It is hard to get a feel for him, since his eyes are no more and he shows next to no emotion at all (-10 to all Scrutiny tests made against him).

His grieve is heavier then he will allow himself to realize. A few days after the inccident, he will die of organ failre. Just like an old and life-long loyal dog that dies shortly after his owner is gone.

Playing Sintworth for your players: Instead of speaking, whisper. Allways behave yourself, do not curse or swear. But after the death of the Lord, always have a bitter and resentfull undertone. You know that one of the other is the murder. But you are not sure who. And it does not matter to you. Your master is gone. In you eyes, your own life has ended as well. You do not care if the culprit gets his punishement. But you will not hinder investigations either. Never the less, your loyality to the lineage resonates in your every fiber and you are reluctant to speak bad about the linage in front of strangers (those who are not member of a family household.

His function in the game:
you can use him as a clue giver. The pc will for sure try to read-out some visual data of a drone. Perhaps this is possible, perhaps not. It will be difficutl, so. If you stil lneed a murder, perhaps one of his underlings programmed a servitor to a murder. This would be obvious, so! Be sure that your pc will treat Sintworth as a suspect.

Lady Eugenia [NPC]

Lady Eugenia is one of the bloodline, but not a potential heir. Which makes her a potential murder. Her stake of the familiy fortune comes in the form of diverse holding on a major imperial world which she manages. And a small transport voidvessel which does not come with a navigator but has to calculate jumps. While her business is the dull movage of manufactured goods (from her own manufactorums) and agri goods (from vast plantations she aquired lately), she is know to life a rather flameboyant life. A fact she tries to hide from her more conservertive business partners, but a "commonly known secret" among the familiy. Infact, she has her own little "establishment" with high class concubines she uses to "sweeten a deal" if she things that a trading partner is "open" to such things.

Lady Eugenia herself looks like women in her early 40 (but is in her late 70s) with lips and hips that are just a little to voluptous to be en vogue in the eyes of contemporary body esthetic. She wears a long evening gown made of some off-world-reptile-later ("silt snake leather. It is thin as air but warming..") with a higher-spike colar. Ontop of the head she wears a turban of winered clour.

She is not very extrovertive in conversations, smiles a lot and answers questions with question. As long as one is in public with her. In a private surround (she tends to ignore her own servants, as she does with a "body servant" of her conversations partner) she becomes very direct and dominating.

Playing Lady Eugenia: Use the phrase "my dear" very often. Keep a half-smile on your lips all the time.

Lady Eugenia in the game: If she is not the murder, she could be red herring. In fact, it would be very suting for here to look for evidence of the murder herself... to blackmail the culprit later.

Baldrick [NPC]
A small man with an athletic physique, Baldrick is a professinol duellist and "champion" in the trial-by-combat courts of Scintilla. His aptitude with the sword has such a high degree that he was able to establish a School of Fightsmanship, where other aspiring court-champions pay for training or those of other houses receive training for payment. While his school is only a small enterprise (half a dozen teachers) this change of character from hot-headed do-no-good whom was expected to die by the sword sooner or later to someone who finally turned to something more constitutional regained him alot of respects from his siblings (whom already had wrote him off).

Baldrick habitually wears black SynSkin and a very style silver-grey mesh-vest together with a crimson sash acros his chest, his head is shaved bald but for the chin-beard and (rather massive) eye-brows. His ego is still getting the better of him many times. If the pc become unpolite to the wrong member of the family (or accuse him outright) Baldrick will call for a duell at once. If this is to the death or not is up to the GM.

Baldrickin the Game: Make him a fighting macine with WS and a lot of Melee talents. After all, he is a champion of the Scintillian court squares. He will openly "spit on unknown coward" who killed Lord Calium. He will love to challenge the culprit to a duel, but does not have clue. And knows it. Perhaps he will over the course of the evening come to his own solituion who was it and challenge the pc (or npc) to a duel. If an npc, the pc will now have the problem that since by Scintillian law the accused who lost the duel might be treated as the murder, they will need to raise very good points why this figure now dead in a blood-square was innocent. Otherwise, matters might turn out of their hands. If they do, so, Baldrick will try to defend his honour by calling the pc a liar (and thereby challenging them to a duel).

Playing Baldrick: Your are sick of the situation. You are frustrated since you do not know what to do know and you are not above wenting this frustration on the first available target... unless this target somehow earned your respect.

Lamanx [NPC]

Lamanx appears to be a men in his mid 30s (early 50s) and owns a about a dozen MacroHaulers who transport wear between Scintilla, GunmetalCity and Hive Tarsus. The 3 fingers wide stripe in the middle of his head was shaved, as well as a matching stripe ind his otherwise bombastic beart. He wears a heavy brocade jacket with lot of golden enrichments, a Sarong and a monocle. Constantly accompanied by an entourage of 3 or 5, Lamanx is used to delegate tasks and concetrates on making decisions. Which is Logic and Analytic mind excells at.

Playing Lamanx: If he disagrees at something, he will say "we will see" and either walks away or changes the subject. If a new fact is brought up, he will silently lower is head and lay his index finger on the tip of his shin, taking a minute or two before making any answers or assumptions.

Lamanx in the game: Some-one like Lamanx can be used as a clue-giver. Once or twice.But if the pc start to really on him (a fact he will notice soon) he will leave some information out and thereby point the pc towards a rival in his family, hoping that the pc will dispatch his problem for him by doing "something rash". He has no respect to people who hurry decisions instead of thinking them through, and his is not a quick decision maker himself. "Rash" is to him synonymic with "stupid".

All action decided upon by Lamanx will be carried out by one of his entourage. His entourage does count fivi individuals. One of them is his personal bodyguard, one his his spy. The others are up to you, but his bodyguard will never leave his side while his spy (covered as courtisan and conversationlist) will be seen with someone-else more often the with him.

Joan & Joana [NPC; members of the blood-line]

The two sibblings are twins, but they are are of different sex [Joan is male; Joana is female]. Still, both of them look very similiar, a fact that is only partly to be credited to natur but to cosmic surgery. Both them look very androgyn now, have shaved there head clean and do weae implanted optic glasses of a semi-opaque blue-green (giving them a somewhat alien look). Both have a head to large for the reast of the bodies). As evening gown, they appear in darkgrey togas which fabrique reminds of spiderwebs (in fact, this fabrique is genereted by special breed spiders!) over a golden bodyglove with optical effects similiar to one of an oilspill on open water (shimmering colours in bizarly fluent patterns, moving as they move).

Joan & Joana have a trade in workforce, a patrons of the arts, have good contacts to various members of the ecclesiarchy (since they donate regulary) and tend to fund arechao-excavation-expeditions both in the deep of the hive and the deep of space. Of course, this means they get the lion share.

It is hard to tell the two appart, especially since there voice were replaced with artificial voice-boxes of high quality. The two of them are a little eratic. They tend to open speak a sentence together (one of them opens up, the other one end is). They argue a lot of time..and sometimes flatter and caress each other like a pair of lovers.

In reality, they get along very very good and this is all show to distract people form their cleverness. Most of them family already noticed that and tend to thing of them as "simply childish". They in turn now who things this about them and normally keep this sheenigans to a minimum in regard to those people... unless, these are rivals at the moment.

You need a butler, a man-servant. Not as the perpetrator But a mansion needs a butler. And jaded aristrocrats, a sullen gardener.

If the mansion is haunted (as they often are) the killer could also hail from the supernatural realm .... You could also draw inspiration from The Shining and make the mansion really large, or a former hotel, with long long hallways leading nowhere and rows of creepily similar doors behind which foul things have been committed.

[spoilerS]
In Ascension (IIRC) there is a murder case surrounding the death of a new Ministorum type, cardinal or something. The acolytes have to find out who did it and everyone gathered is a suspect. In Damned Cities there is a whole string of bizarre murders. In both cases [DID I MENTION SPOILERS?] the killer was possessed by a daemon. There is a sort of a haunted mansion detailed more or less in Tattered Fates.

As to why the =I= is involved: the acolytes could have been sent there to see if they can glean secrets from the Rogue Trader, perhaps is under some kind of suspicion. Maybe he was reputed to have amassed a work of proscribed lore which he may pass on to his heir, detailing the activities of xenos in the sector, and the =I= wants to get their hands on that book.

Just make sure their original mission has a logical link to the murder mystery, or they may decide that some other authority should do the investigation.

For a butler, perhaps just a servitor. I guess you could have The RT's senseschal(I am fairy certain I spelt that horrible) introducing people, he could have a big motive for killing the RT also, if he suspects he will soon be out of the loop.