Quick and simple question... my players are likely to discover some of the remains of a battle between the forces of chaos and the RT's descendants. There'll be a few more-or-less intact Chaos warships. We're talking about, honest-to-God in the employ of daemons Chaos, not just "we like the idea, only attend on Christmas and Easter" chaos. Should it be possible for these ships to be salvaged? If so, what are the consequences of something that has a home to evil for so long being used for something new? Do old habits die hard?

I would say no.

Stepping foot on board a daemon possessed starship should almost start a ticking clock of insanity and corruption.

The daemon ship would do all it could to play with the new meat. It has been oh so long since it has had the fun of ripping and tearing new meat.

I think it is possible to salvage such ships, and not just because something like this happened in my campaign. There are a few things to consider:

1) Were these ships always in the service of Chaos? Were they constructed in heretikal shipyards, or were they Imperial ships that became lost to Chaos due to corruption, treason, or capture by Chaos corsairs? Are these ships tainted to the core with Chaos as an inherent part of their makeup, or were they once pure but now defiled?

2) Are the Explorers prepared to deal with cleaning these ships up? Can they whip out any heretics, mutants, or daemons still lurking in the hulks? Are they capable of performing mass rituals of exorcism to purge these ships of Chaotic taitnt? Are they capable of performing mass re-consecration rituals to bring the ships into the service of the Emperor?

3) Are the Explorers planning on keeping these ships for themselves or selling them off? If they sell them off, are they going to bother to inform the buyers about the ships' origins, or will it be a case of buyer beware? If the Explorers are going to refit the ship and use it for themselves are they prepared to deal with the residual effects of the ships' past histories (Haunted comes to mind)?

4) What are the odds that anyone will recognize these ships? Were they infamous enough that observant voidfarers can recognize their outline and configuration? Will any servants of the Ruinous Powers attempt to reclaim these ships once word of their discovery gets out?

I'd go for no.

If it is the 'only xmas & easter' variant, sure. The occupants were essentially human and the ships essentially still Imperial design. Slap some paint on it, bribe / extort / diplomacy your local Admech or shipyard, and a few years and several million Thrones later you have a ship, albeit perhaps a bit nastier and a bit spikier then what the competition is hobnobbing about with - but hey, you are a Rogue Trader, they'd shoot you for not being extravagant.

Chaos Space Marine or Chaos Raiders, I think you can make a case for those. Sure, what you call a Medicae bay they call the slaughterhouse and what they call the prisoner hold you might want to convert into a Reclamation Facility, but it could add immensely to a Rogue Traders famy and infamy to 'reclaim' a vessel from the Great Enemy. The ship's history and complications should reflect it, such as infamy and haunted, but it could be worthwhile. Reclaiming the vessel after capturing it could be an entire adventure it itself - and depending on how the Rogue Trader goes about it he could either find solace with Ecclesiarcy and Inquisition agents or ire as he flaunts the ship's former heresy...

Daemon vessels, however, change. Evil seeps into the bulkheads, warping them as its baleful influence warps the crew. Especially if Daemons were bound into them to reduce crew necessity - once it is there it is damned hard to cut it out. Some vessels are even built from the keel up as vessels for Daemons, and those have been damned from the start. Not to mention a command bridge of the type 'Please Insert Soul To Start Engine', Hybrid-Deamon-Machine-Spirits or Dedicated Ritual Chambers.

And did we mention the sections of the ship where the Nurgle-worshippers loved to kick back and enjoy a cold one? Or the Emperor forbid, the whole ship actually being Nurgle-oriented - the stench is impossible to get rid of and Nurglings are definatively worse then bilge-rats.

they/it, should have more then 2 complications and oddities, none of witch are beneficial or Empier oriented.

Haunted and blasphemous Tendecies come to mind and I would make them major + 20 warp but -15 moral.

Attila-IV said:

This is what i'd say as well. Well put.

I know one GM who let the players salvage a chaos ship but they had to spend an acquisition getting Black Priest of Maccabeus to spend about a year purging the ship of corruptive taints... and they get the mechanicus on it...

If you are happy with such a solution go for it, if these Chaos guys bound daemons to the ship I think it'd be hard to find a Forge World who would repair it. I'd still say it depends on the ship and how corrupted it got, perhaps make it risky in some ways warn the characters with appropriate skills that some of the ships who turned to chaos were rumoured to do so because of a flaw in their design corrupting their crew. I remember reading about one or two ships like this in Battlefleet Gothic, one or two classes of ships slowly corrupting their once noble imperial navy crew into a bunch of psychotic fascists... who don't worship the Emperor

Thank you for the kind words Badlapje.

There is at least one example of the IoM salvaging Weapons from Chaos ships in Battlefleet Gothic. Not outside the realm of possibility.

Found it:

page 110 BFG

"Two of the TYRANTS assigned to the Gothic Sector Fleet, Zealous and Dominion, were eventually upgraded with weapons salvaged deom wrecked Chaos ships. These pushed their firepower up to battlecruiser levels, making them very dangerous opponents at long range."

Can anyone say TURBO power!

If they were actual demon ships or had a demonic aura like the Promise of Sedition I would say no. The corruption is to far gone. Otherwise I would say yes.

It would require some lengthy reconsecration efforts by both the mechanicus and the ministorum but it can be done.

Hundreds if not thousands of priests of both types crawling over the ship for a few years exorcising and blessing every component should do the trick.

Expensive and time consuming, yes.

Do-able, yes.